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Here’s how you can replace your iPhone for the price of the battery in Nepal

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Here’s how you can replace your iPhone for the price of the battery in Nepal

No battery is made to last forever. No matter how careful you are with your device, the battery will degrade over time losing its ability to store power. Ultimately, you will have to replace it if you want to keep using the phone. But there’s a piece of good news for iPhone users in Nepal. Genxt, the official distributor for Apple products in Nepal, is offering iPhone replacement in case of battery damage for the price of just the battery.

Replace iPhone for the price of battery

Generation Next Communication, otherwise known as Genxt, is the only authorized distributor for Apple products in Nepal. As the sole distributor, it also looks after the after-sales services like repairs and parts replacement. We were quite unsure about how one could get a new iPhone for the price of a battery and contacted them for further details. Turns out, it’s actually true. If you show up to an authorized service provider for Apple in Nepal with an iPhone with a degraded battery, you can get a new iPhone of the exact same model.

Almost all the mainstream consumer electronics these days come with a year of warranty. Some may even offer additional years for parts replacement. Apple, on the other hand, promises services and parts long after the product is no longer in distribution. However, the support varies according to the region. In Nepal, Genxt will replace your iPhone in the name of battery replacement if it is an iPhone 6 or newer.

Criteria

Battery Health Settings for iOS

So, to take advantage of this battery replacement offer, the battery health of your iPhone needs to be under 80% per cycle over 1000 complete charge cycles. You can check the battery health of your iPhone under Settings> Battery > Battery health. You are eligible for the replacement offer if your iPhones prompts you to “Service Battery Now”.  If your battery health is 80% or over, then it is considered normal you won’t require battery replacement. However, for special conditions, Genxt will also consider iPhones with up to 85% battery health.

Also, the phone should not have been opened outside of authorized service centers. Similarly, it should not have major cracks at the screen and the camera either. Minor scratches and buffs can be considered. Also, the phone needn’t necessarily be bought from Genxt.

Price and Service Appointment

Let’s talk about pricing. If you want to have your iPhone replaced because of the battery issue, you will have to pay the price of battery replacement which varies according to the iPhone model. Generally, you will have to pay more for the more recent model. For instance, the cost is Rs. 26,500 for iPhone 11 Pro/Pro Max while it’s just Rs. 13,500 for the older iPhone 6 series.

iPhone Model Battery Replacement Price
6/6s/6+/6s+ Rs. 13,500
7/7+/8+8+ Rs. 15,500
X/Xs/Xs Max Rs. 25,000
XR/11 Rs. 25,000
11 Pro/ Pro Max Rs. 26,500

If you want to make use of the offer, you need to book your service appointment. You can do that by heading into the Genxt official website.

How is it possible?

But how is Genxt replacing the whole iPhone for the price of battery replacement? As it turns out, the company is unable to ship only batteries to Nepal because of shipping constraints. And it is replacing the whole unit as a workaround method. However, we have not been told how long the phone will be out because of the shipments involved. But again, if you are getting a new phone for a degraded battery that should be worth the wait.

  • Also, check out our review of the iPhone 12.

Reasons not to upgrade to a newer gaming laptop right now

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Reasons not to upgrade to a newer gaming laptop right now

Laptop manufacturers bring out new devices every year promising improvements in different aspects. Big numbers are thrown at buyers to make them believe that it’s worth upgrading from the older models. It is especially the case with gaming laptops where brands promise significant CPU and performance upgrades. But how well these improvements that are expressed in terms of performance, convert to real-life experience? And the question remains – should you regularly update your gaming laptop?  If yes, how long should you wait to upgrade to a newer gaming laptop?

Things to consider before next gaming laptop upgrade

Design and Build

Let’s start with the build and display build quality first. If you look at the popular laptop lineups, you will notice that many of them have not had any design overhaul in years. Take the Razer Blade 15 for an example. Most of the time what you get is a laptop with last year’s design but with the updated internals. The switch in the internal hardware does change the dimension a bit but that’s about it. Most of the time you get the same design, same material, and thus no significant improvement in the build quality.

Display

Next aspect where there we find no improvement is the display. We have gotten to a point where all the displays look almost the same. For instance, most gaming laptops feature IPS panels with around 100% sRGB color gamut and brightness level in around 300 nits. The one display specs that manufacturers like to boast about is the refresh rate. 144Hz screens are fairly common these days and some even feature panels with 240Hz and 300Hz. If you think these are necessary think again as most of the time it hard to hit 240fps or higher fps, especially on the newer titles.

alienware m15 R3 display

While brands emphasize higher refresh rates, they often overlook the quality of integrated webcams. If you need a high-quality webcam, you will definitely invest in an external one. But that doesn’t mean brands can keep using the same awful camera tech in every iteration, especially in the post-pandemic environment, where online classes and meetings have become really common.

Performance

GPU

Let’s talk about the aspect that gets the center stage in every one of the new launches – performance. Here, we have to consider both CPU and GPU performance. It is usually in the GPU front that we get to see the biggest difference. Most mainstream laptops in 2021 will feature NVIDIA’s latest RTX 30 series graphics. These GPUs come with significant performance improvements over their predecessor.

But again, starting this year NVIDIA has opted not to go with the Max Q and Max P branding. Instead, it has allowed manufacturers to change the power supplied to the GPU, which is measured in watts, according to their convenience. As a result, two mobile CPUs with the same moniker may not perform the same as the two might have different wattages. For instance, the variants of the MSI GE66 and MSI GS66 that are tipped to launch in Nepal feature the RTX 3070 GPU. However, the one in the GE66 will be the better performer of the two as it has a 115W GPU compared to GS66’s 80W.

