Not long ago, smartphone manufacturers, especially those based in China, were in a race to announce new sub-brands to focus on new market segments. Xiaomi had Redmi, Pocophone, and still has gaming-focused Black Shark. Oppo came up with Realme, while Vivo announced iQOO about a year ago. The trend had slowed down in recent times but it looks like smartphone companies are now going in the opposite direction. Redmi and Pocophones are now independent brands. Realme has been operating independently since 2018. And now, there is news of Vivo spinning off iQOO as an independent smartphone brand in a bid to launch the brand in new markets.
Vivo announced iQOO (I Quest On and On) back in February last year. With the new iQOO (pronounced eye-Koo) sub-brand, Vivo entered the emerging gaming smartphone segment. iQOO with its monster variant was its initial releases. Since then, there have been a handful of device launches under the “iQOO” brand, which includes the likes of iQOO Neo, iQOO Neo 855, iQOO Pro and iQOO Pro 5G. In China, iQOO is known for its performance-focused premium line up of smartphones. All of its releases so far have come with either Snapdragon 845 or Snapdragon 855 on board. It is yet to explore other markets outside its home country.
Vivo will be the second Chinese OEM to spin-off its sub-brand into an independent company in 2020 if iQOO indeed manages to become one. Just a couple of days ago, Pocophone, which was then a sub-brand of Xiaomi, was announced as an independent brand in India. But the motives behind the two spin-offs are different. Xiaomi made the decision to make room for its Mi lineup of flagship smartphones. Vivo will be spinning off its gaming-focused sub-brand in a bid to expand its market outside China.
Like I said earlier, iQOO is yet to launch in the international market. And the company is gearing up for its first release outside China. According to a report by 91mobiles, it is set to enter the South Asian market through India in March 2020. It is also said that the brand will bring in a new smartphone with it. Further details about the smartphone are not available. However, it will be powered by a chipset under the Snapdragon 8 series.
In 2020, we expect a lot of noise in the gaming smartphone market segment. It looks to be the year for the first gaming smartphone under the Lenovo Legion series. Black Shark will be working to extend its market offering with Black Shark 3. With the launch of gaming chipsets like Snapdragon 765G and MediaTek Helio G70 lineup, we expect smartphone gaming to be way more exciting and affordable.
Bigger screen, better processor, and a bigger battery. Yup, that’s what the new Honor MagicWatch 2 brings for its faithful users. The MagicWatch 2 comes as a successor to last year’s MagicWatch, and trust me this time it’s bigger and better. And now, the Honor MagicWatch 2 is officially available in Nepal for a competitive price.
Honor MagicWatch 2 Overview
For a start, the MagicWatch 2 has a 1.39-inch AMOLED display. It supports a 454 x 454 resolution. It is a major upgrade from its predecessor as it only had a 1.2-inch screen. However, people still have the option to buy a 1.2-inch MagicWatch 2 as it is there in the 42mm variant. For the bigger screen, you’ll have to get the 46mm variant. Both the variants are made of 361L stainless steel.
Other than that, the design seems similar to the previous MagicWatch. Two control buttons are still there on the right side and you get a tachymeter on the dial. However, on the 42mm variant, the tachymeter is absent from the dial. Nonetheless, the bezels do appear to be a bit thinner than the previous model this time.
Color-wise, both size variants come with two color variants each. For the 46mm one, the available options are Carbon Black and Flax Brown. And as for the 42mm variant, you can choose between Agate Black and Sakura Gold.
Another major upgrade in MagicWatch 2 is the processor. It uses the new Kirin A1 processor for its functioning. This is similar to the one used in the Huawei Watch GT 2. As a matter of fact, both MagicWatch 2 and GT 2 have many common features. However, this one is marketed especially for youths.
Anyway, the use of this new chip brings Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity with it. This advanced Bluetooth connection allows the smartwatch to stay connected with your mobile even at a distance of 150m.
The storage option that you get with the MagicWatch 2 is of 4GB. Out of that 2GB can be used to create a playlist of around 500 songs. That might come in handy while exercising and you have no internet connection.
MagicWatch 2 packs in a lot of fitness features as well. There’s the 24-hour heart-rate tracking system, distance tracker, speed & calorie tracker, and lot more. The device will warn you if your heart rate is fluctuating between extremes. Furthermore, it will give its suggestions to you about maintaining calm if it senses. In addition to that, the sleep tracker will also monitor your sleep schedule and give suggestions respectively.
The watch comes with 15 fitness modes. It ranges all the way from hiking to rowing. The swim tracking feature seems especially intriguing. This mode helps measure your SWOLF score. Basically, it tells you the total number of strokes and seconds that you needed to complete one length in the pool. And don’t be afraid to wear it while swimming as the device is 5ATM water-resistant.
As for the battery, you now get a 455mAh battery on the 46mm variant. This battery lasts for a total of 14 days on a full charge. This claimed 2-week battery backup is based on 90min GPS tracking during workouts, 30min calls, and 30min music playback each week. So, Honor has provided the data that supports 14 days battery backup, thus hope that it truly works as claimed. However, the thing to be noted is that 14 days battery backup is only for the 46mm variant. With the 42mm one, you’ll only get a week’s use.
Honor MagicWatch 2 Price in Nepal and Availability
The Honor MagicWatch 2 price in Nepal is Rs.25,999. This price is for the 46mm Charcoal Black variant. It is available from mobile retail shops all over Nepal.
