The quadcopter market is booming in Nepal. Starck Tech, the official distributor of DJI products in Nepal and a subordinate of Jyoti Group, is looking to cash in on that. And the launch of the DJI Mavic Pro Platinum clearly shows that. According to DJI, the Mavic Pro Platinum is the company’s best portable drone yet.
The DJI Mavic Platinum is very similar to the Mavic Pro if the specs are considered. It has the same 65 km/h of maximum speed and captures 4K videos like its predecessor. The Mavic Pro Platinum has a 3-axis gimbal and is portable with a dimension of 83mm x 83mm x 198mm and weight of 743 grams if the battery and propellers are also taking into consideration.
The quadcopter has a few improved features over the Mavic Pro. It has a maximum flight time of 30 minutes and has a decreased noise reduction. To power up the drone for 30 minutes, the manufacturer has included a 3,830 mAh battery. The DJI Go app supports up to 1080p video quality for the live view.
The DJI Mavic Pro Platinum can be purchased for Rs. 132,000 while the combo version will run you Rs. 172,000.
Sony launched a total of three smartphones at CES this year. None of them are flagship offerings but Sony did always pride itself on its mid-range offerings anyway. The new smartphones are the third generation installments of their respective series.
Sony Xperia XA2
Stepping up in the footsteps of the XA and the XA1, the XA2 leaves the traditional 5-inch display for a 5.2-inch (500nits) panel. Along with the physical size, the XA2 also features a full HD display. The battery has also been increased to 3300mAh.
It is built on an aluminum frame with a polycarbonate back with colors ranging from silver, black, blue and even pink (nothing we haven’t seen before). It offers Quick Charge 3.0, for obvious reasons as it runs on an octa-core Snapdragon 630 SoC.
The XA2 packs 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage alongside Bluetooth 5.0 (seemed like a notable feature). It also comes with Android 8.0 Oreo straight out of the box.
The phone has a fingerprint sensor on the back right below the 23MP f/2.0 aperture camera. The same camera is also capable of video recordings of up to 2160p at 30fps. At the front, it holds a 16MP+8MP camera setup. The 16MP is a f/2.0 sensor with OIS whereas the 8MP f/2.4 is a wide-angle sensor with a FOV of up to 120 degrees. Video recordings maxes out at 1080p 30fps.
It will have the usual single and dual-SIM variant, 802.11ac wifi, NFC, USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It also has the traditional Sony style dedicated two-stage camera shutter button on the side.
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
The XA2 Ultra is quite a cache name, NOT!! It is, however, a big smartphone, with a 6-inch (500 nits) 16:9 display. Anyway, there is no denying it’s a big phone, even though the dimensions have remained constant for about three generations now.
The mediocre Helio P series of SoCs are gone in favor of the Snapdragon 630 SoC. With that, the huge 3580mAh battery is aided by Quick Charge 3.0. The RAM capacity remains at 4GB alongside a 32GB or a 64GB of storage option.
The back is equipped with a 23MP f/2.0 sensor and a fingerprint sensor. On the sides, there are the volume buttons, power button, and the two-stage camera shutter as well. The front has the exact camera setup as the normal size Xperia XA2.
It also features Bluetooth 5.0, 802.11 ac wifi, USB-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, dual SIM option and comes with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. The increase in battery capacity will help a lot with the overall experience of the device for sure.
Sony Xperia L2
The Xperia L2 is the low-end smartphone from Sony. It comes with Android 7.1.1 out of the box which will tell you a lot about the device at first glance. It also comes with the same SoC as it’s predecessor, the MediaTek MT6737T, paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable internals.
The L2 shares the 5.5-inch 720p display with the L1, what has changed is the battery capacity to a usable 3300mAh. There is a 13MP f/2.0 camera at the back and an 8MP f/2.4 camera at the front.
It gets a USB Type-C port but lacks Bluetooth 5.0 and ac wifi. It does, however, feature a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor along with black, pink and gold color options. The smartphone does pose a good deal of upgrades over its predecessor.
Samsung Galaxy J2 Pro is an entry-level smartphone which was well-received last year. For those who wanted a Samsung phone under 15k, this was a go-to device. Unlike cheap Samsung phones in the past, it was not bad by any means. The phone offered AMOLED display, selfie flash and 4G connectivity, all at an affordable price. Recently, Samsung has silently enlisted the J2 Pro 2018 on their official website. The phone gets a refreshing visual overhaul which makes it homogeneous to the Samsung’s J series.
