Motorola is not the one to get spotlights frequently, but when it does, it does become exciting news. Motorola is known for manufacturing a durable phone that provides a good value for your money. And with a similar vision, Motorola unveiled a new phone. The Motorola Moto P30 is official!
However, there are certain uninteresting aspects to it. For instance, the Moto P30 comes in a very familiar design. We cannot blame smartphones these days for sporting all the same looks. But, the P30 comes with an iPhone X like notch and camera setup, while its color will remind you of some Huawei phones. It comes in three different colors: Ice White, Bright Black and what Motorola calls Aurora Blue, Huawei calls it Iris Purple! And Lenovo states that this phone has been “made for China“, for now, but we certainly hope to see it in other markets.
Motorola Moto P30 Features & Specifications:
Meanwhile, the Motorola Moto P30 features a 6.2″ IPS LCD display with Full HD+ resolution. The bezels are tiny, but it has a notch, that resembles the iPhone X uncannily. Even the dual camera set up at the back reminds you of that. It has a fingerprint sensor at the back, which doubles as the Motorola logo at the back. Clever use of space, right? The Moto P30 retains the headphone jack, which is nice, and has two speaker grills. So, the sound must be great!
The dual camera setup is a combination of 16 MP sensor with f/1.8 aperture and a 5 MP sensor with f/2.2 aperture. It supports 1080p video recording with background blur and certain other effects while the front camera is a 12 MP lens with f/2.0 aperture.
Under the hood, an octa-core Snapdragon 636 powers the phone with 6 GB of RAM. It sports 3000 mAh battery, that also comes with Fast Charging support. There are 2 variants in terms of storage options: a 64 GB model and a 128 GB model. But there is a microSD card slot for the expandable option.
Motorola used to be known for providing a close to stock Android experience, but the Motorola Moto P30 runs on Lenovo’s ZUI 4.0 on top of Android 8.0 Oreo. That certainly comes as a bit of disappointment. But the Moto P30 will also receive Android Pie update later this year! Anyways, for now, the phone is only available in China. The Chinese Yuan price roughly converts to $289 for 64 GB model or $303 for the 128 GB one. We might see some price changes if it makes it to international markets.
For the price, it certainly is a good mid-range device. If it comes to Nepal, would you consider buying it? Share your thoughts.
Oppo has launched its new Selfie Expert — the Oppo F9 in Philippines and Vietnam today. Images with full specifications of Oppo F9 has already been listed in Oppo’s official Vietnamese website. The Oppo F9 bears the company’s new water-drop notch design, an eye-capturing design, new AI features and other updates. So what are these updates? Let’s find out.
Oppo F9 Display and Design
Starting from the display, the F9 comes with a 6.3-inch LTPS IPS LCD captive display. It also comes with the latest corning gorilla glass 6 protection which can survive up to 15 drops from a meter height. And with 19.5:9 body ratio & 90.4% screen to body ratio, the Oppo F9 delivers Full HD 1080p screen.
The design of the F9 is similar to that of Oppo R17. It has a slim body with a thickness of 8mm (~0.31 inch) and weighs about 169 grams. Bearing the company’s new water-drop notch design, the Oppo F9 looks less intrusive and tidy. The notch looks a lot smaller and condensed than a most notched bearing smartphone.
Also, the back of the phone sports a diamond-like pattern which is similar to Oppo F7. The fingerprint sensor is on the rear and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom along with micro USB.
Oppo F9 Camera
As Oppo itself is a camera phone, we can be assured that the camera specification in the Oppo F7 successor with being better. The Oppo F9 features a 25MP Selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture. It also supports AI features like AI beautification, AI HDR and more. AI HDR mode allows you to click beautiful and sharp selfies in good as well as in poor lighting conditions.
