Leagoo T1 Review: Stylish Midranger

GadgetByte

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June 8, 2017

There has been a recent boom in the launch of smartphones from Chinese Manufacturers. One of the latest competitors in the Nepalese phone market is Leagoo. Lately, I have been using Leagoo T1 for Rs. 16,500 phone as my daily driver. Let’s find out how this phone has treated me so far, in this review.

Design

Leagoo T1 is stylish looking phone with good built quality. The phone comes with an aluminum back with the aluminum volume rocker and lock button. On the metallic back, you get the fingerprint, camera and the LED flash. There are two plastic bands on the top and the bottom.

The front is covered with 2.5D curvy tempered glass that is smooth and feels nice to touch. Leagoo T1 has a typical smartphone design with an on-screen navigation bar and comes with LED notification light at the top. I found the fit and finish of the product quite premium and felt it was the highlight of the phone.

Display

The Leagoo T1 comes with 5 inch HP IPS display with decent colors and saturations. You will hardly notice the low-resolution display it offers. However, you will miss the sharps blacks and the saturation level, if you have been using an AMOLED display. It does have LiveDisplay that automatically adjust the color temperature of the screen during day and night time. The display of the phone is also equipped with Smart wake feature that lets you wake up the phone by double tapping the screen. You can also make various gestures on the screen to open apps like contacts, camera, and file manager.

Performance

The Leagoo T1 comes with a puny Quad Core MediaTek Processor MT6735 clocked at 1.3 GHz. The processor backed by 2GB of RAM and Mali T720 GPU, is no performer but surprisingly it gets the job done. App switching was average but the problem I had, was with the multitasking button. On this phone long pressing the home button led to the app switching windows which was painstakingly slow for me.

Software

This device runs on the year old Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Leagoo T1 OS on top. The UI is light and simple but I really didn’t like the icons it gave to the preinstalled Google apps like Chrome and Gmail. On the bright side, the OS does extend its support for third party launchers like Google now launcher. Surprisingly there are no such bloat wares installed, out of the box. The Leagoo T1 comes with many inbuilt features like Smart Motion, Smart Gesture, and Multi-windowing options.

Connectivity

The device has a dual hybrid SIM slot with support for 4G LTE. Due to the hybrid setup, you can insert either a microSD card or a second micro SIM. As I have said earlier the phone does come with a fingerprint scanner at the back which unlocks the device with precision. Having said that, the scanner does take time when the device is completely locked.

Camera

Leagoo T1 sports a 13MP camera with f2.0 aperture. It takes decent pictures in well-lit condition but fails miserably low light condition. It also has a slight camera hump at the back which is annoying. The 8MP at the front takes average selfies even in well-lit condition. Sadly both back and front flash are below par in low light situations.

Camera Clicks From Leagoo T1

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Battery

The device houses a moderate 2400mAh battery in this sleek phone. Although this might seem small the device does amaze you with 6 hours of screen on time for my moderate usage. This is all thanks to its low power quad core processor. But if you go berserk by putting the phone to the 4G network and play games like real racing 3, it will give you a screen on time of 4 hours. The company claims it has fast charging but when I first received the phone it was at 1%. It took me more than 2 hours to charge the phone to 100%. So I don’t think it’s fast charging is of any use.

Verdict

The Leagoo T1 comes will many gestures and motion control features and has great design and premium feel with battery life that can last all day. So if you’re looking for a premium built phone with decent battery life and smart gestures, this might be the phone for you. But if you’re looking for a good camera phone with multitasking capabilities, this might not be the phone for you.

[socialpoll id=”2445519″]

ZTE Smartphones Officially Available Online in Nepal

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ZTE

GadgetByte

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June 8, 2017

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ZTE Smartphones Officially Available Online in Nepal

Evolution Enterprises, the official distributor of ZTE smartphones in Nepal, has recently launched its own official online store for ZTE smartphones and accessories. Other than buying ZTE smartphones and accessories from the website, you may also book the ZTE smartphones that are about to get launched in Nepal. ZTE’s official online store does the free delivery of the packages in 12 major cities including Birtamod, Damak, Itahari, Dharan, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Birgunj, Naryanghard, Hetauda, Butwal, Pokhara, and Nepalgunj.

