You surf the internet all day long but there’s always a particular set of websites you run into. Usually, these are blogs, news site, and video directories which are basically the same with contents of their own domain. Today we have summed up 10 websites that might interest you or come really handy. So let’s begin!
What Every Browser Knows About You(WEBKAY):
With privacy being one of the most serious issues of the decade, our every move on the internet is being tracked. All of our personal information is being sold for targeted advertisement and all of this is happening simply through our browser. So here’s a simple site, that’ll preview all the information the browser knows about you. It’ll give you your location, sites you are logged into, your system hardware information, and so on. The best thing about this site is, it not only shows you what it knows but also suggests how you can hide that information!
MusicMap is a simple site where you can find other artists you may like if you listen to a certain artist. The search results would be based on – if People like this artist then they would also like these artists. When you search for the artist, you’d get a scattered search result. If two artists are close together, then the probability of liking that artist is high if not then it’s so-so.
Bored of couch surfing all day? How about a quick tour of the Mt.Everest? Explore Everest is an intuitive website which takes you on a journey to the top of Mt. Everest. You get an interactive audio experience of winds howling, a side altitude meter and a story line to keep you entertained throughout the journey. It doesn’t have Google’s 360 views which would have made it more fun to look around but still, it’s a great experience.
This one is a really interesting one and a useful one if you are a health student. This website helps you with speech synthesis. This will show you how your mouth is manipulated while producing different sounds. It lets you control your oral cavity, throat, and tongue to produce noise.
Here’s a basic walkthrough of the site:
move the body of the tongue to shape vowels.
touch the oral cavity to narrow it, for fricative consonants.
touch above the oral cavity to close it, for stop consonants
touch the nasal cavity to open the velum and let sound flow through the nose.
Photoskop is a perfect interactive tool for individual who are interested in photography. This site simulates the working of a DSLR and lets you control different aspects of it, teaching you how it affects the picture you’re taking. You’ll also be able to control scene(based on lighting), equipment and setup. There’s also a catalog to adopt what kind of photography you’d want to learn. Getting a DSLR sure is expensive, so you might just learn the basic skills with this simulation and apply your newly acquired knowledge in the real world. Since most of the browsers have already killed flash, this one needs Adobe Flash to run the simulation, so make sure to install it beforehand.
If you are someone who travels a lot then getting all the information of that country and its cities at hand is very useful. This is where thebasetrip comes in picture. This site will give all the necessary information from 650 cities of 230 countries. The site includes visa & embassy information, accommodation & flight prices, and apps to book one, currencies, costs of living, internet speeds, mobile data prices(with carriers), electricity sockets, general rules and regulations and more.
Quick Draw is a website by Google where you can draw doodle to see if the Google’s Neural Network can identify it. This site gives you an item for doodling and based on your drawing, the site passes various comments. It’s a fun website to kill your time. Your doodle is saved on the Google’s database which helps to train its Neural Network to be better at identifying objects. Also, all of this data is open source, so if you’re a developer you can easily use this dataset in your project.
This website is going to be handy for those who love reading. This is a simple site that tells you how much average time it would take to read a certain book. This has a straightforward UI where you have to enter the Name and Author of the book and it’ll deliver its reading time. Making an account on the site will give an added benefit of personalized reading time. First, it’ll give you few chunks of paragraphs to read and based on the time you take, it’ll predict the reading time of all the books you search for.
As an icing on the cake, Readism also comes with its own Chrome Extension which can tell you how long a certain web article will take to read.
In the past, we’ve reviewed tons of smartphones. At the time of our reviews, there have been times when one phone had the best display and the other had the best camera and then came the another with the best battery and the like. That way, we had different phones excelling in different aspects. But, can there be an Ultimate smartphone that proves itself to be best in every aspect? With this question in mind, I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy S8 for quite some time. So, Is the Samsung Galaxy S8 the best smartphone you can pick right now? Let’s find out from this review.