Back in December, when Pocophone’s global head, Alvin Tse, tweeted that “You will hear more from POCO in 2020“, the first thing that struck our mind was the Poco F2– the successor to Poco F1. While Poco F2 may still be on progress, Pocophone has announced something even more exciting. News from India confirms that Poco will now operate as an independent smartphone brand; it will no longer be a sub-brand of Xiaomi.
Pocophone: The story so far
Poco started as a sub-brand of Xiaomi. It first introduced itself to the world in 2018 when it launched the Poco F1. To this day, Poco F1 remains the only release from the company. To recall, Poco F1 came with flagship-grade hardware at an affordable price tag. It sort of reminded us of the OnePlus One. With the Poco F1, Pocophone was able to create a name for itself in rather a short period of time.
After the Poco F1, people expected more from the brand. But those expectations were never fulfilled. In 2019, Poco didn’t release a single phone yet it managed to rejoice popularity amidst people’s anticipation. Even there were rumors of Poco being discontinued. Alvin Tse, the company’s global head, was then deployed to lead Xiaomi Indonesia. It added fuel to the rumors. But at the end of 2019, Alvin Tse, himself, proved the rumors wrong by confirming more activities from Poco in 2020.
Xiaomi has announced on Friday that “it is spinning off POCO as a standalone company“. Poco will now operate as an independent brand with its own team and marketing strategy. The announcement from Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi’s Vice President, and Xiaomi India’s Managing, Director reads:
“What started as a sub-brand in POCO has grown into its own identity in a short span of time. POCO F1 is an extremely popular phone across user groups and remains a top contender in its category even in 2020. We feel the time is right to let POCO operate on its own now, which is why we’re excited to announce that POCO will spin-off as an independent brand. Join me in wishing the POCO team the best!”
Following the announcement, Poco India’s official twitter handle changed its bio and display picture. It now has a separate website of its own. The official twitter handle has changed the display picture to a black background. A lot of fans are reporting that the black picture has “Hello World!” hidden within itself.
Alvin Tse has acknowledged the announcement through his twitter handle.
Following this announcement, there is confusion among the fans about the new structure that the Pocophone will adopt. A few months ago, we saw some top Poco officials including some of the founding members leave the brand. Will Alvin Tse continue as Poco’s company’s global head or will leave the company to lead Xiaomi Indonesia? We are yet to hear from Pocophone about their new structure.
Xiaomi to focus on “Mi” lineup
Xiaomi has been a big player in the low-end and mid-range segment of the smartphone market. It looks to change this by focusing on its premium ‘Mi’ series. The spinning off of budget “Redmi” and “Poco” as independent brands is looking like an effort from Xioami to make the flagship Mi lineup the brand image of the company.
It is speculated that Redmi will be focused on entry-level devices. Poco will continue to live up to its fame of flagship killer and Mi with its flagship offerings will be the new brand image of Xiaomi. It is expected that 5G enabled smartphones will be exclusive to “Mi”.
How excited are you about Poco? Will Xiaomi’s plan to focus on the flagship phone pay off? Share your opinion with us.
Also, check out our early impressions of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite:
The US-imposed trade ban on Huawei was among the most talked-about events of 2019 and there’s no denying that. Though it has been a while since that happened, the topic still manages to make headlines today. However, the focus nowadays is on Huawei’s next move in its mission of Google-less future. Though Harmony OS, is still on progress, Huawei is focusing on replacing Google Mobile Service with its Huawei Mobile Service. Though its an uphill task, Huawei is looking to achieve this by taking one step at a time. And the most recent move (that has been made public) has Huawei joined hands with TomTom to replace Google Maps.
Almost everyone knows about the US-Huwaei Trade ban saga. Since the ban, Huawei has been restricted to work with any of the US-based companies. Unfortunately for Huawei, that meant broken ties with Google. And we all know, the US-based company is behind the beloved operating system-Android. Huawei can still integrate Android into its devices because of the open-source nature of the OS. However, Google has canceled its Google Play certification because of which Huawei cant use the Google Mobile Service which forms the backbone of the present Android system.
Huawei’s HMS Ecosystem
Since being stripped of its Google Play Certification, the alternative for Google Mobile service has become the topmost priority for Huawei. Huawei is set to replace the Google Play Store with its AppGallery. It is also working on Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) and HMS core. The Huawei-TomTom deal comes as the latest progress in the Huawei’s mission of Google-less future.
TomTom announced on Friday that it has completed a deal with Huawei for the use of its maps and services in Huawei’s smartphone apps. Huawei will now be allowed to integrate TomTom’s maps, traffic information, and navigation software in its app. The deal will not be affected by the ongoing trade ban since TomTom is based on Netherland. Even in this case, Huawei chose to be careful about the possible consequences. TomTom spokesman, Remco Meerstra, confirmed that the deal had been closed some time ago but had not been made public by the company. Neither of the parties has disclosed anything about the terms of the Huawei-TomTom deals.
Though Huawei is working on Harmony OS (it has been the case since 2012), it won’t be replacing Android in future Huawei devices. Why? Because Huawei still wants to stick to Android. It is difficult to battle Android in the smartphone market and Huawei knows it better. That is why it is keeping Harmony OS as “Plan B” in the case in the future it is restricted to use the Android platform. Harmony OS was primarily developed to deploy it on IoT devices. It was made a cross-platform system very late in the development process. It was unveiled as a system for “Smart Screen Products” rather than an Android replacement.
