When it comes to the bar and feature phones, Colors has made a significant mark in the Nepali market. But this time, Colors has shifted their focus to lure the budget-conscious audience into the featured-packed smartphones rather than on the feature-deficient bar and feature phones. And the Colors Pride 1A is the latest addition in their popular Pride-series smartphones. The Pride 1A, despite being an entry-level smartphone, comes with a dual camera setup at the back.
Colors Pride 1A Overview:
As mentioned earlier, the features a pair of cameras on the back. And it surely is the major highlight of the device. The camera duo on this device is a combination of a 5MP primary shooter aided by a VGA depth sensor. On the front, a 2MP selfie shooter resides on the top. The front camera is accompanied by an LED flash, which can brighten up the faces while taking selfies in the low light scenario.
In terms of display, the phone houses a 4.95-inch TN panel with a 2.5D glass topping to make it seamless. The display also comes with Dragontrail glass on the top, which is entitled to protect the display from cracks and scratches during the falls. Following the latest trends, the display on the Pride 1A also comes in an 18:9 aspect ratio.
The phone is powered by a Quad-core processor and has been provided with 0.5GB of RAM and 8GB of onboard memory. On the software side, the phone has got Android Go version of the Android Oreo (v8.1). With Android Go version of software on the board, the device doesn’t need much RAM to perform the day to day tasks. So, even with a mere 0.5GB of RAM, it can handle minor tasks like using Facebook, Instagram, watching videos on YouTube, surfing the internet through Chrome, etc.
The phone comes with dual-SIM support and boots with a 2200mAh battery on the board.
A couple of weeks ago, Vivo launched the V15 Pro in India without any announcement regarding its ‘normal’ variant. Fast forward to yesterday, the company unveiled the Vivo V15 at an event in Thailand. The V15 has cut down on a few features of the V15 Pro which was an expected move.
Vivo V15 Overview
The Vivo V15 is a 6.53-inch device that comes with a Full HD+ FullView display. Due to the lack of a front-facing cut-out, the phone has a 91.64% screen-to-body ratio. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Underneath the hood, the Vivo V15 is powered by the octa-core MediaTek Helio P70 processor aided by 6 GB of RAM and Mali-G72 GPU. It runs on Android v9.0 Pie out of the box with Vivo’s own Fun TouchOS 9 on top.
In the camera department, the major talking point is the pop-up selfie camera that measures 32-megapixel. On the rear side, there are three cameras – 12 MP primary lens, 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. For storage purpose, Vivo has included 128 GB of internal memory on the device.
What the Vivo V15 doesn’t have is the in-display fingerprint scanner. It features the traditional fingerprint sensor on the back of the device. The Vivo V15 has a large 4,000 mAh battery inside with support for dual-engine fast charging.
Vivo V15 Specifications
Display: 6.53-inch Full HD+; 91.64% screen to body ratio; Corning Gorilla Glass 5
CPU: Octa-core MediaTek Helio P70
RAM: 6GB
Storage: 128GB; Dedicated SD card slot for memory expansion up to 256GB
OS: Android 9 (Pie) with FunTouch OS 9 on the top
Rear Camera: Triple camera – 12MP primary with f/1.78 + 8MP Ultra-wide-angle with f/2.2 aperture + 5MP depth sensor with f/2.4; LED flash
Battery: 4,000 mAh with dual engine fast charging technology
Colors: Topaz Blue, Ruby Red
Vivo V15 Pricing and Availability
The Vivo V15 has launched in Malaysia and Thailand. It carries a price tag of THB 10,999 which converts to NPR 39,220. The device will make its way into the Indian market as well. So, Nepal launch might be imminent as well. The Vivo V15 Pro is launching on March 7 here in Nepal.
After lots of teaser and leaks, VIVO has officially announced its first gaming-focused smartphone — the VIVO iQOO. It is VIVO’s fastest phone till date and comes equipped with Qualcomm’s latest chipset Snapdragon 855 and up to 12GB of RAM.
The VIVO iQOO comes with a vapor chamber liquid cooling technology to make the overall system cool when you are gaming. There’s also Multi-Turbo boost feature, which is purely done by software to bolster the game load time by 30% and frame drops by 70%.
Despite being a gaming phone, VIVO iQOO is equipped with triple cameras at the back. There’s 12MP primary lens (Sony IMX363 sensor), 13MP wide-angle lens, and a 2MP depth sensing lens.
