The number of smartphones these days is overwhelming. There are so many to choose from, and many times, it’s very confusing. Sometimes, the confusion is created by the name games smartphone companies play, and this one, here, looks nothing more than a name game. Vivo, reportedly, is launching a budget phone with triple cameras, dubbed the Vivo Y3, in China. But, the specs look all too familiar!
Overview
The Vivo Y3 looks pretty identical to the Vivo Y17. It has a plastic body with a large 6.35″ HD display. Its triple camera module comprises of a 13 MP primary lens, an 8 MP ultra-wide angle camera and a 2 MP depth sensor. This is fine and all, but does it remind you of something else? The Vivo Y17, perhaps?
To confirm the suspicions, even the rest of the specifications of the phone match. The Y3 runs on the Helio P35 chipset, supported by 4 GB of RAM. There’s also 128 GB storage and a massive 5000 mAh battery with 18-Watt Fast Charging. So, yes, everything, down to the last bit looks familiar.
Of course, it’s not unusual for brands to launch phones in different regions with different monikers. So, maybe the same Y17 that is launching in Nepal soon is the Y3 in China. Pricing is said to be around 1400 Chinese Yuan, but there are no other confirmations.
Vivo Y3 Specifications:
Display: 6.35″ IPS LCD with HD+ resolution (720 x 1544 pixels), 19.3:9 aspect ratio
Samsung has launched a variety of midrange smartphones this year. With their new A-series and M-series smartphones’ lineup, Samsung has quite handsomely populated the midrange territory. Amongst all the smartphones launched so far, not all of the handsets are available for purchase in India. Since India is a leading smartphone superpower, Samsung wouldn’t want to lose a land of 1.3 billion population. And a new teaser leak supports the statement. The leaked teaser hints that the smartphone giant seems to be striding to launch a new phone in India.
A new poster with Samsung branding came into limelight, which originated from the Twitter account of an Indian tipster Sudhanshu Ambhore (@Sudhanshu1414). The tipster claims that the poster is a teaser, which Samsung seems to be working on to announce a new upcoming phone in India. The teaser contains the text “#OMG” followed by “Coming Soon” right below it. In the #OMG, the “O” is highlighted with a slight green accent, where the rest of the texts are plain white. From this subtle design, we draw a conclusion that the upcoming Samsung smartphone in India would come with an Infinity-O display. Infinity-O is the fancy name for the displays with a punched-hole display like that on the flagship Galaxy S10 devices.
In the recent lineup of Samsung smartphones with Infinity-O display, there are two handsets yet to launch in India. The first one is the Samsung Galaxy A60, which was launched in China a few weeks back. There were rumors that the Samsung Galaxy A60 would be China exclusive phone. But with the teasers like this, we cannot be entirely sure about that.
Another possible option would be the Samsung Galaxy M40, which is yet to make an official debut. Nonetheless, the phone leaked on numerous occasions. Also, there were a fair number of speculations regarding its imminent launch in India. So that could also be another possible guess.
If we ignore the accented-O and focus on the rest of the text, we can deduce that Samsung is going to launch a phone in India, which could leave everyone awe-inspired. And among the vast list of Samsung phones, one of them is possibly the Galaxy A80. The A80 comes with a full-view display without any sorts of notches or punched-hole cutouts. It has a swiveling pop-up selfie camera, which can get everyone flabbergasted.
So what do you think? Which of the aforementioned device/devices is Samsung going to launch in India? Drop your thoughts in the comment section.
A few years back, we can only find bar phones and features phones at the entry-level price. But these days we can see some decent phones in the market available under $100 price mark. And I was always suspicious regarding such phones since we can see manufacturers making a ton of compromises to keep the prices low. But how different is the Samsung entry-level Galaxy A2 Core from the rest? And how good of a performer is it when it comes to real-life use? Let’s find out in this Samsung Galaxy A2 Core review.
