To be honest, I feel that the US government has been a bit biased when it comes to Huawei. What the company did or didn’t isn’t up to me to decide, so I will hold my judgments. But first, the context. Most of you might know Huawei as a smartphone maker. But they are also the world’s biggest telecommunication equipment manufacturer. And you probably know that the US government has banned its federal agencies from using Huawei equipment.
The US government has listest Huawei as a security threat making claims that the company has close ties with the Chinese Government. On top of that, there are claims that Huwaei has also stolen technologies from others. Following these accusations, Huawei’s Deputy Chairman Guo Ping had a few words to share. Ping accused the US Congress of acting as the “judge, jury and executioner” in relation to the ban.
In the press conference today (Thursday), Ping states,
“This ban not only is unlawful, but also restricts Huawei from engaging in fair competition, ultimately harming US consumers.”
Now, the company has announced they will be suing the US govt claiming the legislation is unconstitutional. The lawsuit focuses on a provision known as the National Defence Authorization Act. Section 899. The law prohibits executive govt agencies from using or owning telecommunication hardware manufactured by Huawei or ZTE. To this, the Huawei’s lawyers oppose that the provision in the NDAA is against the US constitution.
The lawsuit was filed in Texas, their defense being, an individual or group singled out for punishment without trial, which violates the US constitution. Guo added, “The US Congress has repeatedly failed to produce any evidence to support its restrictions on Huawei products.” Ping also said, “We are compelled to take this legal action as a proper and last resort.”
Chinese companies tend to jump on any smartphone trend pretty quick. And the Meizu Note 9 looks like another smartphone which did just that. A trendy water-drop notch on the display mounted on a body with dual-tone gradient color option…and there’s also a 48 MP camera at the back! Sound familiar? Well, how about you check out the Redmi Note 7 Pro?
Meizu Note 9 Overview
The Meizu Note 9 is a mid-range phone from the Chinese company. That’s because you get a Snapdragon 675 inside it, which stands on the mid-range side. Plus, you get two RAM options, 4 GB and a 6 GB. And that too is pretty standard these days. In terms of storage, you get a 64 GB and a 128 GB variant as well. But since you don’t get a microSD card slot, you might want to opt for the higher storage variant.
In terms of aesthetics, the Meizu Note 9 is has a glass back with a metal frame for the chassis. On it, there is a 6.2″ IPS LCD display with Full HD+ resolution and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. This phone features dual cameras at the back – a 48 MP primary sensor and a 5 MP depth sensor. At the front, you get a 20 MP selfie camera.
And about the 48 MP camera. It’s not a 48 MP camera…yes, you read that right. The hardware is 48 MP, a Samsung GM1 sensor – the same used on the Redmi Note 7 Pro. But since the Snapdragon 675 can’t process pictures with such high resolutions, there’s pixel binning involved. But nevertheless, the camera should produce some good pictures based on the hardware.
As for the battery, it packs a large 4000 mAh battery. In addition, you get an 18-Watt Fast Charger with a USB port. So, with all these, it doesn’t look any different from what we’re seeing these days.
Pricing and Availability
The phone comes in three variants – 4 GB + 64 GB, 4 GB + 128 GB and a 6 GB + 64 GB. They are priced at CNY 1398 ($208), CNY 1598 ($238) and CNY 1598 ($238) respectively. The phones will be available from March 11.
Meizu Note 9 Specifications:
Design: Glass back with aluminum frame
Display: 6.2″ IPS LCD, Full HD+ resolution (1080 x 2244 pixels), 19.5:9 aspect ratio
UMIDIGI is well-known for adding in enticing specifications on its midrange smartphone. This time too, the company is doing the same with the UMIDIGI S3 Pro which is the new member of the popular S-series of the company.
UMIDIGI S3 Pro Overview
The major talking point of the UMIDIG S3 Pro is definitely its rear camera setup. There are dual cameras there one of which measures 48-megapixel. It is a Sony IMX586 CMOS sensor which we have already seen on smartphones like the Xiaomi Mi 9 and the Honor View 20. Complementing this camera is a 12-megapixel telephoto lens offers 2x optical zoom. In front lies a 20-megapixel selfie camera.
