We may know Xiaomi as the company that makes affordable smartphones, but Xiaomi actually has quite the range of products. From speakers to wireless table lamps, Xiaomi does it all. And so, along with the launch of the Redmi Note 7, Xiaomi also launched their new photo printer.
In the present world where photo albums exist in our phones only, we may not see the use for such photo printers. And even if you do want photos, photo printers are quite expensive. And of course, Xiaomi, being Xiaomi, had to launch a photo printer that is quite affordable for people to actually want to buy one.
Dubbed as the Xiaomi MIJIA Photo Printer, it costs CNY 500 or $73. Plus, the photo printer comes with a bundle of 40 photo paper and a ribbon which costs extra $8. For the price, what you are getting is a pretty sweet deal. The MIJIA Photo Printer can print out your photos in various formats, and in great quality.
The printer which is compact enough to fit on your hands can print photos up to a maximum size of 6 inches. The resolution of the printer is 300 x 300 DPI (Dots Per Inch) and uses CMY-3 Color Sublimation printing technology. This means that it can give you a complete 256-level color scale presentation. In addition, sublimation technology is capable of giving you richer colors and wider color gamut coverage leading to better color reproduction in photos.
Also, the printer automatically coats the printed photos with a transparent protective film which gives it scratch and fingerprint resistance as well. The device comes with a MIJIA app support and WeChat app support but also supports computer wireless printing. And the device is fairly minimalistic, with the power button doubling as the print button as well.
For now, there is no word on when it will be available, both in China or in other markets. But this sure is an interesting piece of tech to look at.
2018 was a crazy year for smartphones. Not only we saw some great and innovative smartphones, but we also saw non-Apple phones crossing the $1000 barrier easily, like the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. But of course, not everyone wants to shell out the big bucks for smartphones or get the latest flagships. And so, Alcatel revealed two entry-level phones at CES 2019: Alcatel 1X and the Alcatel 1C.
Yes, Alcatel is among the underdogs of the smartphones. They only make entry level or budget phones, and even those are not in as much hype as ones like Huawei, Xiaomi or ZTE. But for those looking for a basic smartphone, these provide great value.
Alcatel 1X Overview
The Alcatel 1X is the better of the two smartphones. It is slimmer, has thin bezels around the screen and the 18:9 aspect ratio, which everyone seems to be after these days. With an anti-slip plastic back, the phone doesn’t have a smooth touch and feel. It is not really a good looking phone, but then again, this costs only $120!
And for that price, it features a 5.5″ display with HD resolution. It features dual cameras: a 13 MP primary sensor with a 2 MP depth sensor. For a budget phone to provide this is also something commendable. The front camera is a 5 MP shooter, and the phone is powered by a 1.5 GHz Quad-core MediaTek processor. It has 16 GB of onboard storage but is expandable up to 128 GB via microSD. The phone packs a 3000 mAh battery and runs on Android 8.1 Oreo.
Alcatel 1X Specifications:
Display: 5.5-inch screen, HD resolution (1440×720-pixels)
Rear Camera: Dual, 13 MP lens + 2 MP depth sensor
Front Camera: 5 MP front-facing camera
CPU: 1.5 GHz MediaTek quad-core processor
RAM: 2 GB
Storage:16GB onboard storage, expandable up to 128GB via microSD storage
Battery: 3,000-mAh
OS: Android 8.1 Oreo
Colors: Pebble blue, Pebble black
Price: $120
Alcatel 1C Overview
The Alcatel 1C is not an appealing phone by any means. It is comparatively thicker and heavier and has wide bezels as well. Also, it only packs a single camera at the back, which is kind of against today’s trends. Also, with a poor resolution of not even an HD, this is the strict definition of an entry-level phone.
It has a plastic back as well but has a criss-cross design for a fresh look. It has a 480p resolution, a single 5 MP camera at the back and a 2 MP front camera. This phone is powered by a 1.3 GHz Spreadtrum processor and has 1 GB RAM. Storage wise, it has 8 GB internal memory which is expandable up to 32 GB via microSD. The device has only 2000 mAh battery. But for all this, this phone costs only $70.
The Dell XPS 15 is the company’s flagship laptops. And when it comes to all-rounders, it is not wrong to say that only very few laptops provide you a great package such as the Dell XPS 15. The Dell XPS 15 packs up to 4K screens, greatest performance, good graphics, and sleek premium build all in one. And that is enough to take this series to a class of their own.
