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Moving forward without Google: The Journey of Huawei explained!

Nikhil Shrestha

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January 6, 2020

Moving forward without Google: The Journey of Huawei explained!

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. Yeah, Huawei will relate to that. With all the trade debacle between the Chinese telecommunications manufacturer and the US Government, Huawei is in deep water and the company’s future looks bleak… you’d think. While that is certainly true to some extent, its exemplary push towards a self-sufficient future is promising. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of months and don’t know what the fuss is about, here’s a gist:

“The Trump Administration’s executive order enlisted Huawei in the Entity List, effectively banning it from doing business with any US-owned companies. Though no official evidence has yet been made public, the US fears that the Chinese government can use Huawei as a backdoor to spy on it, thus dismissing the company as a threat to national security.”

What to make of it?

The key giveaway from this is the fact that the US government hasn’t disclosed any proof of its claims to the public and we, as a public, could squeeze out two conclusions from it. First, the whole thing is circumstantial and an elaborate ploy to suppress the objectively better technologies of Huawei in order to take control of the ever-brewing US-China trade war. Pfft, an absolute child! Am I right?

Second, there is indeed a hint of security concern from Huawei as the company is legally liable to submit its resources to the communist government of China, should the necessity arise, and the US is simply acting on it clairvoyantly. There have been a few reports that the US government has indeed disclosed its “evidence” against Huawei to company heads of select tech giants. But here again, mum’s the word.

More importantly, the ban hasn’t effectively been immediate, as the US government has been a little “soft” on Huawei by providing a temporary waiver of 90-days for two straight times; the last of which was supposed to end in November. And again, it looks like the US government is adding another 6 months to the waiver.

Though the major disadvantage glaring Huawei is the expansion of its superior 5G technologies, its smartphone business is also taking a considerable hit. After the ban, many US-based firms like Intel and Qualcomm cut ties with Huawei, but none of them left as big an impact as Google. Despite the company manufacturing its own chipsets & memory cards for its smartphones, the company is still reliant on Google’s proprietary Google Mobile Services (GMS).

AOSP – the treasured salvation

Mind you, Android in itself is open-source but GMS isn’t. This means, while Huawei can legally use AOSP (Android Open Source Project) to ship its devices with the latest version of Android, they will be void of any Google apps like Maps, Play Store, YouTube. Be that as it may, Huawei need not worry about it in its homeland China since Google is non-existent there. However, the company operates globally and officially sells its smartphones to over 170 countries, and that’s a lot of markets to just pass over.

In order to circumvent the absence of Google in its smartphones, Huawei had apparently been working on its own OS for a while now. The now “unveiled” Harmony/HongMeng OS is its answer to Android, which will eventually be the supplement to the company’s ecosystem of products.

Sadly, the reveal was made on Huawei’s TV and the company has openly admitted that its OS isn’t ready enough to be powering smartphones. While a separate OS sounds super-exciting, Huawei knows just how difficult it’ll be to build. Therefore, the company is pushing for Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), its answer to GMS.

Google Mobile Services (GMS)

Before jumping in on HMS, let us briefly discuss what it’s trying to replace – GMS (and Google Play Services/GMS Core). Essentially, it is the library of Google’s proprietary applications like Photos, YouTube, Play Store, etc. (or GApps) and APIs that run on most Android smartphones. It is also necessary for that “Google experience” across your devices, where you can open a tab on the Chrome browser on your PC, and then send that tab to your phone to continue browsing – just an example.

It sets parameters and provides APIs, using which developers can embed Google’s services like Maps into their app. And because it is proprietary, you can’t simply sideload it, like you would an ordinary Android app. There’s so much more to what GMS is and why it’s necessary but I’ll end it right here. Now let’s get into HMS and how it hopes to be a saving grace for Huawei.

… and here’s Huawei Mobile Services (HMS)

Like how GMS is Google’s suite of applications and services for the “optimal” Android ecosystem, Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) is a part of Huawei Consumer Business Group and the collections of apps and services for Huawei’s ecosystem of devices. Instead of Google ID, you’ll have a Huawei ID and so on and so forth. HMS has a set of applications and background services that work together to provide a seamless experience across multiple devices. This ecosystem is made up of HMS Apps, HMS Core & Capabilities, and third-party applications.

HMS Apps and the significance of HUAWEI AppGallery

Here, HMS Apps is the library of apps destined to replace their Google-counterparts. The most eminent of them all, HUAWEI AppGallery, is the official app distribution platform for Huawei. Competing against the frontrunner – Google’s Play Store, in this stage will not be a piece of cake. As of now, the platform boasts an estimated 2.8 million apps according to the data from Statista.com, while Apple’s App Store comes in second with 1.8 million.

Despite the need for Huawei’s own app store seems inescapably crucial now, AppGallery has been in existence from long ago. It was officially launched in China in 2011, while the rest of the world was introduced to the Huawei AppGallery in Q1 of 2018 with the launch of its P20-series of smartphones. In the present context, it serves Huawei and Honor smartphone users in over 170 countries, with 390+ million monthly active users and around 180 billion downloads a year. That’s a significant volume of market Huawei’s been operating on, one the app developers would want to get on. So, what’s being done to bring these two together?

