Around a week after its official unveiling, the Samsung Galaxy S21 series is finally available for pre-order in Nepal. Like always, Samsung Nepal has announced exciting freebies for those who enroll in the pre-booking. Not only this, but Samsung is also offering EMI facilities, online payments, discounts on popular services for early customers. There will also be a lucky draw among pre-orders customers, the winner of which will get one business class round trip to the EU from Turkish Airlines. In this post, we will be taking a look at the features of the new S21 Series and deep dive into the pre-booking process and associated costs and offers.
Samsung S21 Series Overview
The Samsung S21 Series is the successor to the S20 series that was launched last year. Like last year, the flagship series from Samsung features three new smartphones – S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra. The S21 and S21+ are very similar to each other whereas Samsung has placed the S21 Ultra as a more premium option than the two.
Display
The S21 series features edge-to-edge Dynamic AMOLED displays with center-placed punch-hole cutouts. All three devices support variable refresh rates upto 120Hz. The display on the S21 is the smallest at just 6.2-inch followed by the 6.7-inch display on the S21 Plus. The screen on the S21 Ultra measures 6.8-inch. While the screens of S21 and S21+ maxes out at FHD, the one on the S21 Ultra has QHD+ resolution. All the S21 series get the Gorilla Glass Victus treatment to protect the display from drops and scratches.
Performance
The global variant of the series comes with the Exynos 2100 chipset. With the new chipset, Samsung has ditched its custom Mongoose cores and opted for the Arm Cortex design. It is based on Samsung’s 5nm chipset and features one Cortex X1 cores, three Cortex A78 cores, and four Cortex A55 cores. Unlike last year, the S21 series units launching here feature integrated 5G modem and thus, are 5G ready. The phones ship with Android 11 with Samsung’s OneUI 3.1 on top. Samsung has added a chip-level solution along with Knox Vault for security.
Camera
Talking about the cameras, the S21 and S21+ feature a triple-camera setup consisting of three 12MP sensors. Samsung has improved the camera and AI features making it more convenient for users to take their favorite shots. Similarly, the Space Zoom has been further improved to yield better shots at 30x zoom.
The S21 Ultra, on the other hand, has a 108MP camera that lets users take 12-bit HDR photos with better color and wider dynamic range. It is accompanied by an ultra-wide camera and dual Telephoto lenses. The latter helps the phone achieve 100x Space Zoom. The S21 Ultra has some additional features like the Ultra-WideBand connectivity and support for the S pen which are both first for the series.
Samsung S21 Series Price in Nepal, Payment, and Availability
Now to the part you were all waiting for. Samsung Nepal has priced the Galaxy S21 and S21+ at NPR 109,000, and NPR 129,999, respectively for the 8/256GB variant. The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, on the other hand, has a price tag of NRP 154,999 for the 12/256GB variant in Nepal. Samsung Nepal is offering one-time breakage insurance for 1 year for each purchase.
Prebooking ends on the 4th of Feb, 2021. You can pre-order any of the three S21 smartphones via the order page of Samsung Nepal. All you need to do is deposit pre-booking fee of NPR 5,000. This time around you can use online payment to pay for the pre-booking. The online payment partners for the pre-booking for the S21 series are Esewa and CellPay.
Also, Samsung Nepal is offering an EMI facility starting from NPR 9,200 with a 0% interest rate. As of now, the offer is available through select Samsung Brand store through 5 banks – NIC Asia, NIBL, Sanima, Nabil, and Global IME. NIBL is also offering an additional cashback of NPR 2500 for the first 150 EMI customers.
Samsung also has an exchange facility from Arko Store and IMS Smart. Customers can get additional benefits worth Rs. 3,000 if they trade in their old phones.
Samsung S21 Series
Price in Nepal (Official)
Availability
S21 (8/256GB)
NPR 109,999
Available for Pre Booking from
Samsung Nepal
Daraz
SmartDoko
SastoDeal
E-Sewa
Authorized Retail Stores
S21+ (8/256GB)
NPR 129,999
S21 Ultra (12/256GB)
NPR 154,999
S21 Series Pre-Booking in Nepal: Gifts and Offers
All the pre-bookers will receive Samsung’s latest SmartTag (Rs. 2,599) location tracker for free. Furthermore, they will also get exciting discounts on Galaxy Buds Pro (Rs. 25,300), Tab A 8.0 2019 (Rs. 19,099), Tab A7 LTE (Rs. 34,999), and Watch 3 (Rs. 54,999). Out of them, users can choose only one. The discount varies depending upon the device that you pre-book.
Additional Offers:
Up to 7% discount on Business Class and up to 5% discount on Economy Class on Turkish Airlines
1 bottle of wine and 1-hour boating (two times) if staying at Himalayan Front Pokhara or Waterfront Resort by KGH group.
10% Discount on Food & Beverage at Thamel Kitchen.
15% Discount on bakery items at Aloft.
15% off on total bill by Himalayan Java.
2 cups of Illy Coffee at Mezze.
10% Discount on total bill and a welcome drink by Trisara.
10% Discount by IMS Lil Smiles.
Up to NPR 500 off by Jeevee on purchase bill of at least NPR 3,000.
20% off on all services by Let Me In for two times.
250 points on linking bank account from CellPay.
Lucky Draw
In addition to all the freebies and discounts, all pre-order customers will be eligible for a special lucky draw with the following prizes of winners:
1st Prize: One Business class round trip ticket to EU from Turkish Airlines.
2nd and 3rd Prize: Two nights complimentary stay at Himalayan Front Hotel or Waterfront Resort on BB basis for a couple.
4th Prize: Gift voucher worth Rs. 10,000 from Let Me In.
5th Prize: One dinner voucher for two at Thamel Kitchen by Marriott Hotel.
Similarly, ten lucky winners will get three units of Samsung Galaxy SmartTag.
So, what do you think of the Samsung S21 series in Nepal? Are the available variants adequate? Do the price tags justify the specs? And finally, can these perks convenience potential consumers to pay in advance? Let us know in the comments section.
Samsung took a gamble with the Galaxy Buds Live with its radical design and a half baked ANC. And yeah… that didn’t pay off very well. While its degree of comfort still ranks among the best, the Buds Live disappointed spectacularly when it came to audio quality and Samsung’s first attempt at noise-canceling earbuds. Fast forward half a year later and we already have a new pair of wireless earbuds from the company. Galaxy Buds Pro is Samsung’s best entry in this segment yet, and an unwavering competitor to Apple’s AirPods Pro. Four generations in, has Samsung finally cracked the code with the Pro? Let’s find out in this review of the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Specifications:
Body:
Earbud: 19.5 x 20.5 x 20.8 mm, 6.3 grams (each)
Charging case: 50 x 50.2 x 27.8 mm, 44.9 grams
Color options: Phantom Violet, Phantom Black, Phantom Silver
Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Hall, Touch, Voice Pickup Unit
Price in Nepal: Rs. 25,300
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Review:
Design & Comfort
Small, minimalistic earbuds, charging case
IPX7 sweat and water resistance
Like I mentioned earlier, the entire entries in the Galaxy Buds lineup have been a proven winner when it comes to design and comfort. Samsung’s little experiment with the beans was a bit of a misfire. But it certainly made for a bunch of memes—and a pair of really comfortable earbuds. Well, the company is going back to its roots with the Buds Pro. Not exactly. I will say its design aesthetics has more in common with the Buds+ but Samsung has made some changes.
It still has a canal-type design but these eartips come with an oval shape. And well, these certainly don’t fit as nice as the Buds Live or the Buds+ before it. The latter had a nice ear wing making for a more secure fit. And sadly, that level of comfort doesn’t reciprocate with the Buds Pro—at least in my ears. I tried juggling through other sizes of ear tips but couldn’t find the optimal fit. Ultimately, the large-sized ear tips were more comfortable than the rest; although I’m yet to achieve the best fit Samsung would’ve wanted me to.
