When the world is swooning over bezel-less screens and large displays, Xiaomi has other ideas. The Chinese smartphone manufacturing giant has very recently launched two new feature phones – Xiaomi Qin 1 and Xiaomi Qin 1s. Now, who knows what they’re thinking, but these phones do come with some AI capabilities too.
Xiaomi Qin 1 & Qin 1s Specs Overview
The Qin feature phones (pronounced “shin”) remind you of the days of keypad phones, like the ones of Nokia, that were extremely popular. They feature a 2.8″ screen with 320 x 240 resolution and a clean retro body design. You also get a 1480 mAh battery, which is quite large for such a phone. Xiaomi claims it can last you up to 15 days, which maybe true, considering you won’t use it for much as these don’t have a headphone jack, nor any cameras. And if you do ask why should you buy one of these? Well, these phones pack serious AI features. For starters, real-time voice translations up to 17 international languages (according to some sources); and they, apparently, can “talk” to its users. Also, you have WiFi, dual-SIM, and infrared zappers as well.
Out of the two models, the Qin 1s is the more powerful one. It features a Spreadtrum SC9820 chip with two 1.2 GHz Cortex A-53 processors and 256 MB RAM. You also get a 512 MB storage on it. Running on “MOCOR5” OS, it also let’s you access 4G networks and GPS features.
Its lesser sibling, the Qin 1 runs on a MediaTek MT6260A chip with ARM7 processor. And it only has a mere 8 MB RAM with 16 MB storage. Also, this model can only support 2G networks, and runs on “Nucleus” OS. Compared to its elder sibling, it doesn’t sound like much, does it?
Both these phones were launched in China, and their availability in other markets are unknown. The Q1 will cost 199 Chinese Yuan or about $30, while the Q1s will be 299 Chinese Yuan, or about $45. Both of these will be available from September 15th. If they were to be launched in Nepal, would you buy them? They could serve as good “backup” phones. Plus, with real-time translations, we probably wouldn’t need to learn any other languages, maybe?
Chinese phones are doing quite well in Nepal, mostly due to their competitive pricing. And so, Vivo has launched the Vivo Y85 in Nepal. The Vivo Y85 is in the mid-range section and packs the specs accordingly. It also features the modern smartphone looks, tall screen, dual cameras, fingerprint scanners and all.
The phone features an elongated 6.22″ HD+ IPS LCD display with 19:9 aspect ratio on a plastic body. It does have a notch, and the design looks identical to the iPhone X, only elongated. With very slim bezels up front, the fingerprint scanner is located at the back. The back also sports its vertical dual camera setup of 13 MP + 2 MP sensors. An 8 MP sensor rests at the front with AI beautification mode. Vivo mostly focuses on the cameras, so, this one is no exception.
Under the hood, a MediaTek Helio P22 chipset powers the phone. The chipset is a mid-range performer, and combined with its 4 GB RAM, performance and multi-tasking should be breezy. The Y85 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with Vivo’s FunTouch OS 4.0 on top. It is available in 32 GB and 64 GB storage options, but we get only the 64 GB variant in Nepal. But it includes a microSD card slot anyway, so, you don’t have to worry about storage. Also, with a 3260 mAh battery capacity, it can provide enough usage time through out the day.
Vivo Y85 Price in Nepal
Latest Price: Rs. 29,990 [Last Updated on December 6, 2018]
The phone is priced at Rs. 29,990 and is available in Ruby Red and Black color options. For what it offers, the price seems good enough, considering it’s priced at Rs.16000 in India. Do you think this mid-ranger justifies its price with all it packs? What are your thoughts on this unit? Do let us know.
If you go down the memory lane and remember Huawei as a brand a couple of years ago, you will probably remember it as a brand that was struggling to keep with the likes of other companies in the budget and midrange segment. Now Huawei is competing against top flagships. The P6, P7, P8, P9 were never considered flagships. But in the last two years, Huawei has closed the gap against its competitors Apple and Samsung and is taking great leaps forward.
