Samsung is really looking forward to completing its A-series of smartphones. We have all A-something phones except for an A60 and an A90. And while that is already an overwhelming number of phones, we also have a Samsung Galaxy A20e. What drove Samsung to make a smaller version of an already affordable mid-range phone? We don’t know. But it’s here.
The Samsung Galaxy A20e is a slightly toned down variant of the Galaxy A20. The A20e is smaller in size, meaning, it has a smaller display, but the same resolution. And that it has a smaller battery because of its small size. But other than that, there are no differences. Which leads to the same question: Why did they make it?
Samsung Galaxy A20e packs a 5.8″ IPS LCD display, but with HD+ resolution, and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9, just like the bigger model. Also, the dual rear camera setup at the back comprises of the same 13 MP primary lens and a 5 MP ultra-wide angle lens. Also, its selfie camera is the same 8 MP.
More similarities include the use of the same chipset, the Exynos 7884. It also sees the same amount of RAM, i.e. 3 GB. In addition, even the storage is the same at 32 GB! Both make use of a micro USB port. The only other noticeable difference is the size of the battery which is 3000 mAh, due to its small size. But it still features the 15W Fast Charging.
Battery: 4,000mAh battery with 15-Watt Fast Charging
So, that was the Galaxy A20e. A smaller variant of phones makes sense for flagships. Just like the Galaxy S10e made of the Galaxy S10. There are quite a few differences. This, to me, does not make sense at all! Why did they make it? I just hope, they don’t make another one like this too soon. It’s going to get pretty confusing.
The most popular mobile game, PUBG (Players Unknown’s Battle Grounds) just now, saw a ban imposed on it! Yes, you read that right… The Central Investigation Bureau directed the Nepal Telecommunications Authority to impose a ban on the game. And that has come into action.
This widely popular mobile game recently came under siege due to some events and accidents. The world saw some quite bizarre actions from the players. More so, in India. And it seems that has followed its way to Nepal as well. Concerned guardians of some players sought the police for help after seeing their children developing disorders due to the game. They claimed that apart from not being able to concentrate on anything else other than the game, the children also faced sleeping disorders like shouting “maar maar” while sleeping!
The game can be, honestly, quite addicting. And many who got addicted became victims of unfortunate circumstances. If you google “Most bizarre PUBG related accidents, you’ll find some really unpleasant stuff. Some have gone through divorces, while some have left their family. As for others, less severe cases, they’ve become so addicted to the game – staying late in the night, and sometimes, until wee hours of the morning playing the game, and neglecting studies or jobs.
The game is now banned in China and sees a partial ban in India. It is not playable for more than 6 hours in India, and police there have arrested quite a few youths for playing the game. And there were instances like a youth losing consciousness after continuously playing the game as well. And after a case lodged at the Kathmandu District Court, the game is now banned in Nepal as well.
Right now, NTA has currently directed all the ISPs to ban the game on their networks. The ban, once live, will not let you download or play the game. While this can be revised in the days to come, is this really the solution?
Many argue that the game destroys mental health, and introduces addiction never before known. I, however, do not believe this. And many of you might share the same perspective. While there are arguments on whether video game addiction is even real, a certain study found this to be a real problem among very few people. But then again, most people who are into gaming don’t exhibit such behavior.
Here’s an interesting take regarding the ban of the game. Gaming addiction, are most likely, a result of some other underlying mental or social problems – as aDutch study suggested. And a ban is not really a solution to these problems. There are things like VPN, and even if they ban the servers, there are plenty of other video games.
PuBG is addictive, yes. I, too, have found myself, playing the game continuously. However, one should learn to keep oneself in check. To get addicted to a point where you can no longer socially function, is not a fault of the game, but maybe the player? Of course, it’s not his / her “fault”… but there must be an underlying cause. So, instead of banning the game so that a whole lot of healthy players suffer, maybe monitoring your child’s health or keeping yourself in check could be the solution?
What are your thoughts on this? We get that this could be a sensitive topic for some, and controversial for others. But do let us know your thoughts on this.
By now, it is no news that Samsung is revamping its mid-range and budget segment. While the budget segment capped out at the Galaxy M10, M20, and M30, the A-series is seeing quite a few phones. Looks like they’re seeking to fully complete the A-series. Because, this lineup has the Galaxy A10, A20, A30, A40, A50, A70, and Samsung Galaxy A80. The only ones missing are the A60 and the A90, which, may or may not come out. But that’s a lot of phones!
