It has been a while the Chinese smartphone giant has released Huawei Nova 4. It was Huawei’s first phone with a hole punch display. The smartphone was brought at a midrange price point. However, the phone had a flagship chipset on the board, triple rear cameras and the fancy feature like the hole punch display. So it created quite a buzz in the smartphone market back then. And this time, the smartphone maker has presented a toned down version of the device. Dubbed as Huawei Nova 4e, the newbie also embraces triple rear cameras.
Huawei Nova 4e Overview:
On the display side, the Nova 4 features a 6.15-inch IPS panel enriched with Full-HD+ resolution. But unlike its bigger sibling, the newbie comes with a notch on the notch. The notch is really tiny and less obtrusive, unlike others.
As discussed earlier, the phone flaunts three cameras on its rear panel. The primary one embraces a 24MP sensor, which is accompanied by an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 2MP depth sensor. The ultra-wide-angle camera stretches the field of view to 120-degrees due to which users can fit everything in the frame, which a normal human eye can see. On the front lies a 32MP selfie shooter, which rests on that minuscule notch, which I mentioned earlier.
Performance wise, the phone gets the HiSilicon Kirin 710 chipset paired with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM. In terms of storage, Huawei Nova 4e comes with 128GB of onboard memory. As far as the software is concerned, the phone boots on Android Pie out of the box with EMUI 9 on the top.
Heading to the battery, a 3340mAh non-removable battery keeps the phone running. Adopting the modern trend, the phone also comes with USB Type-C port keeping the 3.5mm headphone jack intact. And another praiseworthy part of the device is that it also supports an 18-watt fast charging.
Huawei Nova 4 Specifications:
Display: 6.15-inch IPS LCD display
Resolution: Full-HD+ (2312×1080 pixels); 19.5:9 aspect ratio @ 415PPI
Battery: 3340mAh non-removable Li-Po battery with 18W fast charging support; Uses USB Type-C
Colors: Midnight Black, Pearl White, Gradient Blue
Huawei Nova 4e Price & Availability
The phone comes in three colors: Midnight Black, Pearl White, Gradient Blue. And all of these variants will go on sale in China starting from 21st of March. As far as the global availability of the device is concerned, the phone will be relaunched as Huawei P30 Lite and will hit the market starting from 26th of March.
As far as the price goes, the 4/128GB of the Nova 4 is priced at CNY 1,999 ($298). Similarly, the 6GB/128GB variant of the device will demand a price of CNY 2,299 ($342) on the purchase.
The world of smartwatches is tricky. There is no such thing as a perfect smartwatch that strikes a true balance between the features, complexity and battery life. Similarly, the Huawei Watch GT is one that runs but needs to work on its functionality. It appears to be more like a fitness band, but one that looks like a great traditional timepiece that catches your eye. But is it compelling enough for you to get one?
Huawei Watch GT Specifications:
Design: Leather or rubber strap, stainless steel bezels, 46.5 mm
Display: 1.39″ AMOLED, 454 x 454 resolution
Processor: Cortex-M4
RAM: 16 MB
Storage: 128 MB
OS: Lite OS
Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.2, GPS with GLONASS / Galileo
The design of this smartwatch is one of the best things about it. It’s not every day that your smart wearable looks like a classic timepiece. There are two variants of this smartwatch – a sports version and a classic one. The sports one, with its rubbery design, really does look like a sports watch, while the classic one is the better looking. It’s a leather strap with the steel casing and black bezels on a circular body makes it close to a regular wrist-watch.
Huawei Watch GT Design
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It has two buttons. The upper one lets you access the basic watch features while the other button takes you to the workout section. Underside, the watch is ceramic and even with slightly raised sensors, it rests comfortably on your wrist. And even if the strap is leather on top, the bottom of it is a combination of silicone and rubber, which makes it comfortable to keep on your wrist at all times.