Now IPX7 sweat, water resistance
At 6.3 grams, the Galaxy Buds Pro weighs just as much as the Buds+. These earbuds manage to stay quite firm in your ears and won’t come off when you’re jogging either. With the level of seal I managed to achieve, I was pretty impressed with its passive noise isolation. Anyway, what’s also impressive here is the IPX7 water resistance. While every other Galaxy Buds in the past made do with IPX2 water resistance, this is quite the upgrade.
With this, you could take the Buds Pro to your workout sessions, out in the rain, or even take a dive in the pool… for some reason. Regardless, I’m still not a fan of the glossy touch-sensitive front that Samsung favors in its wireless earbuds, although the color options are quite neat. Besides Phantom Black and Silver, the Phantom Violet variant that’s on my ears are rather premium-looking.
Seeing how petite these are, you might be worried about losing them. But Samsung has integrated the “Find My Earbuds” feature on the Galaxy Buds Pro. Here, if you misplace them nearby, you can ring either earbud via the Galaxy Wearable app. Or, if you own a Samsung phone, this is fortified via the SmartThings app. This integration takes finding your misplaced/lost earbuds to the next level as you even get the “last seen” location of the Buds on the said app.
Svelte charging case
Thankfully, Samsung has borrowed the exceptionally minimalistic case design of the Buds Live. This squarish design is still some of the most pocketable ones out there; a polar opposite of the one that the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds come in.
Moving on, Buds Pro’s case is made from recycled plastic and has a nice matte finish to it. The front houses an LED battery indicator while you’ll find a USB Type-C port for charging at the back. Opening up the case, you’ll notice another LED battery indicator—this time for the earbuds themselves. Moreover, there is no Left and Right index inside the case. The magnets holding the earbuds in place are surprisingly firm and won’t let go that easily.
And yeah, the Galaxy Buds Pro can also juice up via wireless charging. So yeah, it’s a really well thought out pair of premium wireless earbuds with an austere design language that values comfort and portability above everything else.
Pairing
Bluetooth v5.0 wireless connection
Auto Switch between Samsung devices
Pairing the Buds Pro with is as simple as usual. Equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, the Buds Pro will be visible for pairing on your Android or iOS device right after you open up the charging case. No need to press down on any kind of button—even for initial pairing. Having said that, the companion app for these earbuds isn’t available on iOS.
So, although you will be able to connect and stream music on your iPhone, fine-tuning these earbuds won’t be possible. And I’m pretty sure iOS support isn’t coming in the future either as Samsung looks to amplify the appeal of its own ecosystem of products. For Android users, you’ll need to download the Galaxy Wearable app alongside its plugin. With this, you’ll get access to different controls like equalizer, ambient sound, ANC, etc.
Auto Switch is an incompetent substitute for multipoint connectivity
While we’re on the subject of connectivity, the Buds Pro also introduces something called “Auto Switch”. This is just another added bonus to users with Samsung smartphones or tablets. Say you’re watching a movie on your Galaxy Tab S7 and get a call on your phone, the Buds Pro will then automatically switch the connection to the phone for making the call and switch back to the tablet once the call is over. Now even though this is not as effective as a multi-point connection in other wireless earbuds like the Jabra Elite 85T, it is sorta efficient for those in the Samsung ecosystem. Also, this feature currently only works with Samsung devices running One UI 3.1 or later.
Controls
A touch interface on each earbud
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the controls. Like every other Galaxy Buds in the past, this one has a touch interface on the sides—which supports tap and long-press gestures. And yeah, these are still a tad bit more sensitive than you’d want. As a result, I would inadvertently be messing with it even when I’m just trying to adjust their fit or take one out. But hey, if you want to have none of this, Samsung does let you block the touch panel entirely via the aforementioned app.
Controls
Equalizer
Hearing Enhancement
Still, these touch-sensitive controls have their own pros. It recognizes the gentlest of taps and therefore doesn’t require you to strike your ears with a painful force. One more thing I like about its controls is that you don’t need to remember what function is triggered on which earbud. All the tap controls—from skipping a track to answering a call is shared between both earbuds, and you also hear nice feedback notifying you of the number of times you tapped.
Here, a single tap controls audio playback whereas a double-tap skips a track or answer/end a call. Similarly, the Buds Pro also lets you go back to the previous track with a triple tap. Touch and hold settings can be customized inside the app where you can choose between volume controls, triggering the voice assistant, or switching between ANC and ambient sound mode.
Noise Cancellation
2 levels of Active Noise Cancellation
Ambient Sound Mode, Voice Detect
Okay, so how’s the noise cancellation on the Galaxy Buds Pro? In a word, impressive—in three words, not the best. It is miles better than the ANC on the Buds Live but still doesn’t compete against the industry leaders like Apple’s AirPods Pro or the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, which is our current pick for the best noise-canceling earbuds. Samsung claims that the Buds Pro can block 99% of the ambient sound. To test it out, we compared it against the AirPods Pro.
Like I said earlier, its ANC isn’t quite there when compared to Apple’s best. I found that the Buds Pro is mainly effective at cutting off low-frequency noises like constant hums, rumbles—while letting in mid and high-frequency sounds. Throughout the review period, I noticed how the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro managed to silence the buzz of a water pump motor in the building and the clock ticking, but would significantly let in the background TV noises. On the contrary, the AirPods Pro outdoes Samsung’s Pro with noticeably quieter performance.
Also, there’s this feeling of dissolution when you put on the AirPods Pro—as you’ve just turned off the world around you. However, that feeling is nuanced on the Buds Pro and it more feels like you’ve turned down the ambient volume instead of getting distant from it (if that makes sense). With this, I had little hope with its ANC when testing it out on a busy street. As suspected, the Buds Pro is almost helpless in such a scenario although the AirPods Pro has something to deliver.
Buds Pro has an improved Ambient Sound mode
Under the Galaxy Wearable app, you can also toggle between High and Low levels of ANC. But I couldn’t notice any difference between the two. On occasions you’d like to hear the outside world, Buds Pro also comes with an Ambient Sound mode—similar to the Transparency mode on the AirPods Pro. If you’ve watched our review of the QuietComfort Earbuds, you’d know that I prefer Apple’s implementation better. So, the Galaxy Buds Pro had big shoes to fill in. And from a certain point, it eclipses the competition.
ANC
Ambient Sound
Voice Detect
Not only does it let you hear the world around you, it even lets you amplify the ambient audio by up to +20 dB. This could come in handy in scenarios like listening to the announcement at an airport, getting in on the conversation, etc. Depending on the ambient setting, you can choose from four levels of ambient sound volume. And if you’re coming from an older generation of Galaxy Buds, the Pro’s ambient sound mode sounds a lot more natural and less robotic.
I still prefer AirPods Pro’s Transparency Mode
Despite featuring a rigid transparency mode, I like AirPods Pro’s implementation better. Apple’s take on letting in outside noise remains unmatched—at least for me. The Galaxy Buds Pro sounds just a tad bit metallic even under “low” ambient sound mode. There’s also this feature on these earbuds called “Voice Detect” which automatically dials down ANC in favor of Ambient Sound mode when you start speaking. It’s similar to the Speak-to-Chat function on Sony’s WH-1000XM4 headphone and works fine—although at times erratic.
Unlike the XM4, it does a great job at keeping itself deactivated upon yawns, coughs, or when you’re clearing your throat. Well, that might be putting it too generously. On certain occasions, the Buds Pro doesn’t live up to the former praise. I was also weirded in multiple instances when this feature seemingly activated on its own even though I wasn’t talking—but would rather pick up on the voices of the people near me. Surreal!
Having said that, it’s still a really useful feature to have—especially when you have to make small talks. You can choose to automatically switch back ANC in 5 to 15 seconds too. In terms of wireless earbuds, only the Sony WF-1000XM3 somewhat matches Buds Pro’s Voice Detect feature, while the AirPods Pro misses it out entirely. However, Sony’s “Quick Attention” requires a hands-on approach, therefore rendering Samsung’s solution all-the-more impressive.
