Mobile phones are usually expensive in Nepal. It can clearly be noticed when the international price and the price of the same device in Nepal are compared. The main reason for that was the inclusion of 13% VAT on every mobile phone imported to Nepal. The government further imposed an additional 5% excise duty last year. So the importers had to pay quite a lot of taxes to the government. Since those tax amounts are levied on the selling price of smartphones, it was enough to create a steep increase in the price. But in the recent Annual Budget Speech for fiscal year 2076/77, Finance Minister Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada announced to decrease the excise duty by 50%. That means for all the upcoming phones imported to Nepal, the importers/NDs have to pay just 2.5% excise duty. The VAT, however, still remains at 13%. As soon as the government announced that, Samsung abruptly stepped up and slashed the prices of its various mobile devices.
The Scenario
Previously, the government was levying only 13% VAT on every mobile device that supported cellular connectivity and wireless telecommunication. And at the end of the year, the government used to offer a 40% rebate at the end of the fiscal year. So the importers or the National Distributors (NDs) have to pay a net of 7.8% on the taxes. But last year, the Finance Minister Khatiwada announced to stop providing 40% rebate. And declared to further impose an excise duty of 5%. That makes a grand total of 18.65% on the taxes. A sudden rise from 7.8% to 18.65% on the tax created quite a surge in the price. So the importers and NDs were obliged to raise the prices on mobile phones.
Due to such a steep increase in price, most of the users were attracted to the gray market, which offers the same product for a lesser price. And that could be the reason why the smartphone import through the authorized channels decreased by 50% in the fiscal year 2075/76. So to lure customers into buying through the authorized channels and to ease the importers on the taxes, the government decide to slash the excise duty by 50% for the fiscal year 2076/77. This resulted in a reduction in the tax rates from 18.65% down to 15.83%.
The Aftermath
At a time, where the implementation of such announcements take place at a languid pace, Samsung strode up and slashed the prices on its various smartphones overnight. And Samsung was the first one to do so. Since the capable smartphones are really expensive these days, the gesture shown by Samsung to ease customers’ inconvenience (in financial terms) is really laudable. We hope, more of the smartphone brands will also follow Samsung’s footsteps and decrease the price of the mobile phones in their lineup.
And by the way, here is the revised price list of various Samsung devices before and after the price drop.
There was a time when smartphones were simpler. There were flagships, mid-ranges, and budget phones. Now, there are smartphones in almost every price category. What’s more overwhelming is the number of choices we get in these price segments. And with flagships getting more expensive, there are premium mid-rangers in the market…also kind of crowded. Here, we compare three premium mid-rangers: Samsung Galaxy A70 vs Vivo V15 Pro vs Oppo F11 Pro. So, which one is the best? Let’s find out.
Design
Let’s start with how they look. All three devices appear to have glass backs, and for the price, it is expected as well. But none of them do. They all have plastic construction. And although Samsung calls their construction “Glastic”, it feels the same. Maybe an extra point on the slightly new construction, but again, the A70 feels a bit cheaper in the hands, compared to these two.
Oppo F11 Pro and Vivo V15 Pro have, more or less, the same construction. And they don’t have a notch up front, going for the Pop-up cameras instead, which is a new and somewhat cool technology. So, they win.
Samsung Galaxy A70 vs Vivo V15 Pro vs Oppo F11 Pro design
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Back
Ports
Left
Right
But between these two, I like the color better on the Oppo F11 Pro. And if you choose the Marvel edition, well, it’s no contest! So, Oppo F11 Pro wins the design and build.
Display
Here, Oppo loses the hand right away because it’s the only one with an IPS LCD panel while the other two sport Super AMOLED. Now, of course, that doesn’t mean the F11 Pro’s display is bad…it’s just not as good as the other two.
Between the other two, the A70 gets a taller 6.7-inch display, which makes for a better multimedia experience. It comes with a tiny U-notch, but that is forgivable. And while the V15 Pro comes with a true full-screen display, the colors on the A70 are simply better. Plus, Samsung is always on top when it comes to displays, so, it wins this round.