Getting developers to support AppGallery

One billion dollars! Yeah, does that get your attention? Huawei is betting on getting global developers lured into its ecosystem by investing $1 billion under the “Shining-Star Program”. And that better work because the company’s devices will be a hard-sell in international markets without the availability of the majority of apps and games that can be found on the competing devices. Apart from making its HMS Core systems available, familiar, and easy to use to the developers, there’s another added advantage for developers releasing their product on the AppGallery.

It all comes down to money!

Google charges 30% of the price for one-time purchases which has been wildly criticized by developers worldwide. This is one of the reasons why Epic Games decided against launching their mega-hit “Fortnite” on Play Store, and also why Tinder removed its payment mechanism from the platform. Capitalizing on this exploitation, Huawei is offering a 15% charge for one-time purchases.

Apart from the AppGallery, there are other notable HMS Apps too. HUAWEI Browser is a web browser with over 200 million monthly active users. On the other hand, HUAWEI Mobile Cloud is the company’s answer to Google Drive for cloud storage. But unlike the competition, you only get 5GB of free cloud storage with plans for paid storage of up to 2TB. Similarly, it has over 160 million monthly active users.

Moreover, HUAWEI Music, HUAWEI Video, and HUAWEI Assistant are some of the other HMS Apps not quite as widespread as the ones above. And as you might’ve guessed already, these three look to fill the void of Google’s Play Music (or YouTube Music), YouTube, and Assistant respectively.

HMS Core

“Huawei Mobile Services as well as HMS Apps incorporate Huawei’s chip, device and cloud capabilities and integrates a set of HMS core services (HMS Core), tools, and platforms for IDE development and testing.” Here, the HMS Core is oriented towards developers and offers APIs more-or-less similar to that of GMS. For this, Huawei has opened a total of 14 HMS Core Services with 9 essential services and 5 growth services, with more coming soon. These services are a collection of software development frameworks that give developers quick access to the Huawei ecosystem, thus letting them build apps with ease. Let me briefly go through some of them.

Account Kit is Huawei’s version of Google Play Service’s Sign-In, which effectively facilitates simple, secure, quick sign-in, and authorization functions. Consequently, users can simply use their Huawei ID as a sign-in option for any app without going through all the signing up mumbo-jumbo.

In the same way, Google Maps SDK will be substituted with Huawei’s Map Kit, which has been made available to the overseas developers from October 2019. HMS Core’s Game Service will be Huawei’s answer to Google Play Games allowing developers to easily incorporate in-game functionalities, and players to sign-in, and keep a track of their gaming records.

… but the trouble hangs on!

After all is said and done, the question still remains – is it enough? Will Huawei’s efforts and investments yield any noteworthy fruition? Can Google and its suite of applications really be replaced by Huawei this early on? Can people really go through all the hassle to sideload a vast majority of apps and games that will never see the light of day in the Huawei AppGallery? And more importantly, should they?

Well, the answer for the should is an obvious “no”. You are paying top money to own a product and having to compromise on it doesn’t make sense, no matter the excellence of the hardware. While some of the most popular apps like Facebook, Spotify, etc. work flawlessly on GMS-less Huawei smartphones, the ones from Google don’t. Their web versions do, but the apps just don’t, not fully at least.

Because of the trade ban, apps from US-owned companies simply cannot be distributed on Huawei’s official distribution platform. Some of you may be considering “side-loading” APK files to install third-party apps and games into the device, which is a viable and proven method to get them working (partially or comprehensively). But that right there is a hassle and a rather unnecessary and avoidable one at that. Add that to the fact that some apps simply can’t function sans GMS, then the ray of hope shining through starts fading into oblivion.

Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) Huawei AppGallery UI and Design — Huawei AppGallery

And there’s the question of accessibility. Like I’ve said before, Huawei simply need not worry about its customer base in China. The market outside, however, is a different story altogether which the company should look after post haste. Therefore, as a first step, Huawei and its sub-brand Honor, have been in the talks with top app developers in India to build Huawei Mobile Services (HMS)-integrated applications for its platform.

India – the next big market

Yes, that makes sense. With the rising popularity of internet usage in the country, India is now the second-largest smartphone consumer in the world surpassing the US, while China still holds the crown for the top spot. Huawei is set to launch HMS in India very soon and will be providing incentives to the developers to build apps that’ll support their ecosystem of devices.

In the initial stage, the company is looking to lure-in the top 100 to 150 apps from every country into the AppGallery. As for the Indian developers, Huawei has set aside up to $17,000 per app integration reward from its billion-dollar program I talked about earlier. Moreover, the apps from the Indian developers will also be within the reach of European and other markets of the world.

If this turns successful, Huawei will finally get the much-needed boost that it requires to “survive” this unsought situation that the company has found itself in. With India secured, it’s only a matter of time when Huawei Mobile Services sets foot in other parts of the continent like the middle east, south Asia, and eventually Europe and other regions of the world too. I may be thinking out loud at this point but I believe that’s a probable outcome. To quote Bob Dylan, the times they are a-changin’.

