It has not been long since Samsung launched the Galaxy S8 and S8+ to the audiences all across the globe. But now, there are already rumors flying around about newer releases from the tech giant! With the year 2017 almost coming to an end now, rumors have multiplied hinting at the release of the next year’s flagship smartphones – the Galaxy S9 and S9+. Reports also claim that the phone is going to boast better designs and offer refreshing usability to the customers. Earlier this month, there were tweets from a Chinese leaker Ice Universe who hinted that the Galaxy S9 will have a “very different back” and also there will be no fingerprint sensors on them.
Ice Breaker has a really nice history when it comes to predicting what Samsung has kept under its sleeves. There weren’t many gory details about the back of the S9. However, there were multiple rumors suggesting that the Galaxy S9 may also continue with the dual lens camera setup like the Galaxy Note 8. There are also speculations hinting at the presence of a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Codenamed Star 1 and Star 2, the S9 and S9+ will feature the same 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch curved-edge Super AMOLED “Infinity” displays, respectively, as their predecessors. However, they’ll feature upgraded internals – a Snapdragon 845 processor and an Exynos chip that offers similar performance. Moreover, the speculations that the smartphone giant is working on developing a radical folding phone, seems to be confirmed by the rumors revolving around Star 1 and Star 2.
The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus will be competing with many other high-end flagships like the Pixel 2 from Google, the Mate 10 and the Mate 10 Pro from Huawei, the U11+ from HTC, 5T from OnePlus among others.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus are believed to be unveiled at the CES show in Las Vegas in January.
The OnePlus 3T, released last year is still one of the best phones to buy for the price tag. But what if the best value for money phone was getting even cheaper? Daraz, on the occasion of Black Friday, is bringing the OnePlus 3T’s price to Rs. 37,990, making it one of the best smartphone deals.
The market price of the OnePlus 3T is Rs 49,990, which means you are getting a whopping discount of Rs 12,000. Just make sure to use the Voucher Code “BF2000” to get the deal.
OnePlus 3T is still a strong contender in the smartphone world. It did miss out on a water resistance body or wireless charging, but it’s still one of the best phones out there. With specs right out of 2016 and a final price of just Rs 37,990, it doesn’t get any better than this. Also, don’t forget, this phone runs on the latest Android Oreo as well.
The discounts start tonight, midnight, first-hour tomorrow. And if you buy this or any product at the first hour of the Black Friday (24th Nov), you will be eligible for a chance to win an all-inclusive holiday package to Dubai for a couple. Additional vouchers of Rs 500 are also receivable on a minimum spending of Rs 2500. And finally, there is also a two-way ticket to Rara for a couple and a jewelry set worth Rs 45,000.
I can’t think of any better time to buy the OP3T, while the phone is still fresh of course. But with the release of the 5T, people will be thrown off by the thought of buying a 3 generation old smartphone. But there isn’t much competition at this price range anyway.
OnePlus 3T Specifications:
5.5-inch 16:9 (1920×1080 pixels) Full HD Optic AMOLED display with 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection
2.35GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 821 64-bit processor with Adreno 530 GPU
6GB LPDDR4 RAM, 64GB (UFS 2.0) storage
Android 8.0 (Oreo) with Oxygen OS 5.0
Dual nano SIM slots
16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, Sony IMX298 sensor, 1.12-micron pixel size, f/2.0 aperture, EIS 2.0, PDAF, OIS, 4K video recording at 30 fps, 720p slow motion at 120fps
16MP front-facing camera with Samsung 3P8SP sensor, 1.0 micron pixel size, f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, 1080p video recording
Dimensions: 152.7×74.7×7.35mm; Weight: 158g
Fingerprint sensor (rear mounted)
Bottom-facing speaker, dual microphone for noise cancellation
4G LTE with VoLTE, WiFi 802.11ac dual-band (MIMO), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS + GLONASS, NFC, USB Type-C
Samsung released a new color variant of the Galaxy S8 in South Korea a couple of days back. Although the availability of the new burgundy red S8 in Nepal is still uncertain, the company is giving the phone’s buyers free Bluetooth headphones. The offer is valid on both the Galaxy S8 and the S8+ and color options include Black and Gold.