Huawei Watch GT Design Underneath
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Leather Strap
Sensors
Underside
You only get the watch in a single size, though – at 46.5 mm, it is big and looks masculine. Those with small hands might not go for it, but I actually like it. The only problem is that the leather strap is prone to discoloration due to the buckle placement. But that’s easily forgettable while wearing, so, maybe not something to worry about.
This watch is also 5 ATM Water-Resistant, meaning you can wear it for 50 meters underwater.
Display
On the display side, the 1.39” AMOLED display looks great! It’s 454 x 454 resolution makes it look vibrant. The icons and texts are sharp, with deep blacks and punchy colors. Brightness levels are also good enough, and you get good legibility in the sunlight, too.
There is also an Auto-Brightness feature, which adjusts the brightness of the screen according to the environment. However, there is no “Always-On” feature on this one. The closest thing you have to that is the “Show Time” option in its settings toggle, which keeps the screen on for 5 minutes.
Another thing I’m concerned about is that there seems to be no protection on the display. But the watch has survived the daily abuses pretty well. I’m a pretty clumsy person and even after occasional impacts on the wall, or door, there isn’t a scratch on it.
Overall, the display is likable, mostly, because it’s large and has a good pixel density.
Performance
This is where the watch falls short – it runs on Huawei’s new Lite OS – and it does seem really light! After all, it is running on 16 MB of RAM and 128 MB of storage. The chip inside it also has not been disclosed, but it is a Cortex-M4 chip.
That selection of internal hardware doesn’t make it the most agile of smartwatches. It is easy to see that after a few swipes to the left and right. The transitions are not that smooth, and you’ll feel the jitters after some fast swipes.
That being said, the watch doesn’t do much either. I mean, it actually does a lot more than your Fitbits but is not as comprehensive as other smartwatches out there.
Swiping down on the home-screen toggles the settings shortcut, while swiping from the bottom up shows you your notifications. And this is where Huawei’s Lite OS has compromises. There is no 3rd party app support. But after the latest update, you can now get notifications corresponding to the app, which was not the case before.
Swiping on the sides takes you to your Heart Rate, Weather and your Activity Log. And that’s about it. Long press on the home screen allows you to choose from a select few Watch Faces – a total of 13, at the time of this review. The number might go up with newer updates.
Huawei Watch GT Screens
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Heart Rate Monitor
Weather
Activity Log
The top button takes you to the installed apps and functions like Stopwatch, Alarm, etc. And there’s even a Flashlight – which is nothing but your screen glowing white at max brightness. You can also access your workout records, activity logs, and sleep. The other button takes you the workout preset, where you can find a limited number of workouts. It mostly focuses on the general exercises – like running, walking, climbing and swimming. There are no gym workouts like on the Samsung Galaxy Watch. But again, it costs like, a lot less than that, and this will be enough for the general populace, so, it’s okay.
One thing I liked about it a lot is its continuous heart-rate monitor. It is constantly measuring your heart rate, and that makes other readings all the more accurate. For instance, your sleep, your walks, and other activities can be more accurate. All the logs are stored in the Huawei Health App, which is the supporting app for this watch, and not the Huawei Wear.
This watch also comes with GPS tracking making for a good location and distance tracking. And that is useful in your outdoor walking or running sessions. Plus, the watch also lets you track the intensity of your workouts – like warm-up, fat-burning etc. The types of workouts aren’t much, but each one of them is pretty comprehensive.
With most of the features concentrated towards fitness tracking, this watch appears more like a fitness band, that looks like a regular watch. There are no other features like playing music or such. You can get call alerts, but since you can’t use it to call or reply, you can only check the caller ID, and maybe choose whether to pick up, or reject it.
So, yes, the watch is not as comprehensive, and it mostly concentrated towards fitness tracking. But what it does, it does a great job at it.
Battery
This is the part where it shines through and through – a massive 420 mAh battery. Combined with the watch’s LiteOS, and the fact that it doesn’t do much, the battery life is excellent! When you wear a smartwatch that tracks your body activities continuously, it’s natural that you don’t want to take it off every other day and charge it.
And with this, you don’t have to! Huawei claims the battery will last you two weeks with normal use, and I got around 12 days. That’s pretty impressive for a smartwatch.
