While companies like Huawei have come up with three cameras and Samsung is there flaunting quad rear cameras, we have other companies following a similar path. Rumors were that Lenovo is bringing a phone with triple cameras at the back! Now it’s official that the device is called Lenovo Z5s! And apart from triple cameras, it seems to offer very interesting stuff!
Starting off with the display, we have a water drop screen like that of the OPPO F9 or the Vivo V11! This would be the first smartphone from Lenovo having a selfie camera inside a water drop notch. Additionally, the device is powered by Snapdragon 710 SoC with Adreno 616 GPU.
Other specs are no less impressive! The screen is a 6.3- inch giant with 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It’s an IPS LCD panel with FHD+ screen resolution. Camera wise, the rear portion seems very interesting. There is a 16MP main sensor, an 8MP telephoto lens and a 5MP depth sensor! Similarly, the selfie shooter is a 16MP snapper housed inside a tiny water drop notch. The selfie camera is also said to have some pixel binding technology that helps produce sharper pictures.
Memory- wise, we are offered a lot of options. There’s 4/64 GB variant, another 6/64 GB variant and a 6/128 GB variant as well. The device runs on Android Oreo with ZUI 10.
Likewise, there are three color options available, Starry Gray, Titanium Crystal Blue, and Honey Love Orange. And interestingly, the Orange Black version is a limited edition and comes with an autograph of famous Chinese actor Zhu Yilong.
Lenovo Z5s Specifications:
Operating System: Android Oreo with ZUI 10
Chipset: Snapdragon 710
GPU: Adreno 616
RAM: 4 or 6 GB
ROM: 64 or 128 GB
Display: 6.3 inches IPS LCD display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio and FHD+ resolution
Rear Camera: 16 MP main sensor, 8 MP Telephoto lens and a 5MP depth sensor with
Front Camera: 16 MP
Battery: 3,300 mAh battery with USB-C and a 15W charger
Security: Fingerprint sensor and Face Unlock
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac.
Colors: Starry Gray, Titanium Crystal Blue, and Honey Love Orange
Lenovo Z5s Price and availability
The Lenovo Z5s has been launched in China today for a very interesting price, the 4/64 GB variant costs around $202, the 6/64 costs around $232 and the variant with 6/128 GB will cost $275. The phones are available for pre-booking as of now and will go on sale from December 24th.
After unveiling the Lenovo Z5s, Lenovo has also launched the Snapdragon 855 variant of the Lenovo Z5 Pro. This makes Lenovo the first smartphone brand to feature the latest and greatest chipset from Qualcomm.
The Lenovo Z5 Pro was announced like a month ago with a Snapdragon 710 chipset. Other aspects of the Snapdragon 855 powered Z5 Pro remains the same. It comes with a 6.39-inch Samsung made AMOLED display, a slider design to make the screen to body ratio at a staggering 95%, a dual camera setup, and a 3,360 mAh battery.
The design is also more appealing with red colored frame and black carbon fiber textured rear.
RAM and ROM are available in different combination, and the high-end version comes with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Lenovo also published the Antutu scores in the keynote positioning the Z5 Pro in the number one position, ahead of iPhone Xs Max and Huawei Mate 20 Pro. The Z5 Pro runs on Android Pie with ZUI 10 and its going to be interesting how it stacks up with some of the other flagship phones in real world performance.
Pricing
Lenovo has priced the Z5 Pro SD855 version even more aggresive than the previous version. The base 6GB + 128GB version costs just $391 with the high end 12GB + 512GB version costing some $638.
6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage – 2,698 Yuan (~$391)
8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage – 2,998 Yuan (~$435)
8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage – 3998 Yuan (~$579)
12 GB RAM + 512 GB storage – 4398 Yuan (~$638)
Full Specifications:
Display: 6.39-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED; 19.5:9 aspect ratio
After unveiling the Nova 4 and the Enjoy 9, Huawei announced a laptop too, dubbed the Huawei MateBook 13. A thin, light and bezel-less 13-inch laptop which should counter the likes of MacBooks, Dell XPS, and Asus Zenbooks. Unlike the MateBook X Pro, this one does feature dual fan linkage resulting be better cooling and noise reduction.