Seeing how OEMs were purposefully misleading the new buyers by exploiting this loophole, NVIDIA recently announced that it will now require manufacturers to include info like clock speed and TGP (Total Graphic Power). As a result, it will be a lot simpler to buy gaming laptops powered by the new RTX 30 series of GPU.

CPU

On the other hand, there are not many improvements on the CPU front. For instance, when comparing the CPU performance between Razer Blade 15 (i7 10750H) and MSI GS75 (i7 8750H), you can get around 9 to 15 performance improvements depending upon the benchmark you decide to go with.

Intel 11th Gen Core Tiger Lake-U CPU

You can get higher improvements if you jump to a processor with more cores; say a 4 core to an 8 core. But again, modern games are not designed to take advantage of multi-core processors.

Thermals

Similarly, if you look at the majority of the laptops, nothing seemed to have changed on the thermals and fan design. Laptops still have problems keeping the temperature down and even the newer laptop suffer from thermal throttling under heavy load.

Rest of the areas

Brands have now started to include bigger batteries inside their laptops. Also, these laptops ship with faster chargers. Similarly, support for Wi-Fi 6 and 6E is another trend on the rise. But again, a lot of older laptops allow users to swap the existing Wi-Fi card for a newer one. It is also important to get compatible access points which are hard to get in countries like ours.

So, should you upgrade your gaming laptop?

To sum it up, you may be tempted to try and get the latest new releases. And this is what the brands want you to do. But it’s definitely not healthy for your pocket. Even if you have a big chunk of free cash lying around, new purchases are not going to completely change your gaming experience. It is recommended to wait for around 3 iterations before you upgrade to a newer gaming laptop. You should only think of upgrading if the device you are considering is at least 50% better than the one that you have right now.

  • Check out our review of the Alienware m15 R3.

Wearable thermoelectric generators might power future IoT devices

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Wearable thermoelectric generators might power future IoT devices

Researchers at CU Boulder University have developed a new wearable device that can transform your body temperature into electric energy. This new tech allows the human body to act like a biological battery, something which has been possible in sci-fi movies only. It is a significant innovation as rechargeable batteries have become an integral part of today’s innovation. Let’s learn more about the new wearable thermoelectric generators technology in more detail.

Wearable Thermoelectric Generators for IoT

The new wearable device is based on thermoelectric generators. It is a small, lightweight, and stretchy product. Developers are looking to use this stretching property of the device to mold it into other accessories like a bracelet that is constantly in touch with human skin. The thermoelectric generators in the wearable device convert internal body temperature into electric energy.

As of now, researchers have been able to generate up to 1 volt of energy per centimeter area of the skin. This may not sound like much but this could potentially power future accessories like smartwatches and fitness trackers. And that is what the researchers are trying to achieve.

Wearable TEG Ring
Source: Xiao Lab

The biological battery technology is made up of polyimine which is known to be stretchy. It forms the base of the device. Series of thin thermoelectric chips are then integrated into the base. These chips are connected to each other using liquid metal wires. The final result is a PCB-like device in a ring-like form factor. Researchers claim that their design puts less stress on the chips as the chips are very brittle.

“Just don’t tell the robots. We don’t want them getting any ideas” – Xiao

Previous Attempts

It is not the first prototype of its kind as there have been several attempts at building similar devices in the past. Previously, Jianliang Xiao, who leads the research, came up with an electronic skin. However, it required an external power source to work. The latest innovation, on the other hand, doesn’t need one. It’s stretchy and has the ability to heal itself.

Working

When we do an intensive task, our bodies generate heat. This excessive heat is transferred to the environment to maintain the normal body temperature. The new device captures the heat and transforms it into electricity instead.

Advantages

It’s a known fact that all batteries degrade over time. Users need to keep investing in new batteries at a regular interval. However, this could change with the new self-healing battery technology. If the device breaks, users can tie the two ends back by pinching them together.

Wearable Thermoelectric Generators Mechanical Properties

Similarly, researchers claim that the new tech is fully recyclable and thus is a cleaner source of energy. When the device is no longer in use, users can dip into a special solution that will cause the polyimine base to separate from the chips. Both products can then be repurposed for different uses.

Scalability

Researchers believe that they can increase the power by adding more generators. Xiao even compares the process with Lego blocks. By combining smaller thermoelectric chips they can make a larger structure which will facilitate customization.

Wearable Thermoelectric Generators Availability

Researchers still need to work on the design and scalability to make the thermoelectric wearable ready for the market. The first step is to generate up to 5V that could power a modern fitness band. The research team predicts that wearable with their thermoelectric generators can hit the market anywhere between 5 and 10 years.

Smart Technology Availability (Expected)
Wearable with Thermoelectric generators 2026 – 2031
  • Check out our review of the MSI Summit E15 business laptop.

Infinix Hot 10 Review: Budget Gaming Champ

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Infinix Hot 10 Review: Budget Gaming Champ

Hot series is among the most popular lineup in Infinix’s portfolio and today I have got the new Infinix Hot 10. Despite being a budget phone under $150, Infinix has included a big display and a powerful Helio G70 chipset in here. Let’s learn more about the Infinix Hot 10 in this review.