On the rear, the Oppo offers a dual camera with the horizontal setup. There is a 16MP primary camera & 2MP secondary camera with a f/1.85 aperture on both the lenses. F9’s camera can detect and recognize 16 scenes and objects like grass, dog, sunset and more. It also enables PDAF, LED flash and, depth sensor. The F9 can also record video of 1080p @30fps.
Oppo F9 Software and Battery
Oppo F9 runs on Android Oreo 8.1 with Colors OS 5.2 on top. It is powered by Octa-core MediaTek Helio P60 chipset clocked at 2.0 Hz. The MediaTek P60 chipset is mainly responsible for managing AI processes. Another upgrade of the Oppo F9 is its RAM. It sports 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage which can be expandable up to 256GB.
Concerning the battery, the Oppo F9 is backed up with a 3500mAh battery. One of the major features of Oppo F9 is it supports VOOC flash charge with 5V/4A 20W. VOOC not only maintains the phone temperature but also provides 5 level protection to the internals. This prevents damage of internals the high current from adapter can cause. And that’s not quite it. Oppo also promises up to 2Hours of talk time with only 5 minute of charge which is truly amazing.
As for connectivity, Oppo F9 offers 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, dual-SIM support, microUSB, USB OTG, fingerprint and standard 3.5mm audio jack. The Oppo F9 comes in 2 variants: 4GB RAM with 64GB internal storage and 6GB RAM with 64 GB internal.
OPPO F9/F9 Pro Specifications
• Display: 6.3-inch 19.5:9 aspect ratio Full HD+ LTPS IPS display
• Resolution: 2280 x 1080 pixels (90.4% screen to body ratio)
• Dimension: 156.7 x 74 x 8 mm
• Weight: 169 g
• SIM: Dual SIM
• Chipset: Mediatek MT6771 Helio P60
• CPU: Helio P60 SoC
• OS: Android Oreo 8.1 (ColorOS 5.2)
• GPU: Mali-G72 MP3
• RAM: 4 GB /6 GB
• Internal Storage: 64GB (expandable up to 256GB)
• Front Camera: 25 MP with f/2.0 aperture
• Rear Camera: 16 MP + 2 MP with f/1.85 aperture and LED flash
• Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, GPS, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi, USB OTG
• Other: Fingerprint Scanner
• Battery: 3500 mAh with VOOC Flash Charge
• Available Colors: Sunrise Red, Twilight Blue, Starry Purple
• Price: $329(~Rs 37000) for 4GB variant; $340(~Rs 39000) for 6GB variant
OPPO F9/F9 Pro Launch Date in Nepal
Oppo F9 is expected to launch before the end of August in Nepal. Pricing is expected to be below Rs. 40,000 and is set to compete with Huawei Nova 3i and Xiaomi Mi A2.
If you have been waiting for the Huawei’s new phones to be available in the market, your wait is finally over! You can now purchase the Huawei Nova 3 and Nova 3i from retail stores starting today, i.e. the 15th Of August. The phones were launched in Nepal around 2 weeks ago and were available for pre-booking via Daraz and retail outlets. But now you can get your hands on these devices from the market itself.
Also, On the first day of sales, the company claims to have sold 2000 pcs of Nova 3 & 3i in 2 hours which is kind of a huge deal for a niche market like Nepal.
The Huawei Nova 3i (Rs.38,900) is the latest mid-range offering from Huawei. The Nova 3i is the successor of the Nova 2i (Read long term review) that was a very popular device a few months ago.
It sports a 6.3 inch IPS LCD display with a trendy 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The feature highlight of this phone is the Hisilicon Kirin 710 processor. If there was one thing the Nova 2i was criticized for, it’s the fact that it featured a slightly underpowering processor. But with the upgrade of this latest device, we have expectations of a very good performance. Like it’s predecessor, the 3i also features 4 a quad camera setup, meaning it could be a good option for photography enthusiasts. Likewise, you are greeted with a combination of 4GB RAM and 128 GB ROM, which is huge.