Display
The 13-inch display comes with a mere 4mm wide bezels, 2160×1440 (3:2) resolutions, and a glossy finish. It’s based on the IPS display technology with 178-degree wide-angle and a maximum brightness of 300nits. While it isn’t touch sensitive, it does produce 100% of the sRGB color spectrum.
Performance
The Huawei MateBook 13 get’s the 8th Geni7-8565U or i5-8265U processors based on the 14nm Whiskey Lake process. Both are 15W ultra-low power Quad-Core CPUs. With base frequencies of 1.8GHz & 1.6GHz, and boost frequencies of 4.1GHz & 3.7GHz respectively, they are no slouch.
As a bonus, the Huawei MateBook 13 even comes with the Nvidia MX 150 dedicated GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 VRAM. It also gets LPDDR3 memory and NVMe solid state drive. All this packed into a 14.9mm thin metal body that weights just 1.28Kgs.
Cooling
As for cooling, the Shark Fin Fan 2.0 should maintain the laptop’s temperatures. With over 7 sensors and a maximum spinning capacity of 8000rpm, it does seem pretty promising. While the dual fan seperation takes care of noise reduction, the air volume has been increased by 25%.
The Huawei MateBook 13 has a battery capacity of 41Whr which the company claims will last 10 hours. The laptop gets a headphone jack and two USB-Cs. One on the left (charging), and one on the right (display output). Both are capable of data transfers.
Wireless
Wireless connectivity includes 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC. The NFC’s sole purpose is to aid Huawei Share3.0 technology. You will need NFC enabled Huawei smartphone, enabling you to transfer files at up to 30MB/s.
A fingerprint recognition module is integrated in to the full-sized island chocolate keyboard. Finally, the laptop comes equipped with a 1MP camera, two speakers, two microphones, and Dolby Atoms sound support. It will be available in three colors, silver, deep gray ash and pink gold.
Pricing
The Huawei MateBook 13 starts at 4999 yuan ($725) for the i5/8GB/256GB model. The same with discrete graphics is priced at 5399 yuan ($785). Bumping the storage to 512GB and you will see yourself spend 5699 yuan ($830). Finally, the top of the line i7/8GB/512GB with discrete graphics will cost you 6399 yuan or $927.
Xiaomi’s budget phone series, Redmi is a well received phone all over. However, they’re not really known for following the latest design trends. As Xiaomi Mi 8 was the first phone to follow the notch trend, and other phones followed suit. But they were yet in the notch trend while other phones were already moving on. That might very well change with the Xiaomi Redmi 7.
An early glimpse of the Redmi 7 that surfaced on TENAA shows us some images of how the Redmi 7 is going to look. The phone model is actually named Xiaomi M1901F9T. But looking at past records, the model name well-received represents a Redmi device. And after the Redmi 6, it’s only natural we get a Redmi 7.
The photos show that the phone has a rear mounted fingerprint sensor with all buttons on the right side, and slots at the left. There’s also a dual camera setup at the back and a single selfie camera at the front. The design also implies a water-drop / tear-drop / dew-drop notch design on the display.
The listing on TENAA also shows that the phone will have a 5.84″ display and only a 2900 mAh battery. Besides that, nothing is certain with the phone. I, for one, just want to see a good upgrade on it from the Redmi 6.
When HTC has been suffering a bit in the global market, it has something new up its sleeve. An entry level phone to be precise. The Desire 12s has the same design of the HTC U12 Life, but since it’s an entry level phone, it won’t be glass.
HTC Desire 12s Overview
So, the HTC Desire 12s should have a glossy plastic body, as is the norm these days. The front has a 5.7″ IPS LCD display with HD+ resolution with 18:9 aspect ratio. The phone has no notch, but expect it to have top bezel and a chin at the bottom. There is also a rear mounted sensor at the back.
