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HP Pavilion 15 Review: The Ultrabook that Fails to Pack a Punch

GadgetByte

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April 29, 2018

HP Pavilion 15 Review: The Ultrabook that Fails to Pack a Punch

Ultrabooks are getting common these days. They consist of great specifications all while being portable and powerful. The Pavilion-series from HP is among the popular laptops and the company has launched the 2018 edition of the Pavilion 15 with an updated 8th gen processor and a dedicated GPU. The specifications of this laptop look good on paper, but is it worth the 1 lakh price tag? Let’s find out.

HP Pavilion 15-CC187 Specifications:

Display: 15.6-inch full HD WLED-backlit, Touchscreen-enabled
CPU: Intel Core i7-8550U 8th Gen processor
RAM: 16 GB DDR4-2400MHz
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 940MX 4GB Graphics
Storage: 1 TB HDD
Operating System: Windows 10
Weight: 4.2 pounds
Connectivity: 802.11ac, Bluetooth® 4.0 combo
Battery: 38 Wh Li-Ion
Price: Rs. 100,000 (~ $1000)

Design and Build

The HP Pavilion 15 comes with a plastic body that flexes, and that too, a lot. The whole device is made of plastic but the top panel and the keyboard area has a brushed aluminum design which looks aesthetic. However, the build material feels cheap and even the slightest touch makes the top panel wobble. Now, I really like how the top panel can be opened with just one finger, but as a Dell XPS 13 user, I would really opt for sturdiness before anything else.

The bottom panel is also made of plastic and it has a certain degree of flex as well, but you might not notice it that much as this panel is made of good quality plastic. The “palm rest” and typing experience it provides is actually enjoyable.

With 18mm of thickness and nearly 2kgs of weight, you could say the Pavilion is fairly portable. Even though the device comes in a huge form factor, the inclusion of plastic body has made it lighter. Now the lightness is a positive aspect of the laptop but I wouldn’t mind an increase in the weight if it means getting a metallic body.

Keyboard and Trackpad

This is partly due to the keypads on the HP Pavilion 15. The ample key travel and the tactile keys make the typing a lot easier and fun. As a person who types in a lot of documents on their laptop, the keypads on the device has become one of my favorites. These keys are also backlit and have helped me quite a lot while using it in a darker area.

However, your laptop happens to house a glass trackpad, you will notice the difference in quality right away when you use the one on this device. The HP Pavilion 15 has a plastic trackpad that is made of a low-quality material. This trackpad isn’t that tactile and to sum up, using it is not that comfortable.

Ports

There are ample ports in the relatively thin body of the HP Pavilion 15. The bottom portion of the laptop is thick enough to house an ethernet port which I think is still necessary for a country like Nepal. There are few other ports as well such as the USB C port, two USB A port on either side of the device, an HDMI port, a full-size SD card slot and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Now, one thing I don’t understand is HP’s decision to include a DVD drive on their laptop. I mean who uses DVDs in 2018? I also think this decision has left the users with a smaller sized battery and a feature that will not be utilized at all.

Battery

This variant of the HP Pavilion 15 houses a 38 Wh battery. Yes, the battery is that small and you will be rushing to your charger every now and then. This laptop with its battery lasts for 2 and a half hours to 3 hours in total if you use it just to type in a few documents, watch a couple of videos and browse through the internet. Laptop companies are including a bigger battery in a smaller footprint these days, and I had expected this laptop to last for at least a few hours. The same goes for gaming, the laptop will only run for somewhere around an hour or even less if you are continuously gaming on it. This is partly due to the inclusion of a touch-sensitive display as well.

Display

The HP Pavilion sports a 15.6-inch full HD display with a WLED panel on top. This display is touch-enabled and it is responsive to every single touch, but I do always wish brands include a 360-degree hinge if they opt for a touchscreen on their laptop. The hinge that holds the display on this laptop is quite smooth and everything but I think it will wear off somewhere in the near future. Now, talking about the quality of the display, it can sometimes lack sharpness but it’s of a good quality with ample brightness and good color reproduction.

Performance

Under the hood, this laptop has the latest 8th gen 8550U intel core i7 processor with Nvidia 940MX DDR3 GPU. Although the 8th gen processor has significant improvements over its predecessor, the inclusion of 940MX is the area where I think HP has made a big mistake. For its price tag, HP should have gone with the MX150 or even gone higher with the 1050 GPU.

The review unit I received came with 16 GB of DDR4 RAM at 2400 MHz and I’ll start by talking about how this laptop performs the rather simpler tasks. My day to day usage constituted mostly of using MS Office, opening a few tabs on Chrome and listening to music. It does handle everything quite well, but it’s not a quiet device as the fan starts making noise even when I was not using any application sometimes. Yes, laptops do make noise but it is rather disappointing that it has to sweat a little bit to complete a few basic tasks.

I wrote this video script on the Pavilion itself, and the device started heating up a little bit after a while. The exhaust on the back gets warm to the touch and it heats up to more than 40-degree Celsius after a session of gaming.

Graphics

On to gaming, well I played a lot of FIFA 18 on the device and it was smooth on medium settings but if you ever happen you max out the settings, you will experience lag after several minutes. The frame rates drop, and the sound becomes way too muffled and distorted. Keep in mind I am talking about FIFA here and there are a lot of other games that require quite a bit of graphics to run without stutters.

Hardware

HP has included the famous Bang & Olufsen dual speakers on the HP Pavilion 15. The device is certainly among the more pleasing sounding speakers but I would have liked it if they were a bit louder.