Plus, it charges fairly quickly. You get a charging dock with a USB-C, and it charges fully in less than two hours. Thanks to this, I didn’t have to charge it overnight. Which is why I have complete records of my sleep and activities.
Conclusion
To sum up, the Huawei Watch GT is one good fitness tracker. When I used the Samsung Galaxy Watch, I said that it would be interesting to see Samsung make a toned-down variant of the watch for a lesser price. And this looks like just that. It removes the things that we don’t normally use and concentrates more on fitness and health.
But it does leave some things out – like 3rd party app support. And Lite OS, isn’t that appealing, especially with its jittery UI. So, for me, it’s still a bit expensive at a $200 price tag. Especially, when Samsung launched the Galaxy Watch Active for a similar price, and that seems to do more than this. Of course, to me, the Galaxy Watch Active doesn’t look as attractive as this one, and the battery probably won’t last nearly as long either.
This is one great looking buffed-up fitness tracker with some smartwatch features and excellent battery life. But it still leaves some features to be desired. So, for me, it’s not a complete smartwatch, yet. Therefore, this is a line between fitness trackers and smartwatches.
This costs Rs.20000, here, in Nepal, too, which is great pricing on Huawei’s part. If you’re into regular fitness stuff, and want continuous health monitoring without having to charge it every other night and don’t mind some slow UI, then, go for it. It makes me want more, but still, for what it is, it is good enough.
Pros:
Classy and elegant looking design
Stainless steel construction with leather and silicone strap
Daraz, the leading e-commerce platform in Nepal, is no stranger to bringing great deals and schemes. From bringing Black Friday to Nepal a few years ago to Daraz 11.11 Sales Day last year, Daraz does these kinds of things a lot. And even when there aren’t exclusive days for such schemes, it provides good deals and discounts on various products. So, starting February, they’re having something called Brand Day.
And in here, they feature a popular brand every 1st and 15th of each month for 24 hours. During this period of time, you can get great deals on all products associated with the brand. So, this time around, its the tech giant Sony, they’re featuring. Also, this makes the first brand day related to tech products. So, what does this brand day have in store?
Sony Smartphone Deals
Sony Xperia L2
Sony Xperia L2 is an old school phone and it does look unappealing by today’s standards. But the specs it packs inside for the recent price drop does make a good value for money. It features a 5.5″ HD display with a single 13 MP camera at the back, and an 8 MP camera up front. It runs on MediaTek MT6737T processor and is backed by 3 GB RAM. Also, it has a 3300 mAh battery. There was a recent price drop on the phone, and now with Daraz Brand Day, you can get this phone for as low as Rs.13,500.
Sony Xperia XA1 Plus
This is also kind of an old school phone. Because Sony hasn’t brought its new products to the country yet. Nevertheless, this phone too could still be relevant to some. For the current price of Rs.20000, you get a 5.5″ Full HD display, a 23 MP rear camera and an 8 MP selfie camera. This phone runs on the MediaTek MT6757 Helio P20 chipset, has 4 GB RAM and 32 GB of storage. You can get this phone for as less as Rs.19000 on the Brand Day.
Sony Xperia XA2
The Xperia XA2 belongs to the same category as the XA1 Plus. This phone packs a 5.2″ Full HD display, a 23 MP rear camera and an 8 MP front camera. It runs on the Snapdragon 630 and is backed by 3 GB of RAM with 32 GB storage. This phone also has a 3300 mAh with Fast Charging. While the current price of this phone is Rs.30,500, you can get this phone for Rs.26,500 as a part of the Daraz Brand Day.
Sony Camera Deals
Daraz is also providing good deals on Sony’s mirrorless cameras. So, if you’re looking to get yourself a mirror-less camera from Sony, or a mirror-less camera for that matter, you should check the deals out.
You can get a minimum of 5% discount on every Sony mirrorless camera, and a maximum discount of up to 27% on some of them. In addition, you can also have a chance to get freebies worth Rs.17000!
