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Samsung Galaxy Buds Review: Bitter Sweet Symphony

GadgetByte

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April 10, 2019

Samsung Galaxy Buds Review: Bitter Sweet Symphony

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.

Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 665, 730, and 730G chipsets for the midrange devices

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April 10, 2019

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Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 665, 730, and 730G chipsets for the midrange devices

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 3^rd 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 4^th 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.

Qualcomm Snapdragon Upper Mid-Range SoCs
SoC	Snapdragon 660	Snapdragon 665	Snapdragon 670	Snapdragon 675	Snapdragon 710	Snapdragon 730
CPU	4x Kryo 260 (CA73) @ 2.2GHz4x Kryo 260 (CA53) @ 1.8GHz	4x Kryo 260 (CA73) @ 2.0GHz4x Kryo 260 (CA53) @ 1.8GHz	2x Kryo 360 (CA75) @ 2.0GHz6x Kryo 360 (CA55) @ 1.7GHz	2x Kryo 460 (CA76) @ 2.0GHz6x Kryo 460 (CA55) @ 1.7GHz	2x Kryo 360 (CA75) @ 2.2GHz6x Kryo 360 (CA55) @ 1.7GHz	2x Kryo 470 (CA76) @ 2.2GHz6x Kryo 470 (CA55) @ 1.8GHz
GPU	Adreno 512	Adreno 610	Adreno 615	Adreno 612	Adreno 616	Adreno 618
DSP	Hexagon 680	Hexagon 686	Hexagon 685			Hexagon 688
ISP/ Camera	Spectra 160 24MP	Spectra 165 25MP single / 16MP dual	Spectra 250 25MP single / 16MP dual	Spectra 250 25MP single / 16MP dual	Spectra 250 32MP single / 20MP dual	Spectra 350 36MP single / 22MP dual
Memory	2x 16-bit @ 1866MHz LPDDR4 14.9GB/s		2x 16-bit @ 1866MHz LPDDR4X 14.9GB/s1MB system cache
Integrated Modem	Snapdragon X12 LTE (Category 12/13) DL = 600Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAMUL = 150Mbps 2x20MHz CA, 64-QAM				Snapdragon X15 LTE (Category 15/13) DL = 800Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAMUL = 150Mbps 2x20MHz CA, 64-QAM
Encode/ Decode	2160p30, 1080p120 H.264 & H.265				2160p30, 1080p120 H.264 & H.26510-bit HDR pipelines

SastoDeal New Year’s Double Discount Offer Now Live!

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April 9, 2019

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SastoDeal New Year’s Double Discount Offer Now Live!

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 Nawa Barsha Dhamaka: Amazing Deals, Heavy Discounts, and Mega Vouchers in galore

GadgetByte

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April 9, 2019

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Daraz Nawa Barsha Dhamaka: Amazing Deals, Heavy Discounts, and Mega Vouchers in galore

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 10^th of April (27^th Chaitra) and will last till the 17^th (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.

Four versions of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10?

GadgetByte

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April 9, 2019

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Four versions of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10?

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.

Honor 20 & 20 Pro Specifications and Price leaked ahead of the launch date

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April 8, 2019

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Honor 20 & 20 Pro Specifications and Price leaked ahead of the launch date

Honor is pushing its limits to bring top-tier specifications in its smartphones at a reasonably affordable price. And in that run, Honor Play and Honor View 20 (Honor V20 in China) made commendable marks in the smartphone market. To continue the winning streaks, Honor is reportedly working on two new smartphones. According to the recent leaks, Honor is on the verge of expanding its lineup by bringing Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro. And as the leak tips, these handsets will feature flag-grade specifications.

A week earlier, we heard about the Honor 20 and 20 Pro smartphones being approved by the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) body. That news divulged the existence of the Honor 20 series devices. But the recent leaks, which appeared on the Chinese website Weibo gave a clearer picture of the specs on the handset. Apart from the specs, the leak also brought the price and launch date of the device into the limelight.

When the devices were approved by EEC, the model number of the devices was listed as YAL-L21 and YAL-L41. And these devices are expectedly making a debut in the market as Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro respectively.

Going by the specs, both of these devices are said to carry the Kirin 980 chipset. This is the flagship chipset from Huawei, which appeared on the prime flagship devices like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, P30, and P30 Pro. On the memory side of things, the base variant will get 6GB RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. Even on the software side, the phone will come with Gaming+, Link Turbo, CPU & GPU Turbo mode to enhance the performance. With all these things aboard, the performance can be expected to be absolutely fluid here.

