The Galaxy M10 is the one that belongs to the budget category. It features a 6.2″ HD+ Infinity-V display (tear-drop notch) on a glossy looking plastic body. It has dual cameras at the back – a 13 MP primary lens and a 5 MP wide-angle lens. The front camera is a 5 MP lens housed on the notch. It is powered by an Exynos 7870 chip and comes in two RAM variants with two storage options – 2 / 16 GB or a 3 / 32 GB. It also packs a 3400 mAh battery but with no fast charging.
The M10 price is set at INR. 7,990. The phone is mostly targeted towards the Indian market, so, the pricing is set in INR. as well. The phone will make it to Nepal very soon, too, and will be priced very similarly, i.e. under Rs.15000.
The Galaxy M20 is a phone that belongs to the low-tier mid-range section. It features the same design and build with a slightly larger display. It has a 6.3″ Full HD+ IPS display with the same V-notch up front. Its dual camera comprises of a 13 MP primary lens with a 5 MP wide-angle lens too. The difference is its 8 MP selfie camera up front. It is powered by Exynos 7904 processor with 3 GB RAM. There are two storage variants available – 32 GB and 64 GB. But this one houses a large 5000 mAh battery.
The M20 is priced at INR. 10,990 for the base variant. This phone, too, will make it here, too Nepal very soon, and will be priced below Rs.20000 as per sources.
While this phone has not yet officially launched…it is also one of the M-series. And it will be coming soon. It features a large 6.38″ Full HD+ IPS LCD display. It packs a triple camera setup at the back – a 13 MP primary lens, a 5 MP wide-angle and another 5 MP depth sensor. The front camera will be a 16 MP lens up front.
The Galaxy M30 packs the same Exynos 7885 chipset with 4 GB RAM. So, there might not be a lot of difference in performance. This, phone, too will have a 5000 mAh battery and has 64 GB storage. The price of this is not known yet, as this is to be launched later. But this phone might not be launched in Nepal.
Right…so, we all know Apple to be this trillion dollar company that makes premium products. And after their iPhone XS and what not, they were working on quite a number of stuff. They are also supposedly making an iSheet – a sleep improving technology. And now, there are reports they are creating AirPods 2 – a successor to their wildly popular AirPods. Who knew the $159 pair earphones would be so popular?
But now, the market is heating up. Google, Amazon and many other companies are preparing to launch their own line of such earphones. So, there is bound to be a lot of competition in the market. And how can the existing AirPods improve? New features…probably…but what kind of? How about earphones that monitor your health? Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But it’s Apple. They’re used to making crazy things…like the iPhone XS which has hardly any improvement over the iPhone X yet sells for $1000.
So, this new AirPods 2 will come out in the first half of 2019. How will they monitor your health exactly? That remains to be seen. But for a company, whose Apple Watch saved a life, this probably won’t be a challenge. We’re all waiting to see how, though. Also, these new AirPods will have upgrades in their Bluetooth capabilities and wireless charging feature as well.
In addition, there is an all-new design AirPod currently on the works, which will be launched in early 2020. Another curious thing, this is. But Apple was also expected to launch an upgraded case to their AirPods giving them wireless charging capabilities last year. Along with its AirPower charging mat. But both of them failed to show up. So, will they deliver this year too? Let’s see what happens.
Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 7, the Chinese companies latest announcement has already managed to stir the market quite a bit. Especially, because of the camera hardware it’s packing. And more so, because how it manages to take pictures through its 48 MP camera with Snapdragon 660 processor on the board. using Pixel Binning. And with so many initial impressions going around, there is a lot of hype with the Redmi Note 7.
But is the Redmi Note 7 really all that better? How much of an upgrade is it over the Redmi Note 5 AI or the Redmi Note 6 Pro? Well, in terms of specs and internals it could be. After all, the Redmi Note 7 has a much more powerful Snapdragon 660compared to Snapdragon 636 on the Redmi Note 5 AI and the Redmi Note 6 Pro. Also, the Redmi Note 7 features a larger screen with more screen-to-body aspect ratio. Other things, however, remain the same with 3 / 4 and 6 GB RAM options, and that 4000 mAh battery. So, it is all down to the camera.