Performance
As for the performance, all these phones pack 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage. The V15 Pro and the A70 run on Snapdragon 675, whereas the F11 Pro runs on the slightly inferior Helio P70.
And between these, the Snapdragon 675 stands as the clear winner. If you need proof, the benchmark scores are there for you to see. And in these three, too, the V15 Pro leads by a very little amount.
Geekbench 4 Test
Samsung Galaxy A70
Vivo V15 Pro
Oppo F11 Pro
Single-core
2394
2397
1567
Multi-core
6485
6608
5960
AnTuTu 7
Samsung Galaxy A70
Vivo V15 Pro
Oppo F11 Pro
Scores
168559
179379
148475
Androbench
Samsung Galaxy A70 (MB/s)
Vivo V15 Pro (MB/s)
Oppo F11 Pro (MB/s)
Sequential Read
509.66
300.99
295.05
Sequential Write
192.27
176.64
190.16
Random Read
129.22
66.07
78.16
Random Write
22.99
63.12
17.11
But benchmarks are not the full story. To compare the performance, we also did a speed test of these phones. Here, the F11 Pro takes the longest to load the apps. While the loading time is, more or less, similar to the other two.
We finished loading a set of apps, and reopened them, again, in reverse order, as these speed tests go. And we found that the RAM management was better on the V15 Pro. It didn’t reload any of the apps, including heavy games like PUBG either. The A70, on the other hand, reloaded some heavy apps like PUBG and Subway Surfers. However, it was the worst on the F11 Pro, as it reloaded many of the apps – even ones like Fruit Ninja and such!
However, in the Read / Write speeds, the A70 is the better one, here. But considering the other benchmarks, and RAM management, this round goes to the V15 Pro.
Software and UI
In terms of software, however, the clear winner is the Galaxy A70. It comes with the new One UI, and it’s a lot better than the UI of the other two. It gives you a cleaner user experience, better navigation, and lesser bloatware.
Oppo’s ColorOS and Vivo’s FunTouch OS are both pretty heavy and don’t provide as good of user experience. While Oppo fixed its UI to allow swiping to cross-out notifications, Vivo’s is still a clone to the iOS…and a half-baked iOS at that! So, you can see why One UI, even with its slightly cartoonish UI, is the best among these.
Security
Now to the security. In this department, the A70 and the V15 Pro come with in-display fingerprint scanners while the F11 Pro features a physical rear-mounted sensor. And as it is with physical sensors, the F11 Pro’s is blazing fast and highly accurate. It unlocks your phone instantly.
But the V15 Pro isn’t bad either. Its in-display fingerprint sensor can unlock the phone fast. That is a tad bit slower than the F11 Pro, but still pretty fast.
And then, there’s the A70. This one didn’t seem to really think about including a faster sensor here, at all. It takes around a second to unlock the device, and that is really frustrating. Even its Face Unlock is slower compared to the other two devices. So, the A70 is out.
Among the other two, however, it’s the F11 Pro that’s the fastest in unlocking. But since the V15 Pro is not behind, and employs a newer, more advanced tech in it, the point goes to the V15 Pro.
Battery
Let’s compare juices now. The V15 Pro packs a good sized 3700 mAh battery while the F11 Pro has a large 4000 mAh unit. But, both offer similar backup and similar charging speeds. But the one on its own league is the A70. It has got a huge 4500 mAh battery, and that too, with a 25-Watt Adaptive Fast charging. The battery lasts almost 2 days on single charge and charges from 0 to full in around 1 and half hours. So, it’s the clear winner in this aspect.
Camera
Lastly, the cameras. And these, have been, by far the most difficult aspect to compare in these phones. But we’ve tried our best, and here are the results.
Galaxy A70 vs F11 Pro vs V15 Pro
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A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
Take a look at a few of these images, here. Now, if we surf through some samples, you can see that the images from the F11 Pro and the V15 Pro are slightly oversaturated, while the A70 gives you washed out colors.
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Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
The over-saturation is more pronounced on the V15 Pro. It may be the result of over-processing or something, but sometimes, it gives you pictures so highly oversaturated, that you kinda don’t wanna look at them!
