Page 792 – GadgetByte Nepal

OnePlus 5T a possibility: Rumors suggest a trendy design

GadgetByte

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October 10, 2017

OnePlus 5T a possibility: Rumors suggest a trendy design

This news comes with another news, two of the three variants of the older OP5 have sold out. The only version remaining in stock is the soft gold 6GB/64GB variant, so OP might release the OnePlus 5T. Not just that, but a sudden growth in competition could be another reason driving OP to upgrade their current flagship.

The current OP5 misses out on a few must have 2017 flagship features, most notably the bezel-less display. And speculations from GizmoChina hints at a new 6″ inch QHD (2,160 x 1,080) display with an 18:9 bezel-less design. So a hint of fresh air, as the older OP3 and 3T weren’t much of an upgrade looks wise.

Also Read: One Mobiles Price in Nepal

The SoC will remain the same with Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 835. The RAM and storage will also remain the same as well, which isn’t much of a topic to complain about. The website that reported this news does mention that the renders of OnePlus 5T look a lot like the unreleased OPPO F5. Not a surprise as Oppo and OnePlus shared a similar design language in the past between the OP5 and Oppo’s R11.

The battery on the OnePlus 5T could be bigger, seeing how the Oppo F5 is rumored to sport the huge 4000mAh battery. So the 3300mAh battery will most probably go up, also the bigger and higher resolution screen will surely need a battery upgrade.

Finally, the renders of the OnePlus 5T shows curved sides just like the Galaxy S8. So, however unlikely, the phone could sport a curved bezel-less screen. But we will have to wait and see which of these speculations pan out. GizmoChina says that the sources have proven reliable in the past, so take this news with a pinch of salt.

What are your thoughts on the endeavors of OnePlus for the bezel-less screen and 18:9 aspect ratio? Drop your thoughts in the comment section.

Windows Phone is dead – Microsoft confirms

GadgetByte

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October 10, 2017

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Windows Phone is dead – Microsoft confirms

Windows Phone was destined to die since the early beginning days of Androids and iPhone. They did share their good share of momentum, as well as a few dedicated fan following. We even thought that Windows Phone would finally pick up some pace when Microsoft bought Nokia’s smartphone division. But not much could fill the void of unsatisfactory app selection and a few other shortcomings.

Windows Phone has always had its own fan followings. The OS was also not that bad, with a smooth interface, regular updates, a clean UI and a bunch of features that their users loved. Microsoft even released one OS for all the platforms hoping for a better adoption rate. And the acquisition of Nokia and Lumia division wasn’t much less than a sold try from Microsoft’s point of view.

With the OS market share plummeting to less than 0.2% it was all but sure that Microsoft was going to take an action to kill their Windows Phone division. And they did, with a tweet from Joe Belfiore, VP of Microsoft OS confirmed Windows Phone OS’s death.

The tweet mentions clearly that no new features will make it’s way to the WP OS. Also, no new hardware will feature the Windows Phone OS either. He does mention that the platform will still get bug fixes and security updates, which we hope lasts as long as possible.

The biggest reason was clearly the fact that developers never backed up the platform. “We have tried very hard to incent app devs,” explains Belfiore. “Paid money.. wrote apps 4 them.. but volume of users is too low for most companies to invest.”

Even Bill Gates ditched Windows Phone for an Android, the Galaxy S8 if you were wondering. That’s also because, with the downfall of windows, Microsoft started to support Android OS a bunch of the Microsoft apps which enabled users to easily switch to the platform. YOu can basically find all of the apps from Microsoft available and well optimized for Android.

With Microsoft heavily invested in Android and iOS, the Windows Phone users won’t have much of a hard time adapting to other platforms. What do think of Windows Phone, did you ever use one, do let us know?

