We may not be a fan of the technology but the concept of foldable smartphones has already taken off. Top players like Samsung, Huawei are going all-in to stay ahead in the foldable smartphone technology. Samsung, Huawei, and Motorola have tried their luck with their idea of a foldable smartphone. The phones may differ in manufacturer and patent they are based on, but they all come with a primary concern – durability. The phones are prone to accidental damages. The folding mechanism, the screen panel all have their weakness. The race now is about who overcomes them first. And a recent report suggests Samsung has found a solution for damage-prone panel with UTG (Ultra-Thin Glass) technology.
Ultra-Thin Technology
Problems of the Samsung Fold
When Samsung initially launched the Samsung Galaxy Fold, it was far from a perfect product. It came with a lot of problems. So much so, that the company had to postpone the actual launch event to overcome them. The folding mechanism was a bit of a problem but not as big as a problem the users faced with it. The original Samsung Galaxy Fold came with a thin plastic player on top of the screen. Many users mistook it for a screen protector and removed it – only to end up with a broken display.
The UTG patent
Samsung needed to fix that in their future releases. And for that, Samsung has come up with UTG. According to a report by LetsGoDigital, Samsung has filed a new patent titled UTG to European Union Intellectual Property Office. Though Samsung hasn’t disclosed anything about it, we believe that it stands for Ultra-Thin Glass.
Perks of Ultra-Thin Glass
The Ultra-Thin Glass will try to overcome the problems that the original plastic-coated display had. Technically, glass is more scratch-resistant than plastic so, using a glass instead of plastic does make sense. However, we don’t know if the property holds true for glass that is as thin as a human hair. According to reports, the thickness of the glass may range from 30microns to about 100microns.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
But there are also some downsides. Ultra-Thin Glasses require a complex manufacturing process, which isn’t cheap. And it will ultimately be reflected in the smartphone’s price.
The upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Flip is set to be the first phone to adopt this technology. Samsung will also include it in their future foldable phones.
Since the Mobile World Congress (MWC) is well around the corner, we all are excited about what is has in store for us. The event will undoubtedly give us an insight into the trends the smartphone world is going to witness throughout the year. Talking about trends, this is the year when 5G smartphones will take over the entire smartphone market. Almost all the big players in the game have joined the 5G bandwagon. Though 5G sounds tempting, it is not going to be cheap. That is why some of these brands are also focusing on the lower end of the market. Leaks suggest Nokia, which has already confirmed the launch of a 5G phone in MWC, will unveil an affordable phone dubbed Nokia 5.2 aka Captain America.
Nokia Mobile World Congres 2020 Event
At the end of the year 2019, Nokia made an announcement that it will arrive at the MWC 2020 with a new 5G smartphone. Company’s Product Officer, Juho Sarvikas, confirmed the news via an official press release. It read:
“Our highest priority for 2020 is making 5G more accessible – bringing an affordable yet premium grade, future proof 5G experience for the best possible performance in NSA and SA networks with the Snapdragon 765 Mobile Platform.”
At this point in time, we can say it with confidence that Nokia won’t be releasing a flagship smartphone at the event. Nokia 9.2 will be unveiled later this year which made us believe that the phone Juho Sarvikas was talking about was Nokia 8.2.
Nokia is all geared up for the event. It has already started giving out invites for its event on February 23. The registration will go live at 4 PM local time then the actual event will kick-off about half an hour late.
Talks of Nokia 5.2 “Captain America”
Since Nokia won’t be launching Nokia 9.2 at the event, Nokia 8.2 powered by Snapdragon 765G will be the highlight of Nokia’s event. And if the recent leaks are to be believed, it will be accompanied by Nokia Captain America a.k.a Nokia 5.2.
A Leakster, who goes by the name of Evan Blass, introduced us to the upcoming Nokia Captain America through his twitter handle. The pictures -though not the prettiest- reveal a phone with quad-camera setup at back.
