Now Meizu launched four phones together: Meizu 16X, Meizu V8, Meizu V8 Pro and the Meizu X8. And while the other phones took the spotlight quite easily, the X8 kinda went under the radar. Now, the reason behind that could be Meizu X8 employs a notch on the display, while others don’t. And this is a bigger issue because Meizu was all about that no-notch displays since the beginning.
But now, the mid-ranger device, Meizu X8 carries the infamous notch on its display. However, for the smartphone market that is all used to it by now, it’s not a big deal. But, this is Meizu’s very first phone with a notch!
Anyway, the phone features a 6.2″ Full HD+ display (1080 x 2220) on an IPS LCD panel. The notch on the phone is quite big as well. But the wide notch houses a selfie camera, Infrared transmitter, ear-piece, breathing light and a signal receiver. It has a 89.6% screen-to-body ratio and trims off the minimum bezels found on the other three phones. The back houses a fingerprint scanner, which Meizu claims can unlock your device in 0.2 seconds.
On the camera department, it has a simple dual camera setup at the back. The setup consists of a 12 MP sensor with f/1.9 aperture and a 5 MP depth sensor. On the selfie department, it carries a 20 MP shooter with smart blur features and ArcSoft AI beautifying algorithms.
Under the hood, the a 2.2 GHz octa-core Snapdragon 710 powers the phone, which lines it in the top levels of the mid-range section. Supporting it is a 4 GB RAM or a 6 GB one, depending on the variant. The options available are 4 GB RAM / 64 GB storage, 6 GB / 64 GB or a 6 GB / 128 GB variants. It packs a 3210 mAh of battery with fast charge support.
The phone comes in Black, White and Blue colors. The phones are priced as CNY 1,598 for the 4 GB / 64 GB model, which converts to $230; CNY 1798 ($262) for the 6 GB / 64 GB model and CNY 1998 ($290) for the 6 GB / 128 GB variant. As it is with Meizu, international availability is not yet known, but it is up for pre-order on Meizu’s official Chinese website.
GoPro is going through some pretty rough times as it posted losses in the last 11 quarters. Even with its massive popularity among people from different parts of life, the company has been failing to make sales. The various market strategies it had in place for the Hero 6 didn’t work as the company failed to achieve profit margins. However, it’s looking to change all of that with its new product – the GoPro Hero 7.
GoPro Hero 7 Specifications
The major talking point about the GoPro Hero 7 is definitely the HyperSmooth stabilization feature which makes sure you get the smoothest of videos even without a gimbal. GoPro has demoed this feature on a video, and it looks quite interesting, to say the least.
The GoPro Hero 7 is available in three different variants, and the numer features you get definitely increases with the increasing price. The higher-end version of the three, the Hero 7 Black, has all the features crammed into one. The 12-megapixel camera of this device can record 4K videos at 60fps. It has the HyperSmooth video feature and you can even live stream your video content directly to your Facebook page. This Hero 7 variant also captures HDR contents.
The Hero 7 Silver lacks a few features the Black version possesses. It is able to shoot 4K videos at 30fps with the 10-megapixel camera. It doesn’t have the HyperSmooth stabilization, so you definitely have to pay to play! The Silver also lacks live streaming service and comes with WDR instead of HDR.
The GoPro Hero White is cheapest among the bunch and lacks GPS and WDR in addition to the live streaming feature and HyperSmooth video feature. Its 10-megapixel camera is only capable of capturing full HD videos at 60fps.
All three of the devices are water resistant for up to 10m and have the voice control feature as well.
GoPro Hero 7 Price
The GoPro Hero 7, as I mentioned before comes in three different variants. The highest-end variant, the Hero 7 Black, goes on sale for $400 while the Silver sells for $300 and the low-end Hero 7 White will run for $200. It will go on sale internationally starting September 27th and the USA will receive it starting September 30th.
With all the features at its helm, the GoPro Hero 7 is definitely an interesting action camera. It has a lot of features which could definitely uplift GoPro.