Infinix Hot 10 Specifications:

  • Body: 171.1 x 77.6 x 8.88-mm, 195gm, Plastic body with gem-cut finish
  • Display: 6.78-inches TFT IPS panel, Infinity-O panel
  • Resolution: HD+ (1640 x 720 pixels)
  • Chipset: MediaTek Helio G70 (12nm mobile platform)
  • CPU: Octa-core (2×2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.7 GHz Cortex-A55)
  • Memory: 4/6GB RAM, 64/128GB storage (expandable)
  • Software & UI: XOS UI on top of Android 10
  • Rear Camera: Quad,
    – 16MP primary lens
    – 2MP macro lens
    – 2MP depth sensor
    – AI sensor
    – Quad-LED flash
  • Front Camera: 8MP with dual-flash
  • Security: Physical fingerprint sensor (rear-mounted)
  • Audio: DTS Audio, 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Connectivity: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, GPS, Bluetooth, GPS, Micro USB, OTG
  • Battery: 5200mAh with 10W (5V/2A) charging
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyro, Light, Proximity, Compass
  • Color options: Obsidian Black, Amber Red, Moonlight Jade, Ocean Wave
  • Price in Nepal: Rs. 18,490 (4/128GB)

Infinix Hot 10 Review:

Quickly unboxing the device, you get the phone itself, a 10W charger, and a Type A to micro-USB cable. Infinix also includes a screen protector inside the box and you’re better off installing it since the phone doesn’t come with any kind of Gorilla Glass protection.

Design & Build

  • Glass front, plastic back, plastic frame
  • Reflective gem-cut design
  • Attracts fingerprints, smudges easily

At the back, as you can see, it has a plastic body with a gem-cut design. It becomes visible while tilting the device at different angles. But because it has a glossy back, it attracts fingerprints marks and smudges quite easily. Thankfully, there is a clear case included in the box.

More on the aesthetics, the camera module hardly protrudes so there’s very little chance to get scratched while placing on a flat surface. Similarly, there’s a fingerprint sensor at the back, which is quite fast and accurate. Still and all, it is a massive phone. However, I didn’t find it to be bulky or heavy and the Infinix Hot 10 is quite ergonomic on hands too.

Display

  • 6.78-inches HD+ IPS LCD screen
  • Punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera

On the display front, you are greeted with a big 6.78-inch panel. It’s your regular HD+ IPS LCD, so you can notice the lack of sharpness but only if you get very close to the display. Big screen with a compact resolution has been a common mantra in multiple Infinix phones and this one’s no different.

Barring the mediocre pixel density, the display quality is quite good. It is moderately bright with oversaturated colors and good viewing angles, although there is a slight hint of a bluish tint.

Infinix Hot 10 - DIsplay [1]

Throughout the review, I found the touch-response on the Infinix Hot 10 to be very good too. So yeah, pretty good display for the price. Likewise, if you look closely at the top bezels, you will notice two LED flash for the selfie camera that is placed on either side of the earpiece. And one of them also lights up during charging—thus doubling as a notification LED.

Performance

  • Octa-core MediaTek Helio G70 SoC (12nm)
  • 4/6GB RAM with up to 128GB internal storage (expandable)

On the performance side of things, as I mentioned earlier, you get the MediaTek Helio G70 chipset, which is an excellent choice for gaming on a budget. By the way, Infinix already has a G70-powered phone available in Nepal, the Infinix Note 7.

And with a whopping 6GB of RAM onboard, during my usage, I didn’t notice any hiccups while doing normal tasks. Even multitasking is smooth and is void of any excruciating lag/stutter.

Gaming Experience

I am also quite satisfied with its gaming performance. In PUBG Mobile, you can bump the graphics to HD and frame rates to High. But for the best experience, Medium graphics and Ultra frame rate will result in smooth gameplay with no frame drops.

Similarly, you can play COD Mobile on Medium graphics and High refresh rate smoothly. I did experience frame drops while playing Asphalt 9 at high graphics but you can easily dial down the settings for optimized gameplay.

Infinix Hot 10 - Design

To further enhance your gaming experience, Infinix has also included a dedicated Game Mode. It improves your gameplay through effective management of CPU, GPU, network, and other relevant resources. You can even use the game mode app to re-map the volume up/down button for additional in-game functions.

UI/UX

Like with all the Infinix phones, this one also comes with XOS skin based on Android 10. The problem with this skin is it comes with a lot of bloatware and you will frequently be bombarded with ads. And the only way to turn them off is to disable the notification of the app altogether.

Talking of other features, there’s something called “Power Boost” which has a list of features that you can either turn on or off to get your desired battery endurance. The phone also has a dark mode which is rather unpolished and still needs improvement as is not entirely customized for all apps.

Cameras

  • Quad-camera setup at the back
  • (16MP main, 2MP macro, 2MP depth, AI lens)
  • 8MP selfie camera inside the punch-hole cutout

Another not-so-good aspect of the Infinix Hot 10 is its cameras. It features a quad-camera setup with a primary 16MP primary lens, and the other 3 being 2MP useless lenses.

Infinix Hot 10’s lenses are the epitome of a gimmicky camera setup.

And even, the images from the supposedly standout 16MP lens are not very impressive.

Normal Images

They’re lacking in detail and color processing is also a bit off.

It’s only with good lighting that the camera brings out acceptable images. But again, it’s a budget phone and we cannot expect its cameras to be exceptional, I guess.

Portrait Images

The portraits are not so bad though. Like with primary images, if you manage to capture portraits in good lighting, they come out usable.

