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MPOW Flame Bluetooth Headphones Review – Simply a good pair

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MPOW Flame Bluetooth Headphones Review – Simply a good pair

Headphones – a must-have accessory for everyone. But the problem is, choosing one is great pain-in-the-neck, because well, there are too many to choose from. A lot of things to consider – from price to the quality, and durability, and everything. But the MPOW Flame Bluetooth Headphones is there in Amazon’s top picks. And we thought why not check out why everyone is buying them? Now the one in this review is the MPOW MPBH088AB model from the MPOW Flame series, and these ones cost some $22. While this may put them in the budget headphones category, they do pretty well. Let’s find out more about the device in this MPOW Flame Bluetooth headphones review.

Also Read: Things to consider while choosing headphones

Design and Build

First, these pair of headphones come in a pretty sweet packaging. They come in a case, which you can carry around to put these in, when not in use. Inside, there’s a micro USB cable to charge it, and you also get some extra ear-buds, in various sizes, for comfort. All this leads to a good first impression.

In terms of design and build, the headphones themselves look stylish, but it resembles the Beats headphones – the Wireless Powerbeats – which actually cost over $100. These, however, cost less than quarter that price, and look equally good. Since these go in your ears, it is an in-ear headphone.

mpow flame bluetooth headphone design

As for the build, the wire is of a good length, just enough to go around your neck, and not look too long. All the buttons are on the right. The power button also doubles as the Play/Pause button and to pick up calls as well. The volume buttons are on top with which you can also switch to previous or next songs with a long press.

It also has rubber-silicone ear hooks that help keep these snuggly fit in your ears. The memory foam earbuds are quite comfortable. The earbud is soft and there’s no any kind of irritation or annoyance, allowing you to put them in your ears for quite a stretch of time too. These headphones are designed for working out, so there’s very less doubt about comfort.

Plus, these are IPX7 water resistant, which means you can drop it u1-meter deep water and they’ll still work. This feature actually is best while working out, as it also makes them sweat-proof. But it is also usable when it’s raining lightly. When you do pour water over them, however, they might not work if there’s still water lodged in the ear buds. But a simple removal and cleaning out the water will make it up and running.

Overall, the wire and the rubber-plastic mold construction appears pretty durable. The ear hooks are flexible enough to bend without breaking, and the rest of it doesn’t feel cheap at all. Even though they cost only slightly over $20, there’s no budget headphone vibe from this.

Connectivity & Latency

The connectivity here is standard with Bluetooth 4.1. It works up to a range of close to 10 meters. And as it with such headphones, the distance matters less than the obstacles between the two devices.

What I mean is, in an open area, the Bluetooth signal works good until the acclaimed 10 meters, but when in between rooms, the signal tends to fluctuate even within range.

There is basically, no latency in terms of sound. Even while playing videos on YouTube or any such streaming sites, there is no noticeable lags between the video and sound. Even during calls, there is no noticeable sluggishness. The only noticeable lag appears while playing or pausing the media with the button on the headphone. And that takes like a second to respond to the commands.

Sound Quality

The sound quality is really impressive. Of course, these are not the best sounding headphones out there, but the audio output is really pleasing. This claims to feature True High Definition sound and Deep Bass. And while the true HD sound seems true, I found the bass just okay.

Whatever you listen on these, they sound rich, crisp and have great audio clarity. The audio output seems very balanced – neither too much bass, nor too much treble. While listening to songs, you can easily make out the words and such. I mean, I began understanding lyrics of certain songs that I’d been singing wrong to this day!

But, if you are into heavy bass music or such, this might not be for you. The bass isn’t bad…it’s just doesn’t offer as much bass as some other headphones. This is because it concentrates on providing an overall balanced audio experience. These headphones are great for the regular users, but might not work for bass lovers.

It features noise cancellation in the mic, which makes for good call quality. The earbuds also block external noise effectively. Of course, with heavy disturbance, that is not the case, but for your regular daily noise or such, it is highly effective.

Overall, the headphone focuses on sound clarity and balanced audio output rather than bass, and so, it makes for a great audio experience for regular users.

Battery

In terms of battery, these headphones claim some 7 – 9 hour battery life, and that is a pretty close estimate. I got close to 7 hours each time on a full charge while connected to my phone. However, it doesn’t last as long when connected to a laptop.

The 100 mAh battery charges up fairly quickly, in just some 1 and half hours, give or take 5 minutes. And for something that’s wireless, that’s a pretty good amount. However, you need to be careful to only use a 5V charger as it is mentioned. Now, I don’t know what happens if you use any other chargers, but better be on the safe side.

Conclusion

mpow flame bluetooth headphone case

All in all, these headphones do pretty well in all aspects – Comfort, Durability, Functionality and Sound Quality. These headphones cost $22, and we all know there are so many other headphones that cost a lot more and don’t perform well in all of these aspects. But these ones do, except for a few shortcomings.

These are easily available in Amazon, being one of the top picks in headphones. There aren’t many areas where one can criticize these pair of headphones. Maybe that’s why it’s so popular.

OPPO A7 Review: A Mid-Range phone with Budget specs

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OPPO A7 Review: A Mid-Range phone with Budget specs

From the makers of the OPPO F9, one of the best mid-range phones, comes the OPPO A7. The Oppo A7 is Oppo’s latest addition to the mid-range section, or is it? With a not so impressive spec-sheet and features, the phone seems to be far away from OPPO’s usual offerings. Recent OPPO phones like the OPPO F9 were a great hit, but with the OPPO A7, it’s kinda difficult to tell.

During my first hands-on with the phone, my initial impressions of it were that of a budget phone. And internationally, it seems like its priced just right, with the 4/64 GB variant priced at $230. But in Nepal, it costs a whopping Rs. 35,790 which converts to around $310. And that is just absurd! And that is just a bad first impression. But let’s see what does this phone have.

