Oppo has officially launched a new mid-range phone in Nepal. Dubbed as the Oppo A53, this smartphone comes as a successor to Oppo A52, which launched in June here in Nepal. This phone has got a great mix of specs and could be an interesting entrant in the midrange smartphone segment. So, let’s find out more in detail about the specifications and the official price of Oppo A53 in Nepal.
Oppo A53 Overview
The device sports a 6.5-inch IPD LCD screen with HD+ resolution. And a refresh rate of 90Hz. Furthermore, the display has a small punch hole cutout on the top left corner for a single 16MP selfie shooter.
Around the back, there’s a triple camera array lined-up in a rectangular box. The primary lens is a 16MP sensor. And it is coupled with two 2MP sensors. Though it has not been specified, one of the two 2MP sensors might be a depth sensor and the other is probably a macro lens. Also on the rear panel, you will find a fingerprint sensor.
Under the hood, the Oppo A53 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 chipset. As for the GPU, it uses the Adreno 610. There will only be a single RAM variant of the device. And that RAM-storage combination is of 4GB and 64GB. However, users will be able to extend the memory to up to 256GB via a microSD card.
Entry-level phones usually pack in a great battery and the Oppo A53 is no different. It packs in a huge 5000mAh unit that supports 18W fast charging. On the software side of the things, the phone runs on Android 10 OS with ColorOS 7.2 on top.
Oppo A53 Specifications:
Display: 6.5″ IPS LCD panel with HD+ resolution (1600 x 720 pixels); 90Hz refresh rate
Infinix Note 7 was officially unveiled last month in Nepal by Ola Electronics. As the name suggests, this is the 7th iteration in this series. It is a mid-range device that vies to compete with the likes of Redmi Note 9 and Samsung Galaxy M21. Although Infinix isn’t a household name in Nepal, the company is well known in other parts of the world for its attractive smartphones on a budget. So, without further delay let’s get into details about the Infinix Note 7 in this review.
Infinix Note 7 Specifications:
Body: 6.83 x 3.11 x 0.35-inches; 206gm; Plastic body with gem-cut finish
Display: 6.95-inches IPS LCD panel; 91.50% screen-to-body ratio; 258 PPI
Resolution: HD+ (1640 x 720 pixels); 20.5:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: MediaTek Helio G70 (12nm mobile platform)
Connectivity: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (dual-band), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS with A-GPS, Micro USB 2.0, LTE
Battery: 5000mAh with 18W SuperCharge 3.0
Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Compass
Colors: Forest Green, Aether Black, Bolivia Blue
Price in Nepal: Rs. 21,990 (4/128GB)
Infinix Note 7 Review:
Design
Plastic body with a gem-cut finish
Pretty huge phone and there’s a notification LED too
There’s nothing innovative about the design of the Infinix Note 7. Having said that, the device does implement the standard stuff pretty well. Upfront, you have this huge 6.95-inch screen that takes some time to get used to. Thankfully, there’s no notch on the screen. Rather, the device houses the selfie camera inside the “Infinity-O” punch-hole. Just beside it is the front-facing speaker.
Oh, there’s also an LED light for notification! However, it only lights up while charging. That means you’ll have to rely on the notification sounds for messages. That for me is annoying because I am used to having the LED light up for notifications too.
Ports and Buttons
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SIM Tray
Power, Volume Buttons
Speaker, Micro USB, Headphone Jack
Over at the back, there’s the gem-cut finish that you might have seen on the Galaxy A-series devices. The design basically reveals different patterns when viewed from different angles. The design on the rear panel is an eye-catcher and overall it looks premium. I would have preferred the Aether Black variant of Infinix Note 7 for the review rather than the Bolivia Blue that I have. But the color still looks great.
A proper smudge-magnet
However, you will have to be wary about the smudges as the plastic back catches it quite often. Thankfully, Infinix ships a plastic cover inside the box itself. The rear panel also houses a quad-camera setup and the quad-LEDs arranged in a circular bump.
All the ports on the device are located at the bottom. There you get a 3.5mm headphone jack, a mic, a micro-USB port, and another speaker. I really like the positioning of the speakers on the Infinix Note 7. Rather than going for two speakers at the bottom, the benefit of having a front-facing speaker is that no matter which way you hold the device while gaming, the audio will not be compromised. And the speaker on this device is of top-notch as well.
Moving on, there are a volume control button and a power button at the right, which also doubles up as a fingerprint sensor. On the left, you get the SIM/microSD tray. So, the design, while not being innovative it is not something that will disappoint you. However, you will have to get used to the huge size of the device.
Display
6.95-inches HD+ IPS LCD panel
20.5:9 aspect ratio and 91.5% screen-to-body ratio
As I mentioned earlier, the Infinix Note 7 sports a huge 6.95-inch display. It is an IPS LCD 720p panel. Now, that bugs me a lot. I know that the 720p display is quite standard for mid-range devices. However, you have to look at the size of the screen. It is really difficult to appreciate the resolution on this screen size.
You’ll probably not feel that the display is letting you down while browsing through your social media. But while gaming and playing videos, despite giving out decent enough quality, you’ll find that it lacks a sufficient color punch. The videos feel a bit washed out and you’ll find yourself missing that vibrancy in the color. For instance, while comparing the video output of the Infinix Note 7 and Redmi Note 9 during the review, I found that videos feel a tad bit warmer on the latter.
That’s interesting because Redmi Note 9 itself does not have the greatest of the displays for a starter phone. And as I said, the screen size and the resolution do not complement each other at all. Furthermore, if you’re switching from Infinix Note 6, apart from the resolution, the IPS LCD panel will be the other downgrade you’ll be facing. The brightness is pretty good though. You’ll not have any difficulty while using the device either indoors or outdoors.
System and Security
XOS Dolphin v6.1 on top of Android 10
Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
The device runs on the XOS Dolphin v6.1 on top of Android 10. This version of the XOS introduces the Dark Mode in the Infinix Note series and a couple of other useful features. For instance, there is a direct control for the dual-channel speakers in the navigation bar, which is a cool feature to have as it allows you to adjust audio as per the type of task you’re doing.
However, there’s just too much bloatware. Unnecessary ads for games and what not keep popping up again and again. You’ll not believe the number of times I unlocked my device upon hearing the notification sound only to be disappointed to see some useless ad. Furthermore, there are just too many pre-installed apps that you cannot delete.
Uninstall or disable bloatware apps
So, my advice for users would be to disable all the apps that you won’t be using and are uninstallable. Moreover, you’ll fare better with another launcher rather than the default XOS launcher. Another “cool” function is called the “Social Turbo”. This feature is basically an extension for WhatsApp as it allows you to record WhatsApp calls, backup messages, and more.
As for the navigation, you get the usual button and gesture navigations. However, I did not find the full gesture-based navigation option that appealing as it sometimes did not respond and there were some problems with the animations too. Moreover, there are other gesture features for display, music, calls, and more. Here too I faced some problems. For instance, the gesture for call receiving and cancel never worked when I tried to use it.
Fast fingerprint sensor
Talking about the security features, along with the usual pattern and passcode, it has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor and face unlock. And both of these features are super snappy. The fingerprint unlock is one of the fastest that I’ve seen on a smartphone and the face unlock is pretty quick too. Even in low light conditions, the face unlock feature works pretty well.
And there’s an option to keep it unlocked in trusted places, on your body or near a trusted device. This feature is quite handy too. However, the downside is that the device will unlock even when you are facing sideways. So, to better maintain your privacy, you should probably stick with the fingerprint sensor only.
Performance
Octa-core MediaTek Helio G70 (12nm)
4/6GB of RAM with 64/128GB of expandable internal storage
Infinix Note 7 runs on the MediaTek Helio G70 processor. Benchmark scores show that this processor is far superior to the likes of Snapdragon 665, 675, and Exynos 9611. So, theoretically, this should deliver a mind-blowing performance as far as mid-rangers are concerned.
And that is what it does. You’ll not face any problem while going about your everyday tasks and non-demanding games is a breeze for this device. However, I had to be patient with the load time while playing heavy games. But that may be due to the 4gigs of RAM on my review unit. If you want better performance, you should go for the 6GB variant.
Gaming
Anyway, despite having to wait a while for my game to load, there was no lag in performance. By default, the frame rates in both PUBG and COD Mobile is set at a low. On the graphics side, you can switch it up to HD. However, opting for a higher frame rate will take a toll on the performance. You’ll find the game stuttering a bit and the phone does tend to get heated in that process.
Under PUBG, I felt that the HD graphic settings with a medium frame rate delivered the best output on the Infinix Note 7 during my review. No lags, the battery lasts for a significant time and you’ll only notice the heating issue after continuous hours of gaming. And that too will not feel too much.
There’s a dedicated gaming mode in the device to further complement the gaming experience. But sometimes I found the side-tray that comes with the gaming mode obstructing the gameplay. The gaming mode does allow stop calls from interrupting the game or helps to manage notification while playing games. However, the side-tray obtrusion was just too much for me. And thus I decided to continue my games without the gaming mode turned on.