Still, the subjects look a little soft. You can also change the amount of background blur as per your liking, so that’s a handy feature to have.

Selfie Images

As far as the selfies are concerned, even they suffer from the lack of sufficient saturation.

Also, low-light images are plainly soft and the background lacks proper exposure management in many instances.

Nighttime Images

On a different note, the Infinix Hot 10 comes with a dedicated night mode that helps make the pictures brighter in a low-light environment.

But sadly, this feature plays no role in making the images sharper or bring out more details. However, it does bump the saturation to a large extent which makes the images look very unnatural.

Videography

On a surprising turn of events, the Hot 10 can shoot 2K videos from both front and back cameras. The footages are extremely shaky and lack exposure control. Even scaling down to 1080p will not make stabilization better.

All in all, like with all budget phones, this one too does not have that impressive camera performance. But it would have been better if the company had provided a better primary sensor instead of giving 4 unnecessary lenses, 3 of which are completely useless.

Battery

  • 5200mAh battery with 10W charging (Micro USB)

As far as the battery is concerned, Infinix Hot 10 has a big 5,200mAh cell whose endurance is quite impressive. I would go as far as to say that the battery is one of the scarce redeeming qualities of the Infinix Hot 10.

Infinix Hot 10 - DIsplay [2]

I was consistently able to get up to 8 hours of screen-on-time. My usage mostly consisted of binging YouTube, browsing social media, and gaming. So it’s fair to say that this phone will easily last over a single day under normal usage. But charging up the battery takes quite a lot of time since the phone only supports 10W charging via the Micro USB port.

Audio

  • Down-firing mono speaker
  • 3.5mm headphone jack

About the speaker, the phone has a down-firing one that can get loud enough. It is good enough for casual gaming and for watching videos. It is better than speakers in most budget devices even though it suffers from distortion at high volume.

Conclusion

To conclude, I think the Infinix Hot 10 is a standout budget gaming smartphone. Its price is similar to that of the Poco C3 and Samsung Galaxy M02s, but the Hot 10 offers much better performance and a bigger display too.

So, if you are on a tight budget, but still want a good gaming phone, the Infinix Hot 10 is indeed a very good option. But bear in mind that the Hot 10 doesn’t have a reliable camera, so if you want a good camera phone on a budget, I suggest you cash out a bit more and get the Poco M3 or the Moto G9 Play.

Infinix Hot 10 Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Great gaming performance
  • Ergonomic design
  • Big display, decent quality
  • Great battery endurance

Cons:

  • XOS Android skin is terrible
  • Cameras aren’t that good
  • Slow charging, Micro USB

Samsung Galaxy F62 launched: Will arrive as Galaxy M62 in Nepal

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Samsung Galaxy F62 launched: Will arrive as Galaxy M62 in Nepal

After all the leaks and teasers, Samsung has finally launched the Galaxy F62 in India. The device is the first mid-range device from Samsung to pack the Exynos 9825 chipset. It is the same chipset that was used on the Galaxy Note 10+. In this post, we will be taking a look at the specs, features, expected price, and availability of the Samsung Galaxy F62 in Nepal.

Samsung Galaxy F62 Overview:

Performance

Samsung has been teasing the fans with the #FullOnSpeedy tag for some time now. The reason being the inclusion of the Exynos 9825 on the Galaxy F62. It is a flagship-grade older chipset from Samsung that was used in 2019’s Galaxy Note 10 lineup. It’s the first time the company is using it on a mid-range device. Samsung has claimed the F62 with the Exynos 9825 is the best performing device in its segment and Samsung has different benchmark scores to back it up.

Samsung Galaxy F62 Performance

  • AnTuTu v8: 452065
  • Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core): 2400
  • GFXBench 5: 68

Design and Display

The phone features a 6.7-inch FHD Super AMOLED+ display. The display has a center-aligned punch-hole cutout that will house the selfie camera. It covers up to 110% of the NTSC color gamut and boasts a contrast ratio of 1000000:1. Similarly, the phone is listed with brightness levels of up to 420 nits.

Samsung Galaxy F62 Color options

Even though the phone features a massive battery, the phone is just 9.5mm thick. The rear panel sports a laser gradient design and is available in three color options – Laser Green, Laser Blue, and Laser Blue.

Camera

At the back, the device has a square camera module that houses the quad-camera setup. Samsung has used a 64MP sensor for the main camera. It will be accompanied by a 12MP ultrawide sensor, a 5MP macro camera, and a 5MP depth sensor.  On the front, there is a 32MP selfie camera.

Samsung Galaxy F62 Camera Setup

The camera setup looks a lot like what we had in the Galaxy M51. However, the use of the new processor and its Image Signal Processor (ISP) could result in a different experience. Also, users get to enjoy features like Single Take, Smart Crop, Hyperlapse, and Boomerang.

Rest of the Specs

Just like the M51, the F62 has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor even though it has an AMOLED panel. It is available in two RAM variants – 6GB and 8GB. Both variants feature 128GB of internal storage. The phone ships with Android 11 with One UI 3.1 on top. It also has the Samsung Knox for added security.

Samsung Galaxy F62 Battery

Another talking point of the device is its battery. The phone features a massive 7,000mAh battery and Samsung is shipping it with a 25W fast charger.  There is a USB Type-C port at the bottom of the device. It is placed between the 3.5mm headphone jack and the speaker grill.

