In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Huawei’s founder and CEO, Ren Zhengfei has stated that the company could very well operate sans American technologies and the Trump Administration’s actions have only motivated Huawei to survive by themselves.
Huawei was placed under the “Entity List” by the US back in May, which essentially forbids any and all US-owned company to do business with the Chinese telecommunications manufacturer. Foreseeing potential spying from the Chinese government via Huawei’s networking equipment, the US enforced the blow against the company. Despite this, the company reported an increase in revenue and has been winning 5G contracts throughout the world.
Nothing’s stopping the Huawei train!
Ren Zhengfei: The Valiant Warrior for Huawei
Regarding the ongoing US-China trade negotiations, “We won’t be used as a bargaining chip.” said Mr. Ren. He emphasized that Huawei can survive whether or not it was allowed to buy components from US-based companies.
The company’s CEO diplomatically praised the US’ innovative capacity as well, saying that it will have no problem catching up with Huawei if they went ahead to develop 5G on their own.
When asked about his cross country road trip to the US in 1992, he expressed his surprise about the size of the US companies and drew attention to the fact that he doesn’t see America through an angle of hatred. Furthermore, he stated, “Since Huawei was founded, the spirit of Silicon Valley, the sleepless Silicon Valley spirit, has been imprinted in the mind of all our employees.”
The Elephant In The Room
The main reason for this whole debacle is the potential ability of the Chinese government to use Huawei’s assets to surveil the public. Defending against this argument, Ren Zhengfei compared the company to an automobile manufacturer. He said “What we sell is just the bare equipment. It is up to the clients to decide what to put in the trunk. The car factory doesn’t know what goods the car will carry.” He added that the carriers would be in charge of how they operate and not Huawei or the Chinese government.
[Credit: TWSJ]Taking a dig at the US government, he said “I don’t even know who is monitoring my phone. I don’t know which country, maybe America is eavesdropping on my phone calls.”
As things stand, Huawei is the unrivaled champion in the 5G arena, able to manufacture the technology at the lowest cost. US companies like Oracle and Cisco have openly admitted that they’re not on the same page as Huawei and it would be way too expensive and time-consuming to catch-up with the Chinese firm.
There have been ideas floating around that the US firms could hopefully license Huawei’s IP (Intellectual Property) in order to get the much-required boost in the 5G market. However, Huawei CEO mentioned that the company had yet to receive such a proposal from any US firm. Since the US has been inefficacious in persuading its allies against using Huawei’s 5G technology, the world is heading towards a telecommunication future supplied by the Chinese manufacturer.
So Where Exactly Is Huawei Hurting? (If At All)
Now this question has an obvious answer, unlike the US’ ambiguous and secretive approach to unsuccessfully hammering Huawei.
Google.
The entry in the entity list meant Huawei couldn’t buy components from any US companies. Though the company has managed to find solutions for most, Google and its suite of applications is one thing it doesn’t have the answer for. Despite this not being a problem in Huawei’s homeland China where most of Google’s services are already banned, the company needs Google if it wants to sell its smartphones in other markets.
Huawei unveiled its homegrown “Hongmeng/Harmony OS” to rival Android but admitted that it’s far from ready to hit the market, and it would rather ship its smartphones with Android and Google Mobile Services (GMS).
What Now?
It is obvious that the US’ attempt to crack down Huawei has been unsuccessful. The company is performing better than ever and slowly washing away its dependence from US companies. Ren Zhengfei has made it clear that Huawei can survive and effectively operate without the US. However, the company is still opening its arms to the US for resolving the whole situation.
If you thought that Xiaomi was going to just sit back for this week after launching the Mi CC9 Pro, then you were wrong. They still had something up their sleeve. Yup! Xiaomi also unveiled the new Mi Watch alongside the Mi CC9 Pro. In fact, this is the first-ever smartwatch that has MI branding.
With the launch of the Mi Watch, Xiaomi too has entered the foray of smartwatches. And it is not there just for the sake of it. This device actually has some serious features packed into it. So much so that Xiaomi has labeled it as “small phone on your wrist”.
Basically, Xiaomi Mi Watch has a 1.78-inch AMOLED display. And it has the always-on capability. It comes in a 44mm casing and the rear is made up of ceramic. For easy control, there’s a button and a crown on the right-hand side. And on the left, there’s the speaker and a microphone. The watch supports the usual smartwatch features such as Bluetooth, NFC, and eSIM support. These features allow the Mi Watch to operate autonomously.
In addition to the fitness apps in the smartwatch, the Mi Watch also includes swim tracking. Furthermore, it is compatible with Firstbeat’s performance analytics. This means that depending upon you’re exercise routine, the smartwatch is capable of giving you a detailed break down of your heart rate.
As for its UI, the watch uses the Xiaomi’s native MIUI specifically developed for watches. It functions on top of Google’s Wear OS. With over 40 built-in apps and an exclusive app store in which third-party developers can contribute, the potential for this watch seems unlimited. Theoretically, that is!
