We have the Realme 1 and the Realme 2, so what’s next? Well, if 1+2 is 3 then the next phone from OPPO’s spinoff brand will be the Realme 3. Further reports confirm the tweet, claiming the phone will launch early March in India. Take a look at the official tweet from Realme below:
Jumping into the specs, well we have none to share with you. The rumor mill has been a bit on the quiet side with this smartphone. But with the launch date approaching soon, leaks should start to surface soon enough. What we can say for sure, for the time being, there is a Realme 3, and it’s launching soon.
The phone will debut in India, which seems to be the prime target for most smartphone manufacturers. With the growing economy, gigantic population, and an unquenched thirst of “value for money” smartphone, why not.
As for Realme’s presence in Nepal, they currently have two phones up for sale over here. Those being the Realme C1, posing a great value for money, alongside the Realme 2 Pro, a performer with a great set of cameras. Pricing of both smartphones are perfect and are easily two of the best options out here.
Their international presence has also been a pretty great one. With outstanding pricing, great specs, and decent cameras, it’s no wonder they sold over four million smartphones in just seven months. The Realme 3 is also expected to hit the market with the same level of price to performance ratio while adding something new to the table. A 48MP rear camera perhaps?
The much-awaited Xiaomi MI 9 is official, and it’s good. This phone packs the Snapdragon 855 SoC, a Samsung made Super AMOLED display, 48MP primary sensor and one of the fastest wireless charging on a phone. The only thing this phone doesn’t have is water resistance, and maybe the battery, at 3,300mAh, that might not satisfy everyone.
Display
The Mi 9 gets a 6.39-inch AMOLED display with an FHD+ resolution. It covers 103.8% NTSC spectrum, can reach up to 600 nits of brightness and a contrast ratio of 60000:1. Screen to body ratio hovers at around 90.7% and the bottom bezels have been reduced by 40%, which now stands at 3.5mm. And all this is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6.
Internals
The device is powered by a Snapdragon 855 SoC, paired with 6GB of RAM and 64/128GB of storage. Xiaomi also included the Game Turbo mode, which tunes the CPU and GPU for better gaming performance. The device has a 3,300mAh battery, with support for up to 27W wired charging, and up to 20W wireless charging (fastest on a smartphone).
Cameras
The phone has three cameras on the back. The first is a 48MP sensor (Sony IMX586) with a Quad Bayer filter. Aperture stays at f/1.8 and the pixel size is a large 1.6um Superpixels. The second 16MP f/2.2 sensor is an ultra-wide lens with a 117-degree FOV. The last 12MP telephoto camera works as a depth sensor with support for 2x optical zoom.
The whole back is guarded by Gorilla Glass 5, apart from those camera lenses, those are protected by a scratch-resistant Sapphire glass for extra protection. Video capabilities cap out at 4k@60fps, with support for 4k@30fps, 1080p@30/120/240fps, and 720p@960fps. As for selfies, a 20MP f/2.0 selfie camera with 0.9um lens takes the responsibilities.
The same front camera is also in charge of unlocking the phone, aided by AI. The AI also helps out to reduce distortions on photos produced by the ultra-wide camera. Apart from the face unlock, you also get an in-display fingerprint reader. That and the NFC chip allows you to use Google Pay for secure transactions. Furthermore, the phone also features a dual-frequency GPS and an IR Blaster.
Price
Like the last time, there will be a transparent variant of the device. That one will come with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and will cost you CNY 3,999 or about $595. The normal 6/64GB variant costs CNY 3,300 (approx $495), the 8/128GB costs CNY 3,500 ($525) and the 8/256GB is priced at CNY 3,700 ($550). The phones are available in Lavender Violet, Ocean Blue, and Piano Black colors.
Xiaomi MI 9 Specifications:
Display: 6.39-inch AMOLED 19:9 aspect ratio (1080 x 2280px) panel, HDR10, DCI-P3
Vivo started the trend of a pop-up camera with the Vivo X21 UD and Vivo NEX. We didn’t get to see any of the devices in Nepal. What we got was the Vivo V15 Pro which landed here with a 32MP motorized pop-up camera. Let’s check out the specs, price, and availability of Vivo V15 Pro in Nepal.
Vivo V15 Pro Overview
Design and Display
The Vivo V15 Pro comes in a gradient blue color. The back of the device also features subtle patterns, which seem to exist right beneath the glossy finish. The front panel comes with an almost bezel-less display with just a 1.75mm thick bezel on the side and 2.2mm bezel on the top. Although Vivo has not spoken on the thickness of the chin, the company remarked that the V15 Pro rocks with a whopping 91.64% of the screen to body ratio.
And talking about the front panel, the screen on the front houses a 6.39-inch display, which features Full-HD+ resolution. And there is no any sort of punched-hole or any other sort of ugly notches. So the screen truly looks immersive. And to achieve that, Vivo has employed a pop-up selfie camera and hid the ambient light sensor and the proximity sensor under the display.
That’s not all, Vivo also squeezed a fingerprint sensor beneath the display. The smartphone maker claims the fingerprint sensor on this device to be of fifth-generation. And as the generation passes by, the Vivo V15 Pro promises to unlock the device just in 0.37 seconds. Seems like the gap in the unlocking speed between this new type and conventional type is getting really close.
Camera
Over the years, Vivo has gained quite a popularity, especially in the camera front. And continuing the tradition, the Chinese tech titan has packed a 32MP selfie shooter. It also happens to be the world’s first 32MP pop-up selfie shooter. In addition to taking selfies, this front snapper also doubles as an authentication tool in the Face Unlock feature.
Even on the rear panel, the V15 Pro is rich in terms of cameras. The rear panel houses a triple camera setup at the back, which is a combination of 48MP main camera (wide-angle), 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 5MP depth sensor.
Although the primary shooter has a 48MP resolution, it only captures 12MP images. The camera does 4-in-1 pixel binning to get bright and sharp images. It is also said that the sensor used here is a Samsung’s ISOCELL GM1 sensor, which we saw on the Redmi Note 7. So when the whole tech world has been hyped about this whopping 48MP camera, we really have to perform the Vivo V15 Pro review to see its performance in the real-life.
Similarly, the 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera can capture up to the 120-degree field of view. Lastly, the third 5MP depth sensor comes to action on capturing the portrait images. So the triple camera setup on this device seems to do plenty of jobs.
Performance and Memory
Performance-wise, the phone has got Snapdragon 675 chipset paired with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM. On the storage side, the phone has got 128GB of native memory. It can be further expanded up to 256GB via a dedicated SD card slot. Although the SD675 is not the top of the line processor, it’s still better than the SD660 on the last year’s Vivo V11 Pro. It is also a relatively newer chipset and can handle some Triple-A games without a fuss.
