Intel has announced that it has acquired Rivet for an undisclosed fee. It is an attempt from Intel to strengthen its wireless connectivity products. It is Intel’s latest investment in the Wi-Fi connectivity which the company is working on for the past twenty years. Read along to find out more about Intel’s acquisition of Rivet.
Rivet: Company Overview
It is a network card manufacturer. Major brands such as Dell, HP have implemented Rivet’s technology in their gaming laptops. Rivet Network started as Bigfoot Networks back in 2006. Qualcomm acquired the company for its Atheros drivers. Later Bigfoot Networks spun out of Qualcomm as Rivet Networks. Rivet then started working with brands like Intel and Realtek. Such partnerships eventually lead Rivet to their current success. Rivet is known for its Killer Network Cards. Gaming laptops use these cards for reduced latency.
Intel and Rivet have partnered earlier for the development of Killer Wireless AC 1550 and AX201.
Intel’s Acquisition of Rivet
Rivet Networks is now part of Wireless Solutions Group. All of Rivet’s products, including the Killer cards will join Intel’s Wi-Fi portfolio. Intel will license Rivet’s software to customers. Rivet’s hardware and the software will be developed alongside Intel’s Wi-Fi products to broaden Intel’s portfolio.
Given Rivet Network’s fall out from Qualcomm, people are wondering if this new acquisition will follow the same trajectory. The company spun out of Qualcomm as it didn’t allow them to develop their own products forward.
According to AnandTech, Eric McLaughlin (VP & GM of Wireless Group) has stated that the two companies’ visions are in alignment. Intel will allow the development of Killer technology on a scale that Rivet wasn’t able to do on its own. So what do you think? Will this acquisition help Intel gain a strong foothold on the industry once again? Comment down below.
Today marks the 60th day of the government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a response to control the spread of COVID-19 cases in Nepal. And during this time, many private & government offices have shut down, except for the ones deemed essential. One such organization is the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). Not only has it worked continuously to prevent any sort of power-scarcity, but NEA also came up with various solutions for paying electricity bills to abide by the lockdown. Now, NEA has launched an online meter reading system.
First off, NEA has extended the date for clearing the electricity bill for the month of Baisakh and Jestha. That too without imposing any fine or cutting off power to households who are unable to do so due to the lockdown.
It provided a 25% discount on electricity tariff to every consumer with less than 150 units usage (for the month of Chaitra & Baisakh 2076 B.S). If the lockdown extends, NEA will likely provide a discount for the month of Jestha too.
And talking about the first point, though there hasn’t been a proper meter-reading in months, we’re still getting electricity; which is absolute bliss. Those of us who’ve been using digital wallets, mobile banking, or other digital platforms to look for and pay our respective electricity bills may be wondering how’s that possible. How is NEA calculating your electricity units without a home visit? With smart meters being installed in only a handful of households in Kathmandu, that’s not it either. You see, electricity consumption units for the month of Chaitra, Baisakh, and others for the foreseeable future are being calculated based on past usage.
NEA Online Meter Reading System – What is it?
Not calculated per se, more like assumed. As a result, it’s in NEA’s best interest to find a way to get actual data as fast as possible. So, the company has recently launched a customer portal for the public for updating its database of total units consumed. Though in its infancy, the platform looks to solve the problem to some degree.
NEA’s online meter reading system is an effort to accurately determine the electricity consumption of a household, without the need for an NEA official’s presence. The way it works is quite simple:
Go to the official NEA customer portal.
Create an account by clicking the “Register” tab and fill in the respective data fields. (Here, the “Consumer Name” doesn’t need to be the same as the “Name” on the actual electricity bill.)
After successfully registering, proceed to login (using the phone number as the username).
Then, under the “Home” tab, you have the option to “Add Consumer”. Under this, enter your bill details. (the “DCS Name” is the “Branch” or “Counter”)
You can also register multiple consumers under one account if you like.
With registration out of the way, you can begin the payment process by clicking the literal “Click” button on the Home menu. If that user doesn’t have any pending bill, then you get the message:
“Reading upto *year* *month* has been done !!! Sorry !! New reading date has not been reached !!!”
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Consumer Registration
Registered Consumers
On the contrary, you’re greeted with the option to enter your meter’s current reading as a numeric value or upload a photo of the meter itself. The system then updates and displays the total unit consumed during the month.
How is it?
As I said earlier, the NEA online meter reading system is in its early stage. Thus, the team behind the system is continuously working & updating it as we speak. That is clearly reflected in the system’s design, feature limitations, and overuse of fluctuations. For example, some counters don’t show up under the “DCS Name” list. In our experience, the system also over-evaluated the number units consumed, when looking at past unit-consumption trend.
More importantly, it is not immune to mal-practices from the consumers themselves. The site clearly states that people should accurately enter the accurate meter reading, or they’ll be subject to appropriate punishment under the “Nepal Electricity Authority Distribution Regulations”.
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Meter Reading Entry Form
Recent Month Meter Reading
However, who’s to say no one’s going to abuse the loophole for their benefit? Also, there’s a minor issue of verification as well. Anyone who has your electricity bill info can register the consumer without any verification; if you then proceed to register it, you can’t. This is quite a feeble and an unlikely concern, I understand. Not like anyone can have the details regarding your electricity bill. Still, a verification process should be in order I think.
What’s next?
As of now, the NEA online meter reading system’s sole motive is to update its database on the electricity unit consumed by people’s households. Because NEA officials haven’t been able to give house visits to manually for calculating consumers’ electricity consumption levels, it has posed a big problem for the organization. And that’s what this system hopes to solve.
We’ve been informed that NEA is launching its app-version soon as well. Furthermore, the updated data will be forwarded to the respective NEA distribution centers. And finally, payment calculations will be done, which will then be forwarded to various payment portals in the country. So that’s it, that’s the end game here – update consumers’ electricity consumption database in the absence of accessibility to NEA officials.