So won’t we see a Harmony OS powered smartphone? Well, we might. The first case is Huawei being restricted to use the Android platform. In such a case, Huawei will launch a smartphone powered by Harmony OS. Even if that doesn’t happen, Huawei will probably incorporate Harmony OS in a few of its devices, just to show the world what it is capable of. But it will require a ton of work. It will require a lot of developers to make the transition from Android to Harmony OS.
The idea of a single universal charging method in all of the portable electronic devices is making the headlines once again, after almost a decade since the inception of the idea. This time around it will be Apple which will have to make the sacrifice of its Lightning connector cable if the members of the European Parliament succeed in their mission to have the tech giants incorporate a common charger in all the phones to be shipped to Europe.
If you remember phones that came before 2009, you would know that they came with all kinds of chargers. Even phones from the same manufacturer came with different charging ports and chargers. To put it into figures, there were more than 30 different types of chargers back then. At present, we only have three types of chargers. So how was this possible?
Having a common charger mechanism in devices from manufacturers like Apple and everyone else does make sense. Imagine carrying different chargers for all of your different electronic devices. Your bag or whatever you intend to carry will be full of dangled cables. Wouldn’t it be easy if a common charger plugged-in in all of your devices?
The universal charging method would be easy on nature too. It would significantly reduce the 51,000 tonnes of waste produced per year due to obsolete cables.
Remember I told you that a decade has passed since the inception of the idea? Well, it is true. And the leading companies back then did come to a common understanding to solve this. In 2009, Apple, Nokia, and Samsung along with 8 other companies signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) to provide micro-USB compatibility with their chargers.
Apple’s Lightning cable
While most of the companies stuck to the micro-USB port for their product, Apple chose to exploit a loophole in the understanding and came up with a Lightning charger in 2012. The Lightning cable replaced the 30-pin dock connector that Apple used in its older devices. iPhone 5, the 5th generation iPod Touch, and the 7th generation iPod Nano were the first devices to feature Lightning cable.
Apple offered Lightning to Micro USB Adapter for the micro-USB compatibility that they agreed upon in the MoU.
Problems for Apple’s Lightning cable
The problem for Apple started in 2014 when the European Union (EU) came up with Radio Equipment Directive. Through the directive, European lawmakers have called for a common charger to fit all the portable electronic devices.
Apple, in response, said that the new regulation would “freeze innovation” and would be “disruptive for consumers”. It reads:
“More than 1 billion Apple devices have shipped using a Lightning connector in addition to an entire ecosystem of accessory and device manufacturers who use Lightning to serve our collective customers. We want to ensure that any new legislation will not result in the shipment of any unnecessary cables or external adaptors with every device, or render obsolete the devices and accessories used by many millions of Europeans and hundreds of millions of Apple customers worldwide. This would result in an unprecedented volume of electronic waste and greatly inconvenience users. To be forced to disrupt this huge market of customers will have consequences far beyond the stated aims of the Commission.”
USB-C: The way to go-ahead?
Some of the Members of the European Parliament are now summoning for “binding measures” to force a common charging method in all devices arriving in Europe. The announcement has come after “the previous result between industry players didn’t yield the desired result“. The European Parliament informed about this via a newsletter on its website. This would include not just smartphones but also tablets, e-book readers and “other portable devices”.
At present, there are three types of charging ports- Micro-USB, USB-C and the Lightning cable. Though a decision is yet to be made on the regulation if the European regulators do vote for a universal port they will most likely choose the USB-C port. It will force the companies using Micr-USB to upgrade to USB-C to comply with the new Standards.
Apple looks to be in favor of USB-C connectivity. The latest iPhone 11 Pro Max comes with a Lightning Connector and a USB-C to Lightning cable adapter. However, Apple doesn’t like the idea of forcing a common charger for all devices.
“Beginning in 2009, Apple led industry efforts to work together to promote a common charging solution. And with the emergence of USB Type-C, we have committed alongside six other companies that all new smartphone models will leverage this standard through a connector or a cable assembly. We believe this collective effort by many of the industry’s leading companies is better for innovation, better for consumers and better for the environment.”
Alternatives for Apple
iPad 2019
Though a decision on the matter is yet to be made if the EU decides to go with the directive Apple will have to think of a way to fight it. It could ditch the Lightning cable for USB-C as it did in its 2019 iPad. But that would be the last thing that Apple will choose to do. So what would the next move from Apple?
Apple to go wireless?
According to popular Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple might go wireless with the upcoming product. While the first wireless device is expected to debut in 2021, Apple can bring it early if the situation doesn’t improve.
To this day, the wireless charging technology is still in its infancy. And three of the world’s biggest smartphones brand- Samsung, Huawei, and Apple are all working to develop the technology even further.
According to Kuo, having a wireless phone will help to differentiate Apple’s product from those of its rivals. It will even make the devices more water-resistant and the absence of a charging port can make room for a bigger battery.
So what do you think the future holds for us? Will we see Apple adopting the common charger, or will it come with completely wireless devices? Or will the thing remain the same as it is today?
Budget smartphones have gotten a lot better in the past couple of years. You don’t need to spend a bucketload to get a decent performing handset anymore, which is all thanks to the ever-growing competition in the market. And we all know who sits atop the porcelain throne for the king of inexpensive devices – Xiaomi. Now, it looks like (and I hope) Nokia is having a shot at the crown with its new Nokia 2.3. Featuring a bold and hip design with some unique niceties of its own, this budget phone is one tough cookie. Let’s find out more about the Nokia 2.3 in this review.
