Page 767 – GadgetByte Nepal

Micromax and Google Partnered to make a $32 Smartphone

GadgetByte

-

January 7, 2018

Micromax and Google Partnered to make a $32 Smartphone

Android phones have gotten affordable than ever. You can get 4G enabled phones for as cheap as $100. But that was last year, Welcome to 2018, where smartphones are about to get cheaper than ever! On 26th January, Micromax in partnership with Google is set to launch the very first of Android Go smartphones in India. This phone will be priced at $32 which is close to around INR.2000 or NRs.3,200. At this point, it is almost unbelievable to imagine a phone for three thousand as all we can get is basic bar phones for that price. Apart from knowing that it’ll have a touchscreen and runs on Android Go (Lite version of Android Oreo), other specifications are still unknown.

Other Indian smartphone manufacturers are also on the same track but haven’t given a clear date for the launch of their products. Followed by Micromax, companies like Intex, Lava, Karbonn, and others are launching their own Android Go smartphones at a similar price point. So now we will have an extra category apart from budget, namely, Super Budget phones. Initializing with the Indian market, Google is aiming into other markets in the Middle East, Africa, South East Asia and Latin America.

The current number of active Android users is over two billion. And so, Google wants to expand that to another billion by focusing those with a low budget. Half of the feature phones that the manufacturers sell in India are all below the $32 mark. The Go phones, however, will have the advantage of a true and pure Google experience. And being the first manufacturer Micromax may have its upper hand on the market than other following companies.

So, this project is great for those consumers who switch to Chinese brands in search for low priced android phones with good specifications.

So what is Android Go?

Android Go is the lite version of Android Oreo which will run on lesser hardware. It will run on devices with RAM as low as 512MB-1GB and devices with 8GB of storage. The inbuilt apps will consume less storage because of the optimised apps such as Google Go, Youtube Go, etc. These slimmed down apps use low space and give maximum performance even on low RAM. Nevertheless, it will retain the same taste and feel just like the original Androids. The phones will contain Qualcomm and MediaTek processor chip inside for the best performance. Android Go contains a built-in data manager which will help the user save and control more data.

“These phones get all the optimizations that come with Android Oreo (Go edition), including a better performing OS with built-in data management features and security benefits. There is also a new set of pre-installed Google apps, including Google Go and the Google Assistant for Android Oreo (Go edition), designed to be lighter and more relevant to the unique needs of the next billion users” Caesar Sengupta, VP, Next Billion Users team at Google had said in a blog post.

Android Oreo (Go edition) smartphones also come with a version of the Google Play Store that allows people to download an app highlighting the apps designed to work best on Go edition devices. Despite that, in the end, user’s will prefer the Android experience that has fewer data cap overages and seamlessly cause fewer performance hiccups. And it may improve since there is still a stigma around using phones with less memory.

Battery manufacturer Energizer launches Power Max 600s with a big battery and a modern look

GadgetByte

-

January 7, 2018

0

Battery manufacturer Energizer launches Power Max 600s with a big battery and a modern look

Energizer is a well-known company when it comes to making batteries. It has launched quite a few mobile phones over the years, but they haven’t really made their way to the top. However, this time though, the company has launched a smartphone, the Energizer Power Max P600s, that comes with some modern features.

Since Energizer is a battery-manufacturing company, it is obvious that the manufacturer has focused on the battery of the Power Max P600s. It houses a 4,500 mAh battery which if the claims are considered, provides a stand-by time of up to 400 hours. However, this has resulted in an extra thickness of 9.8mm. This battery can be juiced up via fast charging with a USB Type-C connector.

The Energizer Power Max P600s sports a tall 5.99-inch display with Full HD+ resolution which simply translates to the device comes with an 18:9 aspect ratio display. Right below the screen sits an octa-core Helio P25 processor which is paired with 3 or 6 GB GB RAM and Mali-T880 GPU. Energizer has included Android 7.0 Nougat in this mobile phone.

In the optics department, the Energizer Power Max P600s has dual 13-megapixel + 5-megapixel on the rear side which is also engraved with a fingerprint scanner. There is a 5-megapixel front-facing camera that sits alongside a LED flash. For storage purpose, the 3 GB RAM variant has 32 GB of onboard memory whereas the 6 GB variant packs 64 GB of internal memory. The Power Max P600s also supports expandable storage up to 256 GB. There is also another area where the storage variants come into work as the one with 32 GB memory is Black in color whereas the one with 64 GB is Blue in color. Both variants share a carbon fiber finish, though.

The Energizer Power Max 600s will launch in mid-January with prices still not confirmed.