We already have a fair idea about the Huawei P20 Pro. I mean who does not know about triple cameras?? I have used this device for almost two months now and I will be talking about how the device has fared in my long time of use.
Huawei P20 Pro Specifications:
Display: 6.1-inch full HD+ (1080 x 2240 pixels) OLED display, 18.7:9 aspect ratio
CPU: Octa-core Hisilicon Kirin 970
OS: Android Oreo (v8.1) with EMUI 8.1 on the top
RAM: 6 GB
GPU: Mali-G72 MP12
Storage: 128 GB
Rear Camera: 40 MP with f/1.8 aperture + 20 MP with f/1.6 aperture + 8 MP with f/2.4 aperture, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), up to 5x Hybrid Zoom, PDAF, LED flash
Front Camera: 24 MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture
When I first saw the P20 pro, I instantly fell in love with the Twilight version and undoubtedly, this is something that has made the device stand out. For me, this is the most appealing color any smartphone has till now.
Sure, you have the notch sitting on top. But you also have an option to remove the notch and I think the phone looks good that way because it makes the bezels look even. But it’s totally your choice. I like the idea of a button/ scanner at the bottom. It’s the fingerprint sensor and a single button working as the home key and navigation button.
I found it interesting because it works according to your gestures, for example, you need to hold for going back to home screen, tap to go back and swipe to get to recently used apps. All this gives a different feel to the device and it’s totally fun to use.
The fingerprint sensor resides at the front & is very very quick in response but I found myself using facial unlock because of its swiftness and accuracy.
Something you will notice is that the device does not have a headphone jack. However, you get headphones in the case and you are supposed to plug it in through the Type-C charging port and I didn’t quite mind doing so.
On hands, yes the P20 Pro is a huge phone but it’s amazing that the device is very easy to carry. By looks, it may seem slippery but it I never had troubles with this one because it just fits right in your hands meaning that its easier to have a strong grip on the phone.
I used this phone without any phone case or display protector. The screen surprisingly does not have a lot of scratches to it. However, I wished the same about the back. In two months’ time, there were slight scratches and marks around the edges but the glossy finish makes the scratches appear less.
Display wise, the 6.1-inch 1080p AMOLED display produces accurate colors and viewing angles is excellent. Though it’s not 2K like the Galaxy S9+, but the display is crisp, vibrant, and bright. It is the display we would expect on a flagship and it has one that is really good.
With a darker theme, the OLED screen provides good contrast and black level. Similarly, you can adjust the color temperature as per your liking but I found the natural tone to be better.
Cameras
Huawei had made headlines with the Leica branded triple cameras and the fact that DXO has rated its camera with an outshining 109 score makes it even more appealing. One thing I noticed in all the pictures taken from this device is that the photos pack in abundant details. Now, I am talking about a lot of details and sharp pictures.
Huawei P20 Pro | Day Light Samples
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Normal Mode
In the normal mode, the colors in pictures are great, you get vibrant pictures with no chance of shaky images and shutter speed and autofocus is unbelievably high. There is a 3x optical zoom or a hybrid 5x zoom. However, you cannot zoom in through the 40 MP sensor while taking photos but that’s okay because the results are decent with great details.
You have an option to change the resolution from 40 to 10 or 7 MP but I recommend you use the 10 MP option because I found it to have a better dynamic range and color saturation compared to the 40MP photos.
Huawei P20 Pro | 40MP Vs 10MP Shooter
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40MP
10MP
Another thing worth noticing is about the Master AI. Now, I know that it is with all the right intentions that Huawei has included the AI option but there is still room for improvement in this area. There are things that AI des really well, for example, identifying scenery or sky or objects accurately. But what it adds to the normal pictures is an added punch to it. It tends to make the pictures a little more saturated and sharp, especially the ones that it recognized as sky or greenery. But the good news is that you can always disable it and get back to natural settings, which I found myself doing most of the times.