The front is a 6.41-inch AMOLED display with FullHD+ resolution (2,340 x1,080) and a tiny dewdrop notch where sits a 12MP selfie snapper. There are many memory configurations of the VIVO iQOO and every variant except 6/128GB will feature a 44W Super FlashCharge fast charging tech. The 6/128GB gets the not-so-fast 22W fast charging.
The VIVO iQOO also offers the under display fingerprint scanner, which was expected since even cheaper VIVO V15 Pro is getting one. There’s 4000mAh battery with USB-Type C port for charging and data syncing.
To give the vibe of a gaming phone, there’s a LED strip on the back of the device and left and right pressure-sensitive buttons on the mid-frame.
Pricing & Availability:
The VIVO iQOO is available for pre-order in China and according to Engadget, VIVO plans to bring it outside China sometime in the future. The 6GB/128GB base variant costs only $450, while the high-end 12GB/256GB variant costs $640.
Full Specifications (in a Nutshell)
OS: Android 9.0 (Pie) with Funtouch OS 9
Display: 6.41-inch (1080 × 2340 pixels) Full HD+ Super AMOLED 19.5:9 aspect ratio display
Chipset: Octa-Core Snapdragon 855 with Adreno 640 GPU
Memory: 6GB LPDDR4x / 8GB RAM with 128GB / 256GB internal memory, 12GB RAM with 256GB internal memory
Back Camera: Triple Camera – 12MP f/1.8 primary camera with LED flash, 13MP f/2.4 120-degree ultra-wide lens, 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor camera
Front Camera: 12MP with f/2.0 aperture
Security: In-display fingerprint sensor
Dimensions: 157.69×75.2×8.51mm ; Weight: 196g
Connectivity: Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS + GLONASS, NFC, USB Type-C
So, the new USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 is out, and it’s fast. How fast you ask? 20Gbps fast, that’s half of what Thunderbolt 3 can achieve, and that thing is known to support eGPUs. Although this time, the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 uses two lanes to achieve those speeds. Also, with the growing popularity of USB C ports on the rise, this seems like a good time for a new standard to pop up. And we will explain the naming mess as well.
The new USB 3.2 Gen 2×2
20Gbps is no joke here, that’s double the speed of its direct predecessor and four times the speeds of the original USB Gen 3.0. They have implemented a 2 lane system, hence the name “2×2”. The platform was announced back in 2017, is now official, and that’s about it here. There is nothing new to share about the actual technology right now, the adaptation will start soon enough, so let’s start with the naming confusion everyone has.
The naming confusion
A brief history first, starting with the USB 1.1 (revision to the USB 1.0), which had a max speed of 12Mb/s. The second generation aka USB 2.0 was capable of 480Mb/s and that was a proper generation gap. Followed by USB 3.0, with its 5Gb/s max transfer rates. It was then revised to USB 3.1 and that doubled the transfer rate to 10Gb/s. Finally comes the one we are discussing today, with a max transfer rate of 20Gb/s, USB Gen 3.2 Gen 2×2.
The branding change
It is pretty simple, right? Well, it was for the most part. But to avoid confusion, the USB IF has now changed a few branding names from the past. The USB 3.0, a name we are all familiar with is officially the USB 3.2 Gen 1. Everything remains the same but the branding, and it also gets the SuperSpeed badging. The second in line is USB 3.1, also known as the USB 3.1 Gen 2, is now USB 3.2 Gen 2. Let’s put all this in a table to make it simpler.
USB Version
Official New Branding Name
Speed
Badging
USB 1.1
Remains Unchanged
12Mb/s
Full Speed
USB 2.0
Remains unchanged
480Mb/s
High Speed
USB 3.0
USB 3.2 Gen 1
5Gb/s
SuperSpeed
USB 3.1
USB 3.2 Gen 2
10Gb/s
SuperSpeed 10Gbps
USB 3.2
USB 3.2 Gen 2×2
20Gb/s
SuperSpeed 20Gbps
Conclusion
Hopefully, this clears your confusion. Ohh!! and these namings schemes, for eg the USB 3.2 Gen 1 only show off its theoretical speed, not the connection type or the power delivery capabilities. As explained by the USB-IF themselves, “USB 3.2 is not USB Type-C, USB Standard-A, Micro-USB, or any other USB cable or connector”. That statement was followed by “USB 3.2 is not USB Power Delivery or USB Battery Charging”.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 series was announced only about a week ago internationally, but the devices of the series are already available for purchase in Nepal. Samsung unveiled four new devices, namely, the Galaxy S10E, the Galaxy S10, the Galaxy S10 Plus, and the Galaxy S10 5G in its international event. Among the fab four, the company is bringing three devices in Nepal, barring the 5G variant.