Alongside the Nova 3i, we can also see the Nova 3 (Rs.59,900) in stores now. The device, with its specifications, seems like a near flagship device. It packs some really interesting features like the Kirin 970 processor seen in Huawei’s triple camera flagship, the P20 pro, so we can expect similar performance.
Design wise, its similar to the Nova 3i. But what you get more is the camera pixels. Although this one too is a quad camera phone, you get a 24+16 MP cameras at the back accompanied with 24+2 camera set up at the front. The cameras are equipped with AI in both of the devices.
You can get the Nova 3i and the Nova 3 in two color variants as of now, the Black version and the Iris Purple. The devices have hit the market today, so make sure you get yours!
The Razer phone which was launched last year in November had trended as the first gaming phone for past six months. After that many Android gaming smartphones were launched in 2018 to follow the trend like the Xiaomi Black Shark, Asus ROG gaming phone including Huawei Honor Play which was recently launched. And now the next successor of the Razer Phone- the Razer Phone 2 is soon to arrive.
So what to expect from the new Razer Phone 2? The standards set by the Razer phone is simply amazing. With a top-end chipset, 120Hz Display and flagship features, the phone really stands out.
The Razer phone had 5.7-inch QHD IGZO LCD display, 8GB RAM paired with 128GB internal storage & dual front-facing stereo speakers which provides better gaming experience. Also, it was powered by Android 7.1.1 Nougat (upgradeable to Oreo). And it featured a 12MP + 12MP dual-camera along with 8MP for its front-facing shooter. However, we can expect better specs for the upcoming Razer phone 2 and better effort in the advertisement.
Although not many specifications have been revealed, we can expect an improvement in the chipset and camera. The current Razer phone sports a Snapdragon 835 while, the new iteration will have Snapdragon 845 or 855 chipset. According to the rumors, the phone might come with 10GB of RAM and 256GB internal storage. Also, the phone might come with a battery up to 4000 mAh or larger.
When will the Razer Phone 2 launch?
With the recent rumors of the Razer Phone 2, we can expect the phone to unveil in September 2018.
How much will the Razer Phone 2 cost?
It could end up costing more than the original Razer Phone, which currently goes for $699(~Rs 77000).
The original model- Razer phone was extremely impressive. However, will the Razer Phone 2 be impressive enough to become worthy successor than the original mode? Tell us what you think about the Razer Phone 2 in the comment section below.
Are tablets dead? Well, Xiaomi doesn’t think so, and nor does a few other big players in the industry. So, following the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S4, today we get the Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 Plus, a 10-inch tablet which packs a Snapdragon 660 and an 8,620mAh battery inside.
The Mi Pad 4 Plus is basically a bigger version of the Mi Pad 4, with a larger 10.1-inch display at the front. It’s a 1920×1200 pixel resolution display with an aspect ratio of 16:10, resulting in a mediocre 224 pixel per inch display.
Internally, the device gets a Snapdragon 660 processor with 4GB of RAM and either 64 or 128GB of internal storage. You also get a 13MP f/2.0 camera at the back and 5MP f/2.0 camera at the front. The back is capable of 1080p video recording as well.
Other features include Bluetooth 5.0, Type C connector, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and 5V/2A 10W charger. It has a body dimension of 9.7″x5.9″x0.3″ with a total weight of about 1.1 pounds. The battery capacity, as you already know is 8,620mAh. It comes with Android 8.1 Oreo with MIUI 10 out of the box.
You get two color options, Black and Rose Gold. Pricing starts at $276 for the 64GB variant, whereas the 128GB one will cost you $305. Pre-orders have already started with no further information as to when the products will start the shipment process.
The OPPO Find X was a pretty nice smartphone, a true flagship if I might add. But it’s not really what OPPO is all about, especially with the “F” series still in the running. So, following the success of the Oppo F7, Oppo has already started to tease their next selfie-centric smartphone, the Oppo F9.