The Samsung Galaxy J2 Pro 2018 on the first glance looks like a miniature version of the now popular J7 Pro. Unlike the J series, the phone will likely sport a plastic back with a metallic finish. The last gen featured an AMOLED display but to raise the bars even higher this year, the phone incorporates a 5inch Super AMOLED panel. The phone is powered by a quad-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz. The chipset is unspecified so my wild guess is either SD425 or Exynos 7570. Coupled with that you get 1.5GB RAM, an odd number indeed but Samsung has played this game for a while now.
J2 Pro 2018 is a 4G enabled phone and comes with dual SIM slot. The best thing is probably the dedicated microSD card slot. It’s not cool even in 2018 to have hybrids. For optics, the phone offers an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front-facing camera with LED flash. Android 7.0 Nougat with Samsung’s Experience UI is giving life to this phone. Like the previous variant, it’s sad to see no fingerprint sensor on this device. J2 Pro 2018 is backed by a 2600mAh battery. The battery is removable so you can swap an extra battery to have a full charge in no time!
Samsung Galaxy J2 Pro 2018 Specifications
5-inch Super AMOLED display with qHD resolution (540 x 960)
Android 7.0 Nougat
Unspecified Quad-Core Processor clocked at 1.4GHz
1.5GB RAM
16GB Internal Storage, Expandable up to 128GB (Dedicated Slot)
If Samsung Nepal manages to keep the price of this phone under Rs.15,000, then it would definitely give competition to the popular phones in the similar price tag like the Redmi 4A, Nokia 3 and Moto C Plus.
Apple admitted that they intentionally slowed down older iPhones with weakening batteries to prevent the handset from shutting off abruptly. This caused an outrage among the consumers. Hence as an apologetic move, Apple offered to replace batteries of iPhone 6 and other latest models at $29. For customers who can now extend their iPhone’s battery life at a low price and get better performance, it’s a win.
Barclays analysts predict that Apple’s offer to replace their flagging batteries at $29 could be problematic for sales in 2018. There are at least 675 million iPhones in use and that 519 million are the models that require the battery replacement. This could have an immense impact on the company’s finances.
However, Barclays analyst says that thought its a good PR move. Unless the iPhone users resolve upon taking this offer instead of upgrading to a new device. Apple’s recent iPhone battery controversy and the apology could be a good PR move. However, it will hit iPhone sales, affecting around 4 percent reduction in revenue.
As Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz predicts, there are 519 million iPhones eligible for the $29 battery replacement. This would create about $1.56 billion in revenue. However, the company could get a potential loss of $10 billion from the estimated 16M iPhone sales.
Why battery replacement could affect iPhones sales.
“Even a small percentage opting for battery replacement over upgrade could have an immense impact on iPhone sales,” the Barclays analysts warn. According to him, the $29 offer incident has caused significantly higher public awareness of Apple’s behavior. As $29 is an affordable price it will provide a significant boost in speed from 600MHz to 1400MHz for an iPhone 6. Being a great opportunity, some customers may prefer battery replacing over despite the diagnostic test.
On December 20th, Apple revealed that iPhone software slows down some the devices with aging battery. Hearing this, the consumers have been very disappointed. This led the firm to face several lawsuits from customers in states, as well as customers in Israel and France. So to smooth over this issue, Apple announced that it would offer $29 iPhone battery replacements in 2018.
Apple now has to hope that iPhone users don’t decide to take a $29 battery over a $999 iPhone X.
IT Meet 2018 was recently held as a two-day event on January 5 and 6. It was one of the biggest events that cumulates much of the happenings in Nepal in the field of information technology. The event showed its colors at the serene environment of IT Park in Kavre. It was organized by Kathmandu University Computer Club (KUCC). It was the 7th iteration of this meetup which is organized yearly. The event was targeted mainly at students who could tickle their fancy with the different domains of IT one could find on the common ground. It also gave an overview what the field of IT would be this year and upon observing the event I would put my two cents on AI.