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Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
But, in some scenarios, the popped-colors look a lot better. Of course, it can result in unnatural looking images, but sometimes, it looks very pleasing to the eye. Also, the V15 Pro nails the details, sometimes, outdoing the other two phones, as well.
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Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
If we compare the F11 Pro side by side, the details are on par with the V15 Pro, but the images are mostly flawed by this greenish-tint to them. Maybe that’s why photos with green sceneries appear to be livelier on this one.
Colors
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Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
The A70, as I already said, produces washed out colors – sometimes, to the point that it loses the colors. If you look at this tree here, the purple flowers don’t even appear purple! But it is also capable of maintaining a more uniform color distribution, though.
Portrait image comparison
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Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
As for portraits, A70 has better blurs on the bokeh effect, but again, suffers from faded colors. V15 Pro over processes them and brings saturated colors. But the F11 Pro, overall, has better colors, details and edge detection in this scenario.
Low Light Sample
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Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
In low light mode, however, it’s the V15 Pro that takes the cake.
Selfie
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Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
Galaxy A70
F11 Pro
V15 Pro
In terms of selfies, the F11 Pro and V15 Pro outshine the A70. The skin textures and colors look almost lost in the A70 while the other two preserve them quite well. Here, too, the V15 Pro tends to over-saturate images, which, I admit, can look pleasing to the eye sometimes. But it makes up for that in terms of details, in which, it outperforms the other two.
So…yeah…there’s no exact conclusion in the camera department. And as I said, it has been really tricky to test out the cameras. And the results don’t point to a clear winner. It’s a mixed bag of emotions.
All of them try to do what they do best – V15 tries to give you vibrant colors, the A70 goes for a uniform color distribution while the F11 Pro can give you better photos of human subjects. So, there’s that.
Conclusion
And not only in the camera department, but there also doesn’t seem to be a clear winner in all the other aspects, rounded up. F11 Pro has a better look and feel, which matters to a lot of people. The A70 has the best display, and battery. V15 Pro gives you the best performance and better security.
Each of them has their own sets of pros and cons. So, it’s not easy to choose a clear winner, here. You can, however, look at all the aspects, decide which one matters to you the most, and pick your phone.
This has been the battle of the premium mid-rangers: Samsung Galaxy A70 vs Vivo V15 Pro vs Oppo F11 Pro. So, which one would you prefer? Let us know in the comments.
Smart speakers are gaining quite the momentum these days. It seems every other company is trying to get one of theirs into the market. We already have Google Home Hub, Huawei’s AI Cube, and a bunch of others. Amazon has been in this line for a long time now, and its Echo Show lineup is the most popular among their lineup. And, Amazon decided to launch another – the Amazon Echo Show 5, with an affordable price tag.
Amazon Echo Show 5 Overview
This Echo Show 5 is a bit smaller and looks cuter than the Echo Show. It’s got a 5.5″ screen, with a 960 x 480 resolution. Of course, smart speakers with displays haven’t been around that long comparatively, but they, too are getting popular. Because you can do quite a bit with a screen on board, after all.
The display resolution and the size make it like a phone on your table-stand, but of course, you’re not going to use it for doing phone things. This is just an assistant to watch Wiki-How videos for doing simple tasks. It doesn’t support YouTube or any other mainstream video streaming sites. You can, however, watch videos from Amazon Prime or its partner outlets like CNN. Also, you can video call someone who has the Amazon Echo Show or the Echo Spot as well. Furthermore, it can show you lyrics if you’re playing music on it. And along with Bluetooth support for audio out, there’s a USB port too.
Now, of course, the Echo Show 5 is an affordable smart speaker, so, there are a lot of cutdowns. There’s only one speaker, the screen size is almost half, and the camera resolution is only 1 MP now. Oh, and yeah, it still retains the physical shutter to cover the camera so that you don’t have to worry about being spied upon.
Furthermore, if you’re worried about privacy, i.e. Amazon recording your data, then, there are a couple of noteworthy features. You can delete all your history of the day just by saying “Alexa, delete everything I said today”. This will, of course, clear your history of the day. In addition, there’s also an “Alexa, Delete what I just said” feature. Of course, we can’t be assured that it won’t back it up…but hey, it’s a peace of mind.