Moving on, the watch runs on Snapdragon Wear 3100 4G chipset. It has 1GB of RAM and 8GB storage. Talking about the battery, its 570 mAh battery can last for up to 36 hours. That too with 4G turned on! Furthermore, the 570 mAh battery is the biggest ever battery in a smartwatch.
Pricing and Availability
The Mi Watch will be available in the Chinese market from the 11th of November. The retail price for a standard version of the watch will be CNY 1,299 ($185). The Premium Edition will, however, will be available at the price of CNY 1,999($285). This Premium Edition Mi Watch has a sapphire crystal screen. Moreover, it comes with a stainless-steel frame and band.
Talking about its availability in Nepal, or the lack of it, there’s no official statement yet. In fact, there has been no word about Xiaomi Mi Watch’s international availability.
However, for the hardcore fans of Xiaomi, you might just get to buy them from the grey market. The same was the case for the Mi Band 4. So, don’t be disheartened so soon. Who knows you might just get your hands on them!
What’s a company gotta do these days to stay competitive in business, huh? There’s no one definitive answer to that question it seems. The smartphone industry has gotten crazy competitive in practically every price segment. “Oh, let me just launch a budget phone with dual cameras. I mean that’s pretty impressive, right?” Nope, here come a bunch of competitors with same or at times even better camera setups and/or improvements in other aspects. All this sounds eerily similar to what Samsung’s going through right now. The South Korean conglomerate has been losing its dominance in markets around the world, which as a result is hurting its business. Let’s see why.
In recent times, the smartphone industry has seen a new and positive trend – great phones at an affordable price. You no longer have to spend a fortune to own a decent smartphone. This is thanks to the ever-growing market and the Chinese manufacturers’ production capability. Budget and mid-range devices now generate as much hype and devotion as flagship devices. It’s a win-win situation! While Samsung still wears the crown in the flagship market, OEMs like Xiaomi, Vivo, Realme are absolutely dominating the mid-range section. Heck, even Apple released a cheaper iPhone 11!
Now let’s get to Samsung. The company has admittedly never been known for its budget and mid-range devices. Though its flagship devices are really something, Samsung has always struggled in the lower-end market. ‘J’ and ‘A’ series smartphones of the past were really weird and underwhelming as to what they packed for the price, with far better options widely available in the market. In a time where the mid-range market was getting more and more crucial, the company was failing at just that.
As a countermeasure, Samsung did an overhaul of its budget and mid-range devices in late 2018. It scrapped the dreaded ‘J’ series for an all-new ‘M’ series, while also revamping the ‘A’ lineup with the latest design trends and new naming convention.
Another complaint about Samsung’s phones was the UI – Samsung Experience. Despite being noticeably better than the predecessor, it was still not everyone’s cup of tea. Hence, the company did an overhaul of its mobile UI as well and introduced “One UI” which has gotten praise for its simplistic approach.
Moving on, Samsung’s new releases were honestly quite refreshing. The company ditched the old-design model with big bezels and hardware buttons and rather went with minimal bezels and a cleaner display; something you’re used to seeing in a much expensive phone. All hard work should pay, now shouldn’t it? Though Samsung wasn’t able to take the budget and mid-range market by storm, these tactics saw significant success for the company. As a result, it had something to show for even in the non-flagship territory.
Months later, ‘s’ iterations of the ‘M’ and ‘A’ series began hitting the stores.
So you see, that’s where the trouble began. Those upgrades. Those damn upgrades!
I don’t know who thought of it, or who approved of it. But I do know this, they are bad phones for “an upgrade”. Samsung should’ve put a lot more effort into coming up with the next iteration of these smartphones. Because the predecessors were the hit that they were, people obviously expected Samsung to do an even better job but boy were we in for a surprise.
It seems as if the company is only trying to push out new phones while thinking little to nothing about their specs. Let’s just look at the handy table below which lists major differences between the ‘s’ variant of the ‘A’ series from the non-‘s’ variant.
Phone
Most significant differences from its non-‘s’ predecessor
A10s
A slightly better chipset; an additional depth sensor; a slightly bigger battery
A20s
A downgraded LCD panel from AMOLED; an additional depth sensor
A30s
A downgraded HD+ panel from FHD+; an additional depth sensor; optical fingerprint scanner to physical; a slight bump in camera specs
A50s
The main shooter on the back upgraded to a 48MP one; selfie camera upgraded to 32MP
A70s
The main lens on the back upgraded to a 64MP one
4 words – “It’s not enough, Samsung!“
Are we being unfair to and unreasonable against Samsung here? No, I don’t think so and I reckon the table speaks for itself. Just imagine how the tech world would react if the only upgrade in the next Galaxy S11 was a slight bump in camera spec and literally nothing more. The revamped product line had managed to garner a certain level of following and I feel Samsung has let them down.
