As much we love Windows 7, we must face the fact that it is dead now. Windows has ended support for the much-loved Windows version from January 14. Microsoft released it in 2009. Even after 11 years, it is still popular; running in over a quarter of PCs all around the world. People are still using the OS even after so many efforts from Microsoft to persuade them to update to Windows 10. So what made Windows 7 so popular?
Windows Vista and its woes
The major reason behind the unprecedented success of the OS is Windows Vista. When Microsoft succeeded Windows XP with Vista, it tried to overhaul the OS by tweaking the hardware and software cores. The new hardware and software compatibility left too many people confused. All the problems of Vista were later addressed in Windows 7. Windows 7 had a more user-friendly interface and wasn’t a memory hog like the Vista. And it could even run on devices with Windows XP.
Windows 8: A failed attempt from Microsoft
Microsoft launched Windows 8 in 2012. The company’s futuristic OS suffered the fate of the Vista. It came with an entirely new interface that was meant to work best with touchscreen devices. Needless to say- people entirely avoided the hassle of upgrading monitors and learning the new interface.
Personal Opinion
If you were to ask me the same question about the OS’s popularity, I would point to its simplicity. Windows 7 wasn’t meant to look flashy and futuristic. It did what it was supposed to do. And that made it stand out against failed attempts from Microsoft.
While my laptop runs the latest Windows 10, I still have Windows 7 installed on my older desktop. I made the jump to Windows 7 from Windows XP because I could do it without having to upgrade my setup. It couldn’t be possible if I had chosen to switch to Vista. Not to forget the former was faster and had a cleaner interface.
Why haven’t I upgrade to something newer? Because there is no need to. For a secondary device, it handles almost everything I throw at it. It has all the essential software I need. The added cost of the upgrade would only pile loads of never-to-be-used bloatware on my already smooth system. It’s a different case now with the end of support. But we can still be hopeful. More on it later on the post.
Microsoft has suspended the support for Windows 7. To put it into simple words, the setups using the OS will no longer be eligible for future security updates and customer service’s technical support.
If you are still in confusion, the end of support doesn’t mean that your setup with Windows 7 will crash or will stop working. Your setup will still work. But you are now exposed to viruses and malware looking to exploit your system. And Microsoft will be notifying you to switch to Windows 10 more often.
Still today, many devices running Windows 7 are being used in the corporate and education sectors. They can still opt to pay for extended security updates for up to 2023. But it will cost them right around $25 per machine. If you think it is costly, wait till I tell you that the cost will be doubled every year.
Windows 7 – Is there still some hope?
If you look at the current scenario of OS market share, about 27% of all the PCs still run Windows 7. That is a lot of users if you look through the perspective of software manufacturers. As Google has already confirmed Chrome support for Windows 7 till 2023 we can expect others to join in as well. We did witness Microsoft issuing a security patch for XP even after the end of its support in 2019. It could be repeated with Windows 7 when it is reported that it would take an additional 2 years to bring the 7’s market share below 10%. In fact, it took Windows 10 about 4 years to surpass the market share of Windows 7.
Microsoft distributed free copies of Windows 10 to persuade people to upgrade from older versions and still failed. So can the end of support help people make the shift? Let us know what you think. You can also share your experience with Microsoft’s OS down the years.
Also, check out our review of Acer Predator Helios 300 (2019):
OnePlus smartphones from last year were kind of confusing for me. Breaking their traditional two-phone-a-year policy, they had a total of 4 devices under the OnePlus 7 lineup in 2019. Among the four, the one I got for myself was the 7T. And since then, I have been using it as my primary phone and here is what I have to say about it. This is our long term review of the OnePlus 7T!
OnePlus 7T Specifications
OS: Android 10 with OxygenOS 10.0
Display: 6.55-inch (2400 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 20:9 aspect ratio Fluid AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ sRGB color gamut, DCI-P3 color gamut, 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection
SoC: Snapdragon 855 Plus
CPU: Octa-Core (1 x Kryo 485 at 2.96GHz + 3 x Kryo 485 at 2.42GHz + 4 x Kryo 385 at 1.8GHz)
GPU: Adreno 640 GPU
RAM: 8GB LPDDR4X RAM
Storage: 128GB (UFS 3.0) storage
SIM: Dual SIM (nano + nano)
Primary Cameras:
– 48MP rear camera with Dual LED Flash, f/1.6 aperture, 1/2.25″ Sony IMX586 sensor, 0.8μm pixel size, OIS, EIS, 4K 60fps, Super Slow Motion 1080p at 240 fps, 720p at 960fps
– 16MP 117° ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture, 2.5cm macro
– 12MP telephoto lens with f/2.2 aperture for 2x optical zoom
Front Camera: 16MP front-facing camera with Sony IMX471 sensor, f/2.0 aperture
Fingerprint sensor: In-display (optical)
Dimensions: 160.94×74.44×8.13mm
Weight: 190g
Audio: Stereo Speakers, Dolby Atmos
Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz) 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C
Battery: 3800mAh with Warp Charge 30T fast charging
Colors: Glacier Blue, Frosted Silver
Design & Build
Okay, now let’s get started! First, I’ll be talking about the phone’s build quality. So, how has the glass & metal design held up, you ask? I’d say pretty good! And weirdly enough OnePlus has gone with the older Gorilla Glass 5, instead of the Gorilla Glass 6 on this one. However, I have to admit that I have dropped it a few times flat on the display and nothing major has happened to it, so yeah, it’s pretty durable.