OPPO A7 Specifications:

  • Design: Glossy plastic construction
  • Display: 6.2″ IPS LCD HD+ resolution (720 x 1520 pixels)
  • Rear Camera: Dual Camera setup, 13 MP primary lens with f/2.2 aperture + 2 MP depth sensor
  • Front Camera: 16 MP camera with f/2.0 aperture
  • CPU: Octa-core 1.8 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
  • GPU: Adreno 506
  • RAM: 4 GB
  • Storage: 64 GB internal storage + dedicated microSD card slot (up to 256 GB)
  • Battery: 4230 mAh
  • Software: Android 8.1 Oreo with ColorsOS 5.2 on top
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Hotspot
  • Price in Nepal: Rs.35,790

Design

oppo a7 design

As for the phone, the phone has a plastic construction, with a glossy finish. The design looks almost like glass at first glance and has the same smooth feeling in your hands. It’s very easy to mistake it for glass but it’s lightweight will give it away. Even though the phone has a considerable thickness, there is no heft to it, which is why, even though it has a premium appearance, it doesn’t feel that way in your hands. So, this phone doesn’t feel very premium.

oppo a7 design buttons

Personally, I think there’s nothing striking about the phone. The back has a 2.5D curved design, and it is, admittedly, a somewhat different approach for OPPO. The volume rockers are on the left, while the power button resides on the right. It still has a micro USB port, at the end of 2018, which is a disappointment. The fingerprint sensor is positioned nicely beneath the dual camera setup at the rear, and it is easy to reach too.

oppo a7 design ports

Display

Up front, there is water-drop display with the tiny notch, very similar to the OPPO F9. It is a is a 6.2” IPS LCD panel with an HD+ resolution of 1520 x 720 pixels. Yes, this is only HD+, not the full HD we normally see on a phone at this price bracket. With a 19:9 aspect ratio, the display size is good, but a 271 PPI pixel density is not enough.

oppo a7 display

If you observe closely, you can see some pixelation on the screen. However, color representation, accuracy, and overall display seem good enough. Still, the lack of a Full HD display in a phone of this price category bothers me.

Camera

As for the cameras, the rear camera is a dual camera setup which combines a 13 MP primary sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a 2 MP depth sensor. Camera quality is just about average, as it depends heavily on the light. And with a narrow aperture, it is easy to see why. In good lighting condition, the details in the pictures are good enough, but in low light, the images come out grainy and gather a lot of noise.

oppo a7 rear camera

Portrait mode, as usual, is a hit or miss. Some samples, like that of close-up portraits look good and that happens when you have just the right lighting conditions. Edge detection is also good for those conditions. However, for full-body shots, the bokeh effect doesn’t look as good. Edge detection suffers, and the camera cannot recognize differences between the subject and the background very well.

In low light, portrait mode is a straight up miss. The edge detection takes worse hits and suffers and the images gather noise. I would like to blame the small 2 MP depth sensor for that, but the OPPO F9 has the same sized depth sensor and that takes great pictures. So, I don’t know what is with the cameras of the A7. Now, this is not straight up criticism, it’s just that the image quality is not at par with other smartphones of the similar price range.

oppo a7 front camera

The front camera is a 16 MP shooter with f/2.0 and seems to perform better than the rear camera. The details in selfies are just better than pictures taken with the rear ones. It gathers better light, and image quality comes out good. The software-based portrait also gives a better sense of depth.

There’s the presence of OPPO’s Beauty Mode, which enhances your facial features for beautiful selfies. The AI Face Beauty has a lot to improve while using it on manual mode can give you good results only up to level 2. The rest makes your face appear very cartoonish and weird.

For high-res camera samples of these photos, click here>>

Overall, the cameras are nothing very special, but aggressively average.

Battery and Memory

In terms of battery, OPPO is always generous. There’s a large 4230 mAh unit packed inside, and that’s not new for Oppo. They’re used to pushing huge batteries on their phones, and with just an HD+ screen, the battery does last a good amount of time. However, there is no any kind of fast charging standard. So, the large battery takes quite a while to charge. It takes over 2 and a half hours for the battery to go from 0 to 100%.

Memory wise, the phone comes in two variants. A 3 GB RAM with 32 GB storage and another one with a 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. However, in Nepal, we only have the 4/64 GB variant. There is an option to expand the storage up to 256 GB with a mircoSD card, and you get a dedicated slot.

Battery and Memory wise, the phone tends to be generous and that’s a good thing.

Performance

The performance aspect is the one that suffers the most. It is quite ridiculous that for such a price, you only get a Snapdragon 450 chip inside! Yes, a Snapdragon 450! The same processor that you find on the Oppo A3s, which costs almost half of what this costs!

The 4 GB RAM inside tries very hard it seems, but the low-end chipset just doesn’t cut it. And even if there were any excuses for other features of the phone, such a chipset for a phone of this price range is stupid.

The Snapdragon 450 performs just as expected. Multi-tasking is okay up to an extent, but it cannot keep apps open in the background for long. The sluggishness is also noticeable while switching between apps. Initial app loading time is also slow. And if you have multiple tabs open on the web browser, the overall speed of the phone becomes quite slow.

Gaming on this phone is also strictly average. While light games can run pretty well, heavy games like PUBG suffers. You can play PUBG in Balanced graphics and Medium frame rates, but you will face some stutters and navigating is not as smooth. The Game Space feature on this phone, which is somewhat similar to Huawei’s Turbo Boost helps. But it can’t give you the full smooth experience. Asphalt 9 is playable on low settings and even then, it takes a while to load, and there are some minor stutters sometimes.

Software wise, the Colors OS 5.2 on top of Android 8.1 has been updated which is now a bit more user friendly. Overall experience is the same as the ColorsOS seems very heavy. But one thing is that you no longer have to swipe left and cross out notifications to get rid of them, which is a relief. Other than that, there are some bloatware you can’t get rid of, but they are not as many as on some other phones.

Conclusion

Now it might appear as if this review is focusing only on the negative aspects of the phone. But for a phone with similar specs to that of a budget phone that costs close to Rs.36000, this is to be expected. First, a phone with Snapdragon 450 should not cost that much.

Now there is the Samsung Galaxy A6+ with the same chipset, and costs more than this, but that phone has a good design, a Full HD AMOLED display and great cameras to show for it. The OPPO A7, however, cannot be compared to that at all.