One the storage side of things, there is no SSD included on the device, so you will have to work with the 1 TB Hard Drive on board. Although there is ample storage, with the Hard drive you will experience the slight lag while loading up applications and while transferring files. There’s, however, an option to add SSD with the M.2 Slot inside this laptop.

Conclusion

As a Dell XPS 13 user, I have to say I missed my laptop at the time of this review. So for $1000 or 1lakh rupees that you’re paying for the Hp Pavilion 15, you are getting a good display, a tactile keyboard, and a portable form factor. But you’re compromising a lot with the older GPU, low build quality and a below-par battery life which has made this device neither a gaming laptop nor a reliable ultrabook. So, if you are in search of a laptop maybe you should just skip this one and get a better value for money device by adding a couple of bucks.

Samsung Galaxy J2 2018 announced with interesting features!

Pratima Adhikari

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April 28, 2018

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Samsung Galaxy J2 2018 announced with interesting features!

Samsung has recently come up with the Samsung Galaxy J2 2018. This is a successor of the Samsung Galaxy J2 2017 and marks some changes to its predecessor. This major focus of this one seems to be two things that are very popular on today’s date, that is, social media and online shopping.

[Update: The Samsung Galaxy J2 2018 Launched in Nepal]

The Samsung Galaxy J2 2018 comes with a preloaded app called Samsung Mall that supposedly uses AI to make user’s online shopping experience better by letting them click pictures of their desired product and shop online with a visual search. Similarly, the phone has an advanced device maintenance feature called ‘move to memory card’ that lets users save the device’s memory by automatically saving contents from social media apps to the external memory card which aids better memory management.

You might be interested in: Samsung Mobile Price in Nepal

Having said that, what upgrade this one has over the last year’s version is that this comes with 2 GB of RAM, an entry-level Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC, and a 5-inch super AMOLED display. Similarly, the device features 2,600 mAh battery.

Further, talking about the camera department, the device sports an 8 MP rear camera with LED lash followed by a 5 MP selfie camera. The device has 16 GB of internal memory that is expandable up to 256 GB. Also, it comes with Android Nougat 7.1 out of the box.

“For Avid social media users, Samsung’s propriety ‘Move to Memory Card’ feature is an advanced memory management solution that de-clutters the internal memory, thereby enhancing the smartphone experience,”- Sumit Walia, Director, Samsung India.

Samsung Galaxy J2 2018 specifications:

Display: 5-inch qHD (540 x 960 pixels) Super AMOLED Display
RAM: 2 GB
ROM:16 GB
OS: Android Nougat 7.1
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 quad-core processor
Rear camera: 8 MP with LED flash
Selfie camera: 5 MP with LED flash
Battery: 2,600 mAh with USB 2.0
WLAN: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth: Bluetooth4.2
Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity, etc.
Samsung Galaxy J2 2018 Price in Nepal: Rs. 14,590

Gionee S11 Lite Review: An Underachiever

GadgetByte

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April 26, 2018

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Gionee S11 Lite Review: An Underachiever

For a couple of years now, smartphone companies have shifted their focus to the mid-range segment where we are getting to see new launches of some promising smartphones every other day. Each of these smartphones claims to excel at something they house. And that is exactly what the Gionee S11 Lite is doing. Launched a while back for the price of Rs. 26,000, the device claims to pack in a lot of features, with its camera being the USP. So, is this smartphone capable of leaving a mark in the nearly-saturated mid-range market? Let’s find out in this review.

Gionee S11 Lite Specifications:

Display: 5.7 inches IPS LCD HD+ FullView display with 18:9 aspect ratio
OS: Android v7.1 Nougat with Amigo 5.0 UI
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 430
CPU: Octa-core up to 1.4GHz
GPU: Adreno 505
RAM: 4GB
Internal Storage: 32GB, Expandable up to 256 GB
Front camera: 16MP, f/2.0 aperture
Rear camera: 13MP + 2MP, f/2.2 aperture, autofocus, LED flash
Rear-mounted Fingerprint Scanner
Battery: 3030 mAh Non-removable battery

Design and Build

Let’s start with the design and build. One of the highlights of Gionee S11 Lite is its stunning design. I mean just look at that shiny back. Gionee sure has nailed the looks of the device. However, the back is prone to attract fingerprints, and that too a lot. So, a case is a must. And while using and the material on the back flexes sometimes. This is solely due to the plastic material this smartphone is covered in. For what it’s worth, I think it should have been cloaked in a metallic back. The volume rockers and the power button are easily felt and it is tactile, but here too, the plastic material tends to feel cheaper sometimes. And Gionee, if you really had to opt for plastic, you could have at least included a sturdy one! To sum up, even though this smartphone looks attractive, it surely doesn’t feel like one. Just take a look at the competitions, almost all the smartphones of its price range have a premium feel with the metallic back they house.

Display

Up top, there is a 5.7-inch display that comes in with an 18:9 aspect ratio. This is a plus for someone looking for a trendy smartphone, although the decreased bezels are still not that minimal. This display has HD resolution, and you can experience the lack of sharpness and saturation, something that you can find in a full HD panel. Take the competition, for example, smartphones like the Xiaomi Mi A1 and Huawei Y9 2018 are cheaper than the S11 Lite but feature a crispier 1080p panel. We are currently at a time when the mid-range smartphones are nailing almost all the aspects of a mobile phone, and then Gionee comes with a device that is worth Rs. 26,000, and sports an HD panel. That sure is disappointing. However, the display is bright enough, and it does well in the bright light setting. Plus, I really like the inclusion of the ‘Smart eye protection’ mode which helps to filter out blue light to protect from visual fatigue. You can adjust the setting of the smart eye mode as per your desire.b

Hardware

The Gionee S11 lite comes with 32 GB of onboard memory which can be expanded up to 256 GB via a microSD card slot. Now, although there’s an option to expand the memory, I still think for the price of Rs. 25,999, smartphone companies must be including 64 GB of memory now, this has become a necessity now!