The selfie camera is the same 13 MP camera on both Redmi Note 5 AI and Redmi Note 7. There are dual selfie cameras on the Redmi Note 6, but since the rear camera of the Redmi Note 6 Pro and Redmi Note 5 AI are the same, let’s consider it as one. Let’s go with the Redmi Note 5 AI. And compared to that, the camera on the Note 7 looks like a huge upgrade. But is it really?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcpCPLmkwd8
The Redmi Note 7 packs a large 48 MP primary sensor at the back, with the Redmi Note 5 AI keeping a regular 12 MP lens. But since the Snapdragon 660 chipset cannot process images from a 48 MP hardware, it uses pixel binning to capture a 12 MP picture from the large sensor. While the resolution is the same, the technology on Redmi Note 7 should help in low-light photos considerably. And it’s not wrong for anyone to think the Redmi Note 7 camera is much better. But turns out…not so much!
A video by TechTablets.com comparing the cameras of the Redmi Note 5 AI and Redmi Note 7 shows that the Note 7 has not got many advantages over the Note 5. In fact, it’s the Note 5 AI that’s clearly the winner between the two, i.e. in terms of camera. The Redmi Note 7 wins in three aspects: Low-light (given that it uses pixel binning, no surprises), better details in shadows and better front camera.
Video Credits: TechTablets.com
And even in this, the Note 7 wins very slightly over the Note 5 AI. It provides slightly better details in low-light and has a better focus on the front camera. But on many other aspects, the Note 5 AI wins. It has better color accuracy – producing colors that are closer to the real thing, better auto-focus, better exposure and another advantage with its LED flash for the front camera. The Note 7’s auto-focus has issues and tends to keep “breathing” before it can actually focus on a subject. Also, pictures in the sunlight tend to come out a bit cooler than they really are. And colors have slightly less temperature.
In addition, in terms of video recording…while the image stabilization on both are on par, the Note 7’s audio recording is not as good as on the Redmi Note 5 AI. So, with a score of 5-3, the Redmi Note 5 AI is the clear winner.
Of course, this is someone else’s perception, but the examples are there for all of us to see. We can only know if all that is really true when we get our hands on the product ourselves. And that might take some time. But until then, I would not be hyped about the Redmi Note 7 for now. And so, if you have a Redmi Note 5 AI right now, and it is performing good enough, there is no need to switch for now.
As far as gaming laptops go, generally, the more powerful they are, the bulkier they are. But if we try to squeeze that power into a less bulky chassis, what does it cost? Probably, more money. Why? Well, if you look at the MSI GS65 Stealth 2018, you’ll know. It has the same specs like the lesser costing MSI GE63 Raider RGB, but, in a much slimmer and sleeker body, with an added 144 Hz screen. So, it the same power in a slimmer body worth the extra cash?
MSI GS65 Stealth 2018 Specifications:
Design and Build: Aluminum body, Sandblasted texture with Matte finishing, 35.7 x 24.7 x 1.8 cm, 1.85 kg
Display: 15.6″ Full-HD IPS display (1920 x 1080 pixels), 100% sRGB & 91% Adobe sRGB, 290 nits peak brightness, 144 Hz refresh rate, 7 ms response time
Keyboard: Steel Series Engine 3 Gaming Keyboard, Programmable Per-Key RGB backlighting with 16.7 million colors, 1.4 mm key travel
Processor: Hexa-core 8th gen i7-8750H processor, Base-Clock @ 2.2 GHz, Turbo Boost Clock up to 4.1 GHz
RAM: DDR4 16 GB (2x slots, upgrade-able up to 32 GB)
Graphics: 8 GB NVidia GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q
Battery: 4-cell 80 Watt-hours (up to 3.5 hours of backup)
Adapter: 180 Watts
Storage: 512 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
Webcam: 720p Webcam
Connectivity: Killer GB LAN, Killer AC Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0
Ports: 3 x USB A 3.1, 1 x USB-C (Thunderbolt 3 support with 4 PCIe lanes), 1 x 3.5 mm headphone jack, 1 x audio input, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Mini DisplayPort, 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet
Price: Rs.290,000 ($2500 international)
Design & Build
The MSI GS65 Stealth Thin is just like the name goes. It is thin…actually pretty thin for a gaming laptop at 24 mm. It is also pretty lightweight, weighing only 1.85 kilograms. This 15” laptop in a 14-inch body is pretty compact, and you’ll love its portability. It fits easily in most backpacks and is quite comfortable to carry around. This laptop is also easy enough to open with one hand, and it can also open it up to a straight 180-degree angle. And while you might think it’s not very useful, it is actually handy sometimes.