For those unfamiliar with the Level Flex, these are flexible headphones from Samsung. It has a flexible neck design which is twistable, up to 180 degrees. It also connects to Bixby for a digital personal assistant on the go. The best part of this headphone is its battery life, delivering up to 10 hours of music playback and 9 hours of phone calls.
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If you are in the market for a decent flagship, then the Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+ could be the one for you. And here is the best part – instead of getting one wired AKG earphone, you will now receive an additional flexible wireless headphone. The total cost of these two reaches about Rs 20,000, and that might be a huge bargain for some.
Let’s not forget the fact that the Galaxy S8 is still one of the best phones of 2017. It features the latest in hardware and software, and the design, at least for me, is fresh. If your budget allows you, this phone is totally worth it.
Apart from the headphones, you also get 8GB of NCELL data (1GB per month for 8 months) for free and 6 months breakage insurance from Shikhar Insurance. Currently, the Galaxy S8 will cost you a Rs 76,900 and the bigger S8+ will cost you 86,900.
Motorola, an American multinational telecommunications company and the first mobile company to make handheld phones, has established itself all across the globe for its build quality and has recently stepped into the Nepali market on October 24, 2017 after an analysis of the ever-growing smartphone market here.LifeCom Pvt. Ltd. has been appointed as the sole authorized distributor of Motorola Mobiles in Nepal has brought budget-oriented Moto C-series and Moto E-series smartphones here in the country.
I got to play around with the Moto C Plus and test its specifications for a few days after the official launch. The phone priced at Rs. 13,990 seems to have set foot in the country with the aim of giving a competition to the budget-oriented smartphones in the market. Before moving on to the review, let’s take a look at what the phone has up for offer:
2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, expandable memory with microSD
Dual SIM with 4G
Android 7.0 (Nougat)
8MP rear camera with f/2.2 aperture, LED Flash
2MP front-facing camera with f/2.8 aperture, LED flash
4000mAh battery
Price: Rs.13,990
Build and Design:
My first impression of the Moto C Plus, hands down, was that the phone looked bulky. The plastic build of the phone is also questionable because similar range phones from Xiaomi and others offer metallic build. The phone is a bit chunky and also quite thick.
There is metal-like ring around the front face of the phone that has no functionality whatsoever and is actually made up of plastic. That made the phone look somehow tacky and I personally think the phone would have been better off without it.
However, even if there isn’t much to say about the traditional build of the phone, it sure has been built very well and feels extremely solid. The curves and the micro-textured back of the phone a nice grip and finish to the phone.
Display:
The C Plus has a 5-inch HD TFT, scratch-resistant display with a pixel density of 294 PPI. Even if there is not an auto-brightness feature, the minimum brightness is suitable enough for night time usage. However, the maximum brightness seems questionable and somehow inadequate to deal with bright sunlight. This was quite bothersome. Also, I found the touch responses to be a bit slow at times. I had to keep repeating the same actions over and over again to make the phone respond.
On the brighter side, the colors are natural and accurate. And the display’s resolution is good enough, if not exemplary. All in all, the display of the Moto C Plus is good enough for the price range.
Performance:
The device is powered by MediaTek MT6737 chipset, which features a quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz. For graphics support, the phone comes with Mali-T720MP2 GPU. In terms of memory, the Moto C Plus incorporates 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 32GB via SDcard.
With features like app drawer and split window, running multiple apps and toggling between them was never a hassle. The phone does not have much screen space to offer but these features worked smoothly here. Also, running lighter games like: Color Switch, Tap the Frog and so forth was seamless. To test how the phone worked on running heavier games, I played Asphalt 8 on the phone, and the result was a bit disappointing as the game lagged a lot and even caused the phone to heat up pretty quickly. So the performance is just good enough and there isn’t much to explore. While similar range phones from other manufacturers (like Xiaomi) have already shifted to the more powerful Snapdragon 425 processor, the MediaTek chipset that this offers seems inadequate.
