Huawei has been pumping out decent lower-mid range smartphones under its ‘Y’ series. The Y9 2019 was an okay-ish device with great potential which just couldn’t excel at anything particular. Similarly, the Y9 Prime was also good-enough mid-ranger that featured a pop-up camera. And now, the latest addition to them is the HuaweiY9s which brings a pop-up camera and Kirin 710F chipset to the mid-range price segment in Nepal.
Front Camera: 16MP, f/2.2 aperture; motorized pop-up
Security: Side-mounted Fingerprint-Scanner
Audio: 3.5mm headphone jack
Connectivity: Hybrid Dual Sim (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by), MicroSD card, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/BDS, USB Type-C
Battery: 4000 mAh with 10W charging
Colors: Midnight Black, Breathing Crystal
Huawei Y9s Overview
Design and Display
Starting with the design, the Y9s features a similar notch-less and bezel-less display like the Y9 Prime. However, there are still minimal bezels on the top and the bottom resulting in an 84.7% screen-to-body ratio. The display here is a tall 6.59-inches LCD panel with Full-HD+ resolution. So, I’m sure you’ll enjoy watching videos or other content on the Huawei Y9s.
Moreover, the phone’s front and back are made of glass with aluminum frame giving it a premium look and feel despite being a lower-midrange phone. And like the recent Nova 5T, you get a side-mounted fingerprint scanner on the Y9s.
Moving to the camera, it has a triple rear-camera setup with a 48MP primary unit. There’s an additional 8MP ultrawide lens and a 2MP depth sensor for those bokeh effects, while the 12MP selfie camera rises from underneath the top frame of the phone.
Performance and Memory
Now, the performance isn’t something impressive on the Y9s as it comes with the same Kirin 710F that we saw on the Y9 Prime. It is a good chipset but not good enough for an upper midrange phone. However, Huawei has been gracious enough to embed the base and only variant of the Y9s with 6/128GB memory. Moreover, it runs on Android 9 (Pie) with EMUI 9.1 on top, with all Google’s suite of applications and services. So, no trouble there!
Battery
On to the battery, there’s the standard 4000 mAh unit. The disappointing news here is that it comes with a significantly slower 10W charging. So, while the competition is providing 18W or higher charging, Huawei couldn’t be bothered to include a faster charging on its less expensive smartphones.
Huawei Y9s Price in Nepal & Availability
The price fo Huawei Y9s in Nepal is Rs 33,900. You can get your hands on the device through official Huawei showrooms, and select online and offline stores in Nepal.
Though the price of the Huawei Y9s in Nepal is similar to that on the foreign market, I feel it’s not that competitive when looking at the competitors. The phone is available for NRs. 33,900, which I think is a little more than it should’ve been. For a similar price or less, you can get Xiaomi’s killer mid-ranger – the Redmi Note 8 Pro or Samsung’s Galaxy A50s which is a great phone as well, since it received a significant price-drop.
Android Go has been released with the aim of providing the cheapest of smartphones with a good, if not a full Android experience. And with a similar goal, Xiaomi launched the Redmi Go in Nepal some 6 months ago. However, Xiaomi is now offering both the 8GB and 16GB variants of the Redmi Go at a discounted price.
Xiaomi Redmi Go Specs Overview:
Going by the specs, the Redmi Go is a 5-inch device with HD resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. You get the very basic 1GB RAM with 8 or 16 GB expandable storage (the expansion is via a dedicated slot up to 128 GB).
Likewise, the performance is put together by the Quad-core Snapdragon 425 ( clocked at 1.4 GHz, Cortex A53) chipset with Adreno 308 GPU. As mentioned earlier, the Redmi Go is based on the Android Go operating system (Android 8.1 Oreo).
As far as the cameras go, you get a single 8 MP camera with LED flash and HDR feature. The front houses a decent 5 MP shooter for selfies.
Moving on, the phone has Dual SIM slots and the phone does support 4G. Backing up the Redmi Go is a modest 3,000 mAh battery, which is considerable for the price.