Price and Availability
The Amazon Echo Show 5 is priced at a very affordable $90. This undercuts the more expensive $140 Google Home Hub, too. But of course, that has more features and aesthetically better. You can buy it now on Amazon.
This product will also launch in India for about INR. 9000. It will support local content from Hungama, JioSaavn, Gaana, Hungama Music, TuneIn, etc. along with Amazon Music.
So, by now, you are probably aware of the current events between the US, Huawei, and China. If you don’t, you can check out our insight here. But since it’s the hot topic in the tech industry, I doubt you don’t know about it. Long story short, Huawei, is going through some tough times right now. The company lost its license to use Android, the ARM chip architecture, and its privilege to influence decisions regarding Wireless technology and SD cards. Basically, the Trump administration is not allowing any US firms to trade with Huawei, as it is in their “Entity List”, citing some security reasons.
Not only that, but the US is also encouraging its Allies to ban Huawei’s technology – not only mobile phones and equipment but also their 5G claiming it poses security threats to their countries! That may or may not be, but so far there is no evidence of it. Yet, Trump Administration is rallying behind these reasons claiming Huawei to be stealing military information, intellectual property and spying on others through their 5G infrastructure. The US Authorities have a dozen criminal charges on the company. But without any kind of proof, it is looking more like a sly move in the broad US-China Trade War.
If you don’t know what that is, well, it’s basically, tensions growing between the two largest economies in the world. The US is number one, while China is second. And China’s economy is growing so rapidly that I think Trump is actually scared. Otherwise, you can’t justify the reasons behind all this escalation! From banning one of the top technology firms like Huawei to restricting a lot of things, it’s going nuts! And even though Huawei is one of the largest players in technology in the world, it relies heavily on US support in many aspects.
Without that, Huawei is, for now, in a fix. Of course, a company like that has all the means and resources necessary to develop their own technology. But that takes time, and until they do, they will have to struggle. But that’s only one part of the story. Even IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers publishing group decided to ban Huawei employees from editing its papers! This is just absurd…because IEEE is responsible for working with scientists and professors from all over the world to help advance the world’s technology. And Huawei has multiple employees within the IEEE, but now, they can no longer contribute to their papers.
Now, a part of this US-China Trade War, or Tech War, whatever you would like to call it, is the 5G Race. And as far as the world is concerned, China is leading. They have all the necessary infrastructures in place, and their 5G tech is more advanced and more affordable. In addition, they’re helping many developing countries with their technology. They already have agreements even with the Nepali government to implement 5G in the near future! They’re clearly winning this race.
But the Trump administration is bent on not letting this happen. This is about money and power. And the US, being US, will not let anyone beat it, by any means necessary it seems. Banning Huawei of the most crucial elements it needs to build its infrastructure, US is trying to stop Huawei in its tracks. They’re playing dirty, but what’s more appalling is this won’t help the US develop advanced tech overnight! Stalling Huawei won’t help their development. This means they’re just stalling the overall evolution of technology – slowing down the development of whole mankind, in a way!
That…escalated quickly! But this is the whole point, actually. Because there’s a lot of politics involved here – from cornering a private company by imposing accusations without proof and influencing other countries to do the same. And a private company suffering from this is only the surface. The real losers will be us – the consumers and the general populace.
Also, there are small firms and startups, both in and outside the US, that rely on affordable tech like China’s to grow themselves. And those inside the US will be severely be affected by this ban, too. And who knows? Maybe one such small startup could be an innovator in the future? However, that might very well not be now. Because of this game the Trump administration is hell-bent on playing.
Okay, …forgive me for going a bit too overboard here. But one of my favorite inspirations, Carl Sagan said,
“To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”.
All that we know and all that we will, in our lifetime, will take place in this very place. In this world of ours, Humanity has got this far due to our advancement in technology. And we’ve still a long way to go.
And this, right here, is a setback for the humankind as a whole. Technological advancement will be slowed down considerably. Not only will consumers lose a great phone brand, but 5G, which promises to take human innovation to new heights.