The Galaxy A80 is the latest addition to the A-series. And this phone takes the Infinity Display to a whole new level! Well, not technically. It is a pop-up camera after all. But the pop-up camera is also slightly modified to use it as the selfie camera as well. So, basically, you have a rotating camera module.
The Samsung Galaxy A80 features a triple camera setup. That, however, is not new. But what’s new here, is when you trigger the selfie camera, the rear camera module slides up, and the sensors rotate frontward. That’s a double sliding mechanism in action.
Its triple camera setup comprises of a 48 MP primary camera with f/2.0 aperture, and an 8 MP ultrawide sensor. However, contrary to our expectations, the 3rd lens is a 3D TOF (Time of Flight Sensor) for better portrait shots and Augmented Reality applications. While augmented reality application is not fully fledged yet, it can help take portrait videos as well. Speaking of videos, this phone can do some fancy stuff like take 4K videos as well.
Apart from the camera, the phone packs a massive 6.7″ display with Full HD+ resolution. The body is a glass construction with an aluminum frame in between. That is the making of most premium looking handsets. Under the glass, it runs on the new Snapdragon 730 chipsetbased on 8 nm fabrication process. Combined with 8 GB RAM, that should mean plenty of power at your hands! There’s also 128 GB storage on-board, a decent 3700 mAh battery, and 25-Watt Fast Charging. For now, the fast charging here is better than what we get in the flagships, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy 10+.
Samsung Galaxy A80 Specifications:
Design: Glass body front and back, Aluminum frame
Display: 6.7″ Super AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution (1080 x 2400 pixels)
Rear Camera: Triple, 48 MP primary lens with f/2.0 aperture & PDAF + 8 MP Ultra-wide-angle lens with f/2.2 aperture + 3D TOF sensor
Front Camera: Rotating rear camera (48 MP primary lens with f/2.0 aperture & PDAF + 8 MP Ultra-wide-angle lens with f/2.2 aperture + 3D TOF sensor)
The Samsung Galaxy A80 is priced very close to the semi-flagship, Samsung Galaxy S10e. It’s up to you to decide which one’s a better value for money. But what is more concerning than that, is having two motorized parts – which is not really convincing on the durability front. Whether it will live up to the hype, time will tell. The phone will be officially available for purchase starting May 29.
With so many smartphones swarming the market these days, what do you do to stand out? Maybe, focus on a specific feature? Well, some smartphone companies are doing just that. As you can tell, Huawei’s P30 and P30 Pro look like smartphones on camera rather than the other way around. And at the same time, we have the new Oppo F11 Pro that puts a focus on its camera prowess as well. Also, what could be a better way to advertise that than let a professional photographer shoot stunning pictures with the Oppo F11 Pro?
Oppo did just that. In the first-ever such collaboration, they got together with mountaineer Dr. Nima Namgyal Sherpa, and professional photographer, Adam Neng. They trekked the Everest Base Camp to capture some of the majestic landscapes that the heavenly place has to offer. And brought some pictures back for us to see. So, yes, this is about the first ever pictures of Mt.Everest taken by the Oppo F11 Pro. Here they are for you to see.
Oppo F11 Pro on Everest
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Night Mode shot
Oppo F11 Pro in action
The Oppo F11 Pro features a 48 MP primary camera with f/1.8 aperture and a 5 MP depth sensor. The 48 MP camera, however, is most likely a Samsung’s Bright GM1 sensor as the camera has a Quad-Bayer filter, meaning it uses pixel binning to take 12 MP resolution pictures, but that makes for less noise and more details, too. However, when every other smartphone company is going for a triple camera setup, this one still caps out at two. Of course, we would have loved to see a dedicated Ultra-wide angle sensor, but it misses out on that.
The AI scene recognition is there, which may have been responsible for such majestic photos. Oppo’s Ultra Night Mode also makes its way here, which gives us more balanced pictures at night time. There is definitely some image stacking involved, but the image processing power is definitely there.
