After only 5 months of the unveiling of the Vivo X21, the Chinese smartphone brand launched the Vivo X23 in Chinese markets! The Vivo X21 was one of the first smartphones to feature the In-display fingerprint sensor, and but the X23 combines that with a smaller notch. I, however, don’t know why everyone is making a big deal out of this “small notch”. The Essential PH-1 did it first, but nobody’s talking about it.
Anyway, the Vivo X23 comes with a large 6.41″ Super AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution (1080 x 2340). As aforementioned, the display also embeds a Fingerprint sensor and a tiny notch at the top. It also seems to have slimmed down the chin too. Vivo seems to be constantly taking bigger steps towards that “All-screen” module.
The Vivo X23 has a dual camera setup at the back, which consists of a 12 MP primary sensor with f/1.8 aperture and a 13 MP ultra-wide-angle lens with f/2.4 aperture. The little notch on the front houses a 12 MP selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture. And as it is with Vivo, the cameras pack in all the AI bells and whistles like AI Portrait, AI Beauty, etc.
Under the hood, the Vivo X23 runs on the new Snapdragon 670 chipset with 8 GB of RAM. Now, that should be enough for quite a power-packed performance. But, the phone also features something called Dual Turbo Acceleration Engine for improved performance. As for the software, the phone runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with Vivo’s FunTouch OS 4.5. The phone packs a sizable 3400 mAh battery with 22.5W Fast Charge and has a 128 GB inbuilt storage option.
VIVO X23 Pricing & Availability
It is available in 3 color options: Phantom Purple, Phantom Red, and Midnight Blue. The phone has a price of around 3500 Chinese Yuan, which converts to $511. There are also special variants of the phone with giant Vivo logos on the back in two different colors, Fashion Orange and Fashion Purple. The phone is already available for reservation in China, and will start shipping on September 14th. However, there is no word on international availability yet.
Compared to other smartphone brands, Honor is still is a new name in the Nepalese market and their range of offerings is not that big. One of the Honor devices that has actually landed in Nepal is the Honor 8X. However, since its successor has already landed in Nepal, will it be a good choice to go with Honor 8X given its price tag?
Honor 8X Overview
Internationally, the Honor 8X was launched alongside its bigger sibling the Honor 8X Max. These two devices come with pretty huge displays, equally big batteries, a nice set of specs.
Design and Display
The Honor 8X comes with a 6.5-inch display with a resolution of 1080×2340 pixels> The aspect ration here is the trendy 19.5:9 aspect ratio display. The display has a notch at its top which houses the 16MP front camera. As the other devices in this price range mostly come with a water-drop or dewdrop styled notch, the notch on this one does look out of place.
On the back, we get the usual gradient colors with shiny finish as with other Honor devices. There is a capacitive fingerprint sensor o the back. The two-camera are arranged vertically with an LED flash just below them
Processor and Memory
It gets the Kirin 710 processor that we saw on the Nova 3i. It is a processor based on the 12nm process and it is paired with the Mali-G51 MP4 GPU. The smartphone will be available in either 64GB/128GB version with 6GB of RAM or a cheaper 64GB storage with 4GB of RAM. However, only the 6/64GB and 4/64GB memory configurations are available in Nepal. You can expand the internal storage via the dedicated microSD card slot included in the smartphone.
Camera
The Honor 8X features a 20MP f/1.8 aperture lens guided by another 2MP depth sensor. The secondary camera adds background blur to your portrait shots. Sadly the cameras cap out at 1080p@30fps for video recording. The selfie camera included is a 16MP f/2.0 lens with, again, 1080p@30fps video recording.
Battery and Others
The device comes with a battery of 3,750 capacity. Honor has disappointed by not including support for any fast charging technology. For connectivity, the device supports WiFi 802.11 ac and Bluetooth 4.2. There is a capacitive fingerprint sensor mounted on the rear panel for biometrics.