Display: 5.0 inches HD IPS LCD screen with 16:9 aspect ratio
Rear cameras: 8 MP with LED flash and HDR
Video: 1080p
Front camera: 5 MP with HDR
RAM: 1 GB
ROM: 8 GB (expandable up to 128 GB with a dedicated slot)
Battery: Non- removable Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery, MicroUSB 2.0
Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity
Colors: Blue and Black
Others: Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi Direct, hotspot
Xiaomi Redmi Go Price in Nepal, Availability:
The Xiaomi Redmi Go is available in 2 variants in Nepal: 8GB and 16GB. The price of the 8GB variant of the Redmi Go is Rs. 7,499 (previously: Rs.8,999). Similarly, the 16GB variant costs Rs. 7,999 (previously Rs. 9,999). You can avail the offer from 900+ Mi stores in Nepal.
Daraz has, without a doubt, created a shift in the lifestyle for both businesses and customers alike. Buying anything without the hassle of a salesperson and getting it delivered to your doorsteps, I mean what’s there not to love? From customizing user experience by incorporating AI, creating jobs, launching card pre-payment – Daraz has been covering all the milestones that lead Nepal to a digital era.
Their statistic really show how much we as a country have become accustomed to the world of e-commerce.
Daraz 2019 – Statistics
This year alone the site had 339,069 visitors and about 1,239,940 total orders. Moreover, 3,062 sellers successfully sold their items. The majority of these figures can be seen owing to the recent 11.11 campaign. The second rendition of this shopping spree took place on November 11 as the previous year. Not only that, the 2nd Daraz 11.11 saw more than 3.5 Lakh users registered in a single day. Now that’s more than double of what it was in 2018’s 11.11.
Daraz’s Managing Director, Lino Alhering said that the campaign broke all records for Sale Day. They received almost 50,000 orders within those 24 hours. The team even went on to organize another campaign named “12.12” after the modest success of the former.
The Future
The statistics clearly show the meteoric rise of Daraz in the past couple of years. This is mainly due to the fact that the company has always looked forward towards improvement.
In 2019 alone multiple upgrades were introduced in Daraz. These upgrades include pre-payment options through Debit/Credit card; better review and rating system including a feature that allows direct chat with the seller in real time called instant messaging; in-app games and much more.
In addition to all these, Daraz has also invested in improving its infrastructures. By establishing its own logistics unit called Daraz Express (DEX), along with employing more than 300 personnel, the company really hopes for good days in the future too.
Not only that, multiple new brands have also joined Daraz this term. THe new faces include the likes of Samsung, Casio, Adidas, Titan, Xiaomi, Sonam Gears, TVS, and more.
With such a huge upgrade since 2018, it’s no wonder that the company’s number of sellers and orders have increased by 200% and 270% respectively.
As per their data, Daraz currently hosts 100,00 plus users daily. And along with that, delivers more than 1.6 Lakh packages all over Nepal each month. The upgrades that Daraz made last year will certainly help them achieve their aim of increasing these figures in 2020.
Most of us witnessed the improvement in Daraz app this year, and the company hopes to keep doing so in the future as well. Currently, they are working on introducing new payment methods such as digital wallets and more entertainment features for its consumers in 2020. Furthermore, the company is also looking to further digitize the logistical ecosystem.
Nevertheless, the company will need to continue working on educating buyers through social media, video ads, and other outreaches. They clearly still have a long way to go to earn the buyers’ trust in Nepal. But with more and more people opting for virtual service these days, as depicted by the Daraz year-end data, I reckon it won’t be long before the company becomes a household name for online shopping.
“The company has had its fair share of success as well as criticism. This is acknowledged by Daraz’s MD himself saying feedback and criticism are what help them improve and be better.” But other than that, their business model and the kind of revolution that they have brought into the Nepalese market is really amazing. Everything is now at your fingertips. I really hope that sites such as Daraz really hit off in the market in the coming days.
Everyone has heard of Facebook Messenger. Most of us even use it in our daily life to reach out to our friends, family, local businesses, and whatnot. Those who have at least tried Facebook’s messaging platform must have signed up for the service. Until now, there were two ways to sign up for Facebook Messenger; one through your Facebook account and the other through your phone number. Facebook has quietly ditched the latter, and now everyone will be forced to create a Facebook account to use the Messenger app.
Facebook Messenger: The story so far…
Before Messenger became a thing, there was Facebook Chat. It was developed in 2008 to help people connect to their Facebook friends. Facebook overhauled the service in 2010 and about a year later released Messenger as a standalone app.