Oppo F11 Pro Specifications:
Design: Plastic body with an aluminum frame, pop-up camera
Display: 6.53″ IPS LCD display with Full HD+ resolution (1080 x 2340 pixels), 19.5″9 aspect ratio, Edge-to-edge screen, no notch
I got the Galaxy S10 and S10+ after a week of their launch and since there were so many reviews of them already, I decided to use it for a little longer and give you guys more than just my initial impressions. I bought the S10 with my own money to use it as my daily driver and also took the S10+ in for review so that I can take a better look at both of them. So, let’s get into it!
A couple of years ago, lots of people complained about the placement of the fingerprint scanner on a couple of Samsung flagship phones. And while that has changed last year, Samsung has been generous enough to add another nuisance this year in the form of the placement of the power button. It is placed way too high, and even people with large hands will have a hard time handling it. Come on Samsung, this is a schoolboy error. You just brought yourselves a problem that isn’t even supposed to happen.
But Samsung has added an option to remap its extra button, the infamous Bixby button, which is a nice thing. I use it to open the camera app, but it’s up to you to choose for yourself.
Continuing with the design, the Galaxy S10 is curved on the back, giving us a better feel on hands. However, due to the glass back, it is a lot slippery, so you should probably use a case at all times. I also like the color options these phones have. I am not into white phones, but this here, I liked. It has a white color that shows off subtle change in color according to its reflection. It’s really cool. But my pick of the bunch is the blue one, 100%. However, having used the Galaxy Note 9 for several months, the Samsung Galaxy S10 doesn’t feel as premium as its predecessor. Don’t get me wrong, it is premium, but it isn’t up there at the top. It actually feels more like the back on Samsung’s A-series smartphones.
We are all aware that both the S10 and the S10+ are more or less the same device. S10+ has the bigger display, bigger battery, and that twin notches with dual camera. The S10 is for those who want smaller form factor and minimalism.
Display
What Samsung has nailed is the display quality. When I used the Note 9 for a while, I never thought Samsung could actually better it. And to my surprise, the Dynamic AMOLED panel is just great, the colors, the vibrancy, the sharpness, everything is just too good. And the screen bleeding over the edge makes this the best-designed phone for me. But the same infinity display brings in accidental touches. Even with the Accidental Touch Protection setting enabled, you will register a few unwanted touches, especially with one hand usage.
The Galaxy S10 has a 6.1-inch screen while the Plus model comes with a 6.4-inch screen. And me, personally, I like the larger displays as you get to see a lot of content on it. But most of the people I know have leaned towards the Galaxy S10 due to its “compact” design as it fits comfortably on the hand.
Also, the Blue light filter here is improved. What Samsung did is shift the “eye straining” blue light of the 450mm wavelength to a safer 465mm wavelength, which means my eyes are less stressed and I am less fatigued.
Performance
Talking about the processor, the units we reviewed are powered by the Exynos 9820. It excels all the benchmark tests and as far as the performance is concerned, initially I faced this PubG issue on the phone. See at first when I started playing the game, I had no problem at all. But reading all the posts about it lagging, I reinstalled it and that brought in the lags. And those lags were crazy, I start walking from somewhere and a few seconds later, I end up in the same place. This was obviously fixable through software updates, and Samsung has looked into it yet. I recently received an update on the phone which seems to have fixed the issue completely. Other than that, I have had no problem with the S10 as far as the performance is concerned. It easily handles all other games, and its RAM helps with the multi-tasking effectively. There have been no stutters anywhere, and you will get the almost perfect flagship experience with the phone.
Other than these two issues, I have had no problem with the Galaxy S10 as far as the performance is concerned. It easily handles all other games, and its RAM helps with the multi-tasking effectively. There have been no stutters anywhere, and you will get the almost perfect flagship experience with the phone.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Benchmark Tests
Geekbench v4.3.2
Single-core: 4460
Multi-core: 10046
AnTuTu v7:
329680
3D Mark
Slingshot Extreme OpenGL ES 3.1: 4340
Slingshot Extreme Vulkan: 4297
PC Mark
Work 2.0: 7861
Andro Bench
Sequential Read: 794.35 MB/s
Sequential Write: 191.02 MB/s
Software
And part of this is also due to One UI, Samsung’s new and improved user interface. The software is really light, and even with a lot of customizations in its bag, it is really smooth. Gone are the days of laggy Samsung phones. Samsung has also made this UI by keeping tall phones in mind. If you have small hands, you will really like how the whole interface tries to bring most of the things down for the ease of use. However, I think that this UI’s icons are quite cartoonish and also the notification shade is too big for my taste.