Samsung Galaxy F62 Specifications:

  • Display: 6.7-inches Super AMOLED Plus “Infinity-O”
  • Resolution: FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio
  • RAM: 6/8GB
  • Storage: 128GB (expandable)
  • Software & UI: One UI 3.1 on top of Android 11
  • Rear Camera: Quad-camera;
    – 64MP primary lens
    – 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens
    – 5MP depth sensor
    – 5MP macro sensor
    – LED flash
  • Front Camera: 32MP (punch-hole)
  • Security: Physical fingerprint sensor (side-mounted)
  • Audio: 3.5mm headphone jack, loudspeaker, Dolby Atmos
  • Battery: 7000mAh with 25W fast charging

Samsung Galaxy F62 Price in Nepal & Availability

Samsung has just launched the Galaxy F62 in India with a starting price of INR 23,999 and INR 25,999 for the 6/128GB and 8/128GB variant respectively. The sale will start on February 22nd. Samsung Galaxy F62 could launch as Galaxy M62 in Nepal and we expect its price to start at around NPR 42,499.

Samsung Galaxy F62 Price in India Price in Nepal (Expected)
6/128GB INR 23,999 NPR 42,499
8/128GB INR 25,999 NPR 45,499
  • Check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy M51.

INSIGHT: New two-step test proposed for COVID-19 detection at home

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INSIGHT: New two-step test proposed for COVID-19 detection at home

A swift and accurate detection test is very important when it comes to battling a global pandemic like that of COVID-19. It allows the medical team to detect illness, support patients, and limit the spread of the disease. Currently, there are two major methods for testing COVID-19 – molecular test and antigen test. And now, researchers at Wellcome Sanger Institute have devised a new test called the INSIGHT that will allow patients to conduct COVID-19 test themselves and get preliminary result inside two hours.

COVID-19: Current Testing Methods:

The two most popular tests for COVID-19 infection involves taking nasal swabs from patients. In molecular tests, researchers look for genetic materials of the virus, which when detected confirms the infection. On the other hand, in antigen tests, researchers look for viral proteins instead. Antigen tests are simpler in nature and can provide results faster but are less accurate than molecular tests.

The problem with these tests is that they cannot be conducted at home. These tests require special equipment and are mostly conducted in laboratories by professional medical teams. Different research teams around the world are working on near-patient tests but they have not been that effective as the data collection is still centralized. There has always been some kind of delay between the test and its result.

INSIGHT Test for COVID-19

Researchers at Wellcome Sugar Institute have put forward INSIGHT as the possible solution for the present scenario. It makes use of both isothermal NASBA and Next Generation Sequencing techniques.

Stage 1

The test is carried out in two steps among which the first is the isothermal NASBA (Nucleic Acid Sequence-based Amplification). During this phase, a sample of the patient’s saliva is taken using a home-based kit at the point of care. According to the researchers, the isothermal NASBA reaction is able to amplify viral RNA to a detectable level within two hours. They have also claimed that the new test is as sensitive as the popular RT-PCR test but doesn’t require complex equipment.

INSIGHT COVID-19 Test Step 1

However, it could still be prone to false-negative and false-positive results. That is why the second step tests the validation of the results of the first test.

Stage 2

The second test reduces the risk of home testing errors. This process involves sending the sample to a laboratory by stamping a readable DNA barcode to the RNA sample. There, researchers will sequence tens of thousands of samples simultaneously to detect COVID-19 inside 12 hours.

INSIGHT COVID 19 Test Stage 2

Advantages

The new INSIGHT test for COVID-19 has numerous advantages over the RT-PCR test.  First, taking a saliva sample is a lot easier than a nasal sample. The latter is difficult to carry out correctly and it can also be an uncomfortable experience for the patients. Thus, there is always a possibility of inaccurate results.

Also, it doesn’t require complex tools to carry out. Researchers have proposed fluorescence and dipstick readout for the NASBA tests which they believe can be fitted inside a home-kit. INSIGHT method is also flexible. For instance, stage 1 and stage 2 can be used simultaneously or as independent tests on the basis of the availability of the equipment and testing laboratories.

Moving Forward

Here, the INSIGHT test for COVID-19 is already a finalist in the XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing competition with a prize pool of $6 million. The team of researchers is now working on patient samples for the validation of INSIGHT. After this, they will work on home-based kits to be used by patients at home.

  • Also, check out our review of the Xiaomi Mi 10i.

Vivo Y12s now available in Nepal; exceeds pre-booking expectations

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Vivo Y12s now available in Nepal; exceeds pre-booking expectations

Vivo announced the pre-booking of its budget-centric Vivo Y12s in Nepal last week. The Chinese smartphone giants offered some attractive pre-booking deals like Rs.1000 cashback and lucky draw, where you get a chance to win Vivo Y12s (3 people), NPR 2,500 cashback (100 people), and one-month screen replacement (500 people). Because of all this, more than 3000 buyers pre-booked the phone, over-achieving the sale target by over 50%. And now, the phone is officially available for purchase.

Vivo Y12s Overview:

Design and Display

Vivo Y12s Design

Vivo Y12s sports a 6.51-inch IPS LCD with an HD+ resolution of 1600 x 720. The Halo FullView display has a waterdrop notch on the top that encloses the selfie camera. The bezels around the screen are quite noticeable. It is more profound on the bottom chin. The device also has a protection mode that filters out the harmful blue rays when activated.