Energizer Power Max 600s Specifications:

5.99-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display
Bezel-less display with 18:9 aspect ratio
Helio P25 SoC
Octa-core processor
Android v7.0 Nougat
Mali-T880 GPU
3 GB or 6 GB RAM
32/64 GB internal storage
Dual Hybrid SIM
13 MP + 5 MP rear-facing cameras with dual tone LED flash
8 MP front-facing camera
Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor
USB Type-C connector
4,500 mAh Li-ion battery with fast charging

Devices in risk from “serious flaw”, companies working on addressing these issues in respective processors

GadgetByte

-

January 6, 2018

0

Devices in risk from “serious flaw”, companies working on addressing these issues in respective processors

With the increasing dependency of people on gadgets, so are the threats to our privacy and confidentiality. Recently, the security researchers at Google project zero along with some academy and industry researchers have detected and reported a ‘serious flaw’ which can put the confidential information at serious risk. What are these flaws prominent in? Do these affect our PCs? how do they exploit our gadgets? Whether or not can they be detected? How do we mitigate the harm? This article deals with all these questions in everybody’s minds for keeping us informed of such threats to our gadgets.

There are not one but two bugs producing the threat to our device’s security and the information in them. They are namely Meltdown and Spectre.

Meltdown affects the hardware by breaking the isolation that exists between the user application and operating system. The bug melts the security between an operating system and user application. According to Google, “Almost every Intel processor since 1995 has been affected by meltdown”. Referred as CVE-2017-5754.

Spectre breaks the meltdown between user applications. It is also being taken as the hardware vulnerability referred by CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5715.

Meltdown can be found in the device with the chip from Intel whereas Spectre can be found in the device having the chip from Intel, AMD, and ARM. Despite that, both of these make it easy for the cyber-criminals to have access to the passwords and the device memory. However, AMD claims that its chips are not vulnerable.

The probability that these flaws are already present in our devices is high. No operating system right from IOS, windows, LINUX etc. is free from these flaws. But, it’s almost impossible for us to detect whether or not our devices are affected by Meltdown and Spectre as the devices run as they have been running and we can find out no fault.

Not even the anti-viruses can detect the threat as they are quite difficult to detect compared to normal malware. But the antiviruses can detect the malware using such attacks by comparing the binaries.

How to fix the harm for different OS?

Google has come up with some patches. Google has issued a security fix for these

Whereas Microsoft has come up with the patch for windows 10 to be downloaded automatically and for the older operating systems, the patch will soon be available.

Even though Apple has made no public comment as such but one of the researchers suggests macOS 10.13.2 for the Apple devices.

LINUX system has a patch as well but they reportedly slow down the devices. They have issued Kernel patches for dealing with this issue.

Amazon web service has also been patched for Google cloud platform, Amazon web services, and Microsoft Azure. The chrome books have received security from OS63.

If the patches are not available for the devices, we are to checkout with the operating system provider and the device maker then install them as soon as possible for mitigating the harm. Either being caused or to be caused by Meltdown and Spectre.

Highlights

Two different flaws i.e. Spectre and Meltdown
Meltdown found in Intel processors.
Spectre found in devices having Intel, ARM and AMD chips.
Invading of the security barrier to access secret information.
Cannot be easily detected by antivirus.
Companies have come up with their own patches to mitigate the harm.
Updates and installations required to minimize the chances of such flaws from harming devices.

UMIDIGI Crystal Review: The bezel-less beauty with a few hiccups!

Pratima Adhikari

-

January 6, 2018

0

UMIDIGI Crystal Review: The bezel-less beauty with a few hiccups!

UMIDIGI has produced quite a few phones over time. One of its recent arrivals in the Nepali market is the UMIDIGI Crystal that has been offered at a budget price of Rs, 25,900. The device is one of those smartphones that offers a near bezelless display and 4GB RAM along with 64 GB storage at a low price. The other specifications too look very impressive on paper. Let’s not get carried away by the specifications. What the phone’s performance, in reality, is like? Here is a full review of the UMIDIGI Crystal to help you answer the question.

Also Read: UMIDIGI Mobiles Price in Nepal

UMIDIGI Crystal Specifications:

5.5-inch 1080 x 1920 pixels full HD Bezel-less SHARP 2.5D curved display
Corning Gorilla Glass 4
1.5GHz Octa-core MediaTek MT6750T processor
4GB RAM, 64GB internal memory, expandable with microSD upto 256GB
Android v7.0 (Nougat)
13 MP + 5 MP dual rear cameras with Samsung sensor
5 MP front camera
Dual Hybrid SIM (Nano+Nano/TF Card) with 4G LTE
USB Type-C
Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor
3000 mAh non-removable battery
Glass Body (2.5D curved glass on the front & rear)

Display and Design

Let’s go for the design and display first. I must say that the phone looks very premium for the price. The 18:9 aspect ratio surely does not go out of notice! There is glass everywhere, on the front and even on the back, which is, surrounded by a metallic frame. Apart from the metallic portion, the entire thing is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The only complaint I have with the glass is that it attracts a lot of smudges, as you can see for yourself; my prints are all over the phone. But in terms of scratch protection, it does well.

Moving on, the phone has a 5.5- inch 1080p display which is very sharp and bright. It has a good color reproduction meaning the colors are nice and vibrant and the level of contrast it provides is good too. The display is visible under sunlight too and I must say there are no viewing angle problems on this device. The UMIDIGI Crystal does well in the display department.