This phone is basically the Oppo A3s with extra steps, that extra step being the 16 MP front camera over Realme 2’s 8 MP. And even that extra step is not worth this exorbitant price. I would probably pay up to Rs.25000 for this phone, not a bit more, And to think this phone is priced almost Rs.36000!

There you have it. The Oppo A7! With a large difference in price here, that is Rs.35,790. You get a lot of phones in this price range. There’s also the Huawei Y9 2019 and Xiaomi Mi A2, both of which cost less than this. And we cannot forget the Pocophone F1!

So, with all that competition out there, this phone simply appears to be a waste of money. If the price had been somewhere along the lines of less than 25000, maybe this review would have turned out differently. But it’s not, so for now, I’d like to advise you to let this phone go.

Nokia 3.1 Plus with dual cameras and Helio P22 launched in Nepal

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Nokia 3.1 Plus with dual cameras and Helio P22 launched in Nepal

Nokia has been adding a lot of new mid-range smartphones to its arsenal these days. The Nokia 3.1 Plus is one of them, and this device has just entered the Nepali market.

Nokia 3.1 Plus Overview:

The Nokia 3.1 Plus is a tall device sporting a 6-inch screen that has a 77.5% screen-to-body ratio. This display is an IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 720 x 1440 pixels and 18:9 aspect ratio.

The Nokia 3.1 Plus is powered by an octa-core MediaTek MT6762 Helio P22 processor that is coupled with 3 GB and PowerVR GR8320 GPU. The CPU has a clock speed of 2.0 GHz.

On the software side, the 3.1 Plus runs on Android v8.1 Oreo. It comes under Google’s Android One project like every Nokia smartphone. So, you can definitely expect it to receive the Android v9.0 Pie update sometime in the near future.

nokia 3.1 plus display design

The Nokia 3.1 Plus features dual camera setup on the back equipping two 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel cameras with the secondary lens acting as a depth sensor. Likewise, there is an 8-megapixel selfie shooter on the device.

There is a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner on the smartphone. The Nokia 3.1 Plus comes with a 3,500 mAh Li-Ion battery.

Nokia 3.1 Plus Specifications

  • Display: 6.0-inch IPS LCD HD+
  • CPU: Octa-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 12nm
  • Chipset: Mediatek Helio P22
  • GPU: PowerVR GE8320
  • Operating System: Android Oreo 8.1 (Android One)
  • RAM: 3 GB
  • Storage: 32 GB with expandable memory
  • Rear Camera: Dual 13MP, f/2.0 aperture + 5MP, f/2.4 aperture
  • Front Camera: 8 MP with f/2.2 aperture
  • SIM (s): Dual Nano SIM
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth 4.1
  • Sensors: Fingerprint, gyro, accelerometer, proximity, compass
  • Colors: Blue, White, Gray
  • Battery: Non-removable 3,500 mAh battery

Nokia 3.1 Plus Price in Nepal

Latest Price: Rs. 23,999 [Last Updated on December 6, 2018]

The Nokia 3.1 Plus is already available in Nepal. It has been priced at Rs. 23,999. For that price, it will go head-to-head against smartphones such as the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite and the Samsung Galaxy J7 Duo among others.

Don’t Miss: Nokia Mobiles Price in Nepal

Vivo V11 Review: Yet Another Good Mid-ranger

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Vivo V11 Review: Yet Another Good Mid-ranger

The Vivo V11 or the V11i, whatever you call it, is Vivo’s new not-so-new smartphone of the V-series. The device has gathered a lot of attention right now, and I feel like it’s the right time to do its full review, after all, I have used it for 3 months already. I kind of like the device for its price, but there are a few shortcomings. So, let’s get started.

Vivo V11 Specifications:

  • Display: 6.3 inches, IPS LCD
  • Resolution: 1080 x 2280 pixels, 19:9 ratio (400 PPI density)
  • Dimensions: 155.9 x 75.6 x 8.1 mm (6.14 x 2.98 x 0.32 in)
  • Weight: 163g
  • Chipset: MediaTek MT6771 Helio P60 Octa-core (4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A53)
  • GPU: Mali-G72 MP3
  • OS: Android 8.1 Oreo with Funtouch OS 4.5
  • RAM: 4GB
  • Internal Memory: 128GB; expandable up to 256GB
  • Primary Camera: Dual 16 MP + 5 MP, 1080p@30fps
  • Secondary Camera:  25 MP, f/2.0, 1080p@30fps
  • Sensors: Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
  • Battery: Non-removable Li-Ion 3400 mAh battery, Fast Charging
  • Available Colors: Starry Night, Dazzling Gold, Nebula
  • Price: Rs 39,990

Design

Vivo V11 Design

2018 has been the year of glass back phones. Even the mid-range devices are providing glass back smartphones. And the ones that have stuck with metal, come with quite a premium feel to it. However, the Vivo V11 has taken a different route here. It features a glass-like plastic back. And this is where I have an issue. The back is cheap and over time it has developed a lot of scratches. Yes, plastic backs are more secure than glass, but I think a phone like the V11 should have at least a metallic back. This back is probably the reason why it is light, and I kind of don’t like that. But this is totally my personal preference. The same goes with the buttons that are all on the right side. They feel cheap, and I just don’t like the feel of it.

Another thing that I don’t like here is the lack of LED notification light. Yeah-yeah, I get that there’s little space up front for the LED light, and there is the wakeup screen remainder feature, but I don’t like to see my phone wake up every time I get a notification. You do get to see the notification by waving your hand above the sensors, but this is an IPS panel here, and I don’t like to lose battery life for even the slightest bit.

vivo v11 buttons

Even though the build quality of this device is not that good, I have liked its design and the thinness, and there might be someone who might even like its lightweight. Also, the Vivo V11 comes in a variety of unique colors, but I have liked this Nebula color variant which is featuring in a lot of Chinese smartphones these now. And despite the thinness, there is still the beloved headphone jack on the bottom here.

Display

Vivo V11 Display

The Vivo V11 features the Halo Full View display up front and it is everything you can ask for. This 6.3-inch IPS panel is vibrant, it is colorful, it is bright, it does justice while watching videos, and it has ample sharpness as well. The bezels are quite minimalistic and even the notch has shrunk down to give users more screen space. I have to give the Essential phone credits for doing this before anyone else. This notch here doesn’t come in between the user experience.