In a time where manufacturers are coming up with more and more competitive devices, Samsung will once again have to come up with some radical changes to stay in the market, should the current strategy follow suit. The company has been consistently losing its market share in many parts of the world including Nepal. Take our neighboring country India for example. Samsung’s market share shrunk down to 20% in Q3 2019 from 23% in Q3 2018, while Realme managed to leap ahead to 16% from 3% within the same time period.
Credit: 91Mobiles
Companies like Xiaomi, Realme have been delivering top-notch smartphone upgrades time and again. Let’s take a look at Redmi’s Note line of smartphones. Why does every new iteration in this series manage to be a huge hit in the market? It’s because the company does something sensibly new with every addition, be it design, camera, or other aspects.
The thing is, we as an audience are already bored of the smartphone industry. Thus, it’s a real challenge for the manufacturers to get us hyped for new phones. Only some head-turning features grab our attention, like the new Xiaomi Mi Note 10 with an industry-first Penta-camera setup. It is up to the manufacturers to keep the consumers’ attention alive towards its products and when Samsung went on and soul-crushingly failed to do that in its mid-range series, it broke our hearts.
It had been coming for a while. Rumors were rife all over the internet. And now it’s finally official. Yes! the highly anticipated Mi CC9 Pro is finally official. The official statement also confirmed that the device will have five cameras on the back with the primary being a massive 108MP. The Mi CC9 Pro is also called the Mi Note 10 in Nepal. The good news is the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 could launch in Nepal as early as March.
Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Specs Overview
The Mi Note 10 has a big 6.47-inch Super AMOLED panel with Full HD+ resolution. And an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. Furthermore, it has curved edges which means users will find it easier to hold the device despite its size. There’s also a waterdrop style notch upfront which houses the 32 MP selfie camera.
Moreover, the device runs on Snapdragon 730G. This is an octa-core CPU with two cores running at 2.2GHz. So, theoretically, there shouldn’t be any sloppiness in terms of performance.
The main highlight of this device, however, is undoubtedly its array of five cameras on the back. Not just five cameras, there are two pairs of LED flashes on the back too. The main 108MP lens uses the Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor. Furthermore, it has been announced that there will be an F/1.7 8P lens too. However, that’s limited to premium editions only. Nevertheless, it still makes the Mi Note 10 the first-ever smartphone to feature such a lens.
In addition to that, there’s a telephoto lens with OIS. It can provide 5x optical zoom which can reach 50x once it enters the digital mode. There’s also a 20 MP ultrawide lens with 117-degree FOV. The tiniest lens of the lot is a 2-10 cm macro lens. This along with the other cameras provide closeups of details from 1.5 cm distance. This is another feet altogether. That’s because it is the closest-ever distance achieved by a smartphone.
The five-camera array is completed by a portrait lens. Now, this too is not your everyday 2MP depth sensor. It can work as a 12MP telephoto lens with a 2x zoom. All these suggest that this camera setup gets you 50mm focal length which spells for a great perspective.
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 also tops DXOMark rating with an overscore of 121. However, DXOMark scores heavily rely on the number of cameras the phone has and its zoom capabilities. So, you can take the score as a grain of salt. In the raw camera comparison, the iPhone 11 or the Pixel 4 still outperforms the Mi Note 10.
Another highlight of the Mi Note 10 is its huge 5260 mAh battery. Now, this one is the biggest of the lot among the 2019 edition Xiaomi phones. This large battery implies that you should get around two days of normal usage on a full charge.
Bigger battery means that you’ll have to wait a considerable amount of time for the device to charge. However, this problem is also taken care of. You get 30W wired charger that helps the device to charge up to 58% in just 30 minutes. And charging it to 100% should take about 65 minutes. Now, though it is not the fastest out there, it’s still a great achievement considering the huge battery.
Mi Note 10 is already available in China as Mi CC9 Pro. The available variants are 6/128GB and 8/256GB. Their respective prices are CNY 2,799 ($400) and CNY 3,099 ($440). The aforementioned Premium Edition, however, has 8/256GB storage and is priced at CNY 3,499 ($500) Official sales, however, will only begin on November 11 from Xiaomi’s official channels in China.
In Nepal, Xiaomi might launch the Mi Note 10 as early as March of this year. Since Mi Nepal is honest with their pricing, the base variant should not exceed Rs. 55,000.
Oh, you’ve heard of Nokia. At its highest of highs and lowest of lows, the company’s been through a rollercoaster in the last couple of decades. Reminds me of the poem about King Ozymandias. Anyways, Nokia found its salvation through HMD Global, which has been bringing out its brand of smartphones on the market since 2016. The latest mid-range Nokia device to hit the Nepalese market is the Nokia 7.2, but is it the phone to look for under the 25,00 price range in Nepal?