On the top, we have the 3.5mm audio jack and the proximity and light sensors and just below it, we have a small speaker. Similarly, on the bottom, we have the USB port and two speakers. On the right, we have the SIM/memory card slot and on the left, there are the volume control buttons and the power button. What I have always wanted to say out loud is, the UMIDIGI Crystal has the worst power button placement in the world. I mean, each time, I had to struggle to find it. And mind you, I used this device for more than 2 weeks and I still have the same concern. Well, you can imagine the magnitude of the problem!!

The notification light on the lower side looks cool. Though the looks are elegant, the phone is one awkward device to hold. I think it’s probably because of the edges being too pointed and the phone being a bit thick. Thereby, in the design portion, the phone could have done better rather than only focusing on minimizing the bezels!

Performance

Second, let’s dive into how the device performs. The UMIDIGI Crystal is powered by an octa-core MediaTek6750T processor coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64 GB of onboard storage expandable up to 256 GB. Out of the 64GB storage, we have 54 GB left for usage, which is okay! App switching on this device is fine; however, app opening is a little slower in comparison to other phones. It’s like the phone panics while we try to open any app in a rush. The phone is not as responsive as it should be. However, the phone can handle many apps at the same time. On my use, the phone has never shut off while aggressively using different apps.

Gaming on this device is a good experience. I have played high end to lower end games and the results are pretty good. No stutters while playing any games and the visuals look good as well. So, no complaints! The only thing that bothered me while playing games is that the speakers tend to be covered while holding the phone with both hands and I could not feel the trill while playing Asphalt 8 and Hakku run. Other than that, gaming is smooth. And yes, long time gaming equals to the device heating up as fire.

The UMIDIGI Crystal comes with Android 7.0 Nougat coupled with a near stock like UI. So, you are not going to find bloatware on board. The UI has some additional features like, customizing the notification bar, changing the position of navigation keys, etc. There is also a guest mode for the ones preferring to use it. Overall, the UI is simple and nothing to whine about.

The GPS tracker is not, however, very accurate. It tends to lose your location time and often. While I am still complaining about the performance, wifi connectivity, in the UMIDIGI Crystal, though it’s dual-band, it’s not good. I mean it loses the signal often if you are not near your router. This is very frustrating.

Moving on, let’s talk about the sound quality. The speakers are loud but it lacks any kind of bass and the sound quality is just average. The fingerprint sensor is at the back and slightly slow in performance, it’s not too bad but it’s not fast as well. Also, it’s like the fingerprint sensor is mixed with the back, so it’s difficult finding it.

Summing up, apart from the gaming and UI experience, the performance is just okay!

Camera

Let’s move on to the cameras. The UMIDIGI Crystal has a 13+5 MP dual camera setup at the rear portion and a 5 MP selfie shooter at the front. The rear camera is one of those that has a fake Bokeh as it is crystal clear that it is the software that is producing the blur.

The Bokeh is terrible, as you can see in the pictures; it creates a blur only in a circular fashion, bringing together both the object in focus as well as the surroundings.

I didn’t have the hassle of testing the HDR mode in this device because there isn’t such feature! There is an option to save the raw photo which was quite a waste considering there are minimum camera features.

The images from the rear camera come out average. The images are not so sharp and oftentimes come out overexposed. Similarly, when I zoomed into the camera and took pictures, I was disappointed with the quality. With a dual camera setup, I was expecting more!

Similarly, the 5 MP selfie shooter is not very impressive either. The pictures in broad daylight are mediocre in quality and in dark lighting conditions; the images are dark, blurry and grainy. Also, there was a reddish tint in the pictures that didn’t look good. One major concern with the selfie camera is its placement! In an attempt to have minimum bezels at the top, the selfie camera is placed at the bottom of the phone, which is very awkward indeed. Once you open the camera, you cannot figure out where to look. And every time you have to invert your phone to take selfies, which is a hassle I didn’t like taking.

Battery

Talking about the battery, The UMIDIGI Crystal is powered by a 3000 mAh battery. Under normal usage that is for phone calls and using social media the phone’s battery lasts for almost a day. Whereas, while playing games and watching videos, the phone suffers significant battery drainage as a result of which, the battery lasts for around 5 hours. Similarly, the device takes around 2 and a half hour to get fully charged meaning there is no fast charging support and gives a screen- on time of 3 hours. There is a battery saving mode but that does not cover up the average performance of the battery. The only thing that is good about the battery is that the USB is type-C.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the UMIDIGI Crystal did not perform as well as I expected. Yes, the device gives a beautiful near bezelless display at a budget price, but the display is not the only thing in a smartphone. At least with a stock like android, I would expect a better battery life. Latency in app opening is frustrating and even though the UI is simple, the performance is just par. The fake Bokeh adds up to the not so good camera performance. Except for the gaming and the display, purchasing this phone means making a lot of sacrifices. Overall, I think the UMIDIGI Crystal is just crystal by name; it’s not a gem in reality! So, I would recommend you invest some more and get something better.