Huawei isn’t a lone ranger in this…

Then again, there have been several projects which centered around addressing the trouble Huawei’s found itself in – a Google-less existence. Though minuscule, the mere fact that Huawei is not the first to walk the line is a morale booster, to say the least.

Take the Project /e/ for instance. Now, it isn’t a product of any contradictory compulsion. Rather, the “e Foundation” is a non-profit organization that builds privacy-focused OS, on top of AOSP, with Google’s app and services replaced by something else.

Data submission rate in a typical day - e Foundation — The average volume of data collection by Google [Source: Digital Content Next]

Basically, /e/ is a custom ROM like Lineage, Bootleggers, etc. with one paramount distinctness; there is. no. Google. It isn’t looking to compete with what Google is offering, not at all. What it tries to do is cater to the niche group of audience who prioritize privacy and preservation of their personal data from the data-ravenous corporations.

Final words

So, there you have it. Huawei is in dire straits, yes. You know that, we know that, and Huawei knows that as well. Will its Shining-Star Program, the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) Core, deem successful enough to be able to pass the muster among its consumers outside of China? We hope it does and would like to wish the company all the luck in its strenuous odyssey ahead.

Acer Predator Helios 300 2019 Review: Carrying on the Predator Legacy

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GadgetByte

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January 6, 2020

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Acer Predator Helios 300 2019 Review: Carrying on the Predator Legacy

The Acer Predator Helios 300 2019 is probably the most requested gaming laptop review in our comments section. And I finally got to test it! The unit I have with me comes with a 9th gen Intel Core i7 processor, RTX 2060, and a 15.6-inch 144Hz panel, but there are a lot of variants of the Helios 300 including one with a 17.3-inch display. Anyways, let’s dive deeper and find out in detail, what a beast of a laptop the Acer Predator Helios 300 2019 actually is.

Acer Predator Helios 300 2019 Specifications:

Design & Build: Metal/Aluminum body with plastic back; 14.2W x 10D x 0.9H-inches; 2.40kg
Display: 15.6″ Full-HD LED-backlit IPS panel (1920 x 1080); 97% sRGB, 72% NTSC Color Gamut; 144Hz Refresh Rate; 3ms Overdrive Response Time; 315nit brightness
Keyboard Backlighting: Yes (RGB)
Processor: Hexa-Core Intel Core i7-9750H (Up to 4.5GHz)
RAM: DDR4 16 GB SDRAM
Graphics: 6 GB GDDR6 NVidia GeForce RTX 2060
Battery: 4-cell 58 Watt-hours; 3720mAh
Max Power Supply Voltage: 180 Watts
Storage: 256GB NVMe SSD (with one slot available too)
Webcam: 720p Web-cam
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: 1x RJ45 (LAN), 3x USB 3.1 Gen 2, 1x microphone/headphone, 1x HDMI, 1x mini display, 1x Type-C USB 3.1 Gen 2
Price in Nepal: Rs. 190,000 ($1,599 international with 512GB NVMe SSD)

Design & Build

Let me start by talking about the designs first. The build quality of the Acer Predator Helios 300 2019 gives out a very premium feel. And that’s down to the metal build of the laptop. The top, as well as the deck inside, is all-metal. The added touch of blue accents on the lid and also on parts the keyboards, further exudes the premium feel. As you’d expect, the logo on the lid lights up too! Despite having a metal/aluminum body for the most part, the back, however, is made of plastic.

Design

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I believe the reason for this is two-fold. First, it reduces the weight of the laptop drastically to a mere 2.40 kgs. I sure as hell wouldn’t like to develop back problems from carrying heavy laptops. The next reason for the plastic back is for better airflow and thermals. But more on them later.

Let’s check out the insides now. As with most gaming laptops these days, the thin bezel game is strong in the Acer Predator Helios 300 2019 too. And similar to the rest, you’ll find a 720p webcam on top here as well, that frankly speaking, seems of no use to me as I found its quality to be subpar only.

Keyboard

Now, the keyboard as you can see is a full-sized one. If you have had experiences with Acer laptops in the past, namely the Acer Nitro 5, you’ll find that the keyboards have an uncanny resemblance. The key travel distance on both of them is 1.7mm and barring the color (Nitro 5 has a red accent), the keyboards on these two machines are very similar.

The key spacing, on the other hand, is pretty good and I really liked that they have not minimized the arrow keys’ size. Small arrow keys? That’s absolutely terrible for gaming.

Anyway, the other thing that I liked about the keyboard is that it has a dedicated command center button in the numpad.

Keyboard

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In the command center, you can view your system info which includes details about the CPU, GPU, options to control the fan speed and more. Here, you can also customize the 4-zone lighting of the keyboard to your liking. The lighting is not as vivid as one would expect, but nevertheless, it contributes to the laptop’s gaming aesthetics to a certain degree.

Moreover, the command center acts as a gateway for the Waves MaxxAudio control panel. There, you can customize MaxxBass, width and more as per your preference.