Like always, though, Samsung has added in a few of its own applications with some being useful. The Samsung Password app saves you the hassle of saving your password every time, and Samsung health is helpful in keeping track of your health status. The heart rate sensor at the back, which is something essential and something we don’t get on any other smartphone. I have also seen people complaining about bloatware’s on Samsung phones, but there are very few that cannot be uninstalled. This includes the LinkedIn, Office mobile, galaxy store, and one drive. On the positive side, you get 100GB of cloud storage with Onedrive, which is a great complement to the internal memory. Oh, I completely forgot about Bixby. Actually, Bixby was the first thing I disabled and I even remapped the button to the camera app. So, let’s not just talk about Bixby.
Camera
The cameras on the Samsung top of the line phones always have one of the best, it still not the best out there. The S10 is simply not as good as the Google Pixel 3. But maybe it lies somewhere in the top 4 list.
If you go by the specs, there’s the same primary lens as the S9 and Note 9, the same 2X telephoto lens, but we’ve got a new ultra-wide lens. So, you really get a complete package in the optics department.
When I got my hands on the Galaxy S10 a few weeks ago, I really wanted to see what Samsung had in mind with the camera. So, I went to a few places just to test out the triple cameras on the back. If you go by the specs, the phone has a primary lens, a wide-angle camera, and a telephoto lens. So, apart from the depth sensor, you really get a complete package in the optics department.
Until the Huawei P30 came out a few days ago, the Samsung Galaxy S10+ was the joint top on DxOMark’s camera rating, and after using the cameras in real life, well I think they are one of the best around. And here are the pictures to prove them.
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Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Details 1
Huawei Mate 20 Pro Details 1
There are ample details on the pictures, and even if you zoom into the image, you will still see a lot.
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Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Dynamic Range 1
Huawei Mate 20 Pro Dynamic Range 1
The dynamic range is great as well. The shadow details are well pronounced on the image, and there are no over-exposed highlight details. And all of these pictures have a natural color tone with a good level of saturation that looks natural to the eyes.
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Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Wide-angle
Huawei Mate 20 Pro wide-angle
Due to the telephoto lens, even when you zoom into the shots, you will notice no loss in terms of the quality, and this is really helpful. The wide-angle lens is of good quality as well. When I compared it against the Mate 20 Pro, the pictures from the Galaxy S10 had better colors and details. Take a look at the sky on these two images, the Galaxy S10 definitely has the better quality.
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Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Portrait
Huawei Mate 20 Pro Portrait
The Galaxy S10 doesn’t have a dedicated depth sensor, and even without it, the software does a good job in blurring out the background of the subjects effectively. Take a look at this shot, the colors are natural, and the background has been blurred out well.
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But there were times, where the subjects went a little soft like this statue here.
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Like the other flagship devices, Samsung has added in its own effects for its Live focus mode, I really like the Color Point mode that only applies colors to the subject. There is also the zoom and spin effect which is fun to play around with.
One thing Samsung should add to its camera app is a dedicated night mode. Now the night mode on phones may not be 100% great, but they are slowly getting there, and with software updates, they can really improve. So, Samsung should definitely keep this in mind and release a night mode for the S10 series.
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Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Night details
Huawei Mate 20 Pro Night details
As per the night shots, well, Samsung’s flagship devices have been doing well and the Samsung Galaxy S10 is no slouch. All the shots are well detailed and natural to the taste. The Mate 20 Pro did overexpose dark shots, but the Galaxy S10 remained all natural. Even the colors are reproduced well, and just like day time, the color tone is natural too. I know I have been saying natural far too often, but the cameras have really done well.
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Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Normal Selfie
Huawei Mate 20 Pro Normal Selfie
In the previous years, I had bashed Samsung for not including a good selfie camera on its flagship phone. But that has changed over the years, and this time, the company has included a good selfie shooter. In ample lighting, the selfies are well detailed and have an abundance of colors to them. They are of great quality.
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Indoor Selfie
Indoor Selfie Portrait
But if you are indoors under artificial lighting, the skin tone is quite weird, and the quality is not up there.