Talking about the horsepower, the phone rocks with a 3700mAh non-removable battery. Although it supports dual-engine fast charging technology, the presence of the Micro USB port looks rather antiquated.
Vivo V15 Pro specifications:
Display: 6.39-inch Super AMOLED display; 91.64% screen to body ratio; 2.5D curved glass on the top
Resolution: Full-HD+ (2340×1080 pixels); 19.5:9 aspect ratio
Connectivity: Dual SIM (Nano + Nano), Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, Micro USB 2.0, USB OTG support, 3.5mm headphone jack
Battery: 3700mAh with dual engine fast charging technology
Colors: Topaz Blue, Ruby Red
Vivo V15 Pro Price in Nepal [Updated 2020]
There are two variants of Vivo V15 Pro but only the 6/128GB variant is available in Nepal. The new updated price of the Vivo V15 Pro in Nepal is NPR. 37,350 in Nepal.
So the Realme C1is a phone that launched quite some time ago. And the Realme brand is known for providing good specs at affordable prices. This one is a budget phone that seems to have pretty decent specs on paper. Which also led to many asking for it, even before it arrived in Nepal. And it did, some two weeks ago. But, it came at a time when there is competition in the market. So, how does it fare with the competition?
Realme C1 Specifications:
Display: 6.2- inches IPS LCD Capacitive Touchscreen with 19:9 aspect ratio
Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Resolution: 720 x 1520 pixels
CPU: Octa-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
GPU: Adreno 506
RAM: 2 GB
Storage: 16 GB, expandable up to 256 GB (dedicated slot)
OS & UI: Android Oreo 8.1 with ColorOS 5.1
Rear Camera: 13 MP f/2.2 camera and 2 MP f/2.4 depth sensor dual cameras with LED flash, HDR and panorama
Front Camera: 5 MP f/2.2 sensor with HDR
Video: 1080p@30 fps
SIM (s): Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
Battery: Non-removable Li-Ion 4,230 mAh battery (Micro USB 2.0), USB On-The-Go
Being in the budget segment, this phone has a plastic build with an aluminum frame. It is big and makes its presence known in the hands. The plastic back has a glossy finish, making it look premium but leaving it prone to fingerprint smudges and scratches. So, I recommend using it with the transparent case that comes inside the box.
The back has nothing but the dual camera setup. No fingerprint sensor, here. So, basically, this looks like the Oppo A3s, but in a different color. The left side has the volume rockers and the SIM slot, and the right has the power button. The micro USB port, 3.5 mm headphone jack and the speaker grill rest at the bottom.
Ports and Buttons
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Power Button
Ports
Volume Rockers
With a plastic construction, the phone is light and has a good grip. But might be a bit too big for some people. The look and feel of the phone is pretty nice, and I feel like there are very fewer phones like this at this price.
Display
On the display front, something worth mentioning right up front is that even though it’s a budget phone, you do get a Gorilla Glass 3 protection. That was an option not available on the Oppo A3s, which is more expensive than this. There is also a notch up top housing a selfie camera, earpiece, and some sensors. The notch seems to have an okay size. It also has a considerable chin and bezels, too.
The screen is a 6.2″ IPS LCD panel with HD+ resolution and 19:9 aspect ratio. So, yes, this is the Oppo A3s back and front. Only cheaper.
It’s a good display – with quite the punchiness, but some may find the colors too vibrant. It could do with a bit of calibration. The brightness is also fine…you can use it okay in the sunlight, but not without some adjustment, though. It comes with Auto-Brightness features, so, it’s all well. There are also various display modes. A night shield built into the software of the device with a ‘Blue-light filter’, ‘black-n-white’ mode and a ‘comfortable night-time reading’ mode.
For the price, I really liked the display overall. There’s nothing you have to complain about, except that it could have some balanced colors rather than all over your face.
Camera
As for the camera, it packs a dual camera setup at the back with 13 MP primary lens and a 2 MP depth sensor.
And for a budget phone, the photos actually come out great…but only in good lighting conditions. In good lighting, the colors come out close to natural, the level of exposure is balanced, and the white balance is good too. The details are there…and you won’t be complaining about the camera very often.
Rear Camera Samples
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The portrait mode seems one of the best edge detection for the price point. The subject gets a nice focus while there is enough blur in the background.
As for low light images…well, this is the part where most budget cameras tend to struggle. And this is no exception. Images lack sharpness, and there are very less details to go on. In artificial indoor lighting, the amount of details can be acceptable, but for night shots, the photos are not usable at all.
The front camera is a single 8 MP camera. And the pictures from it are not that great. They’re actually okay, packing enough details and fairly accurate color reproduction, but not as expected. If you want a strong social media game, then, this selfie camera might not be for you. Low light selfies are also not worth mentioning anything about.
And of course, there is the beauty mode which you can choose various levels of. But they look pretty aggressive. You can use up to level 3 of beauty levels, but nothing beyond that – if you take my advice.
Selfie samples
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Normal selfie
Normal selfie
Normal selfie
Portrait selfie
Normal selfie
Normal selfie
Overall, the rear camera setup is a good one, but the selfie camera can do with some improvement.
In this department, the Realme C1 features a Snapdragon 450 chipset, which to me, looks like the de-facto processor for budget phones, i.e. if they want to be good enough. And it does not disappoint for the most part. I did get some lags every now and then while navigating through the UI, but it didn’t freeze or anything.
It also appeared as if the touch was not responsive enough, but that might have been due to the sluggishness in the UI too. And while the benchmark scores for this device show a lot of potentials, gaming on it is not exactly a “walk-in-the-park”. It is more like a tired walking kind of thing, where you rest quite frequently. What I mean is, it suffers from frequent stutters and lags.
You can play Asphalt 9 or PUBG, at low settings. And they run okay at low frame rates. But normal games like Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Golf Battle, etc, run smooth enough, though.
With 2 GB of RAM, multitasking is also not very good. The apps won’t stay open in the background for too long, and switching between them is not seamless. And opening a lot of tabs in your browser or messenger app can take a toll on your user experience. But at the end of the day, if you’re not using the device heavily, it’ll work just fine.
Also, the phone doesn’t heat up as much. You can feel it getting hot while gaming, but it’s nothing too extreme.