The sound quality is decent but something that did not quite wow me. Even at max volume, the audio did not distort much, so that’s great!

Moving on, there’s a “Turbo” key up top using which you can overclock the GPU, up the fan speeds and also max out the CPU limits, should the necessity arise.

However, be very wary of the situation where you decide to use that button cause the improved performance comes at a cost of very high noise from the fans.

Fans

Sticking to the fans, they have decided to go with the 4th-gen Aero Blade 3D technology for cooling. The 2 versions of the Aero Blade fans inside are able to keep the laptop considerably cool despite playing games for hours and hours.

The air intake vents are on the bottom and there are 4 exhausts in total. Two on the sides and two on the rear.

Fan Exhaust

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Trackpad

If the keyboard of the Acer Predator Helios 300 2019 had an uncanny resemblance to that of the Nitro 5, then the trackpads are the polar opposite.

Although it’s plastic, it works well. It utilizes Windows Precision and tracking. As a result, it offers better gestures and tracking features. However, the trackpad and the surrounding deck is prone to smudges. Thus, you may feel the need to keep having a swipe at it every now and then.

Ports

Talking about the ports, on the left-hand side you’ll find a Kensington lock, a power connector, 1x RJ45 port, 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 and a headphone/microphone jack. Then on the right-hand side, you get a full-sized HDMI port, a mini display port, 1 USB 3.1 gen 2 port and a Type C USB 3.1 Gen 2 port which does not support Thunderbolt 3.

I feel that they could have squeezed it in there, but I guess they make it up in terms of display and performance.

Ports

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Display

The display panel on this one is your typical 144Hz LED-backlit IPS panel. The resolution on this one is of Full-HD with a 3ms response time.

To be honest, I really enjoyed the display on this. It is colorful, vivid, and perfect for media consumption. And if you are into content creation, the color accuracy is also very good with 97% sRGB and 72% NTSC Color Gamut. The brightness tops up at around 315nits, which is not bright enough to be used in a well-lit environment with ease.

Another minor complaint in this department would be that of the backlight bleeding. Now that may be a concern for some but the instance where you can actually see it is incredibly rare. Thus, as I previously put it, this is a minor complaint only.

Performance

Next up, is what most of you are probably waiting for, the performance! As mentioned previously, the version I have with me has the Intel Core i7-9750H processor, 16GB single-channel RAM, and the RTX 2060 GPU. There’s also a configuration available with GTX 1660Ti.

The RTX 2060 and GTX 1660Ti are more or less similar in terms of performance. The former will generally yield 5 to 10% better performance in most of the games. However, since the GTX 1660Ti is void of Ray Tracing cores and Tensor core, so you cannot enjoy hardware-based real-time ray tracing and DLSS in select games.

	GeForce RTX 2060	GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
Steam Processors (CUDA cores)	1920	1536
ROPs	48	48
Base Clock	1365MHz	1500MHz
Boost Clock	1680MHz	1770MHz
Memory	6GB GDDR6 at 14Gbps	6GB GDDR5 at 12Gbps
Memory Interface	192-bit	192-bit
Memory Bandwidth	336GB/s	288GB/s
Single-Precision Performance	6.5TFLOPs	5.4TFLOPs
Tensor Cores	240	N/A
RT Cores	30	N/A

To be honest, as of now, there are very few games to have those features, but in 2020, lots of games are going to have it. Therefore, the RTX 2060 guarantees a better future-proofing. However, if you want strict fps per dollar spent, the GTX 1660 Ti ends up being a slightly better value right now.

Gaming

Anyways, let’s talk about the gaming performance of the Helios 300. Disclaimer, in order to test the full potential of the laptop, I played all my games with the turbo mode on. And having a dedicated turbo key for that purpose is really great.

Anyway, coming back to the topic, I played Battlefield 5 in Ultra settings and it gave a solid 90fps on average. Though as I mentioned before, the fan sound is too loud, so you’d probably want to use headphones while playing.

After that, I decided to make the most out of the graphics card by enabling DX12 and DXR. These features help enable “Ray tracing” that in turn improves the quality of reflections on the games.

I have to admit that the load time for the game had significantly increased after enabling DX12 and DXR, however the average frame rate was commendable at around 70. Not a significant drop I must say. So, improved visual experience for almost similar frame rates seems like a good tradeoff for that waiting time.

Next on, I tried my hands in Apex Legends. Same conditions apply here too, max settings with turbo mode on. On average, I got around 120fps which is even higher than my desktop with GTX 1070.

If you tune in the settings, you should get over 150fps. Now, these are the sort of games where you make the full use of a 144Hz screen, the frame rates you ask.

If it’s still not clear, let me explicitly state it, this device can breeze through triple-A titles with ease.

Acer Predator Helios 300 2019 FPS count (Turbo Mode on)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest Settings): 79 fps
Far Cry New Dawn (Ultra Settings): 87 fps
Fortnight (High Settings): 168 fps
PUBG (High Settings): 124 fps

Storage

In terms of storage, you get 2 slots for NVMe drives on the Acer Predator Helios 300 2019. The first one is already occupied by the 256GB NVMe SSD that comes with the laptop.