Battery
5000 mAh battery with 18W SuperCharge 3.0
Here, Infinix Note 7 packs in a 5000mAh battery and supports 18W fast charging. Now, if you’re planning on simply using it for your day to day task and nothing heavy-duty, then with a full charge, the device will last up to 2 days. Even with continuous gaming, its battery support is great. I played PUBG for 3 hours straight and the charge dropped from 80% to 60%. However, I was gaming in balanced graphics at a lower frame rate. But still, it speaks volumes.
Now, despite the fact that the device supports 18W fast charging it does so through a micro-USB port. Therefore, it takes well over 2 hours to charge the device from around 5% to 100%. So, charging time is an issue but at the same time, the battery backup is great. That balances out the stuff, but things could have been better if there had been a USB-C port instead.
Camera
Quad camera setup at the back
(48MP primary, 2MP macro, 2MP depth, 2MP dedicated video camera)
16MP front-facing camera (punch-hole)
Moving on, let’s talk about the thing that most of us give importance to while buying a smartphone. Yupp! I am talking about the camera on this device.
Cameras
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Back
Front
The back camera features a 48MP primary sensor, a 2MP depth sensor, a 2MP macro lens, and a super low light video camera. And honestly, this setup is quite ridiculous. I mean, who gives a quad-camera setup with neither an ultra-wide lens nor a telephoto lens. Moreover, a 2MP macro lens? Come on are you kidding me?
Now, the overall camera performance is not bad but the quad-camera setup is there just for the sake of it. And it is nothing more than a marketing gimmick.
Normal Images
Anyway, let’s jump into what the photos actually look like. The primary camera does a great job of capturing good images. By default, they take images at 12MP but you can opt to switch to the 48MP mode too. But I didn’t really felt a need to switch to 48MP mode that often as the default captures were good enough.
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I compared the camera performance of the Infinix Note 7 with that of its direct competitor, the Redmi Note 9 because, and for me, the Note 7 delivered much better images. The images taken from Infinix Note 7 are simply more vibrant and feel good on the eye. On the other hand, those from the Redmi Note 9 seem pretty washed out.
Normal
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Infinix Note 7
Redmi Note 9
Infinix Note 7
Redmi Note 9
Infinix Note 7
Redmi Note 9
Infinix Note 7
Redmi Note 9
Now, Note 7’s camera does do a lot of AI processing in the background, and in some conditions, it may feel like the photos are over-optimized, but while comparing it with that of Note 9, I would prefer the one from the Note 7 any day of the week.
Macro Images
Macro
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Infinix Note 7
Redmi Note 9
The macro shots are pretty much similar on both the devices. Nothing out of the ordinary, but the one on the Redmi Note 9 does seem to retain more detail than that of the Note 7.
Nighttime Images
Moving on, let’s look at some of the night time shots. Here the quad-LED flashlight that the Note 7 packs come into play. You can switch over to the super-night mode to use them. They provide extra illumination to the subject but despite the improved visibility, the photos will lack details. But still, it is much better than that of the Redmi Note 9.
Nighttime
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Normal Nighttime
Super Night
Normal Nighttime
Super Night
But I do feel that in some instances, the night mode of the Redmi Note 9 does a much better job. For instance, if you are capturing photos around the twilight, Redmi Note 9 captures the vibe of the surrounding pretty well. However, the same cannot be said for the Infinix Note 7, as its AI optimization might bring in some extra unwarranted light. But then again it depends upon the surroundings and if improved visibility is what you are looking for then Note 7 is the one. However, remember, neither of them can retain the details in night shots.
Portrait Images
Portraits are okayish. Neither does a great job in preserving the details, edge detection is similar, but Note 7 seems to do a tad bit better.
Portrait
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Personally, I liked the bokeh effect of the Infinix Note 7 a bit better than that of the Redmi Note 9.
Selfie Images
Let’s come to the selfie camera. Infinix Note 7 has a 16MP selfie shooter upfront inside the punch-hole. It captures more light than that of the Redmi Note 9. However, details are better captured by the Redmi Note 9.
Selfie
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Infinix Note 7
Redmi Note 9
Infinix Note 7
Redmi Note 9
Moreover, the ones on the Infinix Note 7 are heavily AI optimized, and for some that could be a big no. And I fall into the same category. Now I am not saying that Redmi Note 9 does not optimize the images, it’s just that the Note 7 goes a step farther in doing so.
Portrait Selfie
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Infinix Note 7
Redmi Note 9
Infinix Note 7
Redmi Note 9
Similarly, for portrait selfies too I would go for the Redmi Note 9. Better detail, better edge detection, proper bokeh effect, and overall a better portrait selfie than Infinix Note 7.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, the Infinix Note 7 is a decent mid-ranger. It offers stellar performance for this price range and you won’t have much issue while playing games on this one. However, if you are looking for a smoother performance, I would suggest you go for the 6GB variant rather than the 4GB one.
The display is huge but unfortunately, the resolution does not complement the panel. HD+ resolution in the mid-range device is the standard but given the size of the display on this device, the resolution does not fit in.
Rear camera performance, despite having a gimmicky setup, is quite good, though the same cannot be said for its selfie cam. The selfie camera while, being good, does not compete well against its competitors. Battery life is certainly one of its main selling points but then again, a compromise has been made in terms of the port choice. Overall, Infinix Note 7 is a decent device that can give other mid-rangers a run for its money and certainly a brand to look out in the future.
Watch our video review of the Infinix Note 7.
Infinix Note 7 Review: Pros & Cons
Pros:
Attractive design and a pretty big size
Decent performance – both regular and gaming
Great battery life (almost a 2-day phone with heavy use)
Nice images from the quad-cameras
Cons:
Its big display and HD resolution doesn’t fit well
When it comes to the entry-level market, Nokia is pretty quick at announcing new devices. The company launched the Nokia C2 back in March but now has launched the Nokia C3 in Nepal for a budget-friendly price tag.
Nokia C3 Overview
Design and Display
Since there hasn’t been a significant between the announcement of these successive devices, the design has remained the same in the C-series. The new C3 looks a lot like its predecessor. The polycarbonate body sports the pill-shaped module on the exact same spot. However, this time around Nokia has included a capacitive fingerprint scanner right below it.
The device comes with a 5.99-inch IPS LCD screen, which is slightly bigger compared to the C2. However, the 1440 x 720 pixels resolution has remained the same. The top bezel encloses the front camera. This time around, Nokia has removed the branding from the top and pasted it on the bottom chin.
Performance and Camera
Nokia C3 is powered by an unspecified Unisoc chipset with eight cores. It comes with a higher clock speed (@1.6 GHz) compared to the one on C2 (1.4 GHz). RAM has been upgraded to 2GB and so is the internal storage, which is bumped to 16GB. Users can expand it further up to 128GB using a microSD card.
The 8MP rear camera on the back is included inside a pill-shaped camera module, along with an LED flash. On the front, there is a 5MP camera for selfies.
Nokia C3 features a 3,040mAh battery that supports 5W charging via micro USB port. Other notable features include dual-sim support, a dedicated Google Assistant button, and FM radio. It has a rear-mounted capacitive fingerprint sensor for biometrics.
Nokia C3 Specifications:
Body: 159.6 x 77 x 8.7 mm; 184.5 gm
Display: 5.99-inches IPS LCD panel; 400 nits
Resolution: HD+ (1440 x 720 pixels); 18:9 aspect ratio
Traditional smartphones are no longer exciting these days no matter how powerful hardware it packs inside. There is a surge of public interest in foldables and other unique form factors. It’s almost like the renaissance period for the smartphone industry. Samsung and Huawei have had their shot at the foldable market which has been very well received too. And now, LG giving it a go as well. However, the LG Wing is nothing like other foldable smartphones in the market.
Instead of un/folding to reveal different screen sizes, the Wing swivels to the side for brand new smartphone experience. As a result, it reveals new avenues for how productive you can get from a phone. LG has also embedded a bunch of new features specifically making use of the new form factor. So, let’s take a closer look at the new LG Wing.
LG Wing Overview
Design
Like I said earlier, the Wing has a swiveling main display. Push it enough to the left, then you’ll uncover the smaller secondary display. Here, instead of widening the content playing area, LG has designed a smaller display to minimize the clutters by shifting most control functions into it. Under the appropriately named “Swivel” mode, you can either choose to use one app across two screens or two separate apps simultaneously too. Kinda reminds me of the Titans Tower, to be honest.
However, you can use it in other orientations too; the main display vertically shifted to either side, the secondary display on top of the main. With each orientation come different possibilities. The earliest leaked video of the LG Wing showed how the primary screen can be used for navigation purposes while the smaller display served as a media and call control center.