Key Specs of Samsung Galaxy S8
5.8Inch (18.5:9 aspect ratio) QHD+ Super AMOLED Display
Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection (both front and back)
12MP, f/1.7, 26mm Rear Camera with LED flash, OIS, dual pixel auto-focus; simultaneous 4k video and 9MP photo shoot, 4k@30fps, 1080p@60/30fps, 720p@240fps
8MP, f/1.7 Front Camera (dual pixel auto-focus); 1440p@30fps, 1080p@30fps
3000 mAh Battery with Samsung adaptive fast charging
Dual SIM support
Color Option: Midnight Black, Maple Gold
Price: Rs. 88,900
Design
Samsung Galaxy S8 is undoubtedly the best-designed phone of the year. Just a year back, the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge shared a lot of design elements with its predecessor and other Samsung phones. But the same cannot be said about the S8 which looks much different than not just any Samsung phones but all other phones currently available in the market. The S8 won the title of “best design” not just because it’s different but because it’s lovable in every way. The phone with a narrower body and taller screen that is curved on the edges and has a shrunk down forehead and the chin is something you can’t wait to put your hands on, after the moment you see it. The device is slightly thicker at 8mm and a bit heavier at 155gm than its predecessor but still feels pretty good in the hand thanks to its ergonomics. The glass on the front and back and the aluminum rails along the edges blend seamlessly giving a feeling as if the phone is using single design element.
To get an impressive screen-to-body ratio of over 83%, Samsung had to do few trade-off like removable of the physical home button and newer placement of fingerprint sensor at the back alongside the camera. You can find more coverage on the fingerprint sensor and home button on the hardware section down below. Other than the power button on the right and the volume rocker on the left, we now have another new button below the volume rocker for Bixby. I’ll address more on the Bixby, down in the software part of the review.
Display
The Samsung Galaxy S8’s 5.8inch Super AMOLED display with the resolution of 1440*2960 pixels is by far the best display on any smartphone. The Samsung calls it an Infinity Display since the display melds down to the edges with those curves on both sides. This display with 18.5:9 aspect ratio looks a bit narrower and taller than regular 16:9 displays. It is with this new display that Samsung has been able to pack-in 5.8inch display in a phone with a footprint comparable to last year’s S7 that had a 5.1inch display. The display is pretty sharp, has a great contrast and colors, and is much bright outdoors. The brightness can be set dim to a level that doesn’t burn eyes while using the phone before bed. Plus, the display also supports HDR contents.
Samsung Galaxy S8’s display comes with lots of tuning options. Those options include a Blue light filter, 4 different Screen mode, basic and advanced white balance tuning options and much more. The best of all is the option to switch screen resolution among HD+, FHD+, and WQHD+. The display has rounded corners matching those of the phone itself. However, while watching the video contents with 16:9 aspect ratio you’ve to opt for a cropped content or pillar boxing effect.
Performance
The Galaxy S8, powered by Exynos 8895 Octacore CPU and backed by Mali-G71 MP20 GPU that is coupled with 4GB RAM, is an exceptionally impressive performer. The phone is fast and responsive and smoothly handles whatever you throw at it. The phone has left no room for complaining when it comes to app loading and the app switching. Plus, it has noticeably shorter boot time. I tested its gaming performance by playing different heavy titles. And, I had a pretty amazing gaming experience without any glitches and without any dropped frame rates. However, the phone does get warmer after a prolonged gaming session or after stretched use of cameras.
Hardware
The phone comes equipped with a fingerprint sensor that has been repositioned to the back since the phone no longer has the Samsung’s traditional Home button. Instead of the physical home button and capacitive buttons, the phone now has on-screen buttons that are customizable. Plus the virtual home button is a pressure sensitive one that senses hard pressures and gives strong haptic feedback. Plus, you can always wake the phone by pressing on the spot where virtual home button resides. The major problem with the device is this new positioning of the fingerprint sensor alongside the rear camera that made me smudge the camera glass everytime I tried to spot fingerprint sensor unseeingly. The loudspeaker still resides on the bottom and produces decent sound though not the loudest. It’s 2017 and just like we wanted, Samsung has still been showing love to the 3.5mm headphone jack that resides on the extreme left on the bottom.
Camera
When it comes to cameras, it has a 12Megapixel unit with an f1.7 aperture on the back and 8MP unit with an f1.7 aperture on the front. Both cameras using Dual Pixel autofocus technology are found reliable on any time of the day. The photos from rear camera come out sharp, vibrant and have good depth in them. Be it a portrait, landscape, macro, indoor or outdoor shots, the camera produces impressive results. The Auto HDR kicks in right when needed and the focusing is quick and hardly misses. I took 100 of photos and only deleted around 7-10 of them for missing out on focus.
Galaxy S8 Camera Samples
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Using "Selective Focus"
HDR Shot
Lowlight Photo
The camera app has a bunch of features along with the pro mode. But, with the auto mode that works so well, you probably won’t bother going manual. Other mentionable features are the selective focus that produces fake blurring in the background and the slow motion that allows shooting 720p video at 240fps. The regular videos can be taken up to 4K from the Back and 2k from the front. However, only the primary camera has Optical Image Stabilization that aids well while taking handheld videos.
