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MSI GE66 Raider 10SFS Review: Best Gaming Laptop Of The Year?

GadgetByte
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MSI GE66 Raider 10SFS Review: Best Gaming Laptop Of The Year?

MSI regularly churns out great laptops. Even their “mid-range or budget” gaming laptops are far ahead of their competitors. Thus, I find it quite pleasing to use and review an MSI laptop. Last time out, we had reviewed the GP65 Leopard. And this time around, we bring to you the review of MSI GE66 Raider 10SFS with us.

MSI GE66 Raider 10SFS Specifications:

  • Processor: Intel Core i9-10980HK
  • Display: 15.6″ LED-Backlit FHD (1920×1080) 240Hz IPS-level Panel
  • GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super, with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
  • RAM: 16GB DDR4 2666MHz
  • Storage: 1TB SSD
  • Ports: 2 x USB 3.2 Type-C, 3 x USB 3.2 Type-A, 1 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x mini DisplayPort, 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack, 1x RJ45, 1x SD Card Reader
  • Connectivity: Integrated 802.11 ax Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.1, Killer GB LAN
  • Keyboard: SteelSeries Keyboard; Per-Key RGB Lighting
  • Battery: 99.9 WH Lithium-Polymer Battery
  • Price in Nepal: Rs 370,000

MSI GE66 Raider 10SFS Review:

This laptop is a follow-up to the GE65, which was a beast of a laptop. Performance-wise it was superb. However, its subpar battery life and sound system left many people disappointed. Nonetheless, the GE66 has a lot to live up to. 

And with my experience with this laptop, I won’t shy away from saying that this laptop does stake a claim to be one of the best gaming laptops of the year. However, there is no such thing as a perfect laptop and the same goes for this one too. So, let’s dive into our review of the MSI GE66 Raider 10SFS to find out its good’s and the bad’s. 

Configuration Options

People who are planning on buying the GE66 are really spoilt for choices. Basically, there are 3 different versions of this laptop. There’s the 10SF with RTX 2070, 10SFS with RTX 2070 Super, and finally the top-end 10GS with RTX 2080 Super Max-Q. And depending on the model you get, the screen options are FHD; 144Hz, 240Hz, 300Hz, or UHD with 60Hz refresh rate.

Out here in Nepal, the one available in the market is 10SFS. Our review unit is equipped with an Intel Core i9-10980HK processor, an FHD 240Hz panel, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super, 16GB DDR4 2666Mhz RAM, and 1TB SSD. And it is priced at Rs. 370,000. By the way, there are 2 DIMM slots and you can increase the RAM to up to 64GB.

Another option that is available in Nepal only differs in the processor and the storage available. The other one has a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and 2TB SSD. And it too is priced at Rs. 370,000. Finally, the cheapest option with regards to the GE66 comes with 10th Gen Intel Core i7, RTX 2070 1TB SSD, and a 240Hz panel. No 300Hz option in Nepal. Anyway, depending upon your preference you can go for either of the three. 

Design & Build

With that out of the way, let’s get into the design of the GE66. It has a complete design overhaul from its predecessor the GE65. Let’s put it this way, it is subtle, yet it gives you a gaming vibe.

MSI GE66 Raider Design 10SFS

At the first glance, the GE66 Raider looks similar to the GT76 Titan. The red stripes from the GE65 are completely gone. It now looks a bit subdued. It has a gray aluminum lid with only the dragon sigil near the top. Furthermore, the logo’s color is also toned down and it perfectly blends in with the granite gray lid. However, the subtlety is somewhat reduced by the angle near the hinges. But hey, I’m not complaining cause it does add some modern looks to the design. 

Thankfully, MSI has removed the Raider moniker from the rear edge. It now sports various I/O ports and that’s a more sensible choice. The ports on the rear edge include a power port, HDMI, ethernet port, USB-Type C port, and a mini DisplayPort. And on either side of the ports are a couple of air vents. 

The lid was subtle but the front edge is anything but subtle. The front lip is occupied by a huge glass prism/lightbar that MSI calls Aurora. It offers 16.7 million colors, customizable through the SteelSeries Engine app and it syncs with the per-key lighting of the keyboard. You can turn the lights on when you want to flex your laptop around other gamers or choose to completely turn it off in an office environment.

The lighting is great and all but the lightbar just runs a tiny bit off the length of the front edge. I found it a bit problematic as I felt the sting of the overrun edges, quite a few times. The interior is made up of onyx-colored aluminum. It feels smooth and does not attract any smudges. There’s enough room to rest your palms and the keyboard lies a tad bit below the level of the touchpad. 

Thick bezels

Its beautiful display is surrounded by thin bezels on either side, however, the top and the bottom are still quite thick. 

 

In addition to the ports on the rear edge, there are three additional USB Type-A ports, an SDXC card reader, a headphone jack, and a USB Type-C port. There’s a glaring omission of Thunderbolt 3, however, to appease gamers, the unit does have Killer wired and wireless chipsets for Gigabit Ethernet connection. Hey, you win some you lose some, right? By the way, there’s also a status LED that shows whether the laptop is charging or not on the left-hand side.

charging brick GE66 MSI

The laptop measures 14.1 x 10.5 x 0.9 inches and weighs around 2.3 kilos. And it’s pretty much standard these days. However, you can get smaller 15-inch laptops these days such as the GS66 Stealth. But the extra thickness in the GE66 does come in handy as it allows the laptop to pack a larger cooling grill. You’ll find one on both sides and in addition to that, there are six heat sinks and two fans to cool the device. We will talk more about the cooling capabilities a bit later.

On the whole, the design is sort of a perfect blend between a gaming laptop and a work laptop. Furthermore, there’s little to no flex on either the lid or the keyboard, and the build material suggests that the laptop is a very robust one.

Display

The panel on this one is the same as that of the GE66. It too has a panel with a 240Hz refresh rate. The IPS level panel has great viewing angles and reproduces great color both indoors as well as outdoors. The FHD display gives little to complain about because you can observe great details on anything that you are viewing. With such fine details on the screen, you’ll find playing games such as The Witcher 3 a lot more eye-pleasing.

GE66 Raider display

The display is fairly color accurate. It covers about 100% sRGB color gamut and 72% AdobeRGB. And these days it is the standard. Furthermore, due to the MSI True Color software, you’ll find that its grayscale and colors lie in the ideal range. Overall, I’d label it as a good display for content creation. However, you can always get a more color-accurate display such as the Predator or Razer Blade.

As I had mentioned earlier, my test unit has a 240Hz panel and for most gamers out there, this should suffice. A 300Hz variant is also available in the market(not in Nepal though), however, unless you are into ultra-competitive esports and play low impact games, there’s simply no need for you to buy that one. 

For others, the 240Hz is more than enough. You get to enjoy the vibrant colors and at the same time get great fps on your games unless you are playing a AAA title on max settings that are.

Keyboard and Touchpad

GE66 keyboard

The SteelSeries keyboard is tailored for gamers, however, it did bring out mixed feelings in me. It’s clicky, has deep travels, and overall provides a great typing experience. However, there are some key combinations such as Insert+delete and the cramped up function and control key that you’ll have to get used to.

There’s no Numpad and the windows key makes a comeback in the GE66. The GE65 did not have one to prevent gamers from accidentally pressing them while in an intense gaming session. Well, it is here now, however, if you don’t need it, you can disable it from the Dragon Center app.

keyboard lighting GE66 MSI Aurora

There are some useful shortcuts on the keyboard. You can adjust keyboard lighting through the F10 and F11 buttons, change the color scheme from F9, activate cooler boost from F10, and open up the Dragon Center from F7. For customization of the key colors, you’ll have to go to the SteelSeries Engine app. 

As for the touchpad, I’ve no complaints whatsoever. It has a smooth finish and thus it ensures quick inputs. It is sturdy enough and the lack of buttons means that clicks are triggered by pressing the bottom surface.

Dragon Center

The last time I used the MSI Dragon Center was on the GP65 Leopard. And frankly, I was agitated I had to use the app. It kept crashing, had to re-install it a few times just to get it working. It was a mess. 

And it’s no different on the MSI GE66 Raider 10SFS one either—as I came to discover during the review. Thankfully, I did not have to re-install the app multiple times, nonetheless, the app remains as buggy as ever. I had to restart the entire system just to change some minor settings.

You will be using the Dragon Center a lot. All the customizations, barring keyboards, and lightbar color have to be done through this app. The buggy nature of this app will certainly get on your nerves. MSI should really do something about the Dragon Center pronto. 