The rear panel has a gradient finish and is available in two color options – Glacier Blue and Phantom Black. It has a left-aligned vertical camera module that also houses the LED finish. The phone also has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

Performance and Camera

Y12s is powered by the MediaTek Helio P35 that is already two years old. Even at this price range, other smartphone manufacturers have moved towards Helio G-series chipsets that are better optimized for gaming. That being said, the phone will be available in a single memory configuration of 3/32GB. The storage can be expanded further using an external microSD card. Vivo has included Multi-Turbo 3.0 for better resource management (RAM, Network, CPU, and GPU) while gaming.

Vivo Multi Turbo 3.0

Camera

At the back, the phone has two camera sensors that are arranged vertically inside the rectangular camera module. A 13MP primary leads the dual-camera setup. It has an aperture of f/2.2. It is accompanied by a 2MP depth sensor (f/2.4). On the front, there is an 8MP selfie camera with an f/1.8 aperture. It is also used for the Face Wake feature.

Vivo Y12s dual camera setup

Rest of the specs

Vivo Y12s has a 5,000mAh battery that charges via a micro USB port. There is no fast charging but it supports 5W reverse charging if you want to supply power to other devices. The phone ships with FunTouch OS 11 based on Android 10. It supports dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0.

Vivo Y12s Specifications:

  • Display: 6.51-inches “Halo FullView” HD+ (1600 x 720)
  • Chipset: Helio P35 (12nm)
  • RAM: 3/4GB
  • Storage: 32/128GB; microSD slot (dedicated)
  • Software & UI: Android 10 with Funtouch OS 11 on top
  • Rear Camera: Dual;
    – 13MP primary lens,
    – 2MP depth sensor
  • Front Camera: 8MP sensor
  • Fingerprint sensor: Physical (side-mounted)
  • Audio: 3.5mm audio jack
  • Battery: 5000mAh battery with 10W Charging (micro USB port)
  • Colors: Phantom Black and Glacier Blue

Vivo Y12s Price in Nepal and Availability

Vivo Y12s is now available in Nepal for the price of NPR 17,999. This price is for the 3/32GB variant. You can buy the phone from Daraz and various Vivo retail outlets all over the nation.

Vivo Y12s Price in Nepal (Official)
3/32GB NPR 17,999

  • Also, check out our review of the Vivo V20.

Motorola Moto E6i with entry-level specs is now official in Brazil

GadgetByte
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0
Motorola Moto E6i with entry-level specs is now official in Brazil

Motorola has just launched the Moto E6i in Brazil. It is the latest device in the budget-oriented E lineup and sports entry-level specs. Let’s take a look at the specs, features, expected price, and availability of Moto E6i in Nepal.

Motorola Moto E6i Overview:

Here, the Moto E6i sports a 6.1-inch Max Vision screen. This HD+ display has a waterdrop notch on the top for the selfie camera. Since it is an entry-level phone, the bezels around the quite thick. It is more evident on the bottom chin.

Moto E6i Design

At the back, there is a pill-shaped module that houses the secondary sensor and the LED flash. The primary camera is placed just above it. Towards the bottom, there is a speaker grill. Also, we get to see the fingerprint sensor with the company’s branding on it. The phone is available in two colors – Titanium Gray and Pink.

The phone is powered by the UNISOC Tiger SC9863A chipset. It is an octa-core processor with a clock speed of up to 1.6GHz. Don’t expect much on the performance front as it just an entry-level SoC. Thus, Motorola has included the Go Edition of Android 10. Talking about memory, the phone comes with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. You can even expand the latter using an external microSD card.

Moto E6i Internal Specs

The dual-camera setup on the back consists of a 13MP primary sensor. It is accompanied by a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, Motorola has included a 5MP selfie camera which is enclosed by the waterdrop notch.

Moto E6i is powered by a moderate 3,000mAh battery that supports 10W charging via a micro USB port. Other features of the phone include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Specifications:

  • Dimension: 155.6 x 73 x 8.5mm; 160g
  • Display: 6.1-inches Max Vision HD+ panel
  • Chipset: UNISOC Tiger SC9863A (1.6GHz Octa-Core)
  • RAM: 2GB
  • Storage: 32GB
  • Software & UI: Android 10 Go
  • Rear Camera:
    – 13MP primary lens
    – 2MP depth sensor
    – LED flash
  • Front Camera: 5MP
  • Security: Physical fingerprint sensor (rear-mounted)
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth 4.2
  • Audio: 3.5mm headphone jack, loudspeaker
  • Battery: 3000mAh with 10W charging

Motorola Moto E6i Price in Nepal and Availability

Moto E6i has been launched in Brazil for R$ 1,099 for the 2/32GB which is approximately 24,000 in Nepalese Rupee. However, the Motorola Moto E6i may have a cheaper price tag in Nepal if it’s launched here as electronics, in general, are expensive in Brazil because of taxation.

Smartphone Model Price in Brazil Expected Price in Nepal
Motorola Moto E6i R$ 1,099 NPR 15,000
  • Check out our review of the Moto E7 Plus (Nepali).

Redmi 9 Power Review: Great Value, Terrific Battery

Nikhil Shrestha
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Redmi 9 Power Review: Great Value, Terrific Battery

Xiaomi recently launched Redmi 9 Power in Nepal as the direct successor of the Redmi 9 and Poco M2. It brings a Snapdragon chipset, a bigger 6000mAh battery, and a 48MP camera, which looks like a great deal for the asking price of Rs. 18,999. Anyway, is it any better than its predecessors? Is it the best smartphone under Rs. 20,000 in Nepal? Let’s find out in our review of the Redmi 9 Power.