Samsung seems to have worked a lot in the audio department as well. Just like the Galaxy Buds+, it features a dual-speaker system. There’s a 6.5mm tweeter for treble and an 11mm woofer for low-frequency audio reproduction. Despite falling under the premium wireless earbuds category, it doesn’t offer high bitrate audio codecs like Sony’s LDAC or Qualcomm’s aptX HD. So, the audiophiles might have a hard time coping with Buds Pro’s SBC, AAC, and Scalable codec.
Upon testing these earbuds with different phones like Galaxy S21 Ultra, M51, Redmi 9 Power, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max, I can also say that it sounds marginally better on Samsung devices. I don’t mean to say that the audio quality is exponentially better but you can just feel that the audio on the company’s own phones is slightly warmer and more pleasant to listen to—whereas most songs sounded a bit sharp on the Redmi 9 Power. Surprisingly, I even noticed a bit of a muddy bass on the iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Samsung’s Galaxy Buds+ already had an incredible sound profile, though it left bassheads wanting for more. With the upgraded speaker setup, the Buds Pro definitely offers a bit of a thump too. If that’s not enough, you can select the “Bass Boost” preset under the equalizer. Apart from this, it has other profiles like dynamic, clear, treble boost, etc. I would’ve liked the ability to create your own preset as well, but Samsung doesn’t let you do that just yet.
Impressive audio quality
Compared to the AirPods Pro, the audio quality between the two wireless earbuds is almost the same. It produces rumbly, punchy bass, and can get plenty loud enough as well. In Childish Gambino’s “This Is America”, the sound stage is wide enough to not overshadow the vocals. The details slowly fade away when turning the volume down and make me wish Samsung had embedded an adaptive EQ technology just like Bose did in its QuietComfort Earbuds.
Moving on to indie tracks like “Flapper Girl” by The Lumineers, the instrument separation is great. And I could enjoy keys, guitars, perfectly. But I will say that under the “Normal” equalizer preset, the tambourine in the chorus sounds a little too sharp for my ears; while it is less so on the AirPods Pro. But changing the EQ to any other preset resulted in a pleasant listening experience. I also listened to the “THX Deep Note Trailer” and the Buds Pro managed to reproduce its details and deep bass quite nice.
Furthermore, acoustic songs like Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” are fantastic to listen to in these earbuds as well. The vocal is crisp, clear while there’s a clear distinction between the vocal and the guitar too. All in all, during the review, I found that the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro has an excellent sound quality—matching that of the AirPods Pro. If there’s any contrast between the two, I’d say that the former’s audio profile is slightly livelier. To further round down the differences, Samsung has also introduced 360 Audio with these earbuds; similar to Apple’s Spatial Audio.
360 Audio to take on Apple’s Spatial Audio
Using the built-in accelerometer and the gyroscope, Dolby Head Tracking technology keeps you in the center of the action. Sadly, this feature is exclusive to Samsung phones for now. I tried it on the S21 Ultra and maybe it was due to my noviceness to the tech, it felt rather unusual at first. Especially when I would make a sharp movement. But after a while, you get used to it, and let me tell you—it is wild.
The shift in audio’s direction is almost instantaneous and the level of immersiveness it introduces is breathtaking. I didn’t notice a loss in audio quality, all-the-while the phone/tablet or any other device you’re connected to stays at the center of the surround sound experience.
360 Audio
Gaming Mode
Off
On
If you’re a gaming enthusiast, it also has a dedicated “Game Mode” for reduced latency. Unfortunately, this is restricted to the company’s ecosystem of products too. It does reduce the latency by a fair margin but I would still hesitate to put it on for competitive gaming. Using the “Earbuds Delay Test” app, I recorded the latency to be around +200ms on average. On the flip side, turning on the gaming brought it down to less than 80ms.
While I was working on this review, I also got a software update that introduced hearing enhancement on the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro. This is really helpful for those with partial hearing loss in either ear. For instance, if you have hearing loss in your left ear, you can simply slide the sound balance to the left and it will boost the audio on the left earbud.
What about the call quality?
Let’s now get into the call quality of the Galaxy Buds Pro. It has a 3 microphone in total and a dedicated voice pickup unit for clear calls. Out of the two mics on the outside, one of them is configured with a high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) to drown out the background noises. And yeah, they do the job perfectly. I didn’t receive any complaint on my phone calls—even when I was talking with my mask on outdoors.
Interestingly, these earbuds also boast Wind Shield technology which is supposed to block wind interference for clear calls. You can see the windshield chamber & mesh just below the touch area. It’s not particularly windy where I live and being cooped up in a room meant I couldn’t effectively test this out. Still, I tried simulating a windy environment by recording audio directly facing a fan. Compared to the AirPods Pro, there is a noticeable level of difference in call quality and I’m quite impressed with this feature. Yet, don’t expect much from a highly windy environment.
Battery Life
61mAh (earbud), 472mAh (charging case)
Up to 5 hours of music playback (with ANC)
USB Type-C wired, Qi wireless charging
Finally, it’s time to talk about battery life. I’ll just say this, coming from the Galaxy Buds+, Samsung has effectively written off its legacy in terms of playback time on the Buds Pro. Equipped with a smaller 61mAh cell in each earbud, the company promises up to 5 hours of continuous playback with ANC on, and an additional 3 hours with ANC off. To recall, the Buds+ was renowned for its insane 11 hours of playback.
While it didn’t have ANC, just 5 hours of rated battery endurance on the Buds Pro is a major let-down. Two hours in with ANC turned on all the while I’m shuffling through tunes at 70-90% volume, I’m already looking at just 52% charge left. And the Buds Pro would usually give up on me after approximately 4 hours and 15 minutes. So, you’ll be charging up these earbuds more often than ever. Thankfully, you can get an hour of juice with just 5 minutes of quick-charge. The charging case can add up to 13 hours or 23 hours of playtime with ANC on or off.
Conclusion
Bringing this review to a conclusion, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro is a great mix of minimalistic design, terrific audio, decent ANC, and disheartening battery life. This combo makes for a premium set of wireless earbuds and the company is charging it dearly. At $200, it is Samsung’s most expensive Galaxy Buds yet. And to answer the question if it’s worth it, I’d say yes; but only if you are in the Samsung ecosystem and own a Samsung smartphone (especially the newer ones).
From the audio quality to ANC, it’s so much better on a Samsung phone. But if you use phones from other brands, the price-tag doesn’t make much sense—mostly because of how the company has chosen to lock people into its ecosystem.
Songs referenced in the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro review:
MSI’s new Modern series of portable laptops introduced a new design aesthetics and the latest processors from Intel or AMD. It is also targeted as an entry-level option for enterprise-grade users. And here with me is the MSI Modern 14 B11SB that is powered by an Intel Tiger Lake CPU. So, just how good is it? Let’s find out more in this review of the MSI Modern 14 B11SB.
MSI Modern 14 B11SB Specifications:
Design & Build: Aluminum build, 12.56W x 8.62D x 0.67H-inches, 1.3 kg (2.87 lbs), MIL-STD-810G compliant
Color options: Carbon Gray, Blue Stone, Beige Mousse
I/O ports: 1x HDMI, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x Type-C (USB4 / DP / Thunderbolt 4) with PD charging, 1x Micro SD card reader, 1x, mic-in/headphone-out combo jack
Price in Nepal: Rs. 135,000 (8GB RAM, 512GB SSD)
MSI Modern 14 B11SB Review:
Design & Build
Thin, lightweight build
Decent port selection
Starting with the design, the MSI Modern 14 Ultrabook that I have with me is in Carbon Gray color while depending on the region, it is also available in Blue Stone or Beige Mousse options. Anyway, its case is made of aluminum with a brushed finish to it. If you have doubts about the durability, the laptop has gone through 10 different military-standard tests for durability under the MIL-STD-810G classification.