Nokia 2.3 Specifications
Body: 6.20 x 2.97 x 0.34 inches; 183 gm
Display: 6.2-inches IPS LCD panel
Resolution: HD+ (1520 x 720 pixels); 19:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: MediaTek Helio A22; 12nm Mobile Platform
CPU: Quad-core (2.0 GHz Cortex-A53)
GPU: PowerVR GE8320
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 32GB (expandable up to 512 via a microSD card)
Software & UI: Android 9 (Pie)
Rear Camera: Dual-camera;
– 13 MP, f/2.2 primary shooter
– 2MP depth sensor
– Single LED flash
Starting with the design, the Nokia 2.3 – boy it’s chunky. It had been a while since I used one phone this boxy, and I gotta admit, it’s almost as if the phone doesn’t need to be. The battery isn’t all that big, so… why? So many times, I found myself struggling to get a hold of the phone with ease and had to use both my hands even where you’d normally need not to. And the tall big screen isn’t helping either but I’ll get to that later on.
The Nokia 2.3 is a budget phone so it won’t surprise you when I say it’s made of plastic. But the back is interesting, with a vertical ridge running throughout the device, while the frame is metallic. The one I have with me is of Charcoal color variant, though there are Cyan Green and Sand options as well. Getting into buttons, there are the power and volume rockers on the right, while you’ll find the Google Assistant button and the SIM tray on the left. Once again, they’re plasticky and loud, but still clicky enough.
A separate Google Assitant Button?
Now some of you may be thinking what’s the point of a dedicated Google Assistant button when you can easily trigger it through your voice. And yes, I understand that as I too didn’t quite make use of the dedicated button as often as Nokia would’ve hoped. However, you can remap it to trigger some other actions using a third-party app (though native customization support would’ve been even better). Thus, I’ve customized the button to open notifications on a single tap, take a screenshot on a double-tap, and long press to kill the foreground app.
Ports & Buttons
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SIM Tray, Google Assistant Button
3.5mm Headphone Jack
Secondary Mic, Micro USB Port, Speaker Grille
Volume Rockers, Power Button
On top, there’s the primary microphone and the 3.5mm headphone jack. The sound quality is impressive as well but what’s more impressive is how strongly a headphone latches on to the port; strong enough to dangle the phone with it. The secondary microphone and the speaker grille are placed on the bottom alongside the unfortunate micro-USB port. Due to this, the charging is as slow as slow can get. As for the speakers, they’re decently loud but can get easily blocked out by your hands in certain situations like gaming.
Display
Time to get into the display. Nokia 2.3 comes with a tall 6.2-inch “in-cell” IPS LCD panel, and I don’t even want to talk about how bad a name that is. And as expected, it has HD+ resolution – 1520 pixels vertically and 720 horizontally, with an aspect ratio of 19:9 and 271 PPI. Were the phone not that bulky, to begin with, the Nokia 2.3 would’ve been very easy to get to with one hand only. But since that’s not what’s happened here and it is thus a two-hand smartphone.
However, the display cutout is impressive for a budget phone. It features a tiny waterdrop notch up top for the front-facing camera and comes with rounded corners too. Interestingly, while the expensive Nokia 7.2 also featured rounded corners, it suffered from visible discoloration around the top edges, which isn’t the case in Nokia 2.3. So, kudos to the company for that!
Modern design on a budget
With the modern design of the display, the phone achieves an 80.7% screen-to-body ratio because there’s a significant bezel on the bottom with the “Nokia” branding, alongside some subtle side and top bezels as well. You can also change the color temperature of the display under the “White Balance” option if the default setting doesn’t sit right with you.
All things considered; I have two small and one major complaints about Nokia 2.3’s display. First, having used it without any protective tempered glass, it felt a bit unusually slippery. And second, the phone is frequently prone to accidental touches with no option to prevent that. Moreover, it doesn’t get bright enough to be easily visible in well-lit environments though that’s not a problem indoors.
Cameras
The Nokia 2.3 comes with a dual-camera setup so let’s talk about that as well. There’s a 13MP primary sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a 2MP depth sensor for bokeh effects. Now, though the company has partnered up with Zeiss to deliver great photography on its smartphones, there’s no Zeiss optics on the Nokia 2.3. Both lenses are arranged in a vertical module alongside the single LED flash.
To sum up the camera performance on the Nokia 2.3 – it’s a hit or miss. Sometimes it works great and sometimes it doesn’t.
Nokia 2.3 – Normal Images
The normal images come out decent in a well-lit environment and the detail preservation is quite good too, though color reproduction could’ve been better. But when it fails (and it often does), the photos come out bland, grainy, with messed up dynamic range.
Normal - Samples
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Nokia 2.3 – Portraits
Talking about portraits, the edge detection is not that great too, but you may not notice that right away when looking at the photo. Upon closer inspection, however, the flaw begins to reveal themselves. It misses out greatly on the subject’s edges. One thing I noticed about the portrait images on the Nokia 2.3 is that they are brighter than the regular images.
Portrait - Sample
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Nokia 2.3 – Nighttime
Nighttime images aren’t any great either. The amount of grain is just way too much, and you’ll notice some smoothing going on too. Overall, low-light photography on the Nokia 2.3 is forgettable.