I had previously complained about the speaker quality of the M7 Power in my review, and I kind of faced the same issue with the S11 Lite. The bottom firing speaker gets muffled sometimes and it doesn’t get that loud as well.

On the back sits a fingerprint scanner that is easily reachable and handy. The Gionee S11 Lite has one of the fastest fingerprint scanners I have seen on a smartphone. Yes, it is that fast. The unlocking is quick, and you can count on it at all times. And this scanner also helps to unlock applications, and capture pictures with ease.

Performance and Software

Moving on to the performance, it is quite unimpressive that Gionee has opted for the chipset which we usually see in smartphones worth 14000 – 15000. But the performance has been satisfactory, at least for me. It handles my day-to-day usage which includes a bit of gaming, internet browsing and running a lot of applications. Yes, there are stutters sometimes, but it handles the necessities of an average user. This may be partly due to the device not having to power a high-resolution display. Oh, and It tends to warm up only a little bit after a long session of gaming and heavy usage.

Gionee M7 Power Antutu Benchmark
Infogram

On the benchmark side of things, the Gionee S11 Lite is one of the average smartphones in the market. Again, comparing it with some of the other mid-range smartphones, you can see differences in the benchmark scores.

As for the software, this device runs on Android Nougat and an iOS-like Amigo UI. It comes equipped with a lot of bloatware which for me Is quite unnecessary, although some of the extra features like the battery manager and the app lock are quite useful. But if you are someone who wants the Operating system of their smartphones updated, you might want to look somewhere else as Gionee isn’t known that much for updating its phones’ software.

Camera

Gionee has boasted the camera setup of the S11 lite which includes a 16 MP selfie camera. It also offers Group selfie and faces beauty. The pictures are clear and vibrant but I did notice these grains on the selfies, as you can see from the images. The selfies sure look great but there is that unusual effect on the images.

The rear houses a dual camera of 13MP and 2 MP. The “normal” shots from the camera are decent, I have to say. But they lack saturation and that “pop” which make the pictures look great. In low light, there is a loss of detail, and that loss is kind of huge. The camera also attracts lots of noise. So, using this device for the night time is a no-go for me.

This rear camera offers Bokeh mode as well. The bokeh mode was sure fun to use as the intensity of the blur can also be adjusted. However, the device struggles to identify the subject and blur the background effectively.

gionee s11 lite review portrait mode sample

In the first shot, the flower petals weren’t identified whereas in the second one, the cameras did suffer a lot although it produced images such as the last one where the device only struggled to blur out the parts of the girl’s hair.

Connectivity

The Gionee S11 Lite comes with a dual hybrid SIM slot that houses a nano SIM and provides another option to add either a microSD or a nano SIM. The call quality from the phone was good and the people on the other side never really complained about the sound. However, with most Nepali people using dual SIM cards, the choice they have to make between a SIM card and an SD card is kind of tough, to say the least. So, if any smartphone company is reading this review, people do not include a hybrid SIM slot.

Battery

The Gionee S11 Lite houses a 3,030 mAh battery. It doesn’t support any form of fast charging which is a bummer as it took me over 2 and a half hours to fully charge the battery. Under heavy usage, it gave me a screen-on-time of around 5 hours. And talking about its stand-by time, well, it’s kind of weird. Once, I slept with around 25% of battery left on board, but when I woke up the next day, the phone was dead. However, other times, it can certainly last for a longer time.

Conclusion

The Gionee S11 Lite is an interesting smartphone looking to leave a mark in the Nepali market. The device has a good camera and an intriguing design, that can attract anyone on the first glance. However, Gionee has cut corners in a few areas, and they are the areas where competitors are offering a lot more for the price! The competition now is sure tough and Gionee, with the S11 Lite, has struggled to live up to that mark.

If the Gionee S11 Lite isn’t really your cup of tea, you might be interested in some its competitors like the Xiaomi Mi A1, Coolpad Cool Play 6, Galaxy J7 Pro, or Huawei Nova 2i.

Pros	Cons
Sleek Design	Plastic Build
Front Camera	Average performance for the price
Minimalistic Bezels	Lack of fast charging
Snappy Fingerprint Scanner

Deals: Grab Xiaomi Redmi 4A at Cheapest Price along with Free Offers

GadgetByte

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April 26, 2018

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Deals: Grab Xiaomi Redmi 4A at Cheapest Price along with Free Offers

Xiaomi Redmi 4A is hands down one of the best budget phones you can get today. With the new Xiaomi distributor in town, we have been seeing the “Battle of Price” from both the parties to sell their phone for the cheapest. This has resulted in the reduction of the price of Redmi 4A to Rs.11,500. But if you were thinking if this year old phone could get cheaper than this then wonder no more.

Sastodeal has initiated the Smartphone Dhamaka campaign where they are offering the Redmi 4A for Rs.9,399 for the 16GB variant. This is absolutely the best deal that you can get on this smartphone right now. But it’s not just about the price, you will also get free Smart Cell 4G SIM with up to 5 GB of Free DataPack. If you are catching your breath already, then wait – there’s more! Sastodeal is also offering free NET TV OTT Recharge Card worth Rs 1000.

Quick 2018 Review of Redmi 4A:

Xiaomi Redmi 4A comes with a 5-inch 720p display. It packs 294ppi resulting in crisp and sharp images. The phone comes with a plastic housing so it’s light and handy. Despite the plastic build, the phone feels premium on the hand. Since the phone was one of the top-tier choices under 15k last year, it totally crushes the segment of under 10k.