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A hits Nepali market next week

Pratima Adhikari

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October 9, 2017

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Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A hits Nepali market next week

Xiaomi, after introducing the much talked about Mi A1 in Nepal, has introduced yet another device in its league of Redmi devices- The Redmi Note 5A. The phone, according to Mi Nepal’s latest Facebook update, will be available in Nepal from the coming week.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A is powered with Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 quad-core processor and is packed with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage that can be further expanded up to 256 GB.

It has a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 720 by 1280 pixels. The phone runs on Android 7.0 (Nougat) and backs you with 3080 mAh non- removable battery.

Taking about the cameras, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A packs a 13 MP, f/2.2, fast focusing primary camera and 5 MP f/2.0, selfie shooter.

Apart from all these features, it encompasses a dedicated memory card slot, dual sim slots that support 4G network, sensors like compass Magnometer, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer and Ambient light sensor. And yes, it comes with Corning Gorilla Glass protection.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A Specs in a Nutshell:

5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD display

1.4GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 425 CPU with Adreno 308 GPU

2GB RAM with 16GB internal storage

Android 7.0 (Nougat) with MIUI 9

13MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/2.2 aperture, PDAF

5MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture

3080mAh battery

Expected Price: Rs. 16,999

The price for this soon to come phone has not been revealed yet. Mi Nepal has today confirmed that the Redmi Note 5A is getting released in Nepal next week. However, we know that the price has not yet been confirmed but Mi Nepal has rather left the public to guess the price. One person, who guesses the price right, will get hold of the Mi Band 2. The winner of the contest will be selected with Random Name Selector tool.

Also Read: Xiaomi Mobiles Latest Price in Nepal

With new launches like the Xiaomi Note A5, Xiaomi has offered more mid-range choices to the consumers in the Nepali Market. To be sure of how the phone is and will it be worth the money asked for, we will have to wait for further news form Mi Nepal itself.

Blackberry Motion goes Official for $460

GadgetByte

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October 9, 2017

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Blackberry Motion goes Official for $460

The name Blackberry used to stand for secured and sophisticated. Although that has come to change with its downfall, thanks to Android. And now, Blackberry is once again trying to find some momentum in this saturated market filled with Androids and iPhones.

Also Read: VIVO could launch in Nepal next month

Blackberry took the Android route back in 2015, with the Blackberry Priv. That phone even featured their iconic physical keyboard we have known and loved. The new Blackberry Motion sport no physical keyboard of any sort.

The new Blackberry Motion stands at 5.5″ with a 1080p IPS LCD display. The Snapdragon 625 SoC isn’t much of a powerhouse but paired with the 4000mAh battery should deliver good battery life, at least on paper. And 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage should provide sufficient room for a good user experience.

Also Read: iPhone 8 and 8 Plus batteries facing swelling issues

The camera department is handled by a 12MP f/2.0 sensor on the rear and an 8MP selfie camera on the front. It runs on a relatively new Android 7.1 Nougat with Blackberry’s own goodies on top. USB Type-C is responsible for the battery charging and data transfer with a headphone jack for audio transfers.

The BB Motion shows up with a good sturdy build just like any other Blackberry phone, although we expect nothing less from their phones. The pricing starts at $460 which is a little excessive but it’s just how Blackberry has always priced their smartphones. The phones will initially go for sale in countries like UAE and Saudi Arabia and will gradually make it’s way to some more countries.

Blackberry Motion Specs:

5.5″ Full HD IPS LCD display
Snapdragon 625 SoC
4GB of RAM
32GB of built-in storage
Android 7.1
4000mAh battery
12MP, f/2.0 rear camera
8MP Front-facing camera
IP67-certified dust and water protection
$460 (around Rs 50,000 estimated)

What do you feel about this newbie? Would you purchase the device if it comes to Nepal? Let us know in the comment section.

Weekly Poll – The iPhone X Design

GadgetByte

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October 9, 2017

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The iPhone X is the 10th iPhone from Apple and also their 10th-anniversary edition phone. So basically, a huge pressure for Apple to deliver the best in their 10-year history of making smartphones.