Pros	Cons
Good Display and bezel-less design	Average cameras
Gorilla Glass protection	Inconvenient button placements
Good gaming performance	Below-average battery life

Nokia 6 (2018) launched with refreshed design and remarkable specs

GadgetByte

-

January 5, 2018

0

Nokia 6 (2018) launched with refreshed design and remarkable specs

After the revival by the HMD Global, Nokia has been back on the track in the successful smartphone business. The craze of people for the new Nokia phones reminds us about the old days. And numbers are the proof as the Nokia smartphones have been sold out in minutes on more than one occasions. And among the bunch of smartphones in their lineup, Nokia 6 was comparatively loved more than the rest. So, to fuel that love, Nokia has brought a refreshed version of the Nokia 6 dubbed as Nokia 6 (2018). And the most interesting thing on the newbie is, despite the refreshed looks and improved specs, the Nokia 6 2018 comes at a similar price to its predecessor.

Also Read: Nokia Mobiles Price in Nepal

Nokia 6 2018 comes with the aluminum body presenting the same sturdy vibe alike its predecessor. Also, the device possesses the same 5.5-inch display cloaked by the Gorilla glass 3 for the protection. Despite the trend of bezel-less display and 18:9 aspect ratio, the newbie has been persistent with the traditional 16:9 ratio and thick bezel boundaries. However, a small portion of bezels has been chopped off in the Nokia 6 2018 and the screen-to-body ratio improved to 73.2% from 70.7%. And the reduced bezels are to be blamed for the shifting of fingerprint sensor from home button at the front to the back. Also, the capacitive buttons are replaced by the on-screen buttons in this newbie.

Nokia has made a good choice of the chipset in this device. The upgrade from the Snapdragon 430 chipset to Snapdragon 630 is simply exemplary. Also, the presence of Adreno 508 GPU in the device will drive the device swiftly even while performing the graphics-intensive tasks. On the storage side, Nokia 6 (2018) is gifted with 4GB of RAM offering two choices in terms of internal storages viz. 32GB and 64GB. However, the absence of the dedicated slot is quite displeasing here, as one has to sacrifice the second SIM slot to allocate space for SDcard.

On the software front, Nokia 6 2018 comes with a stock version of Android Nougat out of the box. But no worries, the device has been promised with the Oreo update. These days, even the mid-range and budget smartphones come with a dual-camera setup. That is not the case here. It embraces a 16MP camera on the back, which comes with f/2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus and dual-tone LED flash. Up front, there is an 8MP camera with f/2.0 aperture but lacking the LED flash.

On the connectivity side, Nokia 6 2018 is quite bold with Bluetooth 5.0, Radio, NFC, Wi-Fi 1/b/g/n, A-GPS and USB Type-C. As mentioned earlier, the smartphone possesses the fingerprint sensor, which resides on the back. The device has also embraced other primary sensors like accelerometer, gyro, proximity and compass sensors. To juice up the device, there is 3000mAh battery equipped with the device, which also supports the fast charging. Fueling the device at the pace of fast charging get the battery refilled to 50% in mere 30 minutes.

The device comes in two color variants viz. Black and Silver. Nokia started taking the pre-orders for the device and the sale will commence from the January 10 in China. In terms of price, Nokia 6 2018 demands 1499 Yuan (US$ 230 approx.) for the 32GB storage version, whereas its 64GB counterpart demands 1699 Yuan (US$ 262 approx.).

Launch, Availability of Nokia 6 2018 in Nepal

There was no mention of rolling out the devices in the global market during the official announcement of the device. However, on the talk with Nokia Nepal officials, we were informed that the device would make an entrance in Nepal sometime in the March. And during the talk, the officials confidently stated that the pricing will be close to the international pricing.

Nokia 6 2018 Vs. Nokia 6 Specifications

Specs	Nokia 6 2018	Nokia 6
Display	5.5-inch IPS LCD Display with Gorilla glass 3 protection; 73.2% Screen-to-body ratio	5.5-inch IPS LCD Display with Gorilla glass 3 protection; 70.7% Screen-to-body ratio
Resolution	Full-HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) @ 403PPI	Full-HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) @ 403PPI
OS	Android 7.1.1 (Nougat), planned upgrade to Android 8.0 (Oreo)	Android 7.1.1 (Nougat), planned upgrade to Android 8.0 (Oreo)
Chipset	Snapdragon 630	Snapdragon 430
CPU	Octa-core 2.2 GHz	Octa-core 1.4 GHz
GPU	Adreno 508	Adreno 505
RAM	4GB	3GB/4GB
Internal Storage	32GB/64GB	32GB/64GB
Rear Camera	16 MP, f/2.0, 1.0 µm pixel size, PDAF, Dual-tone flash	16 MP, f/2.0, 1.0 µm pixel size, PDAF, Dual-tone flash
Front Camera	8MP, f/2.0, 1.12 µm pixel size	8MP, f/2.0, 1.12 µm pixel size
Connectivity	Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, A-GPS, NFC, Radio, USB Type-C	Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, A-GPS, NFC, Radio, MicroUSB 2.0
Fingerprint sensor	Yes, Rear mounted	Yes, Front mounted (Home Button)
Other Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Battery	3000mAh; Fast charging supported	3000mAh; Fast charging supported
Color Variants	Black, Silver	Arte Black, Matte Black, Tempered Blue, Silver, Copper