With 2019 beginning, the company is set to improve the Dell XPS 15 9570 lineups too. And for that, the series is getting a better screen. We might soon see New Dell XPS 15 coming with 4K OLED panel in March this year.
Although the Dell XPS 15 has 4K screens already, they’re IPS LCD panels. And while they have great color accuracy throughout, OLED panels will make it better. The new Dell XPS 15 OLED panels will offer HDR, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage and 100,000:1 contrast ratio. For the record, DCI-P3 is a relatively newer standard of measuring color accuracy, and it is considered better than the NTSC Color Gamut Coverage. And there are very few displays that are capable of portraying the entire DCI-P3 color gamut.
This means that with such features, the Dell XPS 15 will become a better machine for digital content creators than it already is! In addition, with the OLED display, you get deeper blacks and better colors as well. Also, the inclusion of OLED panels can make the laptops slimmer, maybe by not much, but still… The new laptop coming soon could be the reason Dell is not really working to fix the BIOS issues of the current Dell XPS 9570.
Anyways, the new Dell XPS 15 with OLED panels will be coming out in March. There is no word on how they will deal with the higher power required by OLED panels on the laptops. Also, other configurations about the laptop are still in veil but we can expect similar configurations we have presently. What we only know so far, is that it is coming…soon.
Dell’s G-series laptops are all about core performance, and also those muscular looks. With the Dell G5, the company provides you with a gaming laptop that just works, without any fancy additions to it. It has everything you need in a gaming laptop but falls short in some aspects. But then again, there’s not much to complain about. You won’t love it; you won’t hate it…you’ll find everything just okay.
Dell G5 5587 Specifications:
Design: Plastic body + Metal chassis on the inside, (38.9 x 27.47 x 2.5) cm
Display: 15.6″ Full-HD (1920 x 1080) IPS Anti-Glare IPS Display with 219 nits max brightness, 58% standard RGB, 44% NTSC Color Gamut, 46% Adobe RGB
Keyboard: Full-size chiclet keyboard, Red backlighting (optional), 1.4 mm key travel
Processor: Hexa-core 8th gen i7-8750H processor, Base-Clock @ 2.2 GHz, Turbo Boost Clock up to 4.1 GHz (Also available in i5-8300H)
RAM: DDR4 8 GB (2x slots, upgradeable up to 32 GB)
Graphics: 4 GB GDDR5 NVidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Battery: 4-cell 56 Watt-hours (up to 4.5 hours of backup)
Adapter: 130 Watts
Storage: 128 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD + 1 TB HDD
Webcam: 720p Webcam
Connectivity: 802.11 ac Gigabit Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0
Ports: 3 x USB A 3.1, 1 x USB-C (Thunderbolt 3 support), 1 x 3.5 mm headphone jack, 1 x HDMI, 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet, 1 x 2-in-1 SDcard slot
Price: Rs.133000 ($950 international)
Design
Right of the bat, the design of the laptop screams “gaming”, with its muscular looks and that red accent all around. That is pretty old school, and on first glance, you might not be able to tell the difference between Dell G5 and or a Dell Inspiron 7577. Some might find this design boring, but it looks okay to me. There are two color options available, the black one, and this red one. This one looks a bit too flashy and intrusive. But that is all about personal preference.
The laptop has pointed but slightly curved edges, which gives it a bit of a different character. The back houses large air vents while the front has the same gilled design, and when closed, it resembles a sports car, just like the Dell G7.
The build is very impressive. The chassis is metal, but the lid and back plate is plastic. It appears very sturdy overall, and there is no flex whatsoever on the keyboard deck when pressed. The hinge at the middle is sturdy but flexible enough to allow you to open the laptop with a single hand as well. And to me, that’s a big deal. The only inconvenience is that the top lid gets smudged very quickly, and is difficult to get rid of.
Overall, the design is that of a typical gaming laptop.
Display
Again, the display in this one is just okay. First off, the thickness of the bezels surrounding the 15.6” screen seems ridiculous. It feels like the bezels are there to compensate for the large form factor of the laptop. They just seem redundant, and it feels as if the designers at Dell threw it in just because they could!
The screen is a Full HD panel and 60 Hz display, with very average quality. Viewing angles are also okay, but you will notice slight shifts at extreme angles. The display, overall, appears dull, because…well, it has low everything. A low brightness of 219 nits maximum, low 58% standard RGB, low 44% NTSC Color Gamut Coverage and low 46% Adobe RGB.