Honor 8X Max Overview
The Honor 8X Max, on the other hand, is a mammoth of a smartphone. With a 7.12-inch 1080 x 2244 pixel 18.7:9 ratio display, the device is quite large. The phone sizes in at 177.6 x 86.3 x 8.1 mm, and you get a 5000mAh battery inside. The smaller version has a 3750mAh unit.
The Honor 8X Max comes in two versions, one with the Snapdragon 636 SoC and 4GB of RAM, and the other with a Snapdragon 660 with 6GB of RAM. The cameras receive a downgrade on this model, with a 16MP + 2MP sensor at the back and an 8MP selfie camera at the front.
Both smartphones run on Android 8.1 Oreo with EMUI 8.2 on top. The Honor 8X supports up to 10W charging whereas the 8X Max supports up to 18W fast charging. Seeing how big the battery is on the bigger version, the 18W fast charging does make sense.
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, AGPS/GPS/GLONASS/BDS, USB micro USB 2.0, 3.5mm headphone jack
Battery: 3,750 mAh battery with 10W Charging
Colors: Black, Blue, Red, Pink
Huawei Honor 8X Price in Nepal and Availability
Only the Honor 8X is available in Nepal and that too, in two memory configurations – 4/64GB and 4/128GB. The price of Honor 8X in Nepal is Rs. 21,999 for the 4/64GB variant and Rs. 30,500 for a 4/128GB variant.
Model name
Price in Nepal
Available Stores
Honor 8X (4/64GB)
Rs. 21,999
Authorized Retailers
Honor 8X (4/128GB)
Rs. 30,500
Authorized Retailers
Buying the Honor 8X makes no sense in the market today. The Redmi Note 8 provides more value for money than the 4/64GB variant. Even if you are in love with Honor’s design, Honor 9X (6/128) looks more promising with updated specs than the Honor 8X (4/128GB).
Dell Alienware laptops provide the best horsepower in a fairly portable-ish body. But they do not compromise on power and cooling, as far as we know. With that piece of information out of the way, if you can justify the high price tags of these laptops, you are in for some satisfying gaming sessions. The new releases include both the 17 inch R5 and 15-inch R4 versions, both available through online seller SastoDeal.
Dell Alienware 17 R5
The Dell Alienware 17 R5 is the biggest Alienware, if not the biggest laptop out there. Featuring a 17-inch QHD (2560×1440) TN display with a refresh rate of 120Hz. The same is capable of up to 400nits of brightness and Nvidia G-Sync support with Tobii Eye-Tracking. The display is also pretty color accurate covering 110% of the sRGB color spectrum.
Pushing the highly demanding display are a pair of Core i9-8950HK processor and a GTX 1080 GPU. This mobile version of the CPU is also capable of overclocking, up to 5GHz to be exact. The GTX 1080 also comes with a standard 8GB GDDR5X memory, making this laptop a very very capable one at gaming.
All this paired with a 16GB DDR4 RAM at 2666MHz, which should provide easy expansion as it’s a 1x16GB setup. It also comes with a pretty ample 512GB of PCIe M.2 Class 50 SSD and a 1TB 7200RPM hard drive. The port selection on this laptop is also one of the best on any complemented very well by the barely legal 99Whr non-removable battery.
Dell Alienware 17 R5 Specifications
Display
17.3” QHD (2560 x 1440) TN+WVA (120Hz, G-Sync)
CPU
Intel Core i9-8950HK
Graphics
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5X)
Memory
32GB DDR4-2666MHz
SSD
256GB PCIe m.2
HDD
1TB (7,200 RPM)
Networking
Killer 1435 802.11ac 2×2 Wi-Fi and an Ethernet jack
Video Ports
HDMI
USB Ports
(2) USB 3.0, USB Type-C, Thunderbolt 3
Audio
2.1 Speaker configuration with subwoofer, headphone jack, microphone jack
The mid-sized Alienware is more than adequate for gaming, considering it’s 15″ FHD IPS display which caps out at 60Hz with G-Sync support. The laptop could have done with a higher refresh display as the GTX 1080 Max Q is more than capable of gaming at over 60fps in FHD settings.