Design
The quad-camera setup is the first thing we noticed on the device. The four camera sensors are housed inside a circular camera module. The module creates a slight bump on the rear surface. At the center of the module, there is an LED flash. The four sensors are arranged around the LED flash. There is a fingerprint scanner just below the camera module.
Nokia 5.2 aka Captain America
The display on the front comes with waterdrop notch for the front shooter. The volume rocker and the power button are placed on the right side of the device. The charging port is located at the bottom of the device.
Rumored Specs
Considering the fact that the device hasn’t been confirmed officially, the information about its specs is scarce. The phone will come with a 6GB RAM and 64GB storage onboard. However, we can expect the phone to come in other memory configurations as well.
Nokia 5.2 Launch and Pricing
After the official unveiling at the MWC 2020, Nokia will launch Captain America somewhere around March. As of now, the 6/64GB variant will cost around $180 (~NPR 20,600) which in our view is quite impressive. But it is too soon to judge. Let’s see what Nokia has in store for us this year at WMC.
Also, check out our favorite budget gaming laptop!
Lately, smartphone manufacturers are spinning off their sub-brands, for launching products different than the brand image of the parent company. Realme has already been a successful brand after separating from Oppo. Currently, Poco is also enjoying hype after it is spun-off from Xiaomi. Now there is another sub-brand trying to follow in on the footsteps – iQOO. The news of Vivo spinning off iQOO came to attention as early as January. iQOO has now confirmed that it will come with the first SD 865 powered 5G smartphone in the Indian subcontinent.
iQOO
It was not long ago when Vivo announced iQOO as its sub-brand last year. iQOO (pronounced eye-Koo) stands for I Quest On and On. With the iQOO, Vivo looked to conquer the emerging smartphone gaming segment. iQOO and it’s monster variant was the first releases company. Fast forward to today, iQOO is now a well-known brand in China that offers a performance-focused premium line.
The reason behind the spin-off
iQOO is following the footsteps of Realme and Poco. Interestingly, all these brands were spun-off to focus on the South Asian market, especially India. The strategy does make sense because India is now the biggest smartphone market in the world. And for the size of the market, it is also equally priced sensitive. Brands like Realme and Poco which offer bangs for the bucks are quite successful. These success stories have now lured iQOO to India.
iQOO India’s Announcement
iQOO India has already announced that it will be coming to the Indian market. Gagan Arora, iQOO’s Director of Marketing, has already confirmed the news. Last time we talked about them, we predicted that iQOO will make noises with a new device when it lands on the Indian subcontinent. Gagan Arora has also confirmed that iQOO will be coming to India with not only one but two devices. However, the highlight of the two will be the one powered by Snapdragon 865 processor.
iQOO 5G smartphone powered by SD 865
iQOO’s 5G smartphone will be the first in India to come with Snapdragon 865 under the hood. Though the company hasn’t authenticated the information officially, given its reputation, anything below the Snapdragon 865 will be a sheer disappointment. All the phones by iQOO have come with flagship-grade chipsets such as SD 845 and SD 855. The device will be aimed at gamers and will offer tough competition to the Black Shark line up of smartphones.
The phone will first go on sale online. Only after then the company will roll it out through offline shops.
Also, check out our comparison between Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10 Lite!
Nokia has launched its latest Android One smartphone, the Nokia C1 in Nepal. The phone is targeted for people who are ready to move on from their feature phones to an entry-level smartphone. But is it the best phone in the entry-level price range in Nepal?
Nokia C1 Overview
Talking of features, the Nokia C1 features a 5.45- inches display with 480 x 960px resolution. The panel here is an IPS one which is protected by the toughened glass to protect the screen from potential scratches. On top of the display, you can see a selfie camera which is a 5MP shooter accompanied by an LED flash.
At the back too, there is a 5MP shooter along with an LED flash.
The phone features an average 2,500 mAh battery to power the low power display and it charges over Micro USB port. As for the chipset, it is powered an unknown quad-core CPU. The Nokia C1 comes bearing 1GB RAM and 16GB inbuilt storage. The storage can further be expanded by a microSD card up to 64GB.