Huawei P20 Pro | Ai Vs Normal Mode
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P20 Pro AI Mode
P20 Pro Normal Mode
Adding to the camera setting options is the Night mode. The reason I am mentioning it separately is that the night mode does a commendable job preserving details in low light. The colors seem better and there is less noise in the pictures because it takes a long exposure shot that takes 6 seconds to capture a picture. Well, after the 6-second wait, you get very clean low light shots. What you have to keep in mind is that the night mode can only be used to take pictures of still objects.
Huawei P20 Pro | Normal Mode Vs Night Mode
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Normal Mode
Night Mode
There’s also pro mode that uses AI and automatically adjusts ISO, shutter speed, which is extremely convenient, at least for me.
Like the back camera, the 24 MP selfie camera also reproduces a smooth skin tone and I must say that the selfies are very sharp. Sometimes, when the environment is very bright, you might get overexposed images. But all in all, I have liked the selfie camera because I have actually got quite good selfies from this one.
Huawei P20 Pro | Selfie Samples
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Now moving on to the video department, the videos are stabilized and are of superb quality with a good amount of details. However, 4k videos have lesser stabilization than 1080p videos. So, it’s better you use the 1080P option. Also while taking videos from the beauty mode, the camera automatically decreases the quality to 720p, which well, is not fair.
Similarly, there are a lot of camera settings which may be confusing for some people as you have to dig in all of those, tweak in and out of different settings which may be a hassle for some. So, all in all, the cameras are exceptional as hyped.
Check out all the high-resolution camera samples here
Performance
What’s holding the phone inside is the powerful Kirin 970 chipset coupled with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory. Sorry, no SD card slot here, but I think 128GB is more than enough.
Now back to the processor, we know that the Kirin 970 is not something new, it had been used in the Mate 10 pro last year. The performance of the chipset is good no doubts but Huawei could have opted for the Snapdragon 845 which is the latest and certainly shows better benchmark results.
In real-world usage, it shows flawless performance in terms of multitasking and gameplay. For example, I played one of the graphics demanding game PUBG and it ran with minimum hiccups. Likewise, other high-end games too ran very smoothly.
The back of the phone rises in temperature but not to the extent of worry or frustration. In the August update, Huawei is introducing the GPU Turbo feature in the P20 Pro which as Huawei claims is going to boost the GPU performance. Having known that the GPU performs good enough, with the new update what does Huawei have in the bag for users will be known then.
Software
On to the software, I must say that Huawei’s UI has gotten better with time and it’s actually pleasing to use. There are different theme options and you will never get bored of what’s there.
Huawei P20 Pro | Software UI
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I am a Samsung user, but the EMUI on the P20 pro has got be impressed. Like most other flagships, Huawei has also tried to give many features to the users, there is battery optimization features, there is knuckle gesture features, there are a lot of display settings, you can enable or disable the notch which are all good to know and I don’t mind having them on my device. During my time of use, there was one update I got on the device. But I expected more for some reason.
Battery
The Huawei P20 pro has a massive 4,000 mAh battery and complementing this battery size is Huawei’s own Supercharge feature. The device gave a full two days of usage on a single charge even on extensive use.
Also, it’s not powering a 2k display so you get a longer life but if put in comparison with the S9 and iPhone X, Huawei certainly has a lead on this one. The battery life is very impressive and other flagship manufactures need to learn a lesson from this.
Conclusion
So, yes. What do I think about the Huawei P20 Pro as a whole? I would say that it is the perfect Huawei device. I mean among the others Huawei has produced till now, this one is the best offering. And if you will get the P20 pro, it will surely be for the cameras.
Yes, the camera’s interface and the AI need a little reworking but those can be fixed in an update, so no worries. The performance is powerful and in my time of use, this device has never let me down. So, would I recommend this device? I would say yes. This device is a package for photography enthusiasts and people looking to get a worthy flagship.