Sony Play Station, TVs, and Accessories
You can also get good deals on Sony’s other products – such as Sony TVs, Play Stations, accessories like headphones and computer peripherals.
You can bag a Sony Smart TV for great prices with discounts ranging from 20% to 37%. Also, there are vouchers worth Rs.5000 on Sony Smart TVs on selected models. As for Play Stations, you can get freebies worth up to Rs.16000 on the purchase. In addition, they’re also providing up to 23% on accessories like pen-drives and even up to 80% on some other accessories!
So, why not check out these hot deals and see if they appeal to you? Don’t forget to visit Sony’s Official Store on Daraz and check out these offers on this Brand day. Plus, there is also a giveaway, which you can be a part of, to win a Sony Xperia L2. All you need to do is follow Sony’s Official Store on Daraz. So, we suggest you definitely check this out.
Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has really been shining in the mid-range segment. The company is doing well with its new releases with the Honor View 20 stealing shows last year. Honor seems to be at its work again as a new smartphone looks set to launch soon.
The new smartphone which will be named Honor 10i will share a similar design and form factor with the Honor 10 Lite which was unveiled a few months ago.
The Honor 10i will also be powered by the same chipset the 10 Lite is which is the Kirin 710 SoC. The CPU will be coupled with 4 GB RAM and Mali-G51 GPU. It will provide users with 128 GB of internal memory. The phone could also have external memory.
The major talking point of the Honor 10i is definitely the triple camera setup on the back. The leaked images showcase three vertically places cameras with an LED flash below. The setup will consist of a 24-megapixel primary lens, 2-megapixel depth sensor, and an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera. Up front, Honor will include a 32-megapixel selfie shooter.
In terms of the display, the Honor 10i will sports a 6.2-inch full HD+ IPS LCD panel. There hasn’t been any news regarding the battery of the phone, but it is expected to be supported by fast charging.
The rumors swirling around also haven’t mentioned anything about the pricing and availability of the Honor 10i. But considering the fact that the leaks have already showcased the device in its full glory, we can expect it to be soon.
Facebook is currently conducting research that will help the company create an interface to read people’s thoughts!
Talking in an interview with a Harvard professor, Mark Zuckerberg shared Facebook’s plans to build a “brain-computer interface” that will be a big step in the development of Augmented Reality (AR). According to him, the social media company is in plans to make an AR device that will let them interact with various contents through their minds.
Zuckerberg explained this new product as a ‘brain-computer interface’ that will allow its users to interact and change their content with AR. It will let them move objects, change landscapes and navigate through applications just by thinking.
While some news outlets have reported that this device will be Glasses, Wired has said that it will be like a shower cap which users put onto their head. The research Facebook is conducting is helped by the fact that scientists can already know what people are thinking about with a look at their neural activity.
Zuckerberg said to the professor, “The way that our phones work today, and all computing systems, organized around apps and tasks is fundamentally not how our brains work and how we approach the world.” He added, “That’s one of the reasons I’m just very excited long-term about especially things like augmented reality because it’ll give us a platform that I think actually is how we think about stuff.”
In his previous Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg had mentioned that our brains haven’t been utilized to the fullest which is why Facebook is working on a system that will let users interact to contents, and even type with a device.
“Our brains produce enough data to stream 4 HD movies every second. We’re working on a system that will let you type straight from your brain about 5x faster than you can type on your phone today. Eventually, we want to turn it into a wearable technology that can be manufactured at scale.”
Facebook is currently tainted due to the not-so-recent Cambridge Analytica scandal and the fact that it collects data of people who aren’t even the users of the site. So, it will be interesting to see how the public reacts to Facebook’s step when their new device comes out.
Today we are reviewing the Asus VivoBook X542U, available from Nagmani International. They are the official distributors of Asus laptops in Nepal. We always recommend buying from official retailers for the utmost reliability and genuine products. They also provide you with VAT bill and two years of international warranty. With that aside, let’s get back to the Asus VivoBook X542U review.