Software:
The Moto C Plus runs on Android 7.0 Nougat and comes with the latest stock Android. This is one of the most attractive features of the phone. Also, there is no bloat here and unwanted applications are also absent in this skin, which has helped to optimize the performance of the phone. The few touch-ups that Motorola has done on the Stock Android makes the UI experience very refreshing.
Another thing that I noticed here was that the phone does not have a default music player app. Hence, I had to download one immediately after I got the phone.
The UI elements here are completely bloat-free and hence they offer smooth usability to the users. However, this phone does not come with the ‘Moto’ app that is available in the higher priced phones from the company and hence, the smart motion gestures are unavailable here. Also, a few of the budget smartphones like the Colors P85+ Selfie Pro, Xiaomi Redmi 4 and so forth have fingerprint sensor in them, but this does not have one.
Hardware:
The volume and power buttons are placed on the left side of the phone. And due to the small length of the body, I could easily access these buttons. The navigation buttons are present at the bottom of the front panel.
The phone houses a USB 2.0 charging port at the top along with the 3.5 mm headphone jack port.
The phone features a really powerful speaker at the back which emitted good sound even at high volume, which was surprisingly nice.
Camera:
The phone features an 8 MP rear camera with an aperture of f/2.2, auto-focus and LED flash. On the front, the phone houses a 2 MP camera with an aperture of f/2.8 that also comes with LED flash. The camera here is very minimalist as it does not offer any specific photography modes and settings.
Upon ample lighting in outdoor situations, the rear camera delivers an okay performance. Outdoor shots with proper lighting are sharp and have natural colors but sometimes appear to have an yellowish tint to them. One thing that I liked about the phone is that the sensor in the rear camera fastens focus very quickly onto the subjects.
Also, the front camera does not have much for offer, besides the front flash. But, similar range phones from other brands have such exemplary camera performance, comparing the Moto C Plus with them in terms of photography does not even seem possible in many ways. The pictures taken from the front camera of the Moto C Plus are barely Social Media worthy.
The low light camera performance is nothing more than a struggle here. The pictures do not offer any clarity, if at all and are very noisy and pixelated. The front flash only helps to provide some lighting for the pictures but the pictures are still blurry.
Battery:
The battery is the star of this phone. Backed by a massive 4000mAh battery, the phone provides almost over 5 hours of on screen time. During the few days that I used the phone as my daily driver, it lasted me well the whole day after a full charge and also had at least 20-25 percentage still left by the end of the day. There is also an inbuilt battery saver mode in the phone that saves the battery once that the charge hits 20% mark. I only had to enable the battery-saver mode once during my time with the phone.
An additional wow factor in terms of the battery here is the fast charging functionality. However, the phone does not come with a charger compatible with this feature. It took me almost a little over two hours to completely charge the phone from level 0.
Verdict:
As the final verdict for my experience with the Moto C Plus, I must say that the phone is a stealer in terms of battery back up and the Stock Android UI experience, but the other features of the phone are not much of an attraction. When the market is already brimming with smartphones with sleeker designs and better performance features, this phone certainly has some tough competition.
Certainly, the battery back up is really commendable here. But the lags in the performance foreground and camera department cannot be easily overlooked. The bulky build might also be a liability here.
Pros: What I liked about the Moto C Plus
The powerful 4000mAh battery.
The Stock Android UI.
The budget.
Cons: What could have been better in the Moto C Plus
The chipset.
Camera performance.
A slimmer and lighter build.
What is your say about the Moto C Plus? Let us know in the comments below!
For those who don’t know Burgundy red, it’s apparently a type of Red (the color). And it looks seriously good, imagine a slightly stealthy HTC U11 Solar Red. Although it isn’t available just yet, might never even make it’s way to Nepal.
The internals remains exactly the same, with the only difference being the color. The new smartphone will make it’s way to South Korea on November 28, with other regions uncertain to get it.