It has not been so long that the Motorola introduced its affordable and mid-range handsets in the smartphone world. Namely known as the Moto G6 series and Moto E5 Series, the smartphones failed to make an impact in terms of sales. However, the smartphone brand is not giving up on bringing the new phones. The smartphone maker recently announced the Motorola Moto Z3 with quite an ambitious dream. During the announcement, Motorola stated that the Moto Z3 would be the world’s first smartphone to be upgradeable to the 5G technology. The company has the plan to bring Moto Mod, which would fit with the handset and would add the 5G connectivity when the technology launches in 2019.
In terms of display, the Moto Z3 comes with the 6.01-inch display. The display on the handset uses a Super AMOLED panel so the display will surely look vibrant with deeper blacks and brighter whites. The display on the handset features a Full-HD+ resolution in the 18:9 aspect ratio contributing to a pixel density of 402PPI. To ensure the safety of the screen from cracks and scratches during the falls, the display has been shielded with the Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
Being the flagship handset from the company, the smartphone comes equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset. The processor is powerful and the performance is reliable, however, despite being the flagship of 2018, the smartphone still uses a year old processor. But for the price tag it carries, that is understandable. The smartphone has also been provided with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage alongside. There is also a facility of the expansion of memory using the SD card and a dedicated slot has been provided for the purpose.
On the camera front, the Motorola Moto Z3 sports dual camera setup at the back. There is a primary camera of 12MP backed by another secondary camera of 12MP. The secondary camera provided on the handset possesses a Black and White Sensor so the users can get top quality monochrome images when in need. On the front side, there is an 8MP camera for taking selfies and for video calling.
There is also the side mounted fingerprint sensor, which has reduced the chin bezels to great extent. Another interesting feature on the smartphone is its splash and dust resistant body. However, it is not IP certified. The package of the Motorola Moto Z3 has been fueled by a 3000mAh battery. To reduce the charging time, the smartphone is provided with the fast charging feature, which injects 15W power into the device’s battery and speeds up charging process. Also, the 5G Moto Mod will have a 2000mAh battery and when used together, the 5000mAh battery combo provides a prolonged battery backup.
The big thing with the Motorola Moto Z3 is not its fancy design, sleek body, vibrant Super AMOLED display or the old yet powerful processor. The big thing with the Moto Z3 is its promise to provide 5G connectivity in the handset when the technology starts to roll out. The smartphone maker has promised that it will release a 5G Moto Mod in 2019 when the 5G technology gets started which when connected with the smartphone showers the smartphone with 5G connectivity.
Blackberry, the smartphone company that has seen better days, is still trying hard. With the Key Note 2 just behind them, they’ve launched their new series of smartphones – without the physical Qwerty keyboards. Blackberry and its Indian manufacturing counterpart announced the Evolve series which includes two new phones, called Blackberry Evolve and Blackberry Evolve X.
The recently launched Samsung Galaxy A6+ (Rs. 45,000) is neither a typical midrange smartphone nor it’s a high-end flagship. So, who is this smartphone for? With so many options available around 30,000 price bracket, is it worth cashing in extra for the A6+? Let’s find out in the Galaxy A6+ review here.
Specs Overview | Samsung Galaxy A6+
6-inch (1080 x 2220 pixels) FHD+ Super AMOLED 18.5:9 Infinity Display
Metal body
Snapdragon 450 SoC
1.8GHz Octa-Core 14nm Cortex A53 CPU
Adreno 506 GPU
4GB RAM, 64GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD
Dual SIM (4G + 4G)
Android 8.0 (Oreo) with Experience UI
16MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.7 aperture, LED flash, 5MP secondary rear camera with f/1.9 aperture
24MP front-facing camera with f/1.9 aperture, LED flash
Dimensions: 160.2 x 75.7 x 7.9 mm; Weight: 191g
Fingerprint sensor
Samsung Pay Mini
3.5mm audio jack, Dolby Atmos
4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz), HT40, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS
3500mAh battery (no fast charging)
Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy A6+ is equipped with the Dual rear cameras — 16MP sensor with f/1.7 aperture and a 5MP with f/1.9 aperture.
The camera is excellent and captures still photos with great details and sharpness. They are also well-saturated, have quite a bit of dynamic range and the colors are natural as well. The low light photos also turn out to be decent with good saturation.