Ports [1]
Webcam
Ports [2]
If you look closely at the lid, you will notice that this one has the new sophisticated MSI logo instead of the classic MSI dragon. The old dragon logo on MSI’s business and productivity lineup looked a bit out of place so this change is a warm welcome.
Also, you will have no difficulty in opening the lid with one hand. Doing so will lift the keyboard deck for a better typing experience. It also exposes the three exhaust vents that are present on the left side, while ensuring that the vents on the bottom are not completely blocked when placed on a flat surface too.
Audio quality
There are two tiny speaker grills on either side of the bottom panel. The output is good enough to casually enjoy music while on a desk. You can further customize the speaker or any connected Bluetooth audio speakers using the Nahimic Sound app.
On the left side, you can find a power connector, a Thunderbolt Type-C port, an HDMI Connector, and a card reader. Similarly, there are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a power LED, a battery LED, and a combo audio port on the right side.
Keyboard & Trackpad
Backlit keyboard (white), 1.5mm travel
Trackpad with integrated left/right keys
Moving on, MSI Modern 14 B11SB’s keyboard is made up of plastic and it’s caved-in compared to the top and side edges. The company could have made the keyboard deck sturdier as you can notice a significant flex if you apply moderate pressure against it. However, the Ryzen variant (B4MW) is better than the Intel one in this matter.
The keyboard layout, on the other hand, looks more premium on the Intel variant. The keys here have a travel distance of 1.5mm and I feel that it offers better feedback than the Ryzen variant. Similarly, the keys on the B4MW are comparatively mushier while its decals feel amateurish and I doubt they won’t peel off over time.
Backlit keyboard
Moving on, the keyboard is also backlit with a single shade of white with three distinct levels of brightness. Some Function (F) keys along with the Caps Lock and Power come with an additional indicator that lights up when certain functions are enabled. For instance, the Power LED glows amber when the discrete GPU is in use. Oddly, the Fn key and the left control key share the real-state of a single key so it gets tricky to get either right.
Likewise, its trackpad is not the biggest but gets the job done just fine. The keys are integrated into the trackpad and I had no problem using gestures on this either.
The problem that I have here is the palm rest. You can hear a slight creak when you press on either side of the trackpad. The right side is a bit hollower and thus results in a slightly louder creak. Similarly, if you press it hard enough you can even feel the laptop tilt slightly to the right.
Display
14″ FHD LCD panel (LED-backlit)
100% sRGB (close to), 72% NTSC
As the name suggests, the Modern 14 sports a 14-inch display with an FHD resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. To those looking for a bigger screen real-estate, there’s the Modern 15. The display flexes a bit but it’s nothing to be concerned about.
The side bezels on this screen are very slim. There is a 720p HD webcam on the top which is nothing extraordinary. Similarly, the bottom bezel is home to the new MSI logo. You will hardly notice the logo even with its reflective surface.
There is this feature called “Flip and Share” that I can see being useful in offices and schools where you want to share something with your colleagues who are on the opposite side of the table or desk. Just push the screen all the way up to 180-degree and then “flip” the window using the F12 key to “share” the contents with them.
While its 72% NTSC color coverage is decent enough for regular usage, Modern 14 is not ideal for professional photographers or graphics designers. It’s a 60Hz panel and the brightness is ample for indoor usage. Yet, the visibility takes a hit when the laptop is taken outside.
With the MSI True Color, you can choose between four display profiles. The sRGB mode is selected by default. Others include – anti-blue, Movies, and Office. You can make adjustments to these pre-existing models or even create a display profile of your own.
Performance
Intel Tiger Lake Core i5-1135G7 (4 cores/8 threads)
Iris Xe (integrated), NVIDIA MX450 GPU (discrete)
Up to 32GB DDR4 RAM, Up to 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
Now let’s get into the performance. Our review unit of the MSI Modern 14 B11SB comes with an 11th-gen Intel Tiger Lake Core i5-1135G7 processor. If you need more power you can skip it for the Core i7-1165G7 variant. On the graphics front, this laptop has entry-level MX450 from NVIDIA but some models rely entirely on the Intel Iris Xe graphics for people that don’t need the dedicated GPU.
Similarly, it packs 8GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD. Unlike the Modern 15, the Modern 14 comes with a single RAM slot and thus is upgradeable only up to 32GB.
Different performance modes
Here, the Modern series is placed as an entry-level laptop in MSI’s business and productivity class and it is actually pretty great for normal day-to-day usage. There are four performance modes or user scenarios as MSI likes to call them – High Performance, Balanced, Silent, and Best Battery.
I primarily use my laptop for writing scripts, creating images to be featured on our website, and for multimedia consumption. For this, I found myself using the laptop on either Silent or Best Battery mode as the battery is one of the weak points of this laptop. But more on that in just a minute.
Most of the time, I would be using Office 365 on Microsoft Edge with additional 5 – 10 tabs active on another window. On top of this, I would occasionally play music via Spotify in the background on full volume and make small adjustments to pictures using Adobe Photoshop too. Though apps like Photoshop took more time to load, I never had other reasons to scale up the performance.
Let’s take a look at some benchmark scores of the Modern 14.
1. CrystalDiskMark
Read (MB/s)
Write (MB/s)
SEQ1M Q8T1
1977.91
974.71
SEQ128K Q32T1
1968.70
974.49
RND4K Q32T16
308.12
977.99
RND4K Q1T1
46.77
196.01
2. Geekbench 5
Single Core: 1231 | Multi-Core: 3938
Compute: 28565 (MX450)
3. CineBench R23:
Single Core: 1242 | Multi-Core: 3787
MP Ratio: 3.05x
But when you need more power, you can switch to a different performance mode using the F7 key or the MSI Center. The latter also lets you adjust panel brightness and keyboard brightness. You can even change the fan speed for the High-Performance mode.
There is also an Application optimizer that improves the performance of select apps in real-time or based on a predetermined user priority list. Being an entry-level laptop features under the MSI Center are quite limited here compared to the Prestige or Summit series.
Gaming
With the MX450, you can even play light games on the Modern 14. I was able to get 30fps on average while playing CS: GO (High graphics settings) on Balanced Mode. With the High-Performance mode on and fan speed set to Auto, the average fps was between 50 – 60 fps. The laptop does get a little hot and you can even hear the fan noise but it’s nothing concerning. Similarly, I was able to get around 30 – 40 fps on average on Valorant (Everything set to high) on Balanced Performance mode.
I compared its gaming performance against its aforementioned Ryzen counterpart and found that under similar circumstances both the laptops can achieve similar peak fps. However, the Intel variant with MX450 does a better job at maintaining average fps and also runs cooler in the process.
Battery
3-cell 52Wh Li-Ion battery
90W power adapter
The most disappointing aspect of this laptop for me its battery life. Featuring a 4-celled 52Whr battery, it only provided an average screen-on-time of 3 hours while using the device on balanced mode with 50% brightness and 100% keyboard brightness level. Depending on whether your variant comes with a discrete GPU or not, you will get either 65W or 90W power adapter in the box.
So naturally, the MSI Modern 14 B11SB comes with a 90W adapter and it is capable of charging the laptop from 0 to 100% in 2 hours. I still think MSI should have included a Type-C charger here instead of a DC-in connection.
Conclusion
As we’ve discovered throughout this review, MSI has delivered a is slim, light, and durable laptop with the Modern 14 B11SB. Featuring the latest Intel Tiger Lake processor, it can get you through daily non-demanding tasks with ease. Similarly, the discrete GPU means you can even play light games on it or run different photo editing software. However, its terrible battery life makes keeps me from recommending this laptop to any colleagues.