As for the camera, it is still rocking a single camera lens at the back. A 13 MP camera with f/2.0 aperture and LED flash rests at the back. The selfie camera is also a 13 MP lens but with f/2.2 aperture. With narrow apertures, low light images on this one could be a mess.
Inside, an entry level Snapdragon 435 powers the phone. Of course, it is an entry level phone, so, that’s about all you’re gonna get. But a Snapdragon 450 would have been much better. There’s a 3 GB / 32 GB variant as well as a 4 GB / 64 GB variant. There’s also a microSD card slot for expanding the storage. Also, there’s a 3075 mAh battery but has no fast charging support. The phone runs on the Android 8.1 Oreo with HTC’s UI Sense on top.
All in all, this is a basic entry level phone. There’s nothing that is compelling you to get this device. Also, for such a phone, the price seems a bit high with all the competition out there. The 3 / 32 GB costs around Taiwanese TWD 5990 (US $195) and the 4 / 64 GB costs TWD 6990 ($225). If you look at other Chinese brands like the Coolpad Cool Play 8, they seem like a better value for money. But there’s no word on its international availability.
HTC Desire 12s Specifications:
Design: Glossy and matte combo plastic body
Display: 5.7″ IPS LCD screen with HD+ resolution (1440 x 720 pixels), no notch, 18:9 aspect ratio
Rear camera: 13 MP lens with f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, LED Flash
Following the launch of Nova 4, Huawei also announced the pricing of their new budget smartphone. Namely known as the Huawei Enjoy 9, the newbie comes with entry-level specs. However, the phone comes at an affordable price tag, following in the footsteps of its predecessor. The primary highlights of the device seem to be a water-drop notch and a relatively huge battery.
The Huawei Enjoy 9 features a 6.26-inch720×1520 pixel IPS LCD panel. The display enjoys a water drop notch at the top to house it’s 8MP f/2.0 selfie camera. Packing in a Snapdragon 450 chipset with 3GB RAM + 32GB storage or 4GB RAM + 64GB storage option. It gets a 13MP f/1.8 + 2MP f/2.4 (depth-sensing) dual camera setup at the back.
The device, however, doesn’t get a fingerprint sensor and has to make to with the face recognition. As with budget smartphones, the battery is pretty huge. At 4000mAh, paired with an HD+ display and a power efficient CPU, it should last a while in between charging periods. As for connectivity, it gets Bluetooth 4.2, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and a MicroUSB 2.0.
It also get’s a dedicated Micro SD card slot, expandable up to 512GB. Finally, it runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with EMUI 8.2 on top. The Huawei Enjoy 9 will be available in Black, Red, Aurora Blue, and Aurora Violet. Above all, pricing for the base model starts at 999 Yuan (around $150) and is already available in China.
Huawei Enjoy 9 Specifications:
Display: 6.26-inch HD+ IPS LCD display w water drop notch
If you put all the generations of the Dell XPS 15 laptops side by side, do you notice any difference? No, right? They all look the same. It is safe to say that the XPS series are Dell’s most desirable laptops. They are slim,sleek, lightweight and at the same time, known for the power they pack. The XPS series belong to a class for their own. But looking at these, it seems as if the designers at Dell don’t really have to work that hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4beUotJJ8iE
Dell XPS 15 9570 Specifications:
Design and Build: Aluminum chassis with carbon fiber coating, 35.7 x 23.5 x 1.7 cm, 2 kg
Display: 15.6″ Full HD matte panel(1920 x 1080), 100% sRGB & 98% Adobe RGB, 94% NTSC Color Gamut, 390 nits peak brightness
Keyboard: Chiclet Keyboard, White backlighting, 1.3 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 @ 2666 MHz (2x slots, upgradeable up to 32 GB)
Graphics: 4 GB NVidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q
Battery: 6-cell 97 Watt-hours (up to 10 hours of backup)
Ports: 2 x USB A 3.1, 1 x USB-C (Thunderbolt 3 support with 4 PCIe lanes), 1 x 3.5 mm head-phone jack, 1 x HDMI, 1 x SDcard slot
Price: Rs.200,000 ($1600 international)
Design
We’ve been seeing the same old classic design from all generations. The same aluminum and carbon fiber chassis keeps the laptop sturdy. And judging by the heft and feel, it feels like even if you drop it accidentally, nothing bad is going to happen. Also, the aluminum blends into the carbon fiber seamlessly. Plus, the carbon fiber is coated with a soft-touch surface that give a nice smooth feel on the surface all over.