Lately, Huawei has been in a remarkable position when it comes to the cameras. And being the subsidiary brand of Huawei, Honor is also said to equip some capable hardware on the optics front. Honor 20 Pro is said to carry a Sony IMX600 sensor, which was also used on the Huawei P30 Pro. Whereas, the Honor 20 will rock with a 48MP main shooter. Apart from that, both the phones will supposedly carry a 20MP ultra-wide-angle camera and an 8MP telephoto shooter. But unlike the P30 Pro, these smartphones are said to come with 3x lossless zooming. On the selfie part, a 32MP shooter will do the job. The selfie shooter will dwell on the tiny notch on the top.

Both of these phones will carry the latest Android Pie with EMUI 9.0 on the top. On the battery side, the phones are rumored to pack 3650mAh battery with support for 22.5W fast charging. On the display side, the phone will get a 6.1-inch OLED panel.

The leak has also implicitly implied the price of the base variant. The modest variant of the Honor 20 series will supposedly carry a price tag of CNY 2,999 (~$450). As far as the launch date is concerned, the phone will make a debut on April 25^th.

Budget Friendly Lenovo K6 Enjoy with Triple Cameras Launched

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April 8, 2019

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Budget Friendly Lenovo K6 Enjoy with Triple Cameras Launched

2019 seems to be the year of the budget phones. We are seeing a lot of budget-oriented smartphones launch every other day. Lenovo also seems to be getting into the act as the company has just unveiled the Lenovo K6 Enjoy. Like I mentioned before, the phone is meant for as a low budget mid-range smartphone.

Lenovo K6 Enjoy Overview

The Lenovo K6 Enjoy boasts a triple camera setup on the rear. The design on the back looks a lot like a couple of Huawei smartphones. There is a 12-megapixel primary camera aligned with a 5-megapixel depth sensor and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens. There are dual LED lights aided the camera setup as well. The phone has an 8-megapixel selfie shooter that is able to capture Full HD videos just like the rear camera.

Talking about the display, the Lenovo K6 Enjoy sports a 6.22-inch IPS LCD display with HD resolution. It has an aspect ratio of 19:9 and has a waterdrop notch on top of it. Under the hood, the Lenovo K6 Play is powered by the MediaTek Helio P22 chipset. There is 4 GB RAM and PowerVR GE8320 coupling the CPU. The K6 Enjoy runs on Android 9.0 Pie out of the box.

For storage purpose, the Lenovo K6 Enjoy comes in two variants – 64 GB and 128 GB. It does have support for an external memory card but users will have to choose between an extra SIM or the card itself. The device has a 3,300 mAh battery which should last well due to the HD display the phone comes with.

Lenovo K6 Enjoy Specifications

Display: 6.22-inch IPS LCD HD+ display, 19:9 aspect ratio
CPU: Octa-core MediaTek Helio P22
GPU: PowerVR GE8320
OS: Android 9 Pie
RAM: 4 GB
Storage: 64 GB / 128 GB, SD Card slot for memory expansion (Uses SIM 2)
Rear Camera: Triple: 12 MP, PDAF + 5 MP depth + 8 MP telephoto; LED flash
Front Camera: 8 MP selfie camera
Sensors: Fingerprint (Rear-mounted), Accelerometer, Proximity
Battery: 3,300 mAh; Type-C charging port with Fast Charging

Lenovo K6 Enjoy Price and Availability

The Lenovo K6 Enjoy runs for 1,398 Yuan ($208) in the Chinese market. This price applied for its base variant. Lenovo hasn’t talked about the device’s availability and pricing in other countries, though.

Google’s own website confirmed the existence of Pixel 3a and 3a XL

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April 8, 2019

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Google’s own website confirmed the existence of Pixel 3a and 3a XL

We have been hearing quite a lot of the midrange Google Pixel device. And the speculations churned in the rumor mill for a considerate amount of time. Early rumors suggested the name of the upcoming Google’s midrange device to be Google Pixel Lite. However, the device is shaping to release in the form of Google Pixel 3a and Google Pixel 3a XL. And Google’s official website has confirmed the names of these upcoming devices.

A recent listing in Google’s store refueled the speculations. Although the listing is no more available in the store, some of the tech bloggers managed to get the screenshot of the website. Some of the tech bloggers also decoded the possible launch date of the device. Although the month and day of the official launch of the device are yet under the unveil, the handset can possibly make a debut on mid-year. so if the clues are correct, the handset may come all in glory on the month of June or July.

According to the recent leaks, the smaller of the two or the Pixel 3a will come with a 5.6-inch display. And talking about the bigger one, the Pixel 3a XL will sport a 6.0-inch screen. Both of the handsets are said to feature Full-HD+ OLED display in 18:9 and 18.5:9 aspect ratio respectively.