To some extent, it is maybe because of the case that comes with it though. The case protrudes on the sides a little bit which has saved the phone from suffering any significant damage when I dropped it a couple of times. Accidentally of course!
And frankly, even if the phone had suffered some damage, I’d go claim the breakage insurance wherein I’m only liable to pay 25% of the screen replacement cost. This handy benefit further strengthens the appeal of the OnePlus 7T in Nepal.
More on design, I love this matte-like blue finish mainly because it looks different from the other phones in the market. Additionally, it also helps prevent smudges to some extent. However, I have been using it with the case so, that’s there.
Also, the 7T is not large and heavy like the OnePlus 7 Pro.
The 7T feels way more ergonomic and it’s partly because it lacks the pop-up camera. I think we are going to see lesser phones with pop-up cameras in 2020, except OPPO, who just patented a side pop-up camera.
On another note, the one thing that I dearly missed on the 7T (or every other OnePlus phone to begin with), is an IP rating. It does have its SIM tray sealed with a rubber gasket, but that is something that we find on much cheaper Redmi phones as well.
Ports & Buttons
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Volume Rockers
SIM slot, USB Type-C port, speaker grille
Ring Slider & Power Button
So whenever it’s raining here in Kathmandu, and it’s raining a lot even in the winter these days, I have to take some drastic steps like keeping it secured under a plastic pouch.
So, I think OnePlus absolutely has to incorporate the IP rating in the forthcoming OnePlus 8 to step up their game in the flagship territory. And talking about stepping up their game, the company did listen to the community by including a pair of some awesome stereo speakers. Judging their quality, I think these are one of the best ones out there. Not quite at the level of the iPhones, but it’s really really good.
Overall, the design is pretty standard, it’s nothing extra and there isn’t a lot of things to complain about except for the fact that the camera bump is a bit too sharp though I’ve not had any inconvenience because of it.
Display
The one thing I am glad is the fact that OnePlus 7T has inherited the 90Hz panel and the HDR10+ compliance from the Pro model. And no, I don’t mind the phone not having a QHD panel like its elder brother because this panel has excellent quality regardless. With a brightness that peaks at 525 nits, the display is very bright which is the reason I have been able to enjoy watching videos and playing games while basking in the sun this winter.
And what I have loved about the display is its smooth transitions across the elements of the UI thanks to the superior refresh rate panel. Even endlessly scrolling through Instagram feels very smooth. It does not have the curved screen like the 7 Pro, but honestly, it didn’t bother me at all.
And although I am happy that this one has a notch adaptation rather than a pop-up camera; it would have been better if they could have gone with a punch hole or something. But I guess, they are saving it for the future.
Moving on, the night mode here in the settings comes with a color temperature slider and a light slider, you can choose between cool to warm color temperature and the amount of light on the screen. Since I’m someone who reads a lot at night, this feature has really been a blessing for me.
One thing I don’t understand though is why do OnePlus smartphones don’t have Always-On Display (AOD)? They do have an ambient display that pops up when you lift the phone, but why not an AOD?
You know, whenever any update arrived in the 7T, among other things, I hoped for an always-on display to be there too. But never has my expectation been a reality!
Anyways, moving on, the in-display fingerprint sensor is still working really fine. It’s not ultra-sonic like Samsung’s but when it comes to speed, it’s tough to beat this one. And even though the face unlock feature on it is blazing fast as well, the fingerprint sensor has been my go-to unlock mechanism for the two months I’ve had with it which didn’t give up on me even once!
Cameras
Getting into the cameras, I was using the Galaxy Note 10 Plus before. And when I switched to the 7T, I felt a big difference in their capabilities because as someone who is clicking pictures of everything I see, I was expectedly let down by the photography performance on the 7T.
The cameras, by no means, is “bad”. But the performance of the flagship cameras on such a “flagship killer” smartphones are yet to match their flagship counterparts. Maybe the OnePlus 8 that is rumored to come with the Sony IMX686 sensor will have better performance and optimization than its predecessors.
Don’t get me wrong, the triple cameras on this one do give off fine images. I love the details that the phone captures.
Normal - Samples
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The wide-angle and 2X telephoto lens also does an okay-ish job.