Nighttime - Sample
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Coming to the front camera, there’s a 5MP f/2.4 sensor placed inside the waterdrop notch.
Nokia 2.3 – Regular & Portrait Selfies
Regular selfies are lacking in color reproduction and there is a significantly low amount of detail as well. Additionally, the images are grainy and polished too.
Normal v Portrait Selfie - Sample
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Normal
Portrait
Normal
Portrait
Likewise, the software-based portrait selfies are a little better than the regular selfies in terms of color reproduction though it’s not perfect either. Moreover, selfie portraits on the Nokia 2.3 are also riddled with grains and lack of detail.
Performance & Software
Moving on to the performance, the Nokia 2.3 is powered by MediaTek’s Helio A22 chipset, which can also be found in the older Nokia 2.2. So… not a great chipset selection there. The Helio A22 has a quad-core CPU with Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 2.0GHz and the PowerVR GE8320 GPU.
The phone comes with a single memory configuration with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Yeah, no multiple options there. Though it doesn’t lag as much and light multi-tasking is fine as well, Nokia 2.3 demonstrated how accustomed I’d gotten to a faster device. Let’s take a look at its benchmark scores:
From launching apps to making selections, the phone just takes its time, which I would have been infuriated about if this was a mid-range smartphone. This is most evident when taking pictures or videos. First of all, the camera app takes a second or two to launch, but it’s when viewing the clicked pictures where the lag is realized. The image processing on the Nokia 2.3 is just too slow. Here, the software-based face unlock is similarly hopeless. I could wake the phone, swipe to open the pattern layout, enter the pattern to enter the unlocked home-screen, and all that takes less time than face unlock.
Gaming
When it comes to gaming, it can handle a few big titles in the lowest of settings albeit with impending lags and stutters. I played Call of Duty for a while and the phone would frequently slow down when the game tried to load some resources. I also played Injustice 2 on Nokia 2.3 which ran smoothly but suffered from mild lags here and there as well. In terms of light games, I put the phone to test with Alto’s Odyssey which ran smoothly, but that too fell victim to minor lags now and again.
On to the software end, it runs on pure Android as the phone is a part of the “Android One” program. And me, I’m a sucker for stock Android which comes with no bloatware apps and up to 2 years of system upgrades and 3 years of monthly security updates. Though I didn’t receive the Android 10 update during my time with the phone, I sought solace with the January’s security patch.
Battery
Now the battery life on the Nokia 2.3 absolutely blew me away. The 4000 mAh AI-assisted battery on the phone really makes the phone a two-day device as the company claims. I continuously played Injustice 2 for over 4 hours (it was a slow day, don’t judge me), and the phone still had around 50% battery. All around, I got around 7 hours of screen-on time on a single charge. Wow, that’s impressive!
But charging the phone is a pain. It charges via a micro USB port and doesn’t support any fast charging either. Using a 10W charger, it took me about 3 hours and 18 minutes to take the Nokia 2.3 from 0 to 100%, which is just a little short than Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. So… yeah, while the battery life on this is ridiculously impressive, it’s charging, on the other hand, is ridiculously abysmal.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, the Nokia 2.3 is an admirable budget smartphone. It features a modern design and an incredibly impressive battery life. The stock Android herein further supplements to a smooth experience, while guaranteeing updates as well. Its camera is a hit or miss on this. With proper lighting and ambiance, the images turn out fine, though I cannot emphasize enough about the slowness of the image processor. All in all, the Nokia 2.3 is a great starter phone for someone who’s just looking for a decent Android experience on a budget.
Benco V7 comes as the latest addition in Lava’s Benco series. Lava, as a smartphone maker, was a company that was all but forgotten. However, with Benco V8 they tried to make a strong comeback in the budget segment. And now, the series has a new addition.
Lava Benco V7 Overview
The device has a 6.1-inch IPS LCD panel with HD resolution and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The screen has a dewdrop notch upfront, however, it’s basically the water-drop notch. A 5MP front camera is also housed in the notch.
As for the rear camera, it is a single lens of 8MP. Beauty mode is available on both front and back cameras. However, the bokeh mode is only available on the front camera. Furthermore, there’s also a quick capture mode with which you can capture instant photos instantly when the screen is off. Moreover, the front cam aids the face-unlock system of the device at a claimed time of 0.4s.
Under the hood, the device runs on Unisoc SC9832e. It has a RAM of 2GB and the storage capacity of 16GB. However, the storage can be expanded up to 128GB. The battery too is a huge one of 4000mAh and offers a standby time of 493 hours.
The benco series was launched primarily aimed at youths. And with a gradient-like design in the V7, design-wise the device certainly serves its purpose. But with competitors like Xiaomi and Nokia lurking just around the corner, it will take much more than just a good design in order to attract customers.
Lava Benco V7 Specifications:
Display: 6.1″ IPS LCD display with HD resolution (1280 x 600 pixels)
Rear Camera: 8MP with rear flash
Front Camera: 5MP
Processor: Quad-core, Unisoc SC9832r with 4 x ARM Cortex-A53
GPU: Mali T820
RAM: 2 GB
Storage: 16 GB onboard, expandable up to 128 GB
Battery: 4000 mAh
Sensors: G-sensor, Light, proximity
Lava Benco V7 Price
The price of Lava Benco V7 in Nepal is Rs. 9999. It is available for purchase from select mobile retail shops all over Nepal.
