For years, we have been hearing everyone talk about how gadgets are being a menace to one’s health. They are linked with the sedentary lifestyle of people, and you probably have come across numerous articles and research that list out several diseases associated with the excessive use of such devices.
But what if the gadgets could better your health, or even save your life? Well, a Reddit user will certainly give an affirmative response to this question. The user, who goes by the name Edentel on the site, reported that his new Apple Watch Series 4 helped him save his life.
Apple only recently pushed an update to watchOS that started supporting the Electrocardiography (ECG) feature on the Apple Watch Series 4. Obviously, the user, with much enthusiasm, tried the feature. But to his surprise, the device reported his heart activity to be abnormal. Thinking the result tobe a fluke, he tested for a couple more times. The result, though, stayed the same – atrial fibrillation (A-fib). [Atrial fibrillation is the condition where there is an irregular and rapid beating of the atria.]
According to the user, he then tested the ECG of his wife, and the result was normal. Consulting with the warning from his watch, he then went to a doctor to share the results. To that, the doctor confirmed the watch’s result.
Edentel said, “the Doctor came in, looked at the screen, looked at me and said ‘You should buy Apple stock. This probably saved you. I read about this last night and thought we would see an upswing this week. I didn’t expect it first thing this morning.’ ”
When Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 4, everyone was excited to test the new ECG feature. While it may have arrived a little late than it was expected to be, we need to give full marks to Apple for being able to make an impact on the life of its user.
The Apple Watch Series 4 is the first consumer electronic device to provide measurement of ECG over the counter. It also offers services such as heart rate measurement, sleep tracking, fall detection and emergency SOS among others. Apple is yet to unveil the product here in Nepal.
Huawei’s sub brand, Honor is a popular phone brand all around the world. Mostly, because their phones are known for the value-for-money aspect. And many of you have asked us if the Honor 8X or Honor Play will be coming to Nepali anytime soon. And now, the answer to that question is a…maybe. Honor brand is coming to Nepal very soon, and it will bring with it four Honor phones.
Kratos Technologies Pvt. Ltd. will be the official distributors of the Honor brand in Nepal. And those phones will be sold via offiline channels only. Honor is, for the most part, an online retailing brand. But in Nepal, it will be only done through offline channels.
Some Honor phones are really great. Honor Play is comparable to Pocophone F1 in many aspects. Honor 8X is another mid-ranger that is comparable to the Xiaomi Mi A2 and the likes. And we are really anticipating their launch in Nepal. If Honor is coming to Nepal, it is only natural that they launch those phones.
We also have word that among the four phones, there will also be budget phones costing below Rs.20000 from Honor too. And also Honor flagships like the Honor Magic 2. However, that is very unlikely. But the Honor 8X and Honor Play are the most likely phones to arrive.
And yes, the pricing is generally a bit higher in Nepal from other markets. But knowing Honor, their phones might not be as expensive as other brands too. So, let’s wait and see if Honor will really be that honourable in Nepal.
The Honor mobile brand is also quite a popular smartphone among the audience. Its phones like the Honor Play and Honor 8X were well received and still anticipated in many markets. But this, this is a bit more exciting. As the Honor View 20 is a flagship grade device. A successor to the Honor View 10, this phone will go official on December 26.
Until then, we’ll have to live with speculations, teases, rumors and whatever we can get our hands on. The Honor View 20 was also teased a while ago and now we have some more for you. Apparently, its benchmark scores leaked along with some specs.
The Honor View 20, also known as Honor V20, is very similar to the upcoming Nova 4 in terms of looks. This phone, too, has a small hole in the top left corner of the screen for the selfie camera. While other specs related to aesthetics are in the dark, the internals look pretty great.