The i9-8950HK is just an overkill at this point, and more seriously the thermal capabilities. The 16GB easily upgradeable RAM, 1TB of HDD, 256GB SSD, and the same connectivity selections from the 17 R5 makes this one a really good option. Also, it’s a lot more portable than the 17 inches mammoth, if that helps in anyway.
Alienware 15 R4 Specifications
Display
15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS (60Hz, G-Sync)
CPU
Intel Core i9-8950Hk
Graphics
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5)
Memory
16GB DDR4-2400MHz
SSD
256GB PCIe m.2
HDD
1TB 7,200-rpm
Networking
Killer 1435 802.11ac 2×2 Wi-Fi, an Ethernet jack
Video Ports
HDMI, Mini DisplayPort
USB Ports
(2) USB 3.0, USB Type-C, Thunderbolt 3
Audio
2.0 Speaker configuration, headphone jack, microphone jack
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 was the SoC to have when it came to flagships. The processor made it’s way to smartphones priced all the way to $1000, all the way from $300. The SoC made its way to almost every flagship that might be worth buying, and largely so as it was a very capable processor. Although now, the SoC is almost a year old, so it’s only fair we get excited about the next flagship processor from Qualcomm, most probably the Snapdragon 855.
Geekbench scores reveal a certain processor with a single-core score of 3697 (4200 on the iPhone X) and multicore scores of 10469, on par with Apple’s A11 bionic SoC. Again, these scores barely compete with the capabilities of last year’s iPhone chip. We are also due for a new iPhone update, most probably the iPhone Xs and more importantly the new A12 chip, which should be far better than it’s predecessor.
This isn’t a surprising news since Apple has always been better at SoCs. Nonetheless, we still aren’t sure that this is the SD855’s benchmark scores, it’s just highly probable. All we know is the “msmnile” tagline, with 8 cores, and a base frequency of 1.78GHz running on a 6GB RAM, Android 9 based smartphone setup. We also know that the SoC will also be manufactured on the new 7nm FinFET architecture and feature the new Snapdragon X50 5G modem.
As the trend with new Qualcomm SoCs, Samsung’s new flagship might be the first to come up with the processor. The Galaxy S10 is Samsung’s 10th-anniversary flagship smartphone, so it’s also highly likely it might be the first to get the Snapdragon 855 as well. In other news, Qualcomm has reportedly been tweaking on the Snapdragon 865 SoC, the successor of the SD855 since June this year.
ZTE’s much-anticipated flagship, the ZTE Nubia Z18 has gone official in China today. The smartphone highlights it’s near bezel-less 91.8% screen to body ratio. The non-existent bezels and a small cut out notch at the top are to thank for the claimed numbers.
The smartphone’s display comes in at 5.99 inches with a resolution of 1080 x 2160 pixels IPS LCD display. Even though the display is just FHD+, the specs inside are top notch flagship grade. With Snapdragon 845 chip paired with 6GB of RAM and 8GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of non-expandable storage.
Camera wise, it gets dual 16MP f/1.6 and 24MP f/1.6 rear setup, while the front gets a single 8MP f/2.0 selfie lens. You also get the 960 fps slow-motion video recording along with the usual portrait mode and advanced scene recognition.
The Nubia Z18 runs on a 3,450mAh battery with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4.0 support and Neo Power temperature control. Although the smartphone only comes with Gorilla Glass 3 for protection.
The device is already up for pre-order in China with the base model priced at CNY 2,799 or $410, and the 8GB/128GB model at CNY 3,299 or $490. There are two color options, i.e black and red, but if you are willing to pay a bit more, you can also get the special van Gogh edition. That particular variant will set up back CNY 3,599 or about $530.
ZTE Nubia Z18 Specifications:
Display: 5.99-inch 1080 x 2160 pixels IPS LCD (91.8% screen to body ratio)
After the Vivo V9, we have the Vivo V11 Pro (Vivo V11 in some regions). Where did the V10 go…no one knows, but let’s not dwell on that. However, the V11 Pro is here, and it is already official in most markets. And this is actually the cheapest phone to features the In-Display fingerprint sensor! This mid-ranger phone also comes with a Waterdrop display and a large AMOLED screen.