As for other features of the device, you get FM radio and dual SIM support. However, there is no LTE support as the max it goes is 3G. The phone supports WiFi 4 as well.
The major focus of the phone is the fact that it runs on the Android 9 Go edition. saGo apps will help reduce data usage and will take less storage, which is a good thing for entry-level smartphones.
Nokia C1 Specifications:
Body: 147.6 x 71.4 x 8.7 mm
Display:5.45 inches IPS LCD panel
Resolution: 480 x 960 pixels, 18:9 ratio
CPU: Unknown Quad-core 1.3 GHz
RAM: 1GB
Storage: 16GB (expandable up to 64 via a microSD card)
Teletalk Pvt. Ltd., the authorized distributor of Nokia mobiles, launched the Nokia C1 in Nepal for a price of Rs. 6,499. However, it is now available for Rs. 7,199. You can buy the phone from various mobile retail shops all over Nepal.
Model Name
Old Price
New Price in Nepal
Nokia C1
Rs. 6,499
Rs. 7,199
If you have little more to spend on, we recommend you to go for Redmi Go. With an additional thousand price, you will get better screen resolution, better performer and a bigger battery.
Ever taken time out of your busy schedule to think about the type of storage in your smartphone? Maybe you have; maybe you haven’t, but my bet would be on the fact that probably have not. Basically, smartphones come with either slower eMMC storage or a faster UFS. The UFS storage in contemporary smartphones is available in 2 variants: UFS 2.1 and UFS 3.0. However, a new one that’s making rounds on the internet is UFS 3.1.
Until now, Universal Flash Storage, or more popularly known as UFS was deemed to be faster than eMMC. And that is the reason why it is found in most flagships and currently in mid-range devices to. All this has led eMMC to be limited to just the entry-level devices.
However, now JEDEC Solid State Technology Association has unveiled UFS 3.1. It comes as a successor of UFS 3.0 that we got to see in Samsung and OnePlus devices last year.
The burning issue now and maybe forever will be on how to minimize power consumption and deliver high-performance. And that is exactly the UFS 3.1 concerns itself with. By introducing three major new improvements, JEDEC has designed the UFS 3.1 for mobile and computing apps with high-performance requirements.
The first improvement that they have made is the Write Booster. It is an SLC non-volatile cache that amplifies write speed. The next one is called DeepSleep, specially designed for low-cost systems. It is a new UFS device low power state. The main target being the aforementioned low-cost system that share UFS voltage regulators with other functions.
Finally, the third major improvement in UFS 3.1 is the performance throttling notification. Basically what it does is that it will notify the host if storage performance is throttled due to high temperature.
Another major announcement made by JEDEC is a companion standard. UFS Host Performance Booster (HPB) Extension as it has been labeled gives an option to cache the UFS device logical-to-physical address map in the system’s DRAM.
However, we still don’t know when we’ll get to see this new storage standard. But history suggests, one should be on the lookout for Samsung flagships for these sort of changes.
Well, Huawei overtook Apple to become the second-biggest smartphone brand in 2019. While Huawei was eying for the top spot, things didn’t go that well for the Chinese firm. Following the trade ban imposed by the US government, Huawei’s plan to beat Samsung didn’t really take off. We were yet to see how it would affect the global ranking between the smartphone brands. The overall standings for the 2019 year are already out. Let’s dive deeper into the figures and numbers to find which smartphone brands celebrated the highest sales volume in 2019.
Biggest smartphone brands in 2019!
Samsung: Still the King of Smartphone World
Independent results from Strategy Analytics, Counterpoint Research and Canalys reveal Huawei has climbed up to the number two spot despite facing ban from the US. Throughout the year, Huawei sold about 240 million phones which is higher than Apple’s statistics by about 40 million. As of now, Samsung still holds the crown of the biggest smartphone brand in the world. Bettering its last year’s performance, it shipped out about 298.1 million smartphones worldwide.
The unprecedented growth of Huawei
Despite the ban, Huawei continues to grow as a smartphone market and that too by a great margin over the last year. Yes, you heard it right- Huawei’s global smartphone sales in 2019 grew by a whopping 17.6%. This has resulted in the growth of Huawei’s global market share from 14.8% in 2018 to around 17% in 2019.