The only complaint on part of the design is a bad placement of the webcam inside. The position of the webcam is awkward. It has shifted to the center in the 9570 from the left in 9560, but it is still an awkward position for a webcam. The quality of the webcam is okay though, and it seems they’re actually same in all the generations.
The bad webcam placement is because these laptops have very thin bezels around the screen,which is one of the best things about them. There aren’t much changes in the XPS laptops externally. The 9560 had a fingerprint sensor under the keyboard deck. And in the 9570, it is embedded in the power button itself. Besides that, everything looks pretty much the same.
Performance
The biggest change in the 9570 is, of course,the processor. It has the latest 8th generation Hexa-core Intel i7-8750H processor. The major difference between this and the older models is that it has six cores over the quad-cores on the others. This means that it can give you up to 50% faster speeds in multi-threaded tasks.
It has a 16 GB DDR4 RAM at 2666 MHz frequency. While 16 GB seems standard on all models, the frequency is an improvement over the 2400 MHz of 9560. More frequency means that the RAM can handle more data, so, this is also an improvement over the previous generations.
That helps the performance by a lot. You can have as many tabs open in your browser or be doing quite a lot of tasks at the same time. Yet, this laptop can perform as smooth as butter. Heavy applications, like that of the Adobe suit, run without any kind of stutters too.
You can also opt for an 8 GB variant and a 32 GB one as well. But 32 GB RAM is a bit of an overkill, while 8 GB is not quite enough for a laptop of this caliber. With only 8GB, it is a bit of a hassle to upgrade. You get 2 slots with 2 RAMs, so, you’ll need to replace both the RAMs inside. Hence, it is better to just get one with 16 GB RAM.
The GPU is also updated, with this one incorporating the NVidia GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q with 4 GB VRAM. The GTX 1050 is the middle of the line graphics performer when it comes to gaming. Sure, the Ti is slightly better, but, this one is a Max-Q, which is built for more power efficiency. So, it doesn’t perform quite as well as the standard 1050 Ti. But even so, it works better than the 1050 found in the XPS 9560. And it can run most games pretty well.
Where the XPS series fails to perform is the thermals. Now, XPS laptops are very thin, which is why, they heat up a lot faster. Due to its thin form factor, ventilation is not really good. And so, the heat stays inside. And because of this, it faces considerable amount of thermal throttling. Which is why, gaming on this for long periods of time is not advised.
Also, since the heat stays inside, the thermal paste tends to dry up pretty quickly. It is a good practice to replace your thermal paste some every 3-6 months if you want a good gaming performance. Even with my unit, which I’ve had for 6 months, I’ve already used thermal paste in it once.
We did test some games on it as well. Witcher 3 performs just okay with it spitting out about 40 frames per second on Medium settings, and only 20 on Ultra Settings. As for FIFA 19, the game spit out over 110 frames per second at Ultra Settings. That is not agraphic intensive game, but, the XPS 9570 is not something that can handleanything intensive.
This laptop is not meant to be a gaming machine. It has the capacity to be one, but it has limitations. It is meant to be a work-horse that can withstand considerable amount of loads – mostly used for heavy applications like video editing and such. And such applications run without any kind of throttling, even though the temperature levels can be high.
Display
Our unit had an IPS LCD Full HD matte panel, but there is a 4K option available too. The XPS series have some of the best displays. It has ample brightness at 390 nits, and with its matte finishing, it is quite visible at all lights. As aforementioned, the bezels are pretty thin. The color accuracy is there, with 100% standard RGB, 94% NTSC Color Gamut Coverage and 98% Adobe RGB. Due to this very reason, many believe this to be an ideal machine for editing stuff.