The OPPO F9 will be a mid-tier smartphone, with similar specs as it’s predecessor. The things that are changing, going by a tweet from Oppo Malaysia, is the notch and waterproofing. No, the notch is here to stay, but it’s a small one, just like on that Essential phone.
A drop of rain falls on the leaf will shine they say, but how if it falls on the screen?
Again, judging by the notch, we can also confirm that there is going to be one camera at the front, which will be a 25MP unit with f/2.0 aperture. The back of the phone gets dual 16MP+2MP cameras with portrait mode and slow-mo video recording support. It also gets the AI 2.1 which provides HDR and vivid mode for better more eye-pleasing photos.
The smartphone is set to launch on August 21, and we are expecting three variants as usual. According to OPPO Malaysia, they want you to “Get ready to welcome the OPPO F9 with new waterdrop screen, a breaking new vision experience for you!” with the hashtag “#Waterdrop screen”. Here are two leaked sales pitch from OPPO themselves, courtesy of “Slashleaks”.
OPPO F9 leaked sales pitch
1 of 2
The Pro variant will, for a fact come with VOOC fast charging support which OPPO claims will deliver 2 hours of talk time in just 5-minute charge. This same variant will also come in a gradient back design and dual cameras (16MP+2MP) at the rear. Don’t believe it? Watch the official video below.
As for the technical part, you get a MediaTek Helio P60 SoC inside, with the same Mali G72 MP3 GPU. RAM size depends on the variant you get, but it’s going to be either 4GB or 6GB. Battery capacity comes in at 3500mAh and storage caps out at 64GB. The phone will come with Gorilla Glass 6 protection and a waterproof body.
It’s also a 6.3″ 2280×1080 pixel display with a waterdrop notch and a maximum brightness of just 450nits. The phone will be 7.99mm thick and 169g heavy. There are also a few new colour options like the Starry purple colour, Sunrise Red, and Twilight Blue. But all this are just rumours so maybe not take it too seriously.
Oppo, the Selfie leader and Expert, might be looking to really establish itself in the world. Their products like the Oppo Find X and Oppo F9 seem really top-tier. And now, with Oppo R17 made official, it’s the first to feature the Snapdragon 670. The Snapdragon 670 was only recently released as a successor to Snapdragon 660. So, we can safely say that the Oppo R17 is a mid-range phone. But apparently, it does feature AI capabilities of the Snapdragon 845 as well!
The R17 was listed on its official Chinese website, and it confirms that this is the first Smartphone to have Gorilla Glass 6 protection as well. Also, the notch is quite small on this one, similar to the Oppo F9, and also features the in-display fingerprint sensor!
Specs | OPPO R17
It’s spec-sheet reveals that it features a 6.4″ AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution of 1080 x 2280. Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protects the display, and apparently, it withstand drops from greater heights. It’s got minimal bezels on the sides and razer thin bezels at the top for speakers. The selfie camera rests on one of the smallest notches ever! It seems other smartphone companies need to learn how to do notches from Oppo!
The Oppo R17 packs a dual-camera setup of 16 MP + 5 MP sensors, while the front camera is a 25 MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture. Being a selfie leader, you can expect top-quality selfie camera and no doubt, the cameras are integrated with AI features.
Under the hood, an 8 GB of RAM supports the Snapdragon 670. That’s one of the largest RAMs seen in phones, but let’s see how packing it in a mid-ranger fares. The phone is available in only 128 GB storage option. To round off, the phone packs a 3500 mAh battery with Oppo’s VOOC fast charging technology!
We are yet to see if it is Water and Dust resistant, though. However, it still keeps the 3.5 mm headphone jack! That’s a nice touch. It runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with Oppo’s ColorOS 5.2 on top. The phone offers two color options, both dual-tone colors – in pink and blue.