Highlights of IT Meet 2018
Career Fair
Career Fair consisted of booths from some of the top and emerging IT companies in Nepal. The motive of career fair was to let students interact with the companies directly. Companies discussed technology, provided guidance, and opportunities at their institution. The best thing about career fair was students could come and drop their CV at any of the available booths. Company from there would consider applicants and further procedures would begin. It was not ideal for students who are currently pursuing their study in IT as most of the companies internship would begin from 9 AM to 5 PM. However for the pass outs, career fair was a great opportunity to drop their CV for multiple companies at once.
Meetups
Noticeably there were 2 meetups in IT Meet 2018, Python Meetup and Virtual Reality Meetup. Python Meetup was all about how python enables the use of AI. Different libraries of python were showcased along with approaches one could use to get started with AI. It was a great event for anyone who wants to get started with AI.
Virtual Reality Meetup was an interesting one. Game Developers and designers from different companies showcased how to get started with creating VR contents. They showcased different technology and approaches one could use to do so. The meetup ended with the demonstration of VR and Mixed Reality games with the use of HTC Vive and the Acer Mixed Reality Headset.
Competitions
The event was filled with different competitions and I was pretty much sure a lot of people found their cup of tea.
Coding competition:
Here participants had to solve mathematical and algorithmic problems with their programming language of choice. It was a true test of their programming skills.
Hackathon: 40 hours long hackathon took place where participants had to develop a product based on a certain theme or idea.
NepHack:
NepHack was an interesting competition where one team would have to hack the another by exploiting the vulnerabilities.
Design Competition:
Design thinking is an integral part of product development and here participants had to come up with an easy to use and interactive UI/UX.
Photography Competition:
Photographs were exhibited on the walls along the stairs taken by various participants. Photographs revolved around landscapes, culture, and life. The picture that got the most votes would win the contest.
IT Quiz:
IT Quiz was targeted for the +2 students where different questions related to IT. The motive of this quiz was to encourage students in the field of IT.
Gaming Competitions:
This included both mobile games and console games. Participants competed on games like Fifa 1, Dota 2, CS GO, Mini Militia.
Project Demonstration
There were a lot of project demonstration at the event. Mostly web-based technologies could be found on various booths which included Roomfinder, Birth Record Keeper, Scoreboard, and so on. Mobile-based technology included an AI-powered app that could detect a Blast disease from the photo of rice plants leaf. Another one was a blood donation app that kept active records of blood donors who can be connected with the ones in need.
Hardware Projects included a traffic control system with the use of AI, gesture-controlled wheelchair and a remote controlled vehicle with a tripod for filming some of the events.
We generally understand healthy as the state of being well. And having a good health is inarguably the greatest wealth any living being could possess. However, many factors come along the way to diminish the health condition of people. But with a mere conscience, a little bit of the precautions and with few healthy habits, any individual can preserve their state of well-being for a long time. And here are some free health and fitness apps that can help an individual to be healthy for an extended period of time.
BMI calculator
BMI calculator specializes in calculating the BMI and BMR. The acronym BMI stands for Body Mass Index, the value of which is derived with the help of the weight and height of an individual. And this index is used to identify the condition of the well-being of an individual in terms of weight. The BMI Calculator app takes note of the age, sex, height and weight of a person, calculates the BMI and deduces the weight condition of the person viz. normal, underweight, overweight, and obese.
On the other hand, BMR stands for Basal Metabolic rate, which means the number of calories a healthy person burns at rest. These calories are burned for the naturally basic tasks like breathing, digesting, keeping the heart beating and all the other physiological tasks keeping a human alive. Alike the calculation of the BMI, the app demands the age, sex, height, and weight of a person and presents the BMR. With these data, one can take the required actions to bring their body weight to the normal state and get a step closer to a healthy lifestyle.
There are many BMI calculator app in the App store and Play store. The main focus here is only to check the BMI and BMR value. So any trustworthy app can be used for the purpose. Calculate the BMI here in this link.
Google Fit
While walking, jogging or running, it is difficult to track the amount of calories burnt. And without the actual data, the journey to the fitness sometimes deviates from the way planned. Under such scenario, the use of Google Fit proves to be helpful.
Google Fit app primarily requires Gmail account to get logged into the app. The app then counts the number of footsteps during the exercise and deduces the amount of calories burnt. Users can also set the goals in terms of steps after planning the amount of calories to burn on any given day. The app also tracks the activities as the exercise like walking or jogging, running, cycling, etc. To see the distance traveled or the actual amount of calories burnt during the exercise, filling out the weight, height, and gender at the beginning is mandatory.