When we talk about TV these days, we emphasize more on the screen technology, the resolution and so on. We rarely take account of the sound quality. With TVs getting slimmer and lighter, bigger & better speakers are harder to fit inside it. This has lead to a rise in the demand for good quality TV soundbar. Now, Redmi has launched a new budget soundbar. Let’s check out the specs, features, expected price in Nepal and the availability of Redmi TV Soundbar.
Redmi TV Soundbar Overview
Design
In terms of design, it looks like any other soundbar available in the market. It has a minimalist design. Dimensions on the new soundbar measure 78 x 6.4 x 6.3-cm, and it weighs approximately 1.5 kg. It comes in a strip matte black body. You can put it on a shelf top, or even mount it on the wall using the opening at the backside.
Sound Quality
It comes equips with two full-range speakers, both of which measure 45 x 80 mm. Both speakers boast an output capacity of 30W. Each speaker comes with a duct-type sound cavity. Redmi claims that acoustic engineers have spent hundreds of hours adjusting the sound effect for a more cinema-like experience. The adjustment would add to the product of Redmi’s acoustic algorithm.
It isn’t going to outperform a more expensive soundbar, not even the Mi TV soundbar. But, this can be a better choice for people who aren’t satisfied with their TV speakers but don’t want to spend tons of money on an expensive sound system.
Connectivity
As far as connectivity is concerned, the soundbar supports Bluetooth 5.0. It even supports wired connections. You don’t need to deal with tons of cable as it can be connected to your TV using S/PDIF or AUX connection.
Redmi TV Soundbar Price in Nepal & Availability (Expected)
Redmi TV Soundbar is now available for orders in China, where its price is 199 Yuan. It is a cheaper alternative to Xiaomi’s Mi TV soundbar. We expect the Redmi TV Soundbar to have a price tag of around NPR. 5,000 when it launches in Nepal.
Honor’s smartphones are synonymous with fashionable design alongside some powerful performance. And the newest Honor X10 is a testimonial to that. Fun fact: originally, the company had planned to name the device “Honor 10X”. But seeing how Xiaomi’s sub-brand Redmi had also filed a patent with a similar name, Honor eventually did the switcheroo to prevent any confusion among the customers. After all, look at Honor 7X, 8X, and 9X. Anyway, let’s dive into the specs, features, availability, and expected price of Honor X10 in Nepal.
Honor X10 Overview
Design & Display
While manufacturers have been shying away from motorized pop-up cameras lately, Honor is still continuing on the legacy with the X10. It features a clean-cut display thus giving off a much more pleasant viewing experience. Why OnePlus shifted to a punch-hole cutout in its latest OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro, I don’t know. Its triple camera setup has been placed inside a rectangular module on the top left corner of the phone. Likewise, the back of Honor X10 features a subtle stripey design, which looks quite classy. This is absent on the “Probing Black” color variant, while “Racing Blue”, “Lightspeed Silver”, and “Burning Power Orange” share a similar design.
Getting to the display itself, as I said earlier, the phone has a non-obtrusive notch-less screen. So, content consumption on Honor X10 is going to be an amazing experience. However, it’s a regular 6.63-inches FHD+ IPS LCD panel, so color reproduction and contrast ratio won’t be as good as the ones in OLED displays. Fortunately, it features a 90Hz refresh rate and 180Hz touch sampling rate; which have been all-the-rage in modern smartphone display technology. This is further complemented by gaming-oriented features packed inside the chipset.
Performance & Memory
One of the main highlights of Honor X10 is its new Kirin 820 5G chipset. Based on the 7nm lithography process, this mid-range SoC goes head-to-head against MediaTek’s new Dimensity 820, or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G (or even the slightly overclocked 768G). This SoC has an octa-core CPU with 1x Cortex-A76 (@2.36GHz), 3x Cortex-A76 (@2.22GHz), and 4x Cortex-A55 (@1.84GHz) cores. Right off the bat, we can assume its inferiority against the Dimensity 820 with its 4x high-performance Cortex-A77 cores clocked at 2.6GHz. Handling graphics is the hexa-core Mali-G57, which is accompanied by Kirin Gaming+ 2.0.
It boosts the gaming performance by 38% and energy efficiency by 39% (compared to past generation) using AI frequency modulation. As the name implies, Kirin 820 5G is also a 5G-capable chipset. The same Balong 5000 5Gmodem we saw in Kirin 990 & 990 5G is integrated into it as well. Therefore, Honor X10 supports the sub-6GHz spectrum of 5G in both SA & NSA mode.
Memory-wise, the phone has either 6 or 8GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage. The storage itself can be upgraded up to 256GB using Huawei’s proprietary NM (Nano Memory) card. Finally, as expected, the phone is void of any Google apps and relies on Huawei’s HMS instead. Honor X10 runs on the latest Android 10 with Honor’s MagicUI 3.1.1 on top.
Moving to the cameras, Honor X10 has got a triple-camera setup. The primary lens is a 40MP RYYB sensor that delivers better low-light photography. Honor is calling it the “Super Night Vision” and it’s one of the prime features of the phone. The other two lenses are an 8MP ultrawide sensor with a 120º field-of-view (FOV) and a 2MP macro sensor. Now, we have already discussed how such a gimmicky and unnecessary lens should be avoided by companies. Yet, here we are.
Setting that aside, Honor X10 has a wide 16MP front camera with a motorized pop-up mechanism. It can also shoot up to Full HD videos at 30fps but lacks gyro-EIS unlike the rear cameras. The phone is also capable of shooting up to 960fps slow-mo videos at HD resolution.
Battery & Others
In terms of power, the phone gets its juice from the 4,300mAh battery. This supports 22.5W Super FlashCharge fast charging and reverse charging as well. Surprisingly, Honor X10 still retains a 3.5mm headphone jack. That’s nice. The phone also has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for security purposes.
Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by), NM card slot, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/BDS, USB Type-C
Battery: 4300 mAh battery, 22.5W fast charging, reverse charging
Colors: Probing Black, Racing Blue, Lightspeed Silver, Burning Power Orange
Honor X10 Price in Nepal & Availability [Expected]
Honor X10 is already available for pre-orders in China, which will last until May 25, 2020. As for its price, the base 6/64GB variant of Honor X10 goes for ¥1,899, 6/128GB for ¥2,199, and 8/128GB for ¥2,399. We expect the price of Honor X10 to be around Rs 35,000 for the base model when it launches later in Nepal.
The new POCO F2 Pro just launched a couple of weeks ago. But wait, it is identical to the Redmi K30 Pro that launched like 2 months ago. Similarly, the Narzo 10 is a rebranded Realme 6i. Confusing and weird right? Why do smartphone companies launch (rebrand) the same phone with different names? Basically, there are 2 reasons for it.
Why companies rebrand the same phone?
Reason #1: To Expand Brand’s Reach in all Direction
Let me explain this by giving an example of Xiaomi India. When Xiaomi first arrived in the country, it was an online-exclusive brand. But brick & mortar stores were and is still a big part of consumer daily life and more than 50% of users buy phones offline. Hence, Xiaomi significantly expanded its offline retail footprint in 2019 to expand sales.
As of now, Xiaomi has over 100 Mi Home stores and around 2500 smaller sized Mi Stores across 600 cities and towns of India. Because of this, Xiaomi’s offline sales have grown by around 40 times in the last couple of years. And as of now, the company’s online vs offline sales occupy a 50-50 market share.
However, this has created a big issue between offline and online sellers – price difference. The phones sold online are often cheaper than when sold in offline stores. The price difference is even more prominent during festivals, sales carnivals, and such when e-commerce platforms introduce big discounts & offers.
Similarly, another concern for the retail shops is that customers use their shops to check for the products, but because of huge discounts online, they will instead buy it there.
According to one owner of a mobile shop, the higher price of phones in offline shops is not because of the rent for the physical space or the distribution of profit margin throughout the supply chain. But it is indeed because of the heavy discounts given by the e-commerce platform.
Cash burn & other techniques
Ecommerce has the ability to sell phones at a nominal margin and even at loss sometimes, often termed as “cash burn”. It is a strategy by which an e-commerce platform intentionally loses money just to be able to compete in the market, in order to build a good rapport with its customers in the long run.
Arvinda Khurana, the national president of Mobile Retailers Association of India, said:
“Online platforms sold smartphones at prices much lower than even the buying price for retailers. And this has hurt the offline industry badly.”
Hence, there has always been a dispute between offline channels and online channels. So, the mobile brand had to figure out a way to keep both these practices healthy. To tackle this issue, Xiaomi now has multiple sub-brands under its name. Here, the parent brand Mi and Redmi focus on offline stores while the new sub-brand POCO is an online-exclusive entity.
POCO being an online-exclusive brand will compete against other online products with its aggressive pricing and cash burn. On the other side, the parent brands, Redmi & Mi, would keep fighting offline. Hence, we could see POCO launching the POCO F2 Pro exclusively via Flipkart, whereas K30 Pro will be priced slightly higher and will be available from retail mobile stores. In doing so, both offline and online channels can work in peace.
Realme joins the action as well
Also, while tech geek like us know that POCO F2 Pro and K30 Pro are the same product, but most of the regular customers would never be aware of the fact. A general consumer may not even care that some companies rebrand the same phone in different names; they just want a good phone. Similarly, OPPO’s sub-brand Realme also began rebranding its phone for the Indian market.
The company recently inaugurated the “Narzo” lineup of phones in the country which is nothing more than a couple of renamed phones already in the Realme portfolio. The new Narzo 10 & 10A are Realme 6i and global variants of Realme C3 respectively for India. And these are meant to compete with other manufacturers’ online-exclusive smartphones via channel margins and cash burn.
Reason #2: Development Cycle of a Smartphone
Now, we have cleared out about mobile companies forming multiple sub-brands to cater to the offline and online audience. But still, you might be thinking why these sub-brands don’t manufacture their own unique lineup of phones? In other words, why is POCO F2 Pro launched as the rebranded Redmi K30 Pro?
Can’t POCO launch an entirely new phone with different designs and different specs?
The answer to this question is quite simple. You see, manufacturing smartphones is not an instant process. It doesn’t happen overnight. A phone’s development cycle including R&D, design, development, marketing strategies, etc. takes somewhere between 12 and 18 months. And since companies like POCO has just become an independent brand, they can’t afford to wait that long to launch their own new product in the market.
So, they take the easy and the only way, for now, to build momentum in the market. That is, by rebranding an existing phone from the parent organization. And I think that is exactly the kind of strategy needed to ramp up the market in its early days. As the saying goes – “the first impression is the last impression.”
Therefore, if POCO managed to make a strong first impression with competitive pricing & receive positive reviews among the smartphone enthusiasts, the company will eventually be on its way to manufacture its own phones – different than the ones from Xiaomi’s other sub-brands like Mi & Redmi.
Hence, in the future, we will probably see, let’s say – Redmi K40 and POCO X3 being completely different from each other in terms of looks and specs.
So, there you go. Those were the two main reasons smartphone companies rebrand the same phone under different names. Do you buy your phones through online or offline channels? Let us know in the comment section below.
Sony and Samsung are the leaders in manufacturing the primary camera sensors for smartphones. And they give each other a very tough competition. They rivaled each other when they both launched their respective 64MP sensors. The ISOCELL GW1 was Samsung’s offering whereas the IMX686 was Sony’s. Samsung then went one better with the launch of the 108MP ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor. It is the one that we saw in the Mi Note 10. Now, the company has come up with another high megapixel sensor. Today, Samsung announced the launch of the 50MP ISOCELL GN1 sensor.