The Galaxy S8 is already an old device at this point, but the internals is still top notch. So, the phone, if it’s going to be available in other regions, it will be, sooner rather than later.
Samsung has done this in the past, remember the Coral Blue Galaxy S7 Edge. I can also think of a certain iPhone that came out in RED later on. And finally, there is also talks of a new iPhone color, particularly the iPhone 8 in possibly “Blush” Gold.
So, if colors are your thing, and you really like the new color of the S8, it will be worth the wait. Especially when you think of the Samsung Galaxy S8, which still packs the latest hardware offerings there is in the Android ecosystem.
Daraz, which most of you still call Kaymu brings us the festival of discounts. And it’s none other than Daraz Black Friday 2017, “The Biggest Online Sale Of The Year”. It starts this Friday (Nov 24) and will end on Tuesday (Nov 28).
What is Daraz Black Friday?
It’s basically the same thing as Black Friday but specifically for Daraz’s website when they will be giving discounts up to 70% on the products listed on their website. This offer includes all the products from the website be it anything ranging from Fashion, Electronics, Home Appliance, Mobile Phones, Musical instruments, Cosmetics, and so forth.
The main purpose of this is to bring genuine products at the best rates possible, providing the best value for money. You can also expect additional discounts, with the use of vouchers. They will also host competitions on Facebook where you could win prizes such as smartphones, flight tickets, and watches, so stick around on their Facebook page for more deals and offers.
A little background
Last year we saw a transition from Kaymu to Daraz. The “Daraz Kaymu Black Friday 2016” was the first black Friday from this particular e-commerce website. With over 15 fold increase in orders on the first day, the Black Friday deal last year was well received by the Nepali consumers.
What can you expect this year?
Top brands like Nokia, OnePlus, UMIDIGI, Coolpad, Samsung, Homeglory, Hisense, Goldstar, Sonam Gears, Gahana, Timberland, New Balance, North Face and many more brands will be listing their products on heavy discounts.
Selected laptops will also come with free 6 months 25Mbps Internet Package from Worldlink. Sonam Gears is also offering up to 60% discount on selected products. Also, the UMIDIGI Crystal 4G smartphone will go on sale for Rs 21,000, exclusively for this occasion. Moreover, Nokia Fans will also be able to pre-book the Nokia 8 smartphones.
Extra Gifts
If you spend more than Rs. 1000 on products at the first hour of the Black Friday (24th Nov), you will be eligible for a chance to win an all-inclusive holiday package to Dubai for a couple. Additional vouchers of Rs 500 are also receivable on a minimum spending of Rs 2500. And finally, there is also a two-way ticket to Rara for a couple and a jewelry set worth Rs 45,000.
Black Fridays are fun, and it’s good seeing Nepali sellers and buyers embrace this holiday. So get ready to buy all the products that you have been wanting to buy and make the most out of available deals, offers, and gifts!
Which do you think is the most exciting deal in the Daraz Black Friday 2017? Let us know in the comments below!
Spending your hard earned cash on a nice Gaming PC or laptop is only half the work, you still need to buy a game. And choosing a game out of all those triple-A titles might be a hard one. So we are here to help you with a list of five most “fun” games according to us (your preferences may vary).
PUGB (PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS)
This is an awesome game from Bluehole, Inc. It’s still in its early access stage, but with more than a million players at any given moment, this game is no joke. Plus, it’s mad fun to just play around.
You basically fall into this map from an airplane along with some 90-95 other players with basically one objective. Be the last man surviving! Just think of “Hunger Games”, this game is almost exactly the same. You can also make a group of up to four friends and team up.
You can buy the game from STEAM, they are currently giving you a hefty discount. Also, note that this game is in its early unoptimized stages, so make sure you have more than enough horsepower to reach the 60fps mark. Most probably a GTX 1060, you can buy this game from here.
FIFA 18
Fifa 18 is hands down one of the all-time favorites for the football lovers. You can also opt for PES 18 if that’s your thing. Either way, I can’t think of a better game for a virtual football game than this.