Mero Surakshya Pvt. Ltd., the company that provides various smartphone protection plans, will now provide better Mobile Assurance through Premier Insurance Pvt. Ltd. An MOU regarding the same was signed between the two companies. Mr. Prem Sunuwar, CEO of Mero Surakshya, and Mr. Sudyumna Prasad Upadhyaya, CEO of Premier Insurance did the MOU signing in a program on 18th September. This will add more value to the protection plans provided by Mero Surakshya. The MOU enables the company to provide better assurance on top of the protection schemes to customers.
After the MOU, customers can get their mobile phones insured with Premier Insurance under Mero Surakshya’s scheme. Additionally, with the MOU, mobile owners will also get Accidental insurance of Rs.100000. Meaning, in case of accidents or death of the registered mobile owners, a sum of Rs.100000 will be provided by Premier Insurance.
It will be available from more than 200 mobile stores around Kathmandu valley. And the company plans to extend it outside the valley after the festive season. You can also get the protection scheme from the Mero Surakshya’s app or website. And the best thing about the protection plans is that it’s very affordable. With only 5% of the cost of your smartphone every year, you can get various types of protection for your phone.
Mero Surakshya also announced Mr. Rajesh Hamal, the renown Nepali superstar, as the brand ambassador at the event.
The company provides various types of schemes against various types of mishaps. You can get plans like protection against Theft or Loss, Data Loss, Fire Damage, Water Damage or any Screen Damage. Now, with the MOU, it will also provide better assurance. To begin, you can simply download the app, create and account and register your device. For more details, you can visit the official website.
Even after unveiling the Meizu V8 and V8 Pro, Meizu is not done yet. It recently announced the Meizu 16X, which looks really impressive when it comes to the specs. But unlike the Meizu V8 and V8 Pro, the 16X is a mid-range handset, which is quite expensive.
In terms of display, the Meizu 16X sports a tall 6.0-inch display incorporating a Super AMOLED panel. Because of the presence of Super AMOLED panel, the display is capable of producing vibrant and accurate colors with a great contrast ratio. This display features Full-HD+ resolution. So the content on the display looks really sharp. And in the same display resides an in-display fingerprint sensor. The speed of the in-display fingerprint sensor may not be as fast as the conventional fingerprint scanners but it does give a vibe futuristic phone.
On the performance front, the Meizu 16X comes with the Snapdragon 710 chipset with 6GB of RAM alongside. In terms of storage, there are 64GB and 128GB variants. And since there is no SD card slot, users cannot expand their storage further according to there requirement. So the interested ones should really think about the storage requirements while buying this phone.
In terms of camera, a dual camera setup welcomes its users. The dual camera on this phone is a combination of 12MP primary sensor backed by a 20MP secondary sensor. The primary sensor boasts a 4-axis OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and EIS (Electronic Image Stabilization) to capture stable images and to shoot stable videos. And when we check into the front camera, we will find a 20MP selfie camera lying meticulously on the top.
On the software side of things, the phone is clung to the Android Oreo (v8.0). Meizu has sprinkled Flyme UI on the top to spice the things in the software in their own way. The handset also carries a 3,000mAh battery onboard.
Meizu 16X Specifications
Display: 6.0-inch Super AMOLED display, 83.7% screen-to-body ratio
Resolution: Full-HD+ (1080 x 2160 pixels), 18:9 aspect ratio, 402PPI
The Chinese smartphone brand Meizu is quite failing to make a mark in the smartphone world. However, it is not giving up on bringing new smartphones anytime soon. It recently launched two new phones. Namely known as the Meizu V8 and Meizu V8 Pro, these handsets are targeted at the budget-oriented customers.
Talking about the specs, both the smartphone possesses a polycarbonate body on the design side. And in terms of display, both of them sports a 5.7-inch display, which features an HD+ (720 x 1440 pixels) resolution in an 18:9 aspect ratio.
