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A glimpse of the Xiaomi Redmi 7

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Xiaomi’s budget phone series, Redmi is a well received phone all over. However, they’re not really known for following the latest design trends. As Xiaomi Mi 8 was the first phone to follow the notch trend, and other phones followed suit. But they were yet in the notch trend while other phones were already moving on. That might very well change with the Xiaomi Redmi 7. 

xiaomi redmi 7 back

An early glimpse of the Redmi 7 that surfaced on TENAA shows us some images of how the Redmi 7 is going to look. The phone model is actually named Xiaomi M1901F9T. But looking at past records, the model name well-received represents a Redmi device. And after the Redmi 6, it’s only natural we get a Redmi 7. 

xiaomi redmi 7 front

The photos show that the phone has a rear mounted fingerprint sensor with all buttons on the right side, and slots at the left. There’s also a dual camera setup at the back and a single selfie camera at the front. The design also implies a water-drop / tear-drop / dew-drop notch design on the display. 

xiaomi redmi 7 side view

The listing on TENAA also shows that the phone will have a 5.84″ display and only a 2900 mAh battery. Besides that, nothing is certain with the phone. I, for one, just want to see a good upgrade on it from the Redmi 6

Also Watch: Xiaomi Redmi 6 Review!

HTC Desire 12s debut – Not so desirable

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When HTC has been suffering a bit in the global market, it has something new up its sleeve. An entry level phone to be precise. The Desire 12s has the same design of the HTC U12 Life, but since it’s an entry level phone, it won’t be glass. 

HTC Desire 12s Overview

So, the HTC Desire 12s should have a glossy plastic body, as is the norm these days. The front has a 5.7″ IPS LCD display with HD+ resolution with 18:9 aspect ratio. The phone has no notch, but expect it to have top bezel and a chin at the bottom. There is also a rear mounted sensor at the back.

As for the camera, it is still rocking a single camera lens at the back. A 13 MP camera with f/2.0 aperture and LED flash rests at the back. The selfie camera is also a 13 MP lens but with f/2.2 aperture. With narrow apertures, low light images on this one could be a mess. 

htc desire 12s launched

Inside, an entry level Snapdragon 435 powers the phone. Of course, it is an entry level phone, so, that’s about all you’re gonna get. But a Snapdragon 450 would have been much better. There’s a 3 GB / 32 GB variant as well as a 4 GB / 64 GB variant. There’s also a microSD card slot for expanding the storage. Also, there’s a 3075 mAh battery but has no fast charging support. The phone runs on the Android 8.1 Oreo with HTC’s UI Sense on top. 

All in all, this is a basic entry level phone. There’s nothing that is compelling you to get this device. Also, for such a phone, the price seems a bit high with all the competition out there. The 3 / 32 GB costs around Taiwanese TWD 5990 (US $195) and the 4 / 64 GB costs TWD 6990 ($225). If you look at other Chinese brands like the Coolpad Cool Play 8, they seem like a better value for money. But there’s no word on its international availability. 

HTC Desire 12s Specifications:

  • Design: Glossy and matte combo plastic body
  • Display: 5.7″ IPS LCD screen with HD+ resolution (1440 x 720 pixels), no notch, 18:9 aspect ratio
  • Rear camera: 13 MP lens with f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, LED Flash
  • Front camera: 13 MP with f/2.2 aperture
  • CPU: Octa-core Snapdragon 435
  • GPU: Adreno 505
  • RAM: 3 GB / 4 GB
  • Storage: 32 GB / 64 GB internal, microSD card slot
  • Battery: 3070 mAh
  • OS: Android 8.1 Oreo with HTC Sense UI

Huawei Enjoy 9 is now official in China

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Following the launch of Nova 4, Huawei also announced the pricing of their new budget smartphone. Namely known as the Huawei Enjoy 9, the newbie comes with entry-level specs. However, the phone comes at an affordable price tag, following in the footsteps of its predecessor. The primary highlights of the device seem to be a water-drop notch and a relatively huge battery.

Read More: Lenovo Z5s – What is it supposed to be?

The Huawei Enjoy 9 features a 6.26-inch 720×1520 pixel IPS LCD panel. The display enjoys a water drop notch at the top to house it’s 8MP f/2.0 selfie camera. Packing in a Snapdragon 450 chipset with 3GB RAM + 32GB storage or 4GB RAM + 64GB storage option. It gets a 13MP f/1.8 + 2MP f/2.4 (depth-sensing) dual camera setup at the back.