The build is fully aluminum, but even for that, it does not feel as sturdy. But it might have been done to keep the laptop lightweight. There is a bit of flex all over the chassis and on the lid as well. It does worry me a bit, but not a real deal breaker. The soft rounded edges make for a very sleek looking device overall.
I feel like the design is worth looking at. Subtle gold accents on a full matte black sandblasted texture look very new and appealing. This is something very different from MSI’s usual bold red coloring. Even MSI’s signature Dragon Sigil gets a golden touch. There is a golden strip running around the edges of the lid, and that gives it sort of a classy look.
The design is a matter of preference, though. And if you’re a fan of MSI bold colors, then, you might not like it all that well. But I, for one, like it quite a lot. With the color choice, it does not scream “gaming”, but also doubles as a work laptop that you can pull out in a coffee shop to work with.
But of course, this accent might not have worked very well on bigger gaming rigs. But on this particular machine, it is gold! (pun intended)
Ports
When the size of the laptops gets smaller, they tend to compromise on the ports. And this laptop does it too. It sacrifices the SDcard slot, which seems like an unnecessary decision. The device with its specs would work pretty well for editing, but not having an SD card slot, is a minor inconvenience.
Other than that, you get all your necessary ports. There are 3 USB As, a headphone jack and audio input, an HDMI, a DisplayPort, a USB-C with Thunderbolt 3 support with 4 lanes of PCIe. This means you can use up to three external monitors at once if you fancy.
Keyboard and Trackpad
The Trackpad here is nothing special. It uses Windows Precision Drivers. The gestures are on point, but the tracking is not always smooth and accurate. Other than that, there are no problems.
The keyboard is MSI’s standard SteelSeries Engine 3 keyboard with that individual key RGB backlighting. Being a 15″ laptop, it is not your regular full-sized keyboard, though. Typing on the keyboard is great, the keys give tactile feedback, but is not that noisy. With about 1.4 mm key travel, it is pretty comfortable as well.
There are 16.7 million colors in the backlighting, which, even though, we don’t know what to do with, is there. The Steel Series 3 software lets you modify the backlighting patterns, which is pretty comprehensive. Being SteelSeries, it features in-game backlighting, meaning, the keyboard changes light patterns according to the games you’re playing. Another good feature is when you press the Function Key, it highlights the respective keys as well. There’s a lot going on with the keyboard, but overall, it is a great keyboard.
Display
The display is simply a treat. It has a standard 15.6” Full HD IPS display but the very thin bezels make it much better. Plus, the 144 Hz refresh rate makes games very fluid. But you’ll also notice the smoothness during regular usage. The screen has a 7 ms of response time, which is a bit slower than the 3 ms on the MSI GE63 Raider, but that amount of difference is barely noticeable.
The display quality is also pretty good. Viewing angles are okay with very slight color shifts at sharp angles. Brightness peaks out at about 290 nits, which is a bit low for liking, but its a gaming laptop. The color accuracy is also definitely there, with 100% sRGB color and a very close Adobe RGB. Again, you get the MSI’s true display which lets you switch color modes depending on what you’re doing, There’s this designer mode claiming 100% Adobe RGB, but again, that is not possible on a 1080 panel. In short, there is nothing to complain about.
Performance
This laptop packs almost the same specs of the GE63 Raider. It has the Hexa-core 8th gen Intel i7-8750H processor, which, no doubt about it is a great processor. Combined with 16 GB RAM, it can handle almost anything. Multi-tasking is a breeze. And since this is a processor we find on most high-end laptops, so there’s no need to go on about it.
The graphics at play is the Nvidia GTX 1070 Max-Q with 8 GB video memory. This is slightly less powerful than your regular GTX 1070, but it can handle almost any games you throw at it. I played a lot of games on it, and it kills! The fast screen on top of it makes it all the better. All the games were on ultra settings, and it did not disappoint with the frame rates for any. Even very high graphics intensive games like PUBG and Witcher 3 ran pretty smooth.
Lighter games like DOTA 2 ran at 130 frames per second, while CS:GO gave up to 190 frames per second. Heavier games like GTV V gives you about 80 and it is the same for PUBG as well. Witcher 3 was about 60 frames per second, though.
The Thermals are also super cool, not literally, though. Because the laptop can get quite hot. While the temperature remains okay on the surface, the bottom panel gets very hot. This means gaming on your lap is not advised. But there is no thermal throttling, even after long hours of gaming. Playing GTA V for hours and hours, on Ultra settings, resulted in no lags or stutters of any kind, so, it’s safe to say there’s no throttling.