On the software side of things, both the Meizu V8 and Meizu V8 Pro comes with Android Oreo (v8.0) with Flyme UI on the top. That’s not all, the selfie shooter on both the phones is the same also in terms of resolution as both of them are of 5MP. Finally, that’s the end of similarities. In terms of the rear camera is the premium one among the two with dual camera setup at the back. The camera pair on the V8 Pro is the combination of 12MP and 8MP sensors each enjoying lenses with f/2.2 aperture. However, there is just a single lens on the Meizu V8. A 13MP camera with f/2.2 aperture rests comfortably on its back.
On the performance front, the smaller sibling or the Meizu V8 comes with the MediaTek MT6739. There also lies 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. The V8 Pro, on the other hand, features a MediaTek MT6762 Helio P22 chipset, which is quite powerful over the MT6739. Even on the storage front, the V8 Pro boasts surplus RAM and memory. With 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage, the V8 Pro could be a good choice for multitasking and storing the files and documents.
In terms of pricing, the better of the two or the Meizu V8 pro is tagged along with the price of CNY 1,100 ($160/€140). The affordable of the two or the Meizu V8 by name will cost CNY 800 ($115/€100) on the purchase.
Meizu V8 Specifications
Display: 5.7-inch IPS display, 77.6% screen-to-body ratio
Resolution: HD+ (720 x 1440 pixels), 18:9 aspect ratio, 282PPI
Chipset: MediaTek MT6739
CPU: Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU: PowerVR GE8100
OS: Android Oreo 8.0 with Flyme UI on the top
RAM: 3GB
Storage: 32GB, expandable storage up to 128GB
Rear Camera:13MP, f/2.2, AF, Dual LED (Dual-tone) flash
Colors Mobile announces its festive seasonal offer for this year. While various companies are trying to attract customers with their campaigns, Colors has brought its “Happy Sawari” offer! The offer is already up and running for the customers this festive season.
The objective of the offer is to have something for everyone. None of the customers will return empty-handed, as per the company. There will be various gift hampers and prizes for everyone. The offer is available on the purchase of the following mobile phones:
Colors P-20
Colors P-45
Colors P-50 Plus
Colors P-65
Colors P-70
Colors P-85 Plus Selfie Pro
Colors Pride 5C
Colors Pride 5E
Colors S1
Colors S9
Colors S11
Customers will receive a unique code number on each purchase that will make them eligible for the enrollment in the lucky draw. With the lucky draw, customers will get a chance to win a Suzuki Lets scooter, Colors 32″ LED TV, Daily 100% Cashback, or a Gift Voucher of up to Rs.1500. Winners will be announced every week via Facebook through the unique code number.
The offer will last a total of 55 days, during which 7 Suzuki Lets scooter, 30 sets of Colors 32″ TV, Daily 100% Cashback offer and Gift vouchers of Rs.1500 will be given to the lucky winners.
This offer is already running- started from 19th September, i.e. 3rd Ashoj and will go up to 27th Kartik, i.e. 13th November.
When Dell did away with its entry-level Inspiron gaming laptop line and introduced the Dell G-series laptops, we didn’t know what to expect. However, we’ve come to expect nothing but close to best, if not the best from Dell laptops. And with the Dell G7, it introduces something that is all about the core performance!
Design
The Dell G7 has a fresh design of its own. And while we were in a sea of those plain silver or black or black and red colors, it provides a new look to your laptop with its two colors: White & Blue and Black & Blue versions. While the White and Blue looks stunning and seems to be everyone’s hot favorite, we decided to go with the Black & Blue version. It might not look equally good, but it’s a nice one, nonetheless.
The aesthetics of the laptop give you a “gaming” vibe. With sharp edges all around and vents at the back which looks like the hood of a sports car, it has a sporty design overall. It is built out of plastic but is quite durable. It is also bulky due to the large fans at the back that blow out hot air. But the large fans do a good job of keeping your laptop cool. It is also considerably heavy at 2.6 kg. However, it’s still portable, but you might have problems carrying it around all day long.
Display
The display is where the laptop falls short. It has a 15.6” Full HD (1920 x 1080) display panel. The quality is pretty decent, but you will notice it is missing something. It has a 60 Hz refresh rate, but, you can also over-clock it up to a 100 Hz. However, that has to be at your own risk, as it has a chance of damaging your screen in the long run. Also, the color reproduction is just okay. It can reproduce only 73% standard RGB and about 56% Adobe RGB color space. The numbers are disappointing, and gameplay is also somewhat affected. But even so, it won’t make that much of a difference as you’ll be too busy shooting down enemies to notice such subtle differences.