Samsung Galaxy A2 Core specifications
5-inch (540 x 960 pixels) qHD TFT display
1.6GHz Octa-Core Exynos 7870 processor with Mali T830 GPU
1GB RAM, 16GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD
Android 9.0 Pie (Go edition)
Dual SIM
5MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture
5MP Front-facing camera
Dimensions:141.6 x 71 x 9.1mm; Weight: 142g
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS
2600mAh battery
Price: Rs. 9,390 Rs. 8,999
Design
On the side, the handset looks vaguely similar to the last year’s J2 Core. The plastic material on the back and thick bezels on the front with the Samsung branding on the chin is barely distinguishable. But what sets the A2 core apart is its glossy plastic back, which is non-removable this time. And since most of the entry-level devices come with the dull and cheap looking plastic material, the glossy finishing here has made the device somewhat elegant than the rest.
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Back
Bezels
Ports
Buttons
With glossy back, phones are usually slippery and they fall from the hands quite often. But that’s not the case here. The phone comes in small size and it rests comfortably on the hand. That’s why the device never slipped through my hands on the normal use.
But the thing I am not convinced about is the navigation buttons. Despite having a thick chin on the button, Samsung has included the navigation button on to the screen. I think Samsung could’ve done better than that.
Display
When it comes to the display, Samsung has employed a 5-inch qHD IPS panel here. Not the Quad-HD like the Galaxy S10 and S10+ but a quarter-HD, which is less sharp than the HD display. So you can’t quite find crispy details on its screen. Redmi Go has implemented HD resolution on its screen so I expected the same from Samsung. But that’s not the case here. But since it’s an entry-level device, we cannot really complain much about that, can we?
And talking about the brightness, you might have to struggle a little in the scorching sunlight but most of the time, the screen is legible. But since the device doesn’t have an ambient light sensor, users have to adjust the display brightness manually on time and often.
Camera
Now let’s talk about the camera. The phone comes with a 5MP camera on both the front and on the back. When it comes to the image quality, I found the rear camera surprisingly good for its price. Colors look good and the images have a good amount of details in the good light. Focusing can get tricky here though. So have to keep your hands steady while capturing the images.
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Also, dynamic range is not something to fuss about in an entry-level segment but if I had to speak about it, I would say it’s not that great here. Shadow details are completely crushed, so you have to manage with the details of the highlights only.
When it comes to the low light, the images look mushy and have quite a lot of noise on them. So they are mostly unusable.
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Talking about the selfie camera, it’s decent and does the job well most of the time. In ample light, the selfies look good with a decent amount of details. But in artificial light and low light condition, selfies look soft with the missing facial details. I don’t know if it’s really that important, but the phone also has a beauty mode.
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Selfie in Ample Light
Selfie in Artificial Light
Selfie in Ample Light
Selfie in Artificial Light
Selfie in Ample Light
On the videography side, both the cameras are capable of capturing 1080p videos at max.
The phone comes with Android Go version of the Android Oreo. With the Android Go on the board, you can see the Go or the Lite version of apps as well like the Gmail Go, Files Go, YouTube Go and so on.
When it comes to the performance part, the A2 Core really nails it on the entry-level segment. It comes with Exynos 7870 chipset and has 1GB of RAM under the hood. Since the Android Go is really optimized, the phone does well even with 1GB RAM. And with the Exynos 7870 chipset on the board, it handles most of the workloads pretty fluidly.
I couldn’t play PUBG and Asphalt 9 but when I played some heavy titles like the Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt 8, I didn’t face any major lags or stutters.
On the storage side of things, the phone rocks with a 16GB of onboard memory. It also comes with a dedicated SD card slot for memory expansion. With more storage, the A2 Core seriously has an edge over the Redmi Go. And I was also quite happy with this generosity on a Samsung phone.