Samsung 50MP GN1 Camera sensor Overview
The new 50MP ISOCELL GN1 is the first sensor from Samsung that has Dual Pixel auto-focus and Tetracell technology. It is a large 1/1.3-inch sensor with 1.2μm pixels. Now, 1.2μm is big for pixel size. However, Samsung claims that the bigger pixel size will help to improve the performance of the sensor. It brings in elevated light sensitivity and DSLR level autofocus. The integrated Dual Pixel technology creates 100 million phase detecting photodiodes. That is then used for fast-autofocus and the light information translated to up to 100MP.
Basically, in the Dual Pixel technology, two photodiodes are placed alongside each other within a single pixel. This 50MP ISOCELL GN1 sensor has 100 million PDAF agents that. And all of its active pixels work as an autofocus agent. It can both detect and focus on an object from each and every corner. The final output is then created by merging the outputs from the two photodiodes of every pixel. Furthermore, the claim is that each of these photodiodes is capable of producing an image that is comparable to 100MP.
Another feature of the GN1 sensor is Tetracell Technology. Now, this is nothing more than a fancy name given to the 4-in-1 pixel binning technology. It basically, doubles the effective pixel size to 2.4μm and increases the light sensitivity by four times. As a result, you get bright 12.5MP photographs.
Additionally, the sensors also come with Smart-ISO. It automatically selects the optimal ISO. Furthermore, it has real-time HDR that allows it to capture an image in multiple simultaneous exposures. And it has gyro-based EIS too. Moreover, it can record videos with 8K resolution at 30fps.
The production of the new 50MP ISOCELL GN1 will start this month. However, we will not get to see them in the upcoming Galaxy Note 20+. And neither will it be featured in the Galaxy Fold 2. Rumor is that this sensor will make a Samsung flagship eventually.
Launched in 2013, Huawei is the world’s largest manufacturer of smart wearable products. Besides its own lineup of smartwatches and fitness bands, the company is also the exclusive provider of wearable technology to Xiaomi. While its Mi Band 5 is yet to come, Huami has now announced “Amazfit Ares“. It is a full-fledged smartwatch with a rugged design, a lot of fitness tracking features, and up to two weeks of battery life. Let’s find out about the features, launch date, and expected price of Huami Amazfit Ares in Nepal.
Huami Amazfit Ares Oveview
The Amazfit Ares is an all-appealing smartwatch, if not for the design. It features a rugged look suggesting its rigid build quality. As a result, Ares sacrifices a fashionable look for durability. Inside of the aggressive build material, is a square 1.28-inches color touchscreen display which also features AoD (Always on Display). The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and has a 176 by 176 pixels resolution. It also features an ambient sensor that can adjust the display’s brightness according to the ambient light.
In terms of fitness tracking, you get up to 70 sport modes to track and record your exercises. Some of them are walking, running, trekking, cycling, treadmill, swimming, yoga, mountaineering, etc. Amazfit Ares comes with the “huami-PAI” health system for personalized health tracking. Moreover, it also features the FIRSTBEAT platform for a more professional level of sports analysis; including features like VO2Max calculation, Training Load, Recovery Time, and Training Effect.
Similarly, the Amazfit Ares has a built-in GPS + GLONASS system which is a plus in a smartwatch of this price. Though it doesn’t support eSIM, you can receive notifications for calls, messages, and other applications. Getting into the battery, Huami promises up to 14 days of endurance in normal usage through its 200mAh cell. And that number can bump up to 90 days when used in watch-only mode, and just 23 hours with continuous GPS usage.
There is a bio tracker PPG optical heart rate sensor, tri-axis accelerometer, and a barometer. Complementing the rugged design, the Huami Amazfit Ares is 5ATM (50 meters) water resistance. Getting into connectivity, the smartwatch supports Bluetooth 4.2 LTE and can connect to Android devices running v5.0 or higher, and iOS 10 and above.
Specifications:
Body: 1.83 x 2.19 x 0.55-inches; 48 grams; Polycarbonate materials
Display: 1.28-inches color touchscreen display; AoD support
Resolution: 176 x 176 pixels
Battery: 200mAh; Full charge under 2 hours
Battery Life: 14 days normal usage; 90 days (watch-only); 23 hours (continuous GPS usage)
The Huami Amazfit Ares is up for pre-orders in China from today for the price of ¥ 499 (~NRs. 8,530). And the official sales will begin starting June 1st. We expect the Huami Amazfit Ares to launch in Nepal at a price of Rs. 10,000.
As the popular saying goes “the only constant in life is change”; we’re faced with having to adapt to different circumstances almost every day. And sometimes, a change can be so overwhelming that one doesn’t know how to respond to it. Take the ongoing lockdown for instance. Something of this magnitude on a global scale is probably the first time many of us have experienced. Yet, with time, we’ve managed to find a way around it. Admittedly not everyone, but we’ll get there. In the technology world, “5G” has been generating quite the buzz for a couple of years now – promising to change the way we live. Supposedly holding the advancement of many other industries in its palm, it is unarguably one of the most crucial feats of technological advancements lately; or so one would think. Before 5G even got a chance to shine, it’s being bombarded with conspiracy theories.
You see, while many of us are head over heels to witness 5G at its full potential, it is already receiving major setbacks due to some debate – and a rather stupid one at that. For reasons that have already been disproven, there’s still a cult of people around the world who believe 5G compromises the human immune system, can cause cancer, or that it is the source of COVID-19. These may be the same people wearing tinfoil hats who are convinced that the cloud of trails left by fast-moving aircraft – aka “chemtrails” is a government tool to control the weather, vaccinations can autism & are a technique to control people and other ridiculous conspiracy theories out there on the internet.
Rise of 5G conspiracy theories
Here, the most basic (or even lower) level of knowledge paired with cherry-picking of “enriching” facts and support from some people with a large fanbase has taken the anti-5G movement to where it is today. And you know what? That’s perfectly fine; you’re allowed to have opposing views. This is not anything new either.