Okay, let’s say Huawei might be able to find a workaround soon about the tech it’s not receiving from the US. But why ban Huawei employees from such an organization as the IEEE? And because of this act, a senior IEEE member, professor Zhang from Peking University is resigning from the IEEE itself. To lose such personalities from the tech field is a loss for all of us.
Again, I might be out of place here. But all I’m saying is, this trade war between two countries and a lot of egos mixed in there somewhere, is a huge loss for all of us. Technology should be treated as a separate entity, indifferent from the politics and ego of the powerful few. Of course, when you invent any technology of your own, then you can patent it and do whatever you want with it. But this is 5G…it belongs to the whole world! This should not suffer because someone somewhere cannot keep up with what the other guy is doing…
This is just sad, and an act worth condemning. Of course, China has its own answer for the US now. Chinese media reports that the country might restrict exporting essential earth minerals to the US. This means that the US will lose about 80% of its necessary raw materials to create other technology – from camera lenses to car engines and almost everything there is. We don’t know if this will, indeed happen, because China’s goal was to portray the US as a “lawless actor” hindering technological advancement. But considering how the Trump Administration is cornering one company and escalating the trade war, can we blame them?
In the end, this is just sad. Such big superpowers should be supporting each other for the betterment of all of us. But no, this is more about money and power rather than human advancement. And due to such corporate greed, we, the consumers and the general population will be the real losers!
Intel has officially unveiled the U and Y-series of 10th Gen processors. Based on a 10nm process, these chips are targeted towards lightweight ultra-books (for now). The 9th Gen H-series processors, used on powerful laptops, are still pretty new to the market so don’t expect Intel to refresh those anytime soon.
Codenamed “Ice Lake”, they feature a new Gen11 graphics, native ThunderBolt 3 support and built-in WiFi 6 (a new WiFI tech) among other things. Originally Intel planned to launch its processor with the 10nm process in 2015, but they are finally here now. The 10nm process offers much faster performance and better battery life – features ideal for ultra-books. With the new 10nm tech on its sleeves, Intel plans to launch a total of 11 different CPUs in the coming days.
Ice Lake
Like the previous generations of U and Y-processors, the company will categorize them to three divisions, i.e the Core i3, i5, and the Core i7. All of them will feature 4 cores and 8 threads, with TDP options of 9W, 15W and 28W. The Turbo Frequency for these chips maxes out at 4.1GHz while the cache size tops out at 8MB.
Intel 10th Gen CPU
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Intel did confirm there will be both Y-series and U-series versions, the former will follow on the tradition of a fanless design. All of these chips are based on the new Sunny Cove architecture. With an IPC improvement of 18%, it’s a huge leap as compared to what we’ve seen in the past.
Gen 11 GPU
While all this was great, Intel was more keen on showing us their new integrated Iris Plus Graphics. Intel is promising over 2x boost in graphics performance thanks to their new Gen 11 GPU. With up to 1 TeraFlops of graphics performance under its belt, this new GPU overshadows some dedicated offerings from Nvidia like the MX110 (0.51), MX130 (0.95) only to be beaten by the MX150 (1.17) by a mere 0.05 TFLOPs.
The new Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 has already launched running on the 10th Gen Intel processors. Still, full details about these 10nm chips are yet to be revealed.
Motorola has finally and officially unveiled the latest member of the Z-series – the Moto Z4 at an event yesterday. The Moto Z4 is a mid-range smartphone, and it continues the ‘modular’ legacy of the Moto mods. The launch event comes after the leak fiasco where Motorola listed this device on Amazon and actually shipped it to a customer.
Moto Z4 Overview
The Moto Z4 is a 6.4-inch phone that features an OLED screen with full HD resolution and a 19:9 aspect ratio. This display has a waterdrop notch on the top of the display and it houses the selfie camera. Other than that, users get a bezel-less experience on the phone. For protection against drop and scratches, Motorola has included the older Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which for the price looks outdated.
The Moto Z4 features a single camera lens at the back. The 48-megapixel camera has an f/1.7 aperture and follows the same pixel binning for 12-megapixel image output. According to Motorola, the Z4’s camera app will also come with a night mode. Up front lies a 25-megapixel selfie snapper with f/2.0 aperture. Photography hasn’t really been a stronghold of Motorola smartphones. So, it will be interesting to see how the Moto Z4 fares with the cheaper Pixel 3a around which definitely has a superior camera setup.