Xiaomi Nepal revolutionized what a budget phone can be by launching the POCO C3 and POCO M2 back in November of last year. At just Rs. 15,000, you could now buy the POCO C3 with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Because of this, the phone quickly managed to win the hearts of many in the domestic market—and managed to dethrone Samsung’s existing reign in the budget smartphone market. So, the company had to do something about it, something quick. As a result, Samsung launched the Galaxy M02s here in Nepal before anywhere else in the world and we’ll be taking a deep dive into the device in this review.
Samsung Galaxy M02s Specifications:
Body: 6.46 x 2.99 x 0.36 inches, 196 gm
Display: 6.5-inches PLS TFT LCD, 270PPI
Resolution: HD+ (1600 x 720 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (14nm Mobile Platform)
CPU: Octa-core (1.8GHz Cortex-A53)
GPU: Adreno 506
RAM: 3/4GB
Storage: 32/64GB internal storage (expandable via a dedicated microSD slot)
Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS / Glonass / Galileo / Beidou, USB Type-C, 4G LTE
Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyro, Light sensor
Battery: 5000mAh with 15W charging (10W brick inside the box)
Color options: Black, Blue, Red
Price in Nepal: Rs. 14,999 (3/32GB) | Rs. 15,999 (4/64GB)
Samsung Galaxy M02s Review:
Featuring a 4/64GB memory configuration, the phone costs one thousand more than the competition—the POCO C3. Here in this review, I’ll be discussing whether Samsung Galaxy M02s is worth the extra cash or should you stick with the trusty POCO C3. Let’s begin.
Design & Build
Glass front, plastic back, plastic frame
Rear panel with a dual-tone finish
Let’s start with the packaging, shall we? Even though the M02s supports 15W fast charging, Samsung only ships a 10W brick inside the box, so a point un-won. Looking at the two phones side-by-side, I’m personally fond of the design aesthetics of the M02s over the POCO C3. It feels slightly more ergonomic on my hand and the texture on the rear panel offers a decent grip as well.
Ports, Buttons
1 of 3
Ports, Speaker
Design
Buttons
Those who’re looking for a bold design will definitely find this red color variant more appealing. But if you want something more subtle, you can go for the black or the blue option. Regardless, this dual-tone finish looks quite attractive. And because the build quality is everything plastic on this budget phone, I expected it to scratch up pretty bad given my experience with the Galaxy M51. However, that just wasn’t the case and I felt confident enough to skip a back cover on this phone.
The camera lenses don’t protrude as much either, so that’s great. Overall, the entire smartphone industry has come a long way in the past couple of years and it’s natural to expect good design and build quality even from an inexpensive budget device. Compared to Samsung’s J-series of phones in the past, there’s a vast improvement in the design language and more importantly—the Galaxy M02s holds up pretty nice against its arch-rivals.
Display
6.5-inches HD+ PLS TFT LCD screen
270PPI, 20:9 aspect ratio
Moving on to the display, there’s not much of a difference between the quality of the panel between these devices. Both phones feature a 6.5-inch-ish LCD screen with an HD+ resolution and a 20:9 aspect ratio (POCO C3’s display measures slightly larger at 6.53-inches). Similarly, these phones have a similar teardrop notch for the 5MP front-facing camera as well.
Left: POCO C3 | Right: Galaxy M02s
Besides the likeliness in the spec-sheet, the actual quality of these screens doesn’t vary that much either. The color reproduction, viewing angles, and brightness levels are almost the same in these phones. However, the POCO C3 does take an edge with its Panda Glass protection while the Galaxy M02s doesn’t come with any.
While it’s not the best at scratch resistance or drop protection, at the end of the day, having Panda Glass protection is better than not having anything. Still, I would suggest you put on a decent tempered glass on both phones for enhanced durability.
Performance
Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC (14nm)
3/4GB RAM and 32/64GB internal storage (expandable)
On the performance side of things, surprisingly, there’s not much of a difference between the POCO C3 and the Samsung Galaxy M02s. In theory, the Helio G35 on the former with its overclocked Cortex-A53 cores (4 cores @2.3GHz, 4 cores @1.8GHz) should’ve delivered noticeable superiority in performance against the Snapdragon 450 (8 cores @1.8GHz).
Galaxy M02s
POCO C3
AnTuTu v8
97,761
109,498
Even the benchmark will push the same story. But in everyday usage, I couldn’t notice much difference. Maybe because the animations are relatively more swift on the POCO C3, its UI feels faster.
Gaming Experience
In my gaming tests though, I totally didn’t expect M02s to perform better. For example, playing PUBG Mobile under Balanced graphics and Medium frame rates, while the gameplay was choppy on the POCO C3, the M02s unexpectedly delivered a smooth gaming experience. Moreover, you can even play the game at High frame rate and Smooth graphics. So, seeing Samsung optimize its budget devices for better gameplay is quite commendable.
Likewise, COD Mobile feels optimized as well. Under Medium graphics settings and Max frames rates, there’s no noticeable lag or frame drop. Thankfully, this Qualcomm silicon doesn’t heat as much either. After an hour or more of continuous gaming, the plastic back panel does get slightly warmer but that’s not much of an issue.
Cameras
Triple-cameras at the back
(13MP primary, 2MP depth/macro)
5MP selfie shooter inside the notch
Let’s move on to the cameras now. Here as well, both phones share the exact same lens-setup.
Normal Images
Just like the POCO C3, the Samsung Galaxy M02s also features a gimmicky triple camera system. Barring the 13MP primary sensor, the remaining 2MP macro and depth lenses are pretty much useless.
Normal
1 of 8
Galaxy M02s
POCO C3
Galaxy M02s
POCO C3
Galaxy M02s
POCO C3
Galaxy M02s
POCO C3
Portrait Images
When comparing the images from the 13MP primary and the 5MP selfie shooter of the two phones, I found that the images from the POCO C3 are slightly better—especially when it comes to portrait shots and selfies.
Portrait
1 of 6
Galaxy M02s
POCO C3
Galaxy M02s
POCO C3
Galaxy M02s
POCO C3
Selfie, Portrait Selfie Images
The difference in image quality isn’t that vast though and in some instances, the M02s takes better photos.
Selfie, Portrait Selfie
1 of 12
Galaxy M02s - Selfie
POCO C3 - Selfie
Galaxy M02s - Selfie
POCO C3 - Selfie
Galaxy M02s - Selfie
POCO C3 - Selfie
Galaxy M02s - Portrait Selfie
POCO C3 - Portrait Selfie
Galaxy M02s - Portrait Selfie
POCO C3 - Portrait Selfie
Galaxy M02s - Portrait Selfie
POCO C3 - Portrait Selfie
Videography
In terms of videos, well, we can’t expect anything extraordinary from these phones. The M02s can take 1080p/30fps footage from both: front and back cameras just like the POCO 3. However, it expectedly lacks any sort of stabilization, and the details, exposure maintenance is pretty hopeless too.
While brands keep focusing on a big display, battery, bigger storage on budget phones, I feel like the camera capabilities on such category of devices are losing ground in their camera capabilities. Yeah, they now have more camera sensors but as I’ve discussed earlier or in any of our budget phone reviews, the auxiliary sensors are a pure gimmick with no added value to enhance the phone’s camera possibilities.
So, if you want considerably better cameras, I highly suggest you invest 2-3K more and go with the Redmi 9 Prime or the Motorola Moto G9 Play which are much better camera phones.
Battery
5000mAh battery with 15W fast charging (USB-C)
Finally, let’s talk about the battery life of these devices. Like in most other aspects, the POCO C3 and Galaxy M02s are powered by a similar-sized 5000mAh battery. And just like it is with POCO C3, Samsung’s alternative easily gives a day’s battery life as well—at least.
However, the Galaxy M02s does have an upper hand in this category since it features USB Type-C connection contrary to the Micro USB port on the POCO C3. What’s more, is that the M02s even supports 15W fast charging while its competition is restricted to 10W charging. But, as I said earlier, Samsung has been greedy enough to skip the fast charger inside the box itself.