Similar technologies like 2G, 3G, 4G, WiFi, etc. were also met with some similar contradictions.
However, things have taken a turn for worse this time around and there are even reports of those people getting hostile in a couple of countries.
From holding protest rallies and interrupting others’ daily life to burning down 5G cell towers, these anti-5G activists with their absurd conspiracy theories have had a direct impact on the distribution & the eventual growth of the next generation of cellular connectivity. Seeing how the situation has played out, we feel obligated to speak out against the 5G-hatred. Hence, this article. But before we begin, we’ll have to understand how wireless cellular network actually works including the predecessors of 5G. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it brief.
How does a cellular network work?
First of all, a cellular/mobile network is composed of multiple overlapping geographic areas arranged in a hexagonal structure, each with its own “base station” at the center. Such areas are called “cells”, which is a skeuomorphic naming convention, similar to how cells in a human body are shaped & their inter-connectedness. The reason these cells overlap is to ensure that a subscriber always remains within a range of any base station. And ultimately, it also facilitates radio coverage over a wide area.
Wireless Cellular Network Architecture [Image Credit: ResearchGate]Moving on, the base stations are connected to one another and also to the main telephone network. They send out RF (Radio Frequency) signals informing smartphones of their presence in the network and are also capable of receiving them. The received signals are then re-transmitted from the base station to the appropriate cell on a national or a global scale. And that’s how the transmission of voice, data, etc. occurs over a wireless cellular network. Usually, a cell uses a different set of frequencies for transmitting & receiving signals in order to prevent interference with nearby cells.
Enter, wireless telephone technology!
Measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz), a frequency spectrum refers to the range of electromagnetic radio frequencies used to transmit data packets through the air. And these are typically grouped in ranges called “bands”. The first generation of the wireless cellular network (or 1G) developed in the late 70s, encoded analog signals into frequency band, using 150MHz of UHF (Ultra High Frequency) waves.
Similarly, its successor, 2G went full-digital with services like text messages, images & MMS being digitally encrypted. This meant that now only the receiver & sender can read the data. 2G also introduced mobile data with a theoretical maximum transfer speed of 40kbit/s under GPRS & 384kbit/s under the EDGE system. It used the 450MHz frequency band (CDMA450) which still falls under the UHF waves of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Evolution of wireless cellular network technology [Image Credit: ThinkPalm]Likewise, 3G was really when the whole “generation” thing started. The cellular network technologies before this didn’t actually have the “generation” suffix to them. Anyway, 3G’s communication spectrum ranged between 400MHz and 3GHz, with most common deployments being 850, 900, 1900, and 2100MHz band. With its faster speed & increased bandwidth, the 3G network made video calls possible as well. In terms of speed, it can provide a data transfer rate of at least 144kbit/s, all the way to 56mbit/s (theoretical) under the HSPA+ system. 4G LTE, on the other hand, operated at additional frequency bands and spectrum around 600MHz, 700MHz, 1.7/2.1GHz, 2.3GHz, and 2.5GHz. Here, 4G LTE can achieve peak download & upload speed of 100 & 50mbit/s respectively.
5G and its traits
And now we have 5G. It is a direct result of the industry’s deadlock on increasing speed using the existing frequency bands. It promises far faster download speeds, reduced latency, and increased bandwidth.
For example, if 4G & previous generations of the cellular network are a one-way road with busy traffic, 5G is an 8-lane highway.
Passing vehicles can travel at great speeds, there is a substantially reduced possibility of a traffic-jam, and more vehicles can pass through at a time. Because of its sheer speed & other benefits, 5G is expected to be useful in areas beyond cellphones. For example; M2M (Machine to machine) communication for autonomous vehicles, IoT devices, and other sensitive industries like health, agriculture, stock market, etc.
Frequency Bands in the electromagnetic spectrum [Image Credit: NASA]5G network operates on three categories of frequency band: low, mid, and high (also called mmWave). These vary in terms of speed and accessibility. Here, the low-band 5G is similar to 4G in the sense that it uses similar frequency bands like 600, 700, 800, and 900MHz. It is the slowest of the three but also has a comparatively wider coverage area. Mid-band (sub-6GHz) 5G uses frequency bands like 2.5/3.5/3.7/4.2GHz and can deliver speeds of up to 100 to 900mbit/s. Finally, high-band is the most exciting and also the controversial one of the bunch with an operational frequency between 25 and 39GHz. This marks the first time a cellular network has touched the Extremely High Frequency (EHF) designation of the electromagnetic spectrum, albeit on the lower end.
“The problem of being faster than light is that you can only live in darkness.”
Because of this, mmWave 5G can achieve insane download speeds of up to 1 to 3gbit/s. Unfortunately, it has a very limited per-cell-tower range of around 1 mile, and the signal is also highly susceptible to be blocked due to factors like rain attenuation, buildings, windows, or even your own hands if it’s blocking the antenna on your phone. So, companies have to install numerous “small cells,” which is basically a low-powered wireless transmitters & receivers to boost the 5G network coverage in small & densely populated areas. These are installed indoors, or outdoors on lamp posts, walls, electric poles, etc.
5G Conspiracy Theory #1: It is the source of COVID-19
And equipment like these are exactly what the anti-5G activists are burning down in different countries like England, Netherland, Belgium, Croatia, and the USA. Their point is that because high-band 5G uses high-frequency/high-energy waves, it may be somehow linked to COVID-19. That’s preposterous! The World Health Organization (WHO) has already confirmed that the virus is transmitted through respiratory droplets from an infected individual when they sneeze, cough, or speak. And it CANNOT travel through radio waves or any other waves in the electromagnetic spectrum. Case closed.