Battery
Now the battery. The phone comes with a 2600mAh battery, which is not much according to the recent standards. But given the low-res display and the power-efficient chipset, the phone provides a good endurance. On my use, the phone always backed me up for more than a day on the normal use. At the end of the day, I was always left with 35% or more charge left on the phone. Standby backup is also pretty good here. So you have nothing worry here.
But I cannot say the same when it comes to charging the device. The phone comes with a 3.5-watt charger on the box, which you can already guess takes a significant time to charge the device.
Conclusion
So the Samsung Galaxy A2 Core is a great phone with amazing performance, a good amount of storage, good design for its price and obviously it’s budget-friendly price. It goes super easy on the wallet and does most of the job really good.
I would have loved to see an HD display and a faster charger but I think that’s some cutdowns Samsung made to keep the price low. And that sort of downsides are usually evident on the entry-level devices. So if you are thinking of buying an entry-level smartphone for your old folks or even for yourself, you can’t go wrong with the A2 Core.
So, for the last couple of days, the new Google Pixel 3A and 3A XL has gathered quite a lot of attention, and obviously for good reasons. The same great Pixel 3 camera for some half the price! Sweet, right? But they’re not the best value for money devices!
Why? Let’s start with the “same camera” on both. There’s actually a slight difference. The hardware is the same – both use the same Sony IMX363 sensor and have Google’s all-powerful photography computing, however, the image processing is a bit slower on the 3A.
Compared to Pixel 3, the 3A takes some 2 seconds more to produce a final image after processing. That’s because the 3A lacks the Pixel Visual Core Camera – which is a dedicated image processor on the high-end Pixel devices. So, the 3A devices depend solely on the ISP (Image Signal Processors) of the chipset – in this case, the Spectra 250, due to which it takes a longer to produce the final image output.
Still, compared to the Huawei P30 Pro and Galaxy S10 Plus, the camera outshines both. Because, who are we kidding? It’s the same camera sensor and software…apart from that tiny detail. Plus, you get Google’s full-fledged Night Sight feature on this device. So, needless to say, the camera on this device is absolutely amazing…you just have to live with slower processing.
The front camera, however, has been toned down. It is, now, an 8 MP camera, which still, produces great results. For videos, you get OIS and EIS support, so, they’re definitely going to be stable.
But what’s great here, is the software. Being Google’s devices, they run on the latest version of Android Pie, not to mention they’ll get the latest of software updates and security patches till October 2021.
The display on these differs from the Pixel 3 devices, too. The 3A has a 5.6” display and the 3AXL has a bigger 6-inch display. However, what’s different, here, is the display panels. Pixel 3 devices came with P-OLED panels, which meant plastic OLED screens. This time, around, they went with gOLED. And as much as I’d like to know what gOLED really means, Google hasn’t really specified what it stands for.
But whatever that may mean, the display with Full HD+ resolution still look sharp and vibrant. Although, it comes with a less popular DragonTail glass protection on top. However, despite the good displays, Google didn’t seem to care enough to reduce the bezels on these. It still rocks the old school design – at a time when water-drop notches or punch-hole displays are the trends. In this crowd, it looks like a phone straight outta 2017.
But then again, maybe Google wanted to differentiate it from others. And since it’s a toned down version of Pixel 3, maybe they didn’t want to deviate from their signature design. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Also, on the design front, it goes fully polycarbonate from the glass back. But for the price, a plastic body seems like a bit too less.
Another step down here is the performance. It runs on the Snapdragon 670, which is a decent performer, but competitors, for similar pricing are packing more powerful chipsets – like the Pocophone F1, Realme 3 Pro, and the Redmi Note 7 Pro. So, maybe, they should’ve gone with a Snapdragon 730, or even 675?
Again, another letdown is the storage. There’s 64 GB onboard, but no expandable option. 64 GB, in 2019, feels like the bare minimum, and there are no other variants with larger storage. What’s more disappointing is that you don’t get to store your original images in Unlimited Storage – only a high-quality version.