So, I highly recommend you buy a decent 15W fast charger with the Galaxy M02s too since the 7.5W power adapter inside the box juices up the phone pretty slowly.
Conclusion
Let’s wrap it all up. Truth be told, Samsung’s budget phones of 2020 were pretty miserable and we’d mentioned that in our review of phones like the Galaxy M11. And with the M02s, it feels like the company is trying to rectify its errors of the past. All in all, just like other budget phones like the POCO C3 and Realme C15, the Galaxy M02s is a decent entry in this market as well.
Plus, with the added edge of Samsung over companies like Xiaomi and Realme in terms of availability, after-sales service, I feel like many people will favor the M02s over its competition. Having said that, the bigger challenge for Samsung in the future is how to keep up the momentum and up the ante when it comes to its budget phones. Offerings from different Chinese manufacturers are crazy good value for money thus a major surge in their popularity in recent years.
Seeing how the company invests heavily in R&D, it should try to create a successful formula of its own rather than try to follow the competition. Its reputation in the midrange and premium smartphone category exceeds in comparison to how Samsung is perceived in the budget market. So, only time will tell if the South Korean tech giant will be able to return to its original glory in the inexpensive phone world as well.
Watch our video review of the Samsung Galaxy M02s.
Realme recently launched two smartwatches, the Watch S and Watch S Pro. And today, I have the Watch S which is the cheaper of the two. Looking at the specs, it is definitely an upgrade from the first-gen Realme Watch, both in terms of looks and functionalities. Here, I’ll be sharing my entire experience with the Realme Watch S in this full review.
Battery Endurance: 15 days (hear rate function enabled)
Charging Type: Magnetic Charging Base
Price in Nepal: Rs. 9,999
Realme Watch S Review:
Design & Build
Aluminum alloy finish, TPU strap
IP69 dust/water resistance
Okay, coming from the Realme Watch, the new Watch S sees a big upgrade in terms of design. You get a circular form factor with a watch dial at the top that does not rotate (obviously). But unlike the plastic material on the Realme Watch, this one has an aluminum alloy finish, which does not feel cheap.
Strap
Buttons
The TPU strap is soft and comfortable and it’s available in a couple of color options. Sadly for me, I have this Black one and there aren’t other varieties available in Nepal. But in markets like Europe and India, other colorful straps will be available shortly as well.
Anyway, you get two buttons on the right frame of the Realme Watch S. The top one functions as a home/back button and also launches the menu screen, while the one at the bottom is a shortcut to the exercise menu. And I like the fact that these buttons have fairly good feedback especially coming from the Realme Watch.
Display
1.3-inches LCD panel, 278 PPI
Corning Gorilla Glass protection
360 x 360 pixels, Auto brightness
Similarly, compared to the measly 320 x 320 pixels of its predecessor, the Watch S has a 1.3” LCD screen with a 360 x 360-pixel count, making for a sharper and more pleasant display to look at. The content does not look pixelated here and the colors look really good too.
It’s not as good as the AMOLED screen on the Watch S Pro, but good enough for the price, to say the least. The company has also improved on the brightness aspect and added an auto-brightness feature which is great. Likewise, the number of available built-in watch faces has increased and I have to say that some options are really appealing. You also have the option to customize your own watch face if you’d like!
But one thing that still bugs me is how the screen response is still a bit slow. Not annoyingly slow, but it takes some time to register your touch. Maybe it’s because of the entry-level chipset it has or it’s a software thing, but I hope the company can overcome that in the future.
Now, functionality-wise, the Watch S is still a simple and basic smartwatch like its predecessor, so operating it is really easy. Swiping down from the home screen takes you to the notifications while swiping up from the bottom opens up the shortcut for all functions. Likewise, swiping left or right from the home screen takes you to the quick toggle menu and health stats.
Health, Fitness Tracking
Real-time heart rate monitoring
Blood oxygen level (SpO2) monitor
16 sport modes (including yoga, cricket)
Alright, general information aside, this time, Realme has added a few more options for exercise and now there are 16 in total. I am not that big of a fitness freak, so I only have tested a few of the exercises like walking, running, skipping, which I do on a daily basis. But other than that, you can track quite a lot of things including, basketball, football, aerobics, meditation, breathing, etc. By the way, just like it was with the Realme Watch, all your exercise stats can be viewed on your Realme Link app.
The app is basically the same as before. And I am a little disappointed that this generation of Realme Watch still doesn’t have iOS compatibility. Thus, I had to pair it with my Samsung phone which I’ve been using as my secondary device. But seeing how the premium Watch S Pro supports the iOS platform, I’m hopeful that the standard Watch S will see Apple compatibility in the coming days.
Talking about the app itself, it’s a basic one with nothing outstanding. You can view all your health stats on the home page itself, while all the settings like reminders, notifications, watch faces, etc. can be accessed by going to the settings option that is available on the top right of the app!
No built-in GPS
To adequately difference the Watch S and Watch S Pro, Realme hasn’t included a built-in GPS on this one. So, if you wish to track your trails on your exercises, you’re gonna have to use your phone’s GPS.
Now, about other health-related features, well, it’s the same as before. You get a heart rate monitor, a step and calorie counter, a sleep tracker, and a SpO2 monitor. Now, like always, I compared these functions with the Galaxy Watch Active 2 and found that the sleep tracking and step counting to be pretty accurate while I got slight variations in the Blood Oxygen data and heart rate stats. The difference isn’t that huge, so it should not be that big of a deal I guess.
Moving on, matching its predecessor, you don’t get a microphone here either. Still, the most you can do is dismiss calls from the watch. Likewise, the notifications are non-actionable too. But that is to be expected, I guess. Also, the Watch S does not support automatic detection of exercises like you find on high-end smartwatches, so you will have to do it manually which is always a bit less convenient.
Battery Life
390mAh (up to 15 days’ endurance)
Okay, among everything else, this watch certainly impresses with its battery life. Its 390mAh cell is very very promising. The company advertises saying that it can last for full 15 days with the heart rate sensor enabled. In my usage, it provided me with 12 days of usage with all my workout-tracking, which is still fantastic.
By the way, I have enabled the heart rate monitoring option to run every 5 minutes and I always use the watch in the 4th level of brightness. Charging the Realme Watch S is possible with this magnetic 2-pin circular charger and it takes more than 2 hours to juice up fully!
Conclusion
All in all, I have to say that the Realme Watch S is a very good budget fitness tracking option and definitely an upgrade over the Realme Watch. Though the upgrades are not of big magnitude, my complaint regarding the display’s pixelation and design have been addressed. As a result, I am happy with what we’ve got here.
Having said that, I still wish that the app be available on iOS devices; all the while being a little more feature-packed as well. Also, maybe Realme could focus a little more on core fitness tracking, for instance, by providing an automatic workout detection option or such.
MediaTek has announced two new chipsets under the Dimensity series. As we know, this lineup is home to the company’s flagship 5G chipsets. Here, the new Dimensity 1100 and 1200 are based on a new 6nm process node and come with improved AI, camera, and multimedia features. Let’s learn more about the specs, features, and availability of MediaTek Dimensity 1100 and 1200.
MediaTek Dimensity 1100, 1200 Overview:
With the announcement of the new Dimensity chipsets, MediaTek has switched from the 7nm process node to a newer 6nm process. They are also the first in the lineup to use Arm’s Cortex-A78 cores. These chipsets are quite similar to each other but differ in terms of their core architecture.
Dimensity 1200 CPU Architecture
Dimensity 1200 is the more premium of the two and features a 1+3+4 tri-cluster as other flagship Android chipsets from Qualcomm and Samsung. However, unlike its rivals, this chipset doesn’t make the use of the Cortex-X1 core. Instead, it relies on Cortex-A78 cores both for the prime and performance cores. The Prime Cortex-A78 core is clocked up to 3.0GHz whereas the performance A78 cores are clocked at 2.6GHz. Additionally, there are four Cortex-A55 efficiency cores clocked at 2.0GHz.