The phones of the new Galaxy S10 series feature a punch-hole display for accommodating in the selfie camera. Like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, these new devices come with reverse wireless charging which will certainly be helpful to charge other phones and wearables.
Samsung Galaxy S10e Overview
The Samsung Galaxy S10e is a direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone XR. The device is the answer to the growing prices of flagship-level smartphones. To cut costs, the Galaxy S10E has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner rather than the in-display one, features a smaller battery, and has a full HD display.
Samsung Galaxy S10e Specifications:
Display: 5.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED Full HD+ Infinity-O display, HDR10+
The Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus are the direct successors to last year’s popular Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus. These devices have the in-display fingerprint scanner and triple rear cameras. The Plus variant of the Galaxy S10 has dual cameras upfront with the secondary lens working as a depth sensor.
You also get a QHD panel on both the S10 and S10+ and more RAM out of the box. The S10 and S10+ also sport a triple rear camera as the S10e lacks the telephoto 2X zoom lens.
Since the mobile phones imported through the grey channel evade taxes and are available for relatively cheaper prices (than the products through the authorized channels), people are often attracted with the grey devices (due to their pricing). And such import of mobile phones through the grey channel has been a pain in the neck for the government. It’s not just causing an unregulated trade deficit, the government has also been unable to collect taxes from those devices. And because of the grey channel, the sale through the authorized channel is diminishing, which is a huge loss for the authorized distributors of Nepal. Since this had caused a huge tension, Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA) had announced to shut down all the grey mobile phones in Nepal last year promising to make the IMEI registration mandatory. But looking at the recent progress, the process may take a while. And addressing the time that would take for all the procedures involved, the process may not come live even within the end of this fiscal year.
For the mobile devices’ registration process, NTA requires an advanced Mobile Device Management System (MDMS). Although the government has been fiercely against the grey market and wildly dedicated to developing such a system, the progress seems stagnant due to the appraisal procedure. NTA informed that the Technical Appraisal has been completed and the Authority is planning to start the procedures for the financial assessment.
After all the procedures, a company will be selected will be given responsibility to proceed. According to NTA, there were six companies interested to design and develop the system. However, only four of them presented their interests with the technical and financial proposal. Among which, only two of them fulfilled NTA’s criteria. And it’s said that F1 Soft, one of the renowned software company of Nepal has also been out in this procedure failing to fulfill the criteria. So as of now, only two companies are in the race to develop the system.
When will the Mobile Device Management System (MDMS) come to live?
Although the technical appraisal has completed, the financial appraisal can take some time. Even after the financial assessment, NTA will sit on a board meeting to make the final decision. So the completion of all these procedures will take a while.
The company selected for this project will receive a letter of intent from NTA and under the conditions mentioned by the NTA, the selected company have to register their company in Nepal (if it’s a foreign company). After that, the company will have to start the design, develop, install and operate the hardware and software system required for the project.
An NTA employee informed that the selected company will take a minimum of three to five months of time to complete the project. So even if all these things go as planned, the system will take over six months to come into fruition. So the MBMS is supposed to be delayed for the next fiscal year.
Samsung is throwing lineups after lineups at consumers this time around. Not a single day has passed that we don’t hear about Samsung launching phones. And there is one more in news today. Just yesterday, Samsung launched the M30 and today we have the Samsung Galaxy A10 going official.
Previously, A series marked Samsung’s upper mid-range lineup but that’s not the case anymore. The A10 is a budget phone, but with a SuperAMOLED display. Up front, you get a notch, a V-shaped one. The display is at 6.2-inches with HD+ resolution and is called an ‘Infinity V display’. The phone, however, does not have a fingerprint sensor. The phone will be available in Blue, Black, and Red colors.
The performance is backed by the Exynos 7884 chipset, which is a very rare one as even Samsung has not used it on many devices. It is an octa-core chipset two of them performing on Cortex-A-73 cores at 1.35 GHz and six of them Cortex-A53 units, at the same frequency. This, if we remember properly, is the same processor used on last year’s J7 Duo.
Samsung has given a relatively lower RAM count at 2GB, however, there’s 32GB onboard memory that can extend via a MicroSD card up to 512GB.
Similarly, the camera department consists of a single 13MP f/1.9 camera at the back. This is strange because even the cheaper M10 had dual cameras. Likewise, the selfie camera that rests in the V-shaped notch is a 5MP sensor. Battery-wise, we get a modest 3,400 mAh battery that will be enduring considering that the device has an HD+ resolution.