Powering the phone is the Snapdragon 425 64-bit chipset clocked at 1.4GHz, coupled with 2GB of RAM. With the new MIUI 9 update, the device fly through all the run of the mill tasks that you throw at it. Resource heavy apps like Facebook and Instagram open up quickly. But there is a slight delay when you are switching between apps while multitasking. But it’s not something big and one can totally cope up with it. Gaming can be considered good as well since it can easily handle midtier titles on the play store.

Since there are two storage variants of the Redmi 4A – 16GB and 32GB, the offer mentioned here is for the 16GB model only. If you feel 16GB is inadequate for your needs then you can pop in a microSD card up to 256GB. Talking about slots, the phone carries a hybrid Nano SIM tray.

Talking about cameras, the phone sport a 13MP camera on the rear with PDAF and 5MP on the front. For what it’s worth, the rear camera on the device is surprisingly good with good details and natural colors. The selfie, however, could have been a bit better. Backing up the phone is a decent 3120mAh battery which can easily provide 4 to 5 hours of screen on time.

As additional features, the phone offers IR blaster and wireless FM. But the lack of fingerprint sensor is definitely a bummer for this device. But despite its shortcomings, the Redmi 4A is one of the best phones you can buy under 10k. If you are searching for a secondary phone or just a cheap but good smartphone then you should give a shot at the Redmi 4A.

Specifications of Xiaomi Redmi 4A

5-inch HD IPS display @ 294PPI pixel density
Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset
Quad-Core (4 x 1.4 GHz Cortex A53) CPU
Adreno 308 GPU
2GB RAM
16GB/32GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with a microSD
Android 6.0 Marshmallow with MIUI 8
Hybrid Dual SIM (micro + nano / microSD)
13MP rear camera with PDAF, dual tone LED Flash, f/2.2 aperture, 1080p video recording
5MP front-facing camera, f/2.2 aperture
Infrared sensor, Gyro sensor
Dimensions: 139.5×70.4×8.5mm;Weight: 131.5g
4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS + GLONASS
3120mAh Non-removable battery
Color options: Gold and Rose Gold
Offer Price: ~~Rs. 11,499~~ Rs. 9,399

Xiaomi MI 6x aka the MI A2 goes official with Snapdragon 660 and 20MP selfie camera

GadgetByte

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April 25, 2018

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Xiaomi MI 6x aka the MI A2 goes official with Snapdragon 660 and 20MP selfie camera

Xiaomi has just launched the Mi 6x. And for the rest of us who don’t live in China, the phone is known as Xiaomi Mi A2. And yes, it’s the successor of last year’s beloved pure Android based Xiaomi Mi A1. The new smartphone is expected to offer better performance, even better camera and an even more better value for money. All we can do is hope the Mi A2 comes in the same Android One based operating system.

Xiaomi is confident at the device, claiming it will outperform the likes of Oppo R15 and even the iPhone X. So, what can you expect from such a hyped smartphone? For starter the camera are supposed to be deliver really good performance. The main sensor includes a 12MP Sony IMX486 alongside a 20MP IMX376 sensor. The front will also share the same 20MP IMX 376 from the back for selfies, along with flash on both fronts.

The camera does come with AI enhancements, with over 200 scenes and 12 different portrait modes. Xiaomi also claims the smartphone will learn over time to provide even better details, face detection, gestures and edge bluing capacity. The secondary camera will do 4 to 1 pixel binning delivering better low light shots, same as on OnePlus 5T and Oppo R15.

The performance also takes a huge leap, from a mediocre Snapdragon 625 to a Snapdragon 660. Pair that with either a 128GB/6GB, 64GB/6GB or a 64GB/4GB storage and RAM options, and that’s about as good a $250 smartphone gets. Oh, did we mention the smartphone starts at $250.

The storage is expandable, however it does use the SIM 2 slot. The rest of the spec sheet include USB C port, Bluetooth 5.0, Quick Charge 3.0, dual-band ac WiFi, Gorilla Glass 3 protection and the removal of headphone jack.

But what trumps it all is the pricing, that will start at $250, it does seem like a bargain. The smartphone comes with Android 8.1 out of the box, based on the Android One platform. I for one, am pretty impressed with the smartphone, but it all depends on the user experience the smartphone will deliver so stay tuned with us for a full review of the Xiaomi Mi A2.

Xiaomi MI 6x | Xiaomi Mi A2 Specs:

Display: 5.99-inch (2160 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 18:9 IPS display
Chipset: Snapdragon 660
CPU: 4×2.2 GHz Kryo 260 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 260
GPU: Adreno 512
RAM: 4GB or 6GB
Storage: 64 GB or 128 GB
OS: MIUI 9.5 on top of Android Oreo 8.1
Rear Camera: 12 MP Sony IMX486 + 20 MP Sony IMX376 with flash
Front Camera: 20 MP Sony IMX376 sensor with flash
Security: Fingerprint
Dimensions: 158.7 x 75.4 x 7.3 mm ; Weight: 168g
Connectivity: Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS
SIM: Dual SIM support (Hybrid)
Battery: 3,010 mAh
Color options: Cherry Pink, Flame Red, Sand Gold, Glacier Blue, Black
Price: Starting at $250

[socialpoll id=”2499250″]

Deal you shouldn’t miss: Flagship phone at the price of mid-range handset

GadgetByte

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April 25, 2018

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Deal you shouldn’t miss: Flagship phone at the price of mid-range handset

It has been nearly two weeks that the Nepali New Year started and the wall welcomed a new calendar. Like many people out there, you might have the resolution to own a new smartphone. And it would not be a surprise if your thoughts are tangled to make a choice of a smartphone in the market with a crowded mess. But don’t worry, we have found a deal for you. This deal will help you own a new flagship smartphone just by paying the prevailing price of a mid-range handset. The deal I am talking about is none other than the Nokia 8, the last year’s flagship smartphone from the company.

