GadgetByte Nepal

On Wednesday, Dec 24th, Indian phone manufacturer Fastrack Communication Pvt Ltd, signed a partnership with Prabhu Mobile Pvt Ltd. to establish a manufacturing plant in Nepal. Fastrack Communication is the manufacturer of Lemon Mobiles which has been present in Nepal for quite some time. Out of 28 phones manufactured by Lemon, 16 of the phones are available in Nepal and they range from the price of Rs. 800 to Rs. 3,300. As of now, there’s an ongoing research to figure out, to establish the manufacturing plan in Kathmandu or Butwal.

Any stuff that is locally produced has great chances of being really cheap. When it comes to tech, we are paying a hefty amount and we all know that well. Specifically the growing market of smartphone, where every other day we get to witness a new product or a new brand but if we look at their price tag they are expensive compared to other countries. Not only the smartphones but even with regular phones, the story is the same.

Like the market of smartphones, the market of bar phones is also ever growing. Most of the people still carry a bar phone as a secondary phone along with their smartphones. If you look at other places besides the cities of Nepal, the majority of people still prefer and buy bar phones. So, if we are able to locally produce phones in Nepal, the prices are sure to get cheap which will open doors for the majority of people to afford a  phone and communicate. Starting small, this manufacturing plant can also produce other tech related items in the future which would be a great deal. It’s just a starting phase so we have to sit back and see what progress would be made in this project.

The four day long Black Friday deal on Kaymu (one of the largest e-commerce companies in Nepal) was a hit.  According to the company, the orders escalated by 1500% compared to a normal day during the Black Friday deal.  The product orders were so high at Kaymu during this deal that the order volume of a normal day generated within the first hour.

Overall, the sale of musical instruments increased by 69 times the regular day sale. Additionally,  39 times more  Mobiles and Tablets were sold by Kaymu on Black Friday deal in comparison to a normal day. Similarly, the transactions of other electronic items also ascended significantly. Furthermore, Kaymu also witnessed a rise in the sale of other products categories like health and beauty and men’s and women’s fashion.

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I also bought some winter clothing for myself during the sale. Did you buy anything? Let us know. Also, do you think there should be more deals like this in the future from other e-commerce companies as well?

Nepal Telecom, the government-owned telecommunication service provider in Nepal, is unofficially reported to have been testing 4G in their network. It is no surprise as it has already got a license to operate 4G in Kathmandu and Pokhara. The rumor of NTC launching 4G in these two major cities in the second week of Poush is likely to turn into reality.

Nepal Telecom is bringing 4G technology by undertaking hardware and software upgrades in its already existing system. The 4G LTE that is going to be launched in Nepal will be of FDD band 3 as it will be working on 1800MHz. Make sure your phone supports this band before upgrading to 4G after the service goes live.

What is 4G? And why do we even need it?

You might have lots of curiosity on what exactly is 4G. I’d like to address that curiosity of yours in simplest of words possible. In short, it’s the name given to the fourth generation of mobile networks, just as the previous generation is called 3G. 4G is found coming together with the word LTE which stands for Long Term Evolution and is a type of 4G technology. 4G LTE aims to offer users faster, more reliable mobile broadband internet for devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

4G is better and faster than 3G, a whole lot better. It has an incredible peak speed of 100Mbps (Megabits per second) theoretically only. Practically, a lot less but greater than twice that of 3G. 4G uses OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) technology. Basically, it’s a method of splitting and tight packing of data for parallel transmission using MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) concepts. Basically, in laymen’s term 4G is a fast internet service provided by mobile networks with the high speed of 100Mbps.

Nepal Telecommunication Corporation(NTC) is the winner in the race for approval of the license. According to NTC, the prevailing WiMAX Service is up to the standard of 4G. Ncell has also applied for the license. Minister for Information and Communication, Mr. Sherdhan Rai said that the existing 3G service will be expanded nationwide and 4G service will be started at Kathmandu Metropolitan City along with some major sub-metropolitan cities.

The major drawback for 4G is its lack of traditional circuitry for telephony service as like in 3G. But we can use VoLTE (Voice over LTE) function provided by apps like Skype, Whatsapp, Viber, Facebook, etc. for telephony service. If someone wants to make a voice call from 4G network without VoLTE feature, the network is automatically dropped to 3G or 2G network.