Huawei Enjoy 9 Red

The device, however, doesn’t get a fingerprint sensor and has to make to with the face recognition. As with budget smartphones, the battery is pretty huge. At 4000mAh, paired with an HD+ display and a power efficient CPU, it should last a while in between charging periods. As for connectivity, it gets Bluetooth 4.2, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and a MicroUSB 2.0.

Read More: Coolpad 8 announced

It also get’s a dedicated Micro SD card slot, expandable up to 512GB. Finally, it runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with EMUI 8.2 on top. The Huawei Enjoy 9 will be available in Black, Red, Aurora Blue, and Aurora Violet. Above all, pricing for the base model starts at 999 Yuan (around $150) and is already available in China. 

huawei enjoy 9 aurora blue

Huawei Enjoy 9 Specifications:

  • Display: 6.26-inch HD+ IPS LCD display w water drop notch
  • Dimensions: 158.9 x 76.9 x 8.1 mm, 168g
  • Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC
  • RAM: 3GB/4GB
  • Storage: 32GB/64GB, dedicated SD card slot
  • Rear Camera: 13MP f/1.8 + 2MP f/2.4 (depth-sensor)
  • Front Camera: 8MP f/2.0 
  • SIM: Dual SIM, 4G LTE
  • Battery: 4000mAh non-removable
  • Price: 999 Yuan (~$150)

Dell XPS 15 9570 Review: The New within the Old

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If you put all the generations of the Dell XPS 15 laptops side by side, do you notice any difference? No, right? They all look the same. It is safe to say that the XPS series are Dell’s most desirable laptops. They are slim,sleek, lightweight and at the same time, known for the power they pack. The XPS series belong to a class for their own. But looking at these, it seems as if the designers at Dell don’t really have to work that hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4beUotJJ8iE

Dell XPS 15 9570 Specifications:

  • Design and Build: Aluminum chassis with carbon fiber coating, 35.7 x 23.5 x 1.7 cm, 2 kg
  • Display: 15.6″ Full HD matte panel(1920 x 1080), 100% sRGB & 98% Adobe RGB, 94% NTSC Color Gamut, 390 nits peak brightness
  • Keyboard: Chiclet Keyboard, White backlighting, 1.3 mm key travel
  • Processor: Hexa-core 8th gen i7-8750H processor, Base-Clock @ 2.2 GHz, Turbo Boost Clock up to 4.1 GHz
  • RAM: DDR4 16 GB @ 2666 MHz (2x slots, upgradeable up to 32 GB)
  • Graphics: 4 GB NVidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q
  • Battery: 6-cell 97 Watt-hours (up to 10 hours of backup)
  • Adapter: 130 Watts
  • Storage: 256 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
  • Webcam: Widescreen HD 720p Web-cam
  • Connectivity: Killer Gb Wireless AC-1535 (802.11ac, 2×2), Bluetooth 4.1, on-button Fingerprint Scanner
  • Ports: 2 x USB A 3.1, 1 x USB-C (Thunderbolt 3 support with 4 PCIe lanes), 1 x 3.5 mm head-phone jack, 1 x HDMI, 1 x SDcard slot
  • Price: Rs.200,000 ($1600 international)

Design

dell xps 15 9570 back

We’ve been seeing the same old classic design from all generations. The same aluminum and carbon fiber chassis keeps the laptop sturdy. And judging by the heft and feel, it feels like even if you drop it accidentally, nothing bad is going to happen. Also, the aluminum blends into the carbon fiber seamlessly. Plus, the carbon fiber is coated with a soft-touch surface that give a nice smooth feel on the surface all over. 

dell xps 15 9570 design

The only complaint on part of the design is a bad placement of the webcam inside. The position of the webcam is awkward. It has shifted to the center in the 9570 from the left in 9560, but it is still an awkward position for a webcam. The quality of the webcam is okay though, and it seems they’re actually same in all the generations.

dell xps 15 9570 web cam

The bad webcam placement is because these laptops have very thin bezels around the screen,which is one of the best things about them. There aren’t much changes in the XPS laptops externally. The 9560 had a fingerprint sensor under the keyboard deck. And in the 9570, it is embedded in the power button itself. Besides that, everything looks pretty much the same.

dell xps 15 9570 fingerprint sensor

Performance

The biggest change in the 9570 is, of course,the processor. It has the latest 8th generation Hexa-core Intel i7-8750H processor. The major difference between this and the older models is that it has six cores over the quad-cores on the others. This means that it can give you up to 50% faster speeds in multi-threaded tasks.