The UMIDIGI S3 Pro sports a 6.3-inch Full HD+ LTPS display that has a waterdrop notch on the top. The device is powered by the octa-core MediaTek P70 processor which Oppo has also utilized in its newly launched Oppo F11. The processor inside the S3 Pro is paired with 6 GB of DDR4X RAM and Mali-G72 GPU. The phone runs on Android v9.0 Pie out of the box.
The UMIDIGI S3 Pro is backed by a large 5,150 mAh battery that is chargeable through an 18W fast charger. The device has a ceramic back and comes with a headphone jack.
UMIDIGI S3 Pro Specifications
Display: 6.3-inch Full HD+; 92.7% screen to body ratio; 19.5:9 aspect ratio
CPU: Octa-core MediaTek Helio P70
RAM: 6GB DDRX4
GPU: Mali-G72 MP3
Storage: 128GB
OS: Android v9.0 Pie
Rear Camera: Dual camera – 48 MP primary with f/1.8 aperture+ 12 MP telephoto with f/2.2 aperture
Front Camera: 20 MP selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture
The UMIDIGI S3 Pro is currently available for $299.99 on AliExpress, down from its original pricing of $399.99. UMIDIGI is also running a giveaway campaign for the device with 10 new S3 Pros for grabs.
Prices for the F9 and the A3s, two of OPPO’s major smartphones in the country, received a drop in prices. OPPO announced the news through their official Facebook page, probably in response to their newly released F11 lineup. A common trend in the smartphone world, whenever a new model arrives, it’s predecessor usually gets a price drop.
OPPO F9
The new price of the OPPO F9 is Rs 37,990, down from Rs 41,590. Although, scouring through the streets of New Road might see yourself bring the prices down even more. Either way, a welcome discount none-the-less, the device already makes a good case for itself. If you want one, go for it. Prices for the 6GB RAM variant remains unchanged.
Oppo F9 Specs Overview:
Display: 6.3-inch Full HD+ LTPS IPS LCD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 6
CPU: Octa-core MediaTek Helio P60
OS: Android 8.1 Oreo with ColorOS 5.2 on top
RAM: 4/6 GB
GPU: Mali-G72 MP3
Storage: 64 GB
Expandable Memory: Up to 256 GB (dedicated)
Rear Camera: Dual 16 + 2 MP lens with f/1.8 aperture and f/2.4 aperture, PDAF, LED flash
Front Camera: 25 MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture
Originally launched for Rs 19,490, the phone has now received two price drops till date, bringing it down to Rs 16,990. But it still falls short compared to the Realme C1, by almost 1.5k. Both are basically identical products, apart from a few minor differences like a superior selfie camera on the A3s.
But the Realme C1 actually gets Gorilla Glass 3 protection, a feature the A3s misses out on for some reason. If you ask us, go for the C1, and save yourself the extra cost. As for the 3/32GB variant, it’s price remains unchanged. Which means you will need to pay almost 7.5k extra for 1GB of RAM and 16GB of extra storage. How does that even make sense?
Oppo A3s Specifications:
Display: 6.2-inch (1520 x 720 pixels) 18:9 FullView 2.5D curved glass display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
Processor: 1.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 450 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 506 GPU
RAM: 2/3GB RAM
Storage: 16/32GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD
OS: ColorOS 5.1 based on Android 8.1 (Oreo)
SIM(s): Dual SIM (nano + nano + microSD)
Rear Camera: 13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/2.2 aperture, secondary 2MP camera with f/2.4 aperture
Front Camera: 8MP front-facing camera, f/2.2 aperture, 1.12μm pixel size
Dimensions: 156.2×75.6×8.2mm; Weight: 168g
Connectivity: Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS + GLONASS, USB OTG
Was there even a contest? The Galaxy S10, Samsung’s newest flagship yet again features one of the best display ever, on a smartphone. That is according to DisplayMate, and we do not disagree with them. Going as far as to say that the phone’s display is “Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect”.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Display Specifications:
Technology: Dynamic AMOLED
Diagonal: 6.1 inches; 15.5 cm; 93.2 cm2
Screen-to-body ratio: 88.3
Resolution: 1440 x 3040 pixels
Aspect Ratio: 19:9
Pixel Density: 550PPI
Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 6
Features: HDR10+; Always-on-display
Starting off with the viewing test, which was deemed excellent by the website. The Vivid mode was, however, a bit on the non-accurate side. But the other two modes were calibrated to produce accurate DCI-P3 and sRGB contents. It also pushed out a record high brightness of 1,215 nits, a whole 17% brighter than on the Galaxy S9.