3.5mm headphone jack is seemingly lost in the oblivion in the Pixel books. But this antique piece of tech is supposed to make a comeback on the Pixel 3a and 3a XL. So good news for the audiophiles!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyJwQwSpgWM

Apart from that, the processor used on the device is also coming to the limelight. Rumors suggest that the smaller handset will get the Snapdragon 670 chipset. As far as the bigger or the better one is concerned, the phone will supposedly get the Snapdragon 710. Both of the devices will be getting 4GB of RAM. Since the flagship Pixel devices haven’t crossed the 4GB RAM benchmark, so we cannot even expect more than 4GB RAM on this one.

Oppo revealed the camera specifications of its upcoming Oppo Reno smartphone

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April 7, 2019

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Oppo revealed the camera specifications of its upcoming Oppo Reno smartphone

When Oppo announced its Reno sub-brand and teased the Oppo Reno smartphone with a new type of pop-up camera, everyone was awe-inspired. The handset created even more excitements among the tech enthusiasts when Oppo announced the launch date of the device. The device is slated to launch on 10^th of April. Ahead of the launch, Oppo started taking pre-orders for the device. And to lure people into pre-ordering the handset, Oppo also divulged the major specs of the device on the optics front.

The smartphone will come with a triple camera setup at the back. The first and most important one of the bunch would be the telephoto camera. In MWC 2019 event, Oppo showcased the periscope style lens with a capability to capture images with 10x lossless optical zooming. And that would be the major highlight in the upcoming Oppo Reno smartphone. We recently saw Huawei pushing its optical zooming capabilities up to 5x in the Huawei P30 Pro. The feature got everyone flabbergasted. So it would be even interesting to see Oppo doing its part in that respect. Oppo is said to use a 13MP sensor for this lens.

The phone will embrace 48MP Sony IMX 586 sensor as the primary snapper. With a ton of pixels in the sensor, we can expect some sharp details of the subject in the images. Lastly, there will be an ultra-wide-angle lens, which will come aboard with an 8MP sensor. The ultra-wide-angle shooter in this device will reportedly encompass the 120-degree field of view into the images.

Apart from that, the pre-order listing has also revealed the memory variants of the device. As far as the listing goes, the phone will come in three memory configurations: 6GB/128GB, 6GB/256GB, and 8GB/256GB. Even on the processor side, Oppo has made segregation. One of the devices will come with flagship Snapdragon 855 chipset, whereas the inexpensive one will flaunt Snapdragon 710. The listing also cues three color variants of the device: Black, Blue, and Green.

Oppo has still kept some of the specs under the veil to announce it in a full-fledged way in the launch event. However, Oppo revealed that the phone would come with an AMOLED panel with the 93.1-percent screen-to-body ratio on the display front. The phone will also get Android Pie out of the box. And needless say, there will be Oppo’s ColorOS 6.0 on the top.

The selfie expert is yet to flash the nitty-gritty details of the phone. However, the company boldly assured that the Oppo Reno 10X Zoom Edition smartphone will get the dual-frequency GPS. If that’s true then the handset will be amazingly accurate when it comes to the GPS tracking.

JBL Charge 4 Review: Portable Speaker with plenty of power at its sleeves!

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GadgetByte

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April 7, 2019

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JBL Charge 4 Review: Portable Speaker with plenty of power at its sleeves!

When it comes to portable speakers, there are highly portable speakers like the JBL Clip 3, and ones like these as well – Charge 4. JBL’s Charge lineup is the one that has a built-in power-bank inside it. And that does come in handy sometimes. But what else does this speaker pack besides that? Let’s find out in this JBL Charge 4 Review.

JBL Charge 4 Specifications:

Connectivity Technology: Wireless (Bluetooth 4.2), Wired (3.5mm audio jack)
Controls: Activate Bluetooth, power on/off, volume
Battery: Rechargeable
Recharge Time: 5.5 hours
Battery Backup (Up To): 20 hours
Protection: Waterproof (IPX7 certified)
Speaker Channel Type: Mono
Amplification Type: Active
Transmission Range: 9 meters
Intelligent Assistant Compatible: Google Assistant, Siri
Hands-Free Function: Yes
Amplification Type: Active
Audio Amplifier: Integrated
Dimensions: 22 x 9.5 x 9.3 cm
Weight: 960 grams
Color Options: Desert Sand, Mustard Yellow, Dusty Pink, Grey Stone, River Teal, Fiesta Red, Ocean Blue, Midnight Black, Steel White, and Forest Green
Price: Rs. 19,500

Design

As it is with most of JBL speakers, the design and form factor tend not to change all that much. It is the same as the JBL Charge 3. But this one is slightly bigger than its predecessor. And so, its slightly heavier as well. At some 950 grams, portability takes a major hit! Well, it is portable, just not something you’d want to carry around all day long.