This deal includes the price slash on the Nokia 8 by a huge amount, Rs. 23,000 to be precise. And the fun fact is that the discount amount is readily sufficient to buy a new Xiaomi MI A1 (4/32GB variant), HTC Desire 830 or the Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus (4/64GB). But not to forget, the offer lasts only till 29^th April and this massive 37% discount is available only at Daraz.com.np.

Also Read: Nokia Mobiles Price in Nepal

Nokia 8 is undoubtedly one of the best Nokia smartphones ever made. The smartphone comes with a sharp and pleasing 5.3-inch display, which supports 2K resolution. And to deduct the risks of cracks and scratches during the falls, the display is shielded with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection.

The device is also impressive in terms of power and performance. It has got a flagship-grade Snapdragon 835 processor. And to assist in the snappy performance, a zippy 4GB RAM LPPDDR4X is inbuilt into the smartphone. On the storage front, the smartphone boasts and an ample 64GB of onboard storage with the privileges for the expansion.

The smartphone is nothing less than a flagship in terms of the camera too. It sports an impressive 13MP dual camera setup at the back. And the lenses and sensors incorporated on the device are the results of the partnership with the renowned optical manufacture company Carl Zeiss. So there is no doubt on its potential. Up front, an 8MP selfie shooter dwells meticulously on the forehead. Not to forget, Nokia 8 also possesses the Bothie feature, which is a rare feature on any smartphone. The Bothie feature lets the user turn on both the front and rear cameras at once and to capture all the details from the cameras in a single frame.

On the software side, Nokia 8 comes with Android Nougat out of the box but it can be upgraded to Android Oreo easily. And there is no need to worry about the updates too as Google itself has promised to provide the OS updates and security patches up to Android Q.

Nokia 8 Specifications

Display	5.3 inches 2K (1440 x 2560), 554ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Android Version	7.1.1 Nougat, Upgradable to 8.0 Oreo
Fingerprint Sensor	Front (Home Button)
SIM	Hybrid Dual Nano-SIM
Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835
CPU	Octa-core (4×2.5 GHz Kryo & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo)
GPU	Adreno 540
RAM	4 GB LPPDDR4X
Storage	64 GB UFS2.1 Expandable up to 256GB (Using SIM 2 slot)
Rear Camera	Dual 13 MP, f/2.0, laser & phase detection autofocus, Carl Zeiss optics, OIS, 4K@30fps
Front Camera	13 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, 4K@30fps
Battery	Non-removable Li-Ion 3090 mAh battery
Price	Rs. 62,999 39,999 (37% off)

Oppo F7 officially launched in Nepal with AI-Powered 25MP Selfie camera

OPPO

GadgetByte

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April 25, 2018

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Oppo F7 officially launched in Nepal with AI-Powered 25MP Selfie camera

Oppo had been creating quite a buzz in the last few weeks regarding its new smartphone, the Oppo F7. After the weeks of teasers, the device officially unveiled the handset amongst the crowd of bloggers and tech enthusiasts, at an event in Hyatt Regency. In the ceremony, the officials highlighted the features of the phone and boasting the potential of its AI-powered 25MP selfie camera on a hopeful note.

The OPPO F7 is the successor of highly successful OPPO F3 and OPPO F5. It now comes with improved AI features implemented in cameras and for face unlock. The 25MP front camera combines Sony 576 HDR sensor and AI beauty 2.0 to produce well-exposed, vivid, and realistic selfies. The AI also recognizes up to 300 facial spots to fine tune the beautification process based on gender, age, skin tone and its type.

The OPPO F7 features a 6.23-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display. With 19:9 aspect ratio and narrow bezels, the phone has a staggering 88% screen to body ratio.

In terms of performance, the phone has a powerful 12nm based Helio P60 processor which is comparable to Snapdragon 636. There are 2 memory variants, and both the 4GB/64GB and 6GB/128GB has made its way into Nepal.

The OPPO F7 runs ColorsOS 5.0 based on Android 8.1 Oreo. With 3400mAh battery, you can expect 1 day of battery life. The phone, however, lacks fast charging and uses an older micro-USB port for charging and data syncing. On the back sits a 16MP camera with LED flash and a fingerprint sensor — All enclosed in a glossy plastic body.

OPPO F7 Full Specifications:

Display: 6.23-inch (2280 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:9 IPS display
Chipset: MediaTek Helio P60
CPU: Octa Core12nm processor (4 X 2GHz Cortex A73 + 4 X 2GHz Cortex A53 CPUs)
GPU: Mali-G72 MP3
RAM: 4GB DDR3
Storage: 64GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD
SIM: Dual SIM (nano + nano + microSD)
OS: ColorOS 5.0 based on Android 8.1 (Oreo)
Rear Camera: 16MP with LED flash, f/1.8 aperture
Front Camera: 25MP, f/2.0 aperture, HDR, Sony IMX576 sensor
Security: Fingerprint, Face unlock
Dimensions: 156 x 75.3 x 7.8mm ; Weight: 158g
Connectivity: Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS
Battery: 3400mAh
Price: Rs. 36,590 (4GB + 64GB) | Rs. 46,590 (6GB + 128GB)

You might be interested in: Best Mid-range Camera Smartphones in Nepal

OPPO F7 Price in Nepal

OPPO F7 is available in three color option: Solar Red, Moonlight Silver, and a special edition Diamond Black. And in terms of storage, the device can be obtained in two memory variants: one with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage whereas the premium variant will carry the substantial 6G BRAM and 128GB internal storage. The device will cost you Rs. 36,590 for the 4/64GB variant whereas the 6/128GB is valued at Rs. 46,590; Rs. 10,000 more than the base variant.