Accuracy may bother its users quite often. So to help the Google Fit to track actual calories burned in the process, after turning the GPS on, users need to press the ‘+’ button in the app, click the ‘start activity’ option and then mention the type of activity before proceeding to the exercise. And for the most accurate calibration during the activities, it is better to keep the smartphone in the pocket or in the backpack (if any).
The activities along with the amount of calories burnt in the process are saved by the device. These values can be accessed later and a general overview of the exercise pattern can be known.
Water Drink Reminder
The role of water in the human body is indispensable. The human body needs to be hydrated timely for the fluent operation of the metabolism. However, because of the busyness due to the chores, people often forget to refill the body with water. And such habits drive the body towards fatigue, muscle cramps, spasms, dizziness, headache, constipation, increased anxiety, etc. And the persistence in the dehydration invites horrific diseases like chronic fatigue and depression, migraine, arthritis, stomach ulcers, kidney stones, etc. To avoid such aggressions, Water Drink Reminder app was conceived.
The app asks for body weight, sleeping time and time to wake up. Accounting the body weight, amount of water required for a human body is determined. And with the sleeping and waking up time, working time is deduced. The app then reminds the user with an alarm precisely every hour during the working time. The users can set the amount of water drunk on every reminder and reduce the daily goal. If the quality of water meets the prescribed value, the app notifies the user about the reached goal. The app hence will not buzz the user for rest of the day.
Twilight
In this tech-savvy world, our exposure to the blue light is increasing more than ever. The use of digital devices like smartphones and computers, watching TVs and playing gaming consoles has increased at an unprecedented rate. These habits are increasing our exposure to the blue lights and pushing towards an unhealthy ecosystem.
Sun is the natural source of blue light. Exposure to the natural form of blue light regulates the natural sleep and wake cycles and this process is known as Circadian Rhythm. In addition to the regulation of Circadian Rhythm, the natural blue light increases the alertness, heightens reaction times, damps the mood swings and improves the state of well-being. However, the exposure to the artificial blue lights is unhealthy to the human body. Exposure to the artificial blue light contributes to eyestrain, retinal damage and ultimately leading to the macular degeneration. Researchers have proved that the blue light also disrupts the state of hormones in the body. Furthermore, the blue light can trigger cancers, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. To defend such horrific diseases, Twilight app was developed. This app filters the harmful blue light oozing from the smartphones and saves the eyes.
The app basically has three modes to adjust the blue light filter. The first way is by controlling the color temperature, which can be adjusted at a value between 1000K to 5000K with an interval of 500K in between. Keeping the temperature to lower values is good for eyes, they sooth the eyes and prevent eyestrains. However, lower color temperatures invite the reddish tint in the screen. On the other hand, higher color temperatures bring blue tint on the screen. Setting the color temperature to high values induce eyestrains and cause sleep disorders.
Other additional two modes of the app are intensity and screen dim. As the name implies, the intensity controls the amount of reddish or bluish tint on the screen and the screen dim mode allows the user to adjust the brightness. There are also numerous ways to automatically toggle the blue light filter on and off in the app. According to the user choice, the blue light filter can be activated always, during the user-preset time or between the sunset and sunrise time.
Some smartphone comes with pre-built Blue light filter app or possesses modes like Night display mode or Reading mode. If these features are inbuilt in the smartphone, Blue-rays through the smartphone displays is zero or minimal when activated and the Twilight app is not required.
Sleep Bot
Inadequate sleep is often proclaimed as a slow poison. It greatly pulverizes the physical and mental state of well-being. Sleep deprivation causes diminish in memory, emotional outburst, paranoia, chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes, etc. So a good amount of sleep is highly essential to a human body. And Sleep Bot app is a qualified tool for sleep tracking and to drive its users to a healthier lifestyle.
The user needs to set the app to “Going to sleep” mode before going to bed. The app also asks to check smart alarm, track motion and record sound mode before the sleep. The smart alarm mode awakes the user somewhere in between thirty minutes prior to set time to set time judging the best time to wake the user. Similarly, track motion option tracks the movement of the smartphone during the sleep. If the smartphone is kept close to the user, the app can trace the motion of the user and any discomforts during the sleep or somnambulism can be realized.