Speaker, Camera, and Battery Life

There are 2x 2W speakers on either edge, and the sound they produce is fairly average. Given the laptop’s price, I expected something more but was quite disappointed. You can surely get other laptops with a better audio system at a lower price. Furthermore, the fans on a full blast will completely drown the audio. Thus, there’s still a lot of room for improvement is all I can say.

The addition of a 1080p webcam is a welcome change from the standard 720p that we regularly find. Taken in isolation, you’ll not find it an amazing addition to the laptop, but when compared to the ones on other laptops, it certainly offers a tad bit more. 

Most laptops in this category are plagued by bad battery life. But, the 99.9Wh unit on this one blows away the competitors. While web surfing continuously at about 75% brightness, I was able to squeeze around 4 hours 35 minutes. By decreasing the brightness you can certainly get maybe an hour or so more. And that’s really great.

Hardware and Performance

Our review unit of the MSI GE66 Raider 10SFS is equipped with 16gigs of RAM. However, there are two SO-DIMM slots and thus you can increase your RAM to up to 64GB. Similarly, there are two M.2 slots inside, out of which one only one is free. The 1TB SSD is great, but you’ll see that it quickly starts to fill up once you install a handful of AAA titles. So, with a free M.2 slot, you can always install another SSD yourself. 

MSI GE66 Raider 10SFS

Nonetheless, the 1TB SSD itself gives you nothing to complain for. Its CrystalDiskMark scores indicate that reading or writing is not a problem for this device.

The combination of the 10th Gen Intel Core i9-10980HK and the RTX 2070 Super spells for a power performer. As you’d expect, the GE66 Raider can deal with basic productivity tasks without any trouble. Even with over 15 tabs open on Google Chrome and few word files open, at no point did I notice any lag in performance. 

Gaming performance is impressive too. It can run all AAA titles without breaking a sweat at FHD resolution. The RTX 2070 super with 2560 CUDA cores offers better performance than your standard RTX 2070. I did not notice any performance lag over the 1-hour gaming session with battlefield V. I was able to get around 160fps in medium settings, 140 in high, and about 117fps in ultra settings. The laptop did not give way with DXR on either. With DRX on, the stats are like this: 80fps Ultra, 89-90 high, and about 104 in medium settings. Thus, no matter the setting you choose, you are bound to get pretty good fps and also enjoy the magnificent display. 

FPS stat in various games

High/Ultra Medium Low
Wither 3: Wild Hunt 102 120 155
Battlefield 5 (DXR off) 117 140 160
Battlefield 5 (DXR on) 80 90 104
Apex Legends 143 144 144
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

60 (in all settings)
Warframe

120 (in all settings)

Mind you, I played these games in the extreme performance mode with the cooler booster on, so the fps count may differ depending upon the mode you play in.

Thermals

The MSI GE66 Raider packs in some high-end stuff, and they require a high-end cooling system. As mentioned, previously, it has six heat pipes that are wider than that of its predecessor and its two fans come with 53 blades per fan. Furthermore, it is equipped with Cooler Booster 5. 

The cooling system does somewhat of a very good job in my opinion. Touchpad and the palm rest area are void of any heating issues. And I only noticed the heating in the central area of the keyboard after about 1 and a half hours of gaming. Although I have to mention that I was playing games with Cooler Booster on, so that might have come to the aid of the laptop. However, the cooler booster mode does have one drawback. It runs loud. And in this case, loud is an understatement. 

The plastic undercarriage remains relatively cool in normal use. Though you will start to feel the heat after using it for a couple of hours. But that’s somewhat expected anyway. 

MSI GE66 Raider 10SFS Review: Verdict

All things considered, the MSI GE66 Raider is the perfect follow up to the GE65. The LED lightbar and the 99.9 WHr battery are clearly the selling points for this device. However, the laptop is not just limited to style and battery life, overall the RTX 2070 Super and i9-10980HK deliver solid performance and give users no room for complaints. 

However, the heavy fan noise, poor speaker, and the ever buggy Dragon Center leave you asking for a tad bit more. Nonetheless, I’d still rate the MSI GE66 Raider as one of the best performing laptops of 2020.

Nokia 2.4 Review: Same Old, Same Old

Nikhil Shrestha
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Nokia 2.4 Review: Same Old, Same Old

Nokia phones, especially the budget and mid-range ones, share this cohesiveness in terms of their design, relative performance, and overall user experience. Maybe that’s for the better, or worse: it’s not up to me to say. Anyway, the new Nokia 2.4 doesn’t really evoke a sense of innovation as the Finnish company didn’t bother to bring any changes from its predecessor—I’m talking about the design, of course. So, how does this “iterative upgrade” of a phone perform? Allow me to discuss more in this review of the Nokia 2.4.

Nokia 2.4 Specifications:

  • Body: 6.53 x 3.00 x 0.34-inches, 189gm
  • Display: 6.5-inches IPS LCD panel, 80.6% screen-to-body ratio, 270 PPI
  • Resolution: HD+ (1600 x 720 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio
  • Chipset: MediaTek Helio P22 (12nm mobile platform)
  • CPU: Octa-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53
  • GPU: PowerVR GE8320
  • RAM: 2/3GB RAM
  • Storage: 32/64GB eMMC 5.1 internal storage (expandable)
  • Software & UI: Android 10 (Android One)
  • Rear Camera: Dual-camera;
    – 13MP primary sensor
    – 2MP depth sensor
    – LED flash
  • Front Camera: 5MP sensor (teardrop notch)
  • Security: Physical Fingerprint Scanner (rear-mounted)
  • Audio: 3.5mm headphone jack, Bottom-firing speaker, 2 microphones
  • Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS / A-GPS / Glonass / Beidou, Micro USB, 4G LTE
  • Sensors: Accelerometer (G-sensor), Ambient Light, Proximity
  • Battery: 4500mAh with 5W charging (5V/1A)
  • Colors: Dusk, Charcoal, Fjord
  • Price in Nepal: Rs. 14,599 (2/32GB)
  • Buy Here

Nokia 2.4 Review:

Design & Build

  • Polycarbonate build material
  • 3D nano-texture at the back

Nokia 2.4 - Design

Like I said earlier, there’s hardly any deviation in the design language of the Nokia 2.4 compared to the Nokia 2.3—let alone an overhaul. It is still sturdy and feels super nice on the hand. For what it’s worth, the phone much more premium for the price. As expected, it has a polycarbonate body with a 3D nano-textured cover at the back. This offers a nice grip and even though it’s not a compact phone, I had no trouble holding it in.

Similarly, the rear panel is immune to fingerprints and smudges too, although it can get a little clammy after a while. The tiny space between the ridges may also attract dust particles which will be a little hard to get off. So, using a case is advised regardless. Nokia 2.4’s color options are quite attractive as well even though it doesn’t have a fancy reflective back.

Available in Fjord, Dusk, and Charcoal variants, the latter that I have with me complements the overall aesthetics nicely. Moving on, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top frame alongside a primary microphone. The volume and power buttons are placed on the right, while there’s the trademark dedicated Google Assistant button on the left.

Finally, you’ll find the secondary mic, a micro USB port, and the speaker grille at the bottom. Like always, the Google Assistant (GA) button cannot be remapped natively, though you can with a third-party app like Button Mapper. You can already trigger GA using your voice or swiping from the bottom edge of the screen, so having a dedicated button feels redundant at this point. 

Display

  • 6.5-inches HD+ IPS LCD panel
  • Slightly heavy on the bezels
  • No protective glass of any kind

Getting to the display, Nokia 2.4 now has a bigger 6.5-inch IPS LCD panel, but with the same old HD+ resolution and a 20:9 aspect ratio. For its sub-15K price point, the inferior HD resolution isn’t surprising. But I must say, looking at the display contents with a fair enough distance, it actually doesn’t look that bad. Yet, having it close to you (like you would normally), one can notice the lack of sharpness in images.

Nokia 2.4 - Display [1]

Moreover, in its default setting, the display is a fair-bit on the warm side too. But it’s not something to worry about as you can easily dial it down to your preference under the “White Balance” option in the settings. Nokia 2.4 can get bright enough for indoors and cloudy outdoor situations but you will struggle to view the phone’s content under direct sunlight. Like any other traditional budget phone, you’re greeted with quite a bit of bezel here as well.