Samsung Galaxy A6 Plus | Back Camera Samples
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The same goes for the portrait pictures as the secondary depth-sensing 5MP camera reads the subjects well to blur out the borders effectively. Also, just like in every other Samsung smartphone with dual cameras, it too has the adjustable blur feature, before and after taking pictures.
Samsung Galaxy A6+ | Portrait Samples
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When Samsung had launched the Galaxy S9 (Read review), I was disappointed with Samsung’s decision to not focus heavily on the selfie camera. However, Samsung has seemed to listen to everyone’s comments as the Galaxy A6+ comes with a top quality 24-megapixel front facing camera that shoots photos that have a lot of sharpness and details embedded in.
Samsung Galaxy A6+ | Selfie Samples
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Check out all the high-resolution camera samples here
Design
Another thing I liked about the A6+ is the premium design. This device is made of high-quality aluminum unibody and boy it feels good on hands. It has a right heft to it while holding it and the seamless back is an eye candy.
I am also happy to see Samsung include all the three slots instead of choosing the hybrid option. As expected, the call quality on the 4G network on both NTC and Ncell is top notch. There is a speaker right above the power button which is very loud and clear. The audio quality from the 3.5mm headphone jack also has respectable performance.
Display
On the front, the Galaxy A6+ features a tall 6-inch Full-HD+ display. Now, Samsung has mentioned the term ‘Infinity’ on the box of the Galaxy A6+, but without the presence of a curved display or very minimal bezels, and if you think it’s going to be similar to the S9 Plus, you might be disappointed by the term “Infinity”.
Quality wise, Super AMOLED panel on the device is vivid with deep blacks. It is also super bright and easily usable on a bright sunny day. The touch is very responsive and kudos to Samsung in using a quality display here.
Software
In the software department, the Experience is typical of what you would expect from Samsung phones. Obviously, it’s not stock, so you do get a fair share of bloatware.
However, I liked the inclusion of S-health and the Samsung Themes. Samsung has also included Always on Display which is a welcome addition considering you don’t get a notification LED.
Samsung Galaxy A6+ | Software UI
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Performance
The area where A6+ has failed to live up to the price is on the performance front. The “mediocre” at best Snapdragon 450 processor is usually seen on devices that sell for a relatively low price. If you compare it with Oppo F7 (Read review) or the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI (Read review), the A6+ falls short by a good margin.
On to the real-time performance, using light apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram is smooth and you won’t feel the lag. But, it’s not blazingly fast, and apps opening takes a little bit of time. The good thing is there was no major throttling going on and you won’t experience heating after long chatting session.
As for gaming, low-end to mid-tier games are playable at respectable frame rates, but you will notice occasional frame drops while playing high-end games and you will get better gaming phones with better frame rates below this price tag. So, if you are into performance and gaming, you should be looking somewhere else.
Sensors
Well, talking about the sensor, you do get a snappy fingerprint sensor along with the face unlock which also gets the job done. There’s also a gyro sensor for those interested in Virtual Reality.
Battery
What has impressed me is the 3,500 mAh battery which easily lasts for a day and a half under heavy usage. The drawback, however, is that it takes a while to juice up. With no fast charging, the stock charger takes around 3 hours to charge.
I use the S9 Plus as my daily driver and I am used to fast charging, so waiting for 3 hours to get fully charged on A6+ was frustrating at times. But, if you are not used to fast charging, it won’t bother you much.
Conclusion
The Galaxy A6+ is Samsung’s answer to the growing number of Chinese smartphones that have started dominating the mid-range market. With this device, Samsung has fallen short on the performance front, as it underperforms for what it is worth. But it does make up for it with superb cameras – both front and back, outstanding battery life, stunning design, and top-quality display. So, if you are not much of a performance geek, you should definitely give the Galaxy A6+ a look.