Normal v Wide-angle v 2x Zoom - Samples
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Wide-angle
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Wide-angle
2x Zoom
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2x Zoom
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Wide-angle
2x Zoom
And I found the Portrait images becoming better in OnePlus phones than they were before. The phone uses its telephoto lens by default to take portraits and the results are satisfactory. Edge detection is not the best in tough areas like the hair, but keeping the nitpick aside, they turn out pretty okay.
Portrait - Samples
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The company has given out a few updates for its cameras though. For instance, you can use the nightscape feature in wide-angle mode too.
Now, this is a good feature to have and I found the nightscape doing an amazing job in wide-angle shots and in normal images as well.
Regular v Nightscape - Samples
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Nightscape
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I mean, it does the right amount of corrections and makes the image pop out. You can also switch between normal and wide-angle in the same video which I found to be pretty darn useful.
Macro photography is also possible on the OnePlus 7T despite the lack of a dedicated macro lens.
Macro - Samples
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Via the ultrawide lens, the macro images’ quality is slightly better compared to other phones out there.
However, I found selfies not to be the best part of the 7T camera. The skin tone does not look very good, to say the least. The pictures are not bad but other phones do better than the 7T I think. However, it does manage to pull out an impressive level of detail.
Regular Selfie - Samples
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Apart from this, portrait selfies from OnePlus 7T are commendable as well with a fine level of edge detection.
Portrait Selfie - Samples
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Enough of the negatives. What the 7T nails is video stabilization from 1080p/30fps and all the way up to 4K 60fps, thanks to the OIS. You can even shoot 4K videos from the wide-angle lens which is great especially when switching from normal to wide-angle because you won’t have to worry about the degrade in quality.
But even so, the 7T cameras are still not up to flagship-level and I think this is the one aspect the company has huge potential to improve. Overall, if you look at the cameras, they are taking small steps in improving the camera performance in their offerings but unfortunately have quite not reached the point where people could actually applaud it.
Performance
Okay, if not cameras, the performance is all I could ask for. And this is why I like OnePlus smartphones; they always offer the latest of chipsets and give the best of performance. Now, pair the Snapdragon 855+ with OxygenOS and a 90Hz screen, the OnePlus 7T easily becomes one of the best gaming phones right now, especially at this price.
I played my favorite games at the highest of settings with practically zero stutters. And I like it that the company has improved on the haptic feedback in some games which makes the gameplay even more fun.
And games like Alto’s Odyssey even support the higher 90Hz frame rate, which makes the experience even more distinguishably pleasant.
The OxygenOS is also one of my favorite skins because of the clean, no-nonsense experience it delivers. And as mentioned earlier the 90Hz screen makes it more fluid than ever. In fact, I used other phones whilst using this one side by side and those other phones eventually kind of lack the punch and the flow.
I love the gesture animations in the 7T; they are super smooth and I got used to it in like 15 minutes of using them. So, I’ve had a blast of experience basically because the UI is so clean and it has just the right number of things it needs.
But one thing that didn’t sit well with me is the fact that I haven’t even received December’s security patch at the time of recording this video. In comparison, the Note 10 has already received January’s security updates! What’s happened here? This is a little disappointing because OxygenOS is something that is next to stock Android and the updates should’ve rolled out much-much faster.
Battery
About the battery life, it has been good. On the day when I don’t game a lot, the battery lasted me for a pretty good amount of time, which would be like around 20% left before I go to sleep.
But playing games with the 90Hz refresh rate does take a hit at the battery. As a result, the battery was not quite enough to last me throughout the day during such usage.
In compensation, you get the 30-watt WARP charging (or Warp Charge 30T as OnePlus likes to call it). So, even if you run out of juice in the middle of the day, you can take it from 0-67% in half an hour, which I think is amazing.
And as someone who forgets or doesn’t get to charge my phone in the morning almost every day, so if you are like me, you’d be very happy using the 7T.
However, the phone doesn’t charge in an hour as one would expect. The last 5% takes some 15-20 minutes to charge. So this means that the phone goes from 0-95% in 55 minutes, while you gotta wait considerably longer to get it to a full 100%.
Conclusion
So, overall, having used the OnePlus 7T for such a long time, I’ve had one of the best smartphone experiences ever. The best things about the 7T are definitely the display and the performance. I love how OnePlus has focused so much on the experience, rather than just the hardware.
But, now that the OnePlus 8 rumors have been surfacing, should you go for the 7T? The OnePlus 8 is said to have Snapdragon 865 that will have 20% better performance and the new Sony IMX686 sensor with much better camera prowess. And this is where things get really messy with OnePlus phones. I think they should stick with the 2 phones a year policy.
Nevertheless, as a OnePlus 7T user, I would still recommend this phone. The company is also offering some discounts right now, especially here in South Asia. And although there is a fair amount of competition with the Asus ROG Phone II and Realme X2 Pro, for me, OnePlus phones are special because of their software experience.