The phone takes social-media-ready selfies and the shooting speed is fast too. The photos are good indoors and much better outdoors. The autofocus is pretty fast. The selfies come detailed but come with a bit of fine tuning even when the beautification is turned off. The camera app has inbuilt augmented reality face filters if that’s your cup of tea. Judging from the photos and videos I took at the time of my review, these are arguably the best cameras that I’ve ever tested.
Software
Samsung Experience UI
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The Samsung Galaxy S8 runs on Samsung Experience 8.1 that’s based on Android 7.0 Nougat. Samsung has added a few flavors of its own and made the already good Android Nougat even better. Unlike TouchWiz, the UI now has shorter, sleek and smooth animations. Reaching the app drawer has now been made easier since you can reach the app drawer by swiping anywhere on the homescreen. The quick settings menu is far from what you find on stock Android and so is the settings menu. Like Samsung edge devices in the past, the edge panel functionality is still there that I used for first few days and now, I keep forgetting that it is there. However, you can reach people, task or app with a swipe from the edge when the edge panel is turned on. The icons on the S8 have rounded corners matching that of the display.
More to the Software is the Bixby which I was really excited about in the beginning. But after spending some time with it, I didn’t find it much useful. And, the Bixby vision is totally hit or miss. Since the Bixby is not fully functional as of now, so it’ll be too early to judge it. What annoyed me the most is the accidental presses on the Bixby button that keeps waking up the device when I didn’t want to. I just wish if there was an option to disable the button, if not remap.
Battery
Battery Usage Details
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When it comes to Battery, after Note 7 debacle, Samsung is playing safe this time around. Samsung Galaxy S8 gets its fuel from 3,000mAh battery that takes one and half hour to fully charge with few minutes give or take. During the time of my review, I got somewhere around 4 hours of screen on time in a 15hours of battery usage. But I tried using the phone by setting the display resolution down to HD+, expecting better screen on time but to my surprise, the result was no different. Hence, S8’s battery performance is something that left me totally unimpressed. However, the phone supports Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charging that charges the phone from 0 to 100% in one and half hour with few minutes give or take. You can also charge the phone wirelessly but such wireless charging pad needs to be bought separately.
Extra Offerings
There are few extra features in Samsung Galaxy S8 that we don’t always find in many other smartphones. The first is the security unlock using the face or Iris. The face unlock is fast but is less secure and the Iris Scanner is exciting but feels slow in everyday use. The second is the Bluetooth 5.0 that offers faster pairing, better range and connects with two BT devices at once. The AKG earphones that come with the phone are of good quality as well. The breakage insurance and free Ncell data are also worth mentioning offers on Galaxy S8 in Nepal.
Verdict
Samsung Galaxy S8 Gallery
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Finally, it brings us to the moment of truth. Is Samsung Galaxy S8 the ultimate smartphone that I always wanted? The answer is “almost”. The answer would have been a solid “yes” if it had front firing stereo speakers, fully functional Bixby, better battery and better-positioned fingerprint sensor or faster iris scanner or more secure Face Unlock. That said, Samsung Galaxy S8 with Bluetooth 5.0 and IP68 certification that comes with AKG headphones out of the box, is the best smartphone that you can buy right now. Since you won’t find the LG G6 in Nepal. I just don’t understand why Sony is not bringing Xperia XZ premium here. And, HTC will most likely bring U11 after six or 12 months from now. So, unless the iPhone 8 comes out, the Galaxy S8 is going to be the King of the mobile market in Nepal.
What I liked about the Galaxy S8?
First thing is its design. It’s undoubtedly the best looking phone that I’ve ever used.
Then comes its Infinity Display that is sharp, bright, produces good colors, has great contrast and has less or no color shifting even in extreme viewing angles.
There is no question on the device performance. And, the gaming experience was top-notch.
Galaxy S8 is without a doubt the best camera phone that I’ve ever reviewed.
What I disliked about the Galaxy S8?
Honestly, the fingerprint sensor positioning on this device is the worst placement for the sensor. I thought I would get used to it but the fact is, I didn’t.
There should have been an option to disable Bixby, if not remap.
I was expecting more than just 4hours of screen on time from a flagship device like the Galaxy S8.
Samsung should have avoided duplicate apps which just keep getting me confused on which one to use.