Thankfully, the rounded edges of the Nokia 2.4’s display don’t have any sort of discoloration. There’s a teardrop notch up top for the selfie camera and a big chin that’s home to a “Nokia” branding. Overall, the phone manages to net out 80.6% screen-to-body ratio. Unlike its predecessor, I didn’t notice a single instance of accidental touches on the Nokia 2.4.

Performance

  • Octa-core MediaTek Helio P22 SoC (12nm)
  • 2/3GB RAM, with 32/64GB of expandable internal storage
  • Android 10 (and a part of the Android One program)

The performance sees a much-required boost as it comes with an octa-core Helio P22 processor from MediaTek—while the Nokia 2.3 was powered by a quad-core Helio A22. Because of this, the user experience is considerably better. The image processing is faster and so are other assorted actions. But mind you, this assertion only comes with a direct comparison between the aforementioned phones when in reality, the core performance of the Nokia 2.4 still isn’t that great.

Here, Nokia has coupled the Helio P22 with either 2/3GB of RAM and up to 64GB of expandable internal storage. My review unit has a 2/32GB configuration and it didn’t fare well under my usage. First off, the RAM management is almost laughable. Out of the 2GB available, the system occupies around 60% and you only get about 700MB to play around with.

Nokia 2.4 - Storage Usage

Because of this, I time-and-again witnessed stutters and lags during gaming or even light multitasking sessions. The system UI would also briefly misbehave when certain heavy apps are in the memory. Furthermore, out of 32GB, 11GB is occupied by the system itself. So, I would highly encourage you to get the 3/64GB model instead.

Gaming

Talking about gaming, light games like Among Us, Clash Royale, Mario Kart Tour, etc. work perfectly fine. Similarly, I tried playing Call of Duty: Mobile and it ran fine under “Low” graphics and “Low” frame rate although upping the frame rate to medium or high would result in frequent lags.

On the other hand, PUBG Mobile Lite is playable even in “HD” graphics and ‘Extreme” frame rates. But, your gameplay will be subject to frequent stutters. Moreover, the touch response on the display would give up on me at times, making my gameplay experience abysmal.

Nokia 2.4 - Gaming

Nokia 2.4 runs on stock Android 10 and is also a part of the Android One program, thus promising two years of software and up to three years of security updates. At the time of writing this review, my unit of Nokia 2.4 has already received September’s security patch. HMD Global had already revealed the Android 11 update plan for the phone on Q1 2021 but quickly took down the post. So, when it’ll receive the latest Android update remains a mystery now.

Camera

  • Dual-cameras at the back
  • (13MP primary lens with 2MP depth sensor)
  • 5MP front-facing camera inside a teardrop notch

There’s the same dual rear camera setup at the back and a single front-facing lens on the Nokia 2.4. As a result, the camera performance is more or less the same as its predecessor. The 13MP primary sensor alongside a 2MP depth sensor and the LED flash has been placed inside a vertical pill-shaped module, with a dismissable bump.

Normal Images

Images from the primary sensor can look pretty good if you can get ample lighting.

They are fairly sharp and have plenty of details to enjoy and the colors aren’t all that bad either. Photos do tend to look a-bit undersaturated (sometimes a bit hazy as well), and the camera can’t lock-in focus fast enough either.

Turning on HDR does help a bit in terms of colors—but it’s a hit-or-miss. Most of the time, the difference between HDR & non-HDR images is practically zero but sometimes, it works wonders.

Portrait Images

Likewise, the 2MP depth sensor is just about average.

The edge detection is flawed and at times, the subject can look a bit oversaturated.

Nighttime Images

Nighttime images aren’t any good either. It looks completely hazy and the image is rather soft and full of grains.

Surprisingly, there’s a dedicated “Night Mode” in the camera UI but as I suspected, it’s a complete gimmick and doesn’t improve the image quality in any way.

Selfie Images

Selfies from the 5MP selfie camera, just like the primary lens can look okay-ish with plenty of ambient light. But for the most part, subjects look pale and lifeless.

Software-based selfie portrait is not that good either and the edge-detection is rather flawed here too. 

Videos

In terms of videos, Nokia 2.4 maxes out at 1080p from both front and back cameras. The sensor fails to lock-in exposure and the footage comes out very wobbly. Once again, I was surprised to find out the “Video Stabilization” feature inside the camera settings but this was a gimmick as well.

Battery

  • 4500mAh battery with 5W charging

Getting to the battery, the phone has a decent 4500mAh cell which Nokia claims can last up to 2 days. The company’s similar claim in its other devices with similar battery capacity was true during our review and thankfully, Nokia 2.4 proudly embraces that tradition.

Nokia 2.4 - Charging

With light to medium usage, it can easily last you two days and should also get you through your day on heavy use. I watched a 2.5 hours movie with full brightness and max volume, and it only depleted 22% of the battery. All in all, you can get somewhere between 7 – 8 hours of screen-on time on this phone. But charging it via the micro USB connection takes a while. With its 5W charging, it took me about 3 hours 5 minutes to fully juice up the phone from 0 – 100%.

Others

  • A circular physical fingerprint scanner
  • 3.5mm headphone jack, single bottom-firing speaker

Other features of the phone include a circular plastic fingerprint sensor at the back. It’s definitely not the fastest one out there and takes almost a second to unlock. Also, if you try using it back-to-back, most of the time, it won’t work on the first try. And as usual, sweaty, wet fingers are a no-go too. Nokia 2.4 also supports face unlock but it’s even slower and less secure. Taking about 2 seconds per unlock, the lock screen doesn’t even show any indicator if it’s scanning for a face.

Finally, the single bottom-firing speaker isn’t that great either. The audio sounds shallow, incomplete and you won’t hear all the details from this. Likewise, there is almost no bass from the speaker. On the contrary, the audio from the 3.5mm headphone jack is much better, but nothing extraordinary.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Nokia 2.4 is a decent entry-level Android phone, whose stock Android experience, excellent battery life, and seamless design should speak volumes to many people. However, from a pure performance perspective, there are a lot better options out there in the market from companies like Xiaomi, Realme, etc.

  • Watch our video review of the Nokia 2.4.

Nokia 2.4 Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Decent, sturdy build quality
  • Stock Android experience on a budget
  • Terrific battery life (almost a 2-day device)
  • Lightweight games work fine
  • Tall display with acceptable color quality, sharpness

Cons:

  • 2GB RAM variant has insufficient usable memory
  • The fingerprint scanner is slow and doesn’t work well
  • Camera performance is inconsistent
  • Gimmicky camera features
  • Terribly slow charging (5W)

Realme 7 Pro Review: Almost A Perfect Midrange Phone

Pratima Adhikari
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Realme 7 Pro Review: Almost A Perfect Midrange Phone

Today, I will be talking about the new Realme 7 Pro. I have used this phone for quite a time now. Actually, I had it as my secondary phone while I was testing the Realme 7 for review, and switched to the 7 Pro as my primary phone after it was done. Regardless, how is the Realme 7 pro in real-life use? Should you pay more for this or just get the regular Realme 7 instead? Let’s discover in this review of the Realme 7 Pro.

Realme 7 Pro Specifications:

  • Body: 6.33 x 2.93 x 0.34-inches, 182gm
  • Display: 6.4-inches Super AMOLED panel, Corning Gorilla Glass 3+, 60Hz Refresh Rate, 90.8% screen-to-body ratio, 411 PPI, Always-on Display (AoD)
  • Resolution: FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G (8nm mobile platform)
  • CPU: Octa-core (2×2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver)
  • GPU: Adreno 618
  • RAM: 6/8GB LPDDR4x RAM
  • Storage: 128GB UFS 2.1 internal storage (expandable)
  • Software & UI: Realme UI 1.0 on top of Android 10
  • Rear Camera: Quad-camera;
    – 64MP, f/1.8 Sony IMX682 primary lens
    – 8MP, f/2.3 ultra-wide lens; 119° FOV
    – 2MP, f/2.4 depth (BnW) sensor
    – 2MP, f/2.4 macro sensor
    – LED flash
  • Front Camera: 32MP, f/2.1 lens (punch-hole)
  • Security: In-display Fingerprint Scanner (optical)
  • Audio: 3.5mm headphone jack, Speakers
  • Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS / A-GPS / Glonass / BDS / NavIC, USB Type-C, 4G LTE
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Compass, Magnetic Induction
  • Battery: 4500mAh with 65W SuperDart Charge
  • Colors: Mirror Blue, Mirror Silver
  • Price in Nepal: N/A (not launched yet)

Realme 7 Pro Review:

Design

  • Ergonomic build and attractive design
  • A dual-tone color scheme at the back

First off, the design of the Realme 7 Pro looks incredibly attractive, especially the Silver color variant that I have with me. The company has given up on the gradient finish this time and this dual-tone finish looks different and overall, nice.