Packing a pure Android experience, a sturdy build quality, and of course the nostalgic Nokia logo, its products have managed to garner mixed reactions from the crowd. The “mixed” part could be blamed on the pricing strategy. While Chinese manufacturers have been coming up with better phones at a cheaper price, the Finnish firm’s devices were a tad bit expensive, especially in Europe and other western markets. However, rejoice Nepalese Nokia enthusiasts because I have a piece of exciting news for you. The latest mid-ranger from the company – Nokia 7.2, has launched in Nepal exclusively through online channels. [Update: It is also available via mobile retail shops]
Nokia 7.2 Overview
Imagine this article was about the Nokia 9 PureView. Then I’d have had to title this section as “Nokia 9 PureView Overview”. Boy, that would’ve been a mouthful!
Design & Build
Talking about the Nokia 7.2, let’s start with its design. As with most Nokia phones, this one too has a premium-y build quality. It is built with a “high-tech polymer composite” which according to the company is 2X stronger than regular polycarbonate found in other mid-range or budget devices. Similarly, the phone is treated with a metal chassis finish giving it a stylish, yet grippy build. Both volume rockers and the power button are housed on the right side, while your SIM card(s) and microSD card will go on the left. On a related note, the power button also functions as a notification LED, which is kinda cool.
Camera
On the back, you’ll find the triple camera setup with Zeiss branding and a LED flash placed inside a circular bump, reminiscent of the long lost Nokia Lumia 1020. The main lens here is an HDR-enabled 48MP one, with quad-pixel binning technology. While this may not stand head-to-head against Google’s Night Sight, it’s still something. There’s already a GCam port for the Nokia 7.2 so don’t scratch your head too much. Additionally, a fingerprint sensor is present just below the cameras.
Moving on, there’s an 8MP ultrawide sensor with a 118º field-of-view and a 5MP depth sensor for portrait shots. Coming to the front, you get a single 20MP lens inside the teardrop notch for your selfies. As a matter of fact, the front camera also embeds the Pixel Binning technology.
Display
Nokia 7.2 has a decent 6.3-inch IPS LCD Full-HD+ (2280 x 1080) panel. This may be a bummer to some since its direct competition in the Nepalese market, the Mi A3 boasts a more vibrant AMOLED panel, though with a lower HD+ resolution. Adding insult to the injury is the dated Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protecting the phone. However, Nokia’s proprietory “PureDisplay” technology transforms every content in real-time to HDR which is something to be joyous about.
Though there’s a small cutout on the top for the selfie camera, the phone has a significantly noticeable bezel on the bottom with “Nokia” branding. It may be a turnoff for some, but personally, I like it.
Performance & Memory
Let’s get to the performance department. Since Nokia 7.2 is a mid-range device, you’re bound to get a mid-range chipset as well. That’s just how it goes. However, Nokia has gone with the 2-year old Snapdragon 660 chipset here, rather than something new like the Snapdragon 665 inside the Mi A3. Bummer! The processor is ok to put it nicely, but Nokia could’ve made a better choice nonetheless. On the memory front, you get either 4/6GB of RAM and 64/128GB of internal storage. The one launching in Nepal will have a 4/64GB configuration.
Similarly, the phone is a part of the Android One program. Bloatware, be gone!
Thus, you get stock Android experience and the fastest software and security updates. Nokia 7.2 runs on Android 9.0 (Pie) and will get the latest Android 10 update fairly soon.
Battery
HMD has upped the battery capacity on the Nokia 7.2 to 3500 mAh from its predecessor’s mere 3060 mAh. Though it’s not that huge of an upgrade, we’ll take it nevertheless. The phone’s AI-assisted Adaptive Battery should, in theory, help the juice running a little longer but I wouldn’t put my 100% faith in that. Charging the phone could be a hiccup to most people since it supports only 10W charging which is pretty slow to today’s standard.
Miscellaneous
Other notable features of the phone include a dedicated Google Assistant button on the left, which can be remapped using third-party applications. Similarly, you get a 3-months 100GB Google One subscription for free.
Nokia 7.2 Specifications
Body: 6.30 x 2.96 x 0.33 inches; 180 gm
Display: 6.3-inches IPS LCD “PureDisplay” panel
Resolution: Full-HD+ (2280 x 1080 pixels); 19:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660; 14nm Mobile Platform
The official price of Nokia 7.2 in Nepal is Rs 23,999 and it is available through Sastodeal.com and offline mobile retail shops across Nepal. The pricing looks great because it was launched in Europe with a hefty €300 price tag.
Model Name
Price in Nepal
Available stores
Nokia 7.2 (4/64GB)
Rs 23,999
Sastodeal
Mobile Retail Shops
Is the Nokia 7.2 the best phone under Rs. 25,000? Well, if you want stock android experience, regular updates, and good design, Nokia 7.2 would be a decent choice. However, you do get better performance and cameras on the Redmi Note 7 Pro. So, the choice is yours!
Huawei is the world’s largest telecom equipment maker and the second largest when it comes to smartphones. And the company was doing well in its business with its innovative products and remarkable progress in the 5G technology. But as the company got enlisted in the US government’s entity list, Huawei received a massive blow. And as the US companies like Google, Qualcomm, and ARM started cutting ties with Huawei, its vigor seems quite faltered. Because of the lack of Google apps, the latest flagship smartphones from the company wasn’t appreciated much in the markets outside of China. However, this brutal trade ban seems to loosen up a little as the US government is reconsidering to grant licenses to US companies, who are willing to trade with Huawei.