Though the Rog Phone II and X2 Pro are a couple of tough cookies in terms of hardware, what they lack is an equally good software experience, which is where OnePlus kicks in.
Not everything you see is true. It is even more evident on social media such as Facebook. People share millions of photos, videos, and other contents daily on Facebook. With such a high volume of data, it is a challenging task to check the quality of content being uploaded. As a result, Facebook is full of deepfakes and other forms of manipulated content. The company now looks to change this scenario, with the US presidential elections 2020 on the horizon.
Forms of content manipulation
Content manipulation on the internet is way common than we think. Most of them are harmless and can include activities such as improving the quality of content. But there are also people actively working to mislead people by manipulating content and making them appear what they aren’t. They use varieties of tools ranging from simple photo-editing apps to complex deep learning techniques. The use of the latter is now on a rise. People use different AI tools to create videos to misguide the public. These are commonly known as the “deepfakes”. While deepfakes aren’t that common, the rate at which they are growing is alarming.
Facebook wants to put such unethical activities in check. It has started investigations on its own to tackle deceptive behaviors on the social media platform starting from taking down fake accounts. It will also partner with different authorities to expose people behind such misleading acts. Facebook is already discussing its policy development and manipulation detection tools with more than 50 global experts.
A snippet from an official blog from the Vice President of the company’s Global Policy Media Ms. Monika Bickert reads:
we will remove misleading manipulated media if it meets the following criteria:
It is edited or synthesized – beyond adjustments for clarity or quality – in ways that aren’t apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video said words that they did not say. And:
It is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning that merges, replaces or superimposes content onto a video, making it appear to be authentic.
However, it does not apply to parodies or satires.
Facebook’s Community Standards
Facebook will also be removing contents that don’t align with the company’s Community Standards. Contents that aren’t eligible for removal by these standards can still be reviewed by an independent panel of over 50 fact-checkers. If the panel rates any content false, Facebook will reduce its distribution in NewsFeed. It will also warn people when they see or try to share such false content.
Deepfakes Detection challenge
In an attempt to battle deepfakes, Facebook launched Deepfake Detection Challenge last September. The challenge invites people from different regions to develop systems capable of detecting deepfakes and other forms of manipulated media. There is a $10 million in grants to support the challenge.
As a part of the revamp of their A-series smartphones, Samsung Galaxy A30 is a low-mid-range phone from Samsung. It picks off from where the Samsung Galaxy M30 rests in terms of specs and features. And now, Samsung is offering a good discount on the Galaxy A30 in Nepal, making it a good mid-range phone for price-conscious buyers.
Samsung Galaxy A30 Overview
The Galaxy A30 gives in to the notch trend. It features a tall 6.4″ display and a tiny U-shaped notch. Samsung dubs this as the “Infinity-U” display. The M-series, however, have a V-shaped notch and is called the Infinity V-display, as seen in the Galaxy M20 and the Galaxy M10. Also, this is a Super AMOLED panel, so, it should be pretty good.
In terms of camera, this phone has a dual-camera setup at the back. The setup comprises of a 16 MP primary and a 5 MP ultra-wide lenses. Seems like Samsung is placing ultra-wide angle lenses on all their phones this year. The U-shaped notch upfront houses a 16 MP selfie camera.
Under the hood, the A30 is run by Exynos 7904 chipsetand is backed by 4 GB of RAM. And you get a 64 GB internal storage. There also exists a 3 GB / 32 GB variant of the phone, but in Nepal, we only get the 4 / 64 one. Also, there is an internal SD-card slot for memory expansion. This phone comes with Android Pie out of the box with Samsung’s One UI. In addition, you get a good 4000 mAh battery with 15-Watt Fast Charging.
Samsung Galaxy A30 Specifications:
Design: Plastic body, aluminum frame
Display: 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution, (2340×1080 pixels); 19.5:9 aspect ratio @ 403 PPI
Rear Camera: Dual camera – (16 MP, f/1.7, PDAF) + (5 MP, f/2.2, 12mm, ultra-wide), LED flash
Battery: 4000mAh with 15watt fast charging support; USB Type-C port
Colors: Blue, White, and Black
Price: Rs. 28,490 Rs.23,899
Samsung Galaxy A30 Price in Nepal & Availability
Samsung Galaxy A30 is now available in Nepal for the discount price of Rs. 24,899. You can purchase the phone from the nearest Samsung mobile retail shops all over Nepal.
When early rumors of the Xiaomi Redmi 9 hit the internet back in December, it was said to feature an unannounced MediaTek Helio G70. Unheard? Unannounced? Not anymore. MediaTek has finally announced Helio G70 in the Helio G series of gaming chipset. The new Helio G70 chipset will be powering upcoming mid-range gaming smartphones in 2020.