When the device was launched in India, the 4GB/64GB and 6GB/128GB variants were priced at INR 21,990 (NRs. 35,184) and INR 26,990 (NRs. 43,184) respectively. We are really impressed that the device is priced competitively and close to the internal pricing. At this price, the device will direly go against the Vivo V9; a camera-centric smartphone available at a similar price.

Understanding Gyro sensor or Gyroscope

Tech Guides

GadgetByte

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April 21, 2018

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Nowadays, smartphones have procured many hardware components, which have made them a powerful device. Going through the specs, we are often perplexed with the features it includes and the sensors inbuilt in it. Having many sensors on your device is good as it makes your multifunctional in many respects. However, to be able for the optimum utilization of your smartphone, you must have a sound knowledge of the sensors. One of such sensors, which often keep us bewildered, is Gyro sensor or Gyroscope.

What is Gyro sensor or Gyroscope?

Gyro sensor is one of the types of a motion sensor. Motion sensors are the sensors, which senses the movements, such as tilt, shake, rotation, or swing. Gyro sensors are the type of sensors used to sense the angular rate or angular velocity. Gyro sensors can sense rotational motion and changes in orientation and therefore augment motion. Vibration gyro sensors can sense angular velocity due to the Coriolis force applied to a vibrating element. This motion produces a potential difference from which angular velocity is sensed. The angular velocity results in an electrical signal output.

How it differs with an Accelerometer?

The main difference of Gyroscope with the Accelerometer is that an Accelerometer does not sense the rotation, however, a Gyro sensor does.

An accelerometer is a compact device capable of measuring non-gravitational acceleration. When a stationary device comes into motion, the Accelerometer feels the vibrations. The accelerometer is designed to respond to the vibrations associated with such movement. However, a gyro sensor is a device that uses Earth’s gravity to determine orientation.

An accelerometer is capable of determining the changes in velocity and changes in position. However, a gyro sensor measures either change in orientation or changes in rotational velocity.

What are the uses of Gyro sensor in your phone?

Having a Gyro sensor on your device serves the following privileges:

With a different set of motion of your device, you will be able to assign different task to your device. Shaking your phone to lock your device will be an example.
The effect of vibrations will be less while capturing photos or videos.
When the phone rotates, the view changes its orientation.
Angular motion in a Mobile Game by 3D motion of the device.
Smooth rotations and functional execution of various commands in the game by 3D Motion.
Because of the Gyro sensor on your phone, your device supports virtual reality (VR).

How to find if your phone has a Gyro sensor or Gyroscope?

To confirm the presence of gyro sensor on your phone you can download an app named CPU-Z from the Google play. After installing the app and clicking on the sensors tab, all the sensors on your device will be right before your eyes. This includes the Gyro sensor or Gyroscope as well. You can download the app here.

Huawei Honor 10 unveiled: Kirin 970 and AI cameras are to look for

GadgetByte

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April 21, 2018

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Huawei Honor 10 unveiled: Kirin 970 and AI cameras are to look for

Much read and said about the notch on smartphone displays, the smartphone manufacturers have not yet stopped introducing the smartphones with a notch. This time, honor joins the league. The sub-brand of Huawei unveiled the Honor 10.

The Honor 10 comes with a near bezel-less display i.e. 19:9 aspect ratio which is the case in most of the smartphones having notch these days. The smartphone stands 5.84-inches tall. It is a pretty decent size for a smartphone with 19:9 aspect ratio. The outlook of the smartphone is time and again being compared to the Huawei P20. However, it is said to have youthful look in comparison.

At the launch event, representatives of Honor said that the smartphone was designed or ‘crafted’ with much focus on aesthetics. The Honor 10 has an IPS LCD panel with full HD+ display (1080 X 2280px). While talking about the outlook, the back is coated with aurora coated panel which is a color shifting. This is one thing that we are really looking forward to.

The smartphone carries dual rear cameras on the left placed horizontally and the fingerprint sensor is placed right below the screen.

One of the fascinating aspects of the Honor 10 is its chipset. The Kirin 970 is said to be the one for flagship smartphones and is Huawei’s own product. The SoC introduced on the Q4 of 2017 also has AI (Artificial Intelligence) capabilities. It has a dedicated Neutral Processing Unit. It has proved out to be worth it through various benchmarks as well.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group said, “The Kirin 970 is the first in a series of new advances that will bring powerful AI features to our devices and take them beyond the competition.”

Furthermore, the Honor 10 has 6GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. But, it disappoints us big time that it doesn’t consist of a Micro SD card. It has a 128GB variant as well, that means we will not miss on much. But the flexibility that a Micro SD card slot brings in terms of storage will be missed.

The Honor 10 runs on Android Oreo 8.1 which most of the smartphones on 2018 are running on.

While talking of the camera, there is a color sensor camera and a monochrome sensor camera on the Honor 10. The color sensor one has 16MP whereas the monochrome sensor is of 21MP.

The Honor 10 has a 24MP selfie camera which is capable of taking iPhone X like the portrait is what they claim. On the video part. The main camera is capable of shooting 4K while the selfie camera can shoot 1080p.

Moving on, the Honor 10 follows the league of smartphones that dissed the 3.5mm headphone jack this year. On the brighter aspect, it has a USB type-C port which means the fast charging game would be strong also, it packs a 3,400 mAh battery.