While we’re still talking about letdowns, the battery isn’t that great, either. The Pixel 3A gets a 3000 mAh battery while the 3AXL has a 3700 mAh battery. Although its bigger than what we saw on both the 3 and 3XL, it isn’t much compared to the likes of Samsung, Realme and Redmi mid-rangers. So, the endurance takes a hit, too.
With all these, I can’t exactly say these are great phones. Actually, they do seem good…it’s just the competition seems better. Of course, the camera prowess is unmatched, but the price is, too. For a starting price of $399 in the US, it might be a good deal. But, the pricing is not the same in every country.
And If you look at the price in India, they cost like INR. 40,000 and INR.45000 respectively, for which, you can get the upcoming Oneplus flagship with fancier designs, bigger displays, and better processors.
And not to mention, Phones like Redmi Note 7 Pro and Realme 3 Pro come at half the price! Moreover, Realme X and Redmi K20 Pro are launching soon, so I would rather wait for those phones.
What Google’s selling, however, is the brand name, those crisp stock Android software updates and the cameras of course. But still, for the price, the Pixel 3A and 3AXL don’t look all that appealing to me.
In the end, it comes down to what you prefer…if you want to have a standout Google device, you won’t really go wrong with them, but if you prefer value for money, I just think there’s plenty of fish in the sea!
When was the last time that you were wowed by a smartphone? I mean…really wowed…not just thought “Well that’s cool!” but really fascinated by? For me, I can remember two moments – one when the OnePlus 2 came out, and next when the Google Pixel was launched. Now, of course, there have been moments far more revolutionizing – like the 1st iPhone, for instance, but I was too young to remember that.
The First iPhone
But the first iPhone was a revolution, no doubt. Before that, the concept of a multi-touch screen was wacky. The first iPhone, however, limited by its inability to record video or having no selfie camera, was a big step for mankind in smartphone technology. Today’s phones, however, with giant vibrant touch-screens and four or five cameras, seem like nothing but add-ons.
And that makes me think “Did we go wrong somewhere?” Because even after having the most powerful of processors, and featuring everything from flashlights, wallets, music players, alarms, and what-not, phones are not as exciting as they used to be.
All about additions
Reviewing smartphones were exciting. These days…it’s not the phones that excite me, but only certain features in them. The point is, there hasn’t been any drastic changes/upgrades in smartphones, especially in recent years. New phones launch year after year, and despite millions of them selling around the world, phones are becoming more similar to one another than ever. All we see, in the latest iteration of phones are faster processors, more RAM, more storage, and more cameras.
This might sound hypocritical because our smartphone reviews seem exciting. But the reason is, some features of new smartphones are really exciting. For instance, the cameras of the latest Huawei P30 Pro and the new Dynamic AMOLED displays in the Galaxy S10 series, are fascinating. But even so, smartphones are going from aspirational to inspirational!
Smartphones don’t solve problems anymore!
What I mean is, we’ve actually run out of actual problems for smartphones to solve. These devices have matured to something that does almost everything we want them to? And so, we’re instead creating new problems and running around trying to solve them?
What am I talking about? Well, was a full bezel-less display really necessary? Because to solve that very problem, we employed notches to tear-drop notches to punch-holes and pop-up cameras! And some phones like the ZTE Nubia X removes selfie cameras completely for dual screens! What is really the point?
One of the reasons for such crazy development is that we’ve reached the innovation ceiling. Where do we go from here? And so, companies are bringing out features, not innovation. Smartphones are becoming so good, they’re boring now. Everyone is introducing the latest and the best. The race is over…everyone’s winning! But the thing is, when everyone becomes special, no one really is!
Some are still trying…
Again, some are trying really hard to stand out! Foldable phones were but a concept. And now, we have the Royole Flex Pai, Galaxy Fold, Huawei Mate X, and a bunch more to come! See what I mean? An idea is not much of innovation because, everyone will sooner, or later, come out with the same stuff. In a few years, we will be bored with foldable phones too!