That is an unprecedented growth considering the fact that the overall smartphone market has declined in the same duration. Xiaomi ranks second on the Annual growth chart with a 4% growth. Compare that to Huawei’s number, you would know how significant Huawei’s growth is. Compared to Huawei, Samsung only managed 2% growth while Apple saw a decrease in sales by about 7%.
Looking at the annual growth, you would think Huawei has no reason to worry about but that is far from the actual case. Huawei has a lot to worry about. According to the report by Counterpoint Research, only 40% of Huawei’s total shipments were outside of China. While Huawei enjoys success in its home country, people outside China are now shifting to other alternatives. This is quite evident by the drip in sales in the Q4 of 2019.
Apple enjoys the holiday sales
Apple lost to both Samsung and Huawei in the run for the biggest smartphone brand. It couldn’t even match its 2018 sales figures. But there is a silver lining as well- Apple managed to top the Q4 smartphone sales for the third year in a row. It managed to sell 78.4 million smartphones in the Holiday period. While Samsung and Huawei experienced drip in sales in the last quarter, Apple’s global shipment grew in the same period. If only the Q4 sales were considered, Apple would have topped the other two smartphone brands in the annual growth chart with a growth of 9%. However, it would still fall behind Xiaomi which saw a 23% sales boost in Q4 of 2019 in comparison to Q4 of 2018.
So, those were the biggest smartphone brands in 2019. What do you think 2020 has in store for us? Comment down below!
Learn how Huawei is marching towards Google-less future!
We don’t hear much about tablets these days, but are they really out of fashion? Samsung certainly hopes it’s not. But why though? Well, that’s because Samsung has announced the Galaxy Tab S6 5G. It is the world’s first tablet to come with 5G capabilities.
Yup, you read that correctly. The Galaxy Tab S6 5G has debuted in South Korea, the home of Samsung mobiles. Sales of the device will start immediately from today itself. However, the sale will be limited to South Korea for now.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 5G overview
This tab comes as a 5G variant of the Galaxy Tab S6 that was launched last year. It still uses the same Snapdragon 855 chipset. However, this time it is accompanied by Qualcomm’s X50 modem.
Other than that rest of the specs are pretty much identical to the Tab S6. Well, it was bound to so cause the new one is only supposed to be the 5G model of the same device.
The device boasts a 10.5-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED display with an aspect ratio of 16:10. Moreover, it has quad speakers and dual-cam setup on the back.
The back camera consists of a 13MP primary lens and a 5MP ultra-wide sensor. As for the front camera, it is 8MP. The device is powered by a 7, 040mAh battery that supports 15W fast-charging.
You also get a S-pen that can be magnetically attached to the back of your tablet and it
charges automatically while it is attached.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 5G Specifications:
Display: 10.5″ Super AMOLED display with QHD+ resolution (2560 x 1600 pixels), 16:10 aspect ratio
Rear Camera: Dual, 13 MP Primary with f/2.0 aperture + 5 MP ultra-wide with f/2.2 aperture.
The Galaxy Tab S6 5G will come in a single 6GB/128GB configuration as opposed to the non-5G variant that had an 8GB model too. And the device is priced at KRW 999,900 (USD 850).
Multiple discounts are also available for early birds such as discounted keyboard book cover, limited edition S-Pens, and more. As of now, the device is only available in South Korea and its availability elsewhere cannot be said with any certainty.
It is not even February and there is so much to talk about the year 2020. Unfortunately, the Novel Coronavirus is one of them. The virus which was first detected in December last year has been the fear of the world at this moment. The Corona pneumonia has already taken the lives of more than 170 people. From China, the virus has already traveled across more than a dozen countries. With the grave danger presented by the outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) has now declared it a Global Health Emergency. The spread of this epidemic is now taking a toll on the technology industry as well. Since China is home to some of the world’s leading technology brands, it can be more impactful than ever thought. So let’s take a quick look at how the world’s biggest brands are suffering from the Coronavirus.