There is also the record sound option, which records sound during the sleep. This mode helps to keep track of difficulties during the sleep like uncomfortable breathing, snoring, and the somniloquence. In addition to the sleep tracking, there is education material regarding the sleep, healthy ways to induce sleep, ways to stay awake, etc.
Headspace
To be healthy, an individual should possess not only a fit body but also a sound mind. In the surrounding full of turmoils and emotional distraughtness hitting frequently, no person can escape the depression. Such mental stresses develop inhumane behaviors in people and also encourages the social crimes. So having a calm mind free of tensions is another important to have to be healthy.
Headspace app is basically the mindfulness app offering a guided meditation. The app requires registration in the beginning, which can be done using email or with Facebook ID. After the registration, the users can always head to Audio or Visual mode to calm their mind. It contains numerous audio speech and animations to tranquil and cheer its users.
Headspace contains numerous categories Heath, Brave, Happiness, Work & Performance, Students, Sports, etc. If the stresses are related to any of the aforementioned categories, one can always go through the sessions and relax their mind. However, Headspace requires connection to download the speeches and animations prior to the session. And this can be frustrating to the people, who lack the reach of Wi-Fi or cheap mobile internet.
For the ones, who lose the track of time and are prone to miss the meditation session, there is also a reminder mode, which beeps at the preset time.
Pokemon Go
Scheduling every day for workout and exercises is pretty daunting. And even more awful is to do it. To defy such mindsets, Pokemon Go game was developed, which discourages passivity and obesity by luring people into exercises playfully.
The game primarily is a treasure-hunting app with the characters in the scenario based on the popular anime Pokemon. The app emulates an augmented reality world with map and Pokemon characters in it. The main focus of the users will be to reach different Poke Stops and hunt different Pokemon. On catching every Pokemon, users are rewarded and that is what keeps the player going. Pokemon are scattered in different locations, so get rewarded in the game user motion is essential. The app uses pedometer and GPS to track the motion of the user.
Since the app essential requires connection to the server and movement is crucial in the game, users need to turn on their mobile data connection, which will not be feasible if the tariffs are higher.
Hamro Doctor
Prevention is definitely better than cure. But since the life is full of uncertainties and sickness and accidents happens without a prior notice. So to suppress the damages in such scenarios, consulting Hamro Doctor App proves to be helpful.
The app is divided into different sections like Hospital, Doctor, Blood Donor, Ambulance, and Medicine. As the name implies, the hospital section contains the information related to the hospitals. The app encapsulates numerous hospitals of Nepal with their location, contact number, number of beds in general, ICU and Emergency wards. The hospital section also contains the name of the doctors working in the hospital with their designated specialty. The information of the doctors can also be obtained in the Doctors section, where the name of the doctors is sorted in alphabetical order.
Likewise, in the Blood Donor section, there is a collective database of the blood donors with their name, contact number, district, and blood group. There is also a filter option on the top, where the user can select the blood group required and location of the donor. In addition to requesting blood from the donor, one can also place their interest for the donation by filling name, phone number, address, blood group and date of the last donation. Similarly, the Ambulance sections contain number and address of the ambulance, which can be summoned during emergencies. And the Medicine section prescribes medicines with dosages for different kind of illnesses.
Hamro Doctor is a mobile doctor that travels along with you via your smartphone. In addition to helping the ill people in need, this app also draws health-related articles and encourages its users to practice healthy habits.
Xiaomi MI Mix was a smartphone, which received numerous appraisals for obliterating the unnecessary bezels. Xiaomi MI Mix 2 is the successor to the MI Mix, which too treated the bezels accordingly. The difference, however, is that the MI Mix has adopted 18:9 aspect ratio replacing the 17:9 ratio. The second generation of the MI Mix series was another hit in the global smartphone market. And to receive the same kind of love in Nepal, Xiaomi MI Mix 2 has stepped in Nepali soil. And all thanks to the Vatsal Impex Pvt. Ltd., (the authorized distributor of Xiaomi Mobiles in Nepal), which made it possible.