If you weren’t impressed by Samsung Galaxy S8 then here are some alternatives to consider:
iPhone 7Plus is an alternative to consider if you want better user experience. Since, unlike Android, IOS keeps things simple. Another reason to choose iPhone 7plus over the Galaxy S8 will be the timely updates. Since all the iPhones get worldwide updates the next day from it is announced but Samsung isn’t that known for timely updates. Other reasons for iPhone 7Plus to be a better buy than S8 is it’s slightly higher performance, better cameras with 2X optical zoom and better battery performance. But bear in mind, that iPhone 7plus costs a bit higher than the S8.
Huawei P10plus will be an another option to consider in the price range since the phone is launching within the month of June. It has whopping 6GB RAM and has a bigger battery of 3750mAh capacity. Plus, the flagship of Huawei wears Leica engineered dual lenses on the back that can be expected to perform better. Unlike Galaxy S8, it has stereo speakers and front mounted Fingerprint sensor. Though the phone’s pricing hasn’t been revealed, it can be expected to be priced near to the S8.
If you are after a flagship phone with good display and great cameras but think S8 doesn’t match your budget. Then you can still make a good deal buying the company’s last year flagships, the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge. Both these phones are now listed on “value for money smartphones” after their last price-cut.
If you are friends with any previous pass outs or the current students of Tribhuvan University, you surely have heard about some random guy copying someone’s thesis. And even though you know copying is bad, some of you end up wishing you could do the same thing.
Well, if you are looking forward to copying a research, we suggest you to not to do so, as the oldest university of Nepal is looking forward to purchasing a plagiarism detecting software, and of course, it is ethically wrong,
According to Republica, TU has permitted a policy to control plagiarism in research papers of Master’s degree, MPhil and PhD. This has surely got to be a welcome addition as some of the students of the University are into plagiarizing research papers from a very long time.
Tribhuvan University’s Vice Chancellor Prof Dr. Tirtha Raj Khaniya, who came into a huge controversy after reports suggested he had plagiarized whilst writing a paper for the NELTA journal, said, “This is an attempt to check irregularities. There is a serious trend of copying others’ contents and language without giving credit to the authors.”
All this comes as a move to discourage the ongoing plagiarism in the education sector. But some have criticized the university for the amount it looks set to buy the detection tool. According to some rumors, the software could potentially cost TU $20,000 to $60,000. But Khaniya has denied the rumored pricing saying it will not get as high as that.
But the fact that there is a free version of the application available has resulted in criticism of the biggest University of Nepal. Regarding this matter, Khaniya explained, “TU should have authentic full version software rather than the free version.”
Khaniya said, “We will go in line with the recommendations to implement the concept of the policy to work against plagiarism.”
Whatever the price Tribhuwan University pays for the tool, this has to be considered as a great addition to the ones who actually conduct research.
A few months back, we already hinted at the launch of Huawei GR5 2017 (4GB/64GB) but the launch date wasn’t very clear. And, very recently, we even announced the launch schedule of Huawei P10Plus in Nepal. Now, we got a confirmation from a very reliable source that Huawei will launch both these phones on the same date. However, Huawei hasn’t yet shared the launch date but has mentioned we can expect to see both these phones this month. So, you can now expect to see Huawei GR5 2017 Premium Edition and Huawei P10Plus in Nepal before the end of June.
Huawei GR5 2017 Premium Edition isn’t much different than the regular Huawei GR5 2017 other than the RAM and ROM count. It comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB inbuilt storage. So, you can expect better multitasking and take more photos and videos without worrying about the memory. Huawei GR5 2017 was already one of the top smartphones under 30,000 and its Premium Edition will surely give tougher competition to its rivals.
Since Huawei GR5 2017 already started getting Nougat Update in Nepal, so the update will surely be available for the premium edition as well. As far as the pricing is concerned, there hasn’t been official words on it. When the Huawei GR5 2017 was first released it was priced at Rs. 29,999. So the expected price for its Premium Edition is Rs. 32,000. Let me remind you, it’s an expected pricing so there might be some marginal changes when the device goes official.
Specs Highlight (Huawei GR5 2017 Premium Edition)
2.1 GHz Octa-Core Kirin 655 Processor
4GB RAM With 64GB ROM, expandable up to 256GB
5.5 Inch Full HD IPS LCD Display
12MP Primary And 2MP Secondary Rear Camera With LED Flash
8 MP Front Facing Camera
Android 6.0 Marshmallow, upgradable to Nougat
Hybrid SIM
4G VoLTE, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2
Fingerprint Sensor (Rear-mounted)
3340 mAh Battery
Price: Yet to be confirmed
Suggested Video
Verdict
I was expecting Huawei GR5 2017 Premium Edition to hit the market a lot sooner. Anyways, Better late than Never, Huawei. The GR5 2017 is certainly a capable device both for photography and performance. But, it was a bit behind in the competition, at least on paper. Since it had only 3GB RAM and 32GB storage whereas most of the phones in its price range were already offering 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. So this premium edition certainly does cover the phone’s shortcoming in the storage size. But to judge phone’s value for money, we’ve to wait till the official pricing comes out.