Then there’s the Energizer Power Max P18K, trying to sell a phone attached to a massive battery. Kudos to them for trying, but that is too crazy of an idea for us to get behind!
What we can all agree on, however, is that smartphone innovation has come to a crawl. Smartphone makers are having a hard time justifying the yearly upgrade cycles, and people are upgrading their phones less and less. Smartphones have become great at lasting longer – because they’re actually quite good!
What are the reasons?
The reason we don’t really see anything drastically new is that companies come up with, or rather HAVE to come up with new smartphones every year. One year may not be enough time to create something really innovative…but if they don’t, their market share takes the hit…and the competition is really tough!
Another reason is profit maximization. Of course, companies need profit to exist, but I believe that this has led to companies doing the bare minimum when it comes to phones. They just slap on a subtle improvement over the same phone, brand it as something else, and off it goes into the market. Take the Redmi Y3, for example – a newly launched device, but it’s basically the Redmi 7 with a 32 MP selfie camera!
In addition, since there isn’t much room to improve on the hardware front, it’s the software that companies are starting to focus on. For example, Huawei’s all about that AI experience – using AI in everything – from the camera, to performance and well, almost everything. Samsung shoots out raw power, while Apple focuses mostly on its ecosystem. And while good software does lead to better user experience, it isn’t a convincing factor for people to go and buy a new smartphone year after year.
What’s Next?
So, yes, smartphones have, I think, reached this ceiling…to go beyond that, we’d need something crazy, yet something that’ll also prove to be useful. Smartphones, right now, are about evolution, not revolution. And I don’t think any such revolution is right around the corner. More of the same is coming. And Key-Note speeches of new phones are already getting boring, and in a year or two, I don’t think I’ll even be interested in any of them.
Companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars and work tirelessly to implement new tech, but what we have right now, is pretty good too. So, what happens next is anyone’s guess. Either we’ll have to live with what we have now…or go for something weird that’s coming.
The Huawei P30 Pro’s been gathering quite the attention with the cameras it’s packing. And comparing its cameras to the GalaxyS10 or S10 Plus has been the hot topic these days. And most of these comparisons have been yielding the same result, people – the P30 Pro does better in some aspects while the S10 shines out in another. One of the aspects, however, was the low-light images, or the Night mode. And we compare both the phones in those aspects in Huawei P30 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode.
With the latest update on the S10 series, it made the Night Mode on it a dedicated feature. Samsung devices previously had this feature as Bright Light, which was under Scene Optimizer. But now, it’s right there in the Camera UI for convenience. And that was necessary because other rival flagships all have that feature.
Google Pixel 3 and the Huawei P30 Pro’s Night Modes have gathered quite a bit of attention from all the photography enthusiasts. And I thought, maybe the S10 stands a chance to be there with the champions, too. So, I tested out the new night mode on the Galaxy S10, and compared it with the P30 Pro as it is, right now, the “Night King”!
Huawei P30 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode Camera Samples
A bit of clarification here. I took some samples in a tough condition. There was just a tiny amount of light, and here’s the first image. If you need any justification to see the clear winner, check out the details on the shot from the P30 Pro.
Huawei P30 Pro vs Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode
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P30 Pro Night Mode
Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode
In our daylight camera comparison, we did on the P30 Pro review, the S10+’s details were no match for the P30 Pro, and the same is the case here. Check out the area right below the gate, you can definitely see things clearly on the P30 Pro. As for the S10, well, the only thing that pops out on this first photo is the colors.
Huawei P30 Pro vs Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode
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P30 Pro
S10 Plus
On the 2nd photo too, the S10+ brings in better colors than the P30 Pro. The P30 Pro has this tendency of whitening certain aspects of the image, or sometimes all of them, and you can see that too in some of the samples. What the P30 Pro does best, yet again, is the detail. And I for me personally, the sky looks better on the pictures from the P30 Pro as well. But if you want a more natural looking image, the S10 Plus seems a bit better.