The smart tablet market has been dwindling for some time, yet it hasn’t stopped companies from coming out with newer tabs. And so, Samsung has released a successor to its last years Galaxy Tab S3, with quite a few improvements – in about almost all aspects. The new one is called Samsung Galaxy Tab S4, and its set to be Samsung’s greatest in its tablet lineup. But with its features, it looks like Samsung is heading towards an Android laptop!
Compared to last year’s Galaxy Tab S3, the Galaxy Tab S4 is bigger, more powerful, has bigger storage, better camera…well, you get the picture. First off, you’ll notice its bigger screen, with seriously thin bezels! The design is glass front and back, with a metal frame. It features a 10.5″ AMOLED display with 2560 x 1600 resolution in a 16:10 aspect ratio. It seems Samsung’s done everything to maximize your media consumption experience, bringing in last year’s AKG’s Quad-speakers, this time, with improved Dolby Atmos surround sound support.
The primary camera stays the same at 13 MP and it’s 4K video recording enabled. The front camera is now 8 MP, which can record Full-HD videos. The highly slim bezels mean no more fingerprint sensors, as the tablet unlocks with Facial recognition, combined with Iris Scanner. I think that the fingerprint sensor would’ve been more convenient…but maybe Samsung decided to jump on the trend.
Inside, a Snapdragon 835 chipsetwith 4 GB RAM powers the tablet, and it should be good enough. Storage options have improved, with the baseline model being 64 GB. A microSD card option is always there, but you can also get the 256 GB model as well. You can also choose between a SIM-variant or a normal one as well, depending on your needs.
But what makes this tablet close to a laptop is its Dex-enabled! You can get a laptop experience on it with keyboards, monitors, and everything, but it does fall short of a real laptop. Yes, you can simply plug it into your Dex, and voila! You have an Android laptop. The Dex can also let you connect a monitor, improving your workspace. And since you can connect a wireless mouse to it easily, it’s more like a desktop experience than a tablet one. Also, the S-Pen adds more to the experience, by making the navigation smoother and easier. With Microsoft apps pre-installed on it, it’s clear that this is designed for commuters and to make you more productive in a sense.
The Galaxy Tab S3 cost around Rs.83,500 in Nepal when it came out. And this one, by the looks of it, might be more expensive! The baseline model of 64 GB is set to be priced at $650, without the keyboard cover, or the Dex. You’ll have to make quite a dent in your pocket if you want to have the full laptop wannabe experience, it seems. So, what do you think of the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S4? Will you buy it if it launches in Nepal? Do let us know.
Games are a great way of letting your problems go and immersing yourself in a virtual carefree world. We also get that most people really don’t bother playing games on a PC let alone a console. So for that reason, we will be focusing on the most popular platform for playing games, that being Google Android.
So, let’s look at some of the best Android games, new games, and games that have a special part in our hearts. The rankings are in random order so, do not take any offence if your favourite games happen to be at the bottom of the list.
1. PUBG Mobile
Pretty much one of the best game on the Play store right now, a perfect combination of great gameplay and some realistic at the same time awesome graphics. It’s not as good as on PC, but it’s also free so there is that. It’s basically a toned down version of the PC, although EPIC has really managed to do a fantastic job of retaining the actual gameplay from the PC version.
“100 players parachute onto a remote 8×8 km island for a winner-takes-all showdown. Players have to locate and scavenge their own weapons, vehicles and supplies, and defeat every player in a graphically and tactically rich battleground that forces players into a shrinking play zone. Get ready to land, loot, and do whatever it takes to survive and be the last man standing!” – PUBG Mobile Playstore description.
Everyone didn’t go as nuts for this game as one would have thought. The game even went live a full day ahead of its schedule which did affect it’s overall first-day download numbers. Well, let’s just say it’s not really much of a big deal as it already has more than a million download already. The game, I felt was a bit worse than before, but then again, the fun hasn’t stopped.
“The gameplay in Asphalt 9 is similar to Asphalt 8: Airborne, with noticeable differences in graphics and design. There are 48 cars for players to collect, all of which are extremely prestigious. Just like in the previous games, there are five classes: D, C, B, A, and S. All cars in the game now require “blueprints” to unlock and level up. To add on, a new car editor is in the game. There are also “clubs,” where you can make a community of players, and achieve rewards.” – Asphalt 9 Wikipedia Page.