[socialpoll id=”2480503″]

Huawei Nova 2i Aurora Blue Now in Nepal

GadgetByte

-

January 5, 2018

0

Huawei Nova 2i has made a name for itself as the first phone to sport a quad-camera setup. In Nepal, the phone has been doing good so far although having good competitors like J7 Pro, Mi A1, and Oppo F5. The phone is available in Graphite Black and Prestige Gold color, both of which looked pretty awesome. Huawei has been creating signature blue phones that look absolutely amazing. Now the Huawei Nova 2i in Aurora Blue color is available in Nepal making it one of our favorite colors here at Gadgetbyte. The phone is simply an eye candy.

Huawei Nova 2i comes with 5.9inch full HD display with tall 18:9 aspect ratio. It comes with a metal body and has a very good feel on the hand. The phone is running on android 7.0 Nougat and is expected to receive the oreo update in the first quarter of this year. It comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. Hybrid SIM slot allows microSD expansion of up to 256GB. Nova 2i is powered by Kirin 659 octa-core processor.

It has 2 cameras on the front and 2 on the back. Both the setup is used for portrait mode. The rear camera comes with 16MP+2MP setup and front comes with a 13MP+2MP setup. The phone is backed by 3340mAh battery which provides SoT of around 5 hours.

Huawei Nova 2i Specification

Display: 5.9 inch IPS (1080×2160) @409ppi
OS: Android 7.0 Nougat coupled with EMUI 5.1
Chipset: HiSilicon Kirin 659
CPU: Octa-core (4×2.36 GHz Cortex- A53 & 4×1.7 GHz Cortex- A53)
GPU: Mali- T830 MP2
RAM: 4GB
Rear camera: 16MP+2MP f/2.2 with LED flash
Selfie- camera: 13MP+2MP
ROM: 64GB extendable up to 256 GB (uses SIM2)
Connectivity: Hybrid Dual SIM Nano-SIM, dual standby), WIFI b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, micro USB 2.0
Sensors: Fingerprint sensor (rear- mounted), Proximity sensor, Accelerometer, Compass, Ambient light, Barometer.
Battery: 3,340 mAh
Price: Rs. 33,900

Oops and Wows in Smartphone Technology (2017 Edition)

Featured

GadgetByte

-

January 4, 2018

0

Oops and Wows in Smartphone Technology (2017 Edition)

We already bid farewell to the year 2017. However, the year had brought some cheerful and some disappointing innovations in the smartphone system, which cannot be ignored or forgotten simply. So, in this article, we have tried to recollect such oops and wows in smartphone technology, which affected the smartphone community and had been the talk of the town throughout the year. Let’s get started.

Wows of 2017

Bezel-less display

Xiaomi MI Mix, the smartphone, which came as an edgeless concept phone last year lacked bezels on three of its sides. On that phone, the bezels were located only at the bottom to house the front camera and proximity sensor. Later, LG conducted a survey to know the display size and smartphone size preferred by the smartphone users. The survey concluded that the users loved to have a big display without a corresponding increase in the smartphone size. The only way to meet such demand was to ditch the bezels and LG applied that formula on LG G6. The smartphone embraced univisium display with 18:9 aspect ratio and 78.6% screen-to-body ratio.

Samsung appreciated the concept of bezel-less display and applied the formula on Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+. However, a little bit uniqueness on Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ was a weird and unfamiliar 18.5:9 aspect ratio.

Since then a large number of smartphone manufacturers implemented the concept and even made the 18:9 aspect ratio trendy. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ comes with 18.5:9 aspect ratio and iPhone X with 19.5:9. Except for these smartphones, all the bezel-less smartphones come with 18:9 aspect ratio.

Also Read: Smartphones with bezel-less display in Nepal

Cameras getting better

Since the beginning, the cameras on smartphones are getting better in every iteration. And in this year too, the trend continued. Coming towards the end of the year 2016, different manufacturers had adopted the concept of the dual camera. And this year the concept grew like a wildfire in the smartphone community. From the budget smartphones to the flagship ones, all (almost) smartphone brands had been touched by the concept of dual cameras. And almost all smartphone manufacturers brought at least one smartphone of such type in their lineup.

Huawei stuck to the idea and brought some fancy smartphones with top-notch cameras like Huawei P10 Plus, Honor V10, Mate 10 Series, Honor 9, etc. this year. The dual camera setup on the high-end Huawei devices is the combination of Monochrome and RGB sensor. And Leica is the collaborated vendor for supplying the required optical products. However, in the mid-range section, there is a different story. The mid-tier smartphones lack the optics from the Leica and the lenses used is basically for the depth sensing and to deliver Bokeh effect. Still, Huawei seems to satisfy its customers as it gained the second position in the sales beating its archrival Apple. And Nepali customers might also fall among the happy ones as Huawei brought Huawei Nova 2i, the first smartphone in Nepal with four cameras.

iPhone brought iPhone X, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus this year. Apple gained a lot of applause this year for the innovations brought in the tech world and for the specs packed in its devices. And one of the reasons for the appraisal is its camera. iPhone X, the anniversary edition iPhone score an astounding 97 score on the reputed camera benchmark, DxOmark. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are not much far behind. iPhone 8 possesses DxoMark benchmark score of 92, whereas the iPhone 8 Plus has 94.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 had been persistent all along with the single camera setup. Even on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+, Samsung hesitated to include an additional camera. Probably Apple could be the motivation here, but Samsung finally stepped-up to include a dual camera on its smartphone and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 had been the first and lucky one. And probably, the dual camera is to be credited for the increase in DxoMark score from 88 (in S8) to 94 (in Note 8).