Swivel mode
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Furthermore, you can have the entire main display as a viewfinder when clicking photos or videos, with all the controls residing on the smaller screen. Similarly, play games on the bigger screen and stream it or interact with your audience on the other screen space. As of now, the number of apps supporting LG’s new swiveling mechanism is quite limited but developer support should gradually grow with time. Plus, the newly released Android 11 should make it easier to incorporate apps into this form factor with its native support for foldable devices.
What about durability?
One of the prime concerns luring with every new crazy smartphone form factor is durability. Since there are a lot of moving parts, these have a higher probability of getting damaged compared to regular smartphones. LG Wing incorporates a double lock structure for securing the primary display in place while its dual spring design and hydraulic damper ease the transition between swivels.
According to the company, the phone’s hinge can withstand at least 200,000 swivels, which is about 100 swivels per day for around 5 and a half years. Furthermore, it also has a water-repellent coating and anti-dust mechanism to prevent foreign objects from getting into the device. Having said that, LG hasn’t bothered to get an official IP certification. Finally, the phone is also MIL-STD-810G certified meaning it can handle harsh environmental conditions like shock, humidity, high temperature, etc.
Display
Getting to the display, the outer panel is a vibrant, tall 6.8-inches FHD+ OLED and a 20.5:9 aspect ratio. This “Flawless POLED FullVision” display has minimal bezels at the top and bottom so the viewing experience on the Wing is going to be close to cinematic. Similarly, you have the 3.9-inches GOLED secondary panel. Like how the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 and Microsoft Surface Duo let you create shortcuts for opening multiple apps at once, LG lets you do the same. There’s also a feature called “Grip Lock” that basically locks you away from using the secondary display under swivel mode.
Cameras
LG has thoroughly utilized the Wing’s design for exceptional camera possibilities. First off, it has a dedicated 12MP ultrawide gimbal motion camera with “pro-grade stabilization” which does exactly as the name suggests. Using the native camera app under the swivel mode lets you explore the available options. For instance, under the “Gimbal Mode”, it lets you follow the subject using an on-screen joystick. On top of this, you can also use follow, pan follow, FPV, or lock mode for differently stabilized videos.
Cameras
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Back
Front
Besides this, there are two additional rear cameras comprising of a 64MP primary sensor and a 13MP ultrawide sensor with a 117° FOV. Adding to the moving parts on the phone is a motorized 32MP selfie camera. Interestingly, LG Wing also has a “Dual Recording” feature that lets you shoot videos from both front and rear cameras at once. One can either monitor the shots side-by-side, in a PiP (Picture in Picture), or split-screen mode.
Rest of the specs
Powering the LG Wing is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G. It has been the go-to upper mid-range chipset for smartphone manufacturers as it balances great performance with native 5G connectivity. Thanks to its integrated Snapdragon X52 5G modem, the 765G supports both sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G spectrum. This chipset has been paired with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of expandable internal storage.
Getting to the battery, the phone features a moderate 4000 mAh cell with support for Quick Charge 4+ and wireless charging. Considering the extent of Wing’s two displays and LG’s decision to stick to the regular 60Hz refresh rate, the battery should last well enough although power users may struggle to get through a day.
LG Wing Specifications:
Body: 6.67 x 2.93 x 0.43 inches; 260 gm; Water-repellent coating, anti-dust technology, MIL-STD-810G certification
As of now, LG has stayed shush regarding the price and availability of the Wing. However, we do know that the phone will first be available in the US through Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. If a report from XDA Developers is to be believed, LG Wing may end up retailing for around $1000.
Smartphone Model
Price (Expected)
Availability (Expected)
LG Wing
$1,000
October 2020
Watch our review of the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.
Infinix is a Hong Kong-based smartphone brand that has its foothold in different Asian and African markets. And the company re-entered the Nepali market after a long hiatus with the new Hot 9 Play. It’s an entry-level phone from the company which boasts a huge 6.8-inches display and a massive 6000 mAh battery. Retailing under NPR 15,000 here in Nepal, can this phone able to shake up the budget smartphone market? Let’s find out more about the new Infinix Hot 9 Play in this review.
Infinix Hot 9 Play Specifications:
Body: 6.76 x 3.07 x 0.35-inches; 209gm; Plastic body with gem-cut finish
Pretty big and wide phone so it may take some getting-used-to
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Rear Panel
Volume Rockers, Power Button
Headphone Jack, Micro USB port
SIM Tray
Kicking things off with the design, the Hot 9 Play is a big phone. In fact, it is even bigger and wider (although slightly lighter) than the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra which retails for about 10 times the price. Anyways, these two devices are on a completely different spectrum so let’s not dwell on that for much longer. As one would expect, the phone has a plastic body while the rear panel flaunts a gem-cut texture that reflects different shades depending upon how light strikes its surface.
Similarly, Hot 9 Play’s rear panel has a glossy finish thus attracting fingerprints and smudges. Because of this, we highly recommend you put on a decent case on top of it to not have to wipe it down every now and then. The frame is made of plastic as well and so are the buttons. Despite this, they are clicky and responsive enough to my liking. You can find the dual SIM tray on the left side of the phone while the buttons are placed on the left.
Port selection is fairly decent as well. There are the standard 3.5mm headphone jack and the Micro USB port at the bottom for data transfer and charging. Hot 9 Play is available in either Quetzal Cyan, Violet, and Ocean Wave color options on top of Midnight Black which is what I have with me. I was more drawn to the Violet variant but with time, this option has grown on me as well.
Display
6.82-inches HD+ TFT IPS LCD panel
No protective glass of any kind
Moving on to the display, the Infinix Hot 9 Play has a big 6.82-inches TFT IPS panel. So, content consumption on such a large phone was an absolute delight… well, not so much. Unfortunately, in a bid towards pushing for big numbers, OEMs don’t really care about the complementary elements that are quintessential for a well-rounded experience. Here, Hot 9 Play’s large display features a mediocre HD+ display with a pixel density of 263 PPI.
That spec-sheet is enough to make a general assumption about the quality of the display and you’d be right. It’s mediocre or maybe worse. The tall display and low resolution are not a good combo and it really shows. Videos aren’t enjoyable as the image looks way too dull and at most times, subjects have this weird white edge to them – which is a result of the phone trying to compensate for the minuscule pixel density for such a big phone. The colors aren’t that great either although I won’t be going at length about it since that’s acceptable for a phone at this price range. All in all, don’t give in to the large display hype on the Hot 9 Play as it doesn’t paint the whole picture.
Performance
Either quad-core MediaTek Helio A22 or octa-core A25 (12nm)
2/4GB of RAM with 32/64GB of expandable internal storage
XOS UI on top of Android 10
Now Infinix Hot 9 Play’s performance is quite interesting. There are different memory configurations, yes but on top of this, they differ when it comes to silicon as well. Here, the 2/32GB variant is powered by MediaTek’s Helio A22 while the 4/64GB option packs in Helio A25 instead. Our review unit features A25 too so from hereon after, I’ll be discussing Hot 9 Play’s performance based on that configuration. Using the dedicated slot, you can also expand the phone’s storage to up to 256GB which is nice.
Gaming
Mobile gaming’s gotten big these days so allow me to discuss the phone’s gaming prowess first. Based on the 12nm process, Helio A25 has an octa-core CPU (compared to quad-core on the A22) with Cortex-A53 cores. Handling the graphics side of things on the Hot 9 Play is IMG PowerVR GE8320 GPU. So, I went on to try some of the popular FPS titles like Call of Duty Mobile, and PUBG Mobile Lite. The latter ran sufficiently well under Smooth graphics and Extreme frame rate. Similarly, CoD and other games like Brawlhalla ran well too.
Besides gaming, other regular tasks run fairly well although I noticed how it takes a while to open apps – not just games, or other heavy apps. Hot 9 Play runs Android 10 out of the box (the 2/32GB comes with Go Edition by the way) with Infinix’x XOS UI on top. It is far from a stock Android experience with tons of customization options. Here, using XTheme, you can personalize the look of your device. The phone does come with a bunch of bloatware app and while you can uninstall most of them, some of them can’t be completely removed and you are left with the option to disable them.
Ads?
Unfortunately, this is not an ad-free phone either. During my review period, I was greeted with ads from pre-installed Infinix apps like XShare and XTheme on the Hot 9 Play. To combat this, I turned off notifications from those apps altogether. Talking about pre-installed apps, there is one called “Freezer” which hides all the unused apps from the app launcher page for better space management. There’s also a Smart panel that makes it easy for you to switch between different apps, record the screen, etc. To enable this, you just need to swipe off the edge on either side of the screen.
WhatsApp users will be delighted to know that the Infinix Hot 9 Play also has a dedicated social turbo feature that includes a voice recorder, beauty mode, and other functions. In terms of security, you can find the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. It is fairly accurate and fast for the price. There’s a face-unlock option as well which I have to admit isn’t as fast or reliable as the physical fingerprint scanner. So most of the time, I turned it off completely.