Not only that, but the new phone also upped the viewing angle performance and improved blue light spectrum. The new iteration also gets high dynamic range HDR+ performance improvements as well. Samsung even managed to improve the viewing angles as compared to its predecessor.
All this while at the same time boosting power efficiency. The Galaxy S10’s display was rated A+, a new highest for any smartphone tested till now by DisplayMate. We did get to test out the S10 for a while, and can clearly vouch for that. The Samsung Galaxy S10 certainly has one of the best displays on a smartphone.
Apart from the actual quality, the display itself holds a few other interesting features. The first, a punch hole at the top right that houses a selfie camera. The second is an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. And finally, the curved sides, which has been a trademark for Samsung flagships for over four years now.
How wide is the scope of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we don’t know. But we definitely know that AI has encroached on quite a lot of sectors. And with the manufactures striding to integrate AI on all sorts of goods, the Artificial Intelligence has been nothing much that a dull buzzword lately. Quite similar to others’ story, Oral-B, a toothbrush company, unveiled a “smart” toothbrush, which is said to be enriched with AI-capabilities. And this Oral-B Genius X smart toothbrush is said to learn the brushing habits of its users and suggests necessary to follow to improve them.
The toothbrush connects to a smartphone app via Bluetooth. And everything inside the mouth can be supervised through the app. For that, the brush comes packed with a number of sensors. And paired with the Artificial Intelligence, the brush identifies the place you are currently brushing and the teeth left to brush. That’s not all, the Genius X can also provide precise data as to which teeth are being neglected and when the user is pushing down too hard.
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The Genius X smart toothbrush is trained with thousands of brushing pattern and on the use, it identifies the brushing behavior of the user. After understanding the brushing pattern, it then figures out how the brushing habit differs from the best practice. The smart toothbrush then will then start to coach on how the user can improve their brushing habits and how they can achieve absolute cleanliness.
People these days are often busy with their chores and are often found brushing their teeth hurriedly. And often times, such habits result in improper cleaning of the teeth. But Genius X has a solution for that as well. The device makes sure that its users brush every tooth thoroughly and without any sorts of hassles. The toothbrush also checks if the user has brushed their teeth for the right amount of time. The brush does all these things irrespective of an individual’s brushing habits.
The prototypes of the Genius X were showcased at MWC 2019 in Barcelona. And the price of the device was kept a secret during that time.
Since the news of the existence of Samsung’s Galaxy A-series and M-series devices, the devices always have gotten a top spot in the tech journals. Not just after the launches but also ahead of its launches. All thanks to the tipsters and the rumor mills. And just like all the other the A-series and M-series devices, the Samsung Galaxy A60 has also received limelight prior to its launch. This time, the specs sheet of the Galaxy A60 has surfaced, which shows plentiful of amazing features.
Samsung Galaxy A60 Specifications (Leaked)
Samsung A-series devices have always been the premium mid-range devices (and sometimes of semi-flagship level) with numerous splendid features. And looks like, the Galaxy A60 would continue the tradition. Looking at the leaked specs sheet of the device, the phone would feature a tri-lens setup at the back. But in the last two days, we saw two leaks, which speculated on the camera of the device. According to the leak from Slashleaks, the rear camera on the device would feature a 32MP primary shooter. But the leak from PriceKart suggested a 35MP shooter. So we have nothing solid to pick a side in this case. Nonetheless, both leaks agreed that there will a 5MP depth sensor followed by an 8MP ultra-wide-angle shooter.
Samsung Galaxy A60 leaked Specs sheet
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Image: PriceKart
Image: SlashLeaks
On the display front, the device will feature a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED panel. The size and technology of display on this device exactly match with that of the Galaxy S10 Plus 5G. However, unlike the Galaxy S10 Plus 5G, the resolution here will Full-HD+, which is quite a norm for a mid-range device. Samsung Galaxy A60 display will also feature a tiny notch on the top, which will go by the name of “Infinity-U”. A 32MP selfie snapper accommodates on that tiny notch. Furthermore, the display on this device has also been a house to a fingerprint sensor. But till the date, we have no information whether the in-display fingerprint sensor here would be an optical one or ultrasonic one.