I also have to give credit to Realme for nailing the ergonomics as well. The phone is pretty light-weight with good grip and it’s not bulky like the last-gen Realme 6 Pro or its closest competition – the POCO X3. The build here is not glass, but rather plastic so it can get scratch easily in long run. I for one, do not mind the plastic build, but glass would certainly have been better.

And one more thing, Realme 7 Pro is a well-built phone too. If you have read our review of the Realme 7, you may know that I had huge concerns regarding its build quality, but that’s not the case here with the 7 Pro.

Display

  • 6.4-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED panel
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 3+ protection
  • 60Hz refresh rate, minimal punch-hole cutout

Realme 7 Pro - Display

I also like the display quality of this device. It has good touch sensitivity and the color reproduction is fantastic as well.

Here you get a slightly smaller 6.4-inch AMOLED compared to the 6.6-inch IPS LCD panel on the Realme 6 Pro. It still retains the regular 60Hz refresh rate, but you guys know I would always go for a 60Hz AMOLED display over a 90Hz IPS one. Because of this, I don’t mind the tradeoff Realme has made on the 7 Pro.

Similarly, the punch hole cutout on the top is not obtrusive at all and is a lot better than the bulkier pill-shaped cutout we saw on its predecessor. This display can also get fairly bright, so all is well on the display front. And since this one’s an AMOLED screen, you get the fingerprint sensor baked inside the display itself which works perfectly most of the time. Moreover, it also comes with Always-on Display, so I couldn’t be happier about Realme 7 Pro’s display.

Realme 7 Pro - In-display Fingerprint Scanner

Well, although this panel is receiving a thumbs up in almost every aspect, I do have one little concern. It’s the fact that the display is only protected by Gorilla Glass 3+ while I think Realme should be at least offering Gorilla Glass 6. Matter of fact, that’s a direct downgrade from Realme 6 Pro that came with a tougher Gorilla Glass 5 protection.

Performance

  • Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G SoC (8nm)
  • 6/8GB of LPDDR4x RAM with 128GB UFS 2.1 storage (expandable)

Onto the performance, after having used this phone for about a month, I am not particularly disappointed with it, nor am I too excited about it.

What I mean is, Realme 7 Pro is supposed to be an upgrade over the 6 Pro but still you get the same level of performance as it houses the exact same Snapdragon 720G chipset. Maybe they could have gone with the Snapdragon 732G, which Is slightly better, I don’t know.. but, the newer snapdragon 750G would have been really great. Maybe we will see that on the Realme 8 Pro.

Realme 7 Pro - Design

Snapdragon 720G hasn’t particularly disappointed in terms of performance because, well, it is still a well-performing SoC that can handle a fair share of a load while being power efficient as well. I have not faced a single problem in my everyday use with this device. Normal tasks run flawlessly, apps open fast, and multitasking is a breeze – even with heavy apps.

Gaming

It’s only while gaming that I kind of wished the phone could do better and those were the times I wanted Realme 7 Pro to have a better processor. Yes, you can get a pretty smooth 35-40 fps gameplay under smooth graphics and ultra-frame rates in PUBG Mobile. But still, when it comes to gaming, I am greedy for a little bit more.

Other than PUBG, I played Call of Duty that can go upto “very high” graphics and “very high” frame rates and gives smooth gameplay. Also, other games like Asphalt 9, Infinity OPS, etc run very well on the phone.

Software & UI

  • Realme UI 1.0 on top of Android 10

Realme 7 Pro - Home

Getting to the software, you are greeted with the Realme UI 1.0 on top of Android 10, and next month, it is scheduled to receive the Realme UI 2.0 update based on Android 11.

Realme has considerably worked well with the security updates too. At the time of writing this review, my unit of the Realme 7 Pro is running on September’s security patch which is not bad for a mid-range phone. Yet, there is always room for doing better in this regard I guess.

Cameras

  • Quad-cameras at the back
  • (64MP primary, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, 2MP depth)
  • 32MP front-facing camera inside the punch-hole cutout

Now, let’s move to the cameras. Realme 7 Pro has 4 cameras at the back and a 32MP sensor for selfies. Sadly the telephoto lens that we saw on the Realme 6 Pro has been replaced by a not so useful 2MP depth sensor, which is a big letdown if you ask me.

Anyways the 3 remaining lenses here are an upgrade. You get a new 64MP Sony IMX682 wide-angle sensor which btw every other midrange phone is using these days. Then there’s an 8MP ultra-wide lens and finally, a 2MP macro sensor.

Normal Images

About the images from the primary lens, I am quite happy about them, to be honest. Under a well-lit condition, they are detailed and have a good dynamic range.

The best part is the colors in the pictures as they look very pleasing to the eye. Although you will instantly figure out that there is some color processing being done to make the images more popping.

Wideangle Images

Likewise, the wide-angle images have similar colors too, which is not the case with many other midrange phones I have tested so far.

They are not as detailed as the primary camera but look good nonetheless.

Macro Images

On the other hand, the macro images, like on most mid-range phones are pretty much useless.

vs POCO X3

And since I am also using the Poco X3 alongside Realme 7 Pro whose review should be out in a week’s time, I tested these 2 cameras as they use the same Sony sensor.

Normal Images

What I found was that the details on both devices were pretty much the same. However, Realme’s images are slightly punchier than Poco’s which is more noticeable in landscape images.

So, if you make me choose, I would definitely go for Realme’s camera setup because its images have a better dynamic range and pleasing color scheme.

Portrait Images

I’m fond of Realme 7 Pro’s portrait images too.

The phone manages to make the sky look really good in portraits which is why I prefer Realme 7 Pro’s portraits over Poco X3’s.

Also, the subject’s skin looks a little better on the 7 Pro.

Selfie Images

Moving on to the selfies, both Realme 7 Pro and Poco X3 have this unusual red tint in them. As a result, I am not a big fan of both of them.

But, the 7 Pro is capable of maintaining better background colors better than X3. In portrait selfies, both phones cannot manage good dynamic range and exposure in the background.

Nighttime Images

Nighttime images from the Poco X3 look slightly better as they have better details and natural-looking images while Realme saturates the pictures a bit more and is also inferior in detail.

There is also a dedicated Night mode on both phones, whose performance is neck-to-neck in regards to detail preservation and maintaining exposure.

But again, Realme saturates the images here too making them look a bit more processed and unnatural. So, this is one area where Realme can do better with a software update.

Videos

For videos, like any other mid-range phone, the Realme 7 Pro too can go up to 4k 30fps. At this resolution too, the footage is stable enough. However, the dynamic range isn’t as good as the 1080P footages. Also, if you want higher fps then you have the option to shoot in 1080p 60 fps as well. Although it lacks EIS, it is fairly stable with a good dynamic range and colors.

So, it’s not wrong to conclude that the cameras on this phone work well. Yes, technically, the macro lens isn’t that useful and I would have loved a telephoto zoom lens instead. Still, the primary camera does a good job, so overall, I am happy with Realme 7 Pro’s cameras.

Battery

  • 4500mAh battery with 65W SuperDart fast charging

Extending my happiness is the phone’s battery life. It has a 4500mAh cell, which I know isn’t a sizable upgrade from the 6 Pro. But with a more energy-efficient Super AMOLED panel and a 60 Hz display, it delivered a slightly better endurance than that of the Realme 6 Pro.

Realme 7 Pro - 65W SuperDart Charge

Not to forget the fact that it is coupled with a whopping 65-watt SuperDart fast charging support that fills up the device in no time. With this, you have to be a little worried about the phone’s battery health over the years, as a faster charging mechanism degrades the battery a-bit quicker.

Audio

  • 3.5mm headphone jack, stereo speakers

Additionally, the speakers on Realme 7 Pro give a stereo output which sounds very impressive – on paper. But in reality, they are not that good. I mean, it can get loud and the audio is fairly balanced, yet they kind of lack depth. It’s more than fine for casual listening and audio from the headphones sounds good enough too.

Conclusion

So, is the Realme 7 pro worth spending your money on? Well, yes, considering it almost ticks all the boxes of a good value for money smartphone. It is definitely better than the Realme 7 because of its superior build, AMOLED display, and better thermals.