Camera
Rear: 13MP primary lens plus a QVGA low-light sensor
Front: 8MP selfie camera (teardrop notch)
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Rear Cameras
Front Camera
Getting to the cameras, one can easily confuse the Hot 9 Play for one with a triple-lens system. I mean, Infinix has gone out of its way to carve a lens-like circular engraving in the rear-camera module to make it look so when in reality there are only two sensors altogether. Moreover, one of them is a QVGA low-light sensor so effectively, this phone works around with the single 13MP lens.
Normal Images
The image from Hot 9 Play’s primary sensor is almost on par with those from Redmi 9C, Samsung Galaxy M01s, and Realme C11. They are way better than what I’d expected. The colors are fairly pleasant and with decent lighting, you can get really good images.
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However, on some occasions, colors feel a little muted and unnatural. You don’t get the sharpest of images either although they’re fine for a single pinch of zoom.
Portrait Images
Hot 9 Play also lets you take portrait images but sadly, they’re quite bad. First of all, it just blows up the ambient lighting and therefore the background elements. The edge detection isn’t good either and at times, the camera over-smoothens the subject making it look as if it has seen a touch of paint.
Normal v Portrait
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Normal
Portrait
Normal
Portrait
There’s also Beauty mode where you can play around with different filters and such. Importantly, the camera app has Google Lens embedded into it letting you quickly search for items, translate text, etc.
Notification LED
Moving on to the front-facing camera, there’s an 8MP sensor with a flash inside the teardrop notch at the top-center of the display. Interestingly, Infinix has also managed to sneak in an LED notification indicator on the left side of the notch. I have to admit it’s something I’m seeing after a long while in a modern smartphone and reminded me of the essence of this nifty little feature.
Selfie Images
The selfies, unlike the images from the primary lens, aren’t that great. It is wildly color inaccurate as the camera absolutely oversaturates the details. Also, it fails to capture the ambient detail properly. The dynamic range just isn’t there either. With all this, the image turns out quite flat and a little unappealing.
Selfie v Portrait Selfie
1 of 4
Selfie
Portrait Selfie
Selfie
Portrait Selfie
But once again, with proper lighting, the Hot 9 Play can shoot somewhat acceptable photos. Portrait selfies are similar to the ones from the main camera in the sense that it boosts the white balance way too much and even misses out on proper edge detection.
Battery & Audio
6000 mAh battery with 10W charging (Micro USB 2.0)
Single front-firing speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack
Finally, let me talk about the phone’s massive 6000 mAh battery. And right off the bat, this may very well be one of the best battery phones in the sub-15K market in Nepal. I honestly struggled to drain it out in a day and even with the heaviest of usage, the phone easily lasted me two full days. You can imagine how long it can last under light-moderate usage. While the endurance is great and all, charging it is an absolute pain.
The phone only supports 10W charging via the Micro USB port and on average, it took me about 3 hours and 40 minutes to take the Hot 9 Play from 0 – 100%. Now that’s something I haven’t seen in a modern smartphone in a long time either. Also, Infinix says the Hot 9 Play supports OTG input but my review unit wouldn’t accept it. Here’s to hoping it’s not universal.
Besides the headphone jack, you’re getting a single front-firing speaker setup which is located above the selfie camera. It’s not that pleasing to listen to. For even louder audio, there’s the DTS sound app and honestly, I didn’t find that much of a difference in the audio output with or without it.
Conclusion
Wrapping it all up, the Infinix Hot 9 Play is a surprisingly decent phone although it does have its undoings. The phone’s large display may attract many but will definitely notice its mediocrity after using it for a while. Having said that, if you can live with that, Hot 9 Play becomes a media-consumption powerhouse for its price.
People who watch a lot of videos, or travel frequently or students who require a larger screen space can definitely make something out of the phone. But once again a reminder, you’ll most probably need to charge the device overnight since it takes way too long to fully juice up the battery. And if you’re someone who can’t accommodate to its compromises, there are other options like the new Redmi 9C or the Realme C11.
Infinix Hot 9 Play Review: Pros & Cons
Pros:
Decent design and the gem-cut finish looks good
Excellent battery life (2-day phone)
Okay-ish performance on the 4GB RAM variant
The cameras can produce good-looking images
Cons:
The large display maxes out at just HD+ resolution
A fair amount of bloatware apps and occasional ads
Extremely slow charging via the Micro USB connection
OPPO has a fairly decent lineup of Bluetooth earphones in Nepal. It was started with the launch of the Enco Free back in the first half of 2020 which was then followed up by the release of Enco W11, W31, and M31. Here, the W31 is the most expensive of the bunch and features some relatively premium features like wear detection, IP54 dust/water resistance, etc. So, the question remains – how good is it? Let’s find out in this review of the OPPO Enco W31 TWS earbuds.
AirPods-like stem with a circular earpiece; glossy finish
In-ear fit with silicone ear tips (extra tips inside the box)
Circular charging case with a matte finish
As always, allow me to begin with the design. Borrowing a page out of Apple’s AirPods design book, the Enco W31 definitely doesn’t have the most inspiring of looks. It does manage to somewhat separate itself from the “AirPods-clone” tag as the stem itself is a little flatter than the circular design choice we’ve seen from Apple. Similarly, the ear tips have an oval pill-shaped look that also fortifies for a better fit.
Furthermore, the Enco W31 is incredibly lightweight at just 4 grams per earbud. In comparison, the much more compact – Enco W11 weighs 10% heavier. As a result, the combo of the lightweight build quality and its soft silicone ear tips allowed me to keep the earbuds on my ears for a really long-time without noticing any sort of fatigue or discomfort. Moreover, OPPO also ships two pairs of ear tips of different sizes for free inside the box so that you can get the perfect fit. For me, the default one worked fine so I didn’t have to switch it.
Thanks to the quality fit, the Enco W31 manages to sit firmly inside your ears and wouldn’t come off even in the most aggressive of headbangs. Additionally, this also results in really good passive noise isolation which is fantastic. You can also wear it during your morning jogs, workouts, and such as the earbuds are IP54 rated against dust and water (from all directions). However, OPPO warns against using the earbuds under intense physical activity which may result in excessive sweat, so be on the lookout for that.
Charging case
But it is the charging case that screams the argument against the look-alike debate the loudest. It has a circular hockey puck-like shape – reminiscent of the Huawei FreeBuds 3. And while the earbuds themselves have a glossy finish, OPPO has softened the deal with an all-around matte finish on the case. As a result, it feels really comfortable to hold on top of being an absolute eye-candy. It has a clamshell-esque opening/closing mechanism which felt a little weird at first as it feels like something from a makeup artist’s bag.
Anyway, the earbuds lay flat inside the case connected magnetically via the POGO pins for charging, which is indicated by an LED indicator. It glows red for low, yellow for medium, and green for full battery – pretty standard stuff. There’s also a Function button that you gotta press for a while (a couple of seconds at least) to pair the W31 with a new device. There’s the USB-C charging port at the back just below the hinge.
Pairing
Bluetooth 5.0 wireless connection
Here, pairing the Enco W31 is fairly boilerplate. It has Bluetooth v5.0 wireless connectivity with a rated range of 10 meters. As I said earlier, for first-time pairing with any device, you are required to hit the function button on the charging case for a while which then glows white indicating its universal visibility. But once paired, this step needn’t be repeated for consecutive connections.
Under certain OPPO devices (like the Reno3 4G series) running ColorOS 7.0 or higher, one can also enjoy the “Quick Pairing” function. Just like other wearable manufacturers, this OEM-exclusive feature lets you instantly connect the Enco W31 with your OPPO phone once you open the charging case. Thus, you can seamlessly resume your playback state without going through all the hassle where your phone has to scan for available Bluetooth devices for pairing every time.
Control
A touch-based capacitive sensor on each earbud
Double/triple-tap for playback control/trigger voice assistant
Wear detection for pausing/playing the audio
The controls on the Enco W31 are, to put it gently, mediocre. Actually, this is quite common with comparatively inexpensive TWS earbuds that have the stemmy design. Compared to the compact Enco W11, you’ll need to take out your phone much more often for playback control. Each earbud has capacitive touch at the top portion of the stem. I wish there was a single-tap control mechanism but unfortunately, it’s all double/triple taps here.
To begin with, you can double-tap the right earbud to skip a track while double-tapping the left one switches between the “Balanced” and “Bass” mode. Similarly, Enco W31 triggers your phone’s digital assistant with a triple tap on either side. And that’s it. If you wanted to play the previous audio or control the volume level, it requires you to use your phone instead. Fortunately, the OPPO Enco W31 has wear detection which works excellently and recognizes every single time you take out the earbud(s) or put them back. However, there is a slight delay of about half seconds for the W31 to process the situation.