2019 must-have been a year of mixed emotion for Huawei and its fans. First, the company took over Apple to become the second-biggest smartphone brand in the world. Then it had to face the wrath of the US government. Following the ban from the US, Huawei is still restricted to carry out any kind of a transaction with US-based companies. There was a time when we were uncertain if we were going to see any new smartphone from the Chinese tech giant. But that’s long gone now, Huawei is already up and running. This year, Huawei is looking to ship more phones. And recent leaks reveal that the successor the last year’s P30 series – Huawei P40 is already in the works.
The upcoming Huawei P40 will come with a flat display with punch holes for the dual front camera on the top left corner of the device. Though extremely thin, you can still notice the bezels at the top and bottom of the screen.
Credit: 91 mobiles
On the rear side, there is a rectangular camera module to house camera lenses and LED flash. It is on the top left corner of the device. If viewed from the bottom of the device we can notice the tiny bump due to the camera module On the same side, towards the bottom, there is a Huawei branding. Other than the camera module and the branding there is not much to talk about the back of the phone. Since there is no mount for a fingerprint sensor on the back, we assume it will be adjusted under the display on the front.
It has a USB Type-C port on the bottom of the phone. At one side of the port lies the speaker grill. On the other side, there is a sim slot. The microphone hole also rests on the bottom. The volume rocker lies above the power button on the right side of the device.
Specification
The full specification of the device isn’t out yet. And the leaks are also centered around the looks and design of the phone. But if the rumors are to be believed it will be powered by Huawei’s Kirin 990 chipset. Talking about the chip, Huawei claims it to be the world’s first chipset to come with support for 5G.
The rectangular camera module on the back houses the triple camera setup. The Leica branding inside the module suggests that the lenses are from Leica. The primary lens is said to be grouped with an ultra-wide-angle lens and a ToF lens.
On the software side, it is more likely to come with Android 10 with Huawei’s EMUI 10 on the top. It is also likely to feature Huawei Mobile Service (HMS) as an alternative to Google Mobile Service.
Check out our review of Huawei EnVizon 360 camera!
After a year of work, Microsoft is finally done with the development of the new Microsoft Edge browser, based on Chromium. The stable version of the app is now available for download in every platform you could possibly be on. However, Microsoft will be officially launching the new Edge in Windows and macOS first.
Story of Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge was launched in 2015 along with Microsoft’s latest Windows 10. It was shipped as the default web browser for Windows 10. It had tons of work to do overcome the weakness of its predecessor – Internet Explorer. Though Microsoft aimed to regain the market share with Microsoft Edge, it couldn’t do any magic. The Edge was left far behind in the browser race which was led by Chrome. And there were several reasons for it.
The very first mistake Microsoft did was to ship the Microsoft Edge only with Windows 10. It wasn’t even available for other versions of Windows like Windows 7. A horrible mistake if you consider the fact that it took nearly 2 years for Windows 10 to surpass Windows 7 in market share. Even today, a little over a quarter of PCs use Windows 7. Even those who had Edge in their PC had to wait for about 6 months to get an official update. People chose to go with Chrome and other alternatives which offered far faster updates.
The next problem that the Edge had to face was the compatibility issues. While Chrome and other alternatives were built on Google’s open-source rendering service Chromium, Edge used EdgeHTML. Because of the market share that the Chromium-based browsers had, web-developers didn’t bother to optimize their sites solely for Edge. It brings us to another problem – extensions. Users didn’t have many extensions at their disposal while the rivals were offering tons of it.
Edge Chromium: The way to go
Microsoft tried to beat Google’s Chrome with its own Edge and EdgeHTML but couldn’t succeed. That is when Microsoft decided to adopt the “join them if you can’t beat them” strategy. For the new Edge, Microsoft decided to go with Chromium – the rendering service behind Google’s Chrome and other web browsers like Brave and Opera.
The Edge Chromium is now available for download and I have already downloaded it on my Windows 10 laptop. Let’s see if it is able to overcome the weakness of its predecessor.
Getting Started with Edge Chromium
The latest version of Edge is now available for download from the Edge’s website. You can download it on platforms using Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Unlike the initial Edge versions, it is now available on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. If you have downloaded it, you will see that it has replaced your existing Edge. You will also notice that Chromium is used only to differentiate it with the older version, the Edge Chromium is still identified as Edge.
When you start the Edge after completion of the installation process, you will be directed to the import page where you can import data from your previous web browser.
Edge Chromium Import Data Options
You can even choose between things that you would want the Edge to import. Next, Edge prompts you to choose the look of the app. After you choose among the three options you are all set to go.
Edge vs Edge Chromium
Talking about the looks of the UI, the new Edge Chromium is identical to Google’s Chrome. If tab handling in the previous Edge versions bothered you, it has been ditched for more Chrome-like tab handling features. It is because they both are built on Chromium. It is also the reason Microsoft has been able to bring Edge to different platforms. Form the initial impression, Edge is faster than what I expected it to be considering the legacy that its predecessors have. It will be too soon to compare with other web-browsers but I like the feel of the new Edge.
And finally, the extensions are here. You can choose from 700+ Microsoft Edge Addons and can additionally add extensions from the Chrome Web Store. Talking about my experience, I added Grammarly for Chrome to my Edge and so far it is working as fine as it did earlier in Chrome. But Microsoft has warned that some extensions that use Google Account functionality might not work properly.