Also, the brightness level on this laptop is also not that commendable. It can get 250 nits of peak brightness levels, which are admittedly, quite low for multimedia viewing. But it is good enough for gaming. Also, gamers kinda tend to play a lot of games at night, and low brightness levels is kinda just right for them. It’s almost as if every part of this laptop seems to be made for gaming.
Another thing that is off-putting is the huge bezels around the sides. Even with a large form factor, the screen doesn’t appear as big as it is. The 15.6-inch screen is definitely big, but with the large bezels, the screen appears small and is also quite distracting. So, your movie experiences might not be good enough. Overall, the display seems to be intended for gamers, and if you’re looking for something to create content like a lot of video editing, or designing, this one is not for you.
Performance
In terms of hardware, the laptop has an 8th-gen Intel i7-8750 6-core processor with clock speeds of up to 4.1 GHz with Turbo Boosting. Now, this one is a very capable processor, and there is no doubt about its performance. It is supported by 8 GB of RAM, which is good enough for everything else, but you might want to consider expanding it to 16 GB for a sweet gaming experience. The standard model does come with a 16 GB configuration, but the one we got only had 8 GB of it. With only 8 GB, there will be some stutters with heavy games. You can also expand this to 32 GB, but I don’t think that is really necessary.
But the worst part about upgrading the RAM is that it has two slots with two 4 GB RAMs, and if you want to upgrade it, you either have to get a new 16 GB unit or replace both of them with 8 GB units.
As for graphics, you get a 6 GB NVidia GTX 1060 Max-Q, which is a respectable graphics card. It gives you better performance than the 1050Ti but falls short from the regular GTX 1060. Maybe they could have fit in a regular GTX 1060, but I actually have no complaints about this whatsoever. You can still play all the modern games in Full HD and Ultra settings and still get good frame rates. And the GTX 1060 Max-Q actually heats less than the regular 1060, which makes the choice of graphics card a good one!
There’s less thermal throttling, and the laptop doesn’t heat up that much. This is the good thing about those large fans, and they are also quiet enough to let you game without getting annoyed. This laptop also packs enough power to let you use any kind high-end video editing or designing software, but its display is not suitable for such.
Storage and Battery
Now as it is with laptops, there are multiple configuration choices. Our particular unit features an M.2 256 GB SSD storage. And I don’t know why but in our tests, it was only able to provide 500 MBPS of read and 300 MBPS write speeds on our tests. Now, these are very disappointing figures from the last generation, as the last ones had really good SSDs with read speeds up to 2800 MBPS and write speeds of 1200 MBPS.
The speed on this one is comparable to that of Dells’ 2nd – gen 7567 model’s SSDs. Now, I’m just comparing the speeds with the other SSDs in numbers. You will not actually feel it suffer from slow speeds in normal usage. Actually, you might not even be able to tell the difference, except feeling a tiny bit of sluggishness.
On the battery front, it only has a 56 Watt-hour battery, which is adequate, but for a gaming laptop of this size, it feels small. Looking at its size, it should be able to fit in a larger battery, but it doesn’t. I got around 4 hours of battery life in average usage, which is similar to that of the Inspiron 7577.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard gives you a good typing feel. It has only 1.4 mm key travel, but it is comfortable enough. The keyboard feels good, but it misses out on the tactile feedback. So, you will find that it’s not as good as some other gaming laptops. It’s got this blue backlight with blue colored fonts, which adds to its cool serene looks. But it also puts a bit of strain in your eyes during prolonged usage, especially at night.
The 4.1 x 3.1 inch trackpad is large and comfortable. And with Windows Precision Drivers, it works much better than other proprietary trackpads. However, its plastic build does affect the precision somewhat in overall usability, sometimes not being able to detect certain gestures like pinch-zoom, three-finger touch, and flick, etc. But it worked most of the time, and for me, it was good enough.