Huawei P30 Pro vs Galaxy S10 Plus
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P30 Pro
S10 Plus
If you want to see the color thing I was talking about here’s the example. The blue color on this house here is more pronounced on the S10+, while the P30 Pro seems a bit washed out.
Huawei P30 Pro vs Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode
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P30 Pro
S10 Plus
The 4th image in my comparison reveals the ugly side of the P30 Pro – how it massacres the natural lighting with its tendency to overexpose stuff. Galaxy S10+ on the other hand, does it better, by balancing it out. Here, too, the details from the P30 Pro takes the cake, but if you look at the overall image, the S10 simply does it better.
Huawei P30 Pro vs Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode
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P30 Pro
S10 Plus
But here’s something that makes the difference between these two phones clear as day. Check out the background of this image. And check out that contrast on the photo. Wow, the P30 Pro can really shine in the night time! The details, the contrast, the exposure, everything is well done in this photo here, and it’s one of my favorites of the bunch. Here, too, the S10 does the colors well but fails in details and contrast.
Huawei P30 Pro vs Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode
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P30 Pro
S10 Plus
P30 Pro
S10 Plus
P30 Pro
S10 Plus
P30 Pro
S10 Plus
P30 Pro
S10 Plus
Here are some other photos for you to see. In all of these images, the difference is clear. If you look for colors, the S10 Plus does it better…but there are more elements visible on the P30 Pro. More details, and less noise. And I think, that is the point of having a Night Mode, isn’t it?
Huawei P30 Pro vs Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode
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P30 Pro
S10 Plus
P30 Pro
S10 Plus
P30 Pro
S10 Plus
One thing I noticed, however, is the P30 Pro does something with these small light sources. Check out the lamps, for example. The P30 Pro tends to throw some light beams around – making it kinda dance all over the image. The S10 Plus doesn’t do that…and yet if you look at this image, the P30 does the better job despite its “dancing lights”.
Huawei P30 Pro vs Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode
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P30 Pro
S10 Plus
P30 Pro
S10 Plus
However, when it comes to human subjects, the S10 has the edge. P30’s tendency to apply this whitish effect on the images makes for a bit colder skin tones, while the S10 gives more natural looking faces. And if you want to take others’ photos at night, S10 is the way to go.
Huawei P30 Pro vs Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode
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P30 Pro
S10 Plus
P30 Pro
S10 Plus
P30 Pro
S10 Plus
And, here are other images where the P30 Pro clearly shines. It has better details and better exposure. Granted, the colors look better on the S10 Plus, but there is still a bit of noise present in the photos. The reason for that is the S10 Plus detects the amount of light and decides its own time for a long exposure…while the exposure time on the P30 Pro is always the same.
Huawei P30 Pro vs Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode
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P30 Pro
S10 Plus
P30 Pro
S10 Plus
If you look at this image, noise, and grains are seen on the sky on this photo. The S10+’s image looks a lot darker than the other one. The P30 Pro has done quite a work to handle the light sources too. Check out that light on the terrace.
Huawei 30 Pro vs Galaxy S10 Plus Night Mode
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P30 Pro
S10 Plus
Speaking of light, this image on the P30 Pro is really lighted up for something that was taken late in the night. But it looks a bit blur. This happened once or twice as the night mode pictures take several seconds to capture. It is what you have to pay to get a good shot during night time.
Conclusion
I’ll put it there right away. Even in the night mode, the S10 and the P30 Pro are winners in their own aspects and mostly tie up…mostly! But if you look at all the things, the P30 Pro is the winner, here – albeit by a small difference. Still, the Galaxy S10 did a commendable job – even after receiving the Night Mode update only recently. And it’s a first generation feature on a Samsung device, so, needs to improve.
Huawei, however, brags about the P30 Pro camera’s night capability, and as much as they can prove it, they still need to improve some aspects. This was a camera that beat the Pixel 3 in this regard. Even in the dimmest of light, the lenses on the phone do great work in preserving the overall details of the images, all while controlling the noise and grains. But its tendency to overexpose and throw the lights around makes it take some strange night shots.