So, needless to say, this laptop is NOT for content creators! But of course, you won’t have any problems with gaming. I guess the Dell G-series is designed to be this way. The G7 was this way, and the G5 is the same – actually worse. This feels very gamer-centric. Because with such display quality, even multi-media is just going to be pretty average.
The display is not as bad as on some budget gaming laptops, but this is not like a good display by any standards either. So, yes, the display is average as well.
Keyboard and Trackpad
The keyboard is good, too. It is a well-built keyboard, feels robust and the keys are well stacked. There’s 1.4 mm key travel, which is good enough. The key presses are responsive, with clicky feedback, which is great. The only problem is the small arrow keys.
There is red backlighting on the keyboard, and that is as intrusive as overdone. The red can be very overwhelming on the eyes, and even with the backlighting off, the red lettering makes it a bit difficult to see in the dark than white lettering.
As for the trackpad, the size is nice, and with Windows Precision Drivers, the tracking was fine. Gestures work every time, too, and this is If you’re coming from a Dell 7567, you’ll feel right at home.
Performance
The Dell G5 comes in two different configurations – one with an 8th-gen quad-core Intel i5-8300H and another one with the 8th-gen Hexa-core Intel i7-8750H. Our unit is the latter with 6 cores and 12 threads. And of course, this is a pretty fast processor. You might know about this processor quite a bit, so, I guess, there’s not much to say in this regard. Just for the record, this is a great processor.
However, this laptop has 8 GB of RAM at 2666 MHz, which is very basic for a gaming laptop. Now, the problem is not the size of the RAM as much as the configuration of it. You have two RAM slots, and so, you get two sticks of 4 GB RAMs, in it. So, if you want to upgrade, you have to replace both RAM sticks to get the sweet 16 GB. And that’s very inconvenient.
As for graphics, too, you get two configurations as well – a GTX 1050 Ti with 4 GB VRAM or a GTX 1060 Max-Q. Now, those are both very middle of the line for gaming. And at this price point, this is a usual dilemma for buyers – you have to choose between a better GPU or a better CPU. And our unit came with a GTX 1050 Ti. So, the gaming experience is also pretty average.
FIFA 19, which is not a very graphic intensive game, averaged on 80 fps on ultra-settings, but there were some choppiness and stutters. Similarly, CS: GO gave us about 80 fps easily with slight stutters.
DOTA 2 crossed 100 fps at max settings, which is nice. As for PUBG, the game ran at about 50 fps with slight lags and stutters at default settings. You have to keep the settings at the lowest if you want more frames. And you don’t wanna know, how it does at maximum settings. Games like Dota 2 and Paladins are not as fun to play, in the 60 Hz screen. The gaming performance is okay, its just the screen can sometimes freeze for like a second as it cannot keep up with the fast-paced games.
So, this thing can run almost all kinds of games, but you’ll have to trade between good frame rates or smooth performance. So, again, another average score in performance.
Thermals
As for thermals, the large air vents do their job. The laptop never heats up to the point to make it uncomfortable to use – even while gaming. There is very less thermal throttling, even after an hour of gaming. You might notice around 10% of the drop in frame rates after that amount of time, but nothing that will hamper your experience.
Storage and Battery
As for storage, you get an NVMe M.2 128 GB SSD, and a 1 TB HDD. The SSD space is quite small, but that is why the HDD is there to compensate for that very fact. But the SSD speeds reached only over 500 MBPS for reading and only about 150 MBPS for write, which is really slow.
For the battery, you have a 56 Watt-hour battery, which is very gaming like, I guess. But the battery lasts an impressive 4 and half hours on light or regular usages like editing documents and streaming videos. And that is pretty good for a gaming laptop. While gaming, however, it lasts some 1 and a half hours, but you wouldn’t want to do that, because gaming on the battery will give you a sluggish performance.
Ports and Webcam
There are enough ports on this laptop as well. On the left, you have a charging port, an Ethernet port, a USB A and an SDcard slot. On the right, you get an HDMI, a USB-C with Thunderbolt 3, two USB As and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.
Dell G5 Ports
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The webcam is just like 90% of the other laptops out there. It is grainy, blurry, and not very good. But nobody complains about the camera on laptops anyway, so, no point talking about it.
The speakers of this laptop are also only decent, as there is no bass. But it can only do so much without a sub-woofer in it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Dell G5 is a pretty average laptop, with the word “average” being the key here! But if you look at all the aspects of the laptop, you will see for yourself.