Release and Availability | OPPO R17
We expect it to release very soon within August, but until then, there aren’t many details about it. This one, being a mid-ranger, might also make its way to Nepal. And while it doesn’t have an international price tag yet, it might be priced in the premium mid-ranger section. In addition to the Oppo R17, it seems that there’s an Oppo R17 Pro as well! This one comes with Snapdragon 710, with the same specs as the R17.
Gionee, one of the Chinese smartphone brands in Nepal, made a debut here some 4 / 5 years ago. But sadly, it is not doing so well in the Nepali market at present. What went wrong? We don’t know, but the silver lining to this is that, now, Gionee’s products are available at great discounts! And Daraz offers a huge discount on the Gione S11 Lite!
Daraz.com.np is probably providing the best offer for Gionee phones right now. The Gionee S11 Lite, which came out in February in Nepal, is now up for grabs for a huge 40% discount!
The phone may seem old, but it packs quite the set of specs. The plastic back still appears premium with a glossy finish, and it features a 5.7″ HD+ display with 720×1440 resolution. With a fingerprint sensor at the back, it does have a bit of bezel on the front. It packs a dual camera setup of 13 MP + 2 MP at the back and a 16 MP selfie camera up front. Under the hood, a Snapdragon 430 powers the phone with 4 GB of RAM. It features 32 GB internal storage which is expandable up to 256 GB via microSD card using the SIM 2 slot. Also, 3030 mAh battery powers the phone which is quite good.
With all that, the Gionee S11 Lite was available at Rs.25,999 when launched. And with Daraz offering 39% discount on it, it’s now available for Rs.15,900. In addition, if you use the Daraz app to buy it, you get an additional discount on it! So, you can grab the phone for Rs.13,999. How sweet of an offer is that?
Furthermore, Daraz is also offering discounts on various other Gionee phones. Currently, discounts are available for A1 Lite, F205, S6s, M7 Power, X1, X1S and P5W models of Gionee, ranging from 6% to 37%. In addition, you get 1 year of warranty on all these phones.
So, why not grab these phones while they last? Do you think Gionee phones are worth buying, especially with such discounts? Would you buy the S11 Lite or not? Do let us know.
It was a big day in the Androidverse last week. Google released the final version of its much anticipated OS, the Android 9, for its Pixel lineup of devices. It was available for download from 6th of August. If you are one of the few Essential PH – 1 users around the world, you’re also in luck! An OTA rolled out for the Essential phone as well. Google decided to go with the name ‘Pie’ for it’s 9th major iteration of Android. The Android 9 Pie beta was available for Pixel phones since the last Google I/O but this is the first official release.
The full version is 1173 MB but I was already on the Developer Preview. So, I only needed to download a smaller OTA update of 45.5 MB for the final release.
There are quite a few changes on this version of Android, both visual and under the hood. The key changes are AI, Wellbeing and Simplicity. Here are some of the major design changes below in no particular order. Android now has gesture based navigation. A little pill resides at the bottom of the screen that is your handlebar for all gestures. If you’re downloading the whole full version, it becomes your default navigation system. However, It can be changed inside System > Gesture settings.
This is probably the most visible and tangible change that you will find in Android Pie. It will also definitely take some time to become familiar with. This is what the new gesture based navigation does:
Home: Tap on the pill to go to your home screen.
Recept Apps Overview: A short swipe up will show recent apps along with a set of five apps suggested by Google’s AI based on prediction and your usage of various apps.
App Drawer: Push the pill all the way up and you will get into the app drawer. This is accessible from any screen and you don’t need to be on the home screen to launch it.
View all open apps: Pull the pill to the right and hold it to quickly launch the recent apps and switch between them. You can slide the pill left and right to flip in between open apps. Release the pill to launch the app on the overview screen. Holding the pill to the extreme left or right of the sliding bar will run a slideshow like animation of all your open apps, from either left to right or right to left.
App Switch: One quick flick to the right will open your last launched app. This can be done from any screen.
Back Button: The pill is always right and doesn’t go left. That is where you will find a little back button which does exactly what the name suggests.