The trade ban took a toll on both sides. As Huawei received a business denial from multiple US companies, it was obvious that it suffered more. And to cope with the situations, there were rumors about Huawei working on the alternatives. Huawei’s home-baked Hongmeng OS was considered one of such alternatives. But the recent progress has cued that Huawei still has better chances to continue with Google’s Android ecosystem.
Huawei was considered a threat to US national security and the government had decided to halt the trade that would help the company in its business endeavors. But in July, the US Commerce Department announced its plans to grant special trade licenses to the local tech companies to continue its business ties with Huawei. But Huawei wasn’t removed from the entity list and still was considered as the threat for US national security. So there was a plan to allow trade licenses for the tech companies and on the products, which wouldn’t pose a threat to US national security. After the announcement, 130 US companies applied for the application.
As time passes by, there has also been an increased interest to continue business with Huawei. Wilbur Ross, the US Commerce secretary has confirmed that the number of applications has doubled to 260. The secretary also assured that the Commerce Department would start issuing the licenses “very shortly”. However, in the interview with Bloomberg Ross explicitly stated that the department has reviewed all the applications submitted but only a few of them are likely to get the certification.
Remember too with entity lists there’s a presumption of denial. So the safe thing for these companies would be to assume denial, even though we will obviously approve quite a few of them. – Wilbur Ross
Among the 260 applicants, there must be companies like Google and Qualcomm. So if these companies get a green signal for the trade partnership with Huawei, we might be able to see new Huawei and Honor phones with Google apps and tech from Qualcomm. Since Huawei’s Mate 30 series lacked the charm in the international market because of the absence of Google apps, the company could even consider releasing the phone for the international market including Google services.
As November 19 is the deadline for Huawei phones to receive updates and security patches from Google, this step could also avoid any new security holes being exploited by third parties.
Although this new lead has given a glimpse of hope to Huawei, the Commerce Department hasn’t revealed any timelines how this licensing program would move forward. There have been no mentions about when the Department would start providing licenses and when the companies could continue their business with Huawei.
Remember the OPPO A7 we reviewed last year, it was well, not on par with the competition, in fact, it was one of the worst value for money smartphone of 2019. Now, they have launched its successor, the A9 2020.
And it’s obvious that OPPO wants their A series to succeed, so they have upped their game with this phone with better cameras and an upgrade in overall performance. But the competition within the midrange segment is crazy, so does the A9 2020 live up to its billing? We have tried to explain that in this OPPO A9 2020 review.
Connectivity: 3.5 mm audio jack, FM Radio, Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/ GLONASS/ Beidou
Battery: 5000mAh battery with fast charging
Price: Rs. 35,990
Design
Now, I’ve been using the A9 2020 as my everyday device for the past couple of weeks and the one I’ve has a marine green glass back. Dark, glossy and filled with gradient colors. I guess that’s what best describes its look. You’ll be able to see different patterns of reflection on it depending upon your viewing angle. Overall, I’m quite pleased with its design given its glass back as it makes me look like I’m actually holding an expensive premium phone.
One minor complaint that I have though with it is that the glass finish attracts smudges. You’ll feel a continual need to keep wiping the back as you’ll feel that the fingerprint marks on the back of your device are quite common. However, the good thing is that you actually get a clear case along with the device itself. But still, if you plan on using the device case-less, all I can say is Good Luck!
On the backside, you’ll also find the quad-camera setup (48MP + 8MP + 2MP +2MP), with 3 cameras aligned vertically above the fingerprint scanner and another one just beside the camera array along with the LED flash. The button placement in A9 2020 is pretty standard. There’s a power button on the right and the volume buttons on the left. Just above the volume buttons is the tray for dual nano-SIM and dedicated microSD card.
In front, there’s the 6.5-inch IPS LCD screen with a small water-drop notch on top. The notch also houses a 16MP selfie shooter. There’s also a call speaker on top too. However, there’s no LED light for notifications. It would have been great to keep track of battery charge status and notifications.
The loudspeaker, a USB Type-C port, microphone, and a 3.mm headphone jack. All of it is housed in the bottom rim and the top rim is completely devoid of any. Now, I’ve no complaints about others however, the placement of the headphone jack really bugged me. Maybe it’s because I’m used to having one on top. Whatever it is, it is just one minor complaint from my side and others may not feel the same way. Well, to each their own, isn’t it?
Display
Moving on to the display, the OPPO A9 2020 has a 6.5-inch HD+ IPS screen. It receives protection courtesy of the Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Thin bezel surrounds the devices’ screen. Now it does gives the device an aesthetically pleasing look however I did find the thick chin intrusive while watching YouTube videos in landscape mode.