Vivo has added an option to let the users themselves decide on whether they want their content to fill up the whole display or not according to individual applications, which is cool!

Performance

On to the performance side, the MediaTek Helio P60 processor along with 4 GB of RAM is a good combination for the price on the Vivo V11. It has been able to do everything I have wanted it to do without any issue whatsoever like multitasking, apps opening time, and using heavy apps – all run flawlessly.

Even the benchmark scores show how close the Snapdragon 660 and the MediaTek P60 is as you can see them for yourself.

However, when you game on the V11, it falls just a tad bit behind the competition like the Xiaomi Mi A2. I did play a lot of games on this phone, and you get a few stutters around 4-5 times on, say, 20 minutes of game time. I felt this mostly while playing PUBG on medium settings.

 

Now you have to note that this issue will be faced by someone who plays a lot of high-end games on their mobile phone, but if you are someone who does a light gaming at the end of the day, you might not be bothered with this issue.

Software

vivo v11 software

Now I don’t think you can review a Vivo phone without talking about the software. I have to give credit to Vivo for providing me with software updates as in my 3 months of use I have already received 2 updates.

But that doesn’t cover how much I dislike iOS running on top of Android. Oh, did I say iOS? Well, I am not wrong then, see it for yourself. Funtouch OS is a blatant copy of iOS. It also has a ton of bloatware that you cannot delete. It’s about time, Vivo, it’s about time you change the User Interface on your devices.

Now I criticized the software, but there are some features that I have liked. You get gesture control and other gesture shortcuts that have made the user experience easier. The three-finger swipe for capturing screenshots has been useful for me as well.

Security

Vivo V11 Security

Like almost all smartphones of the present time, the Vivo V11 offers two major security options for the users. Now the bigger brother of this phone, the V11 Pro, features an in-display fingerprint scanner, but I still fill that the technology has a long way to go, and I am happy that Vivo has included the traditional fingerprint scanner here.

It is fast, blazing fast, and it gets it right all the time. The front camera seconds as the face unlock option which, like the fingerprint sensor, works 100% of the time and fast. It also works during night time, so I definitely give full marks to Vivo here.

Camera

Vivo V11 camera

The overall camera performance of the Vivo V11 is good as it is one of the best camera smartphones of the mid-range price segment as of now.

vivo v11 color tone camera sample

The pictures from the device have a slight pinkish tint to it, but the saturation and details are top-notch. It has a good dynamic range as it preserves the highlight details and shadow details of the images quite nicely. However, the V11 doesn’t do that well if the contrast and exposure are concerned.

vivo v11 vs oppo f9 vs nova 3i camera comparison portrait

Portrait images are good as well. But, even with the secondary camera featuring a higher megapixel count of 5MP, the Oppo F9 with its 2MP depth sensor does a better job than the V11 here. However, the Vivo V11 portrait shots are not that bad either.

vivo v11 vs oppo f9 vs nova 3i camera comparison night

During night time, the images from the V11 come out slightly warmer to my taste. However, on the details and saturation front, it did better than the Nova 3i. The Oppo F9 outperformed the V11 in this aspect though.

Talking about the videos, well, this is a mid-range smartphone and for what its worth, it did an “okay” job. With the lack of stabilization, the videos come out a little shaky although it does a respectable job in terms of the color reproduction.

Now, Vivo has been boasting about its selfie standards on almost every phone they launch. And they have been great. There have been times where even the front-facing camera has done a better job than the rear one. And this time with the V11, Vivo has a lot to offer with the 25-megapixel selfie shooter.

vivo v11 beauty mode selfie sample

The camera smoothens the face even without the beauty mode enabled, but overall, I really like how bright and colorful the selfies have come out. Just look at these selfies. If you really want to beautify your face, Vivo has even included AI-enabled beauty mode than applies the necessary setting according to your skin.

vivo v11 vs oppo f9 vs nova 3i selfie camera comparison

Also, Check out this comparison shot between the V11 and the other two phones I talked about before. Now I will let you, the viewers are the judge of the selfies, but I think the Oppo and Huawei phones capture in more details than the V11.

vivo v11 vs oppo f9 vs nova 3i selfie camera comparison night

During night time, the selfies are great too, and that’s definitely good to see. The V11 has ample lighting and details even on the pictures from night time. The 3i isn’t that good, and even the F9 falls behind in this aspect.

For more high-resolution image samples from the Vivo V11, click here.

Call Quality, Speaker, and Storage

In terms of call quality, well I have had no issues with this device. Yes, the call volume could have been slightly better, but you have nothing to worry about.

Now, this might sound as nitpicking as even the flagship phones aren’t dealing well with this issue, but the speakers on this phone is a little low for my taste. I know I can’t expect much for this price, but I think Vivo could have made the speakers a little louder as, at times, this device could even fill up a room.

Vivo V11 Speaker

The Vivo V11 has also set a standard even for the flagship phones, and that’s in the storage front. This mid-range device is available in 128 GB variant for its mid-range price, and that’s just great considering how its competitors 64 GB variant are being sold for a similar price tag.

Now the storage chip may not be as fast as the ones on the flagship phones, but it’s good to see mid-range smartphones offer higher storage variants for the user to use. There is also a support for expandable storage, so you can forget about running out of memory with the V11.

Battery

Vivo V11 Battery

On the battery front, with the 3,400 mAh capacity on the V11, you get around 4hrs 30min to 5 hours of screen on time which normally translates to me charging the phone before the day ends. But what I like about it is the fast charging technology that’s here.

It’s not as fast as the Oppo F9’s VOOC charge or even the V11 Pro’s Dual Engine technology for that matter, but this battery charges up in around 1 hour and 50 minutes, that’s considering how the speed decreases after 80% of charge. It’s definitely good to see OEMs include quick charge on their mid-range phones this year.

CONCLUSION

So, in the end, what do I make of the Vivo V11? Well, there are the issues I have with this device which I discussed earlier. It has that software, obviously, the poor build quality, and the only average Gaming performance.