As for the selfie portraits, the Galaxy S10+ is the pick of the bunch with its depth-sensing camera. But I think it would have been better if Samsung had included the wide-angle selfie camera like Pixel’s in place of the depth sensing lens. The Galaxy S10 has this option to widen selfies, but that’s just dropping in and out of the same shot. This feature has resulted in an issue, though. When you video call someone from the Galaxy S10, the selfie video is zoomed into, and I don’t like this thing at all. Samsung if you’re reading this, please check into it.
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Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Portrait Selfie
Huawei Mate 20 Pro Portrait Selfie
Talking about the video, both the front and back of the S10 now can capture 4K video and the quality and the overall stabilization is just great. If you want to start vlogging, the S10 is a good way to get started. Also, there’s this super steady mode that’s really impressive as well.
Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner
Up front, the Samsung Galaxy S10 comes with an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. Now if you get the angle right, you can even see the sensor under bright sunlight. But this sensor is completely different from Huawei’s or OnePlus’ optic sensor as it takes a 3D map of the fingerprint by projecting out sound waves. Pretty cool right?
It’s fast and will also work when you have wet fingers. But I would say a couple of the phones with optic sensors can match the speed. And, it’s not accurate like all the other in-display sensors. It gets the readings right most of the time, but still, there are a lot of times throughout the day it doesn’t get them right. But this is the first generation of the technology, and I can wait to see its development.
What I found weird was when you get the angle right, you can even see the sensor under bright sunlight. I freaked out that day because I thought I had a faulty unit, but it is how it is.
Extras
Also, cool on the Samsung Galaxy S10 are the dual speakers. It’s the best I have seen on a phone and actually, I don’t need to carry a portable Bluetooth speaker. The Samsung Galaxy S10 is IP68 rated like most of the flagship devices so you can use it underwater too.
Like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, the Galaxy S10 also has power sharing feature, so you can definitely charge up other wirelessly enabled products through the phone. And it’s a bit faster than Huawei’s take. It will especially come in handy while charging accessories. You won’t be able to charge up another device if the Galaxy S10 has less than 30% battery remaining, though.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 has ample memory with the storage going up to 1TB on the Galaxy S10+, although Nepali buyers will find 512 GB as the highest they can opt for. You also have a memory card slot along the dual SIM slots. And if the call quality is concerned, it is great, Samsung has actually included a tiny bezel for adding in the earpiece as well. So, yeah, you could take this as an advantage or the ugly point of its design!
Battery
Now, the battery is where the Galaxy S10+ has a big edge over the S10. While the S10 lasts for a typical day, the bigger battery of the S10+ will give you a little bit more. But that completely depends on your usage. To endure the battery life, I toned down the resolution of the display to 1080P, because, with QHD+ resolution, the battery life is really low, especially on the S10.
Also, like with the PubG issue, there were a lot of people complaining about battery life. Apparently, if you make VOIP calls like from messenger or WhatsApp, it won’t go into deep sleep and will remain active until you restart the whole device. So, the battery isn’t that efficient on this Exynos variant compared to the Snapdragon version. But again Samsung has solved this issue with the software update. Yaay!!
As for the charging time though, the Galaxy S10 takes about 2 hours to go from 0 to 100% which is slow for a flagship phone. It’s because Samsung is still using the 15Watt charging tech that was first used on the Galaxy S7.
Huawei has a 40Watt charger, OPPO has got a 50Watt charger and Xiaomi is coming with the whooping 100Watt charger, and even S10’s 5G version has a 25Watt charger, so the 15 Watt charging speed on a flagship phone is something not very fancy.
Conclusion
So, the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+ are great devices for sure. But I feel like the updates that Samsung has brought are incremental and not worth upgrading if you’re already an S8, S9, Note 8 or Note 9 user. However, if you are using the S7 or its predecessors this is the right time for you to upgrade. Or even if you are coming from a midrange phone like I did, the S10 would be a great upgrade.
And talking about the S10 and S10+, since, S10 is cheaper among the two and does not miss out on essentials, I feel that it is the better deal of the two. But, again, it completely depends on your preference.
So, here’s my final conclusion: if you’re looking for a flagship phone right now, go for the S10 or S10+. You won’t regret it, I haven’t!
So, what do you do when your competitor excels in something you haven’t ever tried? Well, you definitely try to do the same thing, trying to better those competitors. And this device I have here with me is the example of that. This is the Samsung Galaxy Buds, and it is Samsung’s answer to the Apple Airpods.