Paramount Electronics Pvt. Ltd., the authorized distributor of Nokia phones in Nepal, has recently launched Nokia 3 in Nepal. After the acquisition of Nokia brand by HMD Global, it is the second Nokia phone to enter Nepali market after the Nokia 3310 (2017 edition). Nokia 3 has been priced at Rs. 15,650 in Nepal. But, you can buy the phone for Rs. 15,000 at the lowest after discounts.
At MWC 2017, HMD Global announced three Nokia phones and Nokia 3 was the most budget friendly among them. So, it is a budget smartphone since both its spec sheet and pricing suggests the same way. So, here are the key specs highlights of the Nokia 3:
Nokia 3 Specifications (Highlights)
5-inch IPS LCD HD display
Rear Camera: 8MP with f/2.0 (autofocus) with LED
Front camera: 8MP with f/2.0 (autofocus)
MediaTek 6737 processor
Quad-core processor with 1.3GHz clock speed
Android v7.0 Nougat
2GB of RAM
Internal Storage: 16GB
Expandable Storage: Up to 128GB
Google Assistant
2650 Non-removable battery
Nokia 3 Price in Nepal: 16,500 (MRP)
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Launch Date and Price of Nokia 5 and 6
Though the exact launch date hasn’t yet been revealed, Nokia 5 and 6 are rumored to get launched somewhere at the end of June or early July. As far as the pricing of these phones is concerned, it hasn’t yet been revealed. But analyzing from the way Nokia 3 was priced. The expected pricing of Nokia 5 and 6 in Nepal are Rs. 21,500 and Rs. 26,500 respectively. But don’t forget, these are the expected pricing and there might be some marginal differences once the devices get official in Nepal.
Verdict:
Finally, it’s good to see Android powered Nokia phones in Nepal. And, the pricing seems to be nearly in a match with international one. The phone looks competitive on paper with the phones in similar price range and even has few advantages like 8MP selfie camera with autofocus and Android Nougat but misses on the fingerprint sensor. So, to find out how it performs in real life, we have to use the phone ourselves and that is something we’ll do very shortly.
Amidst an event in New Delhi, Samsung has unveiled two new members for the the Samsung J series- Galaxy J7 Pro and Galaxy J7 Max. These mid-range new releases will be the continuation of the Samsung Galaxy ‘J series’ launched in 2017.
Talking about the specifications in these new smartphones, the Galaxy J7 Pro boasts of a 5.5-inch full HD (1080p) Super AMOLED display, and sports 2.5D curved glass design. The smartphone is IP54 certified, that is- it is water resistant. It operates through a 1.6 Octa-core Exynos processor and offers a 3GB RAM with an expandable internal storage of 64GB. It features a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/1.9 aperture and 1080p video recording capability. The selfie camera is 13 megapixels with f/1.9 aperture. Both the cameras support LED flash and allow instant sharing and Augmented Reality (AR). It runs on Android Nougat 7.0 out-of-the-box with Samsung’s custom UI on top and is backed by a 3600mAh battery. The Galaxy J7 Pro is priced at IRs 20,900 and will be made available from mid-July.
The Galaxy J7 Pro is priced at Rs. 32,990 and will be made available from mid-August in Nepal.
Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro Specifications-
5.5-inch full HD (1080p) Super AMOLED 2.5D curved glass display
Exynos processor
1.6 GHz Octa-core CPU
3GB RAM, 64GB Internal memory, expandable memory up to 128GB with micro SD
Android 7.0 (Nougat) with Samsung’s custom UI on top
Dual SIM
Water-resistant
13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture, and 1080p video recording capability
13MP front-facing camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture.
Augmented Reality (AR), Social Camera, Samsung Pay
Metal unibody
4G Cat 6 connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS
3600mAh battery
Color variants: Black and Gold
Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro Price in Nepal: Rs. 32,990
The Galaxy J7 Max, on the other hand, features a slightly bigger 5.7-inch display with Full HD (1080p) resolution and also sports the 2.5D curved glass design. The J7 Max is powered by a MediaTek chipset and offers a 4GB RAM with expandable 32GB internal storage.