Helio G series
MediaTek came up with the gaming-focused Helio G series of processors last year. Helio G90 and G90T were the first two chips under the new series, while the latter was used in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro. It uses the ARM Cortex-A76 as the performance cores and Cortex-A55 (@2Ghz) as efficient cores. Helio G90T is based on the 12nm FinFET process.
Not to forget, Redmi Note 8 Pro was the best performer at its price range. So what separates the Helio G series from the rest? MediaTek Helio G series comes with Mediatek’s HyperEngine technology. The company claims that different technologies embedded in HyperEngine will enhance the gaming experience through fast connection, optimized response, brilliant picture quality, and intelligent resource management.
MediaTek will be focusing on the lower end of the gaming smartphone market with the new Helio G70 series. So, it is fair to say that the Helio G70 will not come possessed with the gaming prowess of the G90T but will try to replicate some of it for the reduced cost.
The Helio G70 comes with an octa-core setup. The performance cores here are the ARM Cortex-A75 clocked at 2GHz. The ARM Cortex-A55 clocked at 1.7GHz plays the roles of efficient cores. It comes with the MediaTek HyperEngine Gaming Technology. However, we don’t have any information about the process used to fabricate the Helio G70 chipset.
If we compare it to the specs of Helio G90T, we see that a lot of things have been compromised for the budget segment chipset.
MediaTek also announced Helio G70T, but it’s not clear exactly how it’s different from the regular G70. We can expect higher frequency CPU/GPU in the G70T, plus other notable enhancements. Both these chipsets will debut in early 2020.
Check out our review of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro:
How excited are you about the new gaming chipset from MediaTek? Do you think it can take on the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G? Let us know your views.
Samsung announced the Galaxy S10 lite last week and the phone has been gathering a lot of hype because of its flagship-level specs at a mid-range price. While Samsung India has officially unveiled the launch date, Samsung Nepal has exclusively confirmed to us that they won’t be launching the S10 Lite in Nepal.
Overview
The S10 Lite is powered by the Snapdragon 855 chipset with either 6GB or 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and a total of 128GB UFS2.1 storage. The memory can further be expanded up to 1 TB via a MicroSD card. The phone will come with Android 10 out of the box and it will feature the new and improved OneUI 2.0.
Display-wise, we get a bigger form factor in the S10 Lite that measures 6.7-inches with FHD+ resolution. Like the Note 10, this one too will feature a punch-hole style notch dubbed Infinity-O display and it’s going to be Samsung’s Super AMOLED panel.
While the insides of the phone seem similar to what there was before, what does not remain the same is the camera setup. There’s no telephoto lens on the S10 Lite. Rather, it has a triple camera setup, comprising of a 48MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 5MP macro lens. The front of the phone flaunts a 32MP selfie camera.
The cameras are also equipped with something called Tilt- OIS, which allows them to tilt a few degrees in different directions to compensate for hand’s movement, in addition to what we have been seeing on other smartphones.
On a different note, the S10 Lite will feature one of the biggest batteries in the history of flagship phones, as it comes with a huge 4,500 mAh battery! Furthermore, it supports 25-watt fast charging too, though the wireless charging support has been scrapped.
Like the recent Samsung flagships, the S10 Lite will no longer include a headphone jack which means, you will be getting a Type-C audio port. It also lacks any kind of IP certification. The fingerprint sensor is placed on the front, an in-display one like the S10 and Note 10.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite Specifications:
Display: 6.7-inch Full HD+ (2400×1080 pixels), Super AMOLED Plus Infinity-O Display with 394ppi
Storage:128GB storage (UFS 2.1), expandable memory up to 1TB with microSD
Operating System: Android 10 with OneUI 2.0
SIM(s): Dual SIM
Rear Camera: 48MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/2.0 aperture, Super Steady OIS, 12MP Ultra Wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture, 5MP macro camera with f/2.0 aperture
Front Camera: 32MP front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture
Connectivity: Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS with GLONASS, USB 3.1, NFC, MST
Battery: 4,500mAh battery with 25W fast charging
Looking at all these specs, one might be wondering what is actually “Lite” about this phone. On paper at least, it’s got the latest chipset, big battery, and good camera setup. But, the phone is rumored to have an inferior build quality which might upset some Samsung fans. However, it’ll be interesting to see, to say the least.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite Price in Nepal, Launch date
Samsung Nepal will not be launching the S10 Lite in Nepal. Instead, the company will be focusing on the Note 10 Lite (8+128GB). Samsung Nepal believes the Note 10 Lite would be a better value for money flagship instead of the S10 Lite.
Although it might seem weird, it makes a lot of sense for a country like Nepal. The Note 10 Lite has a big advantage over its competition as it offers S-pen. Moreover, the Note 10 Lite has better cameras than the S10 Lite. Although, you do get a newer and faster Snapdragon 855 processor, the Exynos 9810 on the Note 10 Lite is not a slouch either.