However, call me a little greedy, but I think Realme could have made slightly better choices with the specifications. For instance, giving up on the 65-watt charging to put a better chipset would have been a wiser choice considering faster-charging tech can degrade the battery health in the long run and you know the last generation 30W charging is still very fast.

Or, instead of a better chipset, maybe the company could have given a 90Hz screen instead. I mean, imagine, if a 90Hz AMOLED screen came for Realme 7 Pro’s price, that would really make it stand out.

  • Watch our video review of the Realme 7 Pro.

Realme 7 Pro Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Well-built phone with an ergonomic grip
  • Colorful, vibrant Super AMOLED display
  • A decent performance from Snapdragon 720G
  • Great camera phone for regular photos
  • Wicked fast 65W SuperDart charging

Cons:

  • Still no 90Hz refresh rate
  • Missing telephoto, wide-angle selfie lens
  • No chipset upgrade from its predecessor

Realme Narzo 20 Pro Review: Any Different Than The Realme 7?

Pratima Adhikari
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Realme Narzo 20 Pro Review: Any Different Than The Realme 7?

Hello everyone, today I am going to talk about the Realme Narzo 20 Pro. It is very similar to the Realme 7 that recently saw a global launch. But unlike the Realme 7, it is only available in India and select parts of Europe. The biggest talking point of the Narzo 20 Pro is definitely the 65W fast charging—on a sub 15K Indian price. However, is it any better than the Realme 7? Let’s find out in our review of the Realme Narzo 20 Pro.

Realme Narzo 20 Pro Specifications:

  • Body: 6.39 x 2.97 x 0.37-inches, 191gm
  • Display: 6.5-inches IPS LCD panel, Corning Gorilla Glass 3+, 90Hz Refresh Rate, 90.5% screen-to-body ratio, 405 PPI
  • Resolution: FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 20:9 aspect ratio
  • Chipset: MediaTek Helio G95 (12nm mobile platform)
  • CPU: Octa-core (2×2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55)
  • GPU: Mali-G76 MC4
  • RAM: 6/8GB LPDDR4x RAM
  • Storage: 64/128GB UFS 2.1 internal storage (expandable)
  • Software & UI: Realme UI 1.0 on top of Android 10
  • Rear Camera: Quad-camera;
    – 48MP, f/1.8 primary lens
    – 8MP, f/2.3 ultra-wide lens; 119° FOV
    – 2MP, f/2.4 depth (BnW) sensor
    – 2MP, f/2.4 macro sensor
    – LED flash
  • Front Camera: 16MP, f/2.1 Sony IMX471 sensor (punch-hole)
  • Security: Physical Fingerprint Scanner (side-mounted)
  • Audio: 3.5mm headphone jack, Speakers
  • Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS / A-GPS / Glonass / Beidou, USB Type-C, 4G LTE
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Light, Magnetic Induction
  • Battery: 4500mAh with 65W SuperDart Charge (10V/6.5A)
  • Colors: White Knight, Black Ninja
  • Price in Nepal: N/A (not launched yet)

Realme Narzo 20 Pro Review:

Design & Build

  • Plastic build with a glossy finish (V-shaped pattern)
  • Relatively better build quality compared to Realme 7
Realme 7 vs Narzo 20 Pro
Left: Narzo 20 Pro | Right: Realme 7

So, the similarities that you will notice right away between the Narzo 20 Pro and the Realme 7 are how they have the same form factor, weight, and build material. The only major difference in terms of visual aesthetics lies at the back. While the Narzo 20 Pro has a gradient glossy finish, Realme 7 comes with this matte dual-tone color instead.

It’s still plastic, so I have already got some scratches on my unit. The frames are plastic as well, therefore durability is kind of a big problem in the long run. The right side of Narzo 20 Pro has a home button which doubles as a fingerprint as well. And like the Realme 7, it is fast and works almost all the time.

However, my unit of the Narzo 20 Pro doesn’t have creeks on the sides, which was there on the Realme 7. But all things considered, “Narzo” is supposed to be a different series from Realme and yet, they are borrowing the design of a pre-existing product. This screams a lack of inspiration and laziness from the Realme product department, to be honest.

Performance & Software

  • Octa-core MediaTek Helio G95 SoC (12nm)
  • 6/8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and up to 128GB UFS 2.1 storage (expandable)
  • Realme UI 1.0 on top of Android 10

Not just the design, you are going to get pretty much the same experience in terms of performance between the two phones. Both of them are running on the exact same version of Realme UI.

Realme Narzo 20 Pro - UI

It was also quite funny when I noticed that an update log on the Narzo 20 Pro mentioned “64MP professional mode” when the phone only has a 48MP camera. Since both these phones got the update on the same day, that might have resulted in the error, no biggie!

Anyways, the performance on the Narzo 20 Pro is quite good for the price, all thanks to the Helio G95 coupled with a higher 90Hz refresh rate display. However, with this Mediatek chipset, you need to be aware of a slight heating issue, that say, the Snapdragon 720G powered phones like the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max or the Poco M2 Pro don’t encounter.

Nonetheless, I still think that both Realme 7 and Narzo 20 Pro are stellar value for money phones for the price.

Display

  • 6.5-inch FHD+ IPS LCD panel
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 3+ protection
  • 90Hz refresh rate, minimal punch-hole cutout
Realme 7, Narzo 20 Pro - Display
Left: Narzo 20 Pro | Right: Realme 7

On the display front too, Realme still remains the only brand to offer a 90Hz panel on a budget device. This one is as good as the Realme 7, except for the color tone. Not much of a barn burner, but I did notice a slight variation in the display panel of these two phones.

Realme Narzo 20 Pro - Display

The tall 6.5″ FHD+ is nice to look at and the aforementioned 90Hz refresh rate makes all the difference on a phone of this price. Besides the dismissable color variation when compared to Realme 7, Narzo 20 Pro’s panel is great to look at. The colors, contrast, sharpness are great and so is its visibility.

Cameras

  • Quad-cameras at the back
  • (48MP primary, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, 2MP depth)
  • 16MP front-facing camera inside the punch-hole cutout

More importantly, the area where I was a little bit worried about the Narzo 20 Pro was in the camera department, as it comes with an inferior 48MP Samsung GM2 sensor, as opposed to the Sony IMX682 we get in Realme 7.

Normal Images

But surprisingly, Realme has done an excellent job to match this sensor’s image quality with the Realme 7.

And as you can see from these images, both are almost identical.

Narzo 20 Pro slightly saturates the images at times, and the Realme 7 at times looks sharp. But apart from that, there’s no noticeable difference.

Portrait Images

The portrait images are however slightly better on Realme 7.

Yet, the one from Narzo isn’t that off either.

Nighttime Images

The night time images are also better on the Realme 7 as evident from these samples, but nothing too drastic.

Wideangle Images

And since both of these phones have the same 8MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, they are identical as well.

However, after receiving multiple updates, Realme 7 still has this issue where ultrawide images turn out dark.

Selfie Images

Getting to selfies, you get a 16MP camera here.

For what it’s worth, the selfies are good enough.

And again bringing Realme 7 to the mix, you can see that they both are identical.

Videos

Video wise, you can shoot in 1080P 30fps, 1080P 60fps, and 4K 30fps. And like the Realme 7, only the 1080P 30fps has EIS, so footages in higher resolution come out wobbly. Similarly, you can shoot from the ultra-wide-angle lens and front camera at 1080P 30fps. Comparing it with the Realme 7, the recordings from Narzo 20 Pro are quite similar.

Besides the cameras, another difference you can find between these two phones is in the battery department.

Battery

  • 4500mAh battery with 65W SuperDart Charge

Narzo 20 Pro ships with a 4500mAh battery and a 65W Super Dart Charging – which is another first for a phone of this price. On the other hand, you get a bigger 5000mAh battery, but with a comparatively slower 30W charging on the Realme 7.

Realme Narzo 20 Pro - 65W SuperDart Charge

During my test, the battery life has been good, but nothing extra-ordinary. The 90Hz display paired with a relatively energy inefficient 12nm chipset meant I had to plug in the battery when I got home from the office. In terms of endurance, the Realme 7 provided a slightly better battery life.

Moreover, the 65W fast charging is obviously very fast as I was able to fully charge the phone in just 37 minutes. Having said that, the 30W fast charging on the Realme 7 isn’t that slow in itself as it manages to juice-up the bigger 5000mAh battery in an hour.