As far as the software is concerned, the Galaxy A10 comes with Android 9 Pie out of the box with One UI on top. This is the first Samsung budget phone to come with OneUI. The Galaxy M10 and M20 had a slightly different skin on top, so this is definitely interesting.
Samsung Galaxy A10 Specifications:
Display: 6-inch Super AMOLED display with Infinity-V
CPU: Octa-core Exynos 7884
RAM: 2 GB
Storage: 32 GB; Expandable via micro SD card up to 512 GB
OS: Android 9.0 (Pie) with One UI
Rear Camera: 13 MP f/1.9
Front Camera: 5 MP f/2.0
Battery: 3,400 mAh
Colors: Red, Blue, Black
Samsung Galaxy A10 Price and availability:
The Samsung Galaxy A10 will be available in some time around Mid- March. However, the pricing of the device is yet to be disclosed.
So, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro is official, and with every iteration in the series so far, expectations were high. Ever since the inception of the Redmi Note 3, well, let’s just say Xiaomi has delivered. That smartphone came out four generations ago, and Xiaomi fans have nothing but applauded the series. And this time it’s no different, something to do with stellar performance, promising cameras, good battery life, and the same old pricing strategy.
The Redmi Note 7 Pro starts off with the new AURA design and a 6.3-inch 19.5:9 FHD+ LTPS display. The panel is capable of brightness levels of up to 450 nits covered by a 2.5D curved glass. The display also gets software optimization for night time and in bright outdoor sunlight usage. Another factor to rejoice is the 1.95mm display bezels, and Gorilla Glass 5 protection, both at the front and the back.
Cameras on this one is a 48MP IMX586 sensor with an f/1.79 aperture and a 1/2″ sensor size. The primary sensor is aided by a 5MP depth sensor and an LED flash. Xiaomi did demo a few camera samples we must say those were pretty impressive. But we will have to check it out for ourselves and see if it lives up to the hype. The camera is also capable of 4k video recording at 30fps.
The front holds a 13MP selfie shooter tucked right in the “dot” notch. The same camera in charge of unlocking the phone through what Xiaomi calls, “AI Face Unlocking”. Furthermore, both the front and back cameras are aided by software optimizations, scene recognition, and the usual AI integrations. Apart from the camera, the phone gets an IR Blaster, a USB Type-C port and a headphone jack.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro is powered by a Snapdragon 675 SoC, which is built on an 11nm process. Based on the Kryo 460 Cores, it gets two Cortex A76 at 2GHz and the rest of the 6 cores are Cortex A55s. The GPU and ISP here are the same as the SD670, i.e the Adreno 612 and Spectra 250. Like always, Xiaomi didn’t fail to announce it’s AnTuTu benchmark score, which stands at a majestic (for its pricing) 1,80,808 points.
Lastly, the battery size comes in at 4000mAh with up to 18W fast charging support, but you only get a 10W charger out of the box. There are two versions of the phone, the one with 4/64GB RAM and storage option is priced at INR 13,999. The higher end 6GB/128GB will cost INR 16,999, and we must say, the pricing is splendid. There are three color options, which includes the Neptune Blue, Nebula Red and Space Black.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro Specification:
Display: 6.3″ FHD+ (2340×1080) LTPS display, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, up to 450 nits, Gorilla Glass 5
Samsung has launched the third member of the Galaxy M-series. The Galaxy M30 follows the Galaxy M10 and M20 and is the new addition in the Korean Giant’s budget portfolio. The Samsung Galaxy M30 was just announced at an event in India, and it packs in a lot of features that make it go up against the best devices of its price range.
The Samsung Galaxy M30 is a 6.38-inch device that comes with a Super AMOLED Full HD screen with the Infinity-U notch. Underneath the hood, this device is powered by the latest octa-core Exynos 7904 processor. It is aided by 4 GB and 6 of RAM, and for the storage purpose, Samsung has included 64 GB and 128 GB variants with support for external memory.
In the camera department, the Samsung Galaxy M30 features triple cameras on the back. There is a 13-megapixel primary camera coupled with a 5 MP wide-angle and a 5 MP depth sensor secondary cameras. For selfies, there is a 16-megapixel selfie shooter up front. The Galaxy M30 has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner on the back. It runs on Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box with Samsung Experience UI on top. Samsung has promised that the device will receive the Pie update soon.
For lighting up the phone, Samsung has included a large 5,000 mAh battery which we have seen it use on the Galaxy M20 as well. This battery is supported by a 15W fast charging technology and is chargeable through the Type-C port on the bottom of the phone.