So, my verdict stands – P30 Pro wins, however, the S10 is very close behind. If the trend continues, and Samsung improves on this, we might even see a new Night King down the line.
Since the beginning of 2019, we have been hearing about a number of smartphones, which features a 48MP camera. And sensor used by most of such smartphones had used Samsung’s sensors. It was highest of the resolution for any smartphone camera and Samsung was sharing this feat with Sony. But to leap further, Samsung is planning to launch higher resolution sensors. The South Korean tech giant has recently announced that the company would be launching 64MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 and 48MP ISOCELL Bright GM2 sensors to set the benchmark in smartphone photography. With the announcement of these two sensors, Samsung hopes to expand its 0.8μm pixel image sensors lineup.
Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensor (64MP sensor)
Let’s talk about the 64MP sensor first. Dubbed as Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1, the sensor comes with a size of 1/1.72-inch. It is slightly larger than its earlier 48MP sensor, which comes at the 1/2.0-inch size. Although the sensor can capture images at a native resolution of 64MP, it can also shoot 16MP sharp and bright images making use of the Tetracell technology (4-in-1 pixel binning). With the pixel size of 0.8μm, the low light capabilities of the sensor could be a concern. But Samsung included the following statement in its press release to clear the doubts.
“To take pictures resembling the way the human eye perceives its surroundings in a mixed light environment, GW1 supports real-time high dynamic range (HDR) of up to 100-decibels (dB) that provides richer hues. In comparison, the dynamic range of a conventional image sensor is at around 60dB, while that of the human eye is typically considered to be around 120dB.”
Apart from that, the ISOCELL GW1 sensor also comes with Dual Conversion Gain or DCG. The DCG in the sensor converts the light received by the sensor into electric signals. And the amount of electric signals depends upon the intensity of light hitting the sensor. With the DCG on the system, Samsung promises that the sensor would efficiently utilize the light resulting in the brighter images. GW1 sensor also flaunts Super Phase Detection Autofocus Technology for smooth and jitter-free focusing. Furthermore, the sensor is also said to record Full-HD slow motion videos up to 480 fps.
Samsung ISOCELL Bright GM2 sensor (48MP sensor)
The second one to get announced is the Samsung ISOCELL Bright GM2 sensor. This look like the refreshed version of the ISOCELL GM1 sensor, which is found on the Redmi Note 7. Just like the GM1 sensor, this one also uses Tetracell technology to merge 4 pixels into 1 in the low light setting. The sensor also comes with DCG and Super Phase Detection Autofocus system, which was also existent on the GM1.
The sensors are currently in the sampling stage and Samsung says to start mass production in the second half of 2019. So before the end of this year, we may be able to see numerous smartphone flaunting high-res camera sensors.
So, the Oppo A7 was, as we said in our review, a mid-range phone with budget specs. The Oppo A7 is such a phone, that catches your eye, but, sadly nothing else. It does look attractive, yes, but the price was not justified at all. And since its launch, it has received a few price drop. But, finally, with a major discount for the festival of Ramadan, will it be finally worth it after the Oppo A7 price drop?
Oppo A7 Overview
The Oppo A7, as aforementioned, does look attractive on first glance. It has a polycarbonate body, but shiny glossy finish. The display is a 6.2″ IPS LCD panel with a waterdrop notch, which is the trend, anyway. But the resolution is only HD+, so, gotta live with that. However, it’s not the first time such a large screen had only HD+ resolution.
Furthermore, it packs a dual camera at the back – which seems like the base standard of dual cameras – a 13 MP primary lens with a 2 MP depth sensor. However, the selfie-centric phone comes with a good 16 MP camera. And also, it’s got a huge 4230 mAh battery, which will last you two days on normal usage.