Conclusion

All in all, the Narzo 20 Pro is a good value smartphone for the price – just like the Realme 7. After all, it is “just like” the Realme 7—both literally, and figuratively. So… why does the Narzo 20 Pro exist, to begin with? The Narzo series is supposed to cater to Gen-Z by offering hip & exciting features. However, in this case, does the flagship-grade 65W fast charging and minor tweaks to the camera setup deliver that? I don’t think so.

And launching both phones in the same region further complicates a buyer’s purchase decision – which is harmful to Realme itself if you ask me. As a result, it’s frankly boring and uninspiring to see this happen time and again. Not only Realme, but companies like Xiaomi and POCO have been doing the same as of late.

  • Watch our video review of the Realme Narzo 20 Pro.

Realme Narzo 20 Pro Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Good-looking design and a compact build
  • Decent performance including gaming
  • Smooth 90Hz display with a minimal punch-hole cutout
  • Unheard of 65W fast charging on a budget phone
  • Sufficiently good camera capabilities

Cons:

  • Not an original design, but just a rebranded phone
  • Cameras are slightly inferior to Realme 7
  • The MTK Helio G95 is a little energy inefficient

Oppo announces high-precision RTK positioning algorithm for smartphones

GadgetByte
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Oppo announces high-precision RTK positioning algorithm for smartphones

A few months after its announcement of next-gen hybrid optical zoom, Oppo has announced yet another breakthrough in smartphone technology. This time, in the mobile navigation system. Oppo says that it is now heading into a new era of mobile positioning with its latest RTK positioning algorithm.

Oppo Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) Positioning Algorithm

Announcement

Levin Liu, Oppo Vice President and Head of Oppo Research Institute, introduced the new mobile navigation system on November 2nd. According to Liu, the new RTK algorithm is the result of increased market demand for navigation systems. 5G networks have increased demand for improved navigation systems for both indoor and outdoor technology. Oppo is trying to fulfill them with its latest technology. Liu believes that Oppo’s latest breakthrough will benefit a wide range of uses in this 5G era.

RTK Positioning System

Oppo’s latest algorithm helps the current positioning technology in the smartphone industry. To begin with, the RTK Positioning system is not a new thing in itself but the fact that Oppo has figured out a way to incorporate it into a smartphone makes it a remarkable feat.

RTK Positioning system relies on carrier phase measurement for accurate results. It obtains data in real-time by measuring stations. It then processes them for precise positioning. The technology has been used for industrial measuring. The reason that we are seeing it being implemented in a smartphone now is that it is a complex technology that requires a number of complicated systems. These systems are too big to fit in smartphones.

Working of Oppo RTK Sytem

Oppo has developed an algorithm that mimics the working mechanism of an RTK system. The algorithm collects information from different smartphone sensors. It uses accelerometers and gyroscopes and uses them for accurate positioning. The algorithm also reduces the effect of signal interference. Oppo claims that the RTK positioning algorithm can provide accurate location within a one-meter radius.

Oppo RTK Algorithm Availability

As of now, Oppo is still fine-tuning its RTK algorithm. The company plans to commercialize the tech and says it will be commercially available in 2021.

  • Check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.

Snapdragon 875 beats Kirin 9000 in a leaked Master Lu CPU benchmark result

GadgetByte
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Snapdragon 875 beats Kirin 9000 in a leaked Master Lu CPU benchmark result

Huawei’s 5nm based Kirin 9000 SoC made its debut with the new Mate 40 series. Samsung has also confirmed that it will be unveiling the upper mid-range Exynos 1080 (5nm) next week. And now, popular tipster, Digital Chat Station, has leaked the Master Lu Benchmark result of the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 875. Let’s learn more about the Snapdragon 875, along with its rumors and leaked benchmark results.

Leaked Master Lu Benchmark Result

Digital Chat Station, who is widely known for Xiaomi-related leaks, leaked the Master Lu Benchmark result of Snapdragon 875 via a post on Weibo. The upcoming flagship chipset from Qualcomm is codenamed “Lahaina”, which is a place in Hawaii. For those unaware, the company will unveil SD 875 via an event in Hawaii.

The result reveals that the prime core on the chipset will be clocked at 2.84GHz, which is the same as the frequency of the prime core on its predecessor. To compare, the Snapdragon 865+ has already surpassed the 3GHz barrier.

Snapdragon 875 vs Kirin 9000 vs Snapdragon 865

Coming back to the benchmark result, SD 875 managed to achieve a total score of 899,401, which is higher than both Kirin 9000 and Snapdragon 865. The last two chipsets managed to score 875,308 and 820,220, respectively in the same test. In the CPU test, Snapdragon 875’s score of 333,269 outscored Kirin 9000’s score of 275,862 by quite a margin. However, things were more competitive in the GPU department where Kirin 9000’s Mali-678 MP24 still reign at the top with a score of 344,334. Snapdragon 875’s Adreno 660 is not that far behind with a score of 342,225. Both 5nm based chipsets have better scores than Snapdragon 865 that is used in most of the flagship devices of 2020. Snapdragon 865 vs Kirin 9000 Master Lu Benchmark result

Since the test has been conducted on a prototype device, the figures will change slightly when the SD 875 starts appearing on retail units. Similarly, benchmark results are also affected by factors like RAM size and type of memory used. Here, the prototype device had 12GB of RAM compared to Mate 40 Pro’s 8GB. Similarly, Mate 40 Pro used a faster memory as evident by the score of the memory test (180,521 > 125,135).

Snapdragon 875 Rumors

Snapdragon 875 will be based on a 5nm process node. Like its predecessor, it will sport a 1+3+4 octa-core architecture with the prime core clocked at 2.84GHz. Thus, the boost in the performance will be due to the change in the core architecture. Qualcomm will be using a single Cortex X1 core as the prime core. The rest of the setup will include three Cortex A78 cores and Cortex A55 cores.

Snapdragon 875 Launch and Availability

Several reports suggest Qualcomm launch the Snapdragon 875 on December 1 via an event in Hawaii. According to Digital Chat Station, Xiaomi Mi 11 will be the first device to come equipped with the new chipset in China. Also, the chipset will be exclusive to Xiaomi for a predetermined period of time in the country. Outside of China, Samsung will be the first company to use the chipset for its S21 lineup.

Mobile Chipset Launch Date Devices
Snapdragon 875 December 1
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 lineup (China)
  • Samsung Galaxy S21 lineup (Outside of China)
  • Check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.

Best TV Operators in Nepal: Pricing, Picture Quality, Channels, Extras

GadgetByte
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Best TV Operators in Nepal: Pricing, Picture Quality, Channels, Extras

Since there are a lot of TV operators in Nepal, it can get quite confusing when deciding which one is the best for you. To help you with that, we have tested and compared the most popular TV operators in Nepal against each other in an effort to name the best.

In this post, we are going to talk about our experience of using Clear TV, Dish Home, Max TV, Prabhu TV, and Via TV. To come to a conclusion, we have considered pricing, image quality, and availability of service of the aforementioned TV operators.

1. Pricing

Note: All the pricing details have been collected from the official resources as of Kartik 2077 B.S. As price is subject to change in the future, we’ll periodically update the article on their latest pricing policies as well.

Let’s start with pricing. If we only consider the Set-Top Box (STB), Max TV offers it at the least amount. On the other hand, Dish Home charges the heftiest One Time STB fee. And the high price is due to the fact that Dish Home users need to install a separate antenna to get their DTTH service running.

And if you are considering paying for a year in advance, Max TV will not take any charge for the STB. Similarly, Vianet offers a 50% discount if one opts for a yearly subscription to Via TV. While it wasn’t the case in the past, a house with multiple TVs is not rare these days. So each of the cable operators discussed in this support up to four TVs. Needless to say, multi-connection requires users to pay for each Set-Top Box and a monthly fee for each additional TV. However, in the case of Dish Home, you don’t need a separate antenna for every TV in your home.

Set-Top Box/Antenna cost (one time only):

S. N Cable Operators Cost Offer on a yearly contract
1 Max TV Rs. 565 Free
2 Prabhu TV Rs. 2,000 No offer
3 ViaTV Rs. 3,890 Rs. 2,195
4 Clear TV Rs. 2,500 No offer
5 Dish Home Rs. 4,000 No offer

*Installation charge: Rs. 500 (on Max, Prabhu, Dish home)
*Refund of Rs. 500 deposit on Via TV, Clear TV

Users can not choose from multiple subscription plans with Via TV and Prabhu TV. Thus, we have only considered Premium plans for this post. Even here, Max TV turns out to be the most affordable option. As evident from the table below, the cost of Prabhu TV is almost half of what Dish Home and Subisu’s Clear TV are charging for their premium users. Similarly, Via TV also ranks among the affordable ones.