But if you take a good look at all the negatives I have pointed out, except for the build, you can overlook the issues this phone has. I mean it has a good camera, a good display, a well-performing CPU, one of the fast fingerprint scanner, and fast charge technology. During my time with the phone, I have thoroughly enjoyed using it. So, if you are out in the market for a mid-range smartphone, I think you should take a look at the Vivo V11 too.

Pros Cons
– Good overall Performance – Average gaming performance
– Fast Charging – No LED Notification Light
– Top-quality selfies – Plastic Build

Lenovo K9 to launch in Nepal soon

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Lenovo K9 to launch in Nepal soon

With two Lenovo phones launched very recently, the Lenovo S5 and the Lenovo K5 Play, another Lenovo phone is coming to Nepal. The newcomer is the Lenovo K9, another budget phone that might cost very well under Rs.20000. Now, I know that Lenovo brand is not as popular as it was. But under new management, Lenovo phones might be able to get back to where it was before.

Lenovo K9 Specifications:

  • Design: Glowing glass-like plastic construction
  • Display: 5.7″ IPS LCD panel with HD+ resolution (720 x 1440)
  • Rear Camera: Dual camera setup, 13 MP primary lens with f/2.2 aperture & PDAF + 5 MP depth sensor
  • Front Camera: Dual camera setup, 13 MP primary lens with f/2.2 aperture & PDAF + 5 MP depth sensor
  • CPU: 12 nm octa-core MediaTek Helio P22
  • GPU: PowerVR GE8320
  • RAM: 3 GB
  • Battery: 3000 mAh
  • Internal storage: 32 GB
  • Price in Nepal: Under Rs.20000 (expected)

lenovo k9 design

Lenovo K9 Overview

The Lenovo K9 comes in a glossy looking plastic construction, similar to the K5 Play. With that type of body, you can expect a shiny premium look, but the phone should be kinda light. You get a fingerprint sensor at the back, a dual-SIM slot, one of which, is a hybrid SIM slot. The headphone jack is still there, and one of the best features is that it has a USB-C port. That’s something new on a budget smartphone.

The display is a 5.7″ IPS LCD with HD+ resolution and 18:9 aspect ratio. Even for a recent launch, it still doesn’t have a notch, but bezels at the top and bottom. For those who don’t like bezels, but want a newer phone, then, this could be an option.

Also, for a phone that comes under Rs. 20000, you get four cameras – two on the front, and two at the back. I won’t expect the camera quality to be outstanding for a phone at this price, but I can’t say for sure. Maybe this phone will surprise us. The rear dual camera setup is a combination of a 13 MP primary lens with f/2.2 aperture and a 5 MP depth sensor. The dual camera setup at the front is also of the same configuration and both sides are capable of capturing 1080p videos @60 fps.

Inside, a 12 nm octa-core MediaTek Helio P22 powers the phone. It is supported by a 3 GB RAM, which is of a similar specs to the Xiaomi Redmi 6. Lenovo phones feature a close to stock Android experience, but there’s still something about them that makes them appear little less like stock Android. Other than that, you get a 3000 mAh battery, which, for a budget phone is good enough.

So, that’s the Lenovo K9. To me, it appears a good competitor with the budget phones in the Nepali market. How it will fare, we will know when it lands here soon. It is very similar to the Redmi 6 – the major difference being USB-C and quad cameras. So, the price is also likely to be a slightly higher than the Redmi 6.

What do you guys think of this phone? Can it be compared to the Xiaomi Redmi 6? And can it be a good product? Do let us know.

OPPO A7 gets a price cut in Nepal: Too Old to Compete?

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OPPO A7 gets a price cut in Nepal: Too Old to Compete?

Oppo A7 was first launched in Nepal towards the end of 2018. The device came with a decent design and battery performance and was primarily targetted at the South Asian users. The device now is experiencing some massive price drops. But does the price drop compensate for the old age of Oppo A7 in the competitive mid-range segment of Nepal? Let’s learn more about it.

Oppo A7 Overview

The Oppo A7 is an attractive looking smartphone with a waterdrop notch. This makes the A7 look similar to the Oppo F9 on the front side, with an almost similar 6.2-inch display with minimalistic bezels all around. What’s different here is the resolution of this display as the new device comes only with an HD+ configuration which is quite a disappointment if you consider its price tag.

oppo A7 display nepal price water drop dispaly

Another area where the Oppo A7 isn’t attractive is underneath the hood, at it is powered by the Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 450. This CPU is coupled with 4 GB of RAM, Adreno 506 GPU along with 64 GB of internal memory. The onboard storage is expandable up to 256 GB via a microSD card.

oppo a7 camera

Talking about the camera setup, there are dual 13- and 2-megapixel cameras on the back with f/2.2 and f/2.4 aperture respectively. On the front lies a 16-megapixel selfie shooter. There is a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner on the device, and it will probably be equipped with the face unlock feature.

The battery is the major talking point of the Oppo A7. It houses a large 4,230 mAh battery that should last for a longer time period with the HD+ display. However, the Oppo A7 lacks fast charging technology which will most probably be a hassle to all users.

Oppo A7 Specifications

  • Display: 6.2-inch IPS LCD HD+
  • CPU: Octa-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 14nm
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
  • GPU: Adreno 506
  • Operating System: Android Oreo 8.1 with ColorOS 5.2
  • RAM: 4 GB
  • Storage: 64 GB expandable up to 256 GB
  • Rear Camera: Dual 13MP, f/2.2 aperture + 2MP, f/2.4 aperture
  • Front Camera: 16 MP
  • SIM (s): Dual Nano SIM
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth 4.2
  • Sensors: Fingerprint, G-sensor, accelerometer, light, proximity, E compass
  • Colors: Glaze Blue and Glaring Gold
  • Battery: Non-removable 4,230 mAh battery

Don’t Miss: Oppo Mobiles Price in Nepal

Oppo A7 Price in Nepal and Availability

As of now, the price of Oppo A7 in Nepal is Rs. 24,490 for its 4/16GB variant. However, being nearly two years old now, the stocks are pretty limited.