Asus VivoBook X542U Specifications:
Dimensions: Plastic body, 380 x 251 x 23.2 mm, 2.30kg
Display: 15.6″ Full-HD (1920 x 1080) TN Panel with 220 nits max brightness, 56% sRGB, 45% NTSC
Keyboard: Chiclet keyboard with isolated Num key
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-8250U Processor
RAM: 4 GB DDR4 (2x slots)
Graphics: NVidia GeForce MX130
Battery: 38Wh
Adapter: 45W
Storage: 1 TB HDD
Webcam: VGA Webcam
Connectivity: 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v4.1
Ports: 1 x COMBO audio jack, 1 x VGA port, 2 x Type A USB3.0 (USB3.1 GEN1), 1 x Type C USB3.0 (USB3.1 GEN1), 1 x USB 2.0 port(s), 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Fingerprint (Optional), 1 x SD card reader, 1X AC adapter plug
Price: Rs.95,000 (Rs 85,500 after discount)
Design and Build
Starting off with the design, it looks a bit dated, with those chunky screen bezels, and bulky presence. It’s built around plastic which helps with the weight and keeps the cost down. Although the build could have certainly been better. The laptop is prone to an ample amount of flex all around, and that was a bit troubling for me. Overall, it’s an outplayed design from Asus, they just slapped some new hardware in the same old exterior. Laptop manufacturers do it every now and then, and it isn’t a bad thing either.
Just saying, this laptop could have turned out a lot better in terms of design.
Display
This laptop comes with a TN panel, so the viewing angles suffer a lot. The display is sharp, but honestly, the choice to go with a TN panel is the biggest drawback for this laptop. Everything is washed out, and to say the color reproduction (56% sRGB) is bad would be an understatement. Brightness is average at around 220 nits, mated with a matte display, it’s strictly an indoor only panel.
The display seems to be the laptop’s biggest weakness, with subpar viewing angles and pretty washed out colors.
Performance
If you plan on buying this laptop, we highly recommend you add an additional 4GB of RAM. Our review unit came with just 4GB by default, and that’s just not enough these days. The laptop faced lots of stutters and froze every now and then, mostly due to the lack of RAM. Other than that, the laptop’s performance is what I would say average. It does manage to keep itself cool though.
It also comes with an MX130 GPU, which helps around with applications like Photoshop and light gaming (720p seems to be the sweet spot). Photoshop ran fine (opening times were an eyesore due to the HDD). As for gaming, I tested CS: GO that was totally playable. A few games refused to even start and I suspect it was the lack of RAM again. But to be fair, it wasn’t designed for gaming.
I recommend you add an M.2 stick (even a 128GB one) and 4GB more RAM (there is an empty slot waiting for that extra memory), you are going to feel the boost in performance and the added cost is totally worth it.
Connectivity and Battery
This one gets stellar connectivity, including one of the best ports selection I’ve seen on a laptop yet. You rarely get a USB Type C, DVD drive and a VGA port on the same device. AC wifi comes integrated alongside Bluetooth 4.1. The speakers are loud but the quality is average, and the M.2 slot we mentioned earlier uses a SATA 3 connection. And if you look at the bottom, the easy access maintenance cover holds the two RAM slots, of which one is empty.
Ports selection
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Left
Right
Bottom
The 38Whr battery lasts around 4 hours under normal to moderate usage. This is pretty standard among laptops with similar battery sizes. Charging takes around an hour to reach a 100% form nill. Now, people, in general, might not care much about the below average battery life, but for me, this was a deal breaker. They could have gotten rid of the CD-drive and utilized that space for more battery, but well.
Keyboard and trackpad
This is where the laptop excels. The trackpad on this one is among the best out there. Tracking is on point, the buttons are very tactile and it gets a smooth finish. The pad itself is pretty spacious and that will come in handy for gesture controls. The Keyboard is also pretty great, with medium strokes and the pressure points are on point. Bring a 15-inch laptop, the number pad seems like a give. The only thing to complain here is it’s lack of backlighting.