The design is just like any other gaming laptop – it screams gaming. A large muscular body with a red accent which is not shy about its appearance. The display is the same, too. The performance is what you get for the money – it is powerful for normal usage, but very average for gaming, with the middle of the line graphics and a standard 60 Hz display.
For a price of $950 or Rs.133,000 here in Nepal, this is actually pretty solid. It is functional and will not disappoint gamers. And at this price, there are very few competitors of this one. At least, not any which we’ve reviewed until now.
But in the same price category, there is the Dell G7 as well – which is basically the same laptop, with very slight changes in design. The G7 belongs to Dell’s 7000 series whereas the G5 falls to the 5000 series. I don’t know if that makes any difference to you, I’m just putting it out there. Also, the G5 is slightly cheaper than the G7.
You get similar specs in the MSI GL63 8RD with a slightly better display, and also in the ASUS FX504. But we haven’t tested them, so can’t vouch for them. What we can vouch for, however, is that the Dell G5 is a good gaming laptop for the price. Of course, I wouldn’t recommend it to any content creators. This is just for gamers, who are looking for a good unit under Rs. 150,000.
Dell has just launched three new laptops in Nepal from their favored Inspiron series. The new release includes both 5000 and 7000 series laptops in 13-inch and 14-inch display sizes. All three share similar specs, with slightly newer i5-8265U processors, decent build and sharp FHD resolutions. They do not feature dedicated GPUs, and most of them are 2-in-1 laptops, best suited for office use. These laptops also ensure stellar portability as they prove great for multimedia consumption.
Dell Inspiron 13 7386
This is a 13″ laptop with FHD resolutions and a 360-degree rotatable display hinge. It’s a touch display and should be favorable among users who want a 2-in-1 premium laptop. It lies on Dell’s 7000 series lineup, sports the Core i5-8265U processor, 8GB of RAM and a fast 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD. In short, buyers should expect a great build, really fast performance and a snappy, smooth, responsive user experience.
If you thought the 7386’s 13″ display was just not big enough the 5428 comes with a bigger 14″ display and retains its 2-in-1 capabilities. It offers similar specs like the i5-8265U processor, touch displays with FHD resolutions, and 8GB of RAM. A few aspects that this laptop falls short on are it’s relatively slower SSD speeds and won’t offer quite the same level of build quality.
Finally, the 5480 is a simple laptop without all the fancy 2 in 1 convertible display or an expensive low capacity SSD. This gets a traditional hinge and a 1TB mechanical hard drive. Although buyers will have to make do with just 4GB of RAM, it is expandable but 4GB is just not enough these days. Other specs include the i5-8265U processor and a 14″ FHD non-touch display.
Although the pricing may seem high, you are getting 1-year insurance, 1-year warranty, and a genuine Dell backpack for free. You can expect a good level of after-sales service and be definite that they are genuine products.
The annual Consumer Electronics Show came and went. And there was an overwhelming amount of tech that showed up. From Vegan Beef Burgers to full-fledged self-driving trucks, CES 2019 had it all. Many of the exhibited technology were just concepts that would materialize in some months or years, while many will be available commercially. And so, we round up the best pieces of technology seen at CES 2019. Of course, most of them depend on preferences, but, here is The Best Tech of CES 2019.
1) Best Gaming Laptop: Dell Alienware Area 51M
Of course, the most relevant tech to us would be laptops and smartphones. While there were not many smartphones at CES 2019, laptops made their presence known. And out of all there were, the Dell Alienware Area 51M takes the cake. While it does pack the most powerful of specs, it takes the first position because of its modular design and build.
Out of the many configurations available, the top of the line can pack up to 8-core Intel i7-9900K and RTX 2080 graphics with 64 GB RAM! You can easily swap out the CPU, GPU, RAM and Hard Drive according to gaming preference. Also, this means that you can upgrade it with the latest tech in the coming years and your machine won’t be obsolete anytime soon.
In addition, this is not as expensive as some other laptops at CES. With a starting price of $2549, this laptop actually makes a pretty good case for itself. And so, it rests at the top of the Best Tech of CES 2019.
2) Best Gaming PC: Mek Mini
Gaming PCs are always this big-ass machines that take a lot of space and are not portable. Which is why people are attracted to gaming laptops. But the Mek Mini is a new tiny gaming PC that might appeal to you. This computer measures some 10 x 10 x 5 inches and weighs about 3 kgs.