According to AnTuTu benchmark scores that surfaced on Weibo, the phone acquired a score of 291,244 points. The score combines the total of CPU, GPU and memory tests. And leaked reports suggest this phone features the latest Kirin 980 processor inside with 8 GB RAM. But, for a phone with such internals, the benchmarks scores seem pretty low, as it doesn’t rank anywhere in the top 10 of AnTuTu’s benchmark scores. And it might not have been a big deal if the top 4 of the list were not occupied by phones with Kirin 980 chipsets.
But, of course, since the phone is still in the works, we can’t be sure if the score belongs to a prototype or the real deal. Besides these, leaks suggest the phone has a triple camera setup at the back. And the primary camera is a whopping Sony IMX586 48 MP sensor! In addition, it will have 128 GB of UFS 2.1 storage and will support Link Turbo for better connectivity.
Speculations price the phone at CNY 3000 right now, which equals about $435. The phone will go live on December 26 in China, whereas the global launch will happen sometime in January, 2019. As for the availability here, in Nepal, Honor is coming soon with 4 phones. But it is unlikely that this phone will show up. We’ll keep you posted on more updates regarding this.
Now MediaTek might be a known smartphone chip manufacturer. But it doesn’t have that long of a history. And the company only makes chips for budget and mid-range smartphones. The Helio P60 and Helio P70 are the most popular chips that the company makes which we see in mid-range smartphones. But with their latest release- MediaTek Helio P90, the company aims to bring flagship level power into mid-range smartphones.
The Helio P90 launched in China very recently eight-core and focuses on achieving the AI level performance found in flagships. It claims that it can have four times the AI performance than that of the P60 and P70. And sitting below the company’s X-series chips, it seems to be targeting Qualcomm Snapdragon 700 series. But with AI capabilities found in the likes of Snapdragon 845 and Kirin 980!
MediaTek Helio P90 Overview
Source: Android Authority
The Helio P90 is built on a 12 nm architecture while others are going 8 nm. But, it still is a mid-range processor. It has an eight core architecture, consisting of two 2.2 GHz Cortex A75s and six 2.0 GHz A55 cores. It also packs the IMG 9XM-HP8 GPU, which can provide up to 50% upgrade in graphics processing over the P70.
There’s also the AIA (Artificial Intelligence Accelerator ) that joins two Application Processing Units (APUs). The APUs are the ones that deal with the AI side of tasks on the phone, while the AIA performs the common AI features, for better efficiency. This is usually seen in high end smartphones, and to have it in mid-range devices is a bit unusual.
Keeping the lot of technical jargons aside, the P90 is capable of enhanced image processing from the cameras. It’s image processing capabilities can equate to even the likes of flagship phones like the Huawei P20 Pro, and it could even be better!
In layman’s terms, the P90’s image processing abilities can track full body movement – not only faces, which is great for capturing videos, or building 3D avatars or such apps. It also has enhanced depth perception that can generate real-time bokeh effects in stills and videos. The depth perception also means better face detection, in both photography and biometric security as well.
The chip will be able to support dual cameras with up to 24 MP and 16 MP. It can also support capturing 4K videos at 30 fps. In addition, it can also be used for features like better beautification, improved automatic exposure, real-time photo / video enhancements, multiple object recognition and AI noise reduction.
The Helio P90 might appear on mid-range phones in the first half of 2019. With this, we won’t be surprised if mid-range phones start providing more value for money than flagships even.
LG has launched two new laptops in its popular ultralight lineup of laptops, the LG Gram 17 and the LG Gram 2 in 1. Both follow the same simple formula of extra thin and extra light laptops that do not compromise on performance. Both laptops come with better internals, bigger batteries, better displays and even sets a new benchmark for lightweight laptops.
LG Gram 17
This huge chunk of a laptop comes with a 17″ 2560 x 1600 resolution 16:10 IPS display. It comes with Intel’s latest 8th Gen processor (i7-8565U), up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB SATA 3 SSD. A second M.2 slot is also available for more storage. The battery is relatively humongous at 72Wh, which according to LG will deliver 19.5 hours of usage.