Thankfully, these earbuds recognize your gentlest of touch which is great considering how firmly it sits inside your ear thanks to the silicon ear tips. But a piece of bad news lies on the input latency. For instance, it takes a while for the Enco W31 to acknowledge the touch input. And if you tap the buds with a little bit of haste, it fails to accurately assess the request or misprocess them altogether. I’d be triple-tapping the buds but instead of summoning Google Assistant, it would sometimes skip a track instead.
Audio
7mm dynamic drivers; graphene-coated diaphragm
20Hz – 20 kHz frequency response
Binaural simultaneous Bluetooth transmission
Dual microphones with environmental noise cancellation
But when it comes to audio, the OPPO Enco W31 doesn’t disappoint. This is especially impressive since it has a rather small 7mm audio drivers. In contrast, the cheaper W11 has larger 8mm drivers. So, looking at the spec-sheet, many people may associate a larger audio driver with a better audio output which is just not the case. You see, it is how well the manufacturer optimizes it that determines the quality of audio coming out.
Although a large driver does allow for more air pressure to move back and forth the speaker, considering the size of typical earbuds, it’s not going to matter much on an audio playback device of this size. As a result, only having a large audio driver would mean squat if the material used is of inferior quality or if it’s not tuned properly.
Yet, the Enco W31’s dynamic drivers have graphene-coated diaphragms which allow the earbuds to efficiently reproduce achieve the frequency range of 20Hz – 20kHz. In terms of audio codecs, it only supports the standard AAC/SBC format. Furthermore, it has binaural low-latency Bluetooth transmission meaning the audio signal is simultaneously transmitted to both left and right earbuds. With all this, I expected great audio from the Enco W31 and thankfully, it delivered.
Balanced & Bass Mode
Let’s first talk about the Balanced Mode. As the name implies, this mode reproduces even sound across all frequencies. Vocals on “Big Parade” by The Lumineers were crystal clear and the instruments just gracefully complement the singer’s audio. Similarly, Bob Dylan’s vocal in “Idiot Wind” played like a charm although bumping the audio to max resulted in some coarseness.
On the other hand, I was really impressed by Enco W31’s Bass Mode. I listened to retrowave & outrun tracks like “Nightcall” by Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx and the bass reproduction was amazing at about 70 – 80% volume. But I did notice a couple of instances of bass bleed especially when listening at full volume. “Luv (Sic) pt. 2” by Nujabes & Shing02 sounded great on Enco W31 too although woodwind instruments throughout the song were subdued by quite a bit. Watching regular videos on YouTube was quite pleasant as well as there is no noticeable latency. However, I wouldn’t trust it for fps or RPG gaming since the audio lag is enough to result in a distracting gameplay experience.
Call Quality
Finally, let’s get into the call quality. OPPO has included two microphones – one at the bottom of each earbud’s stem and one near the infrared optical sensor at the top. According to the company, this setup combined with environmental noise cancellation and an anti-wind noise chamber will give off incredible call quality. And yeah, it does have a better call quality compared to other TWS earbuds from the company. Unfortunately, during my review of the OPPO Enco W31, it was a little inconsistent at times as people on the receiving end would sometimes complain about the lacking loudness in my voice.
Battery
25 mAh (each earbud), 350 mAh (charging case)
USB Type-C connection for charging
While I’m praising Enco W31’s audio & call quality, its battery life was incredibly devastating. Each earbud has a small 25mAh battery while the charging case includes a 350mAh cell. This is especially surprising seeing how the more compact & cheaper W11 has a much bigger battery. OPPO says it can last 3.5 hours of playback in one full charge which rises to up to 15 hours with the case. Sad to say, this claim didn’t quite resonate similarly during my testing.
On average, I got just 2 and a half hours of playback at around 70% volume. This mostly consisted of listening under Bass Mode but still, that is a really short duration of battery endurance. As someone who has the habit of listening to music continuously for hours, it was incredibly annoying having to plug it every couple of hours. And it would’ve been some sort of compensation if the Enco W31 juiced up quickly, but no. It takes almost 2.5 hours to charge up the case via the 5V/1A charger. Maybe OPPO is prioritizing battery durability in the long run instead of fast charging. Still, the short battery life and a long charging period is just not a good combo.
Conclusion
Okay, let’s wrap up this review of the OPPO Enco W31. From a pure music listening experience, especially bass-heavy ones, it is absolutely incredible for the price. However, I would only recommend it to the most casual listeners only. If you’re into competitive gaming or have the habit of putting on earbuds for hours, this one’s not for you. The battery life is what really ticks me off as the playback period paired with the long charging period is just unacceptable to me. But if you just want some good TWS earbuds for short exercises, jogs, or don’t listen to music for that long, the Enco W31 may be a good option for you.
Huawei extended its lineup of ultra-thin laptops with the unveiling of Huawei MateBook X last month. MateBook X is the toned-down variant of the more premium Huawei MateBook X Pro. The company has now announced that it will be launched outside of China as well. Keep reading to know more about the specs, features, expected price, and availability of Huawei MateBook X in Nepal.
Huawei MateBook X Overview
Design and Display
The body of Huawei MateBook X is built with magnesium-aluminum alloy. The laptop will be available in two colors – Frost Green and Silver Frost. That is two less than the option available for the Chinese audience. The MateBook X weighs around 1kg, is slim at 13.6mm thickness, and sports a 13-inch LTPS screen that supports 3K resolution. The bezels have been greatly reduced to help the laptop achieve the screen to body ratio of 90%. Similarly, the aspect ratio here is 3:2.
Its screen boasts a pixel density of 278PPI and a brightness level of 400 nits (typical value). This touch screen supports up to 10 touches simultaneously. Huawei says that the screen is fingerprint-proof. For designers, the screen covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut.
Pressure Sensitive TrackPad
The talking point of the laptop is the new pressure-sensitive trackpad. According to the company, it can detect different pressure levels and provide haptic feedback like a physical button. It also comes with NFC integrated onto it. Users can enter multi-screen collaboration mode by placing a smartphone on the trackpad. In this mode, users can use the laptop to transfer files, edit them, and transfer video calls to the laptop.
Performance and Memory
MateBook X is powered by 10 Gen Intel Comet Lake processors. Users can choose between two configurations. The base variant comes with Core i7 10210U, while the top-end model features Core i7 10510U. Both processors feature 4 cores and 8 threads but the Core i7 has a faster clock speed and larger cache memory. Irrespective of the processor, the MateBook X comes with 512GB of SSD of storage and 16GB of LPDDR3 Ram. The 8GB variant will not be stepping outside of Chine for now.
Huawei has opted for a fanless cooling system. The MateBook X features a Vapor Chamber heat dissipation mechanism with multi-layer graphite sheets.
MateBook X relies on a 42 Whr battery with support for 65W fast charging. The company claims the laptop can last 9 hours of continuous video playback. For biometrics, Huawei has integrated the fingerprint sensor on the power button. Talking about ports, the MateBook X has two USB Type-C ports and a 3.5mm jack. The camera is hidden under one of the function keys. It has a dual-microphone setup that is said to reduce ambient sound, interference, and echos.
Ports: 2 x USB Type-C port, and 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack
Audio: 4 x speakers, 2 x microphone
Connectivity: Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (2×2 MIMO)), Bluetooth 5.0
Keyboard: Full-size Backlit chiclet Keyboard
Webcam: 720P HD Recessed Camera
Battery: 42 Whr Lithium Battery
Charger: 65W USB Type-C charger
Color: Silver Frost, Frost Green
Huawei MateBook X Price in Nepal and Availability
Huawei MateBook X will be available in Europe starting in October. The i5 variant is priced at 1,599 Euro while the i7 variant bears a 1,799 Euro price tag. If Huawei decides to launch it here, we expect the price of Huawei MateBook X 2020 to start at NPR 2,25,000.
Laptop Model
Price in Europe
Price in Nepal (Expected)
Huawei MateBook X (Core i5, 16GB RAM)
1,599 Euro
NPR. 2,25,000
Huawei MateBook X (Core i7, 16GB RAM)
1,799 Euro
NPR 2,55,000
Check out our review of the Asus Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop.
After the launch of Moto G9 and G9 Play, there were lots of rumors about another device in the G9-series. Just last week, some major leaks of the Moto G9 Plus had surfaced online. And now, the company has finally gone on and made the device official. The Moto G9 Plus is the biggest device in the G9-series and brings in some significant updates as compared to the G9 and G9 Play. So, let’s check out what the Moto G9 Plus brings to the table including its expected price in Nepal.
Moto G9 Plus Overview
As mentioned earlier, the Moto G9 Plus is the largest device in this series. However, it’s not by much though. This device measures 6.8-inches, whereas the other two measured 6.5-inches. It is an IPS LCD panel with FHD+ resolution. Furthermore, it also gets HDR10 support. And as the trend these days, the device has a small punch-hole on the top-left corner to house the selfie camera. The camera itself is a 16MP shooter.
Around the back, the camera setup has changed too. It is now a quad-camera array, as compared to the triple-camera array that G9 and G9 Play sported. The camera setup includes a 64MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, a 2MP macro lens, and a 2MP depth sensor.