Also, it is quite hilarious to see how the conspiracy theorists connected the dot between 5G and COVID-19 as a “cause-and-effect” relationship based on the time of their inception. Though 5G had been around much longer and COVID had already spread to countries with zero 5G infrastructure; people are set on protesting a false cause.
5G Conspiracy Theory #2: It welcomes the dangers of radiation
Another area of concern pointed out is the amount of radiation from 5G signals. Simply put, radiation refers to the energy emitted in the form of electromagnetic waves (light) or particles (photons). Naturally, our mind has been, in a way, conditioned into think of radiation as something that causes an ungodly level of harm and destruction.
Madame Curie’s death, Chernobyl nuclear disaster, etc. have filled our hearts with terror. And an unpleasant image regarding radiation has been plastered into our brains.
However, there are two classifications of radiation based on their wavelength & energy-level. Ionizing, and non-ionizing radiation.
Ionizing Radiation
These have very short wavelength/high frequency and thus high energy. Such energy is sufficient to produce ions in the matter at a molecular level. What this means is that, when exposed to a human subject, ionizing radiation can cause significant damage; including but not limited to damage of DNA and denaturation of proteins. Gamma-ray, PET scan, X-ray, Airport security scanner, UV rays from the Sun are some sources of ionizing radiation.
Non-ionizing Radiation
Similarly, non-ionizing radiation has a much longer wavelength/low frequency and therefore lower energy. While not as harmful as the one above, it can still cause a certain level of damage when exposed in a concentrated volume. The effect of these radiations is mostly thermal, in the form of skin burns. These are emitted by everyday items like power lines, visible light, radiofrequency & microwave frequency (from cell phones), AM radio, infrared, etc. We live around them every day and here we are; no radiation poisoning, no brain damage, nothing.
Image Credit: Wikipedia
All the scientific reports hinting any possible adverse health effects of 5G have proven to be false as well. As it stands, the agreement that the industry experts have reached based on all the researches & tests conducted is that 5G is safe for human health. Period.
Thankfully, 5G operates way down under the electromagnetic spectrum to be considered of any danger to human health. Its non-ionizing radiations are just not powerful enough. But I would like to reiterate that in order to do you any considerable level of harm, you would have to be exposed to a concentrated volume of radiation for a prolonged time. That is just not practical. And add this to the fact that high-band 5G can get blocked by practically everything; this conspiracy becomes an open-and-shut case as well.
5G Conspiracy Theory #3: Other health hazards
Additionally, the internet & social media have directly fueled the spread of anti-5G propaganda as there are little measures against the spread of false news. If you remember a couple of years back, there was a viral news article circulating around Facebook; it claimed that a 5G cellular network test led to the death of hundreds of birds in the Netherlands. Turns out, that’s a blatant lie.
Word gets around, more and more people believe in such fake news, and voilà; your cult is ready!
Most people have tendencies to take the headline of an article as-is and form a verdict on their mind; without giving so much as a second thought. That’s a dangerous practice and as I said earlier, social media are the perfect grounds for it to flourish. Unless you have electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) like Chuck McGill (from AMC’s Better Call Saul); there is no reason to fear 5G.
Wrapping it all up!
So what can we learn from all this? First and foremost, 5G is not dangerous to human or animal health. It’s that plain and simple. There is absolutely zero health hazard it brings to humanity. 5G is the next step in cellular network technology; one which is of great importance to the development of countless other industries as well. It does have its flaws, but in no way should the public actively seek to destroy its unfulfilled legacy. Blindly believing in some random person’s hearsay, without doing your own research is no good.
Having said that, I’m not discouraging anyone from embracing an incompatible viewpoint. Yet, such conspiracy theories shouldn’t in any way, result in some sort of out-of-law activities that has a direct impact on the development of 5G infrastructure. It is still in its infancy. Imagine how much of a nuisance it would be for companies investing in the tech if people actively started revolting & being violent against it.
We finally have the “official” confirmation about the Honor MagicBook Pro 2020 laptop. We already had a sneak-peek of the device as it appeared on the listing of a retailer last week. The listing has revealed some specifications and today’s official launch of the MagicBook Pro 2020 at the Smart Life Product launch has confirmed them. In many ways, this year’s iteration of the laptop is similar to its predecessor. However, there are some major changes under the hood. So, let’s get into what the Honor MagicBook Pro 2020 brings to the table.
Honor MagicBook Pro 2020 Overview
The Honor MagicBook Pro 2020 sports a similar 16.1-inch IPS LCD screen. Bezels on this device are super-thin, 4.9 mm to be specific. The thin bezels have resulted in the laptop achieving a screen-to-body ratio of 90%. Anyways, sticking to the display, it a 1080p panel and it covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut. Therefore, they should produce a vivid and immersive display. Moreover, it is a TUV Rheinland-certified. That means there will be no strobing and it emits a very low level of blue light.
Its chassis is built out of aluminum alloy. Thus, the device should feel robust. Moreover, it only weighs around 1.7Kg and measures just 16.9 mm in thickness. With its thin bezels and sleek design, the device is a lot compact than the most 15.6-inch laptops in the market.
Two speaker grills surround the keyboard and on the right one, you’ll find a fingerprint reader too. Furthermore, it has approached the placement of the webcam in a unique fashion. Well, you might have seen it on the higher-end Huawei laptops, but still, it is unique. It is a pop-up camera that is placed between the function keys on the keyboard itself.
Moving on, CPU configuration-wise, there are two options with the Honor MagicBook Pro 2020. The base variant comes with the 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10210U and the higher-end comes with the Core i7-10510U processor. These are 10th gen CPU based on 14nm Comet Lake architecture. Honor could have used the more energy efficient and newer 10nm IceLake CPUs instead. However, with both of them, you get 16GB DDR4 RAM,512GB SSD, and the Nvidia MX350 dedicated GPU. There are custom dual fans to take care of the thermals.