Huawei Honor 10 Launch Date & Price:

The Honor 10 is similar to Huawei P20 in many aspects but the smartphone’s specifications are quite promising. It comes in Black, Blue and Purple colors and is priced at US$ 412 for 64GB storage version and US$ 477 for the 128GB. You can order the phone starting from today till April 26th if you are in China. The launch and its availability in Nepal has not been revealed yet.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Review: Class Glass

GadgetByte

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April 20, 2018

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2017 was a great year for smartphones. However, almost all the smartphones were so feature packed that a question always reeled in people’s minds, What next for smartphones? At a time when these four words begged for an answer, Samsung came up with the Galaxy S9 and S9+. I have used these smartphones for almost one month now, and here’s my full review.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ Specifications:

Display: 5.8/6.2 inches Super AMOLED WQHD+ (1440 x 2960 pixels) with Gorilla glass 5 (front and back) protection, 18.5:9 aspect ratio
Chipset: Exynos 9810
OS: Android Oreo with Experience 9 UI on the top
RAM: 4/6 GB
Storage: 64 internal storage, 128 GB (only for Samsung Galaxy S9+) Expandable up to 256GB (Uses SIM2 slot)
Rear Camera (Galaxy S9): 12MP, f/1.5 – f/2.4, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS, LED flash
Rear Camera (Galaxy S9+): Dual: 12 MP (f/1.5-2.4, Dual Pixel PDAF) + 12MP (f/2.4, AF), OIS, phase detection autofocus, 2x optical zoom, LED flash
Front Camera: 8 MP, f/1.7
Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, A-GPS, 3G, 4G LTE, USB Type C 3.1 reversible connector
Sensors: Iris scanner, fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2
Battery: 3000/3500 mAh non-removable battery, with Fast Charging (QC 2.0)
Features: Intelligent Scan, AR Emojis, IP68 Certified (Water and Dust resistant), Wireless Fast charging
Price: Rs. 87,900 (4GB/64GB) / Rs. 99,900 (6GB/64GB) / Rs. 104,900 (6G /128GB Galaxy S9+)

Design

Even with notches picking up the pace this year, Samsung has opted to stay traditional with the Galaxy S9 and S9+. The bezels are now short, and the top bezel now holds all the sensors and the front-facing camera. Even though smartphones with notches might provide a little bit extra screen space, although minimum, I still like Samsung’s decision regarding the bezels. And talking about the side bezels, there are none! The display of the devices is curved on the sides to blend with the aluminum frame which in turn merges with the glass back. Oh, and the IP68 Dust and Water resistance is certainly a major plus if you want to take your smartphone for a dip sometimes. Design wise, I must give full marks to Samsung as the company has yet again come up with a sleek and premium device that is worth every penny you pay.

Display

One of the major differences between the Galaxy S9 and S9+ is their form factor. The Galaxy S9 comes with a 5.8-inch display while the plus variant has a 6.2-inch screen. However, both the displays have a Super AMOLED panel with WQHD+ resolution. And talking about the quality of the display, well let’s just say the Samsung’s flagships have the best display in the business right now, period! You will especially notice the superiority while viewing high-quality videos. It has ample vibrancy with rich saturation and details to go along. And the minimal bezels certainly help the cause. There are only a handful of flagships currently available in Nepal right now, and the S9 could house the best display on any smartphone for months to come.

Performance

The internal hardware of the devices too have gotten a revamp with the new octa-core Exynos 9810 chipset that now has a 30% performance boost, and that is seen while using the smartphones as well. The Galaxy S9 with its 4 GB RAM and the Galaxy S9+ with its 6 GB RAM can handle all your multitasking needs without dropping a sweat. Gaming is a fun experience on these devices as you can expect a lag-free performance at all time. However, after long sessions of gaming, navigating through the internet and using the camera, they tend to get warm at times.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Geekbench Score Comparison
Infogram

If the benchmark scores are taken into account, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ are certainly the champs. They are the highest rated smartphones on Antutu and the Single-core and multi-core score on Geekbench is top-notch.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Antutu Score
Infogram

Samsung still has a lot to do with Apple’s A-series chipset, though, as the iPhone X certainly outperforms the S9 and S9+ and that is also seen in benchmark results.

Also Read: iPhone X Long Term Review

Software

On the software side, the devices come run on Android 8.0 Oreo with Experience UI on top. The software on the devices is easy to use as Experience UI has certainly evolved to become lighter and lag-free over the years. However, there are still dual applications that are meant for the same purpose. Now you can indeed remove some of the applications like Samsung gear or voice recorder, but there are lots of other applications which are just eating up space on the devices. It would have been very appreciable if Samsung gave it’s users this freedom!

Camera

One of the major differences between the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ is certainly the camera. While the S8 and S8+ had the same camera setup on the back and front, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ are somewhat different. The former device has a single camera on the rear side while the latter has dual cameras. However, the only time you will miss dual cameras on the S9 is while taking pictures on the Live Focus mode, aka Portrait mode.

The Live Focus mode does a well enough job to blur out the background, but there is still work to be done as it still isn’t on iPhone X’s Portrait Mode level as you can see from this comparison shot. Samsung has included a unique feature which lets users change the amount of blur before or after taking the image, which is certainly useful.

One similarity both the phones hold is the camera with a changeable aperture. The Galaxy S9 and S9+ now come with a camera that can try to adapt to its surrounding. The f/1.5 aperture takes in lots of light for better low-light pictures while the f/2.4 aperture takes sharp pictures. Now, this feature might really be the next big thing on smartphones where smartphones casually widen or narrow their apertures, but as a “normal” user, I didn’t notice that much of a difference. Yes, the pictures are sharper during night time from the f/2.4 aperture, but will you notice a huge difference? Not really!