There is MSI’s Dragon Center that lets you monitor and control your system. It lets you monitor your CPU and GPU performance to adjusting fan speeds and other settings for optimum performance. The only complaint is that while the laptop is named Stealth, it is not very “stealthy”. Meaning, the fans can get quite noisy, and of course, there’s the Cooler Boost option, which can sound pretty annoying but will let you game to the max potential.
As for the storage, there’s only 512 GB NVMe M.2 SSD, which can prove inadequate. The speeds of the SSD, though is not very good. The read speeds averages at about 550 MBPS while the write speeds at 360 MBPS.
Battery
Battery life on gaming laptops has never been their strong suit, and this one is no exception. But this laptop has a good 80 Watt-hour battery but for that, sacrifices have been made. For instance, there is no HDD slot in it. So, if you want to expand the storage, there’s no other way than to replace the SSD with a larger one.
Also, the battery life was not as good as claimed. While the claims are in the 7-hour range, it provided us actually half of that figure. It will give you about 3.5 hours on regular usage. On power saver, it can go a bit longer, but nowhere close to 7 hours, though.
Verdict
The MSI GS65 Stealth 2018 looks like a pretty solid gaming notebook. There are a lot of pros outweighing the cons. Actually, finding the negative aspects of this laptop means nitpicking on the small things. The build quality is a bit flimsy, the sound quality is not very good, and it is difficult to open up should you want to upgrade. But that’s about it.
This laptop packs a great design, a great display, excellent performance, and about average battery life. The design is of the laptop, is the most appealing part, followed by its performance. For something so lightweight and thin to pack such performance is impressive in itself. Plus, this is a laptop you can take to your office and not worry about showing off too much, and that matters to a lot of people.
The MSI GS65 Stealth Thin can cost anywhere from $2000 to $3000 based on the configuration. There are quite a few configurations available from GTX 1060 Max-Q graphics and 256 GB storage, to all the way up to GTX 1070 Max-Q with 1 TB storage and 32 GB RAM. Now, I have no idea about the price of our specific unit internationally but it costs Rs.2,90,000 in Nepal.
But one thing is now, with the CES 2019 behind us, this laptop is getting refreshed with the RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics. And you can easily tell the performance is better on that one. So maybe, getting that would be a better investment or future-proof. But then again, that will take time to make its way in here. And they will be more expensive. So, this one right here is also a good purchase. The price does sound steep, but against similar competitors like the Razer Blade 15, this one, to me, is a much better deal.
In the plethora of smartphones you’ll find these days, Oppo is quite the popular name. But even more so, is its sub-brand, Realme – which is much sought after by everyone. Realme visualizes in “providing phones for the young”. Which means, packing all the trendy features in a stylish body, for a competitive price. You know…making it affordable for the youngsters out there.
And so, it looks like very good value for money. And Realme 1 got quite the amount of recognition for its “power” and “style” in India just after its launch in May 2018. Hence, you can see why it is such a much sought after brand. And it has been entirely an online exclusive brand. You can only buy them via online stores like Amazon.in and Flipkart.
Many of you also have asked us whether Realme phones were coming to Nepal. And there were rumors from quite early on that they would. Now, it is official. Realme brand is coming to Nepal. Jagadamba Mobiles Pvt.Ltd. will be the authorized distributors of the phone in Nepal, and they’ll be launching the phones very soon. It is not clear as to if they will launch all of the Realme products or only selected ones as of now.
This is certainly exciting news for all of those who have sought after Realme phones. But well, we have yet to see how the pricing will be done in Nepal. And since the online marketplace in Nepal is not as developed, we doubt it will be online exclusive here. And if they are not online, then, they could be a bit more expensive here, due to these reasons. Let’s see how it plays out.
If the Realme phones provide the same value for money here, as well, then, it will definitely be a hit. But if the case becomes similar to Honor phones in here, then, well, there’s nothing we can say about that. So, let’s hope for the best.
Smartphone companies are jostling to get something new to the smartphone world. And these days, it is the Chinese companies that are taking the lead. Vivo is known for bringing such innovative technology early on. And now, they have unveiled the new Vivo Apex 2019. This is a phone you have to see to believe – because…well, would you believe if I told you it has no selfie camera?