The 720p resolution that the device offers is one of the biggest drawbacks of this device. I mean it costs upwards of 35K and what we are left with is a screen that has a low resolution simply does not do justice to its price. Don’t get me wrong, its display is fine as you’ll get good color and will be able to notice sharp enough details, however, the cost that you’ll be paying for this device is just too much.
I was already complaining about the Mi A3 which had too offered a 720p resolution. But at least it had an AMOLED panel. This phone in comparison does not even have an OLED panel. I think that 720p resolution should stay in the sub 20k smartphones. If you’re planning to go beyond the 35K mark at least include an FHD display or better yet throw in an OLED panel along with it too! An expensive smartphone with an average display is simply a huge bummer.
Software and UI
Now for the UI, the OPPO A9 uses the Android 9 Pie with Color OS 6.0.1 on top. Although I am not a big fan of Color OS, as compared to Realme phones, I found the UI to be better from Icons to transition.
Also, with the Color OS, you’ll probably not feel any lags while using it. Switching between the apps is also no problem as everything is very smooth. I think the smoothness is further complemented by its RAM which is a huge 8GB.
I found the UI to be highly customizable too. you can choose whether you want an app drawer or not the screen layout and even customize the ways you want your navigation buttons to be arranged. Furthermore, you get features such as smart driving and smart assistant which despite being common in smartphones these days might come in handy.
Now, the device does come pre-installed with many apps, however, you can easily uninstall them if you want.
Performance
I was actually present during the launch of this device and in their presentation, they had showcased it as a smartphone in which you can easily play games without any hindrance. Now, the 8 GB RAM does complement that statement and you can easily play games such as mobile legends, PUBG, and Call of duty on this device and that too with the minimum frame rate. However, I do not think you’re getting the very best with this. For god sake, it is powered by the Snapdragon 665 SoC. Not that it is not a good chipset, but again it does not quite match the price range of the device. They could’ve easily opted for the Snapdragon 675 SoC which guarantees better performance. But no, here too they have compromised.
Then again there’s the lingering issue of the display too. while playing PUBG you cannot go above the balanced graphics settings with minimum frame rates on this device. But the gameplay is indeed smooth even while playing in the maximum supported setting of games that the device supports. So, if you’re okay playing games in the lowest possible settings then, I’ve got nothing to say.
One plus point, however, is the sound quality. Thanks to the Dolby Atmos support, the device produces clear and loud enough sound which has a good depth to it. But then again, you’ll find that its bass support is not that great. Good thing that they’ve included a headphone jack.
Camera
Another aspect that the company has heavily focused on the device is its camera. Rear quad-cam with 48MP primary sensor. Front camera with improved AI algorithms, new night mode, and whatnot. From the outside, I felt that okay, so the cameras’ got to be pretty awesome on this.
On the rear, the device has a quad-camera setup. It comprises of a 48MP primary lens, an 8MP ultra-wide, 2MP monochrome lens, and a 2MP depth sensor. And honestly speaking, shooting photos from the rear camera is a hit or miss situation.
Now, to capturing perfect photos each time is a tedious task with the A9 2020’s camera. You need to shoot under good lightings and maintain focus to get the best results. Your perfectly captured photos will showcase accurate colors and you’ll see that it is pretty sharp too. However, the rest of the time, you get photos that look good on a surface level but as you zoom in it’s all grainy and lacks enough detail.
Images from Main camera
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Capturing an image in low light is also not so great with its camera. Usually, I could see that my photos came out grainy. However, there is this night mode feature that you can make use of while taking night time photos. And indeed, you’ll be able to see a significant difference in quality between your normal low-light photo and those captured using the Night Mode.
Low light images
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Normal mode
Normal mode
Night mode
So much so that I think that the night mode is a single good thing about its rear camera. You can see for yourself the obvious difference in the quality of the images captured with and without the night mode.
I was not impressed by the portrait images either. OPPO has included multiple filter options for portrait mode too. Seven to be exact! But what’s the use of all this filter if the portrait camera does not do what it’s supposed to.
I mean you’ll face several instances where you’ll find asking more of the blur effect on backgrounds as the bokeh could miss parts of the background. Here too, you’ll need everything to be perfect in order to capture a good portrait image.
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Moving on to the front camera, OPPO A9 2020 has a 16MP selfie shooter housed in the notch upfront.
And I’ve to say rather than the quadruple rear camera. The photos come out great as you can observe good details and pretty good color in your selfie. It does have a lot of AI work going in the background and your selfies might not necessarily give a natural look but the quality is good enough to be uploaded on Facebook or Instagram. Low-light selfies might come out a bit grainy but still, they seem good enough.
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Normal Selfie
Portrait Selfie
Normal Selfie
Portrait Selfie
Normal Selfie
Normal Selfie
In more than one instance, I was actually using the front camera more than its quad-rear camera. It’s much better at producing sharp images and you’ll find that the pictures pack sufficient details. And under perfect lightning, it can, in fact, produce a selfie that is tough to beat.