In 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp. Facebook couldn’t resist bidding for the app as it showed a phenomenal user growth rate at that time. A year later, Facebook introduced the feature to sign up for messenger using phone number; a trick they learned from WhatsApp.
Facebook Messenger Sign up: The Current Scenario
If you try to sign up for Messenger as a new user you will notice that the feature to sign up using the phone number is no longer available. You will be forced to create a Facebook account to use the messaging platform.
Facebook confirmed the change in an email sent to VentureBeat. The feature was removed to simplify the process of signing up as the majority of the Messenger user had already signed in using their Facebook account. It was also clarified in the email that all the Messenger users who had signed up for the app through their mobile number before the change will not be affected.
Unlike the claim by Facebook, the transition hasn’t been smooth for all of its users. Some users, who had used their phone numbers to sign up for Messenger before the change, have reported that they are receiving messages that say that their account has been restricted. Some have even taken to Reddit to share the problem.
Other Changes…
Facebook has also stepped back from using the data provided for two-factor authentication for its “People you may know” feature. The decision was made following the revelation of the fact that Facebook had been using the contact numbers provided for the 2FA for advertisement purposes.
The Bigger Picture
The recent move to remove the sign-up using mobile number aligns with the company’s attempt to unify WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. Facebook plans to bring all of its messaging platforms under an integrated infrastructure. The plan for unification was announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the start of 2019.
Chinese manufacturers take pride in their custom skins. For many of the brands, their custom UI is a part of their identity. They even update their custom UI every year. These updates not only refresh the look of the OS but also add many new features. And there have been talks about Vivo adding an “Earthquake Alert” feature in their new FuntouchOS 10.
Jovi OS vs FuntouchOS 10
Back in November, there were talks of Vivo displacing their FuntouchOS with new Jovi OS. But since then, it has been discarded and the FuntouchOS 10 has gone official with the release of Vivo X30 and X30 Pro.
Vivo Earthquake Alert System
Vivo is working on an Earthquake Alert system to add to their FuntouchOS 10’s list of features. It was announced by Xiao Zhuge, who heads the company’s Funtouch projects. He took to Chinese microblogging site-Weibo to announce the new feature. It will notify you of an earthquake a few seconds before the disaster. The feature isn’t live yet as it is still in its infancy period. If everything goes as planned, the new earthquake alert system will be ready for testing in the next few weeks. We don’t have any sort of information about the official release date for the feature, but we expect it to go live soon after it passes the tests successfully. It will be a new addition to FuntouchOS’s weather-related functions.
Vivo FuntouchOS 10’s Weather Feature
Further additions to FuntouchOS
It isn’t the only weather-related feature coming to Vivo’s custom Android skin. The company is set to introduce positioning areas. With this, we can know the forecast for the next 2 hours. The new Distant Love feature can display the weather of two areas at the same time.
Vivo Earthquake Alert System: Our Doubts
We told you about the discarded idea of the Jovi OS, which came to news due to a post by Xiao Zhuge. He later announced the plans for the new edition of Funtouch OS and apologized for all the confusion. And now, we can’t help but be a little skeptical about the new features that he has announced. We are doubtful of the progress status of the features and believe that it will take more time than anticipated for the features to be ready. We can’t fully rely on the claims after the Jovi OS saga. And we will have to wait a little longer for the features to go live. Moreover, the Funtouch OS 10 is scheduled to go live in select devices from February 2020 in China, while the rest of the world will get it a couple of months later.
Earthquake alert system can be a lifesaver in earthquake-prone countries like Nepal. But we still have concerns about its efficiency. So what do you think? Can this feature truly make an impact on the lives of people? Do let us know.
So, I have been using the Vivo V17 Pro for quite a while now. I know it’s not just a late review, it’s a “late” late review but I am here with it anyways. To be very honest, I had been having mixed feelings about whether I should make a review out of it or not.
And that’s not only because I don’t see it as a worthy upgrade from the Vivo V15 Pro, but in the last 6 months, Xiaomi has launched the Redmi K20 Pro, Realme recently launched the X2 Pro, so on and so forth. Therefore, the competition has gotten even fiercer! Let’s find out more about the V17 Pro in this review.