The smartphone features a 13-megapixel camera both at the rear and the front. Besides these, the phone also features a smart glow mode around the rear camera, which lights up if there are any unread notifications. It also runs on Android Nougat 7.0 out-of-the-box and is powered by a 3,300mAh battery. The Samsung Galaxy J7 Max will cost you IRs 17,900 and will be made available from June 20.
Samsung Galaxy j7 Max is priced at Rs. 28,290 in Nepal.
Galaxy J7 Max specifications
5.7-inch full HD (1080p) Super AMOLED 2.5D curved glass display
MediaTek chipset
4GB RAM with expandable 32GB internal storage
13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.7 aperture
13MP front camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture
Android 7.0 (Nougat) with Samsung’s custom UI on top
Dual SIM
Augmented Reality (AR), Social Camera, Samsung Pay mini
4G Cat 4 connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS
Metal unibody
3300mAh battery
Color variants: Black and Gold
Samsung Galaxy J7 Max Price in Nepal: Rs. 28,290
Both of the new releases come with Samsung’s latest innovation: the social camera. This technology introduces the idea of using the smartphone camera for instant sharing, instant editing, and instant discovery. It allows users to pin their favorite contacts and social media within the camera and share their moments as they click. The instant editing will reduce the necessity of a third party app as it allows users to create social media-ready content on-the-go by applying live filters or live stickers. The instant discovery feature allows users to discover their surroundings for popular photography spots with the help of the augmented reality camera.
J7 Pro supports Samsung Pay and J7 Max supports Pay Mini (it’s a new release that handles online payments only ). Both of these features support Unified Payments Interface and can store the user’s credit and debit cards. Both phones have fingerprint readers to secure the transactions.
The J7 Max and J7 Pro both are power-packed devices crafted with a metal unibody designed to cater to a wide range of customers. Both of them have impressive battery life and offer a smooth and optimized experience.
All in all, these new releases seem to be very competitive releases for the year 2017. More details will be shared after their actual market presence in the near future.
Micromax Canvas series has made its name in Nepal due to its relatively lower pricing and some decent specifications. The company has remained silent in the past couple of months, though, with other smartphone brands already taking over its share. But the company has made a comeback to the Nepali smartphone market with its newest addition to the Canvas lineup – the Micromax Canvas 2 (2017).
The Micromax Canvas 2 (2017) is priced at Rs. 15,300 —much cheaper compared to its converted Indian pricing (INR.11,999). So, what do you get for all that money? Well, the Micromax Canvas 2 (2017) runs on the newest full Android version Google offers – Android v7.0 Nougat right out of the box. It has 3 GB of RAM assisting the Quad-core MediaTek MT6737 processor that has 1.3 GHz of clock speed.
As far as the display is considered, the Micromax Canvas 2 (2017) showcases a 5.0-inch display with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels at the front. The display is cloaked by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for that extra protection against drops. This glass edges out in a 2.5D arc. However, it has a plastic back for the fact that it is a smartphone from 2017. Also, the Canvas 2 has a separate home button which acts as a fingerprint sensor, and an on-screen navigation bar on the display. There are probably only a couple of smartphones with such a poor use of space.
In the optics department, the Micromax Canvas 2 (2017) has a 13-megapixel primary camera which supports features like Bokeh, Panorama, and HDR. The front-facing 5-megapixel selfie camera has a wide-angle lens and a f/2.0 aperture. The photos taken from these lenses are saved on the 16 GB of internal memory the device possesses. It can be expanded up to 64 GB via the microSD card slot available on the device.
The Micromax Canvas 2 (2017) can house dual SIMs, with both supporting 4G VolTE connectivity. This connection is supported via a good 3050 mAh battery. Other features of the device include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and GPS. The Micromax Canvas will be available in two color options: Champagne and Black.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Micromax Canvas 2 (2017):
5.0-inch, HD (720 x 1280 pixels) display, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
There is no competition to the Moto E series when it comes to budget phones. What sets the series apart is the same stock Android experience you get with the high-end Pixel phones. The only viable competitor to the series in terms of software experience are the Android One Phones. Motorola has now unveiled the new iterations to the E-series, E4 and E4 Plus which follows similar design language of other Motorola phones across the board. But there are more things to be excited about than just the design.