Furthermore, there are a few software-related changes on this year’s device. For instance, there is this multi-screen collaboration mode which helps to mirror and control supported smartphones. And there’s a convenient way to share files between the smartphones and the notebook (similar to Apple’s AirDrop). Moreover, a performance enhancement mode helps to increase the devices’ CPU and rendering performance by 8% and 15% respectively. As for the battery, it has a 56WHr battery that should last up to 14 hours given the low powered CPU.
Specifications:
Display: 16.1″ diagonal FHD (1920 x 1080)
CPU: Intel Core i5-10210U, Intel Core i7-10510U
GPU: Nvidia MX350
RAM: 16GB DDR4
Storage: 512GB SSD
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 822.11ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz), 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0
Ports: 1 x USB Type-C, 3 x USB 3.0 (Type-A), 1 x HDMI
Battery: 56WHr
Weight: 1.7Kg
Honor MagicBook Pro 2020 Price & Availability in Nepal
The Honor MagicBook Pro 2020 will be available in China from May 19. The price of its base variant with the Core i5 processor is CNY 6,000 ($843). Similarly, the Core i7 model is priced at CNY 6,700 ($942). However, for a limited period, the devices will be available for CNY 5,499 and CNY 6,299 (for Core i5 and Core i7 respectively).
The smartphone market has become competitive like never before, be it in the budget, mid-range, upper mid-range, or flagship segment. With various brands bringing out competitive phones in the market, customers have a lot of options to choose from. In this article, we are going to list out the best phones that you can get for under INR 15000 in India. These are some Android phones that provide the price to performance in the given price segment.
7. Vivo U20:
Alright, the Vivo U20 has made it to our list at the very last spot. Although the Vivo U20 is some six months old, it still offers some good things to the table. For instance, you get 4GB RAM and 128GB storage for INR.12000. Plus the Snapdragon 675 is still a very good mid-range chipset, especially at this price, so the phone will not break down even with heavy gaming or other extensive tasks.
Now, another thing we like about the Vivo U20 is the cameras. It has a triple camera setup at the back and they perform quite well, as expected from a Vivo phone. Design-wise, it looks good and minimalistic, although it’s made up of plastic. The front of this phone is a Full HD IPS LCD panel with FullHD+ resolution which is okay for the price.
Something very impressive is the battery capacity which is a huge 5,000 mAh unit that gives good endurance for your daily activities. Plus the phone comes bearing 18-watt Fast charging support which is a good thing to have for the price. However, the micro USB port is a bummer here and I hope the next iteration of this device will upgrade to Type-C port instead. Overall, the Vivo U20 is a good offering for the price!
Vivo U20 Specifications:
Display: 6.53″ IPS LCD display with Full HD+ resolution (1080 x 2340 pixels)
Alright, the Redmi Note 7 Pro has made it to our list because it’s one of the cheapest offerings at this price. Yes, it is more than a year-old phone, but it still offers some good features to the table. For instance, you get 6GB RAM and 128GB storage for just Rs. 13000 Indian Rupees.
The Snapdragon 675 is still a very good mid-range chipset, especially at this price, so the phone will not break down even with heavy gaming or other extensive tasks. So, performance-wise, there is very little to complain about.
Likewise, another thing to like about the Note 7 Pro is the cameras. Although it doesn’t have a quad-camera setup like other phones on this list, the primary camera is quite good. It is in fact better than its successor Redmi Note 8 Pro. Talking of other aspects of the phone like design, it looks good and minimalistic. The front of this phone is an IPS LCD panel which is what most of the other brands are giving for a similar price.
The battery capacity is also a decent 4,000 mAh unit that gives good endurance for your daily activities. Plus, the phone comes bearing 18-watt Fast charging support. Although you have to buy a separate fast charger as Xiaomi hasn’t included one inside the box. Overall, despite being a year-old phone, and Xiaomi dropping its price, the Redmi Note 7 Pro is still a very good option.
Redmi Note 7 Pro Specifications:
Display: 6.3″ LTPS display with Gorilla Glass 5 protection
Resolution: Full-HD+ (2340 × 1080 pixels), 19.5:9 aspect ratio
The Nokia 7.2, initially, was launched for an exorbitant price, but it has undergone a series of price drops and hence makes much more sense now. Design-wise, this is the best-looking phone on this list. With its circular camera module & a matte finish back, the Nokia 7.2 looks very attractive and premium. Furthermore, the build is sturdy too.
However, it is powered by a 2-year-old Snapdragon 660 chipset which is its weak point. Hence, you can get much better-performing phones for this price. So, if you are someone who’s a priority is performance especially gaming, you should be looking somewhere else. That being said, one unique feature that the Nokia 7.2 offers is the Stock Android experience. Plus, you also don’t have to worry about updates on your phone because it guarantees at least 3 years of security updates.
Also, one today’s date, there are very few companies that offer Stock Android on their phones, so if you are a person who likes clean UI, the Nokia 7.2 will serve you well enough.
On the photography side of things, this one has a good enough triple camera setup on the back. It is nothing out of the ordinary but it’s not downright miserable too. So, overall, this phone gives us everything in moderation which is the reason it has got the fifth spot on our list.
Nokia 7.2 Specifications:
Body: 6.30 x 2.96 x 0.33 inches; 180 gm
Display: 6.3-inches IPS LCD “PureDisplay” panel
Resolution: Full-HD+ (2280 x 1080 pixels); 19:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660; 14nm Mobile Platform
Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, AGPS/GPS/GLONASS/GALILEO/BDS, USB Type-C
Battery: 3500 mAh battery with 10W Charging
Colors: Cyan Green, Charcoal, Ice
4. Samsung Galaxy M21:
The M- series, as we are aware, is Samsung’s answer to the fierce competition laid out by Xiaomi and Realme. However, Samsung has made sure to differentiate its offering by giving something none of the other brands do at this price. Yes, the Super AMOLED display! So, if you are someone to whom display quality matters a lot, the M21 is just a perfect device.