Normal Vs Wide angle mode
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normal mode
Wide angle mode
normal mode
Wide angle mode
normal mode
Wide angle mode
normal mode
Wide angle mode
normal mode
Wide angle mode
As far as video recording is concerned, the device is capable to capture 4K videos. Now, a good thing while recording the videos is that you can switch from normal to the ultrawide frame in a single video. Furthermore, there’s the added Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS). This comes in handy while capturing videos while moving. However, it too has a sort of a drawback as there’s a lack of focus.
Battery and security
The part in which OPPO has not made any compromises with this device is probably its battery. With a huge capacity of 5000mAh, the device in plain terms is power-bank. With a full charge, the device should easily give you a day and a half battery life. Depending upon the usage that is! It is obvious why its battery life is so huge. No, not just the battery size, the low-res HD+ display plays its role too.
In terms of security, the device pretty much has the standard passcode and biometrics. The biometrics, in fact, were quite impressive. The rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and the face unlock are pretty quick. However, I found the fingerprint to be much faster than the face-unlock. A9 2020’s face-unlock, in fact, performs well in low light conditions too.
Another safety feature that’s available on A9 2020 is the Privacy Passcode. it is used for app encryption and can further be bound by a security email or your OPPO ID. The manufacturer’s claim that its encryption happens on the chip level and is secure from brute-force attacks. Your device might not be so personal. I mean a friend, family member or an associate might just have access to your device once in a while. And you might have some files or apps that you want to remain private. this is where this feature comes into play. You can enable app encryption, choose to have an app icon hidden (if required can be accessed from the dialer) or have a private safe within your device. Now that’s neat, isn’t it?
Verdict
So, my verdict about the OPPO A9 is, Considering the price range, OPPO should have offered more. I mean its competitions are Redmi Note 8 Pro, Realme XT, and Vivo S1, which is near about the same price range provides more in terms of display and camera.
What I really add on to it is that this A series from OPPO is seriously underwhelming. And what’s strange is OPPO is launching K-series and Reno-Series phones in China and they are in fact worth the money. Better resolution and a much powerful processor.
For a like to like comparison, I guess it’s better if we take the K series. At a much cheaper price than the A9 2020, they offer AMOLED panel with full HD+ display. Not to forget the much better processor, for instance, the K3 in the K series offers. So, I guess it would have been better if the company focused more on the availability and improvement in the other series than in A series which do not meet the expectations whatsoever. If they at all cost want to push the A series then a serious improvement is needed because they cannot expect customers to go for it with such minimal performance and that too at what I think is a very high price.
So, to sum it up, even though the OPPO A9 2020 boasts some of the best specs out there, the actual performance does not match and its price is just too much as you can get better devices in the same price range. Thus, if it were up to me, I would probably go for a Redmi K20 or Galaxy M30s instead of the A9 2020.
Facebook, YouTube and what not? The ads are everywhere. And why wouldn’t it be? After all, the world’s biggest online sales day is coming soon. Yup! Daraz’s 11.11 sales day, is back with its second iteration here in Nepal. And this time, it promises to be a lot bigger than before.
11.11 last year was the first time that Daraz brought forth the World’s biggest Sales festival in Nepal. It was a big success. Otherwise, why would they even bother to bring in the second rendition of it? So, for those of you who participated last year, you probably have an idea about what 11.11 means. However, those new to it might find it a bit overwhelming. But worry not, that’s what I am here for. So, keep reading to know what it’s all about.
What is 11.11?
The Daraz 11.11 sales day is the world’s biggest 24-hour sales festival that is celebrated in all countries that fall under the Alibaba ecosystem. Though it is only the second time it is being organized in Nepal, it’s history dates a lot back.
First started in China 11 years ago, it was initially known as the “World’s Singles Day“. And over the year it has gotten so big that at one point it took over the Black Friday sales. So, their tagline of “world’s biggest online sales day” is not just a tagline thing. It is the world’s biggest online sales day!
11.11 is a 24-hour shopping thrill ride which I guess even those who shop rarely might find interesting. Basically, for 24 hours, people get to shop unlimited items at a heavily discounted price rate.
Daraz 11.11 this year in Nepal
The Daraz 11.11 this time around falls on November 11. It starts at midnight and continues to the end of the day. So, I guess potential shoppers will have to be prepared at 12:00 am sharp if they want to make the best out of this occasion. Once users log in to the site using their mobile apps they will be able to view exciting offers from their favorite sellers.
With the discount rates rising to 80%, along with multiple vouchers, giveaways, and whatnot, Daraz 11.11 is certainly a day to look out for. Furthermore, users will have multiple opportunities to get exclusive deals and offers.
For instance, there’s this Early Birds offer that allows a selected few early shoppers, a chance to utilize limited offers on the big day. Similarly, there are other programs within the 11.11 sales day such as Follow and Get, Bundle Offers, Hour Madness, Flash Sales and what not. Thus this year’s event certainly promises to be huge.