Moto E4 and E4 Plus both comes running on Android 7.1 Nougat and will receive different security and Android updates. This is one of the incentives that makes the E-Series significant. As an icing on the cake, these phones also come with a fingerprint sensor, water resistant and front facing LED flash, which are all great features to have on a budget.
Moto E4
Moto E4 comes with 5-inch 720p display protected with Gorilla Glass 3. Powering the device will be either Snapdragon 425 or 427 processor coupled with 2GB of RAM. For storage, it provides 16 GB memory which can be expanded up to 128 GB. On the camera section, it sports a primary 8MP shooter and secondary 5MP shooter both with f/2.2 aperture. The phone will be backed up by 2800mAh of Battery. The major let down of the phone is its support for single SIM.
Specs Overview of Moto E4:
5.0 inches(720 x 1280) @294ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Protection with Oleophobic Coating
Android 7.1.1 Nougat
Fingerprint sensor
MediaTek MT6737 Quadcore
2GB RAM
16GB Internal Storage, Expandable up to 128 GB.
8MP Rear Camera with f/2.2 aperture.
5MP Front Facing Camera with f/2.2 aperture.
Removable Li-Ion 2800 mAh battery with Fast Charging
Moto E4 Price in Nepal: Rs. 16,290
Moto E4 Plus
Sporting the bigger 5.5-inch display is the Moto E4 Plus with the same 720p panel. It is powered by the Snapdragon 427 processor. You can opt for either 16 or 32GB of Internal Memory which will result in 2 or 3GB of RAM respectively. Optics wise, it sports a higher megapixel count of 13MP on the rear and a similar 5MP Secondary Camera. The phone comes with an impressive 5,000mAh of battery with fast charging which is certain to last you for days with Stock Android and Low-End Specs.
Specs Overview of Moto E4 Plus:
5.5 inches (720 x 1280) @267ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Protection with Oleophobic Coating
Android 7.1.1 Nougat
Fingerprint sensor
MediaTek MT6537T Quadcore
3GB RAM
32GB Internal Storage, Expandable up to 128 GB.
13MP Rear Camera with f/2.0 aperture.
5MP Front Facing Camera with f/2.2 aperture.
Non-Removable Li-Ion 5000 mAh battery with Fast Charging
There was a time when Chinese smartphones had to suffer allegations of being non-durable. However, Xiaomi has been one of the few Chinese smartphones which have assured the general public that even Chinese smartphones are packed with superseding specs and yet inside a durable skeleton.
Redmi Note 4 has been one of the products of that very brand, which helped Xiaomi to add fandom and has been one of the best-sold smartphones this year. Though the Redmi Note 4 was launched in Nepal long ago, the processor variant or the one with Snapdragon chipset is still a neonate in Nepali smartphone market.
Today we have Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 on our review desk, which is bundled with Snapdragon 625 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The device costs Rs. 28,500 in Nepali market. Let’s dissect its features to find if the phone is really worth the price.
Design
Redmi Note 4 embraces a sleek body in a metallic outfit tapered at the edges. The metallic back on the device is escorted by plastic caps on the top and the bottom. I would have to say it a downgrade from the MediaTek variant, which is available in full metal unibody. The glossy metallic touch on hand gives a premium feel to the users. However, for its streamlined body, there is always a risk of slipping through the hands.
The device also inherits backlit capacitive touch buttons on the chin, which is customizable.
Display
On display, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 offers 5.5-inch IPS LCD panel with the touch of 2.5D glass on the top. The presence of 2.5D Glass has added elegance to the display and gives a lingering addiction to the users.
The display, however, lacks screen protection. Even on my careful use, the phone suffered few scratches. Though the display has a good viewing angle, the presence of Full-HD resolution is nothing extravagant for the price.
Hardware
Moving on, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 includes a power button and volume rockers on the right edge, which is completely accessible to the thumb. The SIM card slot lies on the left, whereas the IR blaster and headphone jack on the top.
On the back, camera and fingerprint sensor are accommodated within the metallic portion oriented vertically. On the bottom edge, the phone has two speaker grills defined in symmetry. One of them functions as an actual speaker, and other as a mic and between them resides a slot for micro USB 2.0 charger. The sound output from the speaker grill is decent, but while using the phone in landscape mode (that often happens while gaming and watching videos), the grills get concealed, and the sound gets obstructed.
The hardware also includes a tiny LED on the top to remind about the notifications. The blinking color of the LED is customizable rendering the type of notification.
Software
On the software, the device is favored by Android Marshmallow and flavored by MIUI 8.2 on the top. The UI offers a galore of useful features with most of them customizable to user preferences. Second space feature and App cloning through Dual Apps are not ordinarily found on custom UI. However, the UI does bring some unnecessary bloatware.