The Vivo V11 features a large 6.41″ Super AMOLED panel with Full HD+ resolution, which is pretty impressive for a mid-range device. It is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6 and has a very small notch. The smartphone features the same cameras as of the Vivo X21 and Vivo NexS flagships. That dual camera setup consists of a 12 MP primary sensor with f/1.8 aperture and a 5 MP secondary sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The front camera is a 25 MP selfie shooter with AI enhancements…which are kinda mandatory in 2018!
Under the hood, the V11 Pro runs on the Snapdragon 660 chipset, supported by 6 GB of RAM. Now, that means it has a 2.2 GHz Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 512 GPU. The internal storage rests at 128 GB, but if that’s not enough, you can always expand it via a microSD card. And another good thing about this is that, you won’t have to sacrifice your second SIM slot for that.
This phone also features Facial recognition, which Vivo calls Face Access. And for a phone that managed to fit an in-display fingerprint sensor, the Face Access should be fast. However, the in-display fingerprint technology is not as fast as a regular fingerprint scanner, but the difference might be negligible. It sports a considerable 3400 mAh battery, but looking at its large AMOLED display, I think it is a bit small. Also, just like other mid-rangers, it still has a micro-USB and not a Type-C, but it does have Quick-Charging support, though.
The Vivo V11 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo, with its FunTouch OS 4.5 on top. This new generation UI features something called the Jovi AI Engine for allocating CPU and memory resources for efficient usage and battery saving. The phone is available in two colors, known as, Starry Night and Nebula colors.
VIVO V11 Pro Price & Availability in Nepal
The VIVO V11 Pro is set to launch in Nepal very soon, which is sometime around 10th September. And the price is expected to be around Rs. 45000 to 50000 here. What do you think about the Vivo V11 Pro? More importantly, would you buy this for that price? Do let us know in the comments.
If you go looking for phones in the mid-range segment, you will have a hard time selecting one because there are just too many choices. Amid all this, Huawei has added another one to the competition, the Huawei Nova 3i. With this device, you get a very impressive spec sheet but does the device follow similar performance? Let’s find out in our Huawei Nova 3i review.
6.3-inch (2340 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:5:9 2.5D curved glass display
Octa-Core Kirin 710 (4×2.2GHz Cortex-A73 + 4×1.7GHz Cortex-A53) CPU
Mali-G51 MP4 GPU
4GB RAM with 128GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD
Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.2
Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD)
16MP rear camera with LED flash, secondary 2MP rear camera
24MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture, secondary 2MP camera
Dimensions: 157.6×75.2×7.6mm; Weight: 169g
Fingerprint sensor, Face unlock
Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS + GLONASS
3340mAh battery
Price: Rs. 38990 (in Nepal)
Design
At sight, you get a premium look all over. If you look at it, there’s the shiny glass back, the rounded edges all of which look stunning. Adding to the pros is that the phone is quite slim and lightweight. Not only that, the metal frame around the edges help you have a good grip on the device. You get the vertical camera placement like the P20 pro and the fingerprint sensor at the back which is easy to reach and indeed is very swift. There is also Facial Unlock that uses the front camera and does a good job.
Downwards, you get a single speaker and micro USB ports and yes, the headphone jack. Well, high-end phones have started removing the headphone jack and it’s a relief to see that midranges are not following the trend.
On hands, the phone is a bit slippery but not to the point of frustration, so no issues. Meanwhile, you’ve got to do something about the smudges. Likewise, I already have a few scratches on the edges at the back so, you will definitely want to case it up.
Display
Talking about the disply, you get a 6.3-inch FHD+ screen with even taller 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The IPS display is sharp and the colors are vibrant. The sunlight visibility is average though. It’s a big screen and for those multimedia-hungry users, you have your device here.
But, as there is no display protection available on the phone, for careless people like me, we need to borrow some help from tempered glasses.
Cameras
Now moving on to the cameras! Like most of the Huawei devices, this too has a quad camera setup, two at the front and two at the back. The back houses dual 16+2 MP cameras and the notch in front carries 24+2 MP sensors.