Ports, Audio and Webcam
The large laptop body features all the ports you could want in 2018. You get three high-speed USB 3.1 Type A ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, a headphone jack, a 2-in-1 SD card slot, a Noble-lock security slot, and a Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45 port. This laptop even features a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 support, and it’s actually a pretty nice feature to have.
The speaker audio quality is above average. The front-facing speakers do a good job of providing you a loud and clear sound. And it can also catch those subtle sounds of footsteps or such while gaming.
However, the webcam is pretty bad. It captures noisy pictures and videos, and you wouldn’t probably live stream with this webcam. But it is good enough for other social media usage.
Conclusion and Verdict
All in all, the Dell G7 gives you what it advertises, and that is core performance. The processor and graphics provide a good gaming experience, even though the RAM is not quite enough. And the worst part about this laptop is the dual RAM channels. This makes upgrading it’s RAM quite expensive, and frankly, a hassle.
Also, the display is not quite good for the multimedia creation or viewing. And the wide bezels add more to its woe. The Dell G7 cut corners with the display mostly, but, I have no complaints on any other aspect. It seems to me that Dell only focused on the gaming performance and didn’t put much emphasis on other aspects, but for the price that I got it for, it actually makes sense.
This unit came from the US directly, so, it cost around Rs.1,26,000. But the same model goes for some 145,000 in the Nepali market. Considering the 1,26,000 price tag, this is a good deal, but for 1,45,000, there are some other options you can explore like the MSI’s 8th gen offerings or from Acer as well. Overall, The Dell G7 is a good buy for budget-conscious gamers, but I’d recommend you to get the 16 GB RAM variant as the 8 GB won’t really be enough and it’s pretty hard to upgrade.
Xiaomi definitely has something going on with the Mi 8 lineup this year. While we already had already seen the Mi 8, Mi 8 Explorer edition and the Mi 8 SE, make its way into the market, Xiaomi in an event yesterday also announced the Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite and the Mi 8 Pro. The Mi 8 Pro is a slightly watered down version of the Mi 8.
What’s interesting is that in the launch event Xiaomi compared the Mi 8 Lite with the likes of iPhone XR and suggesting that their product has slimmer bezels and a smaller notch. Chinese companies and their obsession with Apple is forever there.
Coming to the phone itself, it features the Snapdragon 660 AIE Octa-core processor with Adreno 512 GPU. The chipset is manufactured using 14 nm FitFET process. Likewise, the device has a 6.2 – inches display with a 19:9 aspect ratio and FHD+ screen resolution, 2560 x 1080 pixels to be precise.
The cameras on this one come with AI-based features. There’s a 24 MP f/2.2 selfie camera with Sony IMX576 sensor. Xiaomi has named it’s AI technology by a different name calling it, AI make-up beauty. Similarly, at the back, there’s a 12 MP sensor plus a 5 MP depth sensor with adjustable blur feature. Additionally, it also has an AI scene recognition feature like that in the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 or its predecessor. Now, with the Mi 8 Lite, you can identify Beach and Sea bottom too.
Xiaomi provides choices of 3 different storage configurations, 4/64 GB variant, 6/64 GB variant and 6/128 GB variant.
Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite Full Specifications:
Operating System: Android Oreo 8.1 with MIUI 9.5
Display: 6.26- inches IPS LCD, 19:9 ratio (~403 PPI density)
Xiaomi’s flagships are playing hard to get. The Xiaomi Mi 8 is only available in the Chinese markets, and if you want one, you have to order from there itself. Now, while others cannot get there hands on this affordable flagship phone, Xiaomi has launched yet another version of the flagship. It is known as XiaomiMI 8 Pro, or MI 8 Screen Fingerprint Edition, in China.
Now, what is different in this “Pro” version? The name already gives it away. It features a pressure sensitive in-display fingerprint sensor and swaps the 3D Face Unlock with an IR sensor one. But that’s pretty much about it. Also, this phone will offer two more colors: a Blue one and a Gold one, on top of the Xiaomi MI 8 Explorer Editions’ transparent back version. However, this phone seems to become the international version of the Xiaomi Mi 8. So, maybe it won’t be hard to get anymore.