Under the hood, the Moto Z4 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor coupled with 4 GB of RAM. This is the same internal the 3a possesses. The phone runs on a near stock Android v9.0 Pie out of the box. The Z4 offers users 128 GB of internal memory with an option for expansion.
The Moto Z4 has an under-display fingerprint scanner. The device has the P2i splash proof certification, which we recently saw the Redmi 7A feature. The Z4 will also support 5G connectivity with an external $200 worth of 5G Moto mod.
Moto Z4 Specifications
Display: 6.4-inch Full HD+ OLED with 19:9 aspect ratio, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
CPU: Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 675
OS: Android v9.0 Pie
RAM: 4 GB
GPU: Adreno 608
ROM: 128 GB
Rear Camera: 48 MP, f/1.7, OIS, dual-LED flash
Front Camera: 25 MP, f/2.0
Battery: 3600 mAh with 15W TurboPower fast charging technology
P2i splash resistance, 3.5 mm headphone jack, Moto Mods support
Motorola Moto Z4 Price and Availability
The Moto Z4 will be available starting June 6 for a price of $499. Buyers who purchase the phone from Amazon, Best Buy or B&H will get a free 360-degree camera Moto Mod. Verizon will also sell the Z4 with a $10 per month plan that will run for 24 months. This deal will also bundle in the 5G Moto Mod which will cost an extra $200.
There are flagships costing over $1000 like the Galaxy S10 and Huawei P30 Pro, and then are phones like Redmi K20 that make you wonder what’s the point of flagships. And then, there are other phones like the Meizu 16Xs that make you wonder why people buy premium mid-rangers, too. The Meizu 16Xs just launched, and for a price tag of less than $300, it gives you a great set of features.
Meizu 16Xs Overview
Right off the bat, the Meizu 16Xs features a large 6.2″ Full-HD+ Super AMOLED screen. The display has no notches or punch-holes. It still adopts bezels for the selfie camera and other sensors, but they’re really, really thin. Even with the bezels and chin, this phone offers a 90.2% screen to body ratio! In addition, this screen also rocks an in-display fingerprint scanner!
As the trend goes, there are triple cameras at the back – a 48 MP primary camera, an 8 MP ultra-wide lens and a 5 MP depth sensor. The selfie camera is a 16 MP shooter. This phone runs on the most powerful mid-range chipset yet, the Snapdragon 675, which you can see on the likes of Galaxy A70 and V15 Pro. Also, there’s 6 GB RAM and storage options include 64 GB and 128 GB.
In addition, there’s a big 4000 mAh battery with 18-Watt Fast Charging, too. This phone runs on Android Pie with Flyme OS on top and is available in four different colors: Midnight Black, Atlantis Blue, Coral Orange, and Silk White.
Pricing and Availability
The Meizu 16Xs is available for less than $300! The starting price is at CNY 1,698 ($245) for the 64 GB model whereas the 128 GB model costs CNY 1,998 ($289). They will go on sale on June 10 in China but will be available in India and certain parts of Europe soon.
For that kind of price, a Snapdragon 675, an in-display fingerprint scanner and triple cameras look tempting, don’t they?
Meizu 16Xs Specifications:
Display: 6.2″ Super AMOLED display with Full-HD+ resolution (1080 x 2232), 90.29% screen to body ratio
Dell just refreshed their existing line of premium laptops, i.e the XPS 13 2-in-1 and the XPS 15. Known for their superior build, flagship internals and over the top display, these were already a consumer favorite. So, following the launch of Intel’s new CPUs and Nvidia’s new GPU, a refresh was imminent. The list of improvements includes even more display options, faster internals and some under the hood changes. The only device missing from the announcement was the vanilla XPS 13, that should come out in early 2020.