Pictures from the rear camera are vibrant in terms of colors and they pack in good details. However, the edge detection in the portrait mode needs improvement.
Huawei Nova 3i Back Camera Samples
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What’s nice to see is, AI does well-recognizing sky and enhancing it. The AI seems to have improved because other than greenery, other things seem to have been enhanced quite properly. Similarly, buildings seem nicer with AI on. But even without AI, the Colors are punchy and vibrant. However, I cannot quite say good things about the night time shots as they were grainy and disappointing. There is 3D Qmoji feature which is entertaining, but it needs a little reworking.
Huawei Nova 3i | Without AI Vs AI
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without AI
with AI
without AI
with AI
Sadly, the videos lack any kind of stabilization, so you will experience native shakiness in videos. Likewise, there is no option for 4K video recording. So, if you are into mobile vlogging, with this device, you will certainly need steady hands. However, you can shoot 1080p videos at 60 fps which is good news.
Talking about the quality of selfies, you get quite nice ones. Detail- wise, color-wise, the pictures seem quite good. There is an HDR Pro mode that enhances colors. We also have the AI that helps enhance the pictures alongside the beauty mode that smoothens your skin and makes you look fairer.
Huawei Nova 3i Front Camera Samples
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Portrait
Normal
Beauty
Just a small note, please avoid using the level 10 beauty option, it makes you look like some supernatural being. Well, that’s again your choice. Like the rear camera, the dual cameras at the front do not detect edges properly. All in all, these samples are proof that the selfie cameras function very well. But all in all, I have liked the cameras in this device.
Check out all the high-resolution camera samples here
Performance
Now let’s get going with the performance side of things. This device is the first to feature the Kirin 710 processor which in real life is comparable with the SD 660. We have witnessed how good the SD 66O performs in the Mi A2, and now we have a similar hero with the 710 in the Nova 3i.
On use, I got lag-free performance every time, whether it be for multitasking or app opening; everything ran smoothly as expected. Memory wise, you get the usual 4 GB RAM but with a very impressive 128 GB onboard storage which can further be expanded through the hybrid SIM slot. With the hybrid SIM slot, you can expand your phone’s memory up to 256 GB but I guess 128 GB will be enough for most.
Now, let’s hear about gaming. Well, with the Nova 2i, we had an average performance in the gaming department. Now, with its successor, I have no room for complaints in this regard. I have played plenty of games in the process of testing this device, namely the Modern Combat 5, my current favorite Asphalt Legends and everybody’s favorite, PUBG along with some others. PUBG ran with slight lags in medium settings while Modern Combat 5 and Asphalt Legends ran smoothly. So, on a whole, I have had a very interesting and impressive gaming experience on this phone.
Software and UI
Software-wise, we get the Android Oreo 8.1 and EMUI 8.2 on top of it. For me, EMUI works just fine except for the onboard bloatware. As I said in the hands-on video, the unnecessary apps and games can be deleted, well most of them can be deleted. Apart from that Huawei gives a lot of customization options in the UI, like changing notch preferences, having an app drawer if you want, changing where the battery percentage shows, power saving options, well there are tons of it. The fact that all these features don’t make the phone slow is a really good thing.
Huawei Nova 3i Software UI
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Battery
The 3,340 mAh battery capacity on this device is the same as the Nova 2i but this one has a longer lasting battery. This somewhat is also a result of the energy efficient Kirin 710 processor.
Despite not have fast charging, the phone surprised me by getting charged in 2 hours and some time. Likewise, talking about backup, the 3i lasted more than one day on my use. On a regular basis, my activities include, a bit of gaming, a lot of social media and work stuff and the Nova 3i has helped me get through all that without having to worry. Only, I felt a little disappointed on the device not having USB type C, I mean, it’s become sort of 2018ish having Type C on your phones.
Connectivity
I used this device as a daily driver and call quality on NTC and Ncell both is good. However, it lacks WiFi a/c so connecting to a 5GHz WiFi connection will not be possible. Also, there is a single speaker and the output from it is just average.