Model Name Old Price  New Price in Nepal
Oppo A7 (4/64GB) Rs. 35,790  Rs. 24,490

Even the price drop doesn’t compensate for its old age. We can’t really recommend you Oppo A7 powered by Snapdragon 450 when we can get Redmi Note 8 with Snapdragon 665 at an even cheaper price.

Samsung announces the new Tri-Group Exynos 9820 CPU based on a 8nm LPP architecture

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Samsung announces the new Tri-Group Exynos 9820 CPU based on a 8nm LPP architecture

Samsung just announced the new Exynos 9820 SoC, the direct successor to their current flagship Exynos 9810. Samsung says the processor will hit mass production by the end of this year, meaning it should make it’s way to the new Galaxy S10. The new Tri-Group CPU has a 2+2+4 setup and a new Mali G76MP12 GPU. The 9820 is based on the new 8nm LPP (Low Power Plus) FinFET process and comes with a new modem capable of 2Gbps download and 316Mbps upload speeds.

Putting numbers to context, the new SoC will offer:

  • 20% boost in single core performance
  • 15% boost in multi-core performance
  • 50% enhancement in power efficiency
  • 40% better graphical improvement
  • 35% better power efficiency in graphical processing
  • 7x faster in AI related tasks

The camera capabilities have also been improved, with the new processor capable of 8k@30fps video recordings. The processor is also capable of 4k@150fps, a few huge numbers straight from Samsung. The new CPU now supports up to a 22MP sensor at the front and the rear. If you want dual sensors, it can do two 16MP camera setups. All this capable of HDR recording at 10bit color with encoding and decoding support of 8k@30fps or 4k@150fps.  samsung exynos 9820 8k

The new Tri-Cluster CPU setup includes two 4th gen Custom CPUs for highest levels of performance. The next two cores include Cortex A75s for performance and four Cortex A55s for maximum efficiency. No frequency numbers advertised in the launch today. There is, however, a new GPU, the Mali G76MP12 which should match its performance with the likes of Qualcomm and Apple’s GPUs at their best. Exynos 9820

There is also a new dedicated NPU, similar to Huawei and Apple’s neural engines implementations. Then there is the new modem that can do speeds of up to 2Gbps (LTE-A Cat.20 8CA) downloads and 316Mbps (Cat.20 3CA) uploads. Finally, there is a security chip that stores and manages personal and biometric data such as face recognition and fingerprints in isolation.

Samsung Exynos 9820 Specification:

  • Tri-Cluster (2x Custom + 2x Cortex A75 + 4x Cortex A55) CPU setup
  • ARM Mali G76MP12 GPU
  • Dedicated NPU
  • 8nm FinFET process
  • LTE-A Cat.20 8CA (2Gbps download)
  • Cat.20 3CA (316Mbps upload)
  • 8K@30fps, 4K@150fps

Read More: Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin 980 chipset announced: Shaping up to be a winner?

How to choose the right gaming monitor? Here’s the ultimate buying guide

GadgetByte
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How to choose the right gaming monitor? Here’s the ultimate buying guide

PC gamers are a dying breed, with more people opting for PUBG mobile rather than the real PUBG. What is even sadder is people playing mobile PUBG on their PCs. But there are still a lot of dedicated gamers out there who swear by the PC Master race or even console players for that matter. So, this list is for all the PC gamers, a guide to choosing the right gaming monitor for your setup.

Also Read: Top 5 Applications you need to install on your new Gaming PC

It’s 2018 and we’ve got 8k monitors up for grabs. But not everyone can afford one nor are their GPUs capable of handling them. So, choose a monitor, or rather the resolution of the monitor according to your GPU. If you own a GPU that’s below a GTX1060, get a 1080p monitor. For 1070 and above, you can still opt for a 1080p display but try for a higher refresh rate.Gaming monitor MSI

As for 4k gaming, at least make sure it has a GTX1080Ti. If you bought the RTX series from Nvidia, then the RTX2070 performs more or less like the GTX1080. The RTX2080 is similar to the GTX 1080Ti, and finally, the RTX2080Ti is in a league of its own. All these comparisons only work if you do not factor in their real-time ray tracing features.

Also Read: Nvidia RTX series launched

As for AMD users, the RX Vega 64 is the closest when it comes to performance with the 1080Ti. More so, it’s comparable to the GTX1080, if a bit slower. The RX Vega 56 is a close match to the GTX1070. The bottom of the line GTX1060 matches its performance with the RX 580/870, but all NVidia counterparts are just better in my opinion.samsung 49 qled gaming monitor

Once you decide on the resolution and the refresh rates, you can then go on to their color reproduction. Anything from 70% sRBG color coverage or above should do just fine. The more important number here is the response rate. If the monitor says gaming, it probably has a low latency, so anything below 10ms should be fine as well (lower the better).

Also Read: Intel announces 9th Gen processors for gamers 

Either way, the more you pay, the better you get any way you look at it. You can also look out for G-Sync (Nvidia users) or FreeSync (AMD), which will help a lot with tearing. If you have more money to spend, then start thinking about bigger panels, ultra wides or curved monitors. Here are a few Monitors I found on Daraz that should be worth a look:

ASUS VG278Q Full HD Gaming Monitor 27.0″ 27″ 1080p (1920×1080) TN panel
144Hz refresh rate
72% NTSC
400 nits of brightness
1ms GTG response rate
MSI G27C2 27” Curved 1080p Full HD Gaming Monitor 1ms response rate
27″ 1080p (1920×1080) VA panel Curved
144Hz refresh rate
85% NTSC
300 nits of brightness
BenQ RL2455HM 24″ LED Gaming Monitor 24″ 1080p (1920×1080) TN panel (16:9 display)
60Hz refresh rate
1ms GTG response rate
Dell SE2417HG 24″ Gaming Monitor 24″ 1080p (1920×1080) TN panel (16:9 display)
60Hz refresh rate
300nits brightness
2ms GTG response rate

Vivo launches the Y95 with large battery and Snapdragon 439

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Vivo launches the Y95 with large battery and Snapdragon 439

Vivo has added a new mid-range smartphone to its arsenal with the launch of the Vivo Y95. This device is among the first smartphone to feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 439 chipset inside.