DELL XPS 15
Officially known as the XPS 15 7590, the laptop brings little to no change in terms of design with the exact same chassis as before. Sure the webcam has moved up to the top which was kind of expected because a similar change was made earlier on the XPS 13 9380. And even though the naming suggests otherwise, this one is the direct successor to last year’s XPS 15 9570.
[Note: Dell just wanted the naming scheme for their XPS series to align with the 7000 series from Inspiron, Vostro, Latitude and Precision families. The same goes for it’s XPS 13, so just keep that in mind.]
Back to what’s actually exciting on the new XPS 15, the 9th Gen H-series CPUs from Intel, that includes the eight core i9-9980H. Sure there are other options starting from a Core i5-9300H, the 9980H isn’t something that would go well with that four-year-old chassis. Yes, the CPU is fast, and powerful and can turbo one of its core to 4.8GHz. However, I am little concerned about the thermals because the XPS 15 isn’t known for cooling. Finally, bumping up the graphical capabilities of this laptop is the GTX 1650, an incremental upgrade from GTX 1050Ti of last gen.
The inclusion of an OLED display is also another major change here. The 100,000:1 contrast ratio produces deep blacks and almost makes up for the (decent) 400 nits of max brightness. The same also covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut so content creators will not be disappointed by this. The OLED option for the XPS 15 starts at $1800.
The base model will be priced at $999 and comes with an FHD display, i5-9300H CPU, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD and no dedicated GPU. The maxed out XPS 15 will come with an i9 processor, GTX 1650, 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD alongside a 4k OLED display. Pricing for the higher end model and the rest of the configurations are yet to go official, and the same goes for their availability as well. What we do know is the cheapest OLED version should cost below $2000, which is pretty appealing.
The XPS 15 was sort of a disappointment for me, but the XPS 13 2-in-1 brings in a glimmer of hope. This one brings a lot to the table, and it starts with the naming, the new XPS 13 2-in-1 will now carry the 7390 model number.
It is powered by Intel’s new 10th Gen Ice Lake processors, with the inclusion of CPU fans to cool them. There’s also a new MagLev keyboard, a much better display and a few bits of improvements here and there.
However, performance has been immensely improved. The past gen XPS 13 2-in-1 was stuck on a low powered 4.5Watts Y-series CPU, but this one comes with a 15W CPU from Intel’s new 10th Gen series of low powered CPUs based on the Ice Lake architecture. Built on a 10nm process, Intel claims the 10th Gen packs up to 2.5 times more power than the previous generation. The newer SOC also offer better AI processing and gets Wi-Fi 6 support.
With the added power, Dell had to fit in fans to cool the CPU, and they did. Adding a vapor chamber with two fans and GORE cooling while reducing the total footprint of the laptop by 8 percent. Plus the laptop is now configurable with up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD.
Display on this 13.4-inch convertible has moved from a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio to an even more traditional 16:10 ratio. The display size itself has increased by 7% and you can buy one with either an FHD resolution or a 4K panel with HDR support. Either way, brightness maxes out at 500 nits. Eyesafe display technology comes pre-loaded, which is basically just a fancy name for a Bluelight filter. The webcam sits at on top of the display without compromising on the size of the bezels.
The XPS 13 2-in-1 7390 starts at $999 for the base model and will be available in white and black color option.
Gigabyte just released a brand new Aero 17 alongside a refreshed Aero 15. Both offer 9th Gen CPUs, a wide variety of GPUs, OLED display options, better design, and improved cooling. Gigabyte is targeting gamers with some impressive internals while the OLED display should lure those creators. Although the design is a bit outdated for my taste, I assume most prefer the boxy, classic, squarish, old fashioned look on these laptops. Both these laptop features Microsoft’s proprietary cloud-based AI feature as well.
Specs (Gigabyte Aero 15 and Aero 17)
Starting off with the specs, you can configure the laptop with either an i7-9750H or an i9-9980HK. As for the GPU, the Aero 15 without the OLED display is only available with an RTX 2070 Max Q. The OLED version is available with all mobile GPUs from the 16-series and 20-series family from Nvidia.
The Aero 17 offers similar configurations, but without the base GTX 1650. RAM and storage max out at 64GB and 2TB (SSD) respectively.