Here’s how it works:
As modern as this new gesture based navigation is, it could’ve been made better. Maybe minimizing the empty space it occupies at the bottom of the screen? Even though the buttons are out, it still takes the same amount of space. The back button functionality could easily have been integrated into the pill gesture itself eliminating the need for one extra button that’s neither symmetric nor really necessary. I like OnePlus’s implementation of gestures on their OnePlus 6 better – saves space, isn’t an eyesore and works flawlessly. No wonder MKBHD chose OP6 over the Pixel 2 XL!
Android Pie features more colors now. The Settings menu now has colorful icons. Also, the notification bar icon turns blue when the particular setting is activated. The earlier Android version was just plain gray bland. This is a welcome change for those who prefer a bit more color in their phones and lives as well.
One slight change with the status bar is that the clock is shifted to the left of the bar. This signals a change in Google’s strategy to give room to devices with the notch in the middle. I’m looking at you, Pixel 3!
The ever so smart Pixel is now even smarter with Android Pie. There are subtle but useful touches throughout the system that shows you how powerful AI and machine learning have become. Some of the areas where you will see AI and ML in action are:
Swiping up to launch recent apps overview will suggest you a set five apps that you are likely to launch based on your usage of the phone. This changes every time you swipe up.
The Pixel launcher also shows you the same set of your five apps on the very top above all the rest.
Just below the suggested app on the Pixel launcher you are presented with two suggested app actions, such as calling your favorite contact, or messaging them.
The more you use your phone the better these suggestions get and it’ll almost be an extension of yourself. Think of an app and it will present itself on your phone.
Changing the screen orientation is easier than before. You no longer have to change it from within the notification shade for every app on the phone. Whenever you tilt the phone a little screen rotate icon will appear on the navigation bar and wiggle for your attention. Clever use of space if you ask me. Tap on this to quickly rotate the screen for that one particular app you’re on. And you don’t have to pull down the notification shade and turn on screen rotation for all the apps on your phone.
Google also introduced a new inbuilt app called Digital Wellbeing which shows how much time you’re spending on your phone and which apps you use the most, among other things. It helps you monitor your phone usage and hopefully wean yourself away from your phone if you’re a phone addict like me. It’s still in beta currently. You can sign up for the same here. You need a Pixel device with Android 9.0 running to be eligible for the beta program. (There might also be apks floating around the Internet but use it at your own risk!.)
Digital Wellbeing will show you
Your total phone usage time today
Apps you used during that time
How many time you unlocked your phone today
How many notifications you received today
A list of apps on your phone that you can sort by:
Amount of screen time each had
Number of notifications each received
Number of times the app launched
Historical data for days gone by
From within the Digital Wellbeing app you can configure the Wind Down mode for your phone. This allows you to set a time at night or during the evening where you’d like the phone to turn to gray-scale and look boring in an attempt to be uninteresting so that you will put it away and go to sleep. Gimmicky? Maybe. But it’s there.
It has options to set a timer for individual app to remind you that you need to stop using the app so much. You can also configure the Wind Down mode to turn on at certain hours. You can configure Wind Down, Gray-scale, Do Not Disturb and Night Light to effectively control your phone usage and make it more eyes and sleep friendly. A new mode is added alongside Battery Saver called Adaptive Battery. This uses machine learning to predict what apps and you use and need the most and will automatically put the lesser used apps and services in an energy efficient mode saving power. Something else that your phones will adapt to is your brightness settings based on your usage at certain time of day and for certain apps.
You can now also copy and paste texts in between apps when in recent apps overview. Just hold down and select the text you want to copy while the recent apps overview is on and paste it onto the app you want to copy it to.
Using split screen has changed as well. You now need to tap the app icon on top on overview and then select split screen from the menu to open the app in a split screen. Pressing the pill to go to home screen will still keep the app on the first half of the screen minimized while keeping the home screen accessible. Once you launch another app that supports split screen the previously minimized app will be restored to the top half of the screen along with the new app on the second half. This works well in portrait as well as landscape orientations.