The LG Gram 17 will cost you $1699.99 for the above-mentioned specs. Fun fact, this laptop weighs just 1.34 Kgs making it the lightest 17″ laptop in the market right now. It’s made up of Metal Alloy and has a thickness of just 0.7-inch. You also get a fingerprint ID and Windows 10 Home as standard. As for connectivity, you get Bluetooth 5.0 and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
LG Gram 2 in 1
While the 17″ laptop follows a traditional form factor, the 14″ is a hybrid 360 degree convertible 2 in 1. It’s a touch display for sure and comes with a Wacom AES 2.0 pen. Furthermore, it’s a 14″ 1080p IPS LCD display, with Intel’s latest Gen processor with 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAM. The laptop weighs 1.14 Kgs and comes protected with Gorilla Glass 5.
Both laptops come with USB-C (v 3.1) port, 2 x USB 3.1, HDMI, audio jack, Micro SD card slot, and dual-mic. The bigger brother, however, enjoys an extra USB 3.1 port. Both get backlit keyboards, DTS Headphone X audio support, and MIL-STD-810G certification. LG states both laptops will be on display at the CES 2019 with no words on pricing and availability.
Chinese brands seem to be doing pretty well in the market these days. The Chinese companies are coming out with phone one after another. And UMIDIGI is one of the brands that came into the limelight with some of their products like the UMIDIGI Z2. And here’s another one from them – the UMIDIGI F1!
UMIDIGI F1 Overview
In terms of looks, the UMIDIGI F1 looks like any other phone from the late 2018s. It features a variation of edge-to-edge display, with very thin bezels and a water-drop / tear-drop notch. At the back, there is a dual camera setup, and a traditional fingerprint sensor.
To be honest, it looks like the OPPO F9 or Vivo V11. Apart from the fact that it’s back is not as shiny or glossy as those phones.
The UMIDIGI F1 features a large 6.3″ Full HD+ LTPS LCD display. The display has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a 92.7% screen-to-body ratio. For a budget phone, the display looks like a winner to me.
In terms of camera, the phone’s dual camera setup comprises of a 16 MP primary sensor with f/1.7 aperture and an 8 MP secondary one, which could very well be a depth sensor. The selfie camera on the phone measures a 16 MP with f/2.0 aperture. By the looks of it, the cameras won’t disappoint.
Under the body, a MediaTek Helio P60powers the device, which is a powerful enough chip for midrangers. The 2.0 GHz processor combined with 4 GB RAM should give you ample amount of performance. Also, it packs a Mali-G72 GPU for good graphics performance.
It also has a 128 GB on-board storage and is expandable via microSD. In addition, this is the first UMIDIGI device to run Android 9.0 Pie out of the box. Furthermore, you get a massive 5150 mAh battery with 18W fast charging, USB-C, NFC, and such. For a budget smartphone, the specs and features are crazy!
The phone is set to launch next year for a crazy price tag of $199. It will go on open sale from 7th Jan 2019. But availability in all regions internationally is not quite known. Also, in Nepal, where UMIDIGI is still struggling, this phone, at the right price could be its salvation. But, we’ll see.
While US has been working hard to get Huawei’s products banned from the US, and even encouraging other countries to do the same, Huawei’s suppliers seem to support the smartphone company. Menpad, the supplier of LCD panels for Huawei has a new policy. It’s employees are prohibited from using Apple products. And they will be fined for buying one!
The LCD Maker, Menpad asked its employees not to buy iPhones or Apple products. And if found doing so, they will be fined equivalent to the market price of the product they bought. However, it is not clear how the penalty will be carried out.
The nationalistic pride of the Chinese company doesn’t stop there. The company is also encouraging its employees to buy Huawei and ZTE phones. It is providing 15% incentives to those buying phones from Huawei and ZTE.