Conclusion
So, does the Nova 3i fare for the price being asked? I would say yes! I mean there are little aspects that may not look good but overall the phone does well. It’s got this really nice design and a good display, good set of cameras, a very good battery backup and excellent performance with the new Kirin 710. The Nova 2i and 3e were considered weak in the performance front but the 3i seems to have got it covered. The Nova 3i, in my opinion, is a worthy purchase.
Nikon has launched the successor to the D3400, the Nikon D3500. The new entry-level DSLR offers a few improvements as compared to its predecessor in terms of the design and battery performance. The camera will come with a single AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR kit lens, for a total price of $499.
You can also opt for a dual kit lens that includes an AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR and AF-P DX NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED for a bumped up price of $849. The body features of the Nikon D3500 include a 24.2-megapixel DX-format sensor with 11 point AF system and an ISO range of 100-25,600. The DSLR is also capable of 1080p video recording at 60fps.
Talking about the improvements, the D3500 now does 1550 shots on a single charge, against the 1200 shots on the D3400. Weight has also gone down by 30 grams. The newer variant also comes with an inbuilt wireless connection feature.
Apart from these few improvements, it’s mostly similar to its predecessor. The camera still features a built-in flash, RAW support, smartphone remote control, face detection focus, and a 921k dots LCD display. The Nikon D3500 missed out on image stabilization, environmental sealing, articulating screen, and AE bracketing though.
The number of lens support for a DSLR also plays a vital role in a user’s buying decision, and the D3500 boasts a total of 287 native lens support. Out of the 287, 88 lens feature image stabilization for people who want better handheld shots and smoother videos.
The camera will be available for purchase starting this month and will fit a lot of beginner photographers. Click here to purchase the camera.
In the recent days, the rise of the Chinese smartphones has quite challenged the Samsung in term of sales. The Chinese brand with their ever-growing affinity to provide capable hardware in the budget handsets and Samsung’s reluctance to refresh the design somewhat backfired Samsung. So to regain its lead, Samsung started providing a refreshed design in its latest smartphones and the Galaxy J8 is one of such lucky handsets. But how does this gorgeous looking smartphone fares in the real-life usage? Let’s find out in this Samsung Galaxy J8 review.
Samsung Galaxy J8 Specifications
Display: 6.0-inch Super AMOLED display
Resolution: HD+ (720 x 1480 pixels), 18.5:9 ratio, 275 PPI pixel density
Chipset: Snapdragon 450
CPU: Octa-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU: Adreno 506
OS: Android Oreo 8.0
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB, expandable storage up to 256GB via SD card (dedicated slot)
The Samsung Galaxy J8 looks good despite its plastic back. There is a metallic frame and the metallic coating on the back that makes it appear premium. Even while holding and during use, the handset gives the impression of a metallic build.
The phone also has curvy edges on the sides, which adds comfort in usage and offers a firm grip. The phone never slipped from my hands during my usage in the entire review period.
What’s unique here is the location of the speaker which is located in a weird place on the right. The audio quality from the speaker is average and it’s not very loud either. There’s a fingerprint sensor on the back which is a little bit slow to my liking.
Display
On the front, you get a huge 6-inch display. It’s surrounded by narrow bezels on the top and bottom, but there’s no curved glass on the sides.
Samsung likes to call it “Infinity Display” since it comes with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio, but I don’t get this whole Infinity Display concept. I mean, you get the Infinity Display on Galaxy Note 9 and the S9 as well. And you cannot compare the J8’s display to those at all…Maybe Samsung should call the displays on its mid-range phones something else.
Like with every Samsung phones, you get a Super AMOLED panel that has good color reproduction, deeper blacks, and brighter whites. So, I didn’t have any issues related to color accuracy and vibrancy.
However, I was disappointed to find out the resolution to be only HD+. Last year’s J7 Max, J7 Prime, and J7 pro featured Full HD display, so I can’t understand why Samsung is including an HD display in 2018.