But with the removal of the iconic home button, and an overall new design. Safe to say, Apple took a big risk. So we wanted to know what our readers thought of the best phone that Apple claims to have made. Feel free to choose any two of the following options.

[socialpoll id=”2465495″]

Rumors: VIVO could launch in Nepal next month

GadgetByte

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October 9, 2017

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Rumors: VIVO could launch in Nepal next month

Another day and another smartphone manufacturer has fixed its sight in Nepal. This time it’s a much high profile mobile phone company as Vivo is all set to make its way here this November. We have yet to receive any information regarding the Vivo smartphones that will make their way into Nepal, but we know for sure that these smartphones will be targeting the selfie-loving Nepali people.

Everest Manakamana and Triveni Group are expected to be the authorized national distributors of Vivo smartphones in Nepal. Everest Manakaman is owned by Apex group who are also in the mobile business via Apex Digital Smartphone Chain Stores.

Apex Digital recently opened its 12th smart store at Dhangadhi recently. The company has opened its store all over Nepal, all while providing customers a ‘one stop shop’ for getting an on-hand experience of top smartphone brands available in Nepal.

Also Read: Everything you need to know about Apex Digital

Even though Apex Digital currently sells smartphones of brands such as Samsung, OnePlus, Oppo and Nokia among others, this is the only the second time the company itself is introducing a new mobile phone brand here in Nepal.

Vivo which recently launched the Vivo X20 and Vivo X20 Plus is deep-rooted in the Chinese and Indian smartphone market. It is slowly starting to crawl its way up the smartphone chain as consumers have liked how the company’s smartphones emphasize on providing users a great smartphone camera in a lower price tag.

Also Read: Vivo launches Vivo V7+

The recently launched Vivo X20 and Vivo X20 Plus have displays with 18:9 aspect ratio and a Super AMOLED panel to go along with it. These devices have dual rear-facing cameras and are powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor. The Vivo X20 and Vivo X20 Plus are the Chinese manufacturer’s flagship for this year and carry a price tag of $454 and $530 respectively. We can, however, expect Vivo to launch Vivo V7+ and Vivo Y69.

It will be interesting to see how Apex Digital and Vivo present themselves in the Nepali smartphone market which currently translates to only a few manufacturers making great sales. Vivo’s fellow Chinese competitor, Oppo, has already started to impress Nepali customers albeit arriving a bit late to the party.

Also Read: Oppo Mobiles Price in Nepal

iPhone 8 and 8 Plus batteries facing swelling issues

GadgetByte

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October 9, 2017

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iPhone 8 and 8 Plus batteries facing swelling issues

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus is arguably the two of the most disappointing iPhones for Apple in the 10-year history of iPhones. Not totally due to the fault of the iPhones itself, but the fact that a newer, better and much prettier iPhone X is just around the corner.

Nonetheless, reports show that the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are doing good as well, just not as good as the previous iPhones did. Although now, the iPhone duo faces another minor problem, the battery swelling issue.

Although just a handful of iPhones have faced this problem until now, we saw the same thing happen with Samsung’s Note 7 as well. The difference here is that the iPhones aren’t actually catching fire, they are basically just splitting open while charging or in some cases, they just came popped out of the box.

The reason for the iPhones splitting open is because of their batteries. They are basically swelling, forcing the housing of the phones to pop open. Although there were no signs of explosion or fire, good for Apple.

Even though this news comes from respectable sources like Reuters, CNET, the Verge and a few others, this doesn’t definitely show that the new iPhones have a problem. Rounding up all of the reports of 7 buyers from Japan, China, Taiwan, Canada, and Greece have come up until now.

iphone battery swelling 8 plus gadgetbyte nepal

This news should be taken with a huge grain of salt. And ignoring this isn’t much of an option either, as people choose to ignore the 6 or 7 note 7s that caught fire, and we all know the ending to that story. Apple themselves have made a statement saying they are “looking into” this matter.