Both the keyboard and trackpads on Asus laptops have always been one of my favorites, and this one does not disappoint.
Conclusion
Starting with what the laptop excels at: keyboard, trackpad, connectivity and that’s about it. if you want a laptop for any one of those three reasons, go ahead. But there is a high chance you will be more interested in its drawbacks. For instance, the display is sharp and bright (enough), but the color reproduction and viewing angles just bad. The battery life isn’t good either, added with it’s mediocre out of the box performance and compromised craftsmanship, I recommend you take your money elsewhere.
For an asking price of Rs. 9000, what would you expect from a phone? Not much, right? I had the same feeling when I switched to the Xiaomi Redmi Go as my daily driver. My expectations were already low. I was prepared for below-average user experience and lots of frustrations. But I’m glad to say I was not as correct. This phone isn’t half as bad as I’d thought. Maybe because all the phones in that price range I’ve tried till now have failed to impress me, but this is a different story.
Xiaomi Redmi Go specifications:
Operating System: Android 8.1 Oreo (Go edition)
CPU: Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 (28nm)
GPU: Adreno 308
SIM (s): Dual SIM
Display: 5.0 inches HD IPS LCD screen with 16:9 aspect ratio
Rear cameras: 8 MP with LED flash and HDR
Video: 1080p
Front camera: 5 MP with HDR
RAM: 1 GB
ROM: 8 or 16 GB (expandable up to 128 GB with a dedicated slot)
Battery: Non- removable Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery, MicroUSB 2.0
Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity
Colors: Blue and Black
Others: Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi Direct, hotspot
Build and Design
Right from the start, you know this phone cuts corners. The phone looks and feels cheap. It appears boring and weights like a feather, and yet I’ve seen worse at this price. The good thing here is its small form factor, ease of use, slight slipperiness but totally manageable. Plastic seems to be the material of choice, but I’m not complaining at all. It also feels pretty sturdy, unlike a few other budget Xiaomi phones.
Button Placement
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Bottom
right
left
Top
The back is plain with a camera and an LED flash on top, alongside the Mi branding at the bottom center. The expandable storage and SIM tray are on the left, while the right side is occupied by the volume rocker and power button. The buttons are mushy and unsatisfying to click, but for the price, we can let it slide. The headphone jack is placed at the top, while at the bottom you’ll find the microUSB and a speaker grill.
You get what you pay for, and rest assured you are getting the most for your money.
Display
You get a 5-inch display with a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio. It’s a small phone with huge bezels that doesn’t make for joyful user experience. Having said that, it’s wasn’t a huge deal-breaker. Because other than the form factor, the panel itself is bright, with good colors, and the sharpness is on point.
Considering what its competition (there are very few) offers, this is one of (if not the best) display you can get in its category.
Camera
The cameras were surprisingly good for the price. It managed to take some really great shots under good lighting conditions. While the image quality might appear a bit blur before taking the picture, end results come out better. Although they aren’t as sharp as I would like them to be. As for other lighting conditions (indoors), the photos come out grainy, lack details and are pretty much unusable. And it just gets worse in low light conditions.
Rear Camera Sample
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Redmi Go Camera sample 5
Redmi Go Camera sample 3
Redmi Go Camera sample 2
Redmi Go Camera sample 4
Redmi Go Camera sample 7
Redmi Go Camera sample
Redmi Go Indoor 2
Redmi Go Indoor
Redmi Go Indoor 3
Redmi Go Low Light 1
Redmi Go Low Light 2
Redmi Go Low Light 3
Redmi Go Low Light 4
The front camera shares the same story. Under good lighting, selfies come out decent, but indoor and low light conditions, it’s pretty much unusable. Then again, you can’t expect any more from this phone. Just look at the camera samples. That should give you a better idea of what it’s capable of. Either way, the camera’s performance should not make or break your smartphone buying decision, at least for the Redmi Go.
Selfie camera
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Redmi Go Selfie Good lighting 2
Redmi Go Selfie Good lighting
Redmi Go Selfie Indoor 2
Redmi Go selfie indoor
The cameras can be deemed “OK at best”.