It has a 16 GB DDR4 RAM at 2666 MHz frequency. While 16 GB seems standard on all models, the frequency is an improvement over the 2400 MHz of 9560. More frequency means that the RAM can handle more data, so, this is also an improvement over the previous generations.

dell xps 15 9570

That helps the performance by a lot. You can have as many tabs open in your browser or be doing quite a lot of tasks at the same time. Yet, this laptop can perform as smooth as butter. Heavy applications, like that of the Adobe suit, run without any kind of stutters too.

You can also opt for an 8 GB variant and a 32 GB one as well. But 32 GB RAM is a bit of an overkill, while 8 GB is not quite enough for a laptop of this caliber. With only 8GB, it is a bit of a hassle to upgrade. You get 2 slots with 2 RAMs, so, you’ll need to replace both the RAMs inside. Hence, it is better to just get one with 16 GB RAM.

The GPU is also updated, with this one incorporating the NVidia GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q with 4 GB VRAM. The GTX 1050 is the middle of the line graphics performer when it comes to gaming. Sure, the Ti is slightly better, but, this one is a Max-Q, which is built for more power efficiency. So, it doesn’t perform quite as well as the standard 1050 Ti. But even so, it works better than the 1050 found in the XPS 9560. And it can run most games pretty well.

Where the XPS series fails to perform is the thermals. Now, XPS laptops are very thin, which is why, they heat up a lot faster. Due to its thin form factor, ventilation is not really good. And so, the heat stays inside. And because of this, it faces considerable amount of thermal throttling. Which is why, gaming on this for long periods of time is not advised.

dell xps 15 9570 back

Also, since the heat stays inside, the thermal paste tends to dry up pretty quickly. It is a good practice to replace your thermal paste some every 3-6 months if you want a good gaming performance. Even with my unit, which I’ve had for 6 months, I’ve already used thermal paste in it once.

We did test some games on it as well. Witcher 3 performs just okay with it spitting out about 40 frames per second on Medium settings, and only 20 on Ultra Settings. As for FIFA 19, the game spit out over 110 frames per second at Ultra Settings. That is not agraphic intensive game, but, the XPS 9570 is not something that can handleanything intensive.

This laptop is not meant to be a gaming machine. It has the capacity to be one, but it has limitations. It is meant to be a work-horse that can withstand considerable amount of loads – mostly used for heavy applications like video editing and such. And such applications run without any kind of throttling, even though the temperature levels can be high.

Display

dell xps 15 9570 display

Our unit had an IPS LCD Full HD matte panel, but there is a 4K option available too. The XPS series have some of the best displays. It has ample brightness at 390 nits, and with its matte finishing, it is quite visible at all lights. As aforementioned, the bezels are pretty thin. The color accuracy is there, with 100% standard RGB, 94% NTSC Color Gamut Coverage and 98% Adobe RGB. Due to this very reason, many believe this to be an ideal machine for editing stuff.

Storage

Our unit came with a 256 GB PCIe NVMe SSD drive and that is quite fast. On our tests, it gaveus up to 2728 MBPS of read speeds and a slow 339 MBPS of write speeds.

But it might not turn out to be the same for all. The SSD speeds are quite inconsistent even in the same models. The speed of SSDs depend on the manufacturers as well. Our laptop has a Toshiba XG5 SSD, and so, this is the speed with which it performed.

As for the storage, a 256 GB SSD is not quite enough. You can also add a 2.5” Hard disk drive, but, then,you’ll have to opt for a smaller battery in there. This is one of thedraw-backs of having an ever-so-slim chassis.

Battery

This unit has a good 97 Watt-hour battery, which is pretty ample. It gives over 10 hours of battery backup on regular usage, and about 7 hours while grinding it to heavy tasks. And we have a large battery because our unit only has an SSD. As I already said, if you opt to have a HDD, you’ll have to make do with a 56 Watt-hour unit.

Keyboard and Trackpad

dell xps 15 9570 keyboard

The keyboard and trackpad on this thing are great, and haven’t changed much from the previous generations. The keyboard gives a firm feedback while typing and general typing is comfortable too. The soft white backlighting is also easy on the eyes.

dell xps 15 9570 trackpad

The trackpad is nice and large. The glass surface gives a nice feel while tracking and Microsoft Precision drivers give accurate gestures. It’s precise, accurate and smooth. Nothing to complain about.