Another major highlight of the handset would be its battery. The leaks tip that the phone will boast a massive 4500mAh battery. And given the Super AMOLED display of the device, it can provide a prolonged endurance on the day to day usage.
Performance wise, the phone gets the Snapdragon 6150 chipset, which is supposedly a successor to the Snapdragon 675. On the benchmark side, SD6150 outperformed the SD675 in the single-core test, however, it lags quite behind on the multi-core test. So how good of a performer the A60 will be, we are yet to see. But if these leaks are true, we can expect 6/8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard memory alongside the processor. Since Samsung hasn’t yet given up on the SIM card slot just yet, we can expect that the storage could be expandable as well. And needless to worry, there will be a USB Type-C and 3.5mm headphone jack as well.
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Snapdragon 675 GeekBench score
Snapdragon 6150 GeekBench Score
Samsung Galaxy A60 launch date and Price
The specs sheet has also written “19.4” on the “launch” row. So we can expect the phone to launch on the 19th of April or sometime in the month. A few days back, the price of the Samsung Galaxy A50 was announced. And the 6/64GB variant of the phone was priced at INR 22,990. Since the A60 would be more premium than the A50, we can expect a slight bump in the price.
The Vivo V15 Pro, OPPO F11 Pro, Samsung Galaxy A90 (according to rumors), what is common in all these phones? Yes, you got it exactly, a pop-up camera! While everyone is still figuring out if sliders and motorized cameras really do work, there are companies who are actually bringing those in their devices or are at least planning to do so. And in case of OnePlus, if you are wondering what next piece of innovation, they are bringing to the table, its, Pop-up cameras! The flagship killer company might give its users a motorized pop-up camera in the upcoming OnePlus 7!
It’s amazing how companies move on with their technologies so fast. It was just one generation ago that the OnePlus 6T featured a tear-drop notch and now they have passed on with it so quickly. Anyways, some images have been leaked of the upcoming OnePlus 7 and it does not show a notch, rather it shows a pop-up camera. These are not official pictures though.
Likewise, the OnePlus 7 is reported to have a 6.4-inch display and as the company says, no wireless charging. Upon being asked the reason behind such hatred for wireless-charging technology, the company CEO, Pete Lau says that their wired charging technology is far superior to the other and also their Dash Charging technology is one of the best and fastest out there.
Also, the upcoming OnePlus device is also rumored to have triple cameras at the back and hopefully the latest and the fastest chipset available. Like its former lineup, the next one is also said to have an in-display fingerprint sensor. But will it be optical or ultrasonic, we don’t know yet!
In addition, these unofficial renders also show the company’s signature notification switch, USB Type-c port and a small earpiece above the front display.
The renders also show the company’s signature notification switch, USB-C, and a small earpiece right above the front display. The leaks don’t say much about the back design though!
Tablets…the market may not be so sure about them, but it ain’t stopping companies from coming out with them. And so, Honor announced the Honor Tab 5 – a tablet which appears like any other out there.
Honor Tab 5 Overview
The Honor Tab 5 has all the looks that make it appear generic. It actually looks like the old generation iPads of you think about it. With a camera on the right side and speaker grills at the top and bottom, there’s nothing new on the design front. But the configuration it packs inside do sound impressive, at least for the asking price.
This tablet is packing an 8-inch screen, with Full HD+ resolution. There’s also the presence of stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support and 8 MP camera at both, front and back. Inside, you get a good Kirin 710 chipset which is on par with the Snapdragon 660. In addition, it also features GPU Turbo 2.0to boost the graphics and make for a better gaming experience.
The Honor Tab 5 runs on Android Pie with Magic UI 2.0 on top. It boasts dual Smart PA audio chips that can sense the status of the dual speakers and adjust the amplitude of the speakers for better audio quality in real time. Also, this thing packs a good-sized 5100 mAh battery. It is available in two memory configurations – one with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage, and another with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. Furthermore, there are WiFi and LTE versions available for both, with some difference in price.