While it might be smaller than a 12-pack beer, it is not short of power. The Mek Mini is configured with the hexa-core i7-8700, RTX 2070 graphics and 16 GB of RAM. Plus, you get 240 GB M.2 SSD and 2 TB of SATA HDD. There’s also Killer AC Wi-Fi with Dual Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth 5. There are also all kinds of ports that comes with regular sized computers. And even though the computer is small, it has 270-degree ventilation to keep cool.
The computer is pretty small, so it won’t occupy much space on your table. But since it weighs only 3 kg, you can carry it if you have access to other peripherals of a computer. So, think of it as a portable PC. At $1500, this seems like quite a sweet deal too.
3) Best Display: HP Omen X Emperium 65
Now HP Omen X Emperium 65 is technically a gaming monitor but with Android TV and Chromecast support. So, it can act as a 4K TV for you, if you’re not gaming on it. But this 65″ 4K display is a BFGD (Big Format Gaming Display), so, you’re supposed to game on it for the most part. This 65″ 4K screen has a 95% DCI-P3 color accuracy, 144 Hz refresh rate, and NVidia’s G-Sync. Also, this features a full-sized DisplayPort port which allows you get high frame rates even in 4K.
In addition, you’re getting a peak brightness of 1000 nits, HDR 10 support and a built-in soundbar with 3 stereo amps at 120 watts. The features are definitely weighty, and so, the price is as scary as the name itself. At $5000, this gaming monitor might certainly be the best display, but not for everyone.
4) Best Smartwatch: Matrix PowerWatch 2
In a plethora of smartwatches, there are only a few that stand out. Right now, it is the Apple Watch Series 4 and Samsung Galaxy Watch that take the spotlight. And for smartwatches, having to charge them every day or every 2 days can be quite a hassle. And to address this very problem, CES showcased the Matrix PowerWatch 2 – a smartwatch that draws power from your body heat!
It is built on Matrix’s proprietary thermo-electric technology, and it also features power harvesting via solar power. Also, it is water resistant up to 200 meters. The watch comes with an intelligent built-in heart rate monitoring capabilities and built-in GPS. It is capable of conducting a highly accurate measurement of calorie-count, as well as pace, distance, steps, sleep, cadence and more. In addition, the watch also integrates with third-party apps such as Apple HealthKit and Google Fit
The watch is priced at $200 for pre-bookers while it will be priced at $500 after it hits retail.
5) Best Smart Home: Lenovo Smart Alarm Clock
We’ve seen some crazy alarms over the years. From floor-mat alarms that only turn off when you step on them to alarms that run away and hide, there are a lot. This Smart Alarm clock from Lenovo is nothing crazy of that sort. This is a relatively simple device – an alarm clock with a smart display. It is your alarm in the morning and also a reminder of your daily schedules. Plus, you get Google Assistant in it.
The 4.4″ display won’t do much, except show you the time and your schedule. It also syncs with your calendar to provide suggestions on your alarm. There is an ambient light sensor, which dims the display when you’re preparing to sleep, so that it will be easy on the eyes. In addition, when the time gets closer to your alarm, the display gets brighter – which, the company claims will help you wake up with light.
Additionally, you can also listen to music or podcast on your Smart alarm and control other smart home devices. This is not a very comprehensive alarm but at $80, this is good enough.
6) Best Health Tech: Quell 2.0 Pain Relief
If you’re familiar with the term “chronic pain”, then you know it comes with its own set of inconveniences, not to mention the constant pain they’re in. Many people suffer from such back pain, joint aches, and the likes. And they only have painkillers to rely on, which, many of the times, have various side-effects. So, this is a pain relief device that gives you mild shocks to disrupt your pain signals.
This small device is a wearable, which you wear on your leg. It is controlled via an app, with lot of personalization options to help you manage your pain effectively. You can control the level of shock it provides and there are also many more therapy options. For $300, this device is a good and healthy option for those who suffer from chronic pain.
7) Best TV: LG Signature OLED TV R
There are 8K televisions out there now, but to me, they don’t sound like a big deal. Yes, you get four times more pixel count as you get on 4K TVs, but unless the screens are like really huge, you won’t be able to tell the difference. Also, there is no 8K content available out there and even if it up-scales content, there is not much use for it for now. And there are more interesting things out there.
The LG Signature OLED TV R is a large 65″ 4K television, but the most exciting feature about it is that it is rollable. Meaning, you can roll it down into its 100-Watt soundbar when not in use, and it won’t always hog your wall space or your window view constantly. The OLED screen is made out of a flexible substrate, and promises up to 50,000 roll cycles, so, there’s not much to worry about.