Let’s compare the camera the S9+ with the iPhone X, which is its direct competitor as other flagships like the Google Pixel 2, LG V30 and Huawei P20 Pro have not made their way in Nepal.

One thing I noticed during the comparison was that the images from the S9+ have a slight pinkish tint to them. This is seen in images with a white object and more clearly on some night-time shots. The iPhone’s samples meanwhile have a warmer tone. Now, apart from the exposure level that iPhone’s camera can hold, I think the S9+ holds a little edge in every other aspect. Yes, the images from the Galaxy S9+ is a bit oversaturated sometimes, but it captures a lot of details which I viewed when I zoomed into the images.

And the night light shone better on the Samsung flagship as there were more details on s9+ with proper noise control and exposure level. However, the pinkish tint that I talked about before was clearly visible in some of the night shots.

I took this picture at dusk and the whole image came out with a lot of pinkish tints. Now this tone can help amplify the colors if the object is reddish or, say, maroon, but with white on focus, you might get a different result sometimes.

One area where Samsung hasn’t really upgraded is the front-facing camera. At a time when almost all the smartphones are focusing on selfies, Samsung has apparently chosen to stay with what it has. The selfies are of good quality in daylight, but under low light, the images are quite muddy and lack sharpness.

Here are some other samples from the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+:

In terms of video quality the smartphone stabilizes the videos well in full HD setting, it captures ample details and the colors pop out nicely as well. However, the field of view slightly decreases when you toggle the video capture button. Under low-light, the videos definitely live up to the flagship tag, but it has a touch of noise here and there. The slow-motion and super slow motion videos are a whole another story so I will be talking about them later.

AR Emoji

The front-facing camera now supports Samsung’s own AR Emoji which is its answer to Apple’s Animoji. Although emoji-flying yourself sound fun, the AR Emoji feature is quite raw and unfinished, and I noticed this right after I used it. The device couldn’t read what I was doing with the emoji not emulating my expressions. Hopefully, Samsung will listen to its customers, just like it has listened to this time around by placing the fingerprint scanner below the camera setup.

960fps Slow Motion

Samsung has boasted its slow-motion feature that captures videos at 960fps in HD quality. At first, I really enjoyed using this feature as it nailed slowing down the shots, but then I realized how the videos lacked quality. They lack saturation, sharpness, and details, and you won’t like what it produces at night light. Toggling on the super slow-mo tab, you will realize how the smartphone decreases the exposure exponentially. This same issue is also seen on 240fps slow-mo which reduces the exposure by a level. Also, the slow-mo videos slow down for just around 2 seconds which is a lot less time.

Hardware

This time around, Samsung has included dual speakers (one on the bottom and another being the earpiece itself) on their flagship which are now AKG tuned. Well, as compared to Samsung’s previous flagships, the dual speakers have certainly gotten better. However, if we compare the sound with the iPhone X, the Apple flagship sounds better. The dual stereo speakers are a plus, but with AKG also working together, I had expected something better.

This time, the Samsung flagships have combined facial recognition with Iris Scanning technology for security purpose. While this sounds interesting, this feature can’t really unlock the smartphones in a jiffy like a fingerprint scanner. The fingerprint scanner, which has been engraved in the right place this time, is adaptive and the unlock is faster than the Intelligent Scan. The fingerprint sensor on the S9 is easily reachable and isn’t placed awkwardly and it unlocks the phone in an instant. However, the animation takes a bit of time, so you might feel a little lag while comparing it against, say, the Oneplus 5 or 5T.

Battery

The other area where the S9+ edges out the S9 are in the battery department as it has a 3,500 mAh battery against the 3,000 mAh of the S9. Since the Note 7 debacle, Samsung has always tried to stay on the safer side and this time too, it’s not different. Backing up a tall WQHD+ display is not easy and that is clearly seen in the battery life as the Galaxy S9 provides around 3.5-4 hours of screen time while the S9+ gives around 4.5-5 hours. For a flagship smartphone worth a fortune, I have to say the battery number do not do enough justice. In terms of charging time, with Quick Charge enabled, the Galaxy S9+ takes around 1 hour 30 minutes to charge the device whereas the S9 takes a little less time. I was really hoping Samsung would include a long-lasting battery on the Galaxy S9 and S9+ but the company has compromised on that front.

Insurance

Now there is a reason why I am drawn towards the S9 and that is the insurance Samsung is currently providing on its smartphone. The build of the Galaxy S9 has made the phone quite slippery, and I did happen to drop it hard on the display once. I had thought the display repair was free with the 1-year breakage insurance, but I did end up paying Rs. 6000 for the display which would generally cost a huge amount of money. So, kudos to Samsung for the insurance campaign.

Special Feature

The S9 also has the basic flagship features such as the heart rate, stress, and oxygen saturation. These features could be useful for someone who is into monitoring their day-to-day health stats while some might even feel that these components are taking up space where Samsung could have included a bigger sized battery!

Conclusion

So, my final words for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ would be that these are the best options for flagship devices in Nepal right now. Yes, the iPhone X is a direct competitor but is a little bit expensive, the Mate 10 Pro is has begun to lose its charm and the Huawei P20 Pro is yet launch here. So, even if you are not a Samsung fan, you only have the iPhone X as a choice. But considering the good performance, the insurance facility, the top-notch display and the camera, I see the Samsung Galaxy S9 or the S9+ as the finest options for Android flagships in Nepal.

Pros	Cons
Top-quality display	Battery Life
Sleek Design	Unfinished AR Emoji
Minimalistic Bezels	Low-quality slow-motion video @960fps
Great Camera