Ports

dell xps 15 9570 ports left

On the port side, you get all the necessary ports. There are two USB A’s, a full-size HDMI, an SD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB-C with Thunderbolt 3 support. And one notable difference on the 9570 is that it’s USB-C finally has 4 lanes of PCIe, which means your external GPU performance can get a boost.

dell xps 15 9570 ports right

 Conclusion

To sum things up,the XPS 15 9570 is still one of the best laptops out there. Performance wise, there are large gaming rigs that are better. But no other laptop can give you such a perfect combination of performance, style and build…except, maybe the MacBook Pro. But, that is very expensive. This is much more affordable.

For around $1600 or Rs.200000 here in Nepal, this is one of the best combos of hardware, build and performance. But you’ll also need an external storage option if you opt for the bigger battery. There are alternatives in the same price range like the Razer Blade 15 and the Alienware M15. You also get the Gigabyte Aero 15W which actually packs better specs. But there’s something compelling about the Dell XPS 9570 that cannot quite be defined.

However, the major issue with this laptop is that it suffers from thermal throttling. Yes, it’s not built for gaming, but this issue’s been here since all previous generations. It is present in the 9550, in the 9560 and in the 9570 as well. By now, Dell should have figured out a solution in the design for this, but they haven’t. And so, it’s getting a little old now. It’s high time that Dell refreshes the XPS series.

Coolpad 8 Announced – Low end affair with mid-range specs

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Coolpad Cool Play 8 is a newly announced successor to the Cool Play 7C. It was very recently announced in China, and while this is supposed to be a budget phone, it has some good features. Coolpad may not be a popular brand around the world, but some of their phones are quite awesome. 

Coolpad Cool Play 8 Overview

The Coolpad Cool Play 8 has an aluminum body and a large 6.2″ IPS LCD display. But despite being a budget phone, it has a Full HD+ screen too. For a budget phone to sport an aluminum body with Full HD display is terrific. The screen, however, has a wide notch. And it packs only a selfie camera, speaker and sensors. 

In the camera department, the rear has a dual camera setup comprising of a 16 MP primary lens with f/2.0 aperture and a 2 MP depth sensor. The selfie camera is a an 8 MP lens with f/2.2 aperture. The back also has a fingerprint sensor up top. 

Inside, the phone features an octa-core MediaTek MT6750 chip supported by 4 GB RAM. It also has 64 GB of internal storage and there’s also a microSD card slot for expanding the storage. A large 4000 mAh battery powers the phone too. There is, supposedly, a USB-C fast charging as well, but is unspecified for now. 

The phone is priced at CNY 999 which converts to US $145. And yes, at this price, it is a budget phone, but one, that looks like a mid-ranger even. 

Coolpad Cool Play 8 Specifications:

  • Design: 3D Aluminum body
  • Display: 6.2″ IPS LCD display Full HD+ resolutoin (2246 x 1080 pixels)
  • Rear Camera: Dual, 16 MP primary lens with f/2.0 aperture + 2 MP depth sensor
  • Front Camera: 8 MP lens with f/2.2 aperture
  • Processor: Octa-core MediaTek MT6750
  • RAM: 4 GB
  • Storage: 64 GB internal, expandable via microSD
  • Battery: 4000 mAh
  • Price: CNY 999 (US $145); Equivalent to NRs. 16,600

Also Watch: Coolpad Cool Play 6 Review

Tourism Core Launched – Modern Information Solution for the Tourism Industry

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In an event on Dec 17th, organized by NCS Technology, a new cloud platform SaaS focused on the tourism industry of Nepal was introduced. And this is something of an interesting concept turned into reality. It is under the Thulo Group organization, which is also a pioneer of e-commerce in Nepal.

The current scenario of Nepali tourism is a bit traditional. Gone are the days when you had to enquire by telephone about all kinds of tickets, hotel bookings and travel packages. But there still exist a bit of hassle when it comes to searching for various travel itineraries. And it’s not easy for the tourism businesses either. Meeting client requirements is not easy. Combining Airlines, Hotels and Holiday packages is a tough task and updating them constantly is another.  

Enter Tourism Core. It is a new cloud platform, as a growth engine for tourism businesses. The first of its kind in Nepal, it is an all-in-one cloud platform that helps tourism businesses expand, improve and develop their services. In a nutshell, it will enable such businesses to sell domestic and international airline tickets, holiday packages and hotel rooms right from their website. 