ZTE Smartphones that are available Online in Nepal

Currently, 9 ZTE smartphones are available in the ZTE online store. Out of those 9, 7 smartphones are from Blade Series and the remaining 2 are from the Axon Series of ZTE Smartphones. Plus, you can also place a booking of ZTE Blade A610 Plus that has been scheduled for the launch very soon. However, the store will shortly be adding ZTE phone accessories like tempered glasses and back covers.

How to buy ZTE Smartphones Online in Nepal

Buying a ZTE smartphone has become much easier. The official ZTE store is just like any other e-commerce website where you can do your shopping with a click of a button. Just add the devices you want to buy to the cart. After you’re done shopping, click on view my cart and then you’ll see the billing amount details. To successfully place the order you’ve to enter few of your personal details including the place for delivery. The website doesn’t accept any kinds of online payment and all payments are to be done as “Cash on Delivery”.

Promotional Offers and Coupon Codes

As a promotional Offer, the website is giving 3% discounts on all available smartphones and the delivery is FREE in mentioned 12 cities. The website does accept coupon codes in the checkouts but currently, no coupon codes are revealed.

Verdict

It’s good to see smartphones being sold online officially in Nepal. But I expected the pricing of official phones online to be much cheaper and just 3% of discounts can’t be considered “a catch”.

MoonBao WOW Sale, an EPIC fail

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GadgetByte

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June 8, 2017

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MoonBao, a new e-commerce website in Nepal had scheduled its launch today at 12:12pm with a grand “WOW sale” that neither happened as scheduled nor got a reschedule. This launch event was in the schedules of many since the company had promised to put different items on sale at Rs. 1 only. As per the announcement, the first 1000 registered customers would be able to buy any item for Rs. 1 only. Since the contest was valid for “First Come First Serve” basis, many had been sitting in front of the computer to do their first dream sale. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the excitement of the “flash sale” to turn into frustration.

Honestly, even I’m the one among those more than 3k believers who trusted on MoonBau’s Wow Sale without a second thought. Yes, the website might have a technical issue but MoonBau didn’t respond wisely as a company. They should have rather pushed their wow sale to a different schedule, like tomorrow at the same time or today at a different time, that way its followers and believers wouldn’t be as mad as they are now. What they did was, responded with an uncertainty on when the Wow Sale will take place.

Had this been managed responsibly, the Moonbao wouldn’t have geo those many 1-star rating on its Facebook even before starting of their service. With this Wow sale, they might have managed to get remarkable Facebook likes but which are certain to go down very soon. This could have been “an epic initiative” but unfortunately, turned into “a failed initiative”.

By the time I posted this article, It has already been more than an hour from the schedule and they haven’t even published a reschedule for the “WOW Sale”. That’s nothing but a shame.

Oneplus 5 launching on June 20th: Everything you need to know

GadgetByte

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June 8, 2017

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Oneplus 5 launching on June 20th: Everything you need to know

A couple of years back when OnePlus launched the OnePlus One, it was dubbed as the ‘flagship killer’. The One came with flagship features on a budget of just $349. Fast forward a couple of years, OnePlus has really started to make its name for the devices it has manufactured. OnePlus 3 and 3T, launched in 2016, is still winning the hearts of customers. So, the company from China, which previously depended on invite system, is currently making an impact in the smartphone market.

After months of speculations and leaks, OnePlus is finally set to launch the OnePlus 5, the company’s (first) flagship for this year. It skipped number ‘4’ as it is considered to be an unlucky number. OnePlus is set to unveil the OnePlus 5 on the 20^th June. So, what is the new ‘flagship killer’ offering this year around? Let’s take a look.