Xiaomi
Following the outbreak of the Coronavirus, Xiaomi has decided to shut down all of its offline stores in China. Xiaomi’s offline stores were shut down on the 24th of January and will remain so until the 4th of January. However, looking at the spread of the Coronavirus, the duration could be extended. The company has suggested people use the online store and it has announced free postal service for after-sales services.
Not only that, the demand for the medical masks in China is so high that it forced the Xiaomi’s Youpin website to crash temporarily due to high demand. Interestingly, Hubei is also home to Lei Jun – one of the founders of Xiaomi. Particularly in the center of the outbreak – Wuhan, Xiaomi is building its second headquarters with an R&D center. The Coronavirus outbreak possesses a major threat to Xiaomi’s plan to migrate to the city.
Apple has already closed down three of its retail stores located in China. The company has also adopted preventive measures across all its offices. It is constantly monitoring the temperature of its staff for abnormalities. The tech giant is also taking care of sanitation around its retail shop and offices. It has also restricted business flights to China.
But it might not be enough for Apple who is planning to start mass production of the iPhone 9 from February. The problem for Apple is that it has production centers on both provinces of Guangdong and Henan. Both of them aren’t that far from the Hubei province which has been the center of the Coronavirus outbreak. Chinese officials have urged workers to stay at home. This could result in the delay in the production of the iPhone 9 which the company plans to sell starting from March. However, Foxconn has clarified that it is already analyzing the situation of the Coronavirus outbreak and it won’t disrupt the manufacturing obligations.
Though Google has its services banned by the Chinese government, it has been existing in the country after all. Google works with Chinese suppliers and factories for Google Pixel Phone and Google Home speakers. Following the outbreak, Google has temporarily shut down all of its offices in China, HongKong, and Taiwan. The decision aligns with the Chinese government’s extended Lunar New Year holiday. It has also restricted business flights to China, Hongkong, and Taiwan for its staff.
Tesla
Tesla Model 3
In Shanghai, the Coronavirus outbreak has forced Tesla to delay the Model 3 production by at least a week. The company had only begun delivering cars produced at the Shanghai Gigafactory about a month ago. Now the Chinese government has ordered to shut down the new factory amidst the outbreak. However, Telsa’s finance chief has already clarified that it won’t have a great impact on the company’s profit.
Don’t forget to check out our video where we break down how Huawei is preparing for its Google-less future!
Xiaomi Nepal had officially unveiled the much anticipated Redmi K20 and K20 Pro in Nepal back in August 2019 via Xiaomi authorized offline stores and Daraz (e-commerce platform). Featuring a fast processor, clean bezel-less design and honest price, the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro sure turned a lot of heads in the smartphone industry. To this date, it remains one of the best phones for its price. And now, Xiaomi Nepal is offering a considerable amount of discount, making this alpha flagships more affordable than ever.
Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro Overview
The Redmi K20 Pro is, what some people call, the flagship killer of 2019. And while peeking into its specs sheet, it’s hard to deny. The K20 Pro comes with the glass-metal construction and features 6.39-inch Super AMOLED without any sort of notches on the top. For that, the company has included a pop-up selfie camera.
The device runs on Snapdragon 855, which was the flagship chipset of 2019. Hence, the name “the new flagship killer”. The chipset also integrates the Adreno 640 GPU. To boost gaming performance, the phone also with a special gaming mode. And even without it, you know what the Snapdragon 855 is capable of.
Talking about the cameras, the phone enjoys camera triplets on its rear panel. The setup includes a 48MP primary camera, a 13MP ultra-wide lens, and an 8MP telephoto lens. For its primary camera, K20 Pro also uses a 1/2″ Sony IMX586 sensor just like on the OnePlus 7 Pro. With the high-res sensor on the board and with the capable image signal processor under the hood, the K20 Pro is capable of recording 4K videosup to 60 fps. Talking about the selfie shooter, the elevating front module employs a 20MP sensor.