What is Tourism Core?

This platform is a Saas (Software as a Service) for businesses that acts as a “middle-man” between customers, travel agencies and the other tourism industries. But this middle-man eliminates all the hassles that exists while accelerating and simplifying the procedures. Which means, it brings airlines, hotels, and travel agencies under one heading – in the business’ own website. Even if you don’t own your website yet, this cloud platform will assist you in creating one, and integrating their services within. And their services are designed to suit needs of all kinds of industries – small to large. 

How it works?

To assist in the businesses in their activities, Tourism Core consists of 11 core clouds. Each cloud represents a service they provide. These clouds are Hotel Cloud, Airline Cloud, Holiday Cloud, Payment Cloud, CMS Cloud, Advertising Cloud, Events Cloud, Service Cloud, Analytics Cloud, Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud. By the names, it should be clear which cloud provides what service. Businesses can choose to integrate those clouds partially as per their requirement or get the complete package as well. And all these work in both B2C and B2B models. 

tourism core packages

Any business that uses this SaaS will be able to sell their products, receive payments directly, sell tickets, generate reports, access data analytics for their business, manage employees, etc. Also, the payments are easier with various integrated payment gateways in this system. Businesses can use multiple local payment gateways such as Nabil, Khalti, nPay, NIBL, and international ones like PayPal, American Express, etc. Basically, manage every aspect of their business and website from one single back office. 

Of course, a system that does all of this will probably be a bit complex. Tourism Core claims you need very less knowledge about the technology to integrate it in your business. Everything is automated. But of course, being a complex system, and that too, including cloud platform technology, a technical know-how is a basic requirement. 

Availability

However, this is an innovatve idea that is now in action. And it is, at present, in its beginning stages. So, out of the 11 cores, only 5 core clouds – Airline, Holiday, Hotel, Payment and CMS clouds are ready to use from the launch day. Other services will be coming soon. Also, it might have small nitty gritty flaws. But in the future, it will all be worked out. And we might really see a truly automated tourism industry in Nepal. 

For more information about plans, packages and rates, visit Tourism Core

Huawei Nova 4 launched with 48MP rear camera and a hole punch display

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Huawei Nova 4 has launched and it packs some cool new features. One of which is the hole punch display, a first from Huawei. It also packs a 48MP rear camera, aided by a 16MP and a 2MP sensors, all of which are AI enabled. 

The smartphone features a 6.4″ FHD+ 2310 x 1080 resolution display. Internals include the Kirin 970 chipset, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The chipset might feel a bit outdated but should still perform without much complains.

huawei Nova 4 Red

There is however two version of the device. One with a 48MP + 16MP + 2MP sensors, while another model comes with a 20MP + 16MP + 2MP sensor setup. The front get’s a 25MP camera placed perfectly inside the cut out at the front which replaces the notch. 

The Nova 4 runs on Android 9.0 Pie with a 3750mAh non-removable battery. The smartphone does support 18W fast charging through a USB-C. It also gets a few other features like Smart Voice assistant, Video ringtones, and the GPU Turbo technology. 

It’s priced at 3,399 yuan (around $500) in China, while the 20MP variant comes in at 3,099 yuan ($450). Availability outside China remains uncertain but we can definitely expect it to launch in Nepal pretty soon. 

Huawei Nova 4 Specifications: D

  • Display: 6.4-inch IPS LCD panel, Punch hole display
  • Resolution: FHD+ 2310×1080 resolution
  • CPU: Huawei Kirin 970 Octa-Core 10nm processor
  • GPU: Mali-G72 MP12
  • RAM: 8GB
  • Storage: 128GB
  • Rear Camera: 48MP f/1.8 PDAF, 16MP f/2.2, 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor, LED Flash
  • Single Camera: 25MP f/2.0 gyro-EIS 
  • Battery: 3750mAh, 18W fast charging support
  • Connectivity: 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2
  • Color options: Aurora Blue, Red, White, Black
  • Price: 3,399 Yuan (48MP), 3099 Yuan (20MP)

Lenovo Z5s – What is it supposed to be?

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Lenovo may not be a name that comes up first when hearing best smartphones. But some Lenovo phones were quite popular. And now, it seems the company is about to reveal yet another phone, the Lenovo Z5s. While the phone is set to be revealed on December 18th in China, we’re still in the dark about it. But the company has itself teased some specs and promo posters on Weibo. 