Since Samsung uses quality panels, I had no issues whatsoever, while watching videos, playing games and surfing the web. To my surprise, I did not notice any pixelation in the display or any lack in sharpness. However, FullHD panel would have served well especially considering the price tag.
The smartphone offers good brightness levels. I had no problems while viewing the contents even on a bright sunny day. Turning the outdoor mode on amplifies the display illumination to a maximum value so I could easily view the display even in a flooded light situation.
However, the absence of the ambient light sensor is another aspect where Samsung likes to compromise. You need to manually adjust the brightness level every now and then and it could be annoying at times. I mean, come on Samsung, the ambient light sensor is not a feature you should skip on a midrange phone.
Software
Software-wise, the Galaxy J8 runs on Android Oreo 8.0 out of the box. Like always Samsung’s own Experience UI comes with tons of bloatware. I found most of the bloatware flimsy so uninstalling or disabling them was the first thing I did when I got the review unit.
However, I grew quite fond of the S-Health app. Since I don’t have any smartwatch or a fitness tracker to monitor my daily activities, I trusted the S-Health app to monitor the number of steps I walked or the number of calories burned in any given day. It’s not a hardcore exercise regime, but this is good enough.
Samsung Galaxy J8 Software UI
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The inclusion of game launcher, Dual messenger, Blue-light filter, Multi-window feature, Ultra Power Saving and Ultra Data Mode are some other welcome additions in the UI. So, except that cluttered bloatware, I was fairly impressed with the Samsung Experience UI.
I also noticed that all the games installed on the phones stores in the Game launcher Folder. It is an interesting feature as the user can manually make a gaming profile, which gives them an option to mute the notification while playing. In the game launcher, the user will also have the option to play the games by setting the performance to normal or to play the games with the power saving option. And the great thing is that it applies to playing every game inside that folder. Furthermore, while running the games, two special icons add to the navigation bar. Between the two, one locks the gaming screen pausing the game whereas pressing another icon unveils some more features like taking a screenshot of the gaming screen or making a gaming video. I found this feature pretty handy as it allowed me to share the gaming experience with my friends and my siblings.
Camera
Samsung always had the best camera on a midrange smartphone. This time, Samsung has included a dual camera setup. The camera pair comprises of 16MP primary lens backed by the 5MP depth sensor. The sole purpose of the two cameras on the back is to capture portrait images. So, I tested the portrait images first. And I was thoroughly impressed by its capability. It has an excellent edge detection, due to which, the Bokeh effect looks more natural than what you’d get from software tweaks. And like always, Samsung has also added the feature to adjust the amount of blur and focus area after taking the shots.
samsung galaxy J8 Rear Portrait camera samples
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In addition, this time, Samsung has included the feature to change the blurred backdrop from normal to Crystal, Pixel, Time Slice and Crumbled options. I found this feature really handy as it adds new taste in the mainstream Bokeh effect. Furthermore, there is also the Portrait Dolly feature, which basically creates the 3 seconds videos from the portrait images where the subject is zoomed in or zoomed out with the segregated background.
Talking about normal shots, the device captures images with substantial details with a good amount of color reproduction. Even on the HDR side, the smartphone does a fine job. It captures HDR shots preserving the details of the highlights and shadows quite well and I have no complaints here. However, low light shots were not that impressive. They invite quite a lot of noise and grains, so, the images do not look so good. But when compared side by side with a more expensive Nova 3i, the J8 does a better job in low light shots.
Samsung Galaxy J8 back camera samples
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The 16MP selfie shooter on ample light come out great with good amount of details and color accuracy. The beauty mode also works quite well by removing the facial blemishes and acne.
Selfie: Normal Vs Beauty
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Normal Mode
Normal Mode
But its Selfie Focus is the most exciting feature. With this feature, it captures the portrait selfies with blurred backgrounds. Although it’s not as good as the rear camera since there’s only one camera at the front, and the background blurring is done with software effects, but it looks fine when captured under ample lighting.
As for videos, the J8 captures Full HD videos at 30fps from both the front and the rear cameras. Videos from the phone look okay at best. Since the phone lacks Image Stabilization, captured videos look kinda shaky. Also, the jittery autofocusing is also really unpleasant.