Benchmark Scores
AnTuTu V7: 74125
AndroBench Sequential Read: 291.45 MB/s
AndroBench Sequential Write: 51.05 MB/s
GeekBench 4 (Single-Core): 627
GeekBench 4 (Multi-Core): 3105
3D Mark (Sling Shot Extreme – OpenGL ES 3.1): 282
3D Mark (Sling Shot Extreme – Vulkan): 332
PC Mark for Android (Work 2.0 Performance): 4242
Software and UI
The phone currently runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with ColorsOS 5.2.1 on top. And this is the same operating system as any OPPO phone in the market, which we didn’t like anyway.
The UI is one of the major shortcomings of smartphones, including its optimizations. The UI, as a whole, is a bit too colorful, and not in a good way. It isn’t pleasing to look at, and neither is the functions. Everything appears like a big mess! On top of the bad optimizations, the UI itself is a bit laggy. There’s bloatware everywhere, and of course, they aren’t useful.
Realme needs to put in a lot of work into this device…but if you’re not comparing it with other phones, or if you’ve been using other Oppo devices, you might not even care about it.
Battery and Storage
As for the storage, you get a 16 GB storage on board, which of course, is not enough. But there is a dedicated microSD card slot, with which, you can expand the memory up to 256 GB.
The battery on this device is stellar. It has a 4230 mAh battery, with which, it lasts for about 1 and a half days in normal usage. Even with heavy usage, it will easily last throughout the day.
The only problem? With a large battery and no Fast Charging, the charging time shoots up to like 4 hours! If you use a 2A / 5V charger, you can get done in 2.5 hours.
Extras
To talk about the extra features, there is not much to say though. Its speaker is fairly loud with decent, clear sound quality. And even though it has no fingerprint sensor, it’s got a pretty fast Facial Recognition. It uses the front camera for that, and not an IR sensor, but like most Oppo phones, this is good.
Conclusion and Verdict
The Realme C1 is a good phone, no doubt. And for a price Rs. 15,500, this is one of the best contenders at this price. The battery life is phenomenal and the display is pretty great. I like cameras as well, and most of the stuff is good.
And I can’t stress this enough, but this is just the Oppo A3s but cheaper. And we were not fond of the Oppo A3s as much as this one, because of the price. That phone cost close to Rs.20000 when it launched, and now, it costs some Rs.18000. But the same phone with another name costs considerably less. So, this one looks much better.
The problem? It’s got quite the competitor. The recently launched Samsung Galaxy M10 looks like a much better performer. It’s got a better display, smaller notch, and a better look and feels, except the camera. And that, too, for Rs.2000 less.
There are so many phones in the mid-range segment right now that it is hard selecting one for yourself. All of them give you similar features and come at a similar price. Amidst all this, Realme has launched two phones in Nepal, The Realme 2 Pro and the Realme C1.
So, today, we will be talking about the Realme 2 Pro. It has been my daily driver for the last three months and here is my full and detailed review about it.
The Realme 2 Pro came after the era of gradient designs and I must say, this simple touch of a plane colorful back still catches my eye. I chose this Blue variant, which is sort of a light icy Blue, which I still think is very appealing.
But as eye-catching as it is, most of the times, I used it with the Silicon case that came along in the box because the entire phone is made of plastic. As careless as I am, I didn’t want to destroy my daily driver. And after this long usage, my phone still looks good as new. There are minor scratches at the back but the shiny back has compensated to hide it very well.
At the front too, I got a built-in screen guard that took up many scratches but it started to wear off a little bit near the notch, so I took it off altogether. And impressive is that the Gorilla Glass 3 protection has held up pretty well-preventing scratches on the display.
But I think this phone is a little too thick for my liking and other users of this device also may have felt the same.
It’s weird that the battery is not too huge and still the phone is thick and relatively heavy. Plus, with the cover on, it looks thicker than ever. But does not matter in usage though, so it’s okay.
Display:
Keeping the Realme 2 pro as a daily driver, I have also reviewed quite a few devices and looking at all of them, I think the V-shaped notch and the minimal bottom bezel accounts for a good full view screen on this one.
But through all this time, I have wished for more brightness, which is just moderately bright outside. Nothing that has affected my usability but I have wished for more sometimes.
Other than that, I have quite liked other aspects such as the colors are bright and vibrant and playing games or watching videos or simply browsing has been a good experience.
The notch on the top is not very obtrusive so I kept in on all the times. You do have an option to hide it for some apps but it was okay for me.
But through all this time, I have missed the LED notification light. You can turn on notifications on the lock screen and even clear it from there which has somehow made it easier for me but again a notification LED is always welcome.
Cameras:
Now we’ve come to the part where the Realme 2 pro has shone with all its potential, the cameras. Honestly, I thought that the cameras will be okay, nothing much to fuss about, but this one has exceeded my expectation, except in one aspect, which I will talk about later.
So, starting off with the back cameras, the pictures are very colorful and look pleasing to the eye. The details are on point, the saturation is on point and I have loved the images. Look at this picture of the Bouddha Stupa here, what do you think about it? Nice isn’t it?
Realme 2 Pro back camera samples
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The fact is that this one uses the same Sony IMX sensor at the back previously used on the more expensive OnePlus 5T and the results are awesome. I get the same impressive images every time I go around shooting with this phone.
But something that has bugged me a lot since day one is, you cannot change the settings from the camera app itself! And finally, when I dug deeper, the settings could be changed from inside the settings menu. I mean you have to individually go there, search and change whatever settings you want to alter. As good as the cameras are, this has been a big hassle for me.
But in the camera app, the icons tell you clearly, which is what function, so it is not a difficulty finding the portrait mode or HDR mode, etc.
Talking about the HDR mode, it helps improve detail from bright and dark areas on images very well. But, when you take a picture with an exposed background, it does help preserve details but the pictures come out slightly unnatural. Not saying the images are not good though!
Realme 2 Pro back camera samples HDR on vs HDR off
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Okay, there is a beauty mode, which I didn’t use very often, but here are some samples for you to check out.
Realme 2 Pro back camera sample beauty mode off vs beauty mode on
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Similarly, videos are very impressive. There is EIS to make your videos stable, you won’t notice the stabilization while shooting videos but the outcome is good I must say. Among the 4k, 1080p and 720p options, I liked the FHD resolution more in terms of quality.
Autofocus in both videos and photos is good, nothing to complain about.
Okay, now let’s talk about the aspect I have disliked, the portrait mode. I might sound very harsh when I say this, but the 2 MP depth sensor is not soo good in functioning. The edge detection is poor, blur intensity is poor and inconsistent! But, you do have studio various studio lighting effects, among which I like the RIM lighting effect.
realme 2 pro back camera samples portrait mode
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The night shots are what you would expect. They are nothing to be excited about, yet not that bad either. But certainly, the cameras find it a bit hard to focus during the night.