Design

According to a recent leak, it looks as though the OnePlus 5 will come with a dual rear camera setting and an edge-to-edge display at the front. The image, leaked by Android Police, shows that the device will come in a good-looking metal backing with a horizontal camera set up which will be accompanied by LED flash. The leaked picture shows a minimal design at the back with a OnePlus branding on the middle.

It will indeed come with a headphone jack, a cryptic tweet from co-founder Carl Pei confirmed

Update: OnePlus just released this image all over social media which showcases dual cameras. If the design is considered, the OnePlus 5 seems to share iPhone 7 Plus’ design factor.

Display

The previous five smartphones from OnePlus came with a 1080 x 1920 pixels display. 2017 could be the year customers will finally get to quad HD display in a OnePlus device as leaks suggest that the OnePlus 5 will sport a 5.5-inch Quad HD panel.

Regarding the type of the display, some rumors say that the shortage of AMOLED panel could result in the manufacturer opting for an LCD display. It will not feature bezel-less displays like the Samsung Galaxy S8 or LG G6, though. But it could come with bezel-less sides.

Processor, Software, and Storage

Every year OnePlus launches its smartphones with high-end flagship chipsets on the inside. We can expect this trend to not change anytime soon. Plus, OnePlus has already confirmed that the OnePlus 5 will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset.

Accompanying the chipset could be an octa-core processor and 6 GB or a whopping 8 GB of RAM. Even Blass, a reliable leaker, has mentioned that the smartphone will feature 8 GB of RAM. Nonetheless, the Snapdragon 835 SoC along with 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM will surely suffice needs of even the hardcore users.

As far as the operating system goes, the OnePlus 5 will run on Oxygen OS on top of Android Nougat. The device will have ample storage as it will come with 128 GB of internal storage.

Battery

The OnePlus 5 is expected to be backed up by a 3,600 mAh battery. Some rumors suggest it to even have a huge 4,000 mAh battery. But it is hard to believe that the Chinese company will opt for such a huge battery.

Nonetheless, the fact that it will be supported by Dash Charge is great. Also, it is said that this time around, it will be able to charge the new smartphone 25% faster than its predecessor which is cherry on top.

Price

OnePlus has made its name for the cheaper price point it comes in. It features flagship, and sometimes, some beastly specifications and comes in an under $500 price point. But the price of the 3 and the 3T didn’t go well with some of the OnePlus loyal customers due to its increased pricing.

While the pricing of under $400 for a smartphone with these many features would actually be sweet, speculations suggest it to carry a price tag of $500 which is an increase from the $439 price of the OnePlus 3T. Android Authority has claimed the OnePlus 5 to come with an even expensive price of $650 as the company is using some costly components to build the device.

OnePlus 5 rumored specifications:

5.5-inch, Quad HD LCD (or AMOLED) display
Android Nougat with Oxygen OS
Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor
6 or 8 GB of RAM
128 GB Internal Storage
Dual rear-facing camera setup
3,600 mAh battery with Dash Charge support
Front-mounted fingerprint sensor
Price: $500 (or $650)

[socialpoll id=”2445460″]

Apple’s WWDC 2017 Quick Summary

GadgetByte

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June 7, 2017

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Apple’s WWDC 2017 (Worldwide Developer Conference) keynote was held on June 6, 2017, bringing new hardware with the expected software updates. Apple specifically covered six main areas. Here’s everything Apple unveiled at WWDC17:

Apple TV

The first news that Apple announced in the WWDC event is Amazon Prime Video finally coming to tvOS later this year. So yeah to all though who have one. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has said that there will be more on Apple TV later this year.

Apple Watch

Although some of us might have expected Apple to announce its new watch, Apple only announced the revamped watchOS 4. It packs new watch faces, better Workout and Activity apps, improves fitness equipment integration and has a redesigned Music app. Oh yes, there is a Siri watch interface with new animation for Siri which looks dope.