Samsung Galaxy M30 Specifications:
Display: 6.38-inch Super AMOLED display with Infinity-U
CPU: Octa-core Exynos 7904
GPU: Mali-G71MP2
RAM: 4/6 GB
Storage: 64/128 GB; Expandable via micro SD card
OS: Android 8.1 (Oreo) with Experience UI on the top
Rear Camera: Triple cameras – 13 MP primary camera + 5 MP ultra-wide-angle camera + 5 MP depth sensor with LED flash
Battery: 5000mAh with fast charging support (15W fast charging)
Samsung Galaxy M30 Pricing and Availability
The 64 GB and 128 GB version of the Samsung Galaxy M30 run for INR 14,990 and INR 17,990 respectively. However, there are rumors circulating around that Samsung is not expected to launch the Galaxy M30 here in Nepal. The device will go on sale starting March 7 in India.
Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus display have created quite a lot of buzz. A dynamic Super AMOLED display with a whopping 1200 nits of brightness was unprecedented in the smartphone world. And the adoption of hole punch display to ditch the notch and to increase the screen-to-body ratio also impressed many. But the Ultrasonic under-display fingerprint scanner on the phone was the tech that got a major amount of attention. It’s the first smartphone to incorporate the technology. The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus in-display fingerprint sensor is also by far one of the fast and accurate scanners. But many of us were wondering if the fingerprint scanner would unlock the device with the dirty and wet fingers and with the screen protectors. And to answer the question, Marques Brownlee aka MKBHD performed the test and we finally got the answer.
Before diving straight into the test results, let me elaborate the working process of the Ultrasonic fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus.
How Ultrasonic fingerprint scanners work?
We have already seen under-display fingerprint scanners on various devices. Vivo V11 Pro, OnePlus 6T, and Huawei Mate 20 Pro are a few among the many. All these smartphones used the optical fingerprint scanner, which basically captures 2D images of the finger and unlocks the device accordingly. But the working on Ultrasonic fingerprint scanners is entirely different.
The scanner setup basically consists of a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter of the scanner projects a very high frequency ultrasonic sound. The frequency of the ultrasonic sound is so high that the human ears cannot hear it. When the scanner projects the sound, it will strike the user’s fingerprint when placed on the top of it. Some portion of the ultrasonic waves gets absorbed and some of them get bounced back. The wave that has been bounced back is addressed by the receiver. When the receiver receives the bounced back waves, the scanner does a 3D mapping of the fingerprint registering all the ridges, pores and other details of the finger.
When Qualcomm announced its 3D in-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, it mentioned that there will a 250 milliseconds (or 0.25 second) of latency while unlocking the device. The time required is roughly similar to the speed of the conventional capacitive fingerprint scanners. Qualcomm also announced that the error rate on this piece of tech will be 1 percent or less, which is comparable to all the conventional type of fingerprint scanners.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus in-display fingerprint scanner test
Firstly MKBHD tested the speed of the scanner comparing side by side with the OnePlus 6T. On doing so, the phone unlocked tad bit faster than the OnePlus 6T. In addition to faster speed, the advantage on the S10 Plus was that user also don’t have to place their finger on the top of the scanner until the device gets unlocked. In the smartphones like OnePlus 6T and Mate 20 Pro, users need to keep their finger on the top of the display for quite sometime, which can get annoying at times.
MKBHD also tested the accuracy of the scanner with his wet hands. In that test, the optical fingerprint scanner on OnePlus 6T failed to identify the finger, whereas the Ultrasonic scanner on the S10 Plus identified and unlocked the device without any issues.
Lastly, he tested the device with a screen protector on the device. And the device get unlocked without any issues. Pleased be noted that the screen protector was not placed that well and there were a fair number of air gaps. Nonetheless, the device unlocked abruptly. However, on placing a tempered glass, the device failed to register the finger. So, that means, we should use a tempered glass with a hole on the place of fingerprint sensor? We don’t know that yet.
MKBHD registered his finger by without applying the tempered glass. So when he placed his finger on the screen after putting on the tempered glass, the 3D mapping done by the scanner might have been inaccurate. On placing the tempered glass, the distance between the scanner and the finger increases, due to which the 3D mapping might have been altered. That could be the reason for the device to remain locked at that moment.
But that’s just a guess. Since we don’t have the phone on our hands, we are unable to speak anything solid on the subject yet. But when we get the device, we will surely try that and answer it out on our full review. If you are curious to know how will the device fare in that, subscribe to our YouTube channel and stay tuned for our Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus full review.