You can check out the read and write speed over here, which is considerably fast.

Read Speed: 2629.9 Mb/s
Write Speed: 1528.9 Mb.s

Moreover, my unit came with 1 TB of HDD as well, so you can pack in as many games as you want.

Battery

The battery is somewhat okayish on this one, which is a 4-cell Li-ion 58Wh battery. Now if you plan on using it just for web browsing and sorts, then you can probably get around 5 to 5 and a half hours of battery life. While gaming in medium settings, I only got close to 1 hour of battery life. 1hour – not great, not terrible.

Conclusion

Overall, the Acer Predator Helio 300 2019 offers a great set up at a relatively cheap price (for gaming laptops that is). The design is premium and the performance of the device in regards to the display and speed matches the quality of design.

There might be some minor issues regarding battery life, but they are nothing but minor concerns that you can probably ignore. At a price of Rs. 190,000 here in Nepal, this laptop offers something quite similar to much higher priced gaming laptops.

So, if you’re looking to upgrade from your current “budget” setup to something better without breaking your bank, then I would definitely suggest this laptop for you.

Samsung Galaxy Book Flex ‘Alpha’ announced: Will come with a QLED screen

GadgetByte

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January 5, 2020

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Samsung Galaxy Book Flex ‘Alpha’ announced: Will come with a QLED screen

In October, Samsung announced the Galaxy Book Flex at the Samsung Developer Conference 2019. And now Samsung has announced Galaxy Book Flex ‘Alpha’ which will come at a cheaper price than the former.

Samsung Galaxy Book Series

When we talk of Samsung we usually think of its smartphone lineups. But it also working on laptops under the Galaxy Book Series. Samsung announced the Galaxy Book S in August. While the Galaxy Book S is yet to hit the market Samsung has already announced Galaxy Book Flex and Galaxy Book Ion. And now Samsung has added Galaxy Book Flex ‘Alpha’ to the yet-to-release Galaxy Book series laptops.

Also, check out Samsung Mobile Prices in Nepal

Samsung Galaxy Book Flex ‘Alpha’

Samsung announced the Galaxy Book Flex ‘Alpha’ ahead of CES 2020. The device is meant to be a cheaper alternative for Samsung Galaxy Book Flex.

Talking about the Samsung Galaxy Book Flex ‘Alpha’, it is a 2-in-1 laptop with an aluminum chassis. It has a 13.3-inch QLED panel which packs in 1080 x 1920 pixels. The display can get as bright as 600 nits. The laptop is 13.9mm thick and weighs around 1.2 kg.

It will be powered by the 10th generation Intel Core processor. However, there is no information if it is going to be a Core i3 or i5 processor. The graphics will be handled by Intel UHD as there is no discrete graphics as in Galaxy Book Flex.

The processor will be backed by 8/12GB RAM. The RAM included here is based on LPDDR4 technology. You can choose between a 256GB or a 512GB SSD. The company claims that the 54Wh battery included in the laptop will provide up to 17.5 hours of battery life. It even supports fast charging through a Type-C port.

Talking about connectivity, the Galaxy Book Flex ‘Alpha’ supports Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax. A fingerprint scanner is included for biometrics. There are two Type-C ports along with a Type-C slot. It also features an HDMI port, a MicroSD slot, a 3.5mm jack, a pair of 1.5W speakers and a 720P HD camera.

Launch and Price

Samsung will debut the Galaxy Book series with Galaxy Book Flex and Galaxy Book Ion. Samsung Galaxy Book Flex ‘Alpha‘ will be released a bit later than the two. However, it will make its way into the market within the first two quarters of 2020. It will come with a price tag of around $829.99(~ NPR 95,000). You will have to pay extra if you want to have an Active Pen stylus.

Huawei achieves its biggest revenue to date despite the trade ban from US

GadgetByte

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January 3, 2020

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Huawei achieves its biggest revenue to date despite the trade ban from US

In 2019, we saw Huawei replace Apple as the second-biggest smartphone brand in the world. But Huawei looked more ambitious. The company’s recent growth also complemented the ambition. But it had to slow down a bit, courtesy of the US trade ban. Interestingly, Huawei is showing what it is capable of on its own after American companies broke all the ties with it. Being the company it is, Huawei is still on a roll. This time the company has accumulated its biggest revenue to date. Huawei posting such record revenue is a clear indication that the company can survive on its own.

US trade ban

Huawei is facing a trade-ban in the United States. Since May of 2019, Huawei has been restricted to carry out any sort of transaction with US-based companies. The biggest problem for Huwaei so far has been the Google Mobile Service (GMS).

Over the years, GMS has a big hand in Android’s growth in terms of both usage and popularity. Huawei has been restricted to integrate it into its smartphone because of the ban it faces.

Huawei Record Revenue (2019)

When the trade-ban was introduced, dark clouds hovered over the future of the brand. We didn’t know if we could see any other device from the company. But that’s “long” gone now. Huawei is still launching new devices.