MacOS

Yes, Mac users finally get a new OS. They call it macOS High Sierra. The first developer beta is out today, while the initial public beta will come before the end of this month. Under the hood, High Sierra has a lot of changes. Apple has changed its HFS file system with the brand new Apple file system (APFS). This will be the standard from High Sierra. It is said to provide better performance, security and data reliability.

iMac Pro, MacBooks and iMacs

The all new iMac (21-inch & 27-inch) offers a 5K display has been offered with a brighter display (43%), Intel’s Kaby Lake processors upto 64gb of RAM and Fusion Drive on the 27 inch model, faster SSD i.e. up to 2TB. They also come with better graphics that seamlessly supports VR.

Apple also announced updates to MacBook and MacBook Pro which will be getting the Intel Kaby Lake processors. They will also be getting faster SSD and better graphics. The have also announced a lower price for 13 inch MacBook Pro.

Apple also trailered the new iMac Pro looks similar to the 27-inch iMac. It offers better internal cooling, all thanks to the dual centrifugal fan setup. The high-end iMac Pro gets upto 128GB of RAM, 4TB SSD, Intel Xeon with up to 18 cores, 4TB SSD and a 16GB Radeon Vega GPU.

iPad Pro

Yet another Pro version from an existing product comes “The Apple iPad Pro” with 10.5 inch and 12.9-inch screens. The new iPad Pro 10.5 inches and 12.9 inch is available to order from June 5th priced at $649 for a 64GB and $1099, for a 512GB respectively. Sadly units will ship with iOS 10. Upgrade to iOS 11 is planned for this fall.

HomePod

Apple finally launched the much rumored Apple’s version of a smart speaker. Yes, you read it right apple’s grand final product of the conference was a speaker. HomePod is targeted towards music. The HomePod is less than 7 inches tall. It has a seven tweeter on the bottom, and a 4″ Apple-designed woofer up top with auto bass EQ. Six microphones are always listening for the “Hey Siri” trigger phrase which activates the speaker. It will also identify different parts of a song and try to focus the sound for the best possible listening experience. The speaker will be priced at $349, which is much more than the Amazon Echos and Google Homes. No surprise there!

Official: MI Air Purifier 2 Launched in Nepal

GadgetByte

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June 7, 2017

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Official: MI Air Purifier 2 Launched in Nepal

Vatsal Impex, the authorized distributor of the world-renowned Chinese company Xiaomi, has launched Mi Air Purifier 2 in Nepal. This is a neat device from Xiaomi that cleans the air around you so you breathe fresh air and stay healthy. It is available at a very attractive price of Rs.19,999 until 10th June 2017. The price will resume back to Rs 21,999 after offer period.

The Mi Air Purifier 2 sends powerful gusts of air to the farthest corners of your room. It takes in unclean air from the bottom vents and blows out clean air from the top. Mi Air Purifier 2 helps get rid of harmful chemicals, allergens, exhaust, benzene, harmful gases, dust, pollen, PM2.5 particles, 0.3μm particles and even renovation work formaldehyde.

It is also very quiet and has a low power consumption of just 4.8W. This not only means fewer electricity bills and less noisy environment but you can also let the purifier turned on and go to sleep. It also has a dedicated night mode built in as well.

This air purifier offers a 360° cylindrical filter that takes in air from every direction. Combined that with a triple-layer filter helps to remove airborne particles while letting clean air pass through. Xiaomi claims the device will clean the air in just 10 minutes with its high-performance mode.

This device can be controlled with your smartphone through the MiHome app. This will let you control your Air Purifier remotely even when you’re not at home. This way you can be sure to come home to clean air. The app will also tell you the level of pollution and even notifies you when you need to change the filter.

This device is about 520mm high, 240mm wide and weighs about 4.8kg. This is one of the more affordable smart air purifiers available in the market. Mi Nepal has priced it at around 20k which is about the same as it’s international market price. You can purchase it from official Mi showrooms or from their official website.

Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017) and J7 (2017) launched with metallic body and fingerprint sensor

GadgetByte

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June 7, 2017

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Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017) and J7 (2017) launched with metallic body and fingerprint sensor

Samsung has received a huge success from its mid-tier J-series of smartphones. The voyage of Galaxy J-series started from the year 2015. Since then the same name has received different versions and variants. Now, adding to the list, Samsung Galaxy J5 and J7 descendants have resurfaced in the smartphone arena with the name of Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017) and J7 (2017) respectively.

Both Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017) and J7 (2017) comes with Android Nougat out the box. The newbies come inside a full metal unibody to entice the users with its premium built quality. The presence of fingerprint sensor is another exciting feature on the phones. Both the phones are powered by Exynos 7870 chipset and sports 13MP camera on the front and the back. However, the J7 (2017) comes with a bigger screen, higher RAM, and superior battery to supersede the J5 (2017).

Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017) key specs

5.2-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD Super AMOLED display
1.6 GHz Octa-Core Exynos 7870 processor with Mali T830 GPU
2GB LPDDR3 RAM, 16GB (eMMC 5.1) internal memory, expandable up to 256GB with microSD
Android 7.0 (Nougat)
Dual SIM
13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.7 aperture
13MP front camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture
Dimensions: 146.3×71.3×7.9mm
Fingerprint sensor
Connectivity: 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS
3000mAh battery
Price: 270 Euros (US$ 304)

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) key specs

5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD Super AMOLED display
1.6 GHz Octa-Core Exynos 7870 processor with Mali T830 GPU
3GB LPDDR3 RAM, 16GB (eMMC 5.1) internal memory, expandable up to 256GB with microSD
Android 7.0 (Nougat)
Dual SIM
13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.7 aperture
13MP front camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture
Dimensions: 152.4×74.7×7.9mm
Fingerprint sensor
USB Type-C connector
Splash resistant (IP54 rating)
connectivity: 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS
3600mAh battery
Price: 339 Euros (US$ 332)

Nokia 3310 Review: Nostalgia

GadgetByte

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June 4, 2017

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Freeing itself from the clutches of Microsoft, Nokia made a resurrection in the smartphone industry taking the side of Android OS. Resuscitated by HMD Global, Nokia brought its first Android phone as Nokia 6, which had been a huge hit in China with the demand exceeding several times than the production.

Nokia 6 is due to be launched in Nepal along with Nokia 3 and Nokia 5. However, the revived Nokia made its first entrance in Nepal with Nokia 3310 (2017), which is the revamped version of old Nokia 3310. I have been using this device for a week now. In this article, I will be sharing my experience and thoughts with you regarding this revamped Nokia 3310. But before making a start, let me list out its specifications.

Nokia 3310 (2017) Key specs

2.4-inch display, QVGA quality
Rear-facing Camera: 2MP, LED flash
OS: Nokia Series 30+
Internal Memory: 16 MB
Expandable Memory: Up to 32 GB
FM Radio, Bluetooth 3.0, MP3 Player
1,200 mAh Removable Battery
Price: Rs. 5,250

Build and Design

Nokia 3310 (2017) comes weighing a mere mass of 80 grams. In the design prospect, it is seemingly familiar with older Nokia 3310. However, the device is contoured to a weird shape, and the thickness has been squeezed. An addition to the newbie will be a 2MP camera and a LED flash on the rear panel. The speaker of the phone resides near to the camera, which outputs fairly loud and clear sound. Though the phone is blanketed inside a plastic casing, the phone has strong resistance to scratches and deformations during the falls.

Display

Because of the presence of keypad, the screen of Nokia 3310 (2017) is dedicated only for the displays but has nothing extravagant. The 2.4-inch display merely has QVGA compatibility. The pixel density of 167 PPI is fairly poor for the phone having a price tag of Rs. 5,250. Despite the mediocre display, the phone has a tough screen protector.