Airpods have been around for a while, and they are quite popular. I have seen a lot of people just roaming around rocking their Airpods. So, yeah, wireless buds are getting really popular and it was about time Samsung got into the act. So, I was really excited to use it, and thanks to Samsung’s offer, I got the Buds for free when I pre-ordered the Galaxy S10.
Design and Build
When I held the buds for the first time, I liked the heft it had. Even with the small design, its case is well-built and even if you drop them, they will handle that with ease. The case has a magnetic lid that snaps right on the base, and I really like the clickiness it has.
The buds are stored safely inside it and they are magnetically connected to the case giving you some protection. They are quite small and light, but again, just like the case it comes with, it is quality. Samsung has put a lot of effort into it, and the feel, the build quality, everything is great. It is a product from Samsung after all.
Along with the box, you also get differently sized wingtips and eartips in the package which really help with the usability. I got to choose the right fitting for my ear and that’s also one of the features that differentiates the Galaxy Buds and Apple Airpods. If you get the Airpods, you are fixed to one and only one size, but the story is different with the Galaxy buds. You can get comfortable just the way you like.
Sound Quality
Now let’s talk about the major purpose of any headset, the sound. Before I tried it with the Galaxy S10, I connected the buds to a non-Samsung smartphone. The sound was only average, though, and the bass was too weak. Thinking this was the case with phones other than the Samsung one, I ran it on the Galaxy S10. And the case was the same.
But with the Galaxy Wearable app, the buds do get a little better. Especially enabling the bass boost option, the overall sound quality does get better. There are also other sound options, but I always opt for the bass boost as it turns the below par bass to make it more amplified and better.
However, the bass of the Buds doesn’t define the pricing of the headset. The Sony earphone that I got for $30 definitely overpower the Galaxy Buds’ bass. If you really want the best of the bass, you can turn up the volume to the maximum, but I definitely suggest against it.
The sound, otherwise, is good. It has ample clarity, and the treble really pops. There is a treble boost option too if you want to get the best out of the high notes. And if you want balanced audio, go for the dynamic option.
However, the sound quality doesn’t define the price for me. It’s loud and all, but you will be missing that final punch, that one final punch that makes the audio sound the best. There is noise cancellation on the device which is one of its best parts, but like Becca Farsace of the Verge said, “There’s no mistaking that the sound is coming from a very small source and being shoved directly into your ears.” And that shoving is the major reason for the cancellation.
Call Quality
Although the people I called through the Galaxy buds haven’t really complained about the call quality, a lot of its users have had their share of issues. Apparently, in crowded places, the mic doesn’t receive users voice clearly. I haven’t faced that issue, though.
Control Center and Touch
For the smart side of Buds, Samsung has added touch sensitivity to its reflective side. The buds offer a few controls through touch. One tap plays or pauses audio, two taps play the next track or answer a call while three taps play the previous track. Samsung has offered a choice to remap the touch and hold button. I changed it to voice assistant, which here is the Google Assistant, not Bixby. A huge thumbs up for that!
But still, I would have liked to use the double tap for the voice assistant and swipe for changing volume. This would have been easier for users. I think Samsung can still change it with a software update.
Talking about software updates, I have already received a couple which is a great thing indeed. Another thing Samsung needs to better is the touch sensitivity. When I try to control the audio, the touches don’t register sometimes. And if I take off one of the buds, the audio doesn’t mute. These can be bettered with software updates, so I hope Samsung takes a look into it.
Ambient Sound
The other half-baked feature is the Ambient Sound mode. Samsung has included this feature so that the users can hear what’s happening outside their ears while rocking their Buds. The mic on the buds works like an actual mic to take in the sound and stream into the user’s ear. While this feature might sound good, it’s not. It doesn’t work if you’re listening to music, and when it does, it sounds like someone speaking from the worst quality mic.
Battery
What’s good is the wireless power sharing the S10 has. If you have the phone, you won’t have to worry about charging the buds every now and then, and even if you do, you won’t have to connect it to a cable as it can be wirelessly charged.
The buds offer a battery life of 5-6 hours and the case has an additional 7 hours of battery life. It takes about an hour and 30 minutes to charge up the whole thing with Samsung’s 15W fast charger.