In general, there are 22 players on the pitch, and you try to…….Do we really need to explain football now? You would be happy to hear about the new “Journey” mode where you play as Hunter, and the improvements in the Carrier modes as well.
You can buy the game from Origin, here is a link to the game.
Battlefield 1
Battlefield has always been one of the best First Person Shooters (FPS) games in the business, and Battlefield 1 takes it to a whole another level. It’s the second game in our list developed by EA DICE.
Basically, this game takes place in the various scenarios from the World War 1. You play as a bunch of characters with their own stories. Every character has their own objectives, backstory, which makes every character special. This game is all about the storyline. Although, saying more about this game would be a spoiler, so you should give this game a try yourself.
Tom Clancy’s The Division is a Third Person Shooter developed by UBISOFT. This game delivers really good graphics, along with a decent gameplay experience.
The game itself takes place in a world where the society that we live in now has fallen apart, due to a devastating pandemic sweep or something. What you have to do is fight for a better tomorrow.
Need For Speed is a game that needs no introduction. Developed by Ghost games and EA sports, this game has been one of the most famous car racing games ever.
The game takes place in an open world environment. You get three playable characters, with focus on “Action Driving”.
Nokia 8 is the most powerful Nokia smartphone right now. The budget offerings from Nokia were good but they were just run of the mill. We all have been waiting for the Nokia 8, the Big Daddy of Nokia phones and it’s now finally available for Pre-Booking in Nepal via Daraz Kaymu.
Prebooking Information:
> Booking Period: 20th – 30th November 2017
> Phones Availability: 7th December 2017
> Black Friday Deal: To be revealed on 24th Nov 2017 (Friday)
> Color: Glossy Blue
Nokia 8 comes with a similar form factor like the Nokia 5 but it much more premium with the use of polished unibody 6000 series aluminum. This also provides the rigidity to the device as it’s what Nokia’s known for. Like the Nokia 5, it has incorporated fingerprint sensor on the home button. The phone comes with a 5.3-inch 2K display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection against drops and scratches. The phone is also IP54 splash resistant. It also offers the Always on Display widely popular on Samsung and Motorola phones. Despite all it has to offer, the display in today’s standard seems outdated with no 18:9 aspect ratio and comparatively big bezels.
Powering the phone is the latest Snapdragon 835 chipset coupled with 4GB or 6GB of RAM. In terms of performance, it is on par with every flagship out there today. The stock Android experience may even make it smoother. It is running on Android 7.1.2 Nougat with Oreo update on the pipeline. The Nokia 8 offered for Pre-Booking is a base model. It sports 64GB storage coupled with the 4GB of RAM. The storage can be expanded up to 256GB using the SIM 2 slot.
The camera is where Nokia phones had kept their mark in the past and they tend to do so with the Nokia 8. It comes with dual camera setup on the back with a 13+13MP pair. The primary 13MP camera comprises of RGB sensor while the secondary 13MP holds the monochrome sensor. The assisting camera helps to attain more details and depth. This combo results in highly detailed images, great Black and White photos and amazing bokeh effect. It can also shoot 4K videos at 30fs with Optical Image Stabilization. The phone also comes with Dual Sight mode which opens the back and the front camera at the same time. It can be proven beneficial for Facebook or Instagram Live. Up front, it is equipped with the same 13MP primary sensor as in the back. So, the front camera is likely to be superior compared to others. It can also shoot 4K@30fps and has PDAF. To add up, Nokia 8 is the first phone in the world to sport OZO spatial 360 audio. It will result in more lively sound and provides better audio quality while capturing videos.
The Nokia 8 comes with USB Type C and luckily a headphone jack as well. It is backed up by 3090mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0.
Your music experience depends on the speakers you use. And when you are in a group, the tinny speakers on your phone just won’t cut it. The only reasonable and viable alternative is a portable speaker, preferably one that’s loud and has a long battery life.
The Xiaomi Square Box 2 is a Bluetooth speaker that ticks both of these boxes. With a battery that lasts more than 6 hours and a portable lightweight body, is this the best Bluetooth speaker? Nope, not even close, but considering it’s price, you will not regret it.