Software

Nokia 3310 (2017) embraces Nokia Series 30+ OS placing itself on the retro phone category. Though the software seems obsolete, it is fairly easy to use. It comes with a variety of basic apps and navigating them does not invite troubles. On clicking the menu button, the functionality of the device pops up in the form of apps like Call Logs, Contacts, Photos, Internet, Messaging, Snake, Mobile Store, My Apps, Camera, Apps and Games, Music, Weather, Radio, Videos, Settings, Notes, Calendar, Calculator, Alarm Clock, Extras, Files, Voice Recorder and Counters. Though the phone has revived the beloved classic Snake game, it is heavily revamped and is no more like the one found in Nokia classics.

Performance

The device boots up quickly and the performance too is snappy. I experienced no lags or stutters on my use. Since the phone does not have much of functionality, performance alone cannot be considered the guiding factor to call Nokia 3310 (2017) superior.

Camera

Gone are the days when the 2MP camera on the phone used to be an absolute deal breaker. So the presence 2MP camera on Nokia 3310 (2017) is a total bummer. In addition, slow image processing capability in Nokia 3310 (2017) showed a relic of antiquity.

Connectivity

For the connectivity, the phone has Dual-SIM compatibility, Bluetooth 3.0, FM Radio, and web surfing. For web browsing, there is a pre-installed opera mini app, yet, the absence of Wi-Fi on the phone obliges the user to spend phone balance for the sluggish 2.5G connectivity.

Battery

The battery capacity of 1200 mAh is a whopping amount for Nokia 3310 (2017) since it aids in providing 22-hour talk-time and a month long standby backup. So in the electricity-deprived zones, this device finds its scope and can also be used as a backup phone.

Verdict on Nokia 3310 (2017)

Since Nokia 3310 (2017) is a feature phone, there are no such features that could excite the users who are used to with the smartphones. The phone finds its scope in taking and viewing photos, playing videos and music. But the presence of trivial 16 MB internal memory is not sufficient enough to perform such tasks and seeks SDcard.

These days people have communication mostly through the means of social media. Since Nokia 3310 (2017) does not seem friendly for the use of social media, on the contrary to the Nokia’s slogan “Connecting people,” I would like to call this device a means to disconnect people. So this device could be handy for the people who seeks to get rehabilitated from the addiction of social media and smartphones.

The phone certainly has a pre-installed Snake game and the epic Nokia tone. But for the price of Rs. 5,250, I found no selling factor on the phone. So in my opinion, Nokia might have used nostalgia as the main marketing gimmick to sell the phone.

To sum it up, except for the people who have trouble using touch-screen phones, Nokia 3310 (2017) does not seem to satisfy the users. Also, the feature phones with similar features are currently available around one-third the price of the Nokia 3310 (2017). So, I do not consider it witty to spend so much of your hard-earned money just for the sake of the brand name. Choosing a mediocre entry-level smartphone for the same price rather seems a better decision in my opinion. What are your thoughts on Nokia 3310 (2017)? Let us know in the comment section.

[socialpoll id=”2444640″]

ZTE Blade A610 Plus (A2 Plus) launching in Nepal

GadgetByte

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June 4, 2017

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ZTE Blade A610 Plus (A2 Plus) launching in Nepal

ZTE trying to impress Nepali smartphone buyers with the launch of some new and exciting products. While doing so, the Chinese company is set to launch a new mid-ranger this summer. The company will soon release the ZTE Blade A610 Plus (also known as A2 Plus in some select regions), a smartphone from last year.

The ZTE Blade A610 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch display with the resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. This display ends in a 2.5D curved glass, making the smartphone look seamless. As far as the performance goes, the Blade A610 Plus comes with a MediaTek MT6750T SoC paired with an octa-core processor with a clock speed of 1.5 GHz. This processor is helped by Mali T860 MP2 GPU along with a good 4 GB of RAM. This 7-month old device runs on the older Android v6.0 Marshmallow with MiFavor UI on top.

For the camera lovers, the ZTE Blade A610 Plus is equipped with a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of taking up to 1080p videos. For selfie lovers, it has an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. To satisfy the storage needs, the Blade A610 has 32 GB of internal memory which can be expanded through a memory card expansion slot.