Talking about the specs, it is pretty much the same as the standard Xiaomi MI 8. It has a 6.21″ AMOLED display with Full HD+ (1080 x 2248) resolution. Its dual camera setup consists of two 12 MP sensors – one with f/1.8 aperture and OIS and another with f/2.4 aperture and 2x Optical Zoom. The front camera rests at a 20 MP shooter with f/1.0 aperture.
Under the hood, everything remains the same as well. A Snapdragon 845 chipset powers the phone while there are two RAM options of 6 GB and 8 GB. However, it features a 128 GB storage by default.
Xiaomi MI 8 Pro will start at 3200 Chinese Yuan (US $467) for the 6 GB version and 3600 Yuan (US $525) for the 8 GB variant. And yes, along with the MI 8 Lite, which is a budget variant of the MI 8, these two might be available to the international market. Both are up for pre-sale as of now and will start shipping by September 21.
Xiaomi MI 8 Pro Specifications:
Display: 6.21-inch AMOLED panel with Full HD+ (2248 × 1080) resolution
Processor: 2.8 GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 845 with Adreno 630 GPU
RAM: 6 GB / 8 GB RAM
Storage: 128 GB
OS: Android 8.1 (Oreo) with MIUI
Rear Camera: 12MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, OIS, Optical zoom, 4K video recording and secondary 12MP sensor with f/2.4 aperture, 2X zoom
Front Camera: 20MP front-facing camera with real-time AI portraits
Security: IR Face unlock, Pressure sensitive in-display fingerprint sensor
Features: Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11ac dual-band (2×2 MU-MIMO ), Bluetooth 5, Dual-frequency (L1+L5) GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, NFC, USB Type-C
Battery: 3000 mAh with Quick Charge 4
Price: 3200 Chinese Yuan (US $467) for the 6 GB version
Samsung has done it again. But this time, it’s nothing extraordinary. Just, two new “mid-range” phones added to the Galaxy J-series. This time, the newbies are the Samsung Galaxy J4 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy J6 Plus. It is already confusing with Samsung pumping out so many devices. And these two, with their modest specs are the same – bringing nothing new to the table.
But anyways the two phones are now official. Both the phones have a 6.0″ HD+ IPS LCD screen. Note that it’s only HD+ (720 x 1480 ) resolution, and the “Plus” means only larger screens, but the display resolution remains pretty much the same. Also, both the phones have a 3300 mAh battery.
The Galaxy J6 Plus features a Dual camera setup at the back. A 13 MP primary shooter and an 5 MP depth sensor. Something new about this phone is that it has a fingerprint sensor on the side. Under the hood, the phone runs on an underwhelming Snapdragon 425. It is available in two memory options: 3 GB RAM with 32 GB storage and 4 GB RAM with 64 GB storage. I know, I know, a Snapdragon 425? Yes, it very much seems that way.
The Galaxy J4 Plus, on the other hand, has only a single 13 MP camera at the back and no fingerprint sensor whatsoever. This phone too, runs on the Snapdragon 425, but some sources suggest the same processor as the J4, Exynos 7570. No matter what, both of these are underwhelming processors. This phone is also available in two memory options: 2 GB RAM / 16 GB storage, and 3 GB RAM / 32 GB storage.
The prices aren’t official yet, as the launch date is set to September 25. But there’s a Dutch site that has listed the Duos version of the J4 Plus and the J6 Plus. They are priced as 189 Euros and 239 Euros, respectively, which converts to some $220 and $280. And with smartphones like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro coming soon for similar price, these phones look like a bad bargain!
These “Plus” models offer nothing new except a slightly larger screen and bigger batteries. The J6 Plus does have a side mounted fingerprint sensor and dual cameras, but with such underwhelming processors, it just doesn’t seem enough. I don’t know when Samsung will start listening to us, but until then, we can all agree that Samsung’s mid-range phones are among the worse ones out there.