Performance
A combo of middling hardware paired with great software makes for a fairly usable smartphone. It’s not bad, and that…was a huge surprise for me. Apps run well with their fair share of stutters and lags but nothing unlivable. Xiaomi is betting on Android Go to do the heavy lifting, and it doesn’t disappoint. The phone feels fast enough, browsing through the UI is smooth, and as far as gaming isn’t concerned, the performance is average.
Xiaomi probably expected its users to make do with “Lite” or “GO” editions of apps. But I was able to run normal versions of the apps just fine. The only problem was, there isn’t enough space to fit them. As for games, PUBG failed to even run, but light games like Temple Run or Knife hit were playable. In fact, Free Fire at the lowest settings was running with a few stutters every now and then.
Performance is good, usable for social media and light games, thanks to its software optimization.
Software
The Redmi Go, as the name suggests runs on Android Go based on Android 8.1.0. This phone does not, at all, feel like a Xiaomi phone and that’s something I liked a lot. The UI is as basic as it gets, with almost no bloatware on board, apart from a few (two) Mi apps. It’s simple to use, with no excessive features that no one uses anyway. The phone runs on Mint Launcher as default which could use a few bug fixes.
UI & Software
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Lock screen
Home screen
Drop down menu
App icon tray
Settings
Display settings
Phone status
System Update
Overall, the phone’s biggest strength seems to be its software, keeping the phone running at a steady pace.
Battery
The 3000 mAh battery will last you around 4 hours (screen on time) under normal usage. I found myself draining the battery by the end of the day. My normal usage consisted of calls, texting, social media, lots of YouTube and a bit of Temple Run. A full charge takes a little over three hours via the default adapter in the box. It does not get any type of fast charging support, but I always put it on charge every night so that never bothered me.
Four hours of screen on time, in general, is one day’s usage for most people, and this phone pushes out just that.
Extras
The phone gets three slots, two for SIMs and one for expandable storage. It supports 4G on both networks, a welcome feature, especially for an entry-level smartphone. Call quality seemed fine, but some of my friends complained about added noise as opposed to my primary phone (OPPO F7). This one also gets adaptive brightness, which is usually missing on most budget phones at its price.
Conclusion
The Xiaomi Redmi Go is, in the simplest terms, is “worth it”. You can look around all you want, but all these features packed into a phone that costs just Rs 9000 is hard to find. Performance is good with average battery life; cameras are OK and the display is fine. For the basic user, this is the phone to get. It’s basically better than any other phone in its category I’ve used, and could make a great gift for your grandparents, to say the least.
If you have been hearing rumors regarding Apple bringing a NetFlix-like video streaming service, it’s almost true! Apple has sent out invites saying, “it’s show- time” for Monday, that is March 25th. The event is to take place in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple’s ‘spaceship’ Headquarters in Cupertino, California.
The event is said to kick- off at 11:00 am PT where Apple is rumored to launch its own subscription-based news and video- streaming services. It’s basically two different services being launched in the same platform, one is a Video streaming service and the other is a news-subscription service. But since Apple is holding the event, the company might also launch some of it’s anticipated products like the new Airpods, iPads and it’s Air Power wireless charging mat.
But news of those launches has not caught wind yet. The most likely is the launch of the video streaming service and the news subscription service.
In previous years, speculations were that Apple would be very soon bringing a ‘NetFlix for News’ that would allow subscribers to pay $10 a month to get contents from various publishers. It would basically be a paid version of Apple News. Apple had also said that famous publishers like the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and similar others would be onboard for that.
Alongside that, Apple is reportedly planning to bring video streaming services like Amazon Prime and NetFlix to get access to which users will have to pay a definite subscription amount. Famous TV channels like Viacom, Showtime, Nickelodeon, MTV VH1 are expected to offer subscription services on Apple’s to come streaming venture. However, news also says that the service will not feature contents from HBO and NetFlix.