Vivo Y95 Specifications

The Vivo Y95 is the latest device to feature the minimalistic notch which has gained a lot of attention for providing bigger screen real estate on the smartphones. This notch comes with a tall 6.2-inch IPS LCD display that has a 1520 x 720 pixels resolution. The display has a 19:9 aspect ratio and a pixel density of 270.

The Vivo Y95 runs on Android v8.1 Oreo with Vivo’s skin, Funtouch OS 4.5 on top. Under the hood lies an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 439, like I mentioned before. This new low-end chipset has a 12nm architecture. The CPU of the Y95 is aided by 4 GB of RAM and Adreno 505 GPU. In terms of storage, the Vivo Y95 comes with 64 GB of memory that is coupled with an expandable memory.

vivo y95 design features

Camera wise, the Vivo Y95 has a dual camera setup on the rear. It features a 13-megapixel primary camera with a 2-megapixel depth sensor alongside it. Up front, the Y95 comes equipped with a 20-megapixel selfie shooter.

One of the major USPs of the phone is definitely its battery. This smartphone has a large 4,030 mAh battery inside that will pair well with the HD+ display it sports. The back of the Y95 houses a fingerprint scanner and the front-facing camera will also work for Face Unlock.

Vivo Y95 Specs Overview:

  • Display: 6.2-inch IPS LCD HD+, 19:9 aspect ratio
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 439
  • GPU: Adreno 505
  • Operating System: Android Oreo 8.1 with Funtouch OS 4.5
  • RAM: 4 GB
  • Storage: 64 GB expandable up to 256 GB
  • Rear Camera: Dual 13MP, f/2.2 aperture + 2MP, f/2.4 aperture
  • Front Camera: 20 MP
  • SIM (s): Dual Nano SIM
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth 4.2
  • Sensors: Fingerprint, accelerometer, proximity, compass
  • Colors: Starry Black, Aurora Red
  • Battery: Non-removable 4,030 mAh battery

Vivo Y95 Pricing and Availability

Vivo has launched the Y95 exclusively in the Philippines for now. We are yet to know whether the company plans to bring the product to Nepal or not.

The Chinese manufacturer has priced the product at PHP 13,999 (~$263). It will be available in two different colors – Starry Black and Aurora Red.

Don’t Miss: Vivo Mobiles Price in Nepal

Huawei Y9 2019 Review: Jack of all master of none!

Pratima Adhikari
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Huawei Y9 2019 Review: Jack of all master of none!

It’s been a few days that Huawei has added another one of its mid-range contenders, the Huawei Y9 2019. As the name sounds futuristic with 2019 in its name, I had to test it out whether it really does perform like a device from next year. So, here is the full review of the Y9 2019!

Huawei Y9 2019 Specifications:

  • Operating System: Android Oreo 8.1 with EMUI 8.2 on top
  • Display: 6.5-inches IPS LCD FHD+ screen with 19.5:9 aspect ratio
  • Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels
  • CPU: Octa-core (4×2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4×1.7 GHz Cortex-A53)
  • Chipset: Hisilicon Kirin 710
  • GPU: Mali-G51 MP4
  • RAM: 4 or 6 GB
  • Storage: 128 or 64 expandable up to 256 GB
  • Rear Camera: Dual 16 MP f/2.0 + 2 MP f/2.4 depth sensor
  • Front Camera: 13 MP f/1.8 + 2 MP f/2.4 depth sensor
  • SIM (s): Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
  • Battery: Non-removable Li-Ion 4,000 mAh battery
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi  a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.0
  • Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-mounted), Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Compass.

Display

So, the Huawei Y9 2019 is a successor to the Y9 2018 launched some 6 months ago and a lot has changed during this time. The display that was 5.9 inches has grown to 6.5 inches and you have the infamous notch upfront, which is a tad bit bigger than what we are used to like on OPPO F9 (Read Review) and Vivo V11 Pro (Read Review). What has also changed is the processor but let’s finish off with what’s on hands first.

Huawei Y9 2019 display review

So, coming back, the display here is an IPS LCD panel with FHD+ screen resolution and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The display is humongous and is a perfect fit for multimedia consumption. Watching videos on the vibrant large screen is a treat to the eyes. Also, the minimum bezels add more points to the good viewing experience. Only if the notch was a bit smaller, it would have been so much better.

The phone gives you good sunlight legibility, so no problems will be felt outdoors.

But sadly, the display lacks any sort of protection, which is a bummer. Well if you look at the trend, very few Huawei phones come with display protection. I think this is an issue Huawei seriously needs to address.

Design

Design wise, the Y9 2019 is an impressive lad. This one has a curvy body which is a fresher look than what we have been seeing on other Huawei phones. It is not very heavy but still has that heft to it that makes it feel pretty premium.

Huawei y9 2019 design build

This one is a slippery phone but we case our phones anyways. Also, my careless usage routine has resulted in some scratches overtime but surprisingly they are not that noticeable at the back but up front, they are clearly visible.

And this is not a glass back for sure but it has not made me feel sad about the phone as the Y9 2019 looks and feels good on hands. Also, talking about the aesthetics, you get all the buttons on the right, the dedicated SIM and memory card slot on the left; the single speaker grill, micro USB port, noise cancellation mic and a headphone jack at the bottom, with only the primary noise cancellation mic at the top.

 

At the back, there is a fingerprint scanner, the dual camera setup, an LED flash, and the Huawei branding. The notch houses dual selfie cameras. Also, the Y9 2019 very cleverly hides the speaker grill right above the notch and in the rightmost corner, there is also a LED notification light.

Now, this I think is really cool! I mean with all the notches taking over, I have missed the LED light, but, well I miss it no more. Overall, the minimalist design has fairly impressed me.

Also read: Huawei Mobiles price in Nepal

Performance, Software, and UI

Alright, enough about the outsides, let’s get into what’s inside this one. Huawei’s latest addition of mid-range chipsets, the Kirin Hisilicon 710 is what powers the device. Needless to say, we have seen this processor on the Huawei Nova 3i, and as I said in the review, this 12 nm energy efficient chipset is a good performer. It can handle almost everything you throw at it.