Also read: iPhone 8 and 8 Plus price in Nepal

The iPhone 8 went on sale in 22 of September, so it’s still in the early days for Apple to fix something if any. Apple’s official statement was “We are aware and looking into it.” Also with the iPhone X nearing its release date, we remain optimistic for Apple.

OPPO F5 with near bezel-less design and dual front-facing camera leaks online

GadgetByte

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October 7, 2017

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OPPO F5 with near bezel-less design and dual front-facing camera leaks online

Oppo’s newest smartphone – the Oppo F5 made an appearance in a video by one of the Philippines’ TV channel a couple of days back. The smartphone was showcased from all 360-degree in that video confirming rumors that the F5 would be Oppo’s first smartphone with an 18:9 aspect ratio.

Also Read: Oppo Mobiles Price in Nepal

Like most of Oppo’s smartphones, the Oppo F5 too is a ‘selfie expert’. It has dual 16-megapixel front-facing shooters up front. The device houses a 20-megapixel sensor on the back which is accompanied by a LED flash.

The Oppo F5 will flaunt a 6-inch display with minimal bezels on the top and bottom. We are yet to receive any news regarding the resolution of this display, though. In terms of performance, the smartphone will probably have 6 GB of RAM which might be coupled with Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor.

Sensors wise, the Oppo F5 has a fingerprint scanner on the rear-end. It also comes with accelerometer and proximity. All of this could be backed by a 4,000 mAh battery. Do note that most of these specifications are based on the rumors circulating around.

The Oppo F5 won’t be the first smartphone from the Chinese company to feature dual front-facing cameras. Oppo had launched the Oppo F3 a while back in Nepal and it came with dual 16-megapixel and 8-megapixel secondary cameras. The F3 did quite well in our review considering its price tag of Rs. 30,996.

Don’t Miss: Top Smartphones Under Rs. 30,000

Oppo F5 Specifications (rumored):

6.0-inch IPS LCD display
Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor
Fingerprint Sensor
6 GB RAM
64 GB internal memory; Up to 256 GB via microSD card
Android Nougat
Dual SIM (Nano + Nano)
Rear-facing camera: 20 MP with LED flash
Front-facing camera: 16MP Dual Front Camera
Bluetooth 4.2; Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, WiFi Direct
4,000 mAh removable Li-Ion battery

OPPO F5 RUMORED LAUNCH DATE: October 26

HP introduces World’s Thinnest Touch Laptop with Intel 8th Gen Processor

GadgetByte

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October 7, 2017

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HP introduces World’s Thinnest Touch Laptop with Intel 8th Gen Processor

Like smartphones, laptops are evolving swiftly. They are getting more thinner and going bezel-less with every new launch. In a recent event, HP announced its latest flagship laptop, the Spectre 13 and Spectre x360. The HP Spectre 13 is touted as the world’s thinnest touch laptop while the x360 is a convertible 2 in 1. Spectre series was renowned for its build quality having used elements like aluminium and carbon fibre.

HP Spectre 13:

HP Spectre 13 has got a big facelift from its previous uninspiring design. The laptop now boasts micro-edge bezels, a fancy word for edge to edge display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. Coming in at 10.4mm thickness, HP has a 13-inch display with touch, making it the World’s thinnest laptop with a touchscreen. Its base model comes with a full HD panel but you can bump it up to 4K UHD resolution in the same form factor.

Even with thin top bezel, HP has incorporated a webcam which can shoot full HD videos. It also supports Windows Hello feature to unlock the PC with your face. The speakers have also been replaced from sides of the keyboard to the bottom of the display. This has allowed HP to go with an edge to edge backlit keyboard. The size of the touchpad has been increased by 15% as they were small on the last model.