Conclusion
Wireless is the future and the new Galaxy Buds prove that. They are smart and carry a huge potential in being one of the most sought out devices. Unlike Airpods, they can connect to any Android device and work tirelessly with the Galaxy Wearable app. It is sturdy, comfortable on the ear, and the sound quality is quite decent too. So, it must be the best right? Well, not really.
There are a few shortcomings on the device, and most of those shortcomings are what differentiates the headset from the best. Maybe this is because it’s Samsung’s first take on such technology, and maybe Samsung will come up with a better device next year. So, if you’re planning to get the Samsung Galaxy Buds, don’t. Wait for another year.
Lately, we haven’t seen from Qualcomm in the midrange segment. The midrange chips like Snapdragon 710, 675, and 670 offer more or less a similar performance. Snapdragon 712, the quick successor of the SD710 also didn’t bring much of an upgrade to the table. But this time around, Qualcomm came with a bang and launched three new midrange chipsets. Snapdragon 665 and Snapdragon 730 are targeted at mid-range and upper midrange devices. Alongside these two, Qualcomm brought Snapdragon 730G with the midrange gaming phones in mind.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 665
The major highlight of this new chipset is its CPU fabrication. Snapdragon 660, the predecessor of SD665 was based on 14nm fabrication. However, this new chip is based on 11nm fabrication technique, because of which it would consume less power and dissipate less heat than its predecessor on doing the same tasks. This is a huge step forward for a midrange chip. However, Qualcomm hasn’t changed the CPU architecture here. It uses the same octa-core setup with four big cores based on Cortex A73 and four small cores based on Cortex A53. Maybe it could be for the power efficiency purpose, Qualcomm has also decreased the clock speed of the four big cores. The big Kryo 260 cores here caps at 2.0GHz speed, which was 2.2GHz on the SD660.
On the GPU side, Qualcomm is claiming that the SD665 offer 20 percent better power efficiency than the SD660. Although Qualcomm didn’t specifically mention the boost in the GPU performance, the generation jump of Adreno 512 to Adreno 610 cues a significant change. In terms of ISP (Image Signal Processor), there is not a considerable enhancement. However, the Snapdragon 665 comes with the 3rd generation of Qualcomm AI engine, which offers up to 2x faster AI on-device processing capabilities than the SD660. So with such a capable AI engine on the board, SD665 will show its proficiency on the scene and object recognition. Also, this new chip promises improvements in the places where Computer Vision like facial recognition is used.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 and Snapdragon 730G
It hasn’t been much Qualcomm announced Snapdragon 712 chip with a few enhancements over the SD710. However, there were not any sort of major upgrades, which everyone has expected and anticipated. But this time, Qualcomm released the true successor of SD710 in the form of Snapdragon 730. The chipset is based on 8nm fabrication technique, which is one of the major highlights of this new chip.
On the CPU side, there are two big cores and six small cores. But unlike the SD710, the big cores in the SD730 employs Cortex A76 cores. The power efficiency cores use the same Cortex A55 microarchitecture found on the SD710 but the small cores on the SD730 caps at 1.8GHz.
Talking about the GPU, the chipset comes in-built with Adreno 618 GPU, which promises 25% better over the Adreno 616 on the SD710. One of the prime reasons for this boost in performance is the increased number of ALUs in the SD730. Apart from that, the SD730 comes with 4th generation AI engine, because of which the newbie will have 2x faster AI processing capabilities over the SD710. Furthermore, the presence of latest generation Hexagon 688 DSP with Qualcomm’s new Tensor Accelerator units aids in better machine learning interfacing.
The new chip is also suited with top-notch imaging capabilities with the inclusion of Spectra 350 ISP. The chip also features CV (Computer Vision) acceleration. These are top-tier features and are expected at the flagship devices. And Qualcomm’s generosity here on providing such amazing features is definitely commendable.
Alongside the SD730, Qualcomm also announced the Snapdragon 730G chipset. The ‘G’ suffix on the end cues for its gaming prowess. This variant comes with greater clock speeds than the normal variant. With extra tweaks and enhancements, this one offers 15% greater graphics performance than the standard SD730 version.
Sastodeal, one of the leading online shopping platforms, is known for good deals and offers timely. And with the new year knocking, it was certain that we would see some kind of offers from the company. And they did not disappoint. Here, we have Sastodeal’s Naya Barsa Double Discount offer!