The Note 10 Lite is also cheaper than the S10 Lite. Samsung Nepal is planning to launch the Note 10 Lite at an aggressive price of around Rs. 59,999. This makes the Note 10 Lite a truly “Semi-Flagship phone” and the best for its price. And if the S10 Lite was launched in Nepal, it would have been priced at around Rs. 66,999 – a territory where the OnePlus 7T reigns supreme.
Talks about 120Hz screen smartphones have peaked this week. Especially since OnePlus held its screen technology communication event. Rumors swirling around the internet is that the upcoming Black Shark 3 will also have a 120Hz refresh rate display. It’ll probably be a QHD display panel. I guess users will, in fact, have an option to adjust the display rate as per their preferences.
Leaked images have shown that it’ll have a 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz modes and the display resolution can go between FHD and QHD.
Black Shark has been gaining momentum and has created a space for itself in the gaming smartphones segment. As a matter of fact, the brand already has four phones under its belt. And the addition of what probably be the Black Shark 3, it looks likely that the fifth one will be added soon.
Initial leaks about the device have confirmed that the upcoming Black Shark 3 will come with 16GB of RAM and as the trend goes it will have 5G connectivity.
If the device indeed launches with 16GB of RAM, it will be the first one to do so. Now, doubts remain about whether such a huge RAM is necessary in a smartphone or not. Still, I think that power users will appreciate this. Because in the end, it all adds up to a smoother gaming experience in a smartphone.
Given the fact that it is a gaming smartphone, the aesthetics of the phone will probably give out “gaming” vibes too. So, expect the trademark green accents in this one too. However, aside from that, we have no other clue whatsoever.
Black Shark 2 offers a 60Hz panel. So to match that, it had a 4000mAh battery. However, as the display panel has been upgraded, we should probably see an upgrade in battery capacity too. After all, it has to accommodate the 120Hz screen and 5G modem.
Aside from that, the Black Shark 3 will have other top-notch components to go along as well. Maybe the Snapdragon 865 coupled with a more efficient cooling system, who knows right?
Nevertheless, all of these are still just speculations. So, take them with a pinch of salt and maybe wait for an official confirmation.
The struggle of capturing a perfect panoramic shot with your smartphone camera is real. Now there’s the ultra-wide angle lens available in smartphones these days but they do not exactly produce panoramic shots, do they? Basically, a panoramic shot has a field-of-view (FOV) of about 160º by 75º, whereas the one with a wide-angle lens is about 65º. So, these wide-angle lenses won’t replace the beauty of taking panoramic photos.
However, for some, even the FOV in a panoramic shot might seem less than sufficient. Yes, people nowadays want to capture everything that’s going on in and around them. But how’s that going to happen? Well, one way would be to take a series of photos and merge them together. However, it will result in the picture being a little distorted near the edges where the photos are stitched. The other much simpler way would be to use a 360º camera. And that’s precisely what I have today – the Huawei EnVizion 360 camera. Let’s find out more about it in the review.
Huawei EnVizion 360 Camera Specifications
Body: 1.45 x 1.46 x 1.02-inches; 30gm
Camera: Two 13MP lenses; f/1.8 aperture; ISO (100 – 1600)
Resolution: Still image (Max – 5376 x 2688 pixels, 3840 x 1920 pixels); GIF file (600 x 300 pixels); Panoramic Video (1920 x 960 @30fps, 1280 x 640 @30fps)
Zoom Type: Focus
Image Storage Format: JPEG DCF2.0 compatible, GIF
Video Storage Format: MP4 (MPEG-4 AVC / H.264, Audio: AAC)
Field-Of-View (FOV): ≥ 185º
Shutter speed: Manual mode (1/6400 – 30 seconds); Other modes (1/6, 400 seconds and 1/8 second)
Power: USB Type-C USB 2.0 (via OTG)
Operating System (OS): Android 6.0 (Marshmello) or later
Design
Though it may look a bit bulky at first glance, this is one of the smallest 360-degree cameras available. The device has a rounded square shape with a plastic-like glossy surface surrounding the camera lens. The one I’ve with me has a darkish silver glossy look. From what I know, there are multiple color options available depending upon the country where you buy it.
There are two 13MP cameras on each side of the Huawei EnVizion 360. The device is sort of ballooned up in the area where the cameras are situated thereby giving it a bulky look. Even after carrying the device in my pockets for weeks, I couldn’t get the hang of the bulgy feeling it gave. However, I feel that it is a small price to pay for its benefits. Furthermore, the pouch that the EnVizion 360 comes with prevents it from any scratches.
The thing to be noted is that this is not a standalone camera and must be connected to a smartphone for its use. Thus, there is a USB Type-C connector at the bottom. Thus, there is a USB Type-C connector on the bottom, using which it can be connected to any smartphone running at least Android 6.0 (Marshmello) with a Type-C port.