According to MediaTek, the new Dimensity 1200 has 22% better performance and 25% better efficiency compared to Dimensity 1000+.
Dimensity 1100 CPU Architecture
On the other hand, the Dimensity 1100 doesn’t have any prime cores. It is sticking to the dual-cluster arrangement as in the 1000 Plus. The difference being the inclusion of Cortex-A78 in place of A77. The efficiency cores have remained the same. MediaTek is relying on the new Cortex-A78 cores and new architectural advantage as the clock speed for the performance (2.6GHz) and efficiency cores (2GHz) have also remained unchanged.
GPU
Neither Dimensity 1100 nor 1200 is offering anything new in the GPU department. In fact, MediaTek is using the same old Mali-G77 MC9 GPU that is used in the 1000 Plus. Even core count has not been changed from 9. It’s quite odd that MediaTek did not use the latest Mali-G78 GPU that chipsets like the Exynos 1080 and 2100 are using. Furthermore, the two chipsets do not have support for LPPDR5 RAM either although they are UFS 3.1 storage compatible.
APU
Moving on, Dimensity 1100 and 1200 come with hexa-core MediaTek APU 3.0. It now comes with an upgraded multi-scheduler for enhanced multi-tasking and reduced latency. With this, MediaTek is claiming a 12.5% performance boost. The APU can handle FP16 calculations by using ten times less power than GPU. The use of API for FP16 tasks also means that the GPU is free for other operations.
ISP
Talking about the ISP, the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 can now support a sensor of up to 200MP in a single-camera configuration. On the other hand, the Dimensity 1100 supports a single-camera configuration of up to 108MP. Both chipsets support a dual-camera setup of 32MP+16MP.
Then there is “MediaTek Imagiq Camera” technology for recording and video streaming. It comes with support for multi-frame 4K HDR video that stitches frames at different exposures into a single video in real-time for better results. Similarly, the chipset can also add AI enhancements to the video in real-time.
Rest of the features
Dimensity 1200 can now support up to a 168Hz display at FHD+ resolution. On the other hand, the Dimensity 1100 supports 144Hz at the same resolution. Both chipsets support 90Hz at QHD+ resolution as well. The MiraVision display technology now includes AI SDR to HDR upscaling and enhanced HDR10+ video playback. Similarly, MediaTek has added hardware-accelerated AV1 video decoding as well. The Hyper Engine 3.0 now has support for Ray Tracing Mobile Games and AR. However, we will have to wait to see if any games will make use of it. MediaTek has not updated the integrated 5G modem thus there is no support for mmWave networks.
Comparison: Dimensity 1000 Plus vs 1100 vs 1200
1000 Plus
1100
1200
Process node
TSMC 7nm
TSMC 6nm
CPU
Dual-cluster
4x 2.6GHz Cortex-A77
4x 2.0GHz Cortex-A55
Cortex-A78 @ 2.6GHz (4x)
Cortex-A55 @ 2.0GHz (4x)
1x Cortex-A78 @ 3.0 GHz
3x Cortex-A78 @ 2.6GHz
4x Cortex-A55 @ 2.0GHz
GPU
Mali G77 MC9
APU
MediaTek APU 3.0
Modem
Helio M70 (sub-6Ghz 5G)
Camera
Single: 80MP
Dual: 32 + 16MP
Single: 108MP
Dual: 32 + 16MP
Single: 200MP
Dual: 32 + 16MP
Display
144Hz at FHD+
90Hz at QHD+
144Hz at FHD+
90Hz at QHD+
168Hz at FHD+
90Hz at QHD+
Wireless connectivity
5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1
5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
MediaTek Dimensity 1100 and 1200 Availability
Chinese smartphone makers including Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo have confirmed to use the new Dimensity 1100 and 1200 chipsets in their upcoming smartphones. We can expect phones powered by these silicons to be available in the market starting Q2 of 2021.
Here, Dimensity 1100 and 1200 are not that great of upgrades to the 1000+ and thus, are not feature-rich like its competition. Therefore, these chipsets are likely to power cheaper alternatives to flagship devices.
Vivo launched the Y20 in Nepal in September 2020 and now the company has launched another device under the Y20 lineup. The new Vivo Y20G is powered by MediaTek Helio G80 and is now available in India. But we expect Vivo to launch the device in Nepal as well. Until that happens, let’s take a look at the specs, features, expected price, and availability of Vivo Y20G in Nepal.
Vivo Y20G Overview:
Design and Display
Like the regular Y20, the Y20G sports a 6.51-inch Halo Full View display. It’s an HD+ display with an aspect ratio of 20:9. The screen has a waterdrop notch that houses the front camera. It comes with an Eye Protection Mode which when turned on blocks the harmful blue rays. The bezels around the screen are quite noticeable, especially the bottom chin.
Vivo has not changed the design much except for the new Purist Blue color option. It also retains the Obsidian Black color from the regular Y20. At the back, we get to see the rectangular camera module along with the Vivo branding.
Performance and Memory
Here, Vivo Y20G packs in MediaTek’s Helio G80 chipset. Thus, it should perform much better than the Snapdragon 460 in the Vivo Y20. Vivo claims that the Y20G is 20% better optimized than the regular Y20. The device is available in a single memory configuration of 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. There is a dedicated microSD card slot that you can use to expand the memory further.
Camera
The camera setup has remained unchanged. Y20G has a 13MP primary camera accompanied by two 2MP sensors for portrait and macro shots. It’s sad to see that Vivo still could not make room for an ultra-wide sensor. The three cameras are arranged vertically inside a left-aligned camera module.
Rest of the specs
The device is fueled by a massive battery of 5000mAh battery. Vivo has included support for 18W fast charging too. Unfortunately, Vivo is still sticking to a micro USB charging port. For biometrics, there is a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. Vivo claims that it can unlock the device in just 0.17 seconds. The phone ships with Funtouch OS based on Android 11.
Vivo Y20G Specifications:
Display: 6.51-inches “Halo FullView” HD+ panel
Chipset: MediaTek Helio G80
RAM: 6GB
Storage: 128GB; microSD slot (dedicated)
Software & UI: Android 11 with Vivo’s Funtouch OS 11 on top
Battery: 5000mAh battery with 18W Charging (micro USB port)
Colors: Obsidian Black and Purist Blue
Vivo Y20G Price in Nepal and Availability
Vivo has launched Y20G in India with a price tag of INR 14,990 for the 6/128GB variant. We can expect the price of Vivo Y20G in Nepal to be around NPR 26,000 when it launches here.
The market for TWS earphones has expanded a lot in the past few years. Almost all of the major smartphone brands have introduced their own lineup of earphones. And now, Acer, a PC manufacturer, has joined the race too. The company has launched three new TWS earphones in the budget segment in India. In this post, we will be taking a look at the specs, features, expected price, and availability of Acer TWS earphones in Nepal.
Acer, Gateway TWS Lineup:
Among the three new TWS earphones, only two have the Acer branding. The other has Gateway in its moniker. In case you are unaware, Gateway is a computer hardware company that was acquired by Acer back in 2007.
Gateway GAHR012 TWS
Here, the Gateway GAHR012 is the most premium TWS that Acer has in its offering. The design of the TWS is nothing to write home about. It’s another Apple AirPods Pro wannabe. The earbuds sport a stem design and come with silicone ear tips and are IPX4 certified against water damage. Even the charging case is heavily inspired by the Apple counterpart. It has a button on the front with battery indicators just above it.
The earphone features a 9mm driver. It has a frequency response of 20Hz – 20kHz, which covers all the frequencies that are audible to humans. Acer has included touch-based control on the earbud. There is Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity and the earphone is listed with a latency of 220ms. The earphones are said to offer 4 hours of playback time on a single charge. The charging case can charge them in 1.5 hours.