After switching to Chromium Microsoft Edge has so many things in common with Chrome. So what sets it apart from the rest? The answer is the Edge’s new tracking prevention feature. If you go to Privacy And Security under the Setting, you will see that the Tracking Prevention feature is on by default. You can turn it off or choose the level of tracking that you want to allow. You can even choose to disable this feature on the websites you like. If you want to learn more about the feature you can check out the official blog post by the company.
Though Google has announced to stop cross-site tracking by phasing out third-party cookies, it is not in a hurry to do so. While other browsers such as Safari and Firefox are already on it, it will take an additional 2 years for Google to join them. So, if you don’t like to be tracked Edge could be handy.
Edge is also said to come with a feature that can group similar websites together called the Collection. But the feature isn’t live yet for normal users. Apart from that, it will also support 4K Netflix with Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision.
So what are your thought on new Edge Chromium? Will it be able to take out Chrome to be the number one web-browser? Share your opinion with us.
We’ve welcomed a new year and you know what that means, right? Smartphone manufacturers are gearing up to flood the market with their latest devices, making use of all the innovations actualized throughout the year. New and improved chipset, better cameras, new software, what have you. And when it comes to chipsets, Qualcomm has been absolutely crushing it in mid-range and premium smartphones, while MediaTek reigns supreme on budget and even a couple of mid-range devices.
A faster performance has always been the principal focal point for a quality-chipset. But as the world marches towards a new generation of cellular connectivity, there’s a new sheriff in town – 5G. With its unprecedented bandwidth and speed, device makers have been working to the bone to incorporate the technology into their products. Though there are already quite many 5G-capable phones on the market, most of them apply the chipset-plus-5G modem technique to give the device the 5G crown.
On top of being cost-ineffective, this method isn’t energy efficient as well. Therefore, the demand for a chipset with integrated 5G support has been realized for some time now, with some manufacturers meeting them this early on.
Chipsets with integrated 5G modem
Take Samsung’s Exynos 980 or Huawei’s Kirin 990 5G. Both SoCs come with an integrated 5G modem, but these are not what I’ll be talking about today. On the contrary, and more interestingly even, I’ll be discussing the ones from MediaTek and Qualcomm. The recently announced MediaTek Dimensity 1000 series and Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G look to bring 5G to the masses while being capable of incredible performance as well.
More specifically, I’ll be pitting the 765G against the Dimensity 1000L, which is slightly underclocked than the regular Dimensity 1000 but otherwise share a similar spec-sheet.
However, as MediaTek hasn’t officially revealed a whole lot about the 1000L, we’ll be at times, assuming it with the regular Dimensity 1000. These chipsets from MediaTek and Qualcomm are set to feature in smartphones like OPPO’s forthcoming Reno3 and Reno3 Pro respectively.
Wow, that was a long intro! Let’s finally get into it.
Dimensity 1000L vs Snapdragon 765G
5G Capability
Since these are 5G-ready chipsets, it only makes sense that we discuss of their 5G prowess first. The Snapdragon 765G includes the Qualcomm Snapdragon X52 Modem-RF System and supports both mmWave and sub-6GHz spectrum of 5G on SA (Standalone) & NSA (Non-Standalone) modes. Likewise, the Dimensity 1000L makes use of the MediaTek Helio M70 5G modem and only supports the sub-6GHz spectrum of 5G on SA and NSA modes.
Dimensity 1000L v Snapdragon 765G - 5G
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Snapdragon 765G
Dimensity 1000L
Breaking it down!
Ah… that may have been way too much tech jargon so allow me to very briefly break them down. Measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz), a frequency spectrum is the range of electromagnetic radio frequencies used to transmit data packets through the air. While it capped out to 2.5GHz in 4G LTE, 5G, on the other hand, is in an entirely different playing field. Theoretically, it can go as high as 300GHz! Now as I said before, there are two spectrums of 5G: mmWave (millimeter) and sub-6GHz.
Without going into any intricate details, the difference between these two can be put this way – compared to sub-6GHz, mmWave is faster (way faster), has higher bandwidth, but also suffers from a narrower coverage range and an extremely high cost of installation and maintenance.
Furthermore, NSA 5G refers to building 5G networks by utilizing the existing 4G infrastructure, whereas SA 5G is the ultimate state of 5G technology built by deploying a radically new end-to-end 5G network.
So… which one’s better?
With that out of the way, you may now have made some assumptions of the 5G capabilities of these two chipsets. The Snapdragon 765G is the future-proof of the two with its support for both mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G spectrum, yes. But the battle isn’t done and dusted yet. While the mmWave 5G is significant especially in countries like the US, it is crucial to note that at this stage, only a handful of network providers offer this spectrum of 5G.
For instance, as of now, AT&T’s mmWave 5G is available only in a couple of US cities, whereas its low-band 5G can be found in a handful of cities in the country.
Pair that with the aforementioned issue of tapered coverage, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be enjoying mmWave’s true potential. More importantly, let’s talk about speed!
SPEED!
Though the regular Dimensity 1000 only supports sub-6GHz 5G, MediaTek promises up to an impressive 4.7Gbps and 2.5Gbpspeak download and upload speeds respectively. Considering this, the 1000L may offer similar or more likely slightly slower speeds, just to differentiate the two. On Qualcomm’s end, the Snapdragon 765G maxes out on 3.7Gbps and 1.6Gbps. Dimensity 1000L is not looking too shabby, now, is it?