Yup…you read that right. In a bid to create the truly bezel-less, notch-less or whatever-less phone, they have had to cut things off. And sadly, the selfie camera didn’t make the cut. Vivo says that it wanted to focus on other aspects of the Vivo Apex 2019 and that they did. But at what cost? With all that it packs, this looks like a solution waiting for a problem. And that, too, I am skeptical about.
Anyway, let’s focus on what the Vivo Apex 2019 did work on. For starters, this is a phone without any openings, seams, or buttons. Everything is inside the phone. This phone looks so very simple without any buttons or grills or ports on it. Just a sleek streamlined block of Waterdrop Glass with a curved design. Talk about taking the minimalist concept to a whole new level! USB ports are replaced by MagPort – a magnetic power connector which enables faster charging and faster data transfer. Speakers are also inside the screen itself. And it uses the Body SoundCasting technology for that. This transforms the whole display into a speaker via screen vibration function, so, no need for a speaker grill. This makes the phone entirely water-proof.
As for the screen, the phone introduces a truly bezel-less design, as I already said. It is new but bizarre! The bezels are extinct, and a notch is nowhere to be found. But neither is the selfie camera. The otherwise specs of the screen is unknown, except that it is large, and houses a lot of things, mentioned above.
There is also the presence of an in-display fingerprint sensor. But this time, it is a Full-Display Scanning technology, with the sensor over almost the entire display. And so, users can touch almost anywhere on the screen to unlock the device. But since last year’s Vivo Apexclaimed a half-display fingerprint scanning while it only had about 1/3 of the screen, let’s see how this plays out.
As for the rear cameras, it does pack a dual camera setup at the back, but there has been no details regarding it. Some sources suggest a 13 MP and a 12 MP camera, and it is limited to that. Inside, the phone features the latest Snapdragon 855 SoC. So, it is no surprise that this will support the 5G network, which has so much hype these days. In addition, this phone features a large 12 GB RAM, because…why not? If they’ve gone this far…a large RAM is a no brainer, anyway. Plus, there is a 512 GB internal storage, and given that there is no slot for a microSD, it will need it.
What’s more? The phone has a Duplex PCB Design which has increased the available space by 20% to minimize the overall stacking space. This makes space for the 5G module inside. But with no port, how do you insert a SIM? You don’t. It will most likely have an E-SIM inside.
Furthermore, this phone is pioneering 5G technology standardization by a fusion of technologies. AI, IOT (Internet of Things), AR (Augmented Reality), and VR, and everything. This looks like a lot of steps towards the future. And the future is where this phone belongs because right now, there is no place for a phone of this kind.
Vivo seems to know this all too well too. So, this is a concept phone for now. It will not retail or ship anywhere, but will only showcase itself on the Mobile World Congress 2019. Vivo Apex of 2018 was also a similar concept phone. And many of its features showed up on the other phones later. So, maybe, we’re looking forward to a bezel-less, notch-less phone sometime soon, but I hope they have a selfie camera, though. At least, inside the display itself when they do develop such camera sensors.
We do have a similar phone like this one. The Meizu Zero has the same hole-less design but does pack a selfie camera up top on a very small bezel. However, it has only wireless charging.
So, yeah…this is a bizarre kind of a “thing” for a phone. We can clearly see the effort to innovate, but for who? And why? If not anything, it is very interesting though.
When it comes to smartwatches, you either have to spend a lot of money on something with a ton of features that you don’t really use, or go for Fitbit for the very basics. And the problem with Fitbit it that they don’t look like a watch. And so, Lenovo brought the Watch X and the Watch X Plus, which is a considerable improvement over the Watch 9. But with all it packs, it is simply the very basics of a smartwatch that looks like a regular watch.
Lenovo Watch X Plus Specifications:
Design: Round Medical Steel casing (stainless steel + zinc alloy), water-proof up to 80 meters
Colors: Black, Sliver, Gold (Special Edition)
Strap: Milan bracelet strap, Leather strap (special edition)
Display: 42.5mm Sapphire Crystal Glass with OLED display inside
The Lenovo Watch X Plus is quite appealing in terms of looks. It looks like your regular wristwatch with its classic design. You can easily mistake it for a regular watch because it really looks like one. A Medical steel casing with Sapphire Crystal glass is what you get on this watch with a dial on the side.
With Roman Numbering on the dial inside, it is your traditional wear except that you get a small rectangular display on the inside. And that’s the only thing that will clear your doubt that it is not an ordinary watch. You can navigate the features with the crown on the side, that acts as a button. The watch measures 42.5 mm and is about 12 mm thick. This watch is also waterproof up to 80 meters, which is a good feature to have in a budget smartwatch.