Another upgrade that the G9 Plus receives is in the processor. This device is equipped with the Snapdragon 730G SoC. Now, this might still be a mid-range processor, but it’s still a powerful one. The processor is complemented by 4gigs of RAM and 128GB of storage, out-of-the-box. As for the battery, it comes equipped with a 5000mAh unit and it supports 30W fast charging.
Rear Camera: Quad, 64MP primary lens with f/1.8 aperture+ 8MP ultra-wide lens with f/2.2 aperture + 2MP depth sensor with f/2.2 aperture + 2MP macro sensor with f/2.2 aperture
Front Camera: 16MP camera with f/2.0 aperture
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G
GPU: Adreno 618
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 128GB (expandable)
Battery: 5000 mAh with 30W fast charging
Security: Fingerprint (side-mounted)
Moto G9 Plus Price and Availability
The device is currently available for purchase in Brazil only. And it is priced at BLR 2,499 (~$470). However, we do not know about either its price or availability date elsewhere. But it is expected to launch soon in other markets.
Given that Brazil is notorious for its hefty price tags on tech items, Moto G9 will probably cost a bit less elsewhere. Speculation is that the device will launch for around EUR 277 in Europe. As far as Nepal is concerned, the price of the Moto G9 Plus here might be somewhere around NPR 39,000.
Samsung is a brand that has its hands in almost every consumer electronic product. And in most cases, its offerings rank up among the best in the business. Recently, the company launched its flagship smartwatch – the Galaxy Watch 3 (stylized: Watch3) which has consequently resulted in the many people calling it the best non-Apple smartwatch. Looking at its price-tag, that better be true, huh? In my one month or so with it, the Watch 3 definitely lives up to the hype, at least. Let’s discuss more in this review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3.
Bluetooth 5.0, WiFi b/g/n, NFC, A-GPS/Glonass/Beidou
Software
Tizen Wearable OS 5.5
Companion App
– Setup, Settings: Galaxy Wearable (Android), Samsung Galaxy Watch (iOS)
– Health Statistics, Report: Samsung Health (Android | iOS)
Compatibility
Android: 5.0 or higher, RAM 1.5GB and above | iOS: iPhone 5 and above, iOS 9.0 or above
Price in Nepal
Rs. 53,999 (BT + WiFi)
Rs. 55,999 (BT + WiFi)
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 Review:
Design
The classic circular watch face design
Premium leather straps with easy interchangeability (20/22mm)
Top-notch durability with 5ATM/IP68, MIL-STD-810G certification
Samsung has placed the Watch 3 somewhere between the original Galaxy Watch from 2018 and last year’s Galaxy Watch Active2 – at least in terms of the feature set. Technically, it is the successor of the former. Throughout these devices, the design has remained more or less the same. Full disclosure: I don’t mind the uniformity as the circular approach looks classically elegant.
Left: Watch Active2 | Right: Watch 3
Compared to its predecessor, Galaxy Watch 3 is marginally more compact & lighter as well. We’re talking millimeters and a couple of grams here which I know doesn’t sound like a lot but makes all the difference for something that’s going to sit atop your wrist. Everything is and therefore feels premium as we’ve come to expect. It has a stainless steel frame (316L) while the straps are made from premium leather material. There’s also going to be a more expensive Watch 3 with a Titanium frame scheduled to launch later this month.
Available in either 41 or 45mm variant with WiFi-only or LTE connection, the Galaxy Watch 3 retains the option for people to choose between a compact or a large-screen smartwatch too. Depending upon the variant, the color options differ on top of other aspects. This year’s signature color – Mystic Bronze is confined within the smaller 41mm option, which is the one I have with me (WiFi-only). In the international market, this variant retails for $399.99 while Samsung charges an additional 50 bucks for LTE connectivity.
The rotating bezel is back!
Anyway, if you remember the Watch Active2 that we reviewed a couple of weeks ago, it had a digital bezel around the edge of the display for eased navigation. Well, Watch 3 brings the superior physical rotating bezel instead.
This dial sits slightly above the display and serves as somewhat of a protection mechanism to the display panel. Although its frames are smooth on the 41mm Galaxy Watch 3, the ones on the 45mm options are textured, which I personally am not a fan of. Other than these, the remaining design choices are nothing different. There’s a “back” and a configurable “home” button on the right frame. A little below it, you’ll see the singular microphone whereas the big heart rate sensor sits comfortably at the bottom of the watch.
Moving to the left, it has a speaker grille for playing music, making calls, and whatnot. As usual, the straps conform to the universal sizes. The 41mm option fits with any 20mm strap and the larger 45mm takes 22mm options. So, if you have one lying around, you can easily give your Watch 3 a makeover. Interestingly, one of the two band retainers has been sewed into the strap itself while the remaining one is free for you to adjust.
A durable piece of tech
Samsung suggests you wear the Watch 3 fairly tight for accurate measurements and I did accordingly. With this, there were occasional instances where the sweat from my wrist would condense and stick on the base of the watch. As a result, I found myself having to clean it up every once in a while. Overall, Watch 3 is a really well design piece of tech and the premium leather strap didn’t yield any issues like skin irritation or allergy.
It is also 5ATM/IP68 rated and is MIL-STD-810G compliant. The latter has already proven its worth during my time with the watch. I vividly remember a couple of instances where the Watch 3 had bumped into a concrete surface pretty hard. Thankfully, it handled that like a champ with no dent or scratch to be seen.
Display
Either 1.2 or 1.4-inches circular Super AMOLED display
Corning Gorilla Glass DX protection against scratches
Okay, let us now move to the display. Just like the Watch Active2, it is available in two sizes: either 1.2 or 1.4-inches. This Super AMOLED panel packs in 360 x 360 pixels with 364 PPI. In terms of protection, Samsung has gone with Corning’s Gorilla Glass DX which is geared towards better readability & scratch resistance in wearable devices compared to regular Gorilla Glass 3, 4, etc. Interestingly, this is a downgrade from what we’ve seen in Samsung’s previous smartwatches.
You see, both – the original Galaxy Watch & Watch Active2 were fortified with Gorilla Glass DX+. According to Corning, on top of the enhanced readability & scratch resistance, DX+ is also equipped to protect against damaging impacts. Seems like a silly downgrade, honestly. But like I said earlier, the Watch 3 is a strong boi and I can kinda excuse the substitution to Gorilla Glass DX.
Great colors, excellent visibility
The display itself is excellent. It is bright, sharp, has excellent colors, contrast, and supports Always-on Display (AoD) too. Even in the sunniest of days, I didn’t encounter any trouble regarding visibility. You can choose between 10 levels of brightness and there’s also the “Auto low brightness” option which automatically dials down the illuminance depending upon the ambient light.
The range of watch faces is pretty… meh.
Now, Samsung says there are over 50,000 watch faces available for the Galaxy Watch 3. I obviously didn’t go around scrolling through every one of them to verify the claim; so I’m just gonna take the company’s word for it. There are definitely quite a lot of options – both paid & free and frankly, most of them feel… way to amateur to be deserving of the watch face on such a premium smartwatch.
Some of the default ones are really nice with the option to customize a bunch of them as well. Here, you can change the color scheme, add widgets, etc. to certain watch faces. However, I had to go through a lot of scrolling to land a watch face that I’m proud to put on on the watch. It’s called “New Marble Line” which displays the basic info like date, time, battery level alongside average heart rate & steps taken, with an acrylic paint background. The date/time is in all-text reminiscent of Android 10 which I absolutely admire.
Thankfully, I was able to download this watch face for free as it was undergoing a sale on the Galaxy Store. You can also easily shift between or customize watch faces by long-pressing the home screen on the watch and scrolling through them. Better yet, all these can also be done on the Galaxy Wearable app.
Navigation
Rotating bezel for easily scrolling through the menus
When it comes to navigation, the crown jewel of the Watch 3 is most certainly its rotating bezel. I’d praised the digital touch bezels on the Watch Active2 for its efficacy but this one’s better by a mile. It rotates 360° and scrolling through UI, menus, etc. is just so easy & smooth because of this. In certain cases like when shifting through the watch face edit menu in the watch itself, rotating the dial fast enough minimizes the icon sizes to fit more on the same screen – therefore allowing you to see more and scroll less.
The next point I wanna make is not a complaint, per se but is more of a suggestion to Samsung. You see, even though the dial is great and all, to make a selection on the screen, you still have to move one of your fingers away from the bezel; thus breaking the chain of seamlessness. What if there was some pressure-sensitive mechanism where you can just rotate the bezel for scrolling and press against it to make a selection? That’d be cool, huh?
Anyway, you can still swipe through the display to get around the Watch 3 but it’s way slower. Once you go rotating bezels, you can’t go back. The buttons on the side click nice and work like a charm too. While the back button is self-explanatory, the home button can be customized to trigger custom actions. In my case, long-pressing the button launches Bixby whereas double-pressing it opens the list of recent apps.