Realme 2 Pro night time back camera samples
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Pictures in artificial lighting are good though! They are detailed and bright and basically, I have loved clicking pictures with this one!
realme 2 pro back camera sample artificial lighting
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Selfies are nice too! They are colorful, natural and detailed. The HDR option helps when the background is exposed. Also, there is stickers option which has been very fun for me as well as my friends. The beauty option again, I didn’t use it too much.
Realme 2 Pro selfie samples
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The portrait option the selfie cameras does an okay job. But there are no studio lighting effects in selfie portraits, which I would have loved to have! Never mind, Realme, you can put it there in the upcoming device of yours!
Talking about the performance, it has the Snapdragon 660 SoC which we have seen in many phones lately, but I was a bit skeptical about the Color OS affecting the full potential of the chipset but it has actually not been that way.
I have had no complaints about the performance of this device whatsoever! I have not felt lags and stutters on this device while multitasking or gaming and the like. Coming to gaming, the Adreno 512 GPU is quite a performer. I play PUBG very often in medium settings without any major stutters. Also, Asphalt runs pretty smooth but F1 racing goes through some stutters sometimes. Not to the extent of frustration though!
But, the speakers at the bottom get distorted at highest volumes and has spoiled my gaming experiences a lot. But with earphones, it is not that bad. Also, the speakers tend to cover up with fingers, which again adds up to not so good gaming experience. So, even though games run pretty well, I’ve had issues.
I have been using the 4 GB RAM 64 GB storage variant that has EMMC storage, which may be the reason why games or apps take a while to install.
The fingerprint sensor at the back has been working fine, it is fast and gets the job done 100% of the times. And facial unlock is swift too during the daytime. Since it’s the front camera doing the job here, it does not perform well during night time.
Also, like other Chinese phones, this one does not certify DRM L1 certification, but since I don’t use Netflix or Amazon prime contents on my phone, it wasn’t a dealbreaker!
Benchmark Scores
AnTuTu V7: 128703
AndroBench Sequential Read: 291.18 MB/s
AndroBench Sequential Write: 173.76 MB/s
GeekBench 4 (Single-Core): 1468
GeekBench 4 (Multi-Core): 5506
3D Mark (Sling Shot Extreme – OpenGL ES 3.1): 1229
3D Mark (Sling Shot Extreme – Vulkan): 1184
PC Mark for Android (Work 2.0 Performance): 5778
Software:
Now the software, and you know I am not a huge fan of the Color OS, especially because the app icons are not very good looking and surprisingly there is no theme center to change one either! So, unless, you download another launcher, you are stuck with it.
Things can change and the CEO of Realme has also promised the Pie update in the next few months so maybe the latest Color OS based on Pie will have something refreshing. And one more thing, since my use, I have gotten a couple of updates, the latest security patch dated January 5.
Realme 2 Pro UI screenshots
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And some two months ago, I got the update that made the notifications clear up from one direction! Previously, it was so annoying that you had to swipe once and click delete but to some extent, it has been corrected. I say to some extent, because, it can only be cleared from one direction, the story is the same if you try from the other side!
Battery:
In the Realme 2 pro, you get a modest 3,500 mAh battery, that will last you for a day. It has been the same since day one up until now, I mean, the battery life has not degraded.
The area where Realme could have done better here was by including its very own VOOC Fast charging tech. It doesn’t cost too much to borrow its own tech, right? But, they haven’t, so charging will take around 2.5-3 hours to get fully juiced up. And yes, it uses Micro USB port.
Conclusion:
So, as I said earlier, I have used this device for so long and even though I don’t like the UI so much, I have gotten used to it. But then again, I would like to suggest the company to focus more on the UI part. Also, though the phone looks good, I don’t think plastic backs are here to stay. For long time use me as well as other people would like to have better material on their phones.
SD 660, no doubt is a good processor, but as an intense user, maybe for the next one, Realme should go with a more powerful processor like the SD 675 or the SD 710! I would also like to see Realme adding the USB type C port, maybe a bigger battery, and VOOC charging. Also, the portrait mode needs attention, I mean for such a good camera, why compromise on any aspect?
So, my verdict would be, yes, the device has some shortcomings, but in my opinion, they are not that big of a deal. I have loved using this phone and will continue using it as my daily driver for the next few months.
So, if you are thinking of getting this one, for the price it asks, especially the discounts you get right now, this device is still a very good choice!
The Huawei P20 lineup was a collection of capable smartphones, and now, is time for its successor, the P30 series. Although yet to go official, going by its predecessor, the new lineup should be great, if not the best. Expectations are high for the new lineup, and going by the numerous leaks and rumors, they should deliver. With the month of March coming close, let’s look at what we could expect, and everything we know so far.
Pricing
Pricing for the P20 Lite was $450, the regular P20 was roughly $780, while the Pro version costs a little over $1000. With that, we do not expect Huawei to lower the price for it’s newer models. A $50 premium for the P30 and $100 more for the P30 Pro would be a safe assumption.
As for the P30 Lite, that should not cross the $500 threshold. However, with Samsung’s next flagships launching soon, that could also affect the cost of Huawei’s upcoming flagships.
Design
A small teardrop notch, in-display fingerprint sensor, glass back and a headphone jack. Yes, the headphone jack is making a comeback, if rumors are to be believed. The same rumors point out four cameras for the Pro model, rounding up a total of five. As for the non-pro version, renders only show three cameras on the back.
The sensors are placed horizontally while the flash sits beside the cameras instead of the bottom, make of it what you will. Further leaks, especially from the case makers place the phone’s footprint at 149.1 x 71.4 x 7.5mm for the regular P30.
Internal Specs
The Kirin 980 will be in charge of the performance, as it’s still Huawei’s best and brightest SoC. We are expecting a 5G variant for the phone, which will use Huawei’s own Balong 5000 modem designed for the Kirin 980 itself. The P30 lite will get a humble Kirin 710.
Reports hint at a 12GB RAM variant but don’t specify if it’s the base or the top of the line variant. As for the software, all phone will come with Android 9.0 out of the box. We have no information regarding their battery life, but the P30 will have a 22.5W fast charging support while the P30 Pro bumps it up to a 40W.
Display
The smallest of the bunch will possess a 6-inch IPS LCD display, and this one will also not feature any in-display fingerprint sensor. As for the P30, it will offer a 6.1-inch screen while the P30 Pro bumps the size to 6.5-inches. Both models will come with in-display fingerprint sensors and OLED displays.