On the display front, the non-OLED Aero 15 is available with an FHD resolution with a refresh rate of 240Hz. The OLED model is only available with a 4K panel with X-rite Pantone’s grading.
As for the Aero 17, that gets a 17.3-inch display with options to choose from either FHD (144Hz or 240Hz) or 4K (60Hz) resolutions. The OLED display in use here is manufactured by Samsung.
As for AI, both the Aero 15 and Aero 17 will have Microsoft Azure AI. Basically, thanks to “AI enhancement”, your laptop will automatically tweak it’s hardware settings based on the applications you are using. Basically, the AI automatically tunes your CPU, GPU, and Fan Speeds to squeeze out the utmost performance possible. According to Gigabyte, applications like Premiere Pro runs about 20-40% faster as compared to non-AI enabled laptops.
Pricing and Availability
Finally, the laptop will go on sale on June 15 for a starting price of $1900. Further availability and pricing options will be disclosed later on.
Gigabyte
Aero 15
Aero 17
CPU
Up to 9th Gen Intel Core i9 H-series
Display
15-inch OLED, 4K resolution
17.3-inches LCD, up to 4K resolution
Graphics
Up To Nvidia RTX 2080 Max Q
RAM
Up to 64GB Samsung DDR4-2666
Storage
Up to 2TB Intel 760p SSD (2x M.2 SSD slots)
Wireless
Killer Ethernet E2600:
Killer Wi-FI 6;
Bluetooth 5.0
Ports
3x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Type-A)
1x Thunderbolt 3
HDMI 2.0
DisplayPort 1.4
3.5mm jack
SD card reader
DC-in jack
RJ-45
Asus unveiled a staggering number of laptops in the Computex 2019. Although the laptop maker released a wide variety of ultrabooks, the company did not quite stop there. Asus already had a number of commendable gaming laptops. And this time around, the Taiwanese company refreshed its gaming lineup with some top-tier performers. In that run, Asus showcased ROG Strix Scar III, ROG Strix Hero III, and Zephyrus S GX502 in the event.
Asus ROG Strix Scar III
Being the gaming-class laptop, the device boasts some top-tier features. The Asus Strix Scar III comes with two different sizes of displays. One of them comes with a 17.3-inch display, which refreshes at 144Hz. The smaller one with a 15.6-inch screen, on the other hand, has a refresh rate of 240Hz.
Talking about the performance, Asus Strix Scar III comes with the latest 9th gen Intel Core i7-9750H processor and RTX 2070 graphics card. To complement the processor, Asus has included 16GB of 2666GHz DDR4 RAM on to the board. The laptop also comes with a spare RAM slot, which might come in handy while using the demanding software. Scar III enjoys 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD for storage. You can also make use of the extra SATA slot when additional memory space is required.
Asus ROG Strix Hero III
Just like on the last year’s Strix Scar II and Hero II, there are also a fair amount of similarities between Hero III and Scar III. The processor here is the same Intel Core i7-9750H. Even the RAM and storage remained indifferent here. But we can see a hint of a downgrade on the graphics front. The Hero III comes aboard with RTX 2060 GPU, which is inferior than what we saw on the Scar III.
Another major difference would be on the display front. You can just get a single variant on the display side of things. The screen used here is sized 15.6-inch, which refreshes at 144Hz.
Asus Zephyrus S GX502
The Zephyrus S GX502 packs a 15.6-inch display, which enjoys Ultra-HD resolution. The interesting thing here is that the panel refreshes at 120Hz, which is really commendable for a laptop with a 4K display. With such a high refresh rate, the laptop offers a very smooth experience for the gamers. The screen on this device also supports 100% Adobe RGB Color gamut along with Pantone certification.
The laptop comes with Magnesium-alloy chassis, which encloses 9th gen Intel Core processor. To handle the games and graphics-intensive tasks, Asus has incorporated RTX 2070. With RTX 2070 on the board, you can play even the ray tracing games like Battlefield V at appreciable frame rates. The device is enriched with 1TB of Raid 0 SSD and 32GB of DDR4 2666MHz RAM. Although the capacity of the battery is still under the veil, it is said to provide a battery life of 8 hours.