What’s new at Daraz 11.11 for 2019?
A recurring complaint among last year’s shoppers of the 11.11 was that they did not receive their orders in time. Or even if the did receive, most often they got items that they had not ordered.
So, how is Daraz going to mitigate all these this year? For start, they have planned to maintain a bigger warehouse complemented by a huge number of human resources. They are there to make sure that the right item is delivered to the right customer.
Furthermore, they have also introduced their delivery service. It includes 400 delivery riders, labeled as the Daraz Heroes. It’s their task to ensure that there is no significant delay in delivery and customers will not have a chance for complaints. Truly a heroic task they are responsible for. Hopefully, these changes that they have made will work towards mitigating Darazs’ 11.11 flaws from last year.
Moreover, this time digital pre-payments are introduced for the sales day. People can pay digitally while checkout itself and receive further discounts on their orders. Isn’t that great! It provides users to get cheaper deals from the increased number of Daraz Mall stores and brands.
Additionally, a better review system that includes image reviews and detailed product reviews allows shoppers to be certain about what they are buying. Customers can even chat directly with sellers to know more about the products. No compromises at all, when it comes to customer satisfaction. Now that’s commendable.
Not to forget, there’s a game zone option available in the Daraz app. You can play games and win gift vouchers. You earn vouchers in return for playing games. Online experience in Nepal has truly come a long way.
So with all this said and done, the 11.11 sales this year certainly looks like an exciting event. Hopefully, it will not disappoint.
News about Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) making it mandatory for people to register their mobile SIM card under the user’s own name has been surfacing lately. The directive is being placed into order because the government of Nepal is planning to launch the Nagarik app for citizens so that government services reach the people digitally and in a more efficient manner.
Previously, the government planned don using the Citizenship ID for the very purpose but now the government wants to deliver the app service by linking the customer’s mobile number with the app. This means that our mobile numbers will be used as unique IDs for the Nagarik app.
Some few years back, getting a SIM card was a tedious task, so people thought it easy to buy SIM cards from other people at a much much higher price. Because of such practices, today many people have their SIM cards registered in other people’s names. But now, NTA has requested all the citizens to carry SIM ownership in their own names.
How to change your SIM (both NTC and Ncell) ownership to your own names?
Whether you are an NTC user or a Ncell user, you can now transfer SIM ownership to your own names.
For NTC:
a. Visit NTC office counters with your citizenship ID. It’s better to carry the citizenship ID of the person whose name your SIM card is registered too along with yours (in case you have it).
b. Fill the SIM name transfer form.
For Ncell:
a. Visit the nearest Ncell centers and request the officials to get the name transferred. You will also need to carry proof that you have been using that particular SIM card.
In case, you don’t know who holds the ownership of the SIM card you are using, type *922# (For NTC) and *9966# (For Ncell)
What will happen if one does not transfer their SIM ownership to their own names?
As already mentioned, the government is planning to roll out a mobile application to enable people to use various government facilities. The people who fail to register their own names for their SIM cards will not be able to avail of those services.
Update: Govt has rolled out Nagarik App where it’s mandatory for your phone number to be registered in your name.
After its success with the budget Oppo A3s, Oppo launched Oppo A5s, in Nepal in April 2019. The device is a budget phone like its predecessor and now the company is offering its price has dropped since its launch. So, let’s check out the complete specifications, updated price, and availability of Oppo A5s in Nepal.
Oppo A5s Overview
The A5s only has a couple of subtle changes over the A5. It features a similar 6.2-inch IPS LCD display that comes in HD resolution. This screen has a 19:9 aspect ratio, a waterdrop notch, and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
Under the hood, the Oppo A5s is powered by the octa-core MediaTek Helio P35 processor. This CPU is coupled with PowerVR GE8320 GPU. The Oppo A5s is available in 2 GB and 3 GB RAM variants for the Nepali users. In terms of software, the device runs on the older Android v8.1 Oreo with ColorOS 5.2 on top as a skin.
Optics wise, the Oppo A5s comes with a dual-camera setup measuring 13-megapixel (primary) and 2-megapixel (depth). For selfies, Oppo has included an 8-megapixel selfie shooter with f/2.0 aperture.
The major USP of the Oppo A5s is definitely the 4,230 mAh battery which will go well with the HD resolution of the phone. The device houses a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner.
Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-mounted), Accelerometer, Proximity, and Compass
Oppo A5s Price in Nepal and Availability
After the price drop, the latest price of Oppo A5s in Nepal is Rs.16,790 for the 2/32GB variant and Rs.18,590 for the 3/32GB variant.
Model Name
Old Price
New Price in Nepal
Oppo A5s (2/32GB)
NPR. 19,990
NPR. 16,790
Oppo A5s (3/32GB)
NPR. 18,990
NPR. 18,590
The device is still one of the best phones to buy under the price of 20,000 in Nepal, however, you would want to pay more for even better unless you are really tight on budget.