Talking about specifications, the laptop packs the latest 8^th Generation Intel Quad-Core i5 and i7 CPU’s. It supports configuration of up to 16GB of LPDDR3 RAM and PCI-E based SSD up to 1TB. The ultrabook now provides 11.5 hours of usage compared to 7 hours in the previous model. This has been the result of an increase in battery size from 42 watts to 43.7 watts, use of power efficient processor and heat control. HP has used thermal sensors to monitor heat and which will turn on fans only when necessary. The Spectre 13 also offers fast charging which can charge the laptop from zero to 50% in 30 minutes.

It has a good selection of ports with 3 USB C ports where 2 of them are Thunderbolt 3 and the other is USB 3.1. It offers headphone jack and Bluetooth 4.2 for connectivity. HP Spectre 13 is priced at $1300 for i5 model with 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD and full HD display and $1400 for the same configuration with Intel i7 processor.

HP Spectre x360 13:

HP Spectre x360 is a convertible 2 in 1 laptop, meaning it can be folded and used as a tablet. The laptop also offers a dedicated pen for creative purposes. HP Spectre x360 was already a great laptop in terms of build and design so it has gotten a few little upgrades which makes it even better from a usability standpoint.

The Spectre x360 comes with a fingerprint sensor on the right side along with Windows Hello feature. For added security, the laptop also offers privacy screen filter in the full HD models which can block visuals of your screen from people staring at your display. In terms of internals, it is very similar to the Spectre 13. It offers 13.3-inch full HD panel which can be bumped to 4K UHD resolution. For performance, it comes with the same 8^th Generation Intel Quad-Core i5 and i7 CPUs. RAM can go up to 16GB and the SSD up to 1TB. HP claims the Spectre x360 to provide 16 hours of battery life with full HD configuration. It also incorporates fast charging which can charge the laptop from 0 to 50% within 30 minutes. It has a good selection of ports with two USB C’s with Thunderbolt 3 support, a USB 3.1 USB A port, SD Card reader and a headphone jack.

The HP Spectre x360 13 is priced at $1150 with a configuration of Intel i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD and full HD display and $1600 for Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and 4K display.

Samsung Galaxy A 2018 will come with the Infinity Display

GadgetByte

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October 6, 2017

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Samsung Galaxy A 2018 will come with the Infinity Display

Samsung Galaxy A series is a thing now, with a new generation releasing every year. Not just that, they have also earned the reputation of getting some of the best features of the Samsung flagship.

The Samsung Galaxy A5 is one of the most loved smartphones among the bunch. Maybe due to its smaller form factor on a premium packaging, people seem to love this one. This year Galaxy A5 2018 is getting the newer Snapdragon 660 CPU and the even newer unreleased Exynos 7885 (in Nepal/India). This processor improvement will be a huge one, seeing how the past A series SoCs barely ever got an upgrade.

For the even bigger news, looks like Samsung has finally found the answer to the most criticized part of their 2017 flagship lineup, the fingerprint sensor placement. Yes, its finally going to be located below the rear camera. And with the A series also getting the bezel-less treatment this year, looks like the fingerprint sensor is finally getting a more viable placement, below the camera. Until they find a way to put it inside the display of course!

The 2018 A series will also be getting the bezel-less treatment this year with infinity Display. It’s only going to be a 1080p panel at 1080 x 2220 to be exact thanks to the 18.5:9 aspect ratio. The new 2018 series will have to wait on the dual camera setup that we saw on the Note 8, most probably reserved for the 2019 A series. And like always, the smallest of the bunch, Galaxy A3 might miss out on some of the new features.

samsung galaxy a7 a5 a3 gadgetbyte nepal infinity display

Another feature the new A series will inherit is the Bixby Virtual Assistant. Just like the flagships, the A series will also feature a dedicated Bixby button on the left, which will direct you straight to Bixby. You also have an option to disable the button altogether this time around.

So, what do you think of these upgrades to the A series smartphones from Samsung? With these newer devices getting a much needed SoC upgrade, the new bezel-less design, and a 18:9 display, has Samsung upped their game in the premium midrange segment? Let us know in the comments down below.