Features
As mentioned before, the Huawei EnVizion 360 has a 13MP camera lens with an f/1.8 aperture lens on both sides. It uses Sony’s image sensor and an I-CATCH V35 image processor. For image resolution, it has two options: 5376 x 2688 pixels and 3840 x 1920 pixels. But as you can tell, the cameras are not only for taking still images. It is capable of taking a 360-degree view video with a maximum resolution of 1920 x 960 pixels and also of 1280 x 640 pixels, both at 30fps.
What’s more, you’ll need to install the Huawei 360 Camera app from the Play Store, and thus doesn’t support your phone’s native camera app. This app initializes the camera and provides plenty of options that you can use as per your requirement.
Huawei 360 Camera app
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Camera UI
Settings UI
Images can be captured in various modes such as perspective, fish, planet, and VR. You have the option to change the picture resolution, the preview mode and activate the picture-in-picture (PPI) mode.
Basically, the quality of the image in the preview and in the actual photo will differ a lot. In the preview mode, there’s a Standard recommended mode and an HD power-intensive mode. But frankly speaking, on my Samsung Galaxy A80, the difference between the two modes was negligible. The only thing “HD power-intensive mode” did was drain the battery a bit faster, compared to Standard mode.
And while we are on that topic, let me tell you that Huawei EnVizion 360 relies on your smartphone’s battery for power, meaning it doesn’t have a battery of its own. However, power consumption is also not that much. I mean obviously, an extra accessory will use more power than your in-device camera but that’s quite insignificant in EnVizion 360’s case.
The other feature that’s available here is PIP, i.e the picture-in-picture mode. To be honest, it took me a while to figure out what this option actually did. Generally, this mode would mean that the app requires permission to draw over other apps. But that’s not the case here. There’s actually a little box-like icon in the preview section that once pressed will show you the complete 360 images to be captured. However, the image is shown on a horizontal axis.
Picture Quality
Design and feature aside, would it even be a camera review without talking about the images that it produces? As mentioned earlier, the Huawei EnVizion 360 is not a standalone camera. So, obviously the photo that it captures will not have the same level of details that your smartphone camera would produce. However, it is not designed with that detail in mind. For what it’s worth, the EnVizion 360 produces probably the best images than its competitors.
The photos that I’ve taken clearly show that the objects in the image are distinguishable. The edges are pretty well defined too. Nevertheless, if you zoom in on pictures, you’ll notice that the closeups are not so good. Even in bright light, the device fails to capture the details in the object.
Sticking to the subject of bright lights, the area from which the light is illuminating your surroundings will almost certainly be overexposed. A sort of blurry effect on objects placed near the light source can be seen and their edges are distorted too.
Little Planet Mode - Sample Images
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Furthermore, pictures taken outside are rather good than those taken inside the room. But with proper lighting, images in either situation come out fine. However, what I believe is that you’ll get the best out of this device if the shots are taken outside.
Now, moving on to the low light-light images, the objects in the image come out to be okay-ish. And grains are clearly visible in these images.
Crystal Ball Mode - Sample Images
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The one thing that sort of bugged me in these images was the glitch lines. They appear in those parts where the images from both the front and the back camera are stitched together. Now, I know that’s how a 360 image is produced by this device, but those lines are very much apparent. Hopefully, in future upgrades, the company will look for a solution regarding this matter.
Little Planet Mode - Sample Images
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As for the videos, they’re pretty nice as well. You can check them out here, and here.
Conclusion
As I started using the device, I felt that it was something that I didn’t know I wanted. However, my initial excitement lasted for just a couple of days. The device has to be connected to the smartphone each time it needs to be used. And to be frank, that’s quite tiresome. Also carrying an extra device along with a huge smartphone was a hassle. Nonetheless, I guess that the Huawei EnVizion 360 will be quite useful for those who travel a lot and want to capture everything around them. And by everything, I mean 360º everything. However, it would be troublesome for normal smartphone users.
For me, as I earlier stated, carrying the device was the main problem. But priced at around $76.23, I would probably go for it. It allows you to capture something that your smartphone camera cannot and the image quality is not that bad either.
Having said that, accessories such as this might become a thing of the past very soon. I mean there are already quad-camera setups, as well as flipping cameras mechanism on smartphones these days. So, who knows when some smartphone maker will come with a technology that can take 360 photos from your smartphone camera without you having to move a complete circle holding your smartphone?
Until then, I guess these sorts of accessories are good enough to carry out the task.
OnePlus introduced us to its Concept One in the latest edition of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). And now, OnePlus seems to have shifted its focus at the upcoming OnePlus 8 series. The series will feature OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro. A few days ago, the news of a midrange moniker OnePlus 8 Lite also hit the internet. The news has, now, been shadowed by the reveal of OnePlus 8 Pro which has appeared in the Geekbench database, and there’s the news of it having a smooth 120Hz refresh rate display as well.