The watch is available in two variants – Black or Silver, and both of them have a Milan bracelet strap with magnetic closure. However, there is a special Gold version of the watch as well, with a leather strap, and I had the privilege of using that one. And I must say, that looks very classy on your wrist.
Battery
This is an aspect where most smartwatches tend to struggle. The likes of Samsung Galaxy Watch can only last for some 2-3 days, while the Huawei Watch GT has managed up to 15 days of battery life but that doesn’t pack as many features. This one can give you an impressive battery life of like 40 days. That, in part, is due to its large 600 mAh battery and the other part is because this watch doesn’t do all that much.
The watch does take some 2.5 hours to charge, but once you charge it, it lasts over a month. So, there is nothing to complain about. But you don’t have that traditional micro USB charger here. You get a magnetic connection on the charger, so, be careful not to lose it.
Performance
As aforementioned, the Lenovo Watch X Plus doesn’t do much. It has 6 sensors – barometer, pedometer, heart rate monitor, a blood pressure sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and a gravity sensor. These sensors help in good fitness tracking for day to day activities.
For fitness tracking, the watch measures your sleep, walking, running, climbing, swimming, heart rate and blood pressure. But not all of them is that easy to use. Walking is tracked by default, and it also shows you the number of steps and calories burnt. But it does not save the record in the app for walking. However, it does for others and all of the data can be viewed on the Lenovo Watch app on your phone. It is also pretty easy to trick this smartwatch into thinking that you’re swimming. Just start the Swim activity on your watch, and move your hands around. And it will calculate your heart rate, the duration of the exercise and the number of strokes. So, some of it may not be very accurate.
Lenovo Watch X Plus
1 of 5
Activity
Health Monitor
Sleep Tracker
Steps Tracker
Barometer
For other activities like climbing and running, the tracker is pretty accurate. It calculates the duration, calories burnt, and heart rate during the activity too. However, these two activities can be done without wearing the watch as well, from the Lenovo Watch App itself. It works like any other fitness app on the phone, but I doubt the tracking will be as accurate. Just for the record, you can do it.
The watch sleep tracker seems pretty good too. Although it does not store your records for sleeping, you can view it on the watch itself each day. The sleep tracker tracks the amount of sleep, the time when you slept and the time when you got up. That’s pretty good for a sleep tracker even if it not may be as comprehensive.
Lenovo Watch App
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Profile
My Watch
Profile Settings
Alerts
App Notifications
Other functions include regular Alarms and Reminders. However, both of these are not as useful. The alarm has to be set from the phone app, and it can be pretty difficult to do so for first-time users as the UI can be a bit difficult to get used to. But, as for the alarm, the watch only vibrates for a very brief time, and it can be easy to miss. Reminders mean getting notifications on your wrist. It vibrates to let you know when you’re getting a call or a text. But getting notification from other apps are pretty limited. You can only choose from a preset of a handful of apps like Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Skype and a bunch of other not so popular apps like WeChat and Line.
Some functions like Weather and Blood Pressure measuring do not work though, and it is more of the apps fault than the watch. But it will also remind you to move if you’ve been in the same position for too long!
But one interesting feature in this watch, which others miss out is the Remote Shutter. And if you don’t get it, the watch lets you take pictures from your phone. Meaning, if you want to take like a group selfie or something like that, you can set the phone down and make it take pictures with the Watch. Sure, it might not be very useful, but it can come in handy sometimes. And it is something so simple but other watches didn’t think to include that!
Navigating and Setup
Being a very basic smartwatch, it is a bit difficult to get around to all its features at first. You can only navigate using the crown. You press it once to switch between features and don’t press anything to get inside it. And if something is running, like your swimming workout, for example, you long-press the crown to make it stop. It can take a while to get used to. Having two buttons could have made things simpler, but you cannot expect a lot from such a smartwatch, so, it’s okay.
Setting up is another thing though. You have to download the Lenovo Watch App from the Play Store first. You can also do so by scanning the QR code on the paperwork in the box, but that’ll lead you to download the app with Chinese interface by default. The watch connects to your phone via Bluetooth and is turned on on the watch by default. It will also ask you to turn on your phone’s location. Then, you can scan for devices from the app, and when you see your watch, connect to it. The strange thing, however, is that your phone will not show the watch in connected devices.