Check out all the high-resolution camera samples here
Performance
The J8 is powered by Snapdragon 450 chipset backed by 4GB of RAM. The presence of the mediocre chipset bugged me since Day 1. The chipset is usually found in budget phones these days, and Samsung’s decision to opt for this chipset in a midrange phone is not a good choice at all.
However, since the chipset only has to power an HD+ display, the performance of the phone was not that bad. Using multiple apps and multitasking ran smoothly and there were no lags while switching between them. Even while playing low end to mid end games, there were no any stutters and drop in frame rates. I played Asphalt 9, Dead Trigger 2, and Shadow Gun legends, all of which, ran with good frame rates at medium settings. But at high settings, you will notice every now and then. And, when you compare its performance with say the Redmi Note 5 AI or the Oppo F7, its evident that the J8 falls short by a good margin.
On the storage side, the J8 packs an ample 64GB inside. Also, you can expand the storage up to 256 GB with a dedicated microSD card slot as well.
Battery
A generous 3500mAh battery coupled with low power consuming hardware and internals, the J8 easily provided me more than a day under normal usage. So during the review period, I was thoroughly impressed by the battery performance. And since there are various power saving options, I could even prolong the backup. So, with the J8 as my daily driver, I never had to bother about charging the handset very often.
Despite that impressive backup, charging was a pain in the neck. The stock charger of the smartphone is rated 5Volt, 1.5Amp, which takes slightly over three hours to get the battery fully charged. But with the 5Volt, 2Aamp charger, it took just around 2 hours and 15 minutes to refill the battery.
Conclusion
To sum it up, The Galaxy J8 has an impressive camera – both front and back. They’re comparable to those of pricier Huawei Nova 3i and Oppo F9. The battery is good enough and will easily last you for a day. The build quality is sturdy despite a plastic back while the AMOLED display offers great colors and brightness levels.
However, the choice to put in a Snapdragon 450 is just not right. If they’d gone with the Snapdragon 636, or the Exynos 7885, it would’ve been much better. Also, I think a 1080p display is mandatory for the price of the phone.
With all that it packs, I think the phone is mainly focused for general users who want something of everything. As it doesn’t have anything, in particular, to make it stand out, it is just for the average users, and not for someone who wants power performance. So, that was the Samsung Galaxy J8 review. Would you buy it or skip it? Let us know in the comments down below.
Nagmani International, the official distributor of Asus laptops in Nepal announced a new laptop launch through their official Facebook page. The new laptop (ASUS G703GI) runs on a Core i9 at its heart. A full-fledged 45W 8th Gen six-core i9-8950HK boasting a maximum Turbo frequency of 4.8GHz. The same laptop also comes with a GTX 1080 GPU and costs Rs 531,250.
If the Core i9 or the overclocked GTX 1080 didn’t impress you, well you might as well stop here. The price tag won’t help much either, because we ourselves think it’s an overkill anyway. If you invest the same on a desktop, you can get a far better i7-8700k, a 1080Ti, and a 4k display, all for less money. But at the end of the day, if you want a laptop, I can’t help you.
Either way, the laptop does come with a few other features like 32GB of RAM, 2TB of SSHD and 256GB of NVMe SSD. We also haven’t mentioned the 17.3″ FHD display on board. We hope that it’s the same 144Hz 3ms G-Sync enabled display, which the post fails to mention because if it’s not, this is truly an overpriced piece of a laptop. They are giving away a free gaming backpack, a gaming mouse and a headphone which is a nice touch.
As for the performance and in-depth review, check out Austin Evan’s review below as we haven’t had a chance to test out the laptop yet, and we most probably won’t either.
So, what do you think of the ASUS G703GI? For a laptop that costs almost $3699 in the international market, the price difference might be a factor. But more importantly, is spending 5 lakhs on a portable gaming machine worth it? I don’t think so, but feel to buy one, just keep in mind that a desktop PC should deliver much much better horsepower, future upgradability options, and a much better display at a much lower price if you were to spend this level of money.