The major selling point of the ZTE Blade A610 Plus is its huge 5,000 mAh Li-Po battery which will definitely satisfy the power hungry users. Other features include a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, OTG support and a support for 4G connectivity. We are yet to receive any official news regarding its official pricing but can expect it to be around Rs. 25,000 – Rs. 27,000.

Here’s everything you need to know about the ZTE Blade A610 Plus:

5.5-inch, full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS LCD display
Android v6.0 Marshmallow with MiFavor UI on top
Octa-core MediaTek MT6750T with Mali T860 MP2 GPU
4 GB of RAM
32 GB Internal Storage
MicroSD card support
13 MP rear-facing camera
8 MP front-facing camera
Dual SIM
5,000 mAh battery
Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor
Price: Rs. 25,000 – 27,000 (approx.)

Three new products that kept us awestruck at Computex 2017

GadgetByte

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June 3, 2017

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Three new products that kept us awestruck at Computex 2017

Computex is one of the largest computer and technology trade show in the world that takes place annually in Taiwan. Themed with “From Mobility to Intelligence,” this year’s Computex show lasted for five days starting from 30^th of May. Computex 2017 had apparently dragged a number of renowned tech companies, who presented their inexhaustible zest to evolve the tech world, here are three new products that really got us psyched about.

Asus ROG Zephyrus with NVidia Max-Q technology

Most of the gaming laptops have large fans for cooling, obliging a spacious design to fit the bulky skeleton. The fans that sounded like a hurricane while cooling is awfully annoying and traveling with such devices is definitely cumbersome. To cope with such problems, NVidia announced its Max-Q Standard for GTX gaming laptops at Computex 2017. The Standard opened the door for slimmer laptops to inherit a GetForce GTX 1080 GPU, and Asus ROG Zephyrus turned out to be the first one to be privileged.

ROG or ‘Republic of Gamers’ is the ultra-portable gaming laptop with GetForce GTX 1080 GPU weighing a mere weight of 2.2 kg fitting perfectly within a thickness of 16.9mm. For the size and the GPU embedded within, the device is expected to warm up like a fire. However, the Active Aerodynamic System (AAS) in the device keeps all the components cool. In Zephyrus, when the laptop lid is opened, a small bottom panel opens up allowing the fans to breathe in fresh air. With this design language, the interior air ramps ensure cool air to circulate always through the heat sinks. Since the CPU and GPU both have a dedicated blower fan radiator and heat pipe array with the later privileged by the second heat sink, the warmth does not remain adhered to the device and hence evades the burning sensation on the lap while gaming. The arrangement has also restricted the noise level to be 40dB at maximum.

The device also comes with a refreshing surprise with the trackpad – with a press of a button, it transforms from the regular trackpad into an illuminated number pad. The backlit LED in WASD, and QWER buttons on the keyboard can be customized to different colors to differentiate themselves among the other buttons in the keyboard.

Asus ROG Zephyrus key specs

Processor: Intel Core i7-7700HQ
Operating system: Windows 10 Home / Windows 10 Professional
Display: 15.6-inch Full HD wide-view panel with anti-glare, 120 Hz refresh rate with Nvidia G-Sync
Graphics: NVidia GeForce GTX 1080
Chipset: Intel HM175
Memory: DDR4 2,400 MHz (up to 24 GB)
Storage: M.2 PCIe x4 256 GB / 512 GB / 1 TB SSD
Wireless: 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1
Connectivity: USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C with Thunderbolt 3 x 1, USB 3.1 x 4, HDMI 2.0 x 1, 3.5 mm headphone and mic combo jack x 1
Camera: Built-in HD camera and array mic
Keyboard: ASUS Aura RGB backlit Chiclet keyboard with 30-key rollover; 1.4 mm key travel
Battery: 4 cell, 50 Wh
Size: 37.9 x 26.2 x 1.69 cm (with lid closed) and 37.9 x 26.2 x 1.79 (with lid opened)
Weight: 2.2 kg