Pricing and Availability
The Honor Tab 5 has got quite an affordable price for a tablet of this caliber. The 3 / 32 GB WiFi variant costs CNY 1099, ($163), whereas the 4 / 64 GB for the same costs CNY 1299 ($193). As for the LTE variant, the 3 / 32 GB costs CNY 1399 ($208) and the 4 / 64 GB costs CNY 1499 ($224). That’s actually pretty cool pricing for a tablet of this kind.
The sad part is that for now, the availability is limited to China only, and will start selling March 12. But we expect Honor to launch this tablet in the global market just like its smartphones soon.
After months of speculations, the Oppo F11 and Oppo F11 Pro have finally been unhooded. The official unveiling ceremony of these devices took place in India. And like always Oppo has given its primary attention to the cameras.
Oppo F11 and Oppo F11 Pro Overview:
Going by the specs, the major difference between the Pro and the vanilla version of the device lies on the selfie cam. The vanilla version of the device comes with a selfie snapper, which rests on the water-drop style notch on the top of the display. The Pro version, on the other hand, has eliminated the notch completely and has implemented a motorized style pop-up selfie camera just like the Vivo V15 Pro. Nonetheless, both the device features the same 16MP selfie shooter. So, the customers do not have to deal with any sort of compromises even by opting for the non-pro version.
On the back lies a dual camera setup, which is a combination of 48MP primary shooter backed by a 5MP depth sensor. Although the sensor in the primary camera is rich in terms of megapixel counts, it only produces images with 12MP resolution. It does 4-in-1 pixel binning to achieve that property just like on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 and the Vivo V15 Pro. Oppo, this time, has also included Ultra Night Mode to enhance the low light image qualities.
As far as we know, Oppo has always integrated Artificial Intelligence in its cameras on one form or another. And this time, it’s no different. In the launch event, Oppo had proudly announced that these new devices feature 23 types of recognized scenes and color enhancement, which Oppo calls Color Mapping.
On the display front, the phones come with a 6.53-inch LTPS IPS panel in a 19.5:9 form factor. The display on both of these devices comes with Full-HD+ resolution. And as I cued already, the Oppo F11 Pro comes with an all-screen design, whereas the Oppo F11 features a tiny notch up top.
In terms of battery, both the phones boast a massive 4000mAh Li-Po battery. And to speed up the charging process, Oppo has also included VOOC Charge 3.0 charging technology. With this tech, Oppo claims that the devices will get fully juiced just in 80 minutes.
Talking about the performance, these devices are powered by MediaTek Helio P70 chipset. The non-pro version comes with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of non-expandable storage. In the case of Oppo F11 Pro, there is 6GB RAM and 64GB of non-expandable memory. And to make the optimum and efficient utilization of the in-house resources, Oppo has also included Hyper Boost feature.
Oppo F11 Full Specifications:
Display: 6.53-inch LTPS IPS LCD display
Resolution: Full-HD+ (1080 x 2340 pixels), 19.5:9 aspect ratio @ 395PPI
Chipset: MediaTek Helio P70
CPU: Octa-Core ( 4 x 2.1GHz Cortex A-73 & 4 x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53)
GPU: Mali-G72 MP3
OS: Android 9 Pie with ColorOS 6 on top
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 128 GB, No SD Card slot for memory expansion
Battery: 4,000 mAh with VOOC 3.0 Flash Charging technology; Micro USB charging port
Colors: Thunder Black, Aurora Green
Price: INR 24,990 (~$354)
Oppo F11 and F11 Pro Price and availability in Nepal
As far as the pricing is concerned, the Oppo F11 is priced at INR 19,990 (4/128GB) and similarly, the Pro variant will demand INR 24,990 on the purchase. Both of these devices will go on sale in India via Amazon India starting from March 15.
These devices surely look impressive and Oppo Nepal is rigorously interested to launch these devices in Nepal. Oppo Nepal has genuinely cued its imminent launch in Nepal, it didn’t quite explicitly speak about the launch date. And neither did they tell about the probable prices. But we can expect that the Oppo F11 could cost somewhere between 36,000 – 38,000. As far as the Pro version is concerned, Oppo could price it somewhere between 45,000 to 48,000.