But sales is what catches our attention. The company has reported sales of 240 million smartphones in 2019. That’s additional 36 million smartphones sold compared to 206 million smartphones sold in 2018.

With this, Huawei has secured its position as the second-biggest smartphone brand in the world. Only Samsung has a better sales figure than Huawei.

Eric Xu -Huawei Deputy Chairman — Eric Xu – Huawei Deputy Chairman

Huawei’s record revenue in detail

Huawei has gone all out in overcoming the dependency on Google. And if the company’s financial report is any indication Huawei might even pull out the impossible.

Huawei has reported its revenue a bit over 850 billion Yuan; an 18% increase over 2018’s figures. That is around 122 billion in US dollars. To put it into perspective, that’s the biggest revenue the Chinese company has ever had in its history.

The Future of Huawei

While the sales figure shows no sign to worry, Huawei’s deputy chairman, Eric Xu, has confessed tough times for the company. He also said that the trade-ban can make it “difficult” for the company to “survive and thrive” over the long run.

To continue to grow as a company, Huawei is planning on getting rid of the company’s poor performing managers. There might also be some changes in the operational structure of the company.

The trade ban saga was one of the most talked-about events of 2019. The fact that it came after Huawei replaced US-based Apple as the second-biggest smartphone in the world created a lot of buzzes. And with Huawei putting all its efforts to fight against the ban, we might see the events make some more headlines in the time to come. Huawei achieving such a milestone with its record revenue to date has shined some hope for the company nevertheless.

Samsung trademarks new Galaxy A series smartphones for 2021

GadgetByte

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January 3, 2020

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Samsung trademarks new Galaxy A series smartphones for 2021

With the current success that Samsung has had with its M-series and the revamped A-series, we expected the company to add to these lineup of smartphones in 2019. The news of the new Galaxy A01 and Galaxy M31 caught our attention. But it seems like Samsung has thought further down the line than we thought. Recent leaks suggest that Samsung has already trademarked new smartphones under the Galaxy A series, that are expected to arrive in the market in 2021.

Samsung Galaxy A Series (2021)

Samsung has reportedly trademarked new smartphones under the Galaxy A-series. These phones are set to launch after a year. The trademark was filed with South Korea based SungAm Suh International Patent and Law Firm.

It has shed some light on devices such as Galaxy A12, Galaxy A32, Galaxy A42, Galaxy A52, Galaxy A62, Galaxy A72, Galaxy A82, and Galaxy A92. These phones will make their way into the market in 2021. We might get some information about the specs these phones will pack at the end of this year. We can even take references of the devices scheduled to launch this year like the Samsung Galaxy A51 And Galaxy A71.

Samsung Galaxy A71 Display — Samsung Galaxy A71

Samsung’s efforts to regain market share

With the emergence of Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Samsung started to lose its ground in the entry and mid-range segment of the market. It was more evident in the South Asian market where Samsung failed to please its audience with its offering at the lower end of the market. Samsung tried to improve that in 2019 with the all-new M series and also revamped its A-series of smartphones for the same. The smartphones under these lineups did well in the market. And Samsung is keen to build on this early success.

Galaxy A series in 2019

Samsung launched well over 10 smartphones under the A-series lineup of smartphones. First, it launched phones from A10 to A90 in the first two quarters of 2019. Later, the “s” variants of these phones were released.

Samsung Galaxy A series 2021 vs our take on A series (2020)

We believe that Samsung will work on what has already worked out for them. So we might see the new lineup of A series (2020) getting launched similarly as in 2019. We will see phones from A11 to A91. Later, Samsung will complement them with some “s” variants.

Check out our impressions of Samsung Galaxy A51:

Canon 90D DSLR & EOS M6 Mark II Mirrorless camera Launched in Nepal

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January 3, 2020

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Canon 90D DSLR & EOS M6 Mark II Mirrorless camera Launched in Nepal

Sony and Canon are going quite aggressive these days. Maybe the demand for cameras is increasing or the competition is getting fierce, they are launching cameras one after another. Maybe it has to be the rivalry as both of these camera manufacturers planned to announce their new products on the same date. While Sony announced its new A6600 and A6100, Canon released the EOS 90D DSLR camera and its mirrorless counterpart: the Canon EOS M6 Mark II. And, both these cameras are now available in Nepal via its official distributor — CANON Image Square.

Also Read: Canon Camera Price in Nepal

Canon EOS 90D and Canon EOS M6 Mark II Overview:

At the press event, Canon executives told that these two devices are ‘basically twins’: twins in a sense that both of these cameras come with similar internals despite having different look and feel. That being said, both of these cameras come aboard with the same 32.5MP APS-C sensor. And it’s quite an upgrade over the EOS 80D and M6, which used to have a 24.2MP sensor.

For its size, the sensor has the largest resolution in any professional camera. Both of these cameras are powered with the latest Digic 8 processor to handle the image/video processing. But despite having a similar processor and sensor, the continuous shooting on the 90D can go up to 10 frames per second whereas, in the M6 Mark II, it hits 14 fps.