Vivo V17 Pro Specifications
Display: 6.44-inch (2400 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 20:9 Super AMOLED with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, Schott Xensation UP glass protection
Back Cameras:
– 48MP primary camera with f/1.78 aperture, Sony IMX582 sensor, 0.8μm pixel size, 6P lens, dual-LED flash
– 8MP 120° ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture with 2.5cm Super Macro
– 13MP Telephoto lens for 2X optical zoom, 10X digital zoom, f/2.5 aperture
– 2MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture
Front Cameras:
– 32MP wide-angle front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture, LED flash
– 8MP 105° ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture
Security: In-display fingerprint sensor
Dimensions: 74.7x159x9.8mm
Weight: 201.8gms
Connectivity: Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac dual-band, Bluetooth 5, GPS/GLONASS, USB Type-C port, 3.5 mm audio jack, FM Radio
Battery: 4100mAh with 18W Dual-Engine Fast charging
Price in Nepal: Rs. 52,490
Performance
Now, what I have always liked about V-series in the past is how they bring some new stuff with every new phone.
The V11 Pro was the first mid-range phone to have an in-display fingerprint sensor, the V15 Pro was the first to introduce a pop-up camera. And not just that, all of the V-series had a good camera and a good design. The V15 Pro was even India’s highest-selling phone under 30,000 IC.
But I feel the Vivo V17 Pro, on the other hand, could have been much better overall. The first thing to talk about here is the choice of chipset. It’s the same Snapdragon 675 seen on the older V15. And this is one area I think Vivo made a big, big compromise.
In comparison, you get a much faster Snapdragon 855 on the K20 Pro and 730G on the OPPO Reno 2. And if you are buying a phone upwards of $400, the SD675 doesn’t make sense anymore.
The day to day performance like browsing, messaging, and playing light games is good. But its when playing high-end games, the Vivo V17 Pro takes a serious hit. You can only play PUBG smoothly in medium settings and HD graphics. Whereas, in the similarly priced K20 Pro, you can play it in the highest of settings.
Design
Also, I might be nitpicking, but I didn’t quite like the design of the V17 Pro. Although Vivo uses a glass back, it feels way too heavy for a phone of this size. One reason could be its chunkier and wider pop-up camera that makes the phone non-ergonomic.
I also would find a lot of dust to be accumulated in the notch, so I had to constantly clean it before taking a selfie. Interestingly, there’s a dedicated Smart Button to activate Google Assistant or Vivo’s own “Jovi” AI assistant.
Ports & Buttons
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3.5mm Headphone Jack
Speaker, USB Type-C port
Volume Rockers & Power Button
Smart Button for Google Assistant
Display & Battery
However, the front of the Vivo V17 Pro is really good. It is one of the best things about the phone. It uses Samsung’s E2 AMOLED panel and the quality of it is just so amazing. It’s definitely better than the K20 Pro.
While we are talking about nice things, the battery is also good. This time, there is a 4100 mAh battery on the V17 Pro.
And we know that Snapdragon chipsets are power efficient and the huge battery paired with an AMOLED display is sure to give you good battery life and it certainly does. On normal usage, I got over a day while on medium usage, it gave me around a day’s worth of juice.
Camera
About the cameras, you get a total of 6 of them. The back houses 4 cameras: a primary 48MP lens with Sony IMX 582 sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 13MP telephoto 2X zoom lens, and a 2MP depth sensor.
You can also do macro photography with its ultra-wide-angle lens. And this one is better than what we have been seeing lately on phones like Realme XT or the Redmi Note 8 Pro.
Macro Lens Sample Images
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At the front, there’s dual camera setup: A primary 32MP lens and an additional 8MPultra-wide-angle lens which I would not say is completely unique but certainly better than what we have been seeing.
That being said, the 48MP primary lens performs well. You get good details in the images and the colors look nice and punchy too. The color tone isn’t very accurate as the images shift between warmer and cooler hues, thus giving you inconsistent results at times. However, it’s not a big issue.
Primary Lens Sample Images
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I also liked the portrait images from the Vivo V17 Pro. You get good subject focus and background blur. Edge detection, however, isn’t very accurate but is only visible if you zoom in the images.
Portrait Lens Sample Images
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The third lens for the wide-angle images produces good color and the images are fairly detailed as well.
Normal v Wide Angle Sample Images
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Wide-angle
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Wide-angle
The images from the 2X telephoto lens didn’t wow me a bit as I found them to be okay at best. The details aren’t that great so I didn’t find myself making use of the telephoto lens.