Storage
Our unit came with a 256 GB PCIe NVMe SSD drive and that is quite fast. On our tests, it gaveus up to 2728 MBPS of read speeds and a slow 339 MBPS of write speeds.
But it might not turn out to be the same for all. The SSD speeds are quite inconsistent even in the same models. The speed of SSDs depend on the manufacturers as well. Our laptop has a Toshiba XG5 SSD, and so, this is the speed with which it performed.
As for the storage, a 256 GB SSD is not quite enough. You can also add a 2.5” Hard disk drive, but, then,you’ll have to opt for a smaller battery in there. This is one of thedraw-backs of having an ever-so-slim chassis.
Battery
This unit has a good 97 Watt-hour battery, which is pretty ample. It gives over 10 hours of battery backup on regular usage, and about 7 hours while grinding it to heavy tasks. And we have a large battery because our unit only has an SSD. As I already said, if you opt to have a HDD, you’ll have to make do with a 56 Watt-hour unit.
Keyboard and Trackpad
The keyboard and trackpad on this thing are great, and haven’t changed much from the previous generations. The keyboard gives a firm feedback while typing and general typing is comfortable too. The soft white backlighting is also easy on the eyes.
The trackpad is nice and large. The glass surface gives a nice feel while tracking and Microsoft Precision drivers give accurate gestures. It’s precise, accurate and smooth. Nothing to complain about.
Ports
On the port side, you get all the necessary ports. There are two USB A’s, a full-size HDMI, an SD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB-C with Thunderbolt 3 support. And one notable difference on the 9570 is that it’s USB-C finally has 4 lanes of PCIe, which means your external GPU performance can get a boost.
Conclusion
To sum things up,the XPS 15 9570 is still one of the best laptops out there. Performance wise, there are large gaming rigs that are better. But no other laptop can give you such a perfect combination of performance, style and build…except, maybe the MacBook Pro. But, that is very expensive. This is much more affordable.
For around $1600 or Rs.200000 here in Nepal, this is one of the best combos of hardware, build and performance. But you’ll also need an external storage option if you opt for the bigger battery. There are alternatives in the same price range like the Razer Blade 15 and the Alienware M15. You also get the Gigabyte Aero 15W which actually packs better specs. But there’s something compelling about the Dell XPS 9570 that cannot quite be defined.
However, the major issue with this laptop is that it suffers from thermal throttling. Yes, it’s not built for gaming, but this issue’s been here since all previous generations. It is present in the 9550, in the 9560 and in the 9570 as well. By now, Dell should have figured out a solution in the design for this, but they haven’t. And so, it’s getting a little old now. It’s high time that Dell refreshes the XPS series.
Coolpad Cool Play 8 is a newly announced successor to the Cool Play 7C. It was very recently announced in China, and while this is supposed to be a budget phone, it has some good features. Coolpad may not be a popular brand around the world, but some of their phones are quite awesome.
Coolpad Cool Play 8 Overview
The Coolpad Cool Play 8 has an aluminum body and a large 6.2″ IPS LCD display. But despite being a budget phone, it has a Full HD+ screen too. For a budget phone to sport an aluminum body with Full HD display is terrific. The screen, however, has a wide notch. And it packs only a selfie camera, speaker and sensors.
In the camera department, the rear has a dual camera setup comprising of a 16 MP primary lens with f/2.0 aperture and a 2 MP depth sensor. The selfie camera is a an 8 MP lens with f/2.2 aperture. The back also has a fingerprint sensor up top.
Inside, the phone features an octa-core MediaTek MT6750 chip supported by 4 GB RAM. It also has 64 GB of internal storage and there’s also a microSD card slot for expanding the storage. A large 4000 mAh battery powers the phone too. There is, supposedly, a USB-C fast charging as well, but is unspecified for now.
The phone is priced at CNY 999 which converts to US $145. And yes, at this price, it is a budget phone, but one, that looks like a mid-ranger even.