Even on the video front, these cameras have received quite an upgrade. These new cameras can record crop-less 4K videos at 30fps. That means the device uses the full width of the sensor while capturing the movies without any crop. And even while recording the 4K movies, you can use Dual Pixel AF because of which the autofocusing is expected to be fast and smooth.

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Although 4K videos can be recorded at 30fps, there is no option to record them at 24fps. And that can be a bummer for some. The Canon EOS M6 Mark II also doesn’t have a headphone jack, which by the way, is present on the EOS 90D. Nonetheless, you get a mic jack on the camera and you can also get a tilt-up display on the M6 Mark II and an articulating one on the 90D display. And these features make the device quite handy for self-shooting and vlogging. Apart from the ability to record the 4K videos at 30fps, there are also options to record 1080p movies at 30, 60, and 120fps.

Canon EOS M6 Mark II

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As for the connectivity, both of these cameras come with the in-built Wi-Fi and Bluetooth options on the wireless side. For wired connectivity, the Canon EOS 90D comes with the outdated MicroUSB port. But in the case of M6 Mark II, you get a rather modern USB-C port. Talking about the storage, you get single UHS-II SD card slot for both of these devices.

Despite having all these similarities between these two models, there is also a fair bit of differences. The Canon EOS 90D comes with an in-built optical viewfinder. However, the EOS M6 Mark II lacks any sort of viewfinder on its default state. However, the Canon EOS M6 Mark II features a hot-shoe on which an optional EVF-DC2 electronic viewfinder can be attached when needed. Adding to the list of differences, the 90D comes with a weather-sealed body and a joystick for moving the AF points.

Canon EOS M6 Mark II & EOS 90D Price in Nepal:

As for the price, the Canon 90D along with 18-135mm kit lens will cost Rs.2,14,900 in Nepal. In comparison, its international price is $ US1,349. Similarly, EOS M6 Mark II will arrive later next month and is expected to ost to cost around Rs. 1,50,000.

You can purchase these cameras at CANON Image Square.

Location: Shop No. 106, 1^st Floor, Civil Mall, Sundhara, Kathmandu

Contact Number: 01-4257297

Email Address: [email protected]

Vianet introduces the “Triple 20 Offer” as it enters its 20th year of service

GadgetByte

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January 2, 2020

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Vianet introduces the “Triple 20 Offer” as it enters its 20th year of service

Marketing campaigns from local ISPs have been kinda wild in recent times. They were (and still are) offering almost everything from TVs, smartphones, electric heaters, and even life insurance to persuade people to join their service. These crazy campaigns might have worked for them since a lot of people gave in to the idea of such extravagant offers. And with the country soaked in the vibe of the New Year, we have seen some subtle offers from ISPs, like the one Subisu is providing to its customer. Talking about offers, Vianet has also launched the new “Triple 20 Offer” for its internet services.

The task of choosing the perfect ISP isn’t as easy as it may seem. First of all, there are a lot of options to choose from. And the services they offer look all similar to an average Joe. So the ISPs try to attract potential customers through different schemes and campaigns.

Vianet Internet: Triple 20 Offer

We have bid goodbye to 2019. People have a large expectation with 2020 – largely because we will be celebrating the Visit Nepal 2020 as a nation. Talking about celebrations, you might have missed this but Vianet is also celebrating its 20 years in the business. That’s already two 20s and to add to that Vianet has launched a revamped 20Mbps internet plan.

Under the Vianet Triple 20 offer, this entry-level plan is now available at Rs. 11,400 per year. The discounted price of the plan is complemented by free NETTV subscription, under which you can enjoy 250+ channels for free. Vianet has also discounted Rs 1,000 on installation charges. This offer will be available until January 14 only. The aforementioned prices are exclusive of 13% VAT.

Also, read about other offers from Vianet.

Crazy Campaigns? But Why?

Back in the time, the internet was something luxurious in Nepalese society. But today, it has become a basic necessity. Every individual and household is looking for a stable connection. That is where the marketing strategies come into play. So what do you think of the new offer from Vianet?

Find out more about this offer by clicking here.
Also, check out our unboxing video of the OnePlus 7T!

Subisu brings the “Offertunity” scheme to celebrate its 19th anniversary

GadgetByte

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January 2, 2020

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Subisu brings the “Offertunity” scheme to celebrate its 19th anniversary

If you have noticed, the local ISPs have been crazy of late when it comes to their marketing campaigns. These lucrative campaigns are usually meant to attract new customers. Often users complain about companies neglecting them in their new offers. While adding a customer is important, it is a more important task for any service provider to retain them. With their recent trends of offers, Subisu looks to be a company that is working on retaining its customers, while luring in new subscribers as well. Talking about Subisu, they are currently celebrating 19 years of establishment and have announced “Offertunity” on the occasion for their internet packages.

Subisu Internet: Offertunity

Subisu is a well-known ISP in Nepal. It is one of the leading Internet, Network and Television service providers. Recently, the company has completed 19 years of its establishment and to celebrate the occasion, it has announced a new offer named the “Subisu’s Offertunity”. Let’s take a look at what the company is offering.