Redmi 9 Power Specifications:

  • Body: 6.39 x 3.04 x 0.38 inches, 198 gm
  • Display: 6.53-inches IPS LCD, 395PPI, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light certification
  • Resolution: FHD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels), 19.5:9 aspect ratio
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 (11nm Mobile Platform)
  • CPU: Octa-core (4×2.0 GHz Kryo 260 Gold & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 260 Silver)
  • Memory: 4GB RAM, 64GB UFS 2.1/128GB UFS 2.2 storage (expandable)
  • Software & UI: MIUI 12 on top of Android 10
  • Rear Camera: Quad-camera;
    – 48MP, f/1.79 primary lens
    – 8MP, f/2.2 wideangle lens
    – 2MP, f/2.4 depth sensor
    – 2MP, f/2.4 macro sensor
    – LED flash
  • Front Camera: 8MP, f/2.0 lens (notch)
  • Audio: 3.5mm headphone jack, stereo speaker, Hi-Res audio
  • Connectivity: Dual-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
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient Light, Proximity, Vibration Motor, IR Blaster, Proximity
  • Battery: 6000mAh with 18W charging (22.5W brick inside the box)
  • Color options: Mighty Black, Blazing Blue, Electric Green, Fiery Red
  • Price in Nepal: Rs. 18,999 (4/64GB) | Rs. 20,999 (4/128GB) | Rs. 21,999 (6/128GB)

Redmi 9 Power Review:

Before moving forward with the review, you might know that Redmi 9 Power and POCO M3 that we recently reviewed are basically the same phones. So, I will be keeping this review short and will be referring to the POCO M3 on multiple occasions. And as you’d expect, things are eerily similar between these devices.

Here, the only differentiating factor among these devices is their design and how Redmi 9 Power comes with a wide-angle sensor that the POCO M3 lacks. Also, the latter is available in either 4/6GB RAM whereas Redmi’s alternative doesn’t get the 6GB option.

Design & Build

  • Glass front, polycarbonate back, plastic frame

Starting with the design, the phone has a big “Redmi” branding on the rear panel. To me, it looks kinda off-putting, to be honest. Its traditional textured layout does feel nice on the hand though. Besides this, the port selection gets a decent overhaul compared to other entries in the Redmi 9 series. Specifically, it gets a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

And yeah, although it’s a more ergonomic implementation, I have always been fond of the traditional fingerprint sensor placement. Thankfully, you can switch between how to actually trigger the sensor—simply by touching it or with the click of the button. If its speed doesn’t float your boat, you can go for face unlock too. In terms of design, this phone also has a water-repellent coating.

Display

  • 6.53-inches FHD+ IPS LCD screen
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection

Moving on to the display, you get a 6.53-inches IPS screen with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 protection. As expected from Xiaomi, it’s an FHD screen, and being the budget phone that it is—you’re greeted with a teardrop notch for the front-facing camera.

Redmi 9 Power - Display [1]

The display itself is pretty good though. There’s no visible pixelation and things look adequately sharp. And a piece of good news if you stream videos from different streaming platforms, the Redmi 9 Power is Widevine L1 certified and can therefore play HD videos. Like always, Xiaomi opts for a slight boost in colors but you can easily make up for the fact under the display settings. Besides this, it has a decent viewing angle and brightness is decent for a budget phone as well.

Performance

  • Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 SoC (11nm)
  • 4GB LPDDR4X RAM with up to 128GB storage (expandable)

Let’s move on to performance. Like the POCO M3, Redmi 9 Power is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 662 as well. There’s no Redmi 8 Power to compare it against so we can’t go down the “upgrade” route. This 11nm silicon is pretty power-efficient compared to the Helio G80 found in Xiaomi’s similarly price smartphones. Here, the Snapdragon 662 has been paired with 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage.

Redmi 9 Power - Design [1]

And depending on the memory variant, they feature different storage protocols. The 64GB option gets UFS 2.1 storage whereas the 128GB variant enjoys the newer UFS 2.2 protocol. Our review unit of the Redmi 9 Power features 64GB storage.

Let’s take a look at some benchmark scores:

Test POCO M2 Redmi 9 Power
Androbench Seq. Read 312.58MB/s 513.27MB/s
Seq. Write 255.92MB/s 202.95MB/s
AnTuTu v8 Total 204202 183351
CPU 73222 70713
GPU 43089 34880
Memory 44402 41178
UX 43489 36580
Geekbench 5 CPU (Single Core) 344 315
CPU (Multi-Core) 1348 1362
Compute (OpenCL) 1152 373
PCMark (Work 2.0 Performance) 8846 6097
3DMark (Wild Life) N/A 371

As you could see, the Snapdragon 662 on the Redmi 9 Power lags behind the Helio G80 on the POCO M2/Redmi 9. While you won’t notice the difference upon light usage, bring multitasking, gaming into the mix—and you’re heading towards a slight disappointment. And the resource-heavy MIUI isn’t helping either.

Gaming Experience

Fortunately, Redmi 9 Power is immune to any form of bloatware and Xiaomi even ships certain apps like Google’s Phone, Messages by default. In terms of gaming, non-demanding titles don’t do much to the phone but titles like PUBG Mobile and COD Mobile do take a toll.