In addition, if you’re only listening to music on the smart TV, you can keep it rolled into the sound bar too. Another interesting trick is that it has something called Line View which only keeps the top quarter of the TV rolled out which displays the time and weather and stuff. There are also various “mood” settings that give off visualizations like snowfall or fireplace to suit your mood.
While this is very interesting and to some extent groundbreaking, this is going to be very expensive. So, even it this takes the spot of best TV, it is for you to admire from afar.
So, that is all for the Best Tech of CES 2019. Even though these won’t make it to Nepal, what do you think of it? Did we miss any of your favorites? Do let us know in the comments.
In 2017, we saw the bandwagon of dual lens setup in the smartphones, which encroached even the mid-range and budget smartphone. And in 2018, the feature grew even more mainstream. However, to stay ahead in the camera game, some smartphone brands pushed their limit little further. So we were able to see multiple lenses setup in various handsets.
Among all the smartphones launched in 2018, Huawei P20 Pro and Mate 20 Pro with triple rear cameras and Samsung Galaxy A9 2018 with quad rear cameras are the notable ones. And I got lucky to use all of the aforementioned smartphones. Among all of the devices mentioned, the Mate 20 Pro impressed me the most. In this article, I will be discussing various types of smartphone cameras lenses, how does each of the lens work, and the scenarios where they can be used. And since the Mate 20 Pro is one of the most capable shooters out there with the utmost versatility, I will take the image samples from the device to clarify my point. Now, let’s get started.
Wide angle lens
As the name implies, this type of lenses offers a wider field of view and these types of lenses see and capture images in a similar proportion to the human eye. The focal length for these types of lenses varies from 24mm – 35mm. And lower the number, the wider the field of view it offers.
This is the most prevalent type of lens when it comes to smartphones. Even, the smartphones with single camera setup make use of this type of lens. It is the most versatile type of lens and can be used to capture images in the composition with interiors, landscapes, architecture, and even in forest photography.
Ultra wide angle
Ultra-wide angle lenses stretch the field of view further. Increasing the field of view, these types of lenses allow photographers to accommodate more details of the subject in focus, which cannot be obtained through the normal or standard wide-angle lens.
The focal length for these types of lenses lies in the range of 8mm – 24mm. And just like the normal wide-angle lens, the field of view increases with a decrease in focal length. However, as the field of view increases, the captured images look distorted on the edges. Such type of images with distortion on the edges is known as a fish-eye effect or barrel distortion.
But by maintaining an optimum field of view, the photographers can obtain some intriguing panoramic shots, cityscapes, landscape, real estate, and abstract images.
Huawei Mate 20 pro Normal vs Wide angle samples
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Normal
Ultra wide-angle
Normal
Ultra Wide-angle
The camera samples presented above were taken from the Mate 20 Pro. You can see that the device has stretched the field of view elegantly without any sort of distortion or noise in the images. While I reviewed the Galaxy A9 2018, the ultra-wide-angle shots had barrel distortion. Since there is no noticeable fisheye effect, I would like to call it the job well done.
Telephoto lens
Smartphones have the feature to zoom into the subject in focus. However, such zoomed images lose details. Such images lack sharpness and they look pixelated when printed in a paper.
Sometimes small creatures, some fancy artifacts or wild animals far away fascinate us and we get intrigued to capture them. In many cases, we may not be able to get closer to them to capture them vividly. And digital zooming doesn’t help in these scenarios. So these days, different brands are including an additional lens that helps in optical zooming with which the photographer can capture distant object in a way they are closer to him/her.
With the telephoto lens, users can capture images by zooming into the subject but without losing the details up to a fixed range. Samsung Galaxy Note 9 can perform lossless zooming up to 2x whereas the Mate 20 Pro can perform the similar action up to 3x. Zooming beyond that range, the camera performs digital zooming and the captured images start to lose details.
Optical Zoom vs Digital Zoom
In the case of DSLRs and digital cameras, the lens protrudes ahead increasing the focal length while zooming into the subject. And as discussed earlier, increasing the focal length decreases the field of view. When the field of view decreases, the subject looks zoomed in. However, smartphones don’t have such types of movable lens. So an additional lens is provided just for zooming in into the subject. And in such smartphones, when the user zooms into the subject, the lens with higher focal length comes into action and captures telephoto images. Telephoto lenses have a focal length of 50mm – 200mm.