Under the “Internet + Clear TV Offertunity”, existing Subisu subscribers can purchase the 25Mbps Internet with Clear TV’s Premium package (275+ channels, 95+ HD channels) for 15 months’ duration. This plan will cost Rs 15,600. Its Rs 1,040 per month if you do the maths. But if you’re new and are looking to subscribe to this scheme, you’ll have to bear additional cost for the ONU device and Clear TV’s Set-Top-Box (STB).

Similarly, the “Clear TV Offertunity” costs Rs 221 per month (245+ channels, 65+ HD channels). Including the STB, this package will cost Rs. 3536 for 14 months’ duration.

Mind you, all the prices mentioned above aren’t inclusive of VAT. So, an additional 13% VAT is in store.

Along with this, users can also enjoy 3 months’ free premium subscription of Daami music. For those who are hearing the name for the first time, it is a music streaming app along with an integrated online radio service. Right now, it boasts of having over 20,000 Nepali songs to cater to.

If you are currently under any of the services provided by Subisu, you will certainly find this offer useful. An internet package with TV and music streaming subscription is unique in the Nepalese market, to say the least. It’s good to see that the company is pushing towards providing quality service for its existing as well as potential customers despite the catastrophe it suffered a couple of months ago.

MediaTek announces Dimensity 800: MediaTek’s Answer to Snapdragon 765?

GadgetByte

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January 1, 2020

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MediaTek announces Dimensity 800: MediaTek’s Answer to Snapdragon 765?

Mediatek has recently announced Dimensity 800 under the new Dimesity lineup of smartphone chipsets. The announcement was made at MediaTek’s Product Communication Conference. The chipset is aimed at the mid-range and upper mid-range segment of the market. The MediaTek Dimensity 800 will be officially launched in the first quarter of 2020 and we will probably see the phones powered by it in the third quarter of 2020; if not later.

The Dimensity Series

MediaTek launched the new Dimensity series in November. The first chip from the series –Dimensity 1000 came soon after the company’s partnership with Intel was official. The Dimensity 1000 is built on the 7nm process and comes with 8 cores (4× 2.6 GHz Cortex-A77 + 4× 2.0 GHz Cortex-A55). Upon its release, MediaTek claimed that it was the most power-efficient 5G chip in the smartphone world. The Helio M70 5G modem integrated into the chip resulted in a compact chip with the added advantage of power efficiency.

With the launch of the Oppo Reno3 5G, we also came across Mediatek’s Dimensity 1000L. The 7nm chipset comes with 8 Cores (4 x 2.2 GHz Cortex-A77 + 4 x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A55 ). Other than the low clocked performance cores, it shares many of its specs with Dimensity 1000. There’s also the Helio M70 modem integrated for 5G connectivity.

The Dimensity 800

Though MediaTek hasn’t revealed anything about the Dimensity 800, rumors have already started circulating the internet about its alleged specs.

The model number of the chip is thought to be MT6873. As we can guess from the moniker, the new Dimensity 800 will pack less power than the previous Dimensity 1000 5G. It is said to be an octa-core chip (2 x A76 cores + 6 x A55 cores).

According to MyDrivers, the Dimensity 800 will be based on the same architecture as the Dimensity 1000L chip but will be smaller with reduced manufacturing cost than the latter. The Dimensity 800 will also come with dual-mode 5G support as in the Dimensity 1000 and the Dimensity 1000L. It might even feature the Helio M70 modem that we saw in the previous chips.

Launch And Competitors

The Dimensity 800 will first be presented at CES 2020. The company is set to start mass production of the new Dimensity 800 in the second quarter of 2020. We might start seeing smartphones powered by this chip in the third quarter of 2020. The chip will compete against Kirin 800 series and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7-series.

Huawei Y9s now available in Nepal: Affordable mid-ranger with Pop-up camera

Nikhil Shrestha

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December 31, 2019

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Huawei Y9s now available in Nepal: Affordable mid-ranger with Pop-up camera

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 Huawei Y9s which brings a pop-up camera and Kirin 710F chipset to the mid-range price segment in Nepal.

Huawei Y9s Specifications

Body: 6.42 x 3.04 x 0.35 inches; 206 gm
Display: 6.59-inches “Huawei Ultra FullView” IPS LCD panel
Resolution: Full-HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels); 19.5:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: Hisilicon Kirin 710F; 12nm Mobile Platform
CPU: Octa-core (4×2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4×1.7 GHz Cortex-A53)
GPU: Mali-G51 MP4
RAM: 6GB
Storage: 128GB (expandable up to 512GB)
Software & UI: Android 9.0 (Pie) with Huawei’s EMUI 9.1 on top
Rear Camera: Triple-camera;
– 48 MP, f/1.8 primary shooter
– 8MP, f/2.4 ultra-wide-angle lens
– 2MP, f/2.2 depth sensor
– Single LED flash
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.

Also Read: Huawei Mobile Price in Nepal [Updated]

Camera

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.

Model Name	Price in Nepal	Available stores
Huawei Y9s (6/128GB)	Rs 33,900	Dokoman Mobile Retail Shops

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.