According to the leaks, the most exciting part about the Z5s is the sheer size of the RAM it packs. It is hinting at more than 8 GB RAM. Which, of course, means a 10 GB RAM in the phone. That would make it the world’s sixth phone with 10 GB of RAM. But the excitement kinda ends there. Because, according to the leaks, the phone is going to have a Snapdragon 678 processor

lenovo z5s

That is a chipset which is yet to release. But the model name suggests it is a mid-range chipset, which is a slight upgrade over the Snapdragon 675 but not quite there with the Snapdragon 710. So, this brings the question: What are you going to do with 10 GB of RAM? That is an odd combination. A Snapdragon 845 with 6 GB of RAM would give a much better performance. 

Onto other aspecs of the phone, the phone will come with a triple camera setup of 13 MP + 5 MP + 2 MP. Also, it will have an 8 MP selfie camera. In addition, it will have a large display of a 6.3″ IPS LCD display with Full HD+ resolution up front. Furthermore, the phone will have a 3210 mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0. It will also have Android 9.0 Pie as well. 

So, yes. With this specs, is it a mid-ranger? Is it a flagship? Hard to tell, really. A gaming phone would require a better processor than the Snapdragon 678. And a 10 GB RAM would be quite useless on any other kind of phones. Also, the camera setup looks like that of a mid-ranger. But the phone’s name is being branded as Z5s – with the company focusing on the ‘s’ denoting speed! 

We shall only know what stunt the company’s trying to pull when the phone launches. But what do you think of the phone right now? What will it turn out to be? 

Samsung Galaxy M-series and A-series coming soon

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When it comes to budget and mid-range phones, Samsung seems a bit behind. The J-series are the ones that carry Samsung’s budget and mid-range sigils. And honestly, as good phones they may be, they don’t really compete with phones from other brands in the same price range. But that may very well change with Samsung’s M-series coming soon.

And not only the M-series, but we might get a revamped A-series of phones from Samsung as well. Yes, there is an A-series right now, which comprises of upper mid-range phones. But now, it seems the A-series will also include lower to mid-range phones. Of course, these are not brand new phones, but only the existing J-series re-branded as A-series. With this, the existing J-series will be no more, but we might see similar phones, with updated specs and aesthetics, in the A-series lineup. 

samsung galaxy a-series and m-series
Source: Sam Mobile

For now, there are leaks about two A-series phones. By codename, they’re called SM-A305F and SM-A505F. And they will probably be known as Galaxy A30 and A50 once they’re out. As the A-series and M-series will be taking on two-digit in there names. The A30 will feature two variants – of 32 GB  and 64 GB storage. Also, the A50 will be featuring 64 GB and 128 GB storage variants. In addition, they will come in four and five colors respectively. 

As for the other, Samsung’s online only lineup, the On-series will be rebranded as the M-series, according to reports. So, basically, the M-series might comprise of lower to mid-range phones. And now, we already have rumors surfacing about three of those M-series phones. 

The code names of the devices are SM-M105F, SM-M205F and SM-M305F respectively. So, the phones will be known as Samsung Galaxy M10, M20 and M30 respectively. Additional information about them reveals that the M10 will be the least powerful variant with 16 GB / 32 GB storage models and powered by Exynos 7870 with 3 GB RAM

The Galaxy M20 will come in 32 GB and 64 GB models. An Exynos 7885 will power the phone and this too, will have 3 GB of RAM. As for the M30, it will come in 64 GB and 128 GB models. But other than that, not much is known. Apart from the fact that these phones will be available in Blue and Dark Gray colors

However, it looks like they will be here slowly and steadily. Because, these rumors were there since September, and yet here we are. But the M-series might likely target Asian markets, whereas the A-series will go to Europe. While this may not be as exciting as the rumors and leaks surrounding the coming Samsung Galaxy S10, we hope to see Samsung listening to their customers for once. And by that I mean, include better chips inside their mid-range phones. 

OPPO R17 Pro’s Price Slashed in Nepal – Is it worth the bucks now?

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Oppo’s R series is the company’s lineup of flagship-grade smartphones and we don’t get to see that many R-series phones in Nepal. Oppo R17 Pro was the first flagship Oppo device in Nepal and it is still among the limited R-series devices to launch in Nepal. When it was first launched it was an overly priced device, to say the least, however, it has since received a price drop. Does the latest price of Oppo R17 Pro in Nepal justify the hardware it packs? 