Performance
Dual-core Exynos 9110 SoC (10nm)
1GB RAM plus 8GB internal storage (all variants)
A little bit of lag every now and then
On the performance front, the Galaxy Watch 3 is powered by the Exynos 9110 SoC. This is the same chip found in the first-gen Galaxy Watch and Watch Active2. It has a dual-core CPU with Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.15GHz and its Mali-T720 handles the graphics. While Samsung’s previous smartwatches came with either 768MB/1.5GB of RAM, the company is keeping it real simple this time around by standardizing 1GB of memory in all variants of the Watch 3. Similarly, the internal storage has been bumped to 8GB as well.
In most cases, the Watch 3 runs fine although there were a few instances of annoying stutters. When this happened, I would double-tap the home button to summon the list of recently opened apps & clear them from memory. This would revert things back to normal. Not a major issue but I also discovered a weird little complication with the Watch 3.
Say it is connected to your phone via Bluetooth and for some reason, you decide to restart the phone. Now, until you unlock the phone, Watch 3 becomes unusable. Whenever I tried scrolling through the menus, I’d be redirected to the home screen with the message “Unlock phone first” popping up. This could be a security thing and something makes me think that this minute hindrance doesn’t occur on the LTE variant of the watch. Anyway, it’s just something I noticed during my usage and it’s nothing of a barn burner.
A “hand wash” feature, but not automatic
Keeping things topical, Samsung has also included a hand wash feature. Before you start making any wild assumptions, it’s basically just an app where you can record the number of times you’ve washed your hands in a day or start a 25-second timer. That is particularly disappointing seeing how Apple introduced the automatic handwash recognition feature in the latest watchOS 7 update. To make things easier, you can use the Hand Wash watch face. But let’s get real here, it is nowhere as intuitive as Apple’s solution.
Bixby still has a long way to go
Bixby is as terrible as ever and I found it to be particularly slow at recognizing commands. When you pose a request with a long sentence, it fails to make any sort of response with the screen going black. There were also quite a many occasions of where it would fail to function altogether with the message “Something went wrong. Please try again” embellishing the screen.
Another thing I noticed is how it is incapable of setting alarm for specific dates. I tried saying “set an alarm for 7:30 AM tomorrow” and it couldn’t. But omit the word “tomorrow” and you’re good to go. Besides the home key, you can also use the “Hey Bixby” keyword to summon Samsung’s digital assistant. It can launch apps (but you gotta be spot on with the name), make simple calculations, etc.
Tizen OS
Samsung’s own operating system (based on Linux) for wearables
Watch 3 runs on the latest Tizen Wearable OS 5.5
Running the whole show is Samsung’s very own Tizen Wearable OS 5.5 with One UI Watch 2.0 on top. I see so many people throwing shade at Tizen OS and to some extent I agree; especially when talking about third-party app support compared to Apple’s watchOS and Google’s WearOS. Having said that, One UI on the Watch 3 is ridiculously well designed.
All the notifications are neatly arranged on the left side on the home screen; indicated by a little orange dot on the side. Likewise, the bottom of the screen shows the currently running action. For example, a workout reminder or some open app like music player, Spotify, etc. That reminds me, Spotify works perfectly fine on the Watch 3 here in Nepal while that wasn’t the case with Watch Active2. You can also stream music offline or download songs from Spotify into the watch. But of course, it requires a premium account.
Spotify integration could use a little work
When I said Spotify works “perfectly fine”, I admit I was being a little generous ‘cause the whole process is a little janky at times. For instance, trying to initiate playback directly from the watch would result in a weird visual experience. The song would play on the phone, but oftentimes, metadata like artwork and other details wouldn’t load on the watch itself. Spotify app on the phone too would be playing some other song while the playing screen stayed stuck, synced with the watch.
But enough of that. As I said earlier, Watch 3’s UI is gorgeous. The animations are great and the native apps run incredibly well. You can launch the action center by swiping down from the top for quickly turning on/off various functions like AoD, power mode, etc. Once again, things do get a little stuttered at times but at this point, I can already look past that. In terms of third-party app support, it comes with Microsoft Outlook and Spotify preinstalled. Other basic apps like calendar, phone, messages, etc. are supplied by Samsung.
What about third-party apps?
I was a little weary about external app support. However, I ended up installing just a couple of them available on the Galaxy Store and am getting by my day just fine. A map tool was a must so I searched for a way to integrate Google Maps into Watch 3 and thankfully, there was one. It’s called “Navigation Pro” which unfortunately requires you to download its paid app on the Play Store as well. If you want some free options, then there are alternatives like “Komoot”, “Here We Go”, etc.
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Galaxy Store
Galaxy Wearable
Watch Faces
Notifications on this smartwatch are fantastic too. There’s a noticeable buzz (and a chime) to make you aware of any incoming alerts. What’s even more impressive is that some of them are complemented with historical contexts to give you more idea about what’s going on.
Say you get a message from someone. Galaxy Watch 3 also displays the most recent conversation to alert you of the context, which is fantastic. You can also receive image notification on certain messaging apps though that didn’t work in some apps I tried like Messenger. Samsung says this feature region-locked so maybe because of that.
Yet, I did notice how YouTube notifications would show the thumbnail on the notification panel. You can choose to get notification from all or select apps only. Also, there’s the option to get no notification on the watch, while your connected phone’s screen is on.
Let down by gestures
Another interesting feature on the Galaxy Watch 3 that I was eager to test out was the new gesture controls. To my dismay, they wouldn’t work no matter how much I tried. Here, un/clenching your hand when you have an incoming call should’ve hung up the call, while shaking hands should’ve muted the vibration & volume of the call. Maybe this one is region-locked too or maybe this feature is only available in LTE variants.
Terrific call quality
Talking about calls, the quality on both ends is excellent on both ends. When connected to your phone, you can even make calls & messages independently from the watch itself. Disappointingly, you can’t make VoIP calls on the watch. It just directs you to use the phone for the process.
I tried testing via Messenger and WhatsApp and though you get the option to hang up on the incoming call, you can’t pick them up. Viber acted a little weird as the incoming notification somehow showed the option to both take/reject the call but pressing either of them resulted in nothing.
Schrödinger’s feature
Finally, I want to talk about one more new feature on the Galaxy Watch 3 which is called “Trip detection”. It is similar to Apple’s “Fall detection” where the watch would notify the set emergency contact(s) your location in case it detects that you’ve fallen and can’t get up. For some reason, this feature isn’t activated by default so you’re gonna have to manually set it up first. You can also make SOS calls to your emergency contact by triple-pressing the home button when necessary.
Now, I did try triggering Watch 3’s trip detection feature but that didn’t work. I haven’t read any news about someone making use of it either. So for now, this feature is like the Schrödinger’s cat – it simultaneously works perfectly and doesn’t. Until someone actually falls to confirm the working state of this function, it mimics the aforementioned thought experiment.
When it comes to fitness tracking, Galaxy Watch 3 is loaded with a bunch of them – 40 workouts to be exact. This includes running, hiking, swimming, crunches, deadlifts, pilates, yoga, etc. When you’re underwater, you gotta turn on the “Water Lock” feature which restricts water particles from getting into the watch. Similarly, the watch can also automatically detect 6 of them: walking/running, cycling, elliptical trainer, rowing machine, swimming, and dynamic workout. Sadly, this automatic detection didn’t work well during my test.
In the case of casual walks, it takes somewhere between 1 – 5 minutes for the Watch 3 to detect and do start the countdown. That’s not what I have to complain about, but rather the degree of how erratic it is. Automatic pause and resume of workouts would get inaccurately triggered with the watch frequently vibrating you of the detection even when you’re walking. There was also this one instance where it mistook me riding a scooter for cycling. Now, granted I was riding quite slow since I’m in the learning phase, those two are completely different forms of workouts taking a different level of a toll on your body.
Slight improvement in automatic detection
With all this, I was ready to give up on Watch 3’s automatic workout detection. But then, Samsung rolled out an 80MB update which fixed it to some extent. This update also introduced Blood Oxygen, VO2max monitoring, sleep score and advanced running analysis with a few visual changes to the UI here and there.
And yeah, the automatic workout detection improved by a great margin. Watch 3 would accurately pick up whether I’d made a stop or if I continued on with the walk. However, there was still one eerie incident. This one time, I vividly remember manually activating the “walking” workout mode to test out the accuracy of its GPS since I knew I had to cover a comparatively large ground. For some unknown reason, by the end of the session, Watch 3 had somehow categorized it under cycling. Like, what just happened?
Maybe because I’d gained a few paces in the middle it mistook the action as cycling but that’s no justification for this blatant error. But what’s still great are the vocal cues you get when you hit a certain milestone like walking a mile. It notifies you of distance covered, average pace, speed, heart rate, etc. Also, viewing the workout details on the watch itself is great which even shows you a mini-map of the distance covered. Yet, you gotta use the Samsung Health app on your phone for much more detailed statistics and analysis.