Plus, you get a humongous 6,000 mAh battery in the M21 that takes on your use for 2 days even on medium usage. So, with a combination of a good-looking display and enduring battery, this one is a perfect multimedia device for the price.
Cameras on the M21 perform well too as expected from a Samsung device. However, M21’s pictures look more vibrant and punchier which makes it look pleasing to the eyes when compared to Realme 6. In the selfie aspect too, I found the M21 doing a better job than the other two.
Another thing to cherish on the M21 is the OneUI 2.0 based on Android 10 which is my favorite skin on Android. However, the caveat here is the Samsung’s in-house Exynos 9611 chipset that’s powering the device. It does not perform as well as the others in this list do, so if you are a performance-centric person, the others in this list will serve you well.
Similarly, the M21 might not impress you visually with the plastic glossy back of the phone looks rather outdated. So, the M21, as I said before, is a good fit for a multimedia fanatic who can do with average performance and looks.
Samsung Galaxy M21 Specifications:
Body: 6.26 x 2.96 x 0.35 inches; 188 gm
Display: 6.4-inches Super AMOLED panel
Resolution: FHD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels); 19.5:9 aspect ratio
Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/BDS, USB Type-C
Battery: 6000 mAh with 15W fast charging
Colors: Midnight Blue, Raven Black
3. Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro:
Although the Redmi Note 8 Pro is a smartphone from late 2019, it absolutely crushes most of the other phones in and out of this list and hence proving that you always don’t need the latest phone.
The show-stealer aspect of the phone has to be the MediaTek Helio G90T chipset along with its base 6GB RAM. In fact, if raw performance is taken into consideration, it’s fair to say that it’s even better than the newer phones like Note 9 Pro or the Realme 6. You can go up to ultra-frame rates and smooth graphics in Pubg and still have almost stutter-free experience which is impressive for a phone of this price.
Likewise, the Android 10 update based on MIUI 11 is already available for the Note 8 pro and with that, the company has added HD video playback support for Netflix which all tells us how the Note 8 pro still rocks in 2020.
Camera-wise too, you get a fair deal with the Note 8 pro. As evident from these samples, the cameras on the Note 8 Pro do a considerably good job, especially when it comes to details and HDR. Only the selfies, in my opinion, are pretty average, otherwise, the quad rear cameras are decent for the price.
Battery- wise, you are getting a good-sized 4,500 mAh cell that will get you through a day’s use. The design of it looks modern even today, especially the white variant.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro Specifications:
Display: 6.53-inch IPS LCD screen with Gorilla Glass 5 Protection
Resolution: Full-HD+ resolution (2340×1080 pixels), 19.5:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: MediaTek Helio G90T; 12nm platform
CPU: Octa-core (2 x 2.27GHz Cortex A76 + 6 x 1.7GHz Cortex A55)
GPU: Mali G76 MC4
RAM: 6GB/8GB
Storage: 64GB/128GB; Expandable up to 256GB via SD card slot
Color Options: Halo White, Gamma Green, Shadow Black, Dark Blue
2. Realme 6:
The phone that sits in the second position is the Realme 6. Actually, it was very difficult to decide it should be in the number one position or not. Anyways, what Realme 6 offers here is the Helio G90T chipset and a fluid 90Hz refresh rate display. With this combo, the Realme 6 is without a doubt, the best gaming phone at this price range. On our gaming test, we faced no problem whatsoever.
And, with the recent update, the 4GB variant can even play PuBG in the ultra-frame rates at smooth settings. So, that’s really nice to see as well.
About the cameras, the primary 64MP and secondary 8 MP ultra-wide lenses are good enough too. The other two, macro and depth lenses, are just there for the marketing gimmicks like most brands do. However, I am quite satisfied with the first two lenses’ performance.
And something to applaud here is that the phone comes with 30-watt fast charging and you get the charger inside of the box itself. It takes just an hour for its 4,300 mAh battery to get fully charged and it provides an entire day of endurance, so things are good on that part too.
Now, about the looks of the phone, it looks and feels good on the hands but it is not glass like what Xiaomi offers, so it might feel a little bit cheap for some. The front of the phone has a small punch hole cut out for the selfie camera and it looks modern. And like mentioned earlier, it has a faster 90Hz panel which none of the brands are offering at this price.
Realme 6 Specifications:
Display: 6.5-inch IPS LCD screen with Gorilla Glass 3 Protection
Battery: 4300 mAh, USB Type-C port, 30W Fast charging
Color Options: Comet Blue, Comet White
1. Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro:
Topping the list is the Redmi Note 9 Pro that is available for a starting price of Rs. 15,000 in India. As compared to the Realme 6, with the Note 9 Pro, you are getting a better-looking glass design on the back and a minimalistic center lying punch-hole display.
Now, display-wise, you don’t have a higher refresh rate one or an AMOLED one for that matter. But, the IPS LCD screen that we get here has good quality nonetheless.
Similarly, you get a Snapdragon 720G chipset in here and although the Helio G90T is better in terms of benchmarks and gaming, the Snapdragon 720G offers better thermals and is more energy-efficient.
Talking of cameras, you get an infamous quad-camera here too but this time, the 2MP macro lens has gotten an upgrade to 5MP which means you get slightly better quality. Its primary 48MP camera and 8MP ultra-wide lens are also decent, with rich colors and ample details as evident by these samples.
The 5000mAh battery endurance is also great and will easily last you for 2 days. There is 18-Watt fast charging support too and yes you do get the charger inside of the box. Plus, you get some features that are lacking in many modern-day smartphones, like an IR blaster and a notification LED.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Specifications:
Display: 6.67-inch IPS LCD screen with Gorilla Glass 5 Protection
![Best mobile phones under 15000 in India [Updated 2020]](https://cdn.gadgetbytenepal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/best-phones-under-15000-india.jpg "Best mobile phones under 15000 in India [Updated 2020]")