And that is not the end. The company went on to say that it will stop using American products such as office equipment, computers and even cars! In addition, the company is also offering double the commission to any of the salespeople who sell their products to the US.
A little absurd? Maybe. But this comes after Huawei issued a letter to all its global suppliers for their continued support after Huawei CFO, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Canada at US’s request. Things are getting way too political for taste…but what do you think? Are US allegations against Huawei true?
Personally, I like Huawei phones. Not all of them, but the Chinese company is in the number 2 spot for a reason! Their flagship and mid-range phones are some of the best. But what’s up with the US trying to ban their products, i not onlyUS, but from other countries as well? Do you believe Huawei is actually guilty? Feel free to drop your speculations.
When OnePlus released the OnePlus 6T, it was criticized for killing the 3.5mm headphone jack and for not bring enough upgrades on the table. And OnePlus 6T was the second OnePlus phone in 2018. But very unusual of the brand, the company released the third phone in the same year and this time with somewhat a hefty price tag. The new phone goes by the name OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition and it is the product of the smartphone maker’s recent collaboration with the McLaren.
This year, OnePlus brought smartphones with the tagline of “The Speed you Need”. But for the McLaren Edition, they are going with the tagline “Salute the Speed”. OnePlus has always been known for the bring smartphones, which excels on the performance front. And the tagline readily suggests that. The new phone comes with Snapdragon 845 chipset, which is nothing new as we have seen the chipset on its earlier OnePlus 6 and 6T devices. However, the McLaren or the special edition of the handset packs a whopping 10GB of RAM. That’s more RAM than what I have on my laptop.
On the storage front, there is 256GB of onboard memory. Probably increased RAM would be the reason for the increased price tag. The newbie costs $700/€700 on the purchase. The phone will be available at this price from December 13th on North America and Western Europe. But in India, China, and Nordics regions, it will go on sale on the later date.
In terms of design, the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition looks quite fancier than the regular OnePlus 6T. The glossy back panel of the device comes with a special black and yellow color scheme. The yellow or the Papaya Orange on the device, which is the McLaren’s signature color shines at certain angles add up a premium look.
OnePlus has also garnered quite a fame in the smartphone market due to its Dash charge technology. This time has upgraded the charging technology as well. This new charging technology goes by the name “Warp Charge”, which injects the power into the device at a 30W rate. This seriously is a respectable upgrade over the 20W Dash Charge on the OnePlus 6T. With this charging technology, the new OnePlus 6T gets replenished up to 50% just in 20 minutes.
Razer Blade Stealth 2019 is a thin and light ultrabook you can game on. This year, it’s a lot more stealthy, with a newer boxy design and a neutral white logo. Besides, I had no complaints about their past design choices, but the new look just gives it a more professional feel, which I think is better.
Starting off with the internals, the base model starts at $1399.99 for a Core i7-8565U processor. The CPU is clocked at just 1.8GHz base but can ramp things up to 4.6GHz when needed. It’s a 15W CPU with 4 cores and 8 threads. It comes with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, a 13.3″ FHD color accurate display and integrated Intel graphics.
Shell out a bit more, $1,599.99 to be exact and you get a 16GB dual channel RAM setup and Nvidia’s GeForce MX150 dedicated GPU. Apart from these two, it’s the same display, same storage, and the same processor. If you need more RAM then this is the only option for you. RAM sticks are soldered on and non-upgradable after purchase.
The final configuration will cost you $1899.99, this get’s you a 4K Touch display, and bumps up your storage to 512GB. All variants come with a 53.1Wh battery, up to 8 hours of usage as claimed by Razer. It’s a single zone RGB Razer Chroma keyboard setup, and a windows precision trackpad just below it.
The laptop is just 0.58” thick and weighs just 1.28kgs. Furthermore, it comes with a 65W power adapter and charging happens through a USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 port. It also gets a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port, 2 USB 3.1 Type A ports and a headphone jack. Connectivity includes Bluetooth 5.0 and Intel Wireless AC 9560 Wi-Fi.