With an aluminum frame and ceramic back, MI Mix 2 looks premium and classy at the same time. In terms of display, Xiaomi MI Mix 2 possesses 5.99-inch, which is a tad bit smaller than the MI Mix. Possessing a screen-to-body ratio of 80.8% and with an 18:9 aspect ratio, Xiaomi MI Mix 2 has presented itself in a bold avatar. With the Corning Gorilla glass 4 as the shield to the display, the smartphone is less prone to cracks and scratches. The smartphone features Full HD+ resolution (2160 x 1080 pixels) resulting in a pixel density of 403PPI.
On the memory section, MI Mix 2 is rich with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. However, the real bummer is there is no card slot for the memory expansion and one is obliged to be satisfied with the onboard storage of the smartphone. Powering the device is a Snapdragon 835 chipset, which was the flagship chipset from the chipmaker Qualcomm for the year 2017. And there is Adreno 540 GPU taking a major role the graphics department.
To please the photography/videography fanatics, there is 12MP camera embedded in the rear panel of the smartphone. The rear camera seems quite capable with f/2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus, 4-axis OIS, 1/2.9″ sensor size, and the pixel size of 1.25 µm. To provide natural vibes in the images while shooting in low light and nighttime scenario, dual tone flash has been included in the vicinity of the camera. Up front, there is a 5MP camera dedicated for the selfies, which comes with f/2.0 aperture.
To fuel the processes within the device, a 3400mAh battery resides in the phone. Since the smartphone supports fast charging (Quick Charge 3.0), power injection to the device will be hassle-free. The smartphone is tagged with the price of Rs. 63,999 and interested ones can book their copy on the official website of Xiaomi Nepal.
Xiaomi MI Mix 2 VS Xiaomi MI Mix 2
Specs
Xiaomi MI Mix 2
Xiaomi MI Mix
Display
5.99-inch IPS LCD Display with Gorilla glass 4 protection; 80.8% Screen-to-body ratio
6.4-inch IPS LCD Display; 83.6% Screen-to-body ratio
Resolution
Full-HD+ (2160 x 1080 pixels) @ 403PPI; 18:9
Full-HD (2040 x 1080 pixels) @ 362PPI; 17:9
OS
Android 7.1 (Nougat)
Android 7.1 (Nougat)
Chipset
Snapdragon 835
Snapdragon 821
CPU
Octa-core (4×2.45 GHz Kryo & 4×1.9 GHz Kryo)
Quad-core (2×2.35 GHz Kryo & 2×2.19 GHz Kryo)
GPU
Adreno 540
Adreno 530
RAM
6GB
6GB
Internal Storage
64GB; No SDcard slot
256GB; No SDcard slot
Rear Camera
12 MP, f/2.0, PDAF, 4-axis OIS, dual-tone flash
16 MP, f/2.0, PDAF, EIS (Gyro), dual-tone flash
Front Camera
5MP, f/2.0
5MP, f/2.2
Connectivity
Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, A-GPS, NFC, USB Type-C
Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, A-GPS, NFC, USB Type-C
Colors Mobile has been at its work as the company launched some back-to-back smartphones, targeting different consumers of different budget-level price range. It introduced quite a few devices last December and is continuing the trend as it is set to launch a new mobile phone that will be exclusively available online. This is help to make the price competitive in the almost saturated smartphone market of Nepal. The Colors S11 is a device that will be targeted towards the selfie lovers as we have news that it will house dual front-facing lenses up top.
If the speculations circulating around are considered, the Colors S11 will be a fairly priced budget smartphone that will come with the price range of Rs. 12,000 – Rs. 14,000. It will most probably sport an HD display in a frame of 5.2-inch. The Colors S11 could also be one of the devices in its price range to come with 3 GB RAM.
Since that last couple of devices from Colors have featured Android Nougat right out of the box, we can expect the same with the S11. This version of near-stock Android coupled with 3 GB of RAM will certainly help in a lag-free user experience. The device will supposedly be backed by a battery of 3,000 mAh capacity. Now, do note that all these specifications are speculated, and they might vary once the S11 is launched. Colors Mobile Nepal is launching the S11 on January 12.
Colors had most recently launched an entry-level device – the P65 which is currently priced at Rs. 7,995. It comes with a 5-inch FWVGA display and runs on Android v7.0 Nougat. The device is also a selfie-centric smartphone as it has a 5-megapixel secondary lens with Triple Screen Flash.
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.
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