Do you have friends who forcibly put your finger against the scanner to unlock your phone? Android Pie now features a specially fortified Lock down mode accessible from the Power menu that will disable all fingerprint scanner and facial recognition to unlock your phone. It will only let a password to get through. You can now sleep in peace.
Taking a screen-shot now presents you with added options to share, edit or delete the screen-shot. You can scribble over the screen-shot and annotate using the inbuilt editor.
Volume controls now appear on the right side of the screen close to the volume rocker instead of up on the screen. They are easier to reach. The default volume, now, is media volume instead of the ringer.
Previously the theme was controlled by the color of the background you chose. Dark background enabled the dark theme by default whereas lighter background would set the theme as light. You can now manually select the theme color from within Display settings to have it set to be Dark if you want to save battery on the AMOLED screen device.
There’s also a battery percentage indicator at the bottom of the display on the Always On Display. This is a useful addition to the AOD. The weather is also displayed under the clock in Android P next to the date. While these are useful in day to day usage there’s still no way for a user to interact with the notifications. The whole premise behind AOD is that it requires only a fraction of your battery and having to light up the screen every time you want to swipe or expand a notification defeats the purpose, especially when Google has done so much over the years to make notifications continuously better.
And once again other OEMs such as OnePlus 6’s come on top because of their customization and ease of use. Nevertheless, this is one of the biggest updates Android has received in years and hopefully Google will listen to its users and keep making improvements to make Android the king of smartphone OS that it deserves to be. There doesn’t seem to be any major bugs or issues with this release but I suggest you reset your phone after you’ve updated your device if you’re seeing anything out of the ordinary.
Special thanks to Kushal Rajbhandari for the valuable information and insight on Android Pie on the Pixel 2!
Samsung is back at it again with the all-new Galaxy watch. The Korean giant launched the new device alongside its Galaxy Note 9 event yesterday. They even ditched the Gear branding for the new Galaxy Watch which comes with features like wireless charging and LTE connectivity.
The Galaxy Watch comes in two variants, a bigger 46mm silver version and a smaller 42mm black and rose gold version. These two variants come with different display sizes at 1.3″ for the 46mm and 1.2″ for the 42mm. Both are Super AMOLED touch displays with Gorilla DX+ glass protection.
The watches are water resistant so you can even go swimming with it if you want. It can also be used without your smartphone thanks to its LTE capabilities. Not just that, the watch can do this a lot longer this time, thanks to the “low powered architecture”, bigger batteries and processor optimization. It’s also wireless charging compatible with Samsung’s new Wireless Charger Duo.
It goes without saying that smartwatch is also oriented at improving or at least keeping track of your health. It comes with features like Stress Management, heart rate monitor and sleep pattern monitor to help you with your health. It also helps you get along with your day with the usual glance features.
This year’s Galaxy watch does share a lot of similarities to last year’s Gear watches, but with a more focus on day to day usability. Samsung wants you to basically wear the watch at all times. It also comes with the same old rotating bezels for better navigation on those small displays. The same display that supports up to 60 thousand different watch-faces that can be downloaded from the galaxy store.
The watches will be available starting August 24th in the US and August 31st in Korea. Other markets will receive the watch on September 14, with no information as to when it will launch in Nepal. Pricing for the 42mm is $329.99 and $349.99 for the 46mm version. It will available through Best Buy and Amazon, whereas the LTE version will be available directly through the respective carriers. Samsung.com will be selling both the variants, although the pricing for the LTE variant remains unknown. Lastly, pre-ordering the Bluetooth variant before September 8th from Samsung.com will get you a free watch band.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Specifications
Display: 1.3-inch (46mm) or 1.2-inch (42mm) Super AMOLED
Resolution: 360×360 pixels
Protection: Gorilla DX+ glass, IP68, and 5ATM water resistance