Digital zoom, on the other hand, is not the game of the optics. When you digitally zoom into the subject, the smartphone crops only the portion you selected, enlarge it and fits into the same size of the original image. In this case, the captured images are packed with the magnified pixels. But since the pixel size of the camera lenses remains constant, the snapped photos lack sharpness (details) and looks pixelated.
Huawei Mate 20 Pro Normal Vs Telephoto Zoom
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Normal Shot
Telephoto Zoom
Normal Shot
Telephoto Zoom
The camera samples presented here is captured from the Mate 20 Pro. And as you can see, the zoomed in samples looks equally impressive as they pack a substantial amount of details. And since the subjects are zoomed in (telephoto zoom) up to 3x in the images, I didn’t have to go closer to the subject while composing the shots. The device also promises to capture up to 5x (from 3x to 5x there will be digital zooming) without any sort of loss in the image quality. Since the prime flagship smartphones like Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and iPhone XS Max can capture images with lossless zooming up to 2x, the capability of the Mate 20 Pro here is absolutely awe-inspiring.
Low light
When it comes to the low light scenarios, even some of the major players in the camera game have a bad reputation here. To improve their low light performance, some of the smartphones come with the sensor with a higher megapixel count, which performs pixel binning to get better images. For example, Xiaomi MI A2 with its 20MP secondary sensor performs 4-in-1 pixel binning for better low light images. Some of the smartphone cameras also take a number of images in the quick instant and merges all of them to provide great quality images.
Looking at the recent trend, some handsets tend decreases the shutter speed and capture long exposure shots for better images. Night mode feature on the Mate 20 Pro, Night sight feature on the Google Pixel 3/3XL, and Night Scape feature on the OnePlus 6/6T are the quick examples here. These features usually capture images keeping the shutter speed to 3-6s. And although these features may have the potential to produce some amazing images, a little shake of hand while capturing the images can ruin everything. In such cases, having a low light lens can come in handy.
Low light lenses can be basically understood as the lenses with a wider aperture. A lens with a wide aperture lets in more amount of light into the sensor so the images captured from such lenses looks bright. Also, such images lack noises and grains, which adds elegance to the images. Moreover, in the cameras with a wider aperture, software doesn’t have to make a move to increase the exposure, the quality of images from such smartphones tend to be consistent and the images also look natural at the same time.
Huawei-mate-20-pro-night-time-camera-samples
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The images showcased here are taken from the Mate 20 Pro in an extremely low light setting. The images here don’t contain any sort of noises and grains. So the capability of the Mate 20 Pro is equally impressive on low light scenarios as well.
And to perform well in the low light settings, the primary shooter here boasts a wide f/1.8 aperture to let in more light even on the dark surroundings. Furthermore, there is a Night mode, which decreases shutter speed to 6 seconds to capture images in extremely low light scenarios. And since there is AIS (Artificial Image Stabilization) to suppress the shakes and vibration while composing the shot, the captured images look stable and blur-free.
Moreover, the Mate 20 Pro flaunts a 40MP sensor, which has the sensor size of 1/1.7″. Since a larger sensor aids to a larger pixel size, the pixel tends to look sharp in such cases. The handset is also capable of performing 4-in-1 pixel binning, where four pixels merge into one. The resolution here reduces to 10MP nonetheless, the captured images look absolutely sharp. So with this setup, the smartphone is capable of capturing sharp and vivid pictures both in the ample light and low light settings.
Samsung Galaxy S10 is the hot new flagship set to launch on February 20. So, there have been so many rumors already about the phone. And not only that, but there have been photos of the cases, protective films, and even the phone itself that gives us a very clear idea. And now, we have some more rumors regarding the phone.
The latest leaks are inclined towards the Galaxy S10 having three variants. S10 Lite (to be officially called the Galaxy S10 E), S10 regular and S10 Plus. And by the leaks published by Ice universe, it shows three transparent cases. Which reveals a 5.8″ display, a 6.1″ and a 6.4″ on the phones, which probably belong to the Lite, Regular and Plus respectively.
Source: Twitter / Ice universe
Also, the leaks reveal battery sizes as well. The Lite variant will most likely have a 3100 mAh battery. This is actually a confirmation as the rumor was already there. But now, we have hinted at the battery sizes of the other two larger phones as well. The regular S10 will have a 3500 mAh battery while the Plus model will most likely have 4000 mAh of battery.