Normal v 2X Telephoto Zoom Sample Images
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2X Zoom
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2X Zoom
Selfies are super nice too. It’s Vivo, so we cannot expect the most natural of selfies, but they do look good regardless. The HDR feature in selfies works very well. Even when the background is exposed, the cameras work to balance it out.
Normal Selfie Sample Images
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Portrait selfies share the same story in terms of quality but the edge detection is not that proper.
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You get wide-angle selfies here as well, which comes in really handy while taking group images.
Normal v Wide-angle Sample Images
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Wide-angle
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And, comparing the cameras of the Vivo V17 Pro with the Reno 2 and the K20 Pro, I would say there’s a slight advantage in V17 Pro camera in its HDR capability, but the cameras are nothing extraordinary or at least they don’t stand out among the others in several other aspects. Like, say portraits, where I think K20 Pro does a better job overall.
Vivo has also introduced a new camera interface here, which is a bit confusing. There is a dedicated portrait mode but you can also click portrait images from the photo option too.
Similarly, there is a beauty mode, which you can only find inside portrait mode and it just warps your face at random to make it more “beautiful”. You get an ultra-wide-angle option in the portrait mode, but you cannot click wide-angle portraits.
Beauty Mode Images
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So, the new camera app isn’t refined as I would’ve liked. And, add that to the Funtouch OS which, I think Vivo has to, like seriously, revamp its UI/UX in its upcoming products.
Conclusion
Okay, by now it’s evident that I wouldn’t recommend the Vivo V17 Pro. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad phone, but it’s just that the competition has gone better, a lot better and Vivo isn’t catching up. Also, they made a huge compromise in the form of performance, whereas other smartphones are providing better SoCs at this price range.
On a different note, I feel like there isn’t any WOW factor with the phone too, which Vivo V-series used to have. And this really reflected with the sales V17 Pro has managed to generate in comparison with V15 Pro that launched 6-months ago.
OPPO’s F-series had this same issue earlier, and they have now abandoned the F-series and brought the Reno series in the mid-range segment with a cleaner design and premium features. So, maybe Vivo could do the same with its “Nex” series or maybe improve the next iteration of V-series by providing competitive specs.
Vivo S1 was one of the most well-received mid-range devices of 2019 in Nepal. That is why Vivo topped it up with a Pro variant. Vivo S1 Pro is a device battling for the mid-range crown in Nepal but how does it fare against the mid-rangers in the same price segment from other companies. Let’s find more about it.
Vivo S1 Pro Overview
Running the show is the Snapdragon 665 chipset backed by 8GB of RAM. It’s the same configuration found on Mi A3 and Oppo A9 2020. But since both Mi A3 and A9 had HD+ and the S1 Pro has a fullHD+ panel, the Snapdragon 665 chipset’s performance wouldn’t be as good as those phones. For storage, there’s 128GB with a dedicated microSD card slot.
Unlike V17 Pro, the S1 won’t have a mechanical pop-up selfie camera and instead features a notch. The notch holds a 32MP selfie camera. The back of the phone has a diamond-shaped quad camera setup. There’s a 48MP primary lens, am 8MP ultra-wide lens, a 2MP depth sensor, and a 2MP macro lens.
The Vivo S1 Pro gets the power from a 4500mAh battery, the same as the Vivo S1. However, Vivo has finally included a Type C port for charging. You also get an 18W Dual engine fast charging. Running the show is Funtouch OS 9.2 based on Android 9.0.
Connectivity: Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac dual-band, Bluetooth 5, GPS/GLONASS, Type C-port, 3.5 mm audio jack, FM Radio
Battery: 4500mAh with fast charging
Watch our Review of the Vivo S1 Pro here:
VIVO S1 Pro Price in Nepal & Availability [2020]
The official price of Vivo S1 Pro in Nepal is Rs. 36,790 for the 8/128GB variant. It is available in two color options: Fancy Sky and Knight Black. At this price, the Vivo S1 Pro offers a Super AMOLED display with a fast in-display fingerprint sensor and a big battery. However, the Snapdragon 665 isn’t the best performing chipset at this price.
Model name
Price in Nepal
Vivo S1 Pro (8/128GB)
Rs.36,790
The Vivo S1 Pro’s competitors are the Redmi Note 8 Pro that offers top-quality performance and good cameras and the Galaxy A51 with a thin and lightweight design, a Super AMOLED display, and a great camera performance.