Conclusion
Initial impressions for the Razer Blade Stealth 2019 are good. The laptop looks a lot better with upgraded internals, and it’s just an overall great package. The laptop’s display features 100% sRGB color coverage, thin 4.9mm bezels, and each laptop is individually color calibrated to ensure the absolute best color accuracy. The laptop is up for sale in both US and Canada with Asia and Europe to follow soon.
To kill the trend of the display with the notches and to increase the screen to body ratio, we saw lots of attempts this year. It really started with the Vivo Nex smartphone with the pop-up camera. The attempt from Vivo garnered loads from the tech community. But Vivo didn’t stop there. This time, the smartphone maker came up with a secondary display as an attempt to obliterate any sort of bezels or notches on the main display. Earlier rumors suggested the name of the phone to be Vivo Nex 2. However, the company presented the smartphone entitling it as the Vivo Nex Dual display edition.
Vivo Nex Dual Display Edition Overview
To avoid the notch, we saw different antics from the different manufacturers. In that case, Vivo’s pop up camera on the Nex and motorized camera system on the Oppo’s Find X were cool but seemed vulnerable on the long run. So this time, Vivo embraced the concept of the dual display, which we saw recently on the ZTE Nubia X. But unlike the Nubia X, Vivo Nex Dual Display Edition has adopted Super AMOLED screen on both the front and on the rear panels.
Vivo has equipped a 6.4-inch display panel on the front, which Vivo claims to feature a whopping 91.63% screen to body ratio. The front display comes in a tall and narrow form factor with19.5:9 aspect ratio featuring a Full-HD+ resolution. And on the back, there is a 5.5-inch display, which comes in a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio. The rear panel also comes with Full-HD resolution. So contents on both the screens is definitely going to look all sharp and vibrant.
Adopting the second display, Vivo has completely given up on the front camera. However, there are three cameras at the back, which can be used to capture the selfies making use of the secondary display. The three cameras on the phone comprise of the 12MP primary camera backed by a 2MP depth sensor. There is also a third f/1.3 lens paired with a time of flight (TOF) 3D module. According to Vivo, the third or the 3D TOF camera would help in point-to-point distance measurement, which comes handy on securely unlocking the rear display. Vivo also claimed that the 3D TOF camera would help in the “personalized beautification”.
The phone also has a “lunar ring” on the rear panel, which not just looks decorative but also is functional. The ring glows with fancy colors to alert about the notifications. Its soft glow can also be used to create diffused lighting for low light shots. That’s not all, the lunar ring can also be set to pulse along with your music.
So the phone uses the rear camera to unlock the rear display. But how to unlock the front display, you might ask. The phone is equipped with an under display fingerprint sensor to unlock the front display. And unlike the OnePlus 6T, which uses the under display fingerprint sensor as an excuse to obliterate the 3.5mm headphone jack, the 3.5mm jack is intact in the case of Vivo Nex Dual Display Edition.
On the performance front, the phone flaunts the Snapdragon 855 chipset, the flagship chipset of 2018. And aiding for the fluid performance, the phone packs a whopping 10GB of RAM. In terms of internal storage, there is non-expandable 128GB of onboard memory.
Vivo Nex Dual Display Edition Price & Availability
The Nex Dual Display Edition will go sale on China from December 29. However, Vivo has not yet announced the availability of the phone outside of China. And talking about the price, the handset costs 4,998 Yuan in China, which translates to about $725 or Rs. 84,000 in Nepal.
Vivo Nex Dual Display Edition Specifications
Dimensions: 157.2 x 75.3 x 8.1 mm; Weight:199 grams
Display: 6.39 inches Super AMOLED (primary) + 5.49 inches Super AMOLED (Secondary)
Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels with 19.5:9 aspect ratio (primary) + 1080 × 1920 pixels with 16:9 aspect ratio (secondary)