And as PUBG has become one of the prominent standards for testing games, well I had some sessions of it and the phone experiences some jitters while playing at medium settings. Also, you will experience some frame drops now and then. Otherwise, the phone has taken on my everyday usage pretty well. Moving on, other games run quite well and multitasking, as well as app opening, is pretty fast too.

But something that has bugged me is the phone loses it while multitasking with messenger running in the background. But I really hope a later software update will fix this.

On the software side, the Y9 2019 features Android Oreo 8.1 coupled with EMUI version 8.2. Huawei is pretty good with updates these days, and as this phone is from the future, I have high hopes for software updates.

Anyways, as it is with all the Huawei phones, you do get some useless apps onboard and sad is the fact that not all of them can be deleted. Furthermore, it’s the same EMUI have we have been seeing on all the Huawei phones. There are tons of customizations you can do as per your liking, for instance, keeping or ditching the navigation buttons, changing your viewing preferences and so forth. You can customize the shortcuts on the taskbar as well. There is a simple mode too, that basically makes the app icons larger, which again may be useful for some people.

Battery:

The huge 6.5 inches display makes the Y9 2019 hungry for power which is well, provided very generously by the 4,000 mAh battery and I must say the battery life is very good indeed.

It gives you more than a day of backup, I mean on a single charge, you can last for one day and a half. Well, this is on normal usage, but even on intensive use, you can expect it to last for a good amount of time.

The phone will take you 2 hours and 30 minutes to give you a 100% juice. Well, with this its evident that there is no fast charging support here. But unlike some Samsung phones, it does not take ages to charge.

Here’s the most annoying part: This is the Huawei Y9 2019, a phone from the future, a phone from 2019 and it still has a micro USB. It’s true. Okay, the lack of Fast Charging is somewhat justifiable here but a micro USB port is a serious bummer here.

Anyways, to be fair the battery life is very enduring which may be an area to cover up for the absence of fast charging.

Camera:

Huawei’s usual quad camera setup makes its way here as well. The Y9 2019 has four cameras in total, two at the back and two at the front. If this sounds familiar, it is the same as that of the Nova 3i (Read review). But the setup comes with a slight difference between the two.

Huawei Y9 2019 cameras

At the back, the Y9 2019 has a 16 MP f/2.0 primary camera with 2 MP sensing depth-sensing camera. The Nova 3i had a 16 MP f/2.2 camera. Likewise, the front of the Y9 houses a 13 MP f/1.8 aperture camera along with a 2 MP depth sensor. This is also slightly different than the Nova 3i having 13 MP f/2.2+ 2 MP cameras.

What this means is that the Y9 2019 captures more light than the Nova 3i due to its wide f/1.8 aperture and the pictures at low light conditions will also appear brighter than the Nova 3i.

Now talking about the quality of pictures, you can see they are sharp, no doubt on that. But the colors are a bit too punchy for my liking. This means the phone automatically over saturates the pictures. Other than that, pictures come out very colorful. However, the autofocus is a tad bit slower on this new Huawei device.

There is a 2 MP depth sensor which means there is a portrait mode as well. And I must say that the bokeh images are great. I mean, have a look at these samples, even though the edge detection is not that proper, the images look good overall.

The background blur can be adjusted to our liking and pictures seems pretty pleasing. But sometimes, the images tend to lose some details but most of the times, they seem very nice.

At low light conditions, the images are bright. But then again, the images are not free of noise and grains. Similarly, the autofocus becomes slower during this time.

Now talking about the AI mode, well, it does a good job with the images containing skies in it. Also, other times it does not make a lot of unnecessary enhancements. But then again, the images are already saturated, so there is actually no need for an Ai mode. Here are few samples for you to judge by yourself.

Moving on to the selfies, the first thing I noticed is that there is no inbuilt beautification in the cameras, which is well a good thing. There is a beauty option though, but only in the portrait option, which is strange. Anyways the normal selfies are good enough, they do not look fake.

Similarly, Portrait selfies look good too. In very well lit conditions, sometimes the background seems exposed but other than that it fares well.

In artificial lighting, there is a slight loss in details, but the pictures are well lit. Selfies in low light conditions appear a bit grainy.

Talking about the video quality, there isn’t any kind of stabilization here so you know what to expect. You can record videos in FHD at 60 fps but the quality is just average to my liking. Also, autofocus in videos is just subpar.

For all the high-quality samples click here 

Extras:

Talking about other features, the fingerprint sensor is pretty swift and so is the Facial recognition on this one.

Now, it’s the selfie camera recognizing your face, so you cannot expect it to be that secure. For me, the fingerprint sensor was my go-to unlock mechanism. Other than that, the speaker at the bottom gets distorted at high volumes and they are moderately loud.

Similarly, WiFi reception is pretty good too, and the good news is that there is dual-band WiFi ac, which was a feature lacking in the Nova 3i. Well, it seems some feedbacks are well taken by the Chinese company.

Likewise, call quality is good along with network reception. With these, I faced no problems what so ever. But something I would like to say is, the vibration of the phone is not that good. I have missed a few calls because of the reason!

Conclusion:

To conclude, the Huawei Y9 2019 is a very good upgrade from the Y9 2018. A larger display, better design, better performing cameras and Kirin 710 is pretty dope. Similarly, this device can be a perfect fit for multimedia consumers.

The phone is priced at Rs. 34,900 which is good enough for those specs but I think Huawei should have priced it a bit aggressively. Because the competition is getting really fierce if we take into account the pricing set by Xiaomi Nepal. There is the Xiaomi Pocophone F1 (Read Review) for a similar price and even if you go 4 thousand less, there is the Mi A2 (Read Review) waiting.

So, with so many competitors against the device, the Huawei Y9 2019 seems like a hard bargain! But you also get an overall package of a good smartphone here, so you can make your pick.

Pros

Cons
Sleek looks Slightly bulky design
Very enduring battery life Average speakers
Good front and back cameras Subpar vibration
Large crisp display Slightly Pricy

Huawei Y9 2019 SIM tray

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