The necessity of 4G is felt at various places. A better internet ensures the uninterrupted call (voice or video) to their loved ones. A faster one takes less time to download or upload a great movie, songs, images, etc. Live streaming is possible without waiting for buffering. And best of all speed ensures the development of a nation is on right track.

The advancement of technology and science never fails to amaze us. One day, science will put forward an idea, overwhelm us with its effect and the next day, it does the same. Feels like a never ending cycle, doesn’t it? Not that any of us, are complaining or something, anyways.

The amount of energy that one uses, releases while walking might seem inefficient to run powerhouses and factories. But, provided with a perfectly efficient process, the energy we expend on taking a single stride could be used to operate certain devices. We are surrounded by such devices that do not require much power to operate; a couple of volts could take them a long way. This shows that the days of having to carry around a phone charger everywhere could be coming to an end soon. One may soon be able to charge cell phones and power Bluetooth headsets with the swipe of a finger as scientists have developed a device that can harvest energy from human motion.

The engineers involved in the project had published a research in the journal “Nano Energy”; as per the research, they were able to successfully operate an LCD touchscreen, a bank of 20 light emitting diode (LED) lights and a flexible keyboard by simply touching or pressing motion and without the use of a battery. That type of foldable keyboard is called “Bio-compatible Ferroelectret Nano-generator” (FENG). Nelson Sepulveda, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Lead Investigator of the project said that they were on the path towards wearable devices powered by human motion. He further mentions that in the future the energy required to charge our cell phones for an entire week will be produced by our own movements.

They started with a silicon wafer that was fabricated with several layers of substances such as silver, polyimide and polypropylene ferroelectret. Ions were then added to each layer in the device containing charged particles and energy was created by compressing the device through mechanical energy, or human motion.

FENG is as thin as a sheet of paper and can be adapted to many applications and sizes. This puts forward many other advantages such as flexibility, biocompatibility, scalability, affordability, robust structure; thus making FENG an alternative method in the field of mechanical energy harvesting for many autonomous electronics such as wireless headsets, cell phones, and other touch-screen devices.

The high-level picture is that the FENG winds up with really huge magnetic poles of opposite charge that exist on its different layers, which then change in relation to each other as the material is deformed under pressure. This change results in differences in electrical potential, which is what gives us the useful electrical energy.

The journal describes some advantages in view of the environment, health, and safety as well. The fabrication of encapsulated FENG avoids the use of harmful elements (e.g. lead) or toxic materials (e.g. carbon nanotubes), making it more attractive for bio-compatible and perhaps even implantable applications.

The device also has the neat property of becoming more powerful when folded. In a statement, Sepulveda explains: “Each time you fold it you are increasing exponentially the amount of voltage you are creating. You can start with a large device, but when you fold it once, and again, and again, it’s now much smaller and has more energy. Now it may be small enough to put in a specially made heel of your shoe so it creates power each time your heel strikes the ground.”

Safe, environment-friendly and interesting; what is more to ask for?

Apex Digital, a subsidiary of Apex Group, has now officially inaugurated its another new Smart Store at Dang today. It is their 7th Smart Store and the second biggest after Narayanghat. It can be taken as a remarkable milestone in their target of opening 40 of such stores in two years of time.

Apex Digital’s first 6 smart stores are up and running since early October of this year. Those are located in Pako (New Road), Thimi (Bhaktapur), Pokhara, Dharan, and Damak. This new 7th Smart Store of Apex Digital is now open at NewRoad, Ghorahi, Dang. These stores are one of their kind and offer real friendly environment inside for reviewing different brands in one location.

Mr. Prakash Subedi, Brand Manager of Apex Digital said, “The new Smart Store at New Road, Dang, Ghorahi – a place you must visit. It is indeed spacious area with 850 sq. ft. where Customer engagement and experience zone will be available on this Smart Store to ensure convenience and Smart service to our Smart customers.”

Apex Digital is displaying smartphones from Apple, Samsung, Gionee, HTC, ZTE, Xiaomi, Lenovo and ZOPO at a separate smart table, which the company claims is the first of its kind in Nepal. “Biswash Chhari, Nepali Bhari” is the mantra of Apex Digital which is getting more relevant each day.

On the occasion of the opening of this new Apex Digital – Smart Store, the company has announced various attractive discounts and special gift hampers on every purchase of a smartphone. The customers will receive FREE tempered glass, mobile back cover, cash discounts of up to 50%  and a coupon to enter a lucky draw.  One lucky winner will get a 32-inch LED TV and as a bumper gift hamper, one winner chosen randomly from the lucky