Alright, today I have the Samsung Galaxy A70s. It has been my primary phone for more than a month now. At first, I was a little put off by the fact that there is a minimal upgrade in the A70s from the Galaxy A70. But now that I have used this phone, I have a slight change in my opinion. What changed? Let’s talk about it in this review!
Samsung Galaxy A70s Specifications
Display: 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display, FHD+ resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio
Connectivity: Dual SIM (nano + nano), Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C
Battery: 4,500mAh with 25W Fast Charging (included inside the box)
Color Options: Prism Crush Red, Prism Crush White, Prism Crush Black
Price in Nepal: Rs. 43,799
Display
Okay, above all, the first thing I look for in a phone is the quality of the display. Because you interact with it at all times, it needs to be good.
The Samsung Galaxy A70s with its 6.7 inches Super AMOLED screen has given me an unforgettable display experience. This is among the best displays I have seen in a phone of this price range.
And because this is an AMOLED panel, its contrast is simply amazing. I’ve had the best time watching videos on YouTube and even reading e-books on it. The large screen expands the gaming experience as well. The phone also has Widevine L1 certification, so if you are someone who watches Netflix and Amazon Prime videos on your phone, you can watch it in HD resolution.
Additionally, the A70s gives you the option to go full screen with navigation gestures, which makes the already big-screen look even bigger.
Battery
What’s also big on this phone is the battery size. Its large screen definitely needs a lot of power which the phone generously provides with its 4500 mAh battery. On a full charge, I got over a day with moderate usage, which I think is pretty good.
Before the Samsung Galaxy A70s, I used the Redmi Note 8 Pro as my daily driver which has the same 4500 mah battery capacity. However, the A70s performs better because of three reasons:
The energy-efficient AMOLED display
MediaTek processor on the Note 8 Pro isn’t as power-efficient as the ones from Qualcomm
Excellent Software optimization of the A70s.
So, with a big display and excellent battery life at the helm, I think the A70s is definitely one of the best mid-range smartphones for a multimedia experience.
The charging on the A70s is quite fast too. You get a 25W charger inside the box that charges the battery in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Also, it’s not your normal charger that has a USB A to USB C plugins. This one, like the Galaxy Note 10 Plus, has a Type C to Type C outlet which makes the power delivery faster than the USB A outlets.
Design
Now, with the huge battery, you might think that the phone is all bulky and heavy. However, you get a slim and light form factor on the A70s.
I don’t know how Samsung has managed to achieve this, because I recently reviewed the Galaxy A50s and it was thin and light as well despite featuring a big battery, and the same is the case with the A70s.
On the contrary, phones from other manufacturers with 4000 mAh battery in the same price range have a have significantly bulky design, so kudos to Samsung!
Similarly, the precious 3.5mm headphone jack still lives on and the audio output from the speaker is also good, if not great.
Buttons & Port placement
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Speaker, Mic, Type-C, 3.5mm port
SIM Slot
Volume rockers & Power button
More about the design, the back of the A70s is plastic which is slightly disappointing because the competing smartphones like the Redmi K20 Pro and Vivo V17 Pro are giving a glass design. Still, the A70s’ back looks good with its gradient pattern.
Nevertheless, since it’s plastic, it bears higher chances of getting scratched up. So if you are planning on getting this phone, you’d better case it up. By the way, you get a clear case inside the box, which for me has lasted well and I think it will go on for 2 months or so.
Performance
Okay, now let’s get to the performance. The A70s uses the same chipset as the Galaxy A70, the Snapdragon 675. And though it is an excellent mid-range chipset, for the price the phone asks, I had expected more; considering the K20 Pro offers the best-in-class processor for a more or less similar price. When comparing the benchmarks, you can see by just how much the K20 Pro trumps over the Samsung Galaxy A70s.
Take PUBG gameplay for example. In the K20 Pro, you can have a smooth experience even in Ultra frame rate and HD graphics but here the maximum you can go is High frame rates and HD graphics. And even in the recommended settings, you will experience some lags here and there. So, I would advise you to play PUBG in medium settings to get a smoother gameplay experience.
Having said that, normal performance is very good and will not disappoint you in any way. The UI here does not feel slow or laggy, which was the case with Samsung M30s and A50s which feature Exynos 9611.