Body
The Square Box 2 has an aluminum body with the exception of the front and back, those are plastic. Although the speaker did not feel quite good in the hand, with sharp and uncomfortable edges, most users probably won’t even notice it anyway. It is a sturdy device nevertheless.
The top of the speaker has three buttons for input. The power button doubles as a call receiver, and with a built-in mic, you can pick calls-up without touching your phone. The volume buttons also double as a music navigator.
The back of the speaker has two ports, one a 3.5mm audio jack, and a micro USB for power. The front is filled with speaker grills and finally, the bottom has two rubber feet for vibration control. It’s a relatively minimal design compared to some flashy portable speakers out there.
Sound Quality
The sound quality is pretty decent, considering a price tag of $28, I didn’t hope for much. It was pretty loud for its size, although the bass on those two 2.5W speakers did disappoint me. This is definitely not one for music enthusiasts or serious listeners but for casual users, this will be more than enough. Moreover, even at high volumes, there is very less distortion. Other speakers at this price point did perform similarly, with some bass heavy and some really loud, this particular one is decently loud and lightweight.
Connectivity
Connectivity can be done through two ways, a 3.5mm headphone jack or Bluetooth 4.2. This speaker connects to your phone really fast, not Bluetooth 5.0 fast but it’s pretty fast. The range is also quite decent, you won’t have any problems unless you have a really big room.
Battery Life
The speaker has a 1200mAh battery that, according to the website delivers 10 hours of continuous playback at 40% volume. I usually got more than 6 hours of music playback, video watching and game plays at mixed volumes. I personally didn’t find any problems with the battery backup on this. And when you do run out of battery, you can fully charge it within 3 hours.
Conclusion
All in all, this is a good speaker for casual users. But in any case you have more budget than the cost of this speaker, I recommend you go for some other speaker like the audio cube, which won’t be as portable but will deliver immensely better sound quality. You can also buy one from Xiaomi itself, the Mi Bluetooth Speaker, which costs around 2k more but the improvement in sound quality is definitely worth it.
If you are looking for a cheap, portable, long lasting and loud Bluetooth speaker, this one is for you. You can buy the Square Box 2 from banggood.com. If you want one, you can buy it here. They do ship to Nepal at a really low shipping cost and are also pretty reliable.
Tesla just unveiled Tesla Roadster 2.0, which is, in literal terms, INSANE! This is the fastest car to ever enter production, and that is counting the cars that run on electricity and petroleum products according to the figures showcased by Elon Musk.
According to Elon Musk, the car can go from 0 to 60mph in a staggering 1.9 seconds, and 0 to 100mph in 4.2 seconds. Another crazy figure based on the Tesla Roadster 2.0 is it can do a quarter of a mile in 8.9 seconds.
“This is the base model!”
-Elon musk
Talking more about the car, it has a top speed of over 250mph, and if all this isn’t insane enough for you, I don’t know what is.
Powering all of these figures is a 200kWh battery which, according to Tesla, will offer a range of 630 miles. They did state that the range was for highways so regular driving miles will differ.
“The point of doing this is to give a hardcore smackdown to gasoline vehicles.”
The Tesla Roadster 2.0 is a two by two four-seater, with a torque of 10,000Nm that will cost you a sweet $200,000. The first 1,000 buyers will get the Founder’s series that will cost them a cool $250,000, a $50,000 premium.
The price will feel like a bargain when you think that this is the fastest production car as of now. Tesla also gave people in the crowd a chance to test ride it if they put a $50,000 deposit.
The Roadster will be available for purchase by 2020. With more than one world-record shattered, this was an eventful night. Also, with the name Roadster comes a convertible roof, not a traditional one but still.
Alongside the second-generation Tesla Roadster, Tesla also released a Semi Truck. This one has a range of 500 miles, looks like Darth Vader, engineered to be aerodynamic, and has 18 wheels. Elon Musk also promised self-driving abilities.