However, the phone runs on a low-end Snapdragon 450 processor. It’s got a 4 GB RAM, and 64 GB storage, but then again, the bottle-neck is already the processor. This is the main reason, the initial price was not good for this phone. But now, it gets Rs.5000 off! So, you can now buy this phone now, for Rs.27,990! Still, with phones like Redmi Note 7 out there that provide much more for the price…I doubt this is worth it.
Oppo A7 Specifications:
Design: Glossy plastic construction
Display: 6.2″ IPS LCD HD+ resolution (720 x 1520 pixels)
Rear Camera: Dual Camera setup, 13 MP primary lens with f/2.2 aperture + 2 MP depth sensor
The Mi A1 and the Mi A2 were very well received phones, no doubts on that! And this seems like the perfect time for their successor to roll out in the market. Of course, we cannot be sure if this triple camera phone suggested in the title is the Xiaomi Mi A3, not until the official announcement comes out. But right now, we can only guess.
Xiaomi has just teased a triple camera smartphone in it’s Indian community forum. The teaser image features a triple camera setup and so rumors are that the company may be hinting the up coming Android One Xiaomi phone.
If you have been following Manu Jain’s (Xiaomi India Managing director) tweets, you probably know he has been hinting for amazing announcements to be done this year. And this triple camera smartphone might just be the start!
As much odds are there for a new smartphone, the announcement may also mean that the company might be teasing for the arrival of the Mi 9 SE in India.
Earlier, we had rumors regarding the next Xiaomi phone featuring a Snapdragon 700 series processor, so the Mi A3 may as well have a SD 7XX processor. A recent leak by XDA Developers had suggested that the Mi A3 is codenamed “Bamboo Sprout” and the Mi A3 Lite is codenamed “Cosmos Sprout”. And the smartphone codenamed “Pyxis” will be the MIUI version of the Xiaomi Mi A3 and Mi A3 Lite.
Speculations regarding the camera specs have also been out. The upcoming device will be equipped with a 48 MP primary camera, 13 MP secondary ultra-wide-angle lens and an 8 MP telephoto lens.
At a time when the smartphone companies are striding to incorporate all screen displays on their handsets, the Japan-based Sharp came up with a quirky type of display design. The Japanese smartphone maker came up with a dual-notched display on its latest smartphone. Dubbed as Sharp Aquos R3, the handset is the company’s flagship device for 2019.
Sharp Aquos R3 Specs:
Let’s talk about the quirky thing first, its design. As mentioned earlier, the phone comes with two notches on the display. A tiny water-drop notch resides on the top of the display, which houses a selfie camera. On the bottom, there is a slightly wider notch, which shelters a home bottom just like on the old Samsung and OnePlus’ phones. The home button the phone also doubles as a fingerprint scanner.
When it comes to the resolution, the display on this device comes with 6.2-inch Quad-HD+ IGZO panel. So with a dense pixel density, the contents should look sufficiently sharp. The screen on this device also comes with HDR10 support and a high refresh rate. At 120Hz, the refresh rate on this one is better than most of the devices out there.
On the performance front, the phone gets the flagship Snapdragon 855 chipset. The processor is laced with 6GB of RAM and comes aboard with 128GB of onboard memory. Talking about the battery, the phone gets 3200mAh battery with support for 11-watt Qi wireless charging. But even with such a smaller battery, the phone is 8.9mm thick and weighs 185 grams.
On to the imaging part, the phone comes with dual rear cameras on the front. The primary one uses a 12.2MP sensor, which comes capped with an f/1.7 lens. The primary camera fits the subject into the frame with 78-degree FOV. There is a 20MP secondary shooter, which gets the ultra-wide-angle lens. It extends the FOV to 125 degrees. On to the front, the phone flaunts a 16.3MP selfie shooter. To lure the audiophiles, the phone also comes with stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support.
Although the device looks decent on the specs sheet, we don’t yet know how much value it packs. The company hasn’t yet mentioned the price and availability of the device.