Spot-on location mapping
I was honestly blown away with Watch 3’s built-in GPS too. The GPS-lock is almost instantaneous and it was spot-on during every one of my tests. It does take up quite the battery percentage so unless you’re in a workout, you should turn it off. Galaxy Watch 3 is also capable of measuring your heart rate, stress level, and even period tracking which is a really handy feature for women’s health. What I also like about the heart rate/stress measurement is that you can add a tag to each of them for a better analysis. For instance: label the HR level as “resting” if measured when you’re resting.
You can also manually record other activities like water-intake, amount of calories eaten, etc. With the said update, one can also measure your blood oxygen level (SpO2) which is a little tricky to get it working. One has to stay perfectly still with the hand near the heart level otherwise it doesn’t work. I measured at around 92% which falls below the optimal reading of 94 – 99%. Still, this isn’t something alarming since only less than 90% is considered as low blood oxygen. That’s nice.
Sleep tracking is pretty darn amazing too!
Watch 3’s sleep tracking is excellent and tracked my time to bed and the time I woke up perfectly. It categorizes your sleep into 4 sections: awake, REM, light, and deep. I can’t verify whether or not they’re accurate by any means. So, I’m just gonna have to take Samsung’s word for it. Additionally, it also records the number of calories burnt during your sleep session. You can view most of these details on the watch or head on to your phone for a more detailed report.
Samsung also introduced something called “sleep score” in the update. This rates the quality of your sleep between 0 and 100. It is based on factors like total sleep time, sleep cycles, movements & awakenings, etc. and according to the app, the average score for men between 20 – 29 years of age is 82. Most of the time, I ended up scoring just 30 while. Thankfully in a couple of instances, I managed to hit 85. Yeah, I’m a good sleeper now.
Periodic reminders
The watch also periodically reminds you to get up, take a walk, and stuff like that; in case you’ve been sitting idly for a while. Messages like “How about a walk?”, “Time to get up”, etc. greet you with an alert and once you’ve done as it says, it also congratulates you on the accomplishment. Now, talking about all the health features, I cannot leave out the fact that Galaxy Watch 3 has an ECG sensor and a blood pressure monitor which unfortunately isn’t paired with working software.
In the US, the FDA has verified the ECG sensor but not the other one. And I don’t think Samsung will be able to roll out software updates making use of these sensors to the global audience any time soon. But, let’s hope for the best, I guess. Or better yet, maybe the company should’ve done something like Tesla: subscription-based feature locks.
Samsung clearly can’t make these two sensors usable for global users anytime soon as made evident with what happened in the Watch Active 2. So maybe, they could’ve reduced the price of the watch and bring up a subscription system later on when they’re able to accompany a software update for ECG and blood pressure monitoring. Watch 3 also has NFC connectivity which is made use of by the “Samsung Pay” feature. However, this payment platform doesn’t work here in Nepal.
Battery
Either 247 or 340mAh battery
Qi wireless charging (5V/1A)
Time to talk about the battery. And spoiler alert – it varies a lot. The smaller 41mm variant has a 247mAh cell while the bigger 45mm Galaxy Watch 3 enjoys a larger 340mAh cell. I tested out Galaxy Watch 3 against different use cases during my review and unsurprisingly got different endurance time.
With AoD off, I managed to net out around 25 hours of screen-on-time. This consisted of constant heart rate, sleep monitoring, medium workout, and the watch was always connected to my phone, therefore would get notifications every now and then. After hitting the 25-hour mark, the battery suggested me to turn on “Power Saving Mode” which I did and therefore got an additional 16 hours of juice.
This mode restricts you from toggling any setting or measuring anything. Even the “rise wrist to wake” doesn’t work here which works almost every time under normal mode. However, you can still make calls/messages under this.
Similarly, another usage scenario with a light workout, frequent disconnection with the phone, and Always-on Display turned off, I managed around 43 hours & 34.45 minutes of battery life under the regular mode. The average charging time was around 2 hours and 13.31 minutes (with Watch 3 powered off). These were the battery stats before the aforementioned update.
Varying levels of battery life
After it, there was a slight improvement in charging speed & endurance as well. However, the base of the watch & the 5V/1A wireless charging dock would still get very hot after charging the device. Anyway, even with AoD turned on, I managed to get an average of 22 hours of screen-on-time with heavy usage including music streaming on Spotify.
And this jumped to about 2 days when turning off AoD. Obviously, these numbers would be much higher on the 45mm variant. Oh, I almost forgot, you can also transfer photos & music into the 8GB of memory on the Watch 3 using the Galaxy Wearable app. The transfer speed was surprisingly faster than I’d expected. With this, you can also connect the watch with a Bluetooth audio device to listen to the music stored on the watch.
Conclusion
Let’s wrap up this review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. It is an excellent smartwatch that brings the beloved rotating bezel. Because of this, navigating through the watch is really easy. It is well designed and has an excellent display as well. Although I would’ve liked a slightly faster performance, the well-designed Tizen OS makes up for it. Admittedly, this does come with restrictions like app choices.
The health tracking feature works wonderfully well, especially sleep tracking. But, sometimes the result isn’t as accurate and then there’s the issue of the unused ECG & blood pressure monitor. Like most other smartwatches, this one still requires a charge every day or two which is a shame. All in all, the Galaxy Watch 3 reaches for perfection and is definitely one of the best options in the market.
Watch our video review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3!
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 Review: Pros & Cons
Pros:
Classic circular design with premium build materials
The rotating bezel makes it incredibly easy to use the watch
Vibrant display with excellent contrast & a decent level of brightness
Tizen OS is very well designed, at least for native apps & system UI
A ton of health tracking features including heart rate, women’s health, etc.
Sleep tracking and GPS mapping is astonishingly accurate
The battery life is fairly decent depending upon your use case
Cons:
Bixby isn’t able to handle commands well enough
Automatic workout detection is erratically inaccurate at times
Tizen OS still can’t compete with Wear OS in term of third-party apps
ECG, blood pressure sensors are sitting dull sans a complementing software
If you are a local small business or even a freelancer who can’t fund a big advertisement campaign, an SMS campaign can be a great alternative to reach out to a wide audience of potential customers. However, the service itself is a little expensive in the Nepalese market. To improve the situation and to add other options for the customers, HuluHive Technology has announced an application called Android Bulk SMS. Find out the kind of services the Android Bulk SMS provides and the price associated to determine if it is the one for you.
Android Bulk SMS Overview
Android Bulk SMS is a web-based application that intends to help growing businesses and freelancers with SMS marketing. It is a product of HuluHive Technology Pvt. Ltd. The company is co-founded by Buddha Man Nepali, Nabin KC, and Sandesh KC.
The app provides a platform where users can buy data packages from different network providers and use them to send bulk SMS to their customers themselves. By default, Android Bulk SMS sorts contact numbers of customers based on the network providers and use the same network provider to send SMS. However, users can also manually choose one. The SMS are sent through mobile phones utilizing SMS packages provided by network providers.
How does this work?
In the present context, if one has to send bulk SMS s/he has to get it done through the SMS providers. SMS service providers deal with network providers. The process is expensive as both parties have to make money. With the Android Bulk SMS app, users can send bulk SMS using their own phone and SMS packages provided by network providers (bought separately).
By eliminating the SMS service providers from the process, the company claims that the customers will be able to send SMS for a price as low as Rs. 0.0085. You can take a look at the table given below to know about the cost involved per 15,000 SMS.
To enjoy the services, you will have to register for the app first. Once registered, users can buy SMS packages from different network providers. As of now, this process has to be completed outside of the app but the company says a feature to let users buy SMS packages within the app is coming soon. Android Bulk SMS offers three different plans for users to choose the best fit for them.
Freemium Plan: Under the free plan, users can send up to 100 SMS using one SMS device. Users can create and maintain unlimited contacts but only four contact groups using CSV and Excel files.
Business Plan: One can subscribe to the Business plan for Rs. 150 or 7500 in-app credit points. Under the business plan, users can register two SMS devices and send up to 5,000 SMS. It facilitates the creation and maintenance of unlimited contacts and contact groups. The company will also provide online and offline support from 9 am to 5 pm.
Enterprise Plan: The premium plan is targeted towards medium and large businesses. For Rs. 250 or 12500 in-app credit points, users can register up to 3 SMS devices and send up to 10,000 SMS. Additionally, the company is also providing 24/7 online and offline support.
Features and Benefits
Automatic Follow-up SMS: If the SMS contains simple questions like the ones that can be answered using Yes or No, the app can follow-up to the recipient response using pre-determined SMS. The company claims that it can help local businesses increase their sales.
OTP Verifications: The app also offers OTP verification to growing startups and businesses.
Referral Offer: The company is also planning on introducing a referral offer.
Check out our long-term review of the iPhone SE 2020.
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