As for resolutions, we hope it’s a bit higher that FHD+, at least for the Pro model. But according to new found information, both phones will be stuck at 1080 x 2340px. Except for the P30 Lite, that one gets a 1080x2312px panel. The Mate 20 did bring a 1440p display resolution, and there is still a chance the “new found information” turns out false.
Camera
With up to four cameras on a single smartphone, they should and mostly do perform excellently, if history stands as an example. With chart-topping DxOMark ratings, can we even expect anything less? As of now, their camera setup sits as follows:
Huawei P30 Lite
20 MP, f/2.2, PDAF
16 MP, f/2.2, 1.0µm, PDAF
2 MP, f/2.4, depth sensor
24 MP, f/2.0 (Selfie)
Huawei P30
40 MP, f/1.8, 27mm (wide), 1/1.7″, PDAF/Laser AF
20 MP, f/2.2, 16mm (ultrawide), 1/2.7″, PDAF/Laser AF
To add up, a few rumors suggest a 10x optical zoom lens will also make an appearance. While the 38MP sensor rumored to debut on the P30 Pro remains uncertain, the rest of the specs still look pretty impressive as it is. And it should, this is the same company that bought us the excellent quad-cameras on the Mate 20 Pro.
Huawei P30, P30 Lite & P30 Pro Launch Dates
Huawei just confirmed the phones will launch on March 26 in Paris, France.
So, what do you think of Huawei’s P30 series, which has the potential to be the best smartphone of 2019? Tell us in the comments section below.
With the new RTX gaming laptops launching every week or so, the prices of GTX 10 series laptops are getting some decent price cut and today I have with me is the HP Pavilion Power 15 laptop that’s available for an insane deal at $650 or Rs. 95,000 here in Nepal. So, is this the best budget gaming laptop right now? We are going to answer that in this HP Pavilion 15 Power Review!
HP Pavilion 15 Power Specifications:
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-8300H (2.3 GHz, up to 4 GHz, 8 MB cache, 4 cores)
Ports: 1 HDMI 1.4; 1 headphone/microphone combo; 1 RJ-45; 1 USB 3.1 Type-C™ Gen 1 (Data Transfer up to 5 Gb/s); 2 USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Data transfer only)
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac (2×2) and Bluetooth 4.2
Battery: 52Whr
OS: Windows 10 Home
Price: Rs. 98,000
Design & Build
So, starting off with how it looks, it is somewhere between a typical gaming laptop, and a regular notebook. It’s not your typical rectangular laptop. Just because it doesn’t cost as much as high-end gaming laptops don’t mean it can’t look like one.
With sharp edges and uneven looking exhaust grills, it gives a bit of an OMEN vibe here, but of course, it doesn’t go all out. It doesn’t scream gaming, just subtly says so. After all, there has to some difference between affordable and more expensive models.
In terms of looks, there is this green accent going around all over. From the keyboard backlighting to the HP logo on top, everything is green. Maybe they’re taking the “Go Green” thing too seriously.
But the green accent looks pretty good on the laptop. It is a welcome refreshing touch from the invasive red color or the RGB lighting, although it might look cool. There aren’t many laptops that look like these. The Dell G7 with its blue accent looked great as well. And this one has this “Matrix” vibe going on for it.
The build quality looks pretty solid. There is a minimal amount of flex on the lid and on the keyboard deck when pressed. It seems it can take a fair amount of abuse even though most of it is plastic. But due to that very reason, it is pretty light for a gaming laptop. At 2.2 kilograms, this is not your lightest gaming laptop, but for a 15” gaming laptop, there are only a few of these. The hinge, on it, seems tight and you can’t open it with a single hand. But that’s not something that many will be bothered by.
Overall, this is a machine that does not scream gaming, but only subtly says so. As much as you can game on it, you can also take this to work.
Ports and Connectivity
As for the ports and connectivity, this laptop has a great choice of those. A Bluetooth 4.2 may not be one among them, but it’s hard to expect anything better on a budget gaming laptop. But it does have a stable 2 x 2 ac Wi-Fi, though.
HP Pavilion 15 Power Ports
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Also, it gets enough ports. Three USB-As, a USB-C which does not have Thunderbolt 3 support, an Ethernet port, an HDMI port, an SD card slot, and a headphone jack make for a good selection of ports.
Keyboard and Trackpad
The keyboard seems fine. It’s not perfect, but better than you can expect on a budget gaming laptop. Keys are clicky and provide good tactile feedback. They are also well-spaced and with 1.5 mm key travel, typing on it is pretty comfortable. The only problem is the uncomfortably squeezed arrow keys, which is a bit annoying while navigating.
Overall, the keyboard is good. Of course, there are a lot better keyboards out there, but most users should have a good time with it.
The same can’t be said for the trackpad. The trackpad is wide, but not long enough. Tracking is also not as smooth as I’d like. And with ELAN drivers, gestures are not as accurate either. I wish they’d included Windows Precision Drivers, but they haven’t. This makes the trackpad usable, but you’d want to get a mouse, even for non-gaming purposes.
Display
The display on it is as good as it gets, for a budget gaming laptop. It’s a Full-HD IPS panel, and the viewing angles are pretty good. The resolution goes fairly well for games, as well as movies. The color accuracy takes a hit with around 60% of the sRGB and 40% of Adobe RGB covered. So, not something you’d want to use for content creation.
If you put it side by side with another laptop with a better display, you get an actual difference in colors for the same photo, or video. Along with the contrast, the display is good enough for gaming, and that’s all.
Brightness maxes out at 250 nits. That makes it okay for indoors, that too, under proper lighting. It’s not something you can use under harsh lighting conditions or outdoors. Dark scenes in movies can be difficult to make out too, which you might have to get used to.
What makes this display great, though, is the slim bezels around the side. This is not XPS level thin, but it is thin enough to make it even more appealing. This also makes the laptop looks like a premium device, even though it’s not.
Performance
In terms of performance, there’s nothing to complain about. The 8th gen Intel i5-8300H is a stellar performer. You can boost it up to 4 GHz, and that’s quite a lot compared to the 7th gen i7-7700HQ, which, maxed out at 3.8 GHz.
Combined with an 8 GB of RAM, this is good enough for all kinds of tasks. It can handle any kind of usage for day to day work. If you have over 20 tabs in Google Chrome, and still want to do a bit of Photoshop or such, you can. You can even game with all that open in the background. So, performance is not an issue.