Monthly cost (premium packages) 

S. N Cable Operators Price (Monthly) Offer on yearly subscription
1 Max TV Rs. 500 1 month free (new user)
3 months free (existing user)
2 Prabhu TV Rs. 350 Rs. 3,500 + 4 months free
3 ViaTV Rs. 395 Rs. 3,842
4 Clear TV Rs. 700 Rs. 5,492
2 months free (existing user)
5 Dish Home Rs. 700 Rs. 6,300

However, when it comes to the monthly fee for additional TV(s), each operator charges almost the same amount. Also, ViaTV offers the best offer for yearly subscribers.

Cost for each extra TV (monthly) ­­­­

Cable Operators Price (Monthly)
Max TV Rs. 226
Prabhu TV Rs. 250
ViaTV Rs. 226
Clear TV Rs. 250
Dish Home Rs. 200

To sum things up, Max TV looks to be the most affordable option if you are not ready for a long time commitment. However, in the long-term, Prabhu TV can also be a decent option.

2. Coverage

When it comes to coverage, no other operators can match Dish Home as it is the only operator in the nation that offers Direct-To-Home DTH technology. Since the STB directly communicates with the satellite via the antenna, one can have an active Dish Home connection even in the remotest regions. In the past, people used to experience issues related to signal interference with Dish Home because of bad weather and such. However, the situation has now been improved to some extent.

After Dish Home, we found Clear TV to have the best coverage among the cable TV operators in Nepal. In addition to its Kathmandu Head office, Clear TV has at least one branch in each five of the federal states. Max TV that uses a unique two-way technology also has similar coverage.

Similarly, the IPTV services by Wordlink and Vianet is limited to places under the area covered by each ISP, respectively. Prabhu TV’s Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) signal based on Digital Video Broadcasting technology is available on Kathmandu Valley, Kaski, Chitwan, Dhankuta, Sunsari, and Morang. What we like about Prabhu TV is that it can even work with just a simple indoor antenna. However, the signal strength varies according to the region. So, in most cases, it becomes mandatory to install an outdoor antenna. Yet, the installation process is not complicated and one can do it without technical assistance.

3. Picture quality

To test the picture quality, we set up two LG 55UM73 4K UHD TV side-by-side with the picture settings left untouched at the default factory setting. The difference in the picture quality is insignificant if you are using a TV that is 40-inch or smaller. Still, if you have a TV that is 43-inch or bigger, it will be better to go with either Dish Home or Clear TV because they have superior picture quality. Also, we found Prabhu TV to have the best picture quality among the remaining three contenders.

However, the saturation and brightness level on the Prabhu TV is higher so at times the picture ends up looking unnatural. Also, Max TV’s picture quality is among the poorest between the five.

Another important thing to know is that one can notice significant delays (up to 30 seconds) on IPTV services like Via TV and Net TV compared to cable TV, which is a major disadvantage if you are into live sports. For instance, say you’re watching EPL with your buddies and are live-chatting alongside as well. So, in your friends’ non-IPTV broadcast, they’ll have celebrated a goal and texted you about the game, while your TV still lags seconds behind—ruining the viewing experience altogether.

4. Number of channels

Talking about channels, Clear TV and Max TV offer over 300 different channels. Similarly, Via TV has 251 channels. But Via TV does not offer additional SD channels for which it already has the HD channel. Prabhu TV only has around 150 channels and still misses out on many sports channels including the likes of Ten 3 HD. But it can be forgiven given the age of the company and its pricing. Dish Home also boasts up to 200 channels with plenty of HD and SD channels to choose from.

5. Extra features

Talking about the extra features, Max TV offers a lot of it, more than any other TV operator on this list. Because of its two-way technology, Max TV is able to provide services like YouTube and Videos On Demand, without a dedicated internet connection. Under the “Max Education” feature, there are subject-wise videos for students of all levels from Nursery to Diploma. Similarly, users can watch content that they originally missed via Catchup TV. Max TV also supports multi-language support using which users can watch channels like Discovery, and National Geography in more than one language.

However, Max TV still needs to revamp its UI and make it a bit faster than what it is now. It doesn’t offer an option to choose picture quality which was a bummer as the picture quality got unwatchably pixelated on our 55″ 4K TV. However, we still commend Max TV for offering so much while still remaining the cheapest TV operator.

Max TV - Extra Features
Max TV – Extra Features

Moving on, Dish Home offers exclusive channels that include Action Sports, Ramailo TV, Comedy Plus, and more. Also, at a time when cinema halls remain closed due to COVID-19, it has been airing new Bollywood and Nepali movies like “Khali Peeli”, “Shirful”, respectively on a Pay-Per-View (PPV) basis. Here, the PPV system is where a user has to pay extra cash on top of their TV subscription to watch certain exclusive content. Also, users can connect Wi-Fi dongle at the back of Dish Home’s new Setup Box to stream YouTube videos.

Similarly, ViaTV offers both YouTube and PPV services as well. Additionally, users can even turn to the MOMO TV app for Nepali videos, movies, songs, and music videos. These extra features are not available on either Prabhu TV and Clear TV.

Best TV Operators in Nepal: Conclusion

So, if you are looking for the best picture quality we recommend you go with either Subisu’s Clear TV or Dish Home. However, they are also among the most expensive ones. If Prabhu TV is available in your region, it is the best value for money among all the cable TV operators in Nepal in this list.

Yet, if you are currently subscribed to Vianet or Wordlink’s internet connection, it only makes sense for you to go for their respective IPTV services that come bundled with it—only if you’re not that into watching live events and the 30-second delay is not a deal-breaker to you. Finally, Max TV offers services like YouTube, Multi-language support, Max Education, and more, all without a working internet connection which may be of use to you.

  • Watch: Best TV Operators in Nepal [Nepali language]

Daraz Nepal brings the 11.11 sales day for the third year

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Daraz Nepal brings the 11.11 sales day for the third year

Daraz is all set to launch its third iteration of the annual 11.11 sale in Nepal. The world’s biggest sales festival is back. And as usual, it will offer customers a chance to save big on their purchase and participate in various challenges. Initially started as Single’s Day in China, the event has gone on to become the biggest sales festival in the world. As a matter of fact, the annual 11.11 sales last year, surpassed the combined sales volume of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Year-End campaigns. 

When is Daraz 11.11 Sales Day?

Well, as you might have guessed from the title itself, this sales bonanza commences on November 11, 2020 (Kartik 26) at midnight. The event will last exactly 24 hours. And during this period, buyers can enjoy a host of deals, flash sales, bundle offers, and more. Furthermore, you’ll also be able to take advantage of the prepayment discount of 20%, (up to Rs. 3000) if you pay via one of the 11 partner banks.

As per Daraz, this year’s 11.11 Sales in Nepal will host over 6 thousand sellers, 160+ global and domestic brands, and more than 5 lakh products. Therefore, this sales day also provides an opportunity for sellers to boost their business which might have taken a hit due to the pandemic. 

Play and Win

The Daraz app contains multiple games through which users can win a host of prizes. Similar, play and win opportunities will be available during the annual 11.11 sales day too. For instance, the Daraz 1 Rupee Game has made a comeback. In this game, you get to buy a specified product for just Re. 1. All you have to do is make the payment via eSewa or bank card. And the winner will be announced by the company. Also if you don’t win, the paid amount will be refunded. 

Similarly, other engaging games include Add to Cart and Win, Mission 11.11, and DFG Ludo Tournament. Through the Add to Cart and Win, you just have to add your desired items to your cart before the 11.11 commences. And through the win giveaway tab on the app, you can find out if you’ve won the item or not. Furthermore, adding items to your cart ensures that you do not miss out on deals during the sales day itself.

Mission 11.11 refers to a series of challenges that customers must complete in order to win exciting prizes. Finally, the Ludo Tournament offers a chance to win a Daraz voucher worth Rs. 15000. The tournament will be held between 11 to 13 November and the registration period is between 1 to 8 November. It will include participants from Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Not to forget one lucky winner, who has purchased during the 11.11 sales day, will get to win the TVS Apache RR 310.