Coolpad Cool Play 8 Specifications:
Design: 3D Aluminum body
Display: 6.2″ IPS LCD display Full HD+ resolutoin (2246 x 1080 pixels)
In an event on Dec 17th, organized by NCS Technology, a new cloud platform SaaS focused on the tourism industry of Nepal was introduced. And this is something of an interesting concept turned into reality. It is under the Thulo Group organization, which is also a pioneer of e-commerce in Nepal.
The current scenario of Nepali tourism is a bit traditional. Gone are the days when you had to enquire by telephone about all kinds of tickets, hotel bookings and travel packages. But there still exist a bit of hassle when it comes to searching for various travel itineraries. And it’s not easy for the tourism businesses either. Meeting client requirements is not easy. Combining Airlines, Hotels and Holiday packages is a tough task and updating them constantly is another.
Enter Tourism Core. It is a new cloud platform, as a growth engine for tourism businesses. The first of its kind in Nepal, it is an all-in-one cloud platform that helps tourism businesses expand, improve and develop their services. In a nutshell, it will enable such businesses to sell domestic and international airline tickets, holiday packages and hotel rooms right from their website.
What is Tourism Core?
This platform is a Saas (Software as a Service) for businesses that acts as a “middle-man” between customers, travel agencies and the other tourism industries. But this middle-man eliminates all the hassles that exists while accelerating and simplifying the procedures. Which means, it brings airlines, hotels, and travel agencies under one heading – in the business’ own website. Even if you don’t own your website yet, this cloud platform will assist you in creating one, and integrating their services within. And their services are designed to suit needs of all kinds of industries – small to large.
How it works?
To assist in the businesses in their activities, Tourism Core consists of 11 core clouds. Each cloud represents a service they provide. These clouds are Hotel Cloud, Airline Cloud, Holiday Cloud, Payment Cloud, CMS Cloud, Advertising Cloud, Events Cloud, Service Cloud, Analytics Cloud, Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud. By the names, it should be clear which cloud provides what service. Businesses can choose to integrate those clouds partially as per their requirement or get the complete package as well. And all these work in both B2C and B2B models.
Any business that uses this SaaS will be able to sell their products, receive payments directly, sell tickets, generate reports, access data analytics for their business, manage employees, etc. Also, the payments are easier with various integrated payment gateways in this system. Businesses can use multiple local payment gateways such as Nabil, Khalti, nPay, NIBL, and international ones like PayPal, American Express, etc. Basically, manage every aspect of their business and website from one single back office.
Of course, a system that does all of this will probably be a bit complex. Tourism Core claims you need very less knowledge about the technology to integrate it in your business. Everything is automated. But of course, being a complex system, and that too, including cloud platform technology, a technical know-how is a basic requirement.
Availability
However, this is an innovatve idea that is now in action. And it is, at present, in its beginning stages. So, out of the 11 cores, only 5 core clouds – Airline, Holiday, Hotel, Payment and CMS clouds are ready to use from the launch day. Other services will be coming soon. Also, it might have small nitty gritty flaws. But in the future, it will all be worked out. And we might really see a truly automated tourism industry in Nepal.
For more information about plans, packages and rates, visit Tourism Core
Huawei Nova 4 has launched and it packs some cool new features. One of which is the hole punch display, a first from Huawei. It also packs a 48MP rear camera, aided by a 16MP and a 2MP sensors, all of which are AI enabled.
The smartphone features a 6.4″ FHD+ 2310 x 1080 resolution display. Internals include the Kirin 970 chipset, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The chipset might feel a bit outdated but should still perform without much complains.
There is however two version of the device. One with a 48MP + 16MP + 2MP sensors, while another model comes with a 20MP + 16MP + 2MP sensor setup. The front get’s a 25MP camera placed perfectly inside the cut out at the front which replaces the notch.
The Nova 4 runs on Android 9.0 Pie with a 3750mAh non-removable battery. The smartphone does support 18W fast charging through a USB-C. It also gets a few other features like Smart Voice assistant, Video ringtones, and the GPU Turbo technology.
It’s priced at 3,399 yuan (around $500) in China, while the 20MP variant comes in at 3,099 yuan ($450). Availability outside China remains uncertain but we can definitely expect it to launch in Nepal pretty soon.