Powering up the device is a large 4,000mAh battery that comes with 27-Watt charging support. As for the security, you get an in-display fingerprint sensor along with face-unlock and pattern unlocks.
Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro Price in Nepal [Updated 2020]
Xiaomi launched the 8GB RAM/256GB storage variant of the K20 Pro for Rs. 49,999. Now the customer can buy the Redmi K20 Pro in Nepal for a discounted price of Rs. 46,999!
Model Name
Old Price
Price in Nepal
Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro (8GB/256GB)
Rs. 49,999
Rs. 46,999
It especially competed against the OnePlus 7, which was launched in Nepal for Rs. 66,999. However, at Rs. 46,999, there’s clearly no better phone than Redmi K20 Pro for this price right now in Nepal.
The Redmi K20 is a specced-down version of the K20 Pro. It has the same glass-metal construction and an edge-to-edge 6.39” screen with Super AMOLED display and Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
It also shares a similar triple camera setup. A 48 MP Sony IMX582 primary sensor with a 13 MP ultra-wide lens and an 8 MP telephoto lens. On, paper the camera setup seems pretty loaded. Also, similar to the K20 Pro, the front camera is a motorized pop-up camera of 20 MP.
It’s in the performance department where the K20 compromises. The device uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 chipset which is still the best mid-range chipset from Qualcomm, but not as fast as the Snapdragon 855 seen on the Pro model.
There’s 4000 mAh battery which comes with a 27 W charging support. The AMOLED display means that there is an in-display fingerprint scanner along with the usual face unlock, pin and passwords.
Xiaomi Redmi K20 Price in Nepal [Updated 2020]
The official price of Redmi K20 in Nepal with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage is Rs. 39,999. Xiaomi Nepal is not offering any price cut or deals on the Redmi K20 as of now.
Last year, Oppo confirmed that it was working on a smartwatch during the Inno Day 2019. Unlike the other innovations showcased on the show, we didn’t have any information about the upcoming smartwatch nor did Oppo release any pictures of it. But the recent leak suggests that the Oppo smartwatch will come with an ECG sensor.
Talk about the Oppo smartwatch
Oppo’s smartwatch has been in the news since 2018. In September of 2018, the Chinese company filed a patent for a foldable smartwatch titled “Wearable Electronic Device” with the World Intellectual Property Office. The patent revealed a smartwatch with a foldable display module. The rectangular screen could be extended when required. When extended, the screen area could increase by 200%.
Oppo foldable smartwatch
But we haven’t heard about the device since then. At the end of 2019, Oppo confirmed that a smartwatch was underway. But there was little to no information about the specification of the device. Oppo didn’t reveal a single clear picture of how the smartwatch could look like. However, Vice President of the company, Levin Liu promised that it will feel like a smartphone extension as it will come loaded with AI and Deep Learning capabilities. However, he didn’t mention anything about the foldable smartwatch which makes us believe the one that is nearing the launch is not foldable.
But we are confident that the smartwatch will feature a rectangular display instead of a round display. While the later is better in terms of aesthetics, it is being dropped in favor of the former which allows more information to fit in the screen.
The latest leak about Oppo’s smartwatch comes from the Chinese microblogging site-Weibo. A leakster named Digital Chat Station revealed in a post that the upcoming Oppo smartwatch will come with an ECG sensor.
To begin with, ECG, which stands for ElectroCardioGraphy, which is a science which deals with graphing the electrical activity of the heart. What the ECG sensor does is that it carries out examination of the heart and gives a warning about any abnormal activity. We first saw the technology in Apple Watch 5 series. Since then, smartwatches such as Samsung Galaxy Active 2 and Amazfit Verge have also adopted the technology.
The Oppo smartwatch was originally expected to launch no later than Q1 2020. However, there is no official information to confirm that. We believe that it will launch alongside Oppo Find X2.
Though the leaked information may have excited you, Oppo hasn’t confirmed anything about the device. Even the leakster has already removed the post. And we can only question the authenticity of the original post. So, wait for the official confirmation before getting your hopes high.