This one is one of my favourites as well, with a pretty relaxing gameplay experience. It’s a simple game with literally one input method, but you will find yourself doing so much with just that. The gameplay along with the mysteries that you go on unlocking, the graphics itself and most importantly the background music is such a nice combination. You just have to actually play it once to just know what I am babbling about.
“Just beyond the horizon sits a majestic desert, vast and unexplored. Join Alto and his friends and set off on an endless sandboarding journey to discover its secrets. Soar above windswept dunes, traverse thrilling canyons and explore long-hidden temples in a fantastical place far from home. Along the way, you’ll grind across vines, bounce atop hot air balloons, ride towering rock walls, and escape mischievous lemurs – all while uncovering the desert’s many mysteries.” – Alto’s Odyssey Play Store Description
Fifa Soccer is as the name suggests a football game. I did get addicted to the FIFA 14 on Android for a brief period, but it’s been a dry spell for a while now until EA finally decided to launch another FIFA for Android, the FIFA Soccer. It’s still not perfect, I mean it doesn’t even get a simple kick off mode, so you will be training for a while before you can get any sort of real action (It’s not actually long, it just feels like an eternity). Nevertheless, I would really recommend football fans to try this out once.
“Develop the most competitive squad when you choose any 11 players from over 550 real teams, including stars from past and present, and train them to over 100 OVR. Add depth to your roster, manage your lineup on the fly, and quickly tweak tactics before every match. Make the right calls and watch your club become the Ultimate Team.” – Fifa Soccer Playstore Description
Arguably one of the best games of all times, if you take your time and learn the game through. It doesn’t actually boast the highest number of downloads that’s more because it’s a paid game rather than a free one. The $7.49 is a hefty price tag for an Android game, maybe just download a cracked .apk first and see if you actually like the game or not. If you give it enough time, you will actually learn to see what the game is actually all about.
“Explore infinite worlds and build everything from the simplest of homes to the grandest of castles. Play in creative mode with unlimited resources or mine deep into the world in survival mode, crafting weapons and armour to fend off dangerous mobs. Create, explore and survive alone or with friends on mobile devices or Windows 10.” – Minecraft Playstore Description
The much hyped, Nova 3 and Nova 3i are up for preorders in Nepal’s biggest online retailer Daraz. Why pre-order you ask? Well, you are getting a free portable printer on the Nova 3 and a portable speaker on the Nova 3i. You will also get a pretty nice smartphone for the money you are paying, and if these phones were on your buying list, pre-ordering is a no-brainer.
You can also pre-book it from this link here. You do need to pay Rs 3000 upfront to pre-book your shiny new smartphone, which started from July 28 and will go on till August 12. If you do not trust online bookings, you also have an option to book offline from selected outlets.
Huawei Nova 3i Specifications:
Display: 6.3 inches IPS FHD+ display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio
OS: Android Oreo 8.1 with EMUI 8.2 on top
Chipset: Huawei Kirin 710
CPU: 4×2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4×1.7 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU: Mali-G51 MP4
RAM: 4GB
ROM: 128GB (uses SIM 2 slot)
Selfie camera: 24+2 MP (depth sensor)
Rear camera: 16 MP f/2.2+ 2MP depth-sensing camera with Gyro EIS, HDR, panorama, face detection, geo-tagging, touch focus etc
So these are both really nice smartphones, which should be no surprise for anyone. The performance from the Nova 3i’s Kirin 710 should match any smartphone with an Helio P60 or Snapdragon 660. For instance, the Oppo F7 and the Nokia 7 Plus already delivers similar performance to the Nova 3i.
I am not saying the performance will be comparable, but it does show some signs of how they might perform. It will most possibly improve with every update, and we are yet to actually test out the GPU Turbo technology, which should also be very interesting.