As for the looks, it is kind of cylindrical with side-firing passive radiators. The whole of the speaker is wrapped in a cloth and metallic grille. But it seems it’s easily scratch-able. It rests on a raised rubber-pad surface to avoid rolling around. There’s also a flap with the “Charge 4” written on it, that houses a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port for charging it, and a USB-A port for you to charge your phone with.

Meanwhile, check out all the prices and specs of JBL speakers and accessories

The top houses the control panel with the Power button, Bluetooth button, Volume buttons, Play / Pause button, and a JBL Connect+ button. The play/pause button can also skip a track when pressed twice on your phone. And the JBL Connect+ can allow you to link other JBL wireless speakers to play the same audio.

This speaker is also IPX7 rated for water and dust resistance. You can submerge it up to 1 meter for about 30 minutes, so, perfect for pool parties and such and even rain-festivals.

Sound Quality

Hmmm…about the sound quality, I am not really sure what to make of it. I mean the sound quality is good enough, but there is just too much bass. The first thing you’ll notice is how loud the speaker can get. It’s really really loud even for something with a mono audio output.

That’s right. Even there is space enough for dual drivers, there’s only one that outputs 30 Watts of audio. However, you can’t really tell the difference until you get really close to it.

I wouldn’t advise listening to songs on the highest of volumes because that can really set you off. It’s loud as it is, even in normal volumes. But that kind of makes it perfect for house parties too, so, depends on your needs as well.

As I already said, this thing packs a lot of bass. So, if you want something with bass, then, this one could be the right choice. The bass in this one actually subdues other aspects of the audio, so, I couldn’t really get the exact highs and lows on tracks.

It can handle instrumentals really well, but the problem lies in the vocals. The passive bass radiators add to the already high bass, or maybe they make the bass high, but the end result is it subdues the vocals, so, understanding lyrics of some of your songs could be a bit difficult. So, it’s not really for those lyrical ones. It’s mostly suited for instrumentals.

Now, for me, I test all speakers with “Bohemian Rhapsody”. It kind of happens to be my favorite song as well. And in that song, the speaker does great on the instrumental part. The audio is clear and it is also on the brighter side, but as soon as the Freddie starts singing, his vocals seem to get drowned by the drum sounds.

This thing has also got the head-room, i.e. the ratio of distortion to the volume is also pretty balanced. That is, even at high volumes, there is no distortion, but then again, you can’t listen to it at high volumes.

So, this speaker can almost handle all kinds of music including metal – it’s just that the bass is overpowered, and that can put many people off.

Connectivity and Battery

The JBL Charge 4 comes with Bluetooth 4.2, so, you get the standard 30 feet connection. But as usual, connecting it is very easy. Just pair it once, and then, it connects to your device automatically.

As for the latency, you will notice a very slight amount of it. It will not even be noticeable while watching music videos, but watching movies can show you slightest delays of like 0.3 seconds or so. And that, I guess, is normal.

There’s also the JBL Connect+, which I already mentioned. You can connect quite a few JBL speakers compatible with this feature, so, for larger parties, this can work as well.

As for the battery, this speaker packs a giant 7800 mAh battery, which claims about 20 hours of battery life. Now, that is the same amount of battery life as the Charge 3. And you can’t quite get full 20 hours, but only up to like 17 hours on medium volumes and something like 13 on high. Of course, that can mean like 4-5 days of battery for a normal user. And it takes like 4 hours to fully charge. There’s also LED indicators to show you the battery levels, which is good.

And yes, the charge 4 can charge your other phones or earphones as well, and the charging speed seems okay too. Charging my Galaxy S10e on it and the regular way showed me, more or less, similar charging times.

Conclusion

Okay, now I feel like that the JBL Charge 4 is a good speaker, but I think the price is asking a bit too much. A $150 price tag or about Rs.19500 in Nepal is enough for me to put it aside. Honestly, I would never invest that much money on a portable speaker. I’d rather buy those larger home speakers or woofers for this kind of money.

But hey, that’s just me. Because if you have got the money, and want a portable speaker for pool parties or house get-togethers, then, this can be a great option. And this one particularly feels like it’s meant to be used at parties, and not like, when you’re alone or something. Because this one is pretty loud to be used in your own room.

Plus, the battery seems to last like forever. I didn’t have to charge it for like a week in my usage terms.

The only problem lies with the price here. For me, it just doesn’t provide that value for money we all look for. Plus, you do get a lot of deals on last gen Charge 3 which is more similar to this one.

Design and Build

Sound Quality

Call Quality

Control Center and Touch

Ambient Sound

Battery

Conclusion

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JBL Charge 4 Specifications:

Design

Sound Quality

Connectivity and Battery

Conclusion