Source: Twitter / Ice universe
This makes these phones comparable to some current Samsung phones. Going by the display size, the S10 Lite can be compared to the Galaxy S9, the regular S10 to the S9 Plus and the S10 Plus to the Note 9. But, a video where he compares the Galaxy S10’s protection film to various Samsung devices, contradicts this. And it is clear in the video that the S10’s size is smaller than that of the S9 Plus. It is actually equal to the Galaxy S9. Yes, this might be confusing, but with Samsung being able to remove the chin and bezels, it might have been able to reduce the footprint of the device while keeping a bigger screen.
There may be pictures out there, but these are only leaks, though. The only thing we are sure of is that the Galaxy S10 lineups will all have the Snapdragon 855 or the Exynos 9820 SoCon all variants. And not only that, being able to include a larger battery in a smaller footprint is actually impressive as well.
A few other leaks reveal that the Samsung Galaxy S10 E will be the only smartphone of the three to not come with an in-display fingerprint sensor. It will also be the one to include a flat screen. Furthermore, we also have a screenshot of it going through the Geekbench benchmarking app. The numbers are quite low, actually lower than the SD845, but the software isn’t quite in its final stages yet. By the final version, we should see a significant boost in these scores.
The final piece of leak comes from Samsung itself while trying to show off their new One UI. One of the screenshots of the UI revealed Samsung using a mockup of a certain smartphone with a hole punch display and curved edges. The only phone we know that matches these descriptions is the Galaxy S10 itself. Ergo an actual photo of the Galaxy S10 from Samsung.
After staying in the shadows, at least in the graphics department, AMD is out with a band. With their new Radeon VII GPU built on a world’s first 7nm process and a price tag of just $699. That’s $100 cheaper than a founder’s edition RTX 2080, the same card AMD was comparing the Radeon VII with the whole event.
This is AMD’s high end, high-performance graphics card rivaling the likes of previously unmatched RTX 2080. Both the cards perform similarly, with akin fps numbers, but the Radeon VII is cheaper. The only downside to AMD’s flagship GPU is it does not get real-time ray tracing and DLSS support, two quite huge factors and probably worth the extra $100.
While we do not know everything about the graphics chip just yet, except for what AMD has told us till now. The company claims the Radeon VII has a full terabyte-per-second of memory bandwidth. It’s also 25% faster than the first gen Vega GPUs but the TDP remains almost exactly the same.
AMD did show us a demo of the card running “Devil May Cry 5” at 4k resolutions in ultra settings. The frames per second were above 60 fps, or if we quote AMD “way above 60 fps”. A few other comparisons show it performing 25% better in Fortnite, 35% better in Battlefield V and 27% better in content creation, compared to its own Radeon RX Vega 64.
The Radeon VII will start shipping from February 7 for $699. The company is also giving away free copies of Residental Evil 2, Devil May Cry 5 and the Divisions 2 with every Radeon VII. If you happen to buy a pre-built PC, the games will come pre-installed. AMD says the first to feature this GPU will be the Alienware Area 51 Threadripper.
It’s January 10, and the Xiaomi event that we told you about has ended. At the event, Xiaomi launched their new entry-level smartphone, the Redmi Note 7. Highlighted by its 48MP rear camera and the SD660, the smartphone really looks compelling at its price.
Starting off with the cameras, it gets a 13MP selfie shooter, while the back features a dual camera setup. The first of which is a 48MP image sensor with an f/1.8 lens aided by a secondary 5MP camera. An LED flash sits right below the rear cameras.
Furthermore, the 48MP (Samsung GM1, 0.8-micron pixels) is capable of pixel-binning for better shots. With this, it throws out images equivalent to 12MP photos with a larger 1.6-micron pixel. The secondary camera helps with depth information.
Apart from the cameras the Redmi Note 7 possess a 6.3-inch FHD+ (19.5:9 aspect ratio) display with a water drop notch. It comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 chipset, paired with 3/4/6GB of RAM and 32/64GB of storage.
The phone gets a 4000mAh battery which accepts 18W fast charging through a USB-C port. It also gets a headphone jack and an IR blaster. The Redmi Note 7 starts at $150 for the 3/32GB, $180 for the 4/64GB and $200 for the 6/64GB version.
Availability starts from China, with other markets following soon after. This is the first phone in the Redmi series as highlighted by their “Redmi by Xiaomi” tag on the packing and phone itself. This should help the company focus more on e-commerce and cost efficiency, while Xiaomi gets to focus on physical retailers and mid to high-end smartphones.