Intel Core-X processors

Since the release of Core i7 processor, Intel has been somewhat mute in the tech world with no exciting product or feature to surprise the Intel fandom. However, the drought has been lifted up this year. Intel has been back on track with Core X-series of high-end desktop processors. The newly announced processors include even more potent versions of the existing Core i5 and Core i7 models with the addition of a new name to the portfolio – Core i9. In this new lineup of processors, the interested ones will have a choice to select the number of cores ranging from 4 to 18. Since Intel processors employ Hyper-Threading between the cores, the number of threads becomes twofold the number of cores (in most of the processors) making a maximum thread count of 36 and superseding the AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper.

Name of the processor	Number of cores	Number of threads
Intel Core i9-7980XE	18	36
Intel Core i9-7960X	16	32
Intel Core i9-7940X	14	28
Intel Core i9-7920X	12	24
Intel Core i9-7900X	10	20
Intel Core i7-7820X	8	16
Intel Core i7-7800X	6	12
Intel Core i7-7740X	4	8
Intel Core i7-7640X	4	4
Intel Core i7-7700X	4	8
Intel Core i5-7600X	4	4

New Core X lineup boasts 10 percent faster multithread performance compared to previous generation chips, offering extreme performance during rigorous gaming sessions. The presence of 36-threads and quad-channel memory has also made the Core X superior in content creation and extreme mega-tasking capabilities. Since the nascent chipsets have received an upgraded Turbo Boost Max Technology from Intel, enthusiasts systems can experience a boost up in the performance. Also, Intel has also mentioned that the Core X systems will dynamically overclock to higher speeds when needed resulting in enhanced performance.

World’s thinnest convertible

Asus began the Computex event by introducing a new lineup of laptops. Among the bunch, ZenBook Flip S turned out to be the one to steal the limelight and have been the talk of the town till the very end of the show. ZenBook Flip S comes with a mere thickness of 10.9mm making itself the thinnest convertible till the date. Statistically, it is 20% slimmer than MacBook and 55% slimmer than MacBook Air.

The convertible device sports a 13.3-inch display providing an Ultra-realistic Visuals with 4K UHD sensation. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass and is seamlessly embraced by NanoEdge super slim bezels of 6.11mm. The display also senses multi-touch and support Stylus. Flip S employs a durable ErgoLift Hinge to transpose its functionality as a laptop and a tablet. The Hinge also has additional functionality to lift and tilt-out the keyboard when opened past 135-degrees.

The device also embraces dual USB 3.1 ports, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, a webcam, a Cortana-compatible microphone array, Harmon Kardon-tuned 2-speaker audio and a backlit keyboard. For the wireless connectivity, Flip S has 802.11 ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1.

A 39Wh 2-cell Lithium-Polymer battery is provided to ZenBook Flip S, which keeps the device nourished. According to Asus, the battery provides 11.5 hours of backup. To avoid lingering of the device with the charger, Flip S is equipped with Quick charging technology, which helps to juice up 60% of its capacity just in 49 minutes. Despite all these astounding features packed within, ZenBook Flip S comes with a trivial weight of 1.1kg.

Asus ZenBook Flip S Key Specs

Processor: Intel Core i7-7500U
Operating system: Windows 10 S
Display: 13.3-inch (Full HD/4K) Stylus display with multi-touch capability and Gorilla Glass protection
Graphics: Integrated Intel HD 620
360-degree ErgoLift Hinges
Memory: Up to 16 GB LPDDR3 RAM (2133 MHz)
Storage: Up to 1 TB SSD
Wireless: 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1
Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
Connectivity: USB 3.1 port x 2, USB Type-C port x 2, 3.5 mm headphone and mic combo jack x 1
Camera: Built-in HD camera and array mic
Battery: 2 cell, 39 Wh with Quick Charging Technology
Thickness: 10.9mm
Weight: 1.1 kg