Redmi 9 Power - UI

Here, you can play PUBG Mobile at up to Smooth graphics/High frame rate or Balanced graphics/Medium frame rate. The gameplay is fairly smooth on either setting but you’re gonna notice slight stutters every now and then. On the other hand, COD Mobile maxes out at Very High graphics/High frame rate—although I would highly suggest you dial down the graphics settings down to Medium for balanced gameplay.

Cameras

  • Quad camera setup at the back
  • (48MP primary, 8MP wide, 2MP depth, 2MP macro)
  • 8MP selfie camera inside the teardrop notch

Okay, let’s now talk about the cameras. Redmi 9 Power is a quad-cam device led by a 48MP primary lens, an 8MP ultrawide sensor, and two 2MP sensors for depth, macro images. Since the camera performance of Redmi 9 Power and POCO M3 is exactly the same, you can refer to our review of POCO M3 for this.

Wideangle Images

Yet, as I mentioned earlier, Redmi 9 Power also hosts a wideangle sensor. Here, the images from the POCO M2 look slightly washed out whereas the Redmi 9 Power manages to produce more pleasant-looking shots with better dynamic range. Like the primary images, things look much more natural on the Redmi 9 Power as well.

Battery

  • 6000mAh battery with 18W fast charging

Getting into the battery, Redmi 9 Power is fueled by a massive 6000mAh cell. With this, the phone will easily last you through the day—even under a high workload. I consistently managed to get around 7 – 8 hours of screen on time. Moreover, even though you’re getting a big battery, it isn’t as unwieldy or uncomfortable as the POCO X3 with similar battery size.

Redmi 9 Power - Display [2]

In terms of charging, you get a 22.5W power adapter inside the box although the phones only support 18W of maximum power. With this, it takes around 2 hours 48 minutes to completely juice up the phone from 0 to 100%.

Audio

  • Stereo speaker setup, Hi-Res audio certified
Another interesting aspect of the Redmi 9 Power is its stereo speaker with an earpiece acting as a secondary speaker. Although they don’t work as a left and right channel, the audio quality is quite good considering its price.

Conclusion

To conclude it all, as we’ve discovered throughout this review, Redmi 9 Power is an excellent budget phone. It’s got good cameras, a great battery, and an acceptable design. Moreover, the Redmi 9 Power offers a FullHD display which none of the brands at this price are offering in the Nepali market. Because of all this, the Redmi 9 Power is one of the best phones under Rs. 20,000 right now. Yet, it’s priced quite close to the much powerful Redmi Note 9 which offers much better performance overall.

Redmi 9 Power Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Great value—an easy recommendation
  • Crisp, Full-HD resolution display
  • Decent camera quality for the price
  • Nice, power-efficient performance
  • Terrific battery life, 18W fast charging

Cons:

  • The “Redmi” branding looks cartoonish
  • Closely priced against the Redmi Note 9

Hands-on video of Mi 11 Ultra reveals 120x AI camera and a secondary screen

GadgetByte
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0
Hands-on video of Mi 11 Ultra reveals 120x AI camera and a secondary screen

Back in December 2020, Xiaomi unveiled the Mi 11 in China, which was also the first device to be powered by the flagship-level Snapdragon 888 processor. There were talks of an Ultra model in the Mi 11 lineup which never made it to the launch event. The device has been popping on the internet in the form of leaks. Today, we will be taking a look at all the rumors and leaks surrounding the specs, features, and availability of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra Rumors Roundup:

The biggest chunk of information comes from a Youtube channel called Tech Buff PH that is based in the Philippines. In a video that has since been taken down, the YouTuber shared a hands-on video of the upcoming Xiaomi flagship.

The main talking point of the device has been the camera bump that extends across the top portion of the rear panel. It houses the triple camera setup, the triple LED flash and a secondary screen. According to the leak, the camera setup includes a 50MP primary camera, a 48MP ultrawide sensor, and a 48MP periscope lens. You can even see the “120X Ultra Pixel AI Camera” written on the side of the periscope lens.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra Camera Leaks

Getting to the secondary display, it looks to be a color screen capable of displaying the contents of the main display. We don’t know its purpose yet but we can assume it will be helpful in taking selfies from the rear camera.

On the front, the device sports a 6.8-inch curved OLED panel with WQHD+ resolution. The panel supports an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. Similarly, there is a left-aligned cutout for the 20MP selfie camera. The phone has IP68 certification against water and dust.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra Display Leaks

Like the regular Mi 11, the Ultra also packs the Snapdragon 888 chipset. Fueling the device is a massive 5,000mAh battery. The phone supports a charging speed of up to 67W (wired and wireless). Similarly, it also supports 10W reverse wireless charging.

Specifications (Rumored):

  • Display: 6.81-inches curved OLED panel; 120Hz Refresh Rate
  • Resolution: WQHD+
  • Chipset: Snapdragon 888; 5nm Mobile Platform
  • Software & UI: MIUI 12.5 on top of Android 11
  • Rear Camera: Quad-camera;
    – 50MP primary shooter
    – 48MP digital zoom telephoto lens
    – 48MP ultra-wide sensor
  • Front Camera: 20MP lens; Punch-hole
  • Security: In-display Fingerprint Scanner
  • Audio: Dual Stereo speakers by Harmon Kardon; Hi-Res Audio
  • Battery: 5000mAh with 67W fast charging; 67W Wireless Charging, 10W reverse charging

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra Expected Launch Date

While there is no information about the official pricing and the launch date of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, the phone was recently spotted in the EEC and BIS certifications listing suggesting a possible launch in a few months.

  • Also, check out our review of the Xiaomi Mi 10i.

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