Calibrating the time is pretty confusing. The dial and the digital screen shows two different times at the beginning. While the digital screen syncs automatically with the time on your phone, the same cannot be said for the dial. You have to select the Calibration app on your app, which will prompt you to enter the current time. But, you have to enter the time the dial is showing currently, not the time on your phone. This can be very confusing, but it is what it is.
Conclusion
The Watch X Plus, again, is a very basic smartwatch. It does not pack a lot of comprehensive features but then again, you get this for close to a $100. And for that price, it looks like a really classy time-piece on your wrist. And in Nepal, you can buy get it for about Rs.12000 – Rs.14000, depending on the color.
It has all the characteristics of your regular classic wristwatch – sapphire crystal glass medical steel case with an optional leather strap. And it does all the things a normal person would want. This may not be suitable for body builders or extreme fitness enthusiasts, or, if you want cutting edge tech on your wrist, but for the normal layman – it has a good amount of features. It is safe to say that it is a Fitbit, but one that looks like a classy watch, and does not cost a lot of money. Plus, you don’t have to charge it every other night. And this is something you can wear on all occasions – formal parties or any type of casual wear.
Granted that some features don’t work all that well, but for the price, I’m willing to let that slide. Mostly, because it has that elegant look that most smartwatches fall short of, and it doesn’t cost as much as a luxury item.
Meizu Zero is the world’s first portless smartphone. Based on the company’s “Wireless Wins Cable Technology”, this phone doesn’t even offer a USB port. Basically, it lacks any physical openings, including the headphone jack and a SIM card slot. A bold move from the company, however, might not deliver a lot in terms of sales figures.
A Holeless Design
Meizu claims the smartphone comes with Zero ‘holes’, and adds speaker cutouts to its exclusion list. The phone is actually pretty functional, the lack of USB ports is tented by 18W fast wireless charging. That’s the only way to recharge the battery of this smartphone. If you want data transfers, you are stuck with either Wi-Fi or mobile data.
While on that subject, there are no SIM slots and you will have to rely on eSIM technology. The headphone jack has already been eliminated by so many smartphone manufacturers, it’s not even an issue here. There are no loudspeakers either, thanks to the use of something called the “piezoelectric transducer” that creates the necessary vibrations.
Finally, all of the physical buttons have been replaced by “Virtual Side Buttons”. It uses haptic feedback to emulate the feel of pressing a real button. This hasn’t faired so well in the past, but iPhone 7 did a pretty good job so, why not here. As for security, it comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor, a pretty routine feature in flagships these days.
We have seen all of these features implemented in phones before, but this is the first time all of it made it to one single device. That’s exactly what makes this so unique. While on the subject, the Meizu Zero does come with two small holes. Those are the microphone openings at the bottom, but that’s probably just our stickler behavior.
Meizu seems to have done a lot to make it a portless smartphone, mostly on it’s exterior. It’s only fair to assume a steller internal spec sheet, and it does. It comes with a 5.99″ (1080 x 2340 pixels) AMOLED display with an in-display fingerprint sensor and loudspeakers beneath the display itself.
The bezels both the top and the bottom are pretty minimal. Noticeably, it does not come with a notch, but a traditional type selfie camera. The sensor is just a part of the top bezel and it looks good, at least on paper. A one-piece ceramic unibody holds everything together, think Galaxy S9, but better (in terms of design and feel).
Performance wise, it gets a Snapdragon 845 SoC paired with the Adreno 630 GPU. Although, a bit old with SD855 phones coming in pretty hot, this one looks a bit outdated. But it’s still a pretty capable chipset none-the-less. Common specs like RAM and storage remain unknown, but we do know there is no SD card support.
It gets a dual camera setup with a 12MP (Sony IMX380 sensor) and a 20MP (Sony IMX350 sensor) unit at the back. The primary 12MP camera is an f/1.8, 27mm wide-angle lens with a 1.55µm sensor and 4-axis OIS. The secondary 20MP camera is an f/2.6 aperture lens which supports the usual AI enhancement features.
Below the dual-camera setup resides a 6-LED ring flash. At the front, there is a 20MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture and AI face unlock support. It looks to be a pretty small sensor and is tucked in nicely right at the middle of the top bezel. The forehead itself is pretty slim, so you get the point.
It comes with a pretty well-rounded seamless design, inspired with the help of a ceramic body and as the name suggests, Zero openings. All sides are basically empty, apart from the cameras at the back and front, two microphones at the bottom and that AMOLED display at the front. It will come in Black and White color options and gets an IP68 rating.