Despite the endeavors of smartphone manufacturers to provide a dual camera to mimic the shots of DSLRs and to produce Bokeh effect, the smartphones have failed in one or more scenario. However, just with a mere presence of a single camera, Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL produced Bokeh shots with a close resemblance (than others) to that of DSLRs. And outperforming all the flagship smartphones of 2017, Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL scored the highest DxOmark score (for smartphones’ camera) of 98.

New security options

This year, new security options were seen on the smartphones. Iris scanner on Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8 was absolutely remarkable. The technology was developed by Samsung earlier and had incorporated it on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. However, because of the exploding issues of the Note 7, the smartphone discontinued and the tech community was not quite able to experience the new biometric security.

Every person has unique patterns in the irises and such patterns are virtually impossible to replicate. This uniqueness has made the iris authentication one of the safest ways to keep the phone locked and the contents invulnerable.

Also Read: Hackers tricked Samsung Galaxy S8’s Iris Scanner

Apple also brought the new security option on the iPhone X. Namely known as FaceID, the technology uses a combination of the infrared emitter and TrueDepth sensor to mask 30,000 points of infrared light on and around the face. After the masking process, it generates flat infrared snapshots like the photos (2D).While registering the face; the depth sensor measures the depth on the face accounting the reflection of infrared light on each point and hence constructs a depth map of the face. On the launch ceremony, CEO of the Apple boasted that the technology is extremely secure. Putting forward as the proof Apple’s CEO mentioned that the odds to unlock a smartphone with someone else’s fingerprint is 1in 50,000, however, similar chances of unlocking the iPhone X with other’s face is 1 in 1,000,000.

Also Read: iPhone X facial recognition shows mixed results in identifying twins

Nokia and Blackberry Revival

Company of the Nokia with Microsoft was not quite fruitful. Before the acquisition by Microsoft, Nokia was the most popular and most selling mobile brand. However, with the emergence of iOS and Android platform and with the decision of the Nokia phones to adopt Windows OS ecosystem, the market share of Nokia mobiles fell at an unprecedented rate. With the downfall getting intolerable, Nokia freed itself from the clutches of Nokia and collaborated with HMD Global to bring Android smartphones. And in MWC 2017, Nokia announced its revival in the smartphone market launching Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 smartphones as the proof. And the comeback was a pretty exhilarating one because the new Nokia smartphones sold out in minutes on more than one occasion.

Blackberry smartphones were renowned for their iconic keypad and remarkable security. But as the Android and iOS smartphones marked their presence in the smartphone arena, the hunger for the Blackberry smartphones amongst the people simply started to fade away. And later, the sales and shares climbed a downhill. A little later, Blackberry ditched their home-baked BB10 OS and brought an Android smartphone but keeping the iconic keypad intact. The smartphone was dubbed as Blackberry Priv, which had a sliding QWERTY keyboard, remarkable 5.4-inch AMOLED display featuring Quad-HD resolution and 18MP rear camera with OIS. However, in the tech society lured with the screen-touch smartphones, the smartphone was unable to gain the customers. With all the endeavors turning futile, Blackberry decided to quit the smartphone manufacture business. In the October 2016, Blackberry officially announced to discontinue making smartphones by itself.

However, with this remark, Blackberry has not been lost in the oblivion. Blackberry is now just the licensing partner while TCL is now manufacturing the Blackberry smartphones. TCL is keeping the name of the Blackberry alive and taking credits for launching the Blackberry smartphones. Till the date, TCL has launched three Blackberry smartphones, namely Blackberry Mercury, Blackberry KeyOne, and Blackberry Motion. And how will the TCL go with the Blackberry, there is more yet to be seen.

Growth of AI Assistants

Since 2011, iPhones always seem to be upper hand over the Android smartphones because of Siri, the AI assistant. However, in 2017, many AI assistants were released. In 2017, Google Assistant got better and the most interesting thing is Google brought the Google Assistant app for the iOS posing an open threat to the Siri. Samsung also brought a new AI assistant named Bixby. Amazon’s Alexa and HTC’s home-baked AI HTC Sense Companion were also quite heard in 2017. However, Samsung’s Bixby, Amazon Alexa and HTC Sense companion were barely comparable to the Google Assistant and the Siri during the time being. But how they will perform in 2018, there is more yet to see.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Capability of the Chipsets

Apple brought the new A11 chipset in the iPhone X, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. Fabricated using 10nm technology, the chipset packs 4.3 billion transistors and has embraced six cores CPU and three core GPU. However, the exciting addition to the chipset is Neural Engine, which can perform up to 600 billion operations per seconds. Apple claims that the Neural Engine is used for FaceID, Animojis, and Machine learning tasks. Similarly, improving the AI capabilities, Qualcomm released Snapdragon 845 with the visual processing unit and Huawei released the Kirin 970 with the Neural processing unit. The chipset seems to be exceptionally superior, however, to get the closer glimpse of the AI capabilities of the chipsets, in-depth review of the smartphones equipped with aforementioned chipsets is highly essential.