You can also expect a nice set of cameras, which has been a key selling point for Huawei devices for quite some time now. Not to mention these two smartphones not only look good but also felt equally good in my hands. Particularly, the Iris Purple color which looks really awesome in my opinion. You can pre-order on Daraz here.
With the trend of the bezel-less and near bezel-less displays, the concept of the phablet seemed slowly fading away. The shrunk bezels provided space for the extension in the display without a nasty increase in size. So we could barely see phablets making up to the market these days. However, Huawei seems to be unruffled with the trend. So it decided to rejuvenate its popular phablet series namely known as the Huawei Honor Note series. And after two years of pause, Huawei added a new member in its Honor Note series lineup. The newbie, also known as the Huawei Honor Note 10 comes with a giant display, big battery, powerful processor, a wonderful set of cameras, and many other exciting features.
Display
On the display side, the phablet comes with a giant 7-inch display, 6.95-inch to be precise. And with the Full HD+ resolution, the content on the screen will fare out really well. But it definitely is sad to see Huawei’s decision to downgrade from Quad HD resolution on the Honor Note 8 to Full HD+ in the Honor Note 10. Nonetheless, the newbie boasts an AMOLED display, which will produce deeper blacks and brighter whites so color will pop out pretty well. On the top, the display also supports HDR 10 and 115% of NTSC color gamut. So despite the higher resolution, we might not even miss the display on Note 8 at all.
The phablet does not just look appealing because of its all glass on the front and on the back and because of its narrow bezels, the more is due to the absence of the infamous notch. The contagious concept of the notch started by the Essential PH-1 phone and iPhone X spread like the wildfire in the smartphone world. But Huawei discarded the concept of the notch on the Honor Note 10. And this attribute on the handset has garnered tremendous attention in the fan base.
Software and Performance
On the software side, the Note 10 comes with Android Oreo out of the box with EMUI 8.2 on the top. And on the performance front, the handset is furnished with the Huawei’s Hisilicon Kirin 970 chipset with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM alongside. Even on the storage side, there are two options you can choose from, one with 64GB of internal memory and another with 128GB of onboard storage. There is also a slot for the memory expansion. However, the users will be obliged to sacrifice the dual SIM functionality due to the hybrid nature of the slot.
The most interesting feature on the Huawei Honor Note 10 is the liquid cooling solution, which will be used by the chipset to cool down the temperature. The maker calls the technology as “the nine” as it consists of 8 layers of dissipation and a ninth one which is basically a PC-grade liquid-cooled pipe. This technique promises a 41% better heat management, which implies 10 °C lower temperatures under load. If the information is true, the handset will surely remain calm and cool even after prolonged high-end gaming sessions.
And needless to mention that the Huawei Honor Note 10 supports the GPU Turbo tech, which Huawei claims to provide a boost in performance mostly in the gaming scenario. Not just the GPU Turbo tech, the handset also welcomes the new CPU Turbo technology. So with the software monitoring and control, the performance will be enhanced in the Dual Turbo Mode. And the good thing is that the feature can be accessed with a press of the dedicated hardware button on the bottom.
Camera and Battery
Even in the camera department, the Huawei Honor Note 10 is well suited up to compete against the popular handset available. The phablet comes with 16MP, f/1.8 camera backed by another 24MP B/W, f/1.8 camera at the back. Up front, there is a 13MP shooter to help the users in taking selfies and for video calling. All the processes inside the device are fueled up with a whopping 5000mAh battery. And to cut down the charging time, the handset also comes with Super Charge technology to juice up the battery faster.
Price and Availability
Even in terms of pricing, the Honor Note 10 does not disappoint. The base variant or the one with 6GB RAM and 64GB of onboard storage comes with a price tag of CNY 2,799 ($409). The variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage comes at an expense of CNY 3,199 ($468) whereas the premium or the powerful variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage will demand a price of CNY 3,599 ($527).
The phablet is available in two color variants: Midnight Black and Phantom Blue and it is already on for pre-order in China. However, the actual shipments will get started from August 1.