As for gaming, you get two variants on this laptop – one with GTX 1050 and another with a 1050 Ti. And as any sane person would, I suggest you pay the extra premium and get the Ti version, as it is slightly better than the regular one.
Our unit was also the same, and the performance was as expected from other laptops with the same Graphics. It can run most games at Full HD with settings at medium. Even so, many games cannot reach 60 frames per second. For that, you’d have to turn them down to low.
Of course, games like DOTA and CS:GO can give you quite the frames, but for games like PUBG, Battlefield, and Fortnite, I’d recommend you go no higher than medium.
Thermals
The thermals on it are good. It’s not exactly a very powerful CPU and GPU combination, so, thermals are not really a concern with this laptop. But you can expect smooth gameplay without thermal throttling even after 2 hours of continuous gaming. The fans can act even if you’re doing nothing intensive, but they’re not really loud.
Cooling Vents
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Storage
The laptop, by default, comes with a 1 TB Hard drive at 7400 rpm. And as hard drives go, they tend to be sluggish…if you’re used to SSDs. But since this laptop has an M.2 SSD slot, I don’t see any reason you should not install an SSD.
I did it on this laptop, and the performance improved by a lot! Boot times decreased by over 20 seconds, although it might vary depending on the SSD you choose. Apart from the added cost, there’s no reason that you should not get an SSD. Even a 128 GB SSD stick will do, and you can use it for the OS and the HDD for the storage.
Battery
With a 52 Watt-hour battery and the fact that it is a gaming laptop, you cannot expect much from it. After slightly more than 2.5 hours of using it to browse the web, stream, and some office tasks, it ran out of juice. So, for gaming, you’ll definitely need to plug it in.
Conclusion
The HP Pavilion Power 15 is a laptop, put together really well. This is a great choice for anyone who doesn’t want quite a dent in their pockets. At $650 for the 1050 Ti version, this looks like a great value for money. Add a small cost for an SSD, and it is still a great buy. Even in the Nepali market, you get the Ti version for Rs.98000, and the regular 1050 variant for Rs.92000. So, this laptop is an ideal choice for anyone looking for a good budget gaming laptop.
Plus, this laptop has quite the room for upgradeability. You get two RAM slots but only one slot is used. So, this can go up to 32 GB. And of course, there is the M.2 SSD slot. Pretty good, if you want to upgrade your device later on.
It has got the power, the style, and just the right price. Everything looks pretty good to me. This is a perfect example of when a laptop does just the right things.
Good things about the HP Pavilion 15 Power
Design: It suttle, unique, fresh and the green accent helps
Performance: It’s fast, fluid and no bottlenecks
Gaming Performance: Almost any games are playable at FHD under the right settings
Thermals: Very less thermal throttling
Price: I mean, for the price, these specs are pretty great
Vivo makes headlines when it comes to their concept phones and flagships with their innovative products. And there are the Vivo’s midrange V-series which are quite good too. But there’s also their Y-series, their budget segment, which actually accounts for most of their market share. And today I have here, the Vivo Y91, which is going head to head against the Samsung’s M-series and Xiaomi’s Redmi phones. So, does the Vivo Y91 provide as much value as its competitors? Let’s find out!
Vivo Y91 Specifications:
Display: 6.2-inch LCD display, 2.5D curved glass on the top
Let’s start the things with its design. Since Vivo Y91 is a budget handset, it comes with a polycarbonate back like most of its competitors out there. So this device doesn’t feel particularly sturdy. However, the back panel of the Vivo Y91 is glossy painted with dual-tone gradient colors, which is truly amazing. And the one I have is an Ocean Blue, which surely is an eye-candy. Also, it has curvy edges on its stylish back, which aids in an easy grip. So it didn’t slip through the hands on my use. But despite having a dazzling look, the smartphone also has its own imperfections in the design. The glossy back in it also a fingerprint magnet and requires cleaning quite often.
Display
On the display front, there is a tall 6.22-inch IPS panel with a tiny notch on the top. Vivo likes to call it a Halo FullView display. Although I particularly don’t like the notches, the one on the Vivo Y91 is very tiny and less obtrusive. So I didn’t have any problems whatsoever.
But what bugged me big time while using this Vivo device was its resolution. The handset comes with a merely HD+ resolution. A tall display and an HD+ resolution wasn’t the combination I was looking for. On close inspection, I was able to discern pixels in its screen at times and it was more evident while viewing contents on YouTube.
But other than that, I have nothing much to complain on its display. The viewing angle is decent, the colors look fine, and it also has good sunlight legibility. Plus there is an ambient light sensor to keep track of the surrounding brightness and to adjust the brightness of the display accordingly. So I didn’t have any hassles of altering the brightness every now and then.
Camera
Now let’s move on its cameras. Vivo smartphones have always defined themselves on the camera front. And I was quite hopeful about the Vivo Y91 on the camera front. But the camera here was more or less a mixed bag. Normal images looked fine with a decent amount of details and a good amount of accuracy.
Rear Camera Samples
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Some portrait images also had similar traits. But most of the images I took from this device lacked a proper edge detection. Some images also had an inappropriate blurring, which was absolutely frustrating. There is also a feature to readjust the focus area and to tune the blur intensity after taking images. But I couldn’t mend those uneven blurring even with that feature. So capturing the portrait images got me absolutely downhearted.
Portrait Samples
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Low light images weren’t that impressive either. They quite lacked the punch when it comes to the details. And the noises and grains also were quite substantial.
Low light images
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Heading to the front, there is an 8MP selfie camera, which rests quite perfectly on the notch. Although the front shooter pulls out some social media ready selfies, it beautifies the faces almost all the time. Even when Face Beauty turned off. Although I don’t like such beautifications, it may quite please the people who fancy beautified selfies.
Normal selfie
Normal selfie
Portrait Selfie
Low Light selfie
Low Light selfie
The phone also has a portrait selfie feature, which can come really handy at times. But since blurring of the background takes place entirely through software intelligence, the resulting portrait images lack proper edge detection.
On the performance front, the smartphone comes powered with a MediaTek Helio P22 chipset. On the storage side, there are two variants: one with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage and another with a combination of 3GB RAM and 64GB of internal memory. And Vivo has yet again played a name game here. It has named the higher end variant as the Vivo Y91 and the basic variant as the Vivo Y91. And since the processor is same, the performance will be more or less the same on both the devices.
And talking about the performance on the Y91i, it can be a good daily driver if you are into normal apps and games. You can use Facebook, messenger, YouTube, and Instagram without any issues. The real trouble starts while playing high-end games. Asphalt 9 is not compatible with this device. And PUBG is playable only at the low setting. And even on the low setting, lags and stutters were inevitable. So if you are into gaming, you should probably skip this one.