Also Read: Has Machine Learning become a part of our life?

120Hz Refresh Rate on Smartphone

Razer is a familiar name amongst the gamers. Razer had been providing superior and reliable gaming performance in its laptops and Ultrabooks all along. However, in 2017, Razer expanded its horizon stepping its feet in the smartphone arena. Dubbed as Razer Phone, the smartphone comes with some nifty set of hardware with gaming touch by the Razer. The most exciting touch by the maker is the astounding 120Hz refresh rate on its display. Razer has named it a UltraMotion display and Razer Phone is the first smartphone to be equipped with such fast refresh rate. With such high refresh rate, one can enjoy smooth graphics on the use. The UltraMotion display also has an adaptive refresh technology that synchronizes the GPU and display, which removes image tearing or lag.

Also Read: Is 120Hz Refresh Rate on display the future of Smartphone?

Oops of 2017

Struggle of the fingerprint sensors

Fingerprint recognition is the biometric security means and is more reliable to the pin, password and pattern recognition. In 2017, this security means was widely adopted in the smartphones. It was difficult to find smartphones without fingerprint sensor even on the lower-midrange and budget segments. However, some big names had been notorious throughout 2017 because of the way they treated the fingerprint sensor in their premium handsets.

Samsung had been persistent on keeping the sensor in the home button of their smartphones. However, in Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note 8, the bezels were minimized making it impossible to fit the sensor on the chin. Shifting the sensor to the back was the alternative left and Samsung embraced the alternative without a second thought. The fingerprint sensors provided on the smartphones were sensitive and unlocking the devices was abrupt. However, the placement was not quite accessible to the hands on the use. Despite the alluring symmetry, because of the awkward placement, one would always end up smudging the camera placed in the proximity.

The archrival to the Samsung, the Apple had also been talk of the town because of the fingerprint sensor. But unlike the Samsung flagships, Apple completely uprooted the sensor from its anniversary edition iPhone, the iPhone X. Adopting the trendy bezel-less display and because of its resistant to shift the sensor to the back, iPhone X was obliged to bid farewell its infamous TouchID.

Death of Windows Phones

With Cortana AI assistant and Windows OS in the system, Windows Phones looked cool and lucrative. However, with the Android and iOS devices rising in the tech community, the craze of the Windows Phones fell at an exponential rate. Because of the increased functionalities and appealing hardware and software capabilities of the iOS and Android devices, Windows Phones suffocated in the smartphone market. And in 2017, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore officially announced the death of the Windows Phones. Despite the announced death, Microsoft promised to continue the support for the platform, bug fixes, security updates, etc. However, they will completely halt the production of new features and hardware and will bring nothing new to the Windows Phones.

If you have any more things to add to this oops and wows in smartphone technology, let us know in the comment section. And if you are unaware of our YouTube Channel, Please check it here and subscribe it. The GadgetByte Nepal team also requests you for your generous and valuable feedbacks.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 with bezel-less display and 6 GB RAM to launch next week

GadgetByte

-

January 4, 2018

0

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 with bezel-less display and 6 GB RAM to launch next week

Xiaomi launched the successor of the Mi Mix, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2, last September amid much fanfare. The device’s predecessor was one of the earlier smartphones to ditch traditional bezels. While the device is priced at Rs. 32,999 in India, we expect it to be available for approximately Rs. 72,000 for the baseline model. We can finally confirm that this device will launch here in a week.

Don’t Miss: Xiaomi Mobiles Price in Nepal

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is a bezel-less device with an 18:9 aspect ratio. It has a 5.99-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080 x 2160 pixels. This display is cloaked by Corning Gorilla Glass 4 for that extra protection. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 basically has the specifications a proper flagship of 2017 comes with. So, it’s rocking an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor under the hood. 6 or 8 GB of RAM pair up with Adreno 540 GPU to go alongside the processor. Only the special edition unibody ceramic design houses 8 GB of RAM on the inside. All other variants have 6 GB of RAM. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 offers consumers 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB storage variants.

As far as the optics are concerned, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 has a single 12-megapixel rear-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture, dual tone LED flash and OIS. At a time when even a smartphone under Rs. 10,000 has dual real cameras, Xiaomi’s choice to opt for a single lens might turn off some buyers here in Nepal. The front-facing selfie shooter has a 5-megapixel lens with f/2.0 aperture.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 runs on Android v7.1 Nougat with MIUI 9 on the top right out of the box. Xiaomi has already provided its users with the BETA version of Android v8.0 Oreo.