With Samsung, the design and display are almost always satisfactory if not praiseworthy. But what it’s pathetic at is the implementation of a fingerprint sensor. The optical fingerprint reader on the A70s is slow and not that reliable either. There have been instances when it has refused to accept my fingerprint.
It was the same on the Galaxy A50, the A50s, the A70. And the “legacy” continues on with the A70s. I really hope Samsung looks into this in their future offerings.
The Face Unlock too is nothing to write home about. It is relatively slower than the Chinese phones out there. But since it’s software-based and not very reliable, I kept it shut altogether!
And because One UI is one of my favorite Android skins, I have been waiting for the One UI 2.0 to come on the A70s which is said to arrive sometime in April.
Camera
Okay, now other things aside, what I have really-really liked about the Samsung Galaxy A70s is the camera. Although the only difference in camera specs from last time is a jump from 32MP to 64MP primary camera, the cameras here on the A70s is totally praiseworthy.
Spec-wise, you get the triple cameras in a horizontal fashion here. There is a 64MP primary lens with Samsung’s own GW1 sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 5MP depth sensor.
Talking about the primary lens, the images produced have the right balance of saturation and contrast and so the photos from the A70s look pleasing. However, if you want an extra pop in colors, you can use the scene optimizer feature, which you will have to manually turn on by going into the settings.
Primary Lens Sample Images
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Galaxy A70s
Redmi Note 8 Pro
Realme XT
Galaxy A70s
Redmi Note 8 Pro
Realme XT
Though Redmi Note 8 Pro and Realme XT use the same GW1 sensor, the images on the A70s are far livelier in comparison. Hence, Samsung’s software optimization is spot on.
The ultra-wide images too have the same kind of color reproduction as the main lens. This is certainly the kind of camera that you’ll like to capture landscapes with. Check out these samples I took and do let me know in the comments if you like them!
Normal v Wide Angle Sample Images
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Wide-angle
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Wide-angle
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Wide-angle
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Wide-angle
Portrait images are not the best when it comes to edge-detection though. But they certainly do look nice with good colors and natural-looking bokeh! And you can also change the background effect and blur amount before and after taking pictures, so you can choose by yourself the amount of bokeh you like!
Portrait Sample Images
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However, Samsung has skipped the 2X telephoto zoom lens on the A70s, while the market’s flooding with smartphones with one.
Moving on to low-light performance, I think this is one area where the Samsung Galaxy A70s shines as compared to its predecessor A70. The night time images, while a little noisy, are surprisingly brighter and better after the camera processes it.
Normal v Night Mode Sample Images
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Night Mode Off
Night Mode On
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The night mode images are substantially brighter than the normal night time images. The camera seems to do a lot of processing which makes the end result bright and slightly more detailed. So, the night mode in here does a better job than what I found on A50s or the M30s.
Video-wise, you get options of shooting in HD, FHD and UHD among which the videos in FHD are stabilized, thanks to EIS. And the video quality I must say is up to the mark. The UHD videos lack stabilization despite having a good amount of colors and details. You also have an option to shoot wide-angle videos or the super steady mode which are again, pretty stabilized.
But still, Samsung doesn’t provide you the option to switch from normal to wide-angle in the same video. Maybe it’s because of the hardware limitation because the Note 10 comes equipped with it. Also, there’s no 60fps video recording under any resolution on the A70s which seems unusual for a camera of this potential.
Now let’s get to the selfies. You get a 32MP sensor and looking at these images, you be the judge. The photos have pleasing colors with okay-ish details. More importantly, the skin tone looks really good.
Selfie Sample Images
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Selfie portraits look equally pleasing though it’s the software that’s producing the bokeh. There’s a negligible degree of inaccuracy in edge-detection here and there, but I am willing to give it the benefit of doubt because the end result isn’t downright miserable.
Portrait Selfie Sample Images
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And as it is with other Samsung phones, you get slow-mo, super slow-mo and hyper-lapse features on the A70s as well.
Conclusion
So, as I said in the beginning, I don’t hold the same opinion about this phone after getting to use it. Though there is no significant upgrade from its predecessor, especially in the performance department, the Samsung Galaxy A70s is still a good phone, especially for the multimedia fanatics out there. Its huge AMOLED display paired with a large battery makes it the holy grail for people who indulge in YouTube or other content streaming platforms a lot.