As for now, a chunk of its specs still remains unknown, one of which is the pricing and availability. It’s also safe to assume this smartphone won’t be making its way outside of China.
Foldable smartphones looked very interesting since it was but a concept. And now, with Royole’s Flex Pai – the world’s first foldable smartphone, companies are trying to one-up the other by coming out with their own versions of foldable smartphones. While Samsung is expected to unveil Galaxy X – its foldable phone, Xiaomi has its own set of tricks ready. And Xiaomi’s foldable phone has three folds!
Xiaomi revealed its prototype of the foldable phone on Weibo. In addition to revealing it will have three folds, the company also asked the public to help name it. The phone when unfolded looks like a tablet. But then, it folds from the right and the left as well, to give the appearance of a smaller mobile device. It is all on video on Xiaomi’s social media networks, where Bin Lin, Xiaomi co-founder and the president himself, is using the device.
What benefits does this double-folding have? To be honest, we have no clue. But this design looks more interesting than your regular double-folding smartphone. And it probably has piqued everyone’s interest in it easily than Samsung’s foldable phone. But then again, the cost of this phone will probably be very steep, as this will be the first of its kind. And another question is what will these phones have to offer besides its foldable design for the price?
We will have to wait and see. For now, the only foldable phone that exists for sale is the Royole Flex Pai. Xiaomi’s foldable phone does not have a name yet…nor the specs or any other features. Samsung should unveil theirs along with the Galaxy S10 series on February. And other companies like Huawei and Motorola also have plans for the same in 2019.
So, foldable smartphones are coming, whether you see the sense in the design or not. Are you excited about them? Or do you think they are not really useful? Do let us know.
Vivo recently announced that it would launch Vivo Apex 2019 on January 24. The company teased the phone with the water droplet. Vivo also released a blind test video on its Weibo page, which includes reaction from passerby after letting them feel the phone in their hands. The people who felt the phone on their hands describe it as a pebble, soap, and so on. This gave us an idea that the phone will have a sleek body and will incorporate a glass on its back.
We have no doubts that Vivo Apex 2019 will look stunningly great in terms of design and will also pack some noteworthy features inside. The company had released the concept phone last year as Vivo Apex with pop-up selfie camera in MWC 2018. And it had also been a pioneer on bringing the smartphone with an under-display fingerprint sensor in the past. So we really have high hopes from the smartphone maker in the flagship bracket even this time around.
But the lesser known fact, Vivo also has its own lineup of budget smartphones. The Y-series smartphones from Vivo are typically budget-centric handsets. And the Vivo’s Y-series smartphones in a budget price segment doesn’t look so compelling. The price of the Y-series handsets is rather exorbitant and they do not seem to offer much value when compared to its competitors. The company recently launched the Vivo Y89, which do not have any outstanding features when compared to its competitors. Have a look at the quick specs overview below.
In the above comparison table, we can easily see that all the other smartphones pack a better punch when compared to the Vivo Y89. It should also be noticed that except the Vivo Y89 all the aforementioned smartphones are online exclusive in the market.
When a smartphone goes through the offline route, it goes through various distribution channels (national distributor, regional distributor, etc.). Different types of costs (banners, pamphlets, and leaflets for offline marketing, transportation costs, etc.) are involved. So, when the smartphone reaches the consumers’ end, the smartphone tends to get expensive. And that’s one of the reasons why the Vivo Y-series smartphones tend to be expensive. But that’s not all, Vivo has also been involved in sponsorship of different events. We saw Vivo being the main sponsor for the World Cup 2018, Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 and so on.
After all these years of being in the smartphone market, Vivo has already garnered a tremendous amount of goodwill. And its pioneering innovations have also created an upsurge in its popularity. So it may not be an exaggeration if I say that Vivo doesn’t require so much of investment for the brand awareness in the present time. So what I think would be better for Vivo is that the brand should now focus aggressively on RnD (research and developments), which the brand seems to be doing it somewhat already. Other than that, Vivo should also focus on bringing bang for buck devices even in the budget price bracket. For the brand, which has already been renowned for their camera-centric approach and pioneering innovations, the online market can also be flourishing.
The online encroachment of Xiaomi, Huawei, and Oppo in the budget price segment with the sub-brand handsets like Redmi, Honor, and Realme is quite blooming. And the sales from the competitors is also hampering the sales of the Vivo phones. So it looks like it’s high time for Vivo to bring online exclusive phones packing a better punch than its present phones.