Performance
The device is powered by Snapdragon 625 chipset, which is an Octa-core processor running at the clock speed of 2 GHz. The graphics portion is taken care by the Adreno 506 GPU aided by 4GB of RAM. The GPU and RAM assembly has done a great job on the device. Even running multiple high-end games, I found no glitches on my play, and the performance was lag free. The device though got warmed up on the rigorous gaming. The heat so produced is, however, less as compared to the MediaTek variant on using same apps for the same time.
Battery
Xiaomi is renowned for its battery backup, and Redmi Note 4 has not been an exception. The phone comes with 4100 mAh non-removable battery. It provides backup for a day and a half on the normal use. On the heavy use, the screen on time fluctuates around 6-7 hours. The lack of Quick charging provision can be felt while juicing this humongous battery since the phone indulges itself with the wall-charger for a long time. The phone took nearly 3 hours of time to gain the full charge.
Camera
Talking about the camera, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 has a 13MP sensor on the back. The rear camera which takes decent shots on the well-lit environment with HDR on. On my use, some photos seemed pretty washed out without the HDR on.
On low lights, the photos were grainy and noisy. Through the “Manual” mode on the camera app, the user can adjust the ISO value to 3200, but the photo quality does not receive much of improvements. The 5MP front snapper takes good selfies but suffers the same plight as the rear one under low-lit condition.
Best shots from Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
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Best shots from Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
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Best shots from Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
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Best shots from Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
HDR shot
Best shots from Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
Testing the focus
Best shots from Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
Testing the focus
Best shots from Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
Selfie
Best shots from Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
Connectivity
For the cellular connectivity, a SIM card slot lies on the left edge of the phone. The SIM card slot holds a tray to accommodate two SIM cards or one SIM card with a memory card. So one should sacrifice the thoughts of employing two SIM cards with memory toppings by SD card in addition. Other connectivity option includes 4G compatibility, A-GPS, Bluetooth, Radio, OTG, and Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n). The dual-band Wi-Fi ac is missing on the device.
Conclusion
To conclude, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is a great built device with excellent battery backup. The fingerprint sensor on the device is snappy with almost instantaneous unlocks. Except for the fact of the heating issue on long use, the performance of the device is flawless. One could make a great use of it on gaming and multitasking.
The camera, however, is a bit of under-performer for the price. So if the camera is not your primary priority on a smartphone, then Redmi Note 4 could be the exclusive phone for you for Rs. 28,500. But if you do not want to make a compromise on battery backup, camera, and performance altogether while buying a smartphone then Coolpad Cool1 or Gionee A1 could be the perfect match for you.
Gionee Nepal has launched the lite version of Gionee A1 — the A1 Lite. Like the Gionee A1, the Gionee A1 Lite is a selfie-oriented smartphone with a big battery albeit at a lower price. The handset was available for pre-booking from 18th of June at nearest Gionee retail stores. The company is also providing special discounts and exciting freebies on the purchase.
The Gionee A1 Lite cost Rs. 25,999 (approx US$255). So, for this price, you get the newest Android Nougat 7.0 version with Amigo 4.0 UI, a whopping 20MP front camera, and a big 4000mAh battery. It has 3 GB of RAM backed by the Octa-core processor (MediaTek MT6753) that is clocked at 1.3 GHz.
The Gionee A1 Lite features a 5.3-inch HD IPS display. On the back, the phone features a metal unibody.
As far as the display is considered, the Gionee A1 Lite showcases a 5.3-inch display with a resolution of 1280*720 pixels (HD), which is mediocre considering the full HD display on the Samsung J7 Prime and Xiaomi Redmi Note 4. Gionee also hasn’t specified the type of glass it has used for the phone. The Gionee A1 Lite has a metallic aluminum covering on the back.
The Gionee A1 Lite has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash. The device features 32GB internal memory which is expandable by a microSD card upto 64GB.
The rear-facing fingerprint sensor on the Gionee A1 Lite, according to the company, uses an advanced solid-state tech so that only a slight touch is enough to unlock the device.
The Gionee A1 Lite can house dual nano SIM cards with separate microSD card on its SIM tray, with both supporting 4G connectivity. Other features of the device include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and GPS.
Gionee A1 Lite Specs
Display: 5.3 inch IPS display with 1280*720 pixel and 2.5D curved glass
Processor: 1.3GHz Octa-core 64 Bit MediaTek MT6753 Soc