OnePlus 8 Pro has already gone through the Geekbench Benchmark Test, which the site uploaded the result of the test on January 10. The device went through the benchmark test as “GALILEI IN2023“. It scored 4,296 points in Geekbench’s single-core test and managed to pull off 12,531 points in the multi-core test.
OnePlus 8 Pro Specs as of now
The Geekbench Benchmark database has revealed some of the key specs of the upcoming OnePlus 8 Pro. According to Geekbench’s database, the phone will be powered by the “Kona” SoC. Never heard of the name? Well, “Kona” is the codename for Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 865 processor.
The main feature of the SoC is the 5G connectivity. The Snapdragon 865 doesn’t come with an integrated 5G modem but Qualcomm has announced that it will come bundled with a discrete X55 modem. With this, Oneplus 8 joins the list of upcoming 5G phones such as the ZTE Axon 10s Pro, Xiaomi’s Mi 10 series and Xiaomi’s Black Shark 3.
The phone will come with 12GB of RAM. There is no information about the internal storage onboard on the tested device. We are confident about the flagship moniker arriving with different storage configurations. The phone will run the latest Android Q.
OnePlus 8 Pro will come with a display with a refresh rate of 120Hz. It was hinted by the company’s CEO, Pete Lau, at the CES 2020. Talking about the new display technology, he added that the OnePlus 8 Pro could be “the smartphone with the best display in 2020“.
OnePlus 8 120Hz display technology
In a screen technology communication event held yesterday, OnePlus displayed its latest mobile display tech. It is, of course, the 120Hz refresh rate display. Official sources have confirmed that the research phase is over and it has already moved towards the development phase. And that means we might just get to see it on the upcoming OnePlus 8 phones. Most probably the OnePlus 8 Pro.
As per the released statement, aside from the information about the 120Hz refresh rate, it goes on to talk about a 240Hz touch sampling rate. Furthermore, it will have 8.3ms of rendering time per frame.
OnePlus has labeled this optimized display as “Smooth Chain“. It basically comprises of hardware and software-optimized touch input and display output chain. This helps to bring down the delay between input and response time. Speculation is that this technology utilizes something similar to Huawei’s GPU Turbo tech. Though it is just speculation nonetheless.
Another feature introduced in the event was the MEMC. It is an abbreviation for Motion Estimation, Motion Compensation. It is a nifty feature that allows for a smart frame insertion and interpolation layer. And what’s the result you ask? Well, it helps to process lower frame-rate video up to a simulated 120fps. However, the catch here is that it should actually be done in real-time as all of this is handled by an independent chip in the display.
Now, we all know for a fact that OnePlus does not manufacture display panels itself. However, they have made a strong point in saying that the display will be a very accurate one.
As a matter of fact, the company is using Just Noticeable Color Difference as its accuracy metric. And the claimed value for this display is 0.8. Now, for measurement purposes, anything below 1 is considered to be great!
Moreover, this panel is a true 10-bit for 1.07 billion colors. There’s also 4096 levels of brightness. However, not a single mention is there about HDR support. Maybe it’s a certification pending situation. Still, the levels of brightness will definitely come in handy for any HDR implementation.
Don’t forget to check out our long term review of the OnePlus 7T!
MIUI is getting an upgrade. And that too real soon! Now, this is in line with Xiaomi’s policy of releasing a new version of its UI at the begging of each year. It was the same last year with MIUI 11 too. So, we can now officially claim that MIUI 12 is on its way.
However, we do not know enough about MIUI 12 to dive into the details. Xiaomi too has only given an official confirmation regarding the upcoming version of MIUI and has not revealed anything much. Nonetheless, more details are bound to come out eventually as the release date is nearing.
MIUI 12
Since 2010, Xiaomi has been offering MIUI as its custom skin to Android. As one of the company’s major offerings, the UI receives continuous updates.
The release of MIUI 12 will mark the 10th anniversary of Xiaomi’s custom user interface. This time around, the company hopes to bring a refreshed look and feel with the MIUI 12. Reportedly, this iteration will include a global system-wide dark mode, which was supposed to roll-out in MIUI 11. But it wouldn’t be wrong to guess that Xiaomi has planned something huge to mark this landmark.
MIUI 11 rolling out now
Currently, Xiaomi is rolling out the stable version of MIUI 11 in most of Xiaomi devices. This latest version of the custom UI can be labeled as a game-changer in all sense. A lot of improvement was made on the visual aspect side of the things. Most notably, it offers softer icons, Mi Lan Pro system font, and a better always-on display too. Furthermore, additional features include new animations, themes, and an improved notification system.
Moreover, enhancements included an all-new dynamic natural sound effect. However, as Xu Jieyun, General Manager of PR at Xiaomi had confirmed that the company had already started working on MIUI 12 back in October itself, we hope they have something interesting lined up.
Personally, the major complaint that I have with the MIUI is the amount of ad it throws out. Now, I know that ads are important however it should not interfere with user experience. So, let’s see if this particular issue is fixed in the MIUI 12.