Oppo Reno 17 Pro Overview

Display and Design 

We have to give it to OPPO, however, for including interesting breakthrough technologies in the OPPO R-series. And the OPPO R17 is no exception. The phone packs a large 6.4″ AMOLED screen with Full HD+ resolution on a glass body. There’s Gorilla Glass 6 on the screen for protection as well. It has about 402 PPI pixel density and has a water-drop notch up top for more screen real estate. However, that means no notification LED lights though. From the front, it can be very easily confused with the OnePlus 6T.

oppo r17 pro design

The back is also not very different, except that the phone has two-tone gradient coloring and triple camera setup. No fingerprint sensor at the back, which means it’s embedded in the screen itself.

Camera

Among the triple camera setup, the primary one is a 12 MP lens with variable apertures (f/1.5 – f/2.4). We’ve seen it in the likes of Samsung Galaxy S9+ and the Galaxy Note 9. The secondary sensor is a whopping 20 MP depth sensor with f/2.6 aperture and auto-focus. If you ask me, that’s just too much of a gimmick. A 5 MP depth sensor would work just fine. Anyways, the third one is not a camera per se, but a 3D stereo TOF (time-of-flight) camera for Augmented Reality applications. OPPO has not provided anything of that sort, for now, so, it’s pretty much useless. Maybe, they’ll come up with something in the near future. Another gimmick? It looks like one to me. 

oppo r17 pro camera

As for the selfie camera, the water-drop notch at the front houses the 25 MP lens with f/2.0 aperture. The device does support 4K video recording at 30 fps. And as for camera quality, there is no doubt OPPO won’t be letting us down. 

Performance and Memory

Powering the phone is an octa-core Snapdragon 710 chipset, along with 8 GB of RAM. This is something that is a turndown, as for its price, we should be getting a flagship processor. There’s also a 6 GB RAM variant but will not be making its way here. We only get the 8 GB / 128 GB option. There’s also an SD card slot in there, but that one is a hybrid, so, if you want to use two SIMs, no SD card for you. But of course, it’ll take you quite a lot of content and effort to fill up that 128 GB. 

oppo r17 pro back

Battery

As for the battery, the R17 Pro has a good-sized 3700 mAh battery and that should be pretty adequate. The Snapdragon 710 is a power-efficient chipset, so, we can expect slightly above a day’s usage on a single charge. Also, this phone has Super VOOC charging. Meaning, the 50 W charger pumps up your phone from 0 to 40% in only 10 minutes! Very interesting.  

Oppo R17 Pro Specifications:

  • Display: 6.4-inch AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 6 protection
  • Resolution: Full-HD+ (2340×1080 pixels), 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 402 PPI
  • Rear Camera: Triple camera – (12 MP, f/1.5-f/2.4, 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS) + (20 MP depth sensor, f/2.6, AF) + (TOF 3D stereo camera), Dual-LED flash
  • Front Camera: 25 MP, f/2.0, 1/2.8″, 0.9µm
  • OS: Android 8.1 (Oreo) with ColorOS 5.2 on the top
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 710
  • CPU: Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Kryo 360 Gold & 6×1.7 GHz Kryo 360 Silver)
  • GPU: Adreno 616
  • RAM:  8 GB
  • Storage: 128GB internal, expandable via microSD card slot up to 256GB (uses SIM2 slot)
  • Sensors: Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, proximity, compass
  • Connectivity: Dual SIM (nano + nano/SD card), Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz / 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C
  • Battery: 3700mAh with Super VOOC fast charging support, 50W (10V/5A) charging, 40% charge in 10 minutes

OPPO R17 Pro Price in Nepal

At its launch, the Reno R17 was priced at Rs 89,990 and it was too much for a phone of these specs even so, when OnePlus 6T and Galaxy Note 8 were going for less. However, it’s been more than a year since the launch and Oppo have slashed the price. 

Right now, the price of Oppo Reno R17 in Nepal is Rs 59,990 for the 8/128GB variant. Even so, we doubt if you want to spend that much on a year old phone without a flagship-grade processor.

Model Name

Old Price  

New Price in Nepal

Oppo Reno R17 (8/128GB)

Rs 89,990

Rs 55,990

So, there you have it. The OPPO R17 Pro is out and about in Nepal. It was a much-awaited phone here, but this is disappointing. Let us know what you think of the pricing.