So, what’s this about? As the name implies, you’re in for double discounts. Of course, that doesn’t really clarify things. It’s like this. You already get some kind of discounts on a range of products. And that includes all kinds – from home appliances, to baby products to even things like laptops. And if you’re not aware, the Samsung Galaxy S10e is available right now for a crazy price of Rs. 74000 in there!
Anyway, what we’re talking about is the Double Discount! So, yes. You already get some form of a discount on all of these products. You can buy them at a reduced price. And then, you can get some more discount upon checking out with the item! Sounds cool, doesn’t it? Whatever item you buy for a discounted price, you get even more discount on it!
There are like discounts up to 80% and you get even more on checking out! Plus, as a part of the offer, there will also be Flash Sales everyday until the offer lasts. The offer is now live, since Chaitra 26 or April 9th, until the first day of New Years – i.e. Baisakh 1 or April 14th. The 6-day offer is already underway. So, visit Sastodeal.com for more information and great deals!
Daraz brings amazing shopping offers on time and often. The 11.11 sales day campaign is still fresh on our heads. Even the latest Shake that A** campaign sounds equally exciting. Since the New Year is at our doors, we were expecting some awe-inspiring offers from Daraz. And Daraz didn’t disappoint us. Daraz, in its Nawa Barsha Dhamaka campaign, has brought jaw-dropping offers to lure people into online shopping. Daraz promises this new campaign to be a full-fledged shopping extravaganza. In this campaign, the users are expected to find a ton of mega deals, heavy discounts, and galore of amazing vouchers.
This New Year campaign starts from 10th of April (27th Chaitra) and will last till the 17th (Baisakh 4). And this 8-day long campaign, Daraz is said to showcase products from renowned brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, Sony, Adidas, Reebok, L’Oreal, Clovia, etc. offering discounts up to a whopping 60%. On top of that, there will be Crazy Vouchers with a maximum worth of Rs. 4,000 and Mega Vouchers with the value of Rs. 5,000. If you win any of these vouchers, you can use it to purchase any product enlisted in Daraz’s website.
Apart from that, there will also be Mega Deals and Crazy Flash sales. You might be familiar with these things. Daraz has been bringing these kinds of offers for a considerate time as of now. These are time specific offers and lasts just for a certain interval. If you fail the grab the offers in that designated time, you will miss the deal. In the Mega Deals and Crazy Flash Sales, users can get heavy discounts on products like clothing, cameras, phones, electronics accessories, beauty products, etc.
This already sounds fascinating. But apart from all the aforementioned exciting stuff, Daraz has more to offer. Daraz is offering amazing goodies for its customers along with the Daraz Mystery Box. Among all the customers making a purchase during the period, the lucky ones will also be getting a chance to 32-inch Android Smart TV from Videocon.
Aside from the goods and accessories, there are also exclusive Holiday Packages for those who want to visit exotic places this New Year. And on that matter, Bali and Pokhara are on the top of their list.
It was not new for Samsung to launch two variants of its flagships in recent years. This time, with the S10 series, they outdid themselves, launching 4 variants of the S10 series. There is a regular Galaxy S10, it’s beefed up variant – Galaxy S10+, and the semi-flagship, the small Galaxy S10e. Its 5G variant didn’t make it to Nepal for obvious reasons. And with this strategy, the S10 lineup seems to be doing quite well. And so, the company is doing the same for its Note 10 as well!
Even though there were two variants of the S-series flagships, the Note had only one. The trend was there until the Galaxy Note 9. But that’s all about to change. Latest rumors suggest that there are going to be 4 variants of the Note 10. Out of the 4, two will have 5G support while the other two will cap out at 4G. Of course, the 5G models will not show up to Nepal. Still, it’s interesting to know that Samsung is really trying to one-up its game.
What could be differentiating among these 4 models? There is not much information to go on. But so far, what we know is that there will be a 6.28″ model, a 6.4″ one and a 6.7″ one. The smallest of them will follow the same strategy as the S10e, but of course, will have the S-Pen! A 6.28″ Note probably won’t look like a Note device, but since the S10e did a good job, we’re hopeful. The smaller variants of both the 4G and 5G models will have triple cameras at the back, whereas the larger ones will have quad-camera setups.
Of course, none of this is set in stone as of yet. These are rumors and can change at any time. But we’ll make sure to keep you updated with the latest rumors or news or such about the Galaxy Note 10.