Safety Issues 

I’m sure most of us have heightened concern about sanitization due to COVID-19. And thus we might be unwilling to order stuff online because we don’t know what hygiene protocols the delivery riders follow. However, Daraz has maintained that its 900 delivery riders and customer care agents follow very strict safety and hygiene rules. It includes regular temperature checks, regular deep cleaning, and strict shift planning. Furthermore, all the delivery riders will come equipped with protective masks, gloves, and sanitizers. 

Huawei Mate 40 Pro will soon be available in the Nepali market

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Huawei Mate 40 Pro will soon be available in the Nepali market

Despite all the problems that the company is facing because of the Entity list, Huawei unveiled its latest flagship lineup last month. The Mate 40 Pro lineup consisted of three smartphones all powered by Kirin 9000 SoC based on TSMC’s 5nm process. While the whole lineup will not be available here, Huawei Nepal is looking to launch the Mate 40 Pro in Nepal. Let’s check out the specifications, features, expected price, and availability of Huawei Mate 40 Pro in Nepal.

Huawei Mate 40 Pro Overview

Design and Display

Huawei Mate 40 Pro features a 6.76-inches AMOLED panel with an FHD+ resolution of 2772 x 1344 pixels. The Horizon display is curved 88-degree on both sides of the phone. There is a pill-shaped cutout for the front-facing camera. The device supports up to 90Hz refresh rate and a touch sampling rate of up to 240Hz. Mate 40 Pro also marks the return of the physical volume rocker but users can still opt to use the virtual buttons. Huawei Mate 40 Pro Design and Display

The main talking point of the device is the camera arrangements on the back of the device. The quad-camera setup is now on the circumference of the circular camera module which the company addresses as Space Ring. The device is available in four color options – Mystic Silver, White, Black, and Olive Green.

Performance

The Huawei Mate 40 Pro packs Kirin 9000 under its hood. This makes the Mate 40 series the first Android devices to switch to a more efficient 5nm process node. Huawei has managed to pack 15 billion transistors into the new chipset. It sports a three-tier architecture with the Cortex A77 core (@3.13GHz) as the prime core. It is accompanied by three other Cortex A77 (@2.54 GHz) and four Cortex A55 cores (@2.05GHz). The graphics department is handled by Mali G78 MP24 that has 24 cores. Even the NPU unit in the Kirin 9000 comes with two Big core and a tiny core. Huawei Kirin 9000 SoC

Camera

Mate 40 Pro now has a 50MP primary camera which is bigger than the 40MP camera in its predecessor. The primary camera has an aperture of f/1.9. The 1/1.28-inch sensor has a pixel size of 1.22 micron. The camera makes use of an RYYB color filter and Octa PD Autofocus. It is accompanied by a 20MP ultra-wide lens with an aperture of f/1.8. Completing the camera setup is the 12MP telephoto lens that supports up to 5x optical zoom and 10x hybrid zoom. On the Space Ring, the three cameras are joined by a laser sensor that results in faster and accurate focus. Huawei Mate 40 Pro Space Ring

On the front, there is a 13MP wide-angle selfie camera with an aperture of f/2.4. It is accompanied by a 3D depth-sensing camera.

Rest of the specs

The whole setup is backed by a battery of 4400mAh. It supports 66W Huawei SuperCharge and 50W wireless Huawei SuperCharge. The device ships with EMUI 11.0 based on Android 10. However, with the ongoing restriction by US authority, there is no GMS. It is replaced by Huawei’s own mobile service. There is a speaker each on the top and bottom for the stereo effect. The setup is backed by Huawei Histen. In terms of connectivity, the Huawei Mate 40 Pro is Wifi 6+ ready and supports Bluetooth 5.2.

Huawei Mate 40 Pro Specifications:

  • Body: 162.9H x 75.5W x 9.1D-mm, 212gm, IP68
  • Display: 6.76-inches OLED panel, 90Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate
  • Resolution: 2772 x 1344 pixels
  • Chipset: HiSilicon Kirin 9000 5G (5nm mobile platform)
  • CPU: Octa-core (1×3.13 GHz Cortex-A77 & 3×2.54 GHz Cortex-A77 & 4×2.05 GHz Cortex-A55)
  • GPU: Mali-G78 MP24
  • RAM: 8GB RAM
  • Storage: 256GB
  • Software & UI: EMUI 11.0 (based on Android 10)
  • Rear Camera: Triple-camera (Leica Optics);
    – 50MP, f/1.9 “Ultra Vision Camera” wide primary lens
    – 20MP, f/1.8 “Cine Camera” ultra-wide lens
    – 12MP, f/3.4 Telephoto Camera, OIS, AF
    – Laser sensor
    – LED flash
  • Front Camera: 13MP, f/2.4 selfie lens & 3D Depth Sensing camera
  • Security: In-display fingerprint scanner (optical)
  • Audio: Dual-stereo Loudspeaker, No headphone jack
  • Connectivity: Hybrid dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS / A-GPS / Glonass / BeiDou / Galileo / QZSS / NavIC, NFC, USB Type-C, 5G
  • Sensors: Gesture, 3D Face Recognition, Gravity, Infrared, Fingerprint, Barometric Pressure, Gyroscope, Compass, Ambient Light, Proximity, Laser, Color Temperature
  • Battery: 4400mAh, 66W Huawei SuperCharge, 50W Wireless Huawei SuperCharge

Huawei Mate 40 Pro Price in Nepal and Availability

The price of Huawei Mate 40 Pro in the European market is 1,199 Euros for the 8/256GB memory configuration. We expect the price of Huawei Mate 40 Pro in Nepal to be around NPR 1,70,000 when it launches later on.

Smartphone model Price in Europe Price in Nepal (Expected)
Huawei Mate 40 Pro 1,199 Euros NPR 1,70,000
  • Check out our long-term review of the OnePlus 8 Pro.

Huawei Watch Fit with 96 workout modes & a rectangular display launched

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Huawei Watch Fit with 96 workout modes & a rectangular display launched

Huawei Watch Fit is the latest fitness-centered wearable from the Chinese tech giant. In this post, we will be taking a look at the official specs, features of Huawei Watch Fit along with its price and availability in Nepal.

Huawei Watch Fit Overview

Design and Display

Huawei Watch Fit features a rectangular screen with a diagonal length of 1.64-inch. Here, the company has used 2.5D curved glass. The screen packs in a total of 280 x 456 resolution that equates to 326 PPI. The screen to body ratio on the Watch Fit is around 70%. Huawei claims that the display supports a total of 16.7 Million colors. Huawei Watch Fit Design

There is a physical button on the right side of the watch. The frame, although made up of polymer fiber, feels premium because of the textured matte finish. The watch is available in four color options – Graphite Black, Mint Green, Cantaloupe Orange, and Sakura Pink.

Internal Hardware

While Huawei has not specifically mentioned the chipset used here, it is more likely to be the Kirin A1. On the software side, Huawei has included Lite OS. The watch comes with 4GB of memory onboard. Sensors in the Watch Fit include a 6-axis IMU sensor, optical heart rate sensor, capacitive sensor, and ambient light sensor. It is compatible with devices running Android 5.0 or later and iOS 9.0 or later. In terms of connectivity, it does not have Wi-Fi connectivity but comes with Bluetooth 5.0 + LE. The watch has a GPU integrated into it as well.

Features

Huawei Watch Fit provides 12 different animated video demonstrations for quick workouts along with 44 standard movement demonstrations. The watch supports 96 different workout modes, out of which 11 are professional sports. These modes keep track of the real-time heart rate, calories, and duration of each session. It can also detect workout on its own and remind users to track it. As with other fitness trackers, it provides 24-hour heart monitoring, SpO2 detection, sleep monitoring, stress tracker, and menstruation cycle tracker. Huawei Watch Fit Fitness Tracking

Huawei Watch Fit can notify you of incoming calls, SMS, calendar events, reminders, and major notifications from social media platforms. Users can also control the music playback, take photos via remote shutter using the Watch Fit.

Battery

On typical usage, the battery should last for 10 days. This is with Huawei TruSleep and heart rate monitoring enabled, screen checked 200 times per day, and 30 minutes of workout per week. When the screen is checked around 500 times per day, and workout duration increased to 60 minutes per week, the endurance is reduced to 7 days. When GPS is turned out, one can expect the device to last around 12 hours on a single charge.

Huawei Watch Fit Price in Nepal and Availability

Huawei Watch Fit is available in Nepal for a price of Rs. 15,400. It is available from select mobile retail shops all over Nepal.

Smart Wearable Price in UAE Price in Nepal  
Huawei Watch Fit AED 399 NPR 15,400
  • Check out our review of the Realme Watch.
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