In terms of power, the Mi Mix 2 is supported by a 3,400 mAh Li-Ion battery. This battery can be charged up via a Type-C reversible connector which is supported by Quick Charge 3.0.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Specifications:

5.99-inch full HD IPS LCD display, Corning Gorilla Glass 4
Bezel-less display with 18:9 aspect ratio
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC
Octa-core processor
Android v7.1 Nougat
Adreno 54 GPU
6 GB or 8 GB RAM
64/128/256 GB internal storage
Dual SIM
12 MP rear-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture, dual tone LED flash
5MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture
Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor
USB Type-C connector
3,400 mAh Li-ion battery with Quick Charge 3.0

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Price in Nepal (Rumored): Rs. 72,000

[socialpoll id=”2468531″]

Meizu smartphone with bezel-less display and 18:9 aspect ratio launching tomorrow

GadgetByte

-

January 3, 2018

0

Meizu smartphone with bezel-less display and 18:9 aspect ratio launching tomorrow

Meizu, the brand that needs an introduction for some reason is about to introduce a new smartphone. And they are about to introduce it tomorrow, which for one, we know will feature a bezel-less display with 18:9 aspect ratio screen. And talking about Meizu, they did just return to the Nepali market again, thanks to Chaudhary Group (CG).

Also Read: Meizu’s come back to Nepal

Getting back to the smartphone that is about to launch tomorrow. The phone in talks here is most probably the Meizu M6S or Blue Charm S in China.

The things we know about the phone is it’s 18:9 aspect ratio display. Also, according to a leak a few days back, the phone will feature a 5.7-inch display. The battery life is also expected to be at an exact 2630 mAh.

The smartphone could also feature a Samsung Exynos chipset and a fingerprint reader at the right side. Meizu plans to launch 6 new phone in the first half of 2018. And looks like the M6S is the first in line among all of them.

So, are you one of the Meizu fans out there? Lets us know how you feel about it in the comments below.

Samsung Nepal set to launch Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus (2018)

GadgetByte

-

January 3, 2018

0

Samsung Nepal set to launch Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus (2018)

Not many days since 2018 has started and Samsung is all set to launch two mobile phones in the galaxy series i.e. Galaxy A8 and A8 plus. The phones are expected to release in the third week of January. Smartphones of the A-series are always premium but compromise on the performance front. Over the years, they have always featured some top of the line specifications all while compromising with the performance.

Also Read: Samsung Mobiles Price in Nepal

With not many days before the launch, let’s get into the what and why’s of the phones. As the model of the phones themselves signify, these phones are similar to a great extent but with slightest of dissimilarities.

The glass front and back with aluminum body makes it a trendy phone as glass is being preferred these days. On the weight department, the A8 and A8 Plus have 172 and 191 grams of weight respectively. The A8 Plus has a taller screen i.e. 6 inches for the people who like big screens. The phones are IP68 certified which means these are dust and water resistant for 30 minutes and 1.5 meters which is an advancement.

Starting with the display, the phones have Super AMOLED display which means sharper blacks and saving of battery to a great extent which, we can barely find in phones like this as of 2017. As per the size of the screen is concerned, the phones have 18.5:9 ratio which is really good. On top of that, the phones have Corning Gorilla Glass which is again great to have on a phone.

The phones run on Android 7.1.1 Nougat version which is comparatively not as impressive as Oreo version of Android is already available. These have Octa-core Exynos 7885 which is Samsung’s own development alongside Mali G71 GPU. Faster and smoother performance can be expected with 8 cores on work. These also have a dedicated slot for micro SD card of up to 256 GB.

The Samsung Galaxy A8 Plus has 4GB of RAM for the phone with 32 GB storage whereas 6 GB of RAM for the variant with 64 GB storage, whereas, A8 has 4GB of RAM for both 32 GB and 64GB variants.

We don’t find as much of difference in the camera department as well. With 3 cameras on each, we can find 1 rear camera with 16 MP and two front cameras with 16 and 8 MP each. The aperture is also the same as the rear camera has f/1.7 and the front-facing cameras have f/1.9. With full HD quality video with 30fps, the videos will have good quality along with smooth video experience. Touch focus, face detection, panorama and HDR functions add extra oomph to the photo taking experiences.

The Samsung Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus (2018) support 3.5 mm headphone jack with a single speaker that makes it loud but probably not loud enough. Type C 1.0 reversible connector makes the charging experience faster and convenient. Radio FM option is also available for the ones who need some infotainment with all their concentration to work. The one thing that these phones have better is the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner which is below the camera rather than beside the camera which keeps the camera free from fingerprints. The Li-ion 3500 mAh battery provides the phone with a longer battery.

The phones are available in black, orchid grey, blue and gold. According to rumors, the A8 could be priced approximately Rs. 56,000 while the A8 Plus might run you Rs. 64,000. With the mentioned details both the phones look pretty promising. One of the things which I found the downside is the size of the phones as both are bigger phones that can’t be easily carried in pockets. Had one of these been smaller in size, they would be more convenient.