Benchmark Scores
AnTuTu V7: 59349
AndroBench Sequential Read: 287.17 MB/s
AndroBench Sequential Write: 100.09MB/s
GeekBench 4 (Single-Core): 838
GeekBench 4 (Multi-Core): 3641
3D Mark (Sling Shot Extreme): 377
Software
Software-wise, the phone comes with an Android Oreo out of the box. At this time, I would have loved if it had an Android Pie but that’s not the case here. And in this already old OS, Vivo has added its own custom skin, the FunTouch OS 4.5 on the top. But using the FunTouch OS was no fun at all. The UI looked like a clone of an iPhone. The feature to swipe up to bring the toggle buttons has an uncanny resemblance with the iPhones.
Also, there is no app drawer. So all the installed apps get cluttered in the home screen, which looks absolutely displeasing. Furthermore, the lack of a search button in the setting is equally frustrating.
But over time, I kinda get used to it. And I must say that the UI has bundled a ton of features. Motorbike mode, Game mode, and Do Not Disturb mode were few among the many features I liked. All of the aforementioned features mute the calls and notifications while you are riding a bike, playing or a game or in a meeting. There is also the feature for navigation through the gestures, which is quite popular these days.
Security
Security wise, the phone has the fingerprint sensor and a Face Unlock feature to unlock the device. A rectangular fingerprint scanner resides on the back, which recognizes the fingerprints accurately and unlocks the device really fast. So I didn’t have any problems while unlocking the device via fingerprint sensor.
Using the Face Unlock feature wasn’t a problem either, at least in the bright light. It was really snappy on the bright light setting. But it wasn’t the same in the low light scenarios. Since it doesn’t have a dedicated IR sensor, only the front camera comes into play while unlocking the device. So it doesn’t quite recognizes the faces in the dark and doesn’t unlock the device at all.
Battery
The Battery is the biggest highlight of the Y91. You get a big 4030mAh battery, which, combined with the low-res display and a low-end processor, backed me for almost two days on normal use. Also, there are Super Saver and Low Power Mode to extend the backup even further.
But to include a 5-Watt charger to charge a 4000mAh battery is plain stupid. It takes 4 hours of charging time with its included charger! So, I used a 10W charger, which took me 2 hours and 48 minutes. So if you want to juice up fast, you need to buy a separate 10W charger.
Conclusion
To sum it up, the Vivo Y91 is a good-looking phone with great battery life. The camera also looks decent for the price. But with these features, the Vivo Y91 is not particularly outstanding in the budget price point. The last year’s Redmi Note 5 AI and the recently launched Galaxy M20 pack better value. So, we urge Vivo to focus more on the choice of processor, at least provide a FullHD display and refine the Software to stand out in the competition.
The invite is out, ZTE will launch a new Axon smartphone with 5G on February 25, and it’s a flagship. Current speculations hint at the ZTE Axon 10 Pro, but it could go either way. GizmoChina suspects the recently leaked ZTE A2020 Pro is the ZTE Axon 10 Pro and the same will go official at the MWC 2019 event.
So, building on the speculation, the upcoming ZTE flagship will feature the Snapdragon 855 SoC along with that SD X50 5G modem. The phone in question appeared on Geekbench three weeks back as “ZTE ZTE A2020 Pro”. The device showed 6GB of RAM, running on Android 9.0, and an 8-core processor.
With 3824 points on single core and 10762 on multi-core, the results are awfully close to that of SD855. Further, ZTE has already completed the testing of 5G which includes calls, internet browsing, and WeChat messages. It has passed all the tests and has even received a nod from the Chinese government.
While this is great news coming from a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy. And yet, their problems are far from over, thanks to the on-going trade war between US and China. Following which, President Trump has signed an executive order to ban telephone communication equipment manufactured by ZTE from being deployed to the US wireless network.
Politics aside, the soon to release ZTE Axon 10 Pro should come with an AMOLED display, as was the case with its predecessor. Moreover, thanks to the latest gen SoC, the phone should feature improved AI features and ultra-low latency in AR/VR applications. Either way, stay tuned for the full coverage of the event, which we will cover in this year’s MWC 2019.
With RTX gaming laptops beginning to rain down, the prices of even the most basic ones will be over $1500. And the MSI GL63 8SE in one such laptop that belongs in the basic category. It packs the RTX 2060 graphics card, which is the base model for the RTX series. And the price does start at $1500 and over 2 lakhs in Nepal. So, does the RTX graphics deserve all the hype it is getting? Let’s find out in this MSI GL63 8SE review.
MSI GL63 8SE Specifications:
Processor: Intel 8th Gen Coffee Lake i7 8750H 2.2GHz-4.1GHz
Display: 15.6″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) 60Hz
GPU: GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDDR6
RAM: Dual Channel 16GB DDR4 2666 MHz (Max 32GB)
Storage: 1TB HDD + 256GB NVME SSD
Ports: USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A, SD m-DP, HDMI (4K output @30Hz)
Connectivity: Killer E2400 Gaming LAN + Killer Wireless-AC AC 9560 (2*2 a/c) + BT
This one looks like your regular MSI gaming laptop with its size and gaming-oriented design. Of course, it’s not the best design from MSI because…well, this could be the cheapest RTX gaming laptop they have. It is big, and a bit bulky, too. And the build is plastic all over.
With the plastic build, it weighs light, about 2.2 kg, which is less than the GE63 Raider with a similar form factor, but with a metal build. The top lid has a smooth matte finish but attracts quite a lot of finger smudges, which, again, is not new for MSI laptops.
But the design has not changed from the GTX model. So, everything is pretty much the same. There are vents at the back and both sides of the body. Also, the lid has the red strips of Red lighting at both sides of the MSI Dragon logo. Nothing new on that front. Also, you don’t get the RGB lighting on it, only red – both on the keyboard and the lid.
Even though it has a plastic build, there is no flex on top of the keyboard deck and very less of it on the lid as well. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that it won’t be able to handle drops or impacts. Also, you cannot open the lid single-handedly, but that’s not something everyone will complain about.
This laptop is something that does give off a gaming vibe, but there’s nothing WOW about it. Overall, the design is not something that you’ll love about this laptop. Maybe this kind of design was fun a year back, but we need a bit more now.
Connectivity and Ports
As with any other MSI laptop, the connectivity is pretty great! The port selection is nice, with an Ethernet port, a USB-C port without Thunderbolt 3, an SD card slot, a MiniDisplay port, an HDMI port, Audio-in and Audio-out ports and three USB-As.