Here, the low peak speeds on the 765G, despite supporting both 5G spectrums might be a strategy of Qualcomm to differentiate it with its flagship Snapdragon 865. It boasts a monstrous peak download and upload speeds of 7.5Gbps and 3Gbps respectively.
Additionally, despite both chipsets supporting dual 5G SIM and the latest WiFi 6 (ax) standard, MediaTek will take the crown for being the first to do so. More on connectivity, the Snapdragon 765G comes with Bluetooth 5.0 and Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive codec. Here as well, MediaTek trumps over Qualcomm as the Dimensity 1000L equips the latest Bluetooth 5.1 standard but expectedly is void of Qualcomm’s superior audio codecs.
CPU
Now let’s talk performance. These are octa-core chipsets with 64-bit CPU architecture and manufactured under the 7nm lithography process. However, they differ in how the CPU cores are arranged. MediaTek has gone with the traditional big.LITTLE (bL) architecture with four high-end ARM Cortex-A77 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and four efficiency Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0GHz on the Dimensity 1000L.
Contrarily, the Snapdragon 765G has the semi-custom Kryo 475 octa-core CPU with one Prime (Cortex-A76) core clocked at 2.4GHz, one Gold (Cortex-A76) core at 2.2GHz and six Silver (Cortex-A55) cores at 1.8GHz.
CPU Architecture
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Dimensity 1000L (big.LITTLE)
Snapdragon 765G (DynamIQ big.LITTLE)
Here, though the heavy/medium/light core arrangement on the 765G is impressive, the Dimensity 1000L may prove victorious over the competitor by a hair, as it boasts a higher number of the latest Cortex-A77 performance core count than the heavy or medium cores in the Snapdragon 765G.
GPU
Moving on to graphics, the Dimensity 1000L has the ARM Mali-G77 MC7 GPU while the Snapdragon 765G comes with Qualcomm’s own Adreno 620. Now, ARM’s Mali series of GPUs have always trailed behind the Adreno in the past, but the G77 based on the new “Valhall” architecture vows up to 30% increment in performance density and energy efficiency and a 60% boost in machine learning applications than the previous generation.
On the other hand, the Adreno 620 is an upper mid-range GPU from Qualcomm, which is further tweaked to offer better graphics performance on the 765G, as this chipset is targeted towards gaming.
This pre-binned GPU is at the top end of its scale and can handle higher GPU & CPU clocks; more precisely the Adreno 620 on the 765G provides further 10% graphics performance boost than the one on the regular 765, while also equipping the additional Snapdragon Elite Gaming Features.
Here as well, both the GPUs support Vulkan 1.1, DirectX 12, OpenGL ES 3.2 and OpenCL 2.0 FP APIs. Therefore, the Dimensity 1000L and Snapdragon 765G are neck-and-neck on the GPU end as well.
Memory & Storage
What’s more, these two chipsets are similar to their memory too, since they come with LPDDR4x memory type. The Snapdragon 765G boasts memory speeds up to 2133 MHz with support of up to 12GB RAM. We don’t quite know about the precise memory speed of the Dimensity 1000L, but if the regular Dimensity 1000 is any indication, the former could pack a speed of a little slower than 1866MHz and maybe up to 16GB of RAM or less.
Also, MediaTek says its Dimensity chipsets will have UFS storage but doesn’t specify the generation. This could probably mean that it is UFS 2.1 and not the superior 3.0 like in the Snapdragon 765G.
Display
On to the displays, the Snapdragon 765G supports QHD+ displays at 60fps and 120Hz refresh rates at FHD+ displays.
Furthermore, it also comes with 10-bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut, and HDR10 & HDR10+ support while things look a little bleak on the Dimensity 1000L. It bolsters up an FHD+ display up to 120Hz and 2K+ up to 90Hz.
Camera
Getting to cameras, the 765G uses the Qualcomm Spectra 355 ISP and supports up to 192MP single camera and up to 22MP dual camera. The Dimensity 1000L may support up to 80MP cameras with up to 32 + 16 dual cameras like its more powerful brother with its 5-core ISP.
Both these chipsets can shoot 4K HDR videos with H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC) and VP9 encoding and playback, while the Dimensity also supports AV1 format (successor to VP9) for better video streaming and is the first to equip that as well.
AI Performance
AI performance is another thing to look after in these chipsets. We can expect the hexa-core APU 3.0 of the Dimensity 1000 to make its mark on the 1000L as well. Though this new-gen AI processing unit delivers an impressive 4.5 trillion operations per second (TOPS), the 5th gen Qualcomm AI engine on the Snapdragon 765G is sufficiently better with 5.5 TOPS AI performance.
Dimensity 1000L vs Snapdragon 765G – Final words
So… yeah! This is where we stand vis-à-vis upper mid-range mobile chipsets. MediaTek is no longer an underdog in the market and is gunning for the top spot in the premium smartphone market as well, which Qualcomm has been hogging for all these years. This exponential growth of the company could have been partly supplemented by its recent partnership with Intel. If the benchmark reports of the OPPO Reno3 (with Dimensity 1000L) and Reno 3 Pro (with Snapdragon 765G) that have surfaced online are to be absolutely trusted, the Dimensity 1000L successfully outperforms the 765G. Now, only if MediaTek released the source code of its chipsets for free like Qualcomm, the company would see a larger share of developer support in the Android community as well.