And with the recent price drop, A70s does manage to make its mark as a viable mid-range smartphone. But again, if Samsung had gone with a better SoC like the SD 730G or even last-gen flagship Exynos chipset, it would have catered every audience, including the gamers. So, yes, if you are a hard-core gamer, I would still advise you to go with the K20 Pro, otherwise, the A70s ticks all the boxes for a good mid-ranger!
Samsung Galaxy A70s Pros & Cons
Pros:
Beautiful design and gorgeous display
Commendable battery life
Great camera performance
Cons:
The chipset could’ve been better
Optical fingerprint scanner and face unlock are considerably slow
Believe me or not, gaming smartphones are a thing now. Though, not as popular as other gaming platforms, it still is a market segment with great potential. That is why it has caught the attention of many leading brands. Companies like Razer, Xiaomi, ZTE, and Asus all have tried their luck at gaming smartphones. With Lenovo joining the bandwagon as well, soon, there’s going to be a Lenovo Legion gaming smartphone in the market! Are you excited?
Lenovo Legion and its Gaming Connection
Lenovo has been in the gaming industry for quite a while now. It all started in 2015 with a partnership with Razer. The two brands together introduced a lineup of Razer edition Lenovo PCs. The first PC under this line up debuted at CES 2016. With the name as big as Razer tied to its PCs, Lenovo did well in the market.
Later, Lenovo launched a brand called “Legion” to look after the gaming segment. It started with the announcement of two gaming-focused PCs – Y720 and Y520 at the CES 2017. Since then, the Lenovo Legion series has been pretty successful with its lineup of gaming laptops and PCs.
Talks about Lenovo’s gaming smartphone started as early as April 2019. The Vice President of the Chinese firm, Chang Cheng, hinted that the launch of the company’s first gaming smartphone could take place in 2020. He didn’t mention anything about the device regarding its specs. With 2019 coming to an end, Lenovo has now set up a new page dedicated to gaming smartphones on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.
A rough translation of one of the page reads “Did you Know?? A gaming smartphone is on the way“.
The words from the Vice President, together with the new Weibo page makes us believe that a new gaming smartphone from the company is underway.
Legion is a well-known name in the gaming industry. And if Lenovo launches a gaming smartphone, it only makes sense for the company to do it under the Legion brand taking advantage of the market the Legion has a grip of; a strategy that the company used in its partnership with Razer.
Last year, Samsung came up with the all-new M-series and revamped A-series. It was an effort from the Korean giant to regain its market share in the budget and mid-range segment. The M-series enjoyed much-needed success in the market. And now with the start of the new year, Samsung is planning to build on that success. Recently a phone has surfaced online which is thought to be the Samsung Galaxy M31.
Samsung Galaxy M31 first grabbed the attention of the world when it passed through the Geekbench test. The SM-M315F modeled device scored 348 points in Geekbench’s single-core test and managed to score 1,214 points in the multi-core test.
Samsung Galaxy M30
What we had thought…
It isn’t the first time the Samsung Galaxy M31 has hit the news. Previously, a rumor about the device’s specifications created anticipation among fans. We even informed you about the rumored specifications. Rumor had it that the Galaxy M31 would come with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 665 packed in. It was also set to feature a triple camera setup on the back which included a 48MP primary camera along with a 12MP wide-angle camera and a 5MP depth sensor. It was also said to come with 6GB of RAM in the basic variant.
Geekbench Database Reveals…
The test didn’t reveal just scores. It also pointed towards some key specifications of the Samsung Galaxy M31; most notably the processor. The database from the test revealed that the phone is powered by Samsung’s Exynos 9611 chipset; the one we also saw in the Samsung Galaxy M30s. The chipset has 8 cores (4 x 2.3Ghz Cortex-A73 + 4 x 1.7Ghz Cortex- A53). The phone will come with Mali- G72 MP3 to handle the graphics. It will ship with Android 10 with Samsung’s One UI on top. As for the memory, the device will come with the previously rumored 6GB of RAM.
We would love to learn more about the specification of the device but sadly, the Geekbench test doesn’t reveal much. So we can’t do anything but wait until the full specification of the device is revealed.
Samsung Galaxy M31 Price and Availability
Samsung Galaxy M31 is expected to launch in early 2020. It will be a mid-range device and will face stiff competition from other mid-range devices from brands like Xiaomi.