MSI GL63 8SE Ports
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Ports on the right
Ports on the left
For Wi-Fi, there is the Intel 9560 ac adapter which is a reliable Wi-Fi card and there is also a Killer E2400 Gigabit Ethernet, along with Bluetooth 5. The speakers are a bit tiny, not to the point you have to complain, but nonetheless, it could have been a bit louder.
Keyboard and Trackpad
For the keyboard, this is your Steel Series keyboard, so, you know what to expect. The keyboard has only Red backlighting this time. And it doesn’t seem like you can program it due to the absence of the Steel Series software by default. I did not get the chance to download the software and test it, so, that’s for another day.
However, the keyboard is still Steel Series, so, it’s a great one. You get just the right amount of clicky feedback along with the right amount of mushiness. There’s ample key travel, and they’re well-spaced…except for the Windows and Function key, which seems weird.
But you can interchange those two keys from the Dragon Center, so, there’s that. Anyway, the gaming experience on the keyboard is great, and typing is very comfortable too.
Just the opposite of that is the trackpad. This is one of the worst trackpads I’ve ever used. I seriously thought this one was a faulty unit. But maybe, this was one of another comprises on this laptop. The tracking is pretty bad, just even for normal tracking. Gestures are very frustrating to use, because they work only, maybe 3 times out of 10.
Trackpads on gaming laptops are generally, never all that great, but this one is something else entirely. You will definitely need to use a mouse to save yourself the frustration.
Display
On the display front, you have a 15.6” screen with some amount of bezels on it. There is a variant of this laptop with a 120 Hz display as well. But ours had only a 60 Hz refresh rate. And that makes quite a bit of difference while gaming.
The display on it is not good. I was quite disappointed by the display on this thing.
Granted this is a budget gaming laptop with an RTX, and it is bound to have some compromises. But, still, I just don’t feel like this is something you should get for over $1600.
It is a Full HD display, with a TN LCD panel. And being a TN panel, the viewing angles are not that great. You will see severe color shifts at sharp angles, so, if you’re consuming media, make sure the viewing angles are right. But the TN panel does give it a fast response time.
Also, the colors appear a bit washed out, and MSI does claim a 94% NTSC but maybe that’s on the other model. Because, by looking at the display of this one, I think it’s no more than 45%. It’s just that bad. So, if you are a graphics designer or a video editor, just stay away for this one. Strictly.
The brightness, however, is, good enough. You may not be able to use it outdoors that well, but dark scenes in movies can be made out easily indoors. And that’s enough for gaming as well.
Performance
In the performance department, you get the Hexa-core 8th gen Intel i7-8750H processor. Now, this is something we’ve seen in a bunch of high-end laptops, so, let’s not go on about it.
This is a great processor, and it does not bottleneck the graphics setup in any way. Combined with 16 GB of RAM, and an NVMe storage, normal performance is as good as it gets.
On to the gaming part, and this is where the laptop shines! I almost want to forgive all the bad things I’ve said about this laptop…because this is meant to be a good gaming laptop, and it delivers! This is where the RTX 2060 shines.
For instance, PUBG was playable at FHD resolution at over 100 fps on Ultra settings! And that’s a lot of FPS! Fortnite, too, gave us quite a lot of frames. We also played other games, and the performance was slightly better than on any other laptop we tested with a GTX 1070. We didn’t get to test the Ray-Tracing and its other features, but we can say that this can outperform 1070.
And your gaming experience on this laptop is going to be better if you get the one with a 120 Hz display.
Thermals
Of course, this is your MSI gaming laptop, so, you have this Cooler Boost option to get the maximum performance out of your system. You get a dedicated button to do so, which is a nice feature. Also, MSI’s Dragon Center lets you make custom profiles for your various needs, be it gaming or any other intensive tasks.
But even without it, the laptop can do pretty well. I mean, it does get hot, even on top of the keyboard deck, but refuses to throttle on the performance. Being a powerful gaming laptop with fairly thin frames, it is natural that it heats up, but since there are no drops in frames, we can assume the thermals are normal.
You can play games like GTA V for hours on end, and still, it will keep running like butter.
Storage
As for the storage, you get quite a lot of it. There’s a 256 GB NVMe SSD, which spits out up to 1500 MBPS of read speeds. It only manages up to 300 MBS write speeds, but I can live with it.
Also, you get a 1 TB Hard-drive, so, you should have no problems regarding the storage. Plus, there are other storage configurations available to suit your needs too.
Battery
This laptop packs a 53 Watt-hour battery, which barely runs for 3 hours on normal usage. I’ll say expect no more than slightly over 2.5 hours, actually. As for gaming, it’ll give you an hour at best, so, make sure to plug it in before your gaming sessions.
It does charge fully in less than two hours, but I think it’ll spend most times plugged in, so, that’s not really worth mentioning even.
Conclusion and Verdict
The MSI GL63, for me, looks like the basic forms of a gaming laptop with an RTX GPU. This laptop is quite a performer, but it does compromise on a lot of things. Things like design, display, trackpad and battery life take quite a hit, and for a price of over $1600, it can look like you should be getting more.
But as I already said, even the most basic gaming laptops with RTX can cost over $1500, so, I guess, this is actually a budget version of an RTX gaming laptop.
So, this is a laptop that’s all about that sweet gaming performance, and not much more. And in some cases, the performance is similar to those laptops with 1070 in them, which do not compromise on the non-gaming aspects, like the MSI GE63 and the GS65. Also, they’re getting some price cuts…so, maybe, they could provide better value than this? Therefore, it’s up to you whether you want to pay that extra premium for the RTX Experience or not.
But, in Nepal, this laptop costs Rs.212,000 and here, we don’t get any laptop with a GTX 1070 for that kind of money. So, here…it’s all good, but in the international market…maybe, there are other options you want to explore.
Good Things about the MSI GL63 8SE
Keyboard: Great key travel, clicky, well placed
Storage: Fast NVMe SSD, ample HDD storage
Thermals: Well maintained temperatures, no throttling
Performance: Six-Core processor, as good as it gets for the time being
Gaming Performance: High frame rates, can play any game at FHD resolution
Bad Things about the MSI GL63 8SE
Display: TN panel, one of the worst we’ve seen, washed out colors, even worst viewing angles
Trackpad: Really bad tracking, one of the worst out there
Battery Life: 2.5 hours under normal usage
Design: Played out design
Build: Plastic build, arises concern over its durability