Gateway GAHR012 TWS Specifications:
Sound Driver: 9mm
Connectivity: Wireless (Bluetooth v5.0)
Bluetooth Profiles: HSP, HFP, A2DP, AVRCP
Response Frequency: 20Hz – 20kHz
Latency: 220ms
Music Time: 4 hours
Standby Time: 24 hours (with Case)
Charging Time: 1.5 hours
Control: Touch
Water Resistant: IPX4
Color: White
Acer TWS GAHR010, GAHR011 TWS
Moving on, the Acer TWS GAHR010 and GAHR011 are the same TWS earphones except for the differences in their cases. GAHR011’s case has a battery indicator on the front which is not present in the case of GAHR010. It also has Type-A and Type-C charging cables integrated into its case. The bottom portion can be separated from the rest of the case. The GAHR010 features a Type-A cable and a Type-C port.
Both of them sport a stem-less design and feature smaller drivers of 8mm. Interestingly, they support the newer Bluetooth 5.1 protocol. Acer is claiming battery endurance of up to 4.5 hours on the earbuds on a single charge. With charging cases, the TWS earphones boast a standby time of up to 24 hours. Like the GAHR012, it only takes 1.5 hours for the cases to charge them from 0 to 100.
Acer TWS Earphones are now available in India at Amazon and Flipkart where the Gateway GAHR012 bears a price tag of INR 3,499 while the other two cost INR 2,499. We can expect the price of the Gateway TWS GAHR012 and Acer TWS GAHR010, GAHR011 earphones in Nepal to be NPR 6,000 and NPR 4,500, respectively if they launch here.
Acer TWS Earphones
Price in India
Price in Nepal (Expected)
GAHR010
INR 2,499
NPR 4,500
GAHR011
INR 2,499
NPR 4,500
GAHR012
INR 3,499
NPR 6,000
Check out our review of the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds.
Apple has received massive success with its lineup of wireless AirPods. The company recently decided to step into the over-the-ear headphone market as well and announced the AirPods Max back in December 2020. And it is now up for pre-order in Nepal. Let’s check out the specs, features, expected price, and availability of Apple AirPods Max in Nepal.
Apple AirPods Max Overview:
Design
AirPods Max is the first over-ear headphones in Apple’s AirPods lineup. The company claims that each part of the AirPods Max has been carefully designed for a good music experience. The frame of the headband is made from stainless steel for strength and flexibility. It can also be adjusted to different head shapes and sizes. Another part that plays role in providing the perfect fit is the telescoping headband arm.
Each ear cushion comes equipped with a special mechanism that allows them to pivot and rotate so as to fit the unique contours of each head. The memory foams on the ear cushions help create a seal. The cushion is also wrapped by an Apple-designed knit textile.
The headphone features a Digital Crown, like the one you get in the Apple Watch series. Users can use it to play/pause music, skip tracks, receive/end calls, and activate Siri.
AirPods Max comes equipped with 40mm dynamic drivers. Apple has used a dual neodymium ring magnet motor which it claims can limit harmonic distortion to just 1% over the human edible range. The headphones come with a deca-core H1 chip on each cup for computational audio. The chips allow the AirPods Max to have the following features:
Adaptive EQ: AirPods Max can adjust sound based on the fit and seal of the cushions. For this, the H1 chip can measure the signal delivered to the users and thus adjust low and mid-frequencies accordingly.
Active Noise Cancellation: For ANC, Apple has included four microphones in each ear cup. Three of them face outward to detect external noise. On the other hand, the single internal microphone evaluates the signal delivered to the user. The H1 chip then adjusts continuously based on the data provided by the microphones.
Transparency Mode: This mode allows the user to listen to the outer world while still listening to music. One can enter this mode by using the noise control button.
Spatial Audio: AirPods Max supports spatial audio using a gyroscope and accelerometer in the headphone itself and your device (iPhone or iPad). These sensors track the user’s motion and the headphone compares the accumulated data with motion data to remap the sound filed based on the user’s head motion.
Rest of the features
Apple has included the much-loved features of the AirPods in the lineup to the AirPods Max as well. This includes the one-tap setup and automatic pairing with devices signed to the iCloud. The new headphones come with optical and position sensors for wear detection. The headphones will pause music even one of the ear cup is lifted. One can also make voice calls and activate Siri using the AirPods Max. Other feature includes automatic switching and audio sharing.
Meanwhile, check out all the prices and availability of Apple AirPods here
Apple AirPods Max boasts a battery life of up to 20 hours. This is with the ANC and spatial audio enabled. The company will ship it with a Smart Case that preserves the battery charge when it is not in use.
Features: ANC, Transparency mode, Adaptive EQ, Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking, Wear Detection, Case Detection
In The Box: Headphone, Smart Case, Lightning to USB-C Cable, Documentation
Color Options: Space Grey, Silver, Sky Blue, Pink, Green
Apple AirPods Max Price in Nepal and Availability
Apple AirPods Max is now available for pre-order in Nepal at Oliz Store although the price hasn’t been specified. Considering the price of other Apple accessories like the AirPods Pro in Nepal, we expect the price of AirPods Max to be around NPR 85,000.
Headphones
Price (US)
Price in Nepal (Expected)
Apple AirPods Max
$549
NPR 85,000
Also, check out our unboxing and initial impressions of the iPhone 12 Pro.
After the announcement of the Snapdragon 888 last month, Qualcomm has unveiled yet another chipset for premium smartphones. The introduction of the new Snapdragon 875 seems a bit weird as the chipset is based on the Snapdragon 865 of last year. That being said, let’s take a look at the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G and the improvements it brings over the regular Snapdragon 865 and the SD 865+.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G Overview:
Prime Cortex-A77 @ 3.2 GHz
As mentioned earlier, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G based on last year’s SD 865 and it is not even the first refresh of the premium chipset. We saw Snapdragon release the Snapdragon 865+ with an overclocked prime core. With its Cortex-A77 core reaching up to 3.1GHz, it was the first smartphone chipset to go cross the 3GHz barrier. Qualcomm has taken a step further with the Snapdragon 870 in which the Prime Cortex-A77 core has a maximum clock speed of up to 3.2GHz.
Rest of the specs
And that is all the difference between the Snapdragon 865+ and 870. The moniker Snapdragon 870 may give an initial impression of substantial upgrades over the 865+ but that is not the case here. Both feature the same Adreno 650 clocked at 670MHz. The GPU here has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the regular Snapdragon 865.
Other than that, all three chipsets are based on TSMC’s 7nm process node. They feature 8 CPU cores arranged in a 1+3+4 configuration. Besides the Prime Cortex-A77 core, the other three Cores-A77 (Performance core) and the four Cortex-A55 (Efficiency cores) are clocked at 2.42GHz and 1.80GHz, respectively. These chipsets don’t have an integrated 5G modem and are bundled with the Snapdragon X55 modems for 5G connectivity.
Qualcomm has not disclosed the performance improvements of the Snapdragon 870 over the 865 and 865+. However, popular tipster Digital Chat Station had shared the Geekbench scores of the Snapdragon 870, days before the chipset was officially announced. Vivo V2045 with the Snapdragon 870 was able to achieve a 1034 single-core score and a 3,513 multi-core score. When compared with the OnePlus 8 Pro, the Vivo V2045 (most probably an iQOO device) had 18.04% and 15.07% better performance in single-core and multi-core performance.
When compared to Vivo V2049A (assumed to be the iQOO 7), the V2045 was behind by 8.98% in the single-core score and 5.05% in the multi-core score. This initial test shows that the Snapdragon 870 is closer to the Snapdragon 888 than it is to the SD 865 in terms of performance.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G Availability
Qualcomm has confirmed that Snapdragon 870 5G will be powering some of the flagship devices in 2021. Brands like Motorola, iQOO, OnePlus, Oppo and Xiaomi have already confirmed to use the device in their premium smartphones. Rumors suggest that Xiaomi will be unveiling a variant of the Redmi K40 with the Snapdragon 870 that will be cheaper than the regular K40 with Snapdragon 888.
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