And if you are wondering when the service is going to roll out, it might be ready in Mid-April, but the company plans to make it officially available after a few weeks of the rollout.
Xiaomi’s Redmi lineup already has a highly sought after phone – the Redmi Note 7 Pro. And while that phone already launched in the Indian market, it is yet to release in China. Chinese launch is confirmed on March 18, and the phone could pack some other surprises. But, besides Redmi Note 7 and Redmi Note 7 Pro, the Chinese market will also see a Redmi 7.
Wait…what? It’s confusing, all right. The name games Xiaomi plays are a lot to take in. But while the Redmi Note lineup is for the mid-range segment, the Redmi focuses on budget. And the Redmi 7 is to be the successor to Redmi 6. And there are already rumors surrounding the upcoming device in TENAA and Weibo.
According to the rumors, the Redmi 7 will have a 6.26″ display with HD+ resolution. It will sport the trendy water-drop notch on the screen as well. The notch will house an 8 MP selfie camera. As for the rear cameras, it will have a dual camera setup with a 12 MP primary camera and 5 MP depth sensor. Underneath, it features a fingerprint sensor as well.
Inside, the phone will be powered by a Snapdragon 632 processor, which is for budget phones through and through. As for the RAM, however, you will get three variants, along with the internal storage. There are 2/16 GB,3/32 GB, and 4/64 GB options available. It will also house a good sized 3900 mAh battery. In addition, the phone will be running on MIUI 10 based on Android Pie.
As for availability, the phone will start being available in China in plenty of color options. Pricing is said to start at about CNY 900, or about $134. International availability is not disclosed yet.
Nepal Telecommunication Authority, the governing body of telecommunications conducts quality tests of mobile service providers regularly. If you’re not aware, then, it’s not really a big deal. The test used to take place within Kathmandu only. But now, it has been expanded to some other places as well. The new places for these tests are Bhaktapur, Pokhara, Baglung and Prithvi Highway.
The test is called a Drive Test, where a successful call connection setup and the probability of disconnecting during a call (call drop) are tested. Successful connection test requires high numbers, i.e. the higher the better. Whereas, a call drop test requires less, i.e. lesser the better. And this time, Nepal Telecommunication (NTC), NCell and Smart Cell were tested. In these tests, Smart Cell fared the worst, while the other two big players couldn’t keep up either.
In Baglung, the drive test results show that none of the companies met the standard for successful call setup. Smart Cell showed the worst with only about 65.71%. NCell managed to acquire 94.33% whereas NTC managed to score a 96.15%. This does not meet the benchmark set by NTA,which is 99%. Also, for the call drop, Smart Cell showed the highest probability with 6.52% while NTC had about 4%. However, NCell managed to meet the benchmark, which is at 2%.
In Bhaktapur too, Smart Cell fares the worst. In terms of the probability of a successful connection, it managed to get only 69.52%. NCell managed 95.14% whereas NTC scored 93.48%.
In Pokhara, all the companies passed the call drop/disconnection benchmark test, which is a sigh of relief. But then again, none of them managed to pass the other test of setting a successful connection within the allocated time frame. Here, too, Smart Cell did the worst, but the score highly improved. It managed to get around 92.86%, while NCell scored 95.71% and NTC nearly managed to pass with 98.71%.
As for Prithvi Highway, services of only NTC and NCell could be tested, as Smart Cell has yet to expand its services in that area. In the connection setup criteria, NCell scored 75.04% whereas NTC managed 83.47%. Similarly, in the connection failure test, NCell managed 8.25% while NTC scored 6.93%.
So, that is how the service of major telecommunication bodies in the country. Smart Cell is relatively new in Nepal, so, maybe we can give it the benefit of the doubt, but the other two giant players have yet to improve their services. Or do you think NTA has set the benchmark too high for a country like ours?
With most of the features concentrated towards fitness tracking, this watch appears more like a fitness band, that looks like a regular watch. There are no other features like playing music or such. You can get call alerts, but since you can’t use it to call or reply, you can only check the caller ID, and maybe choose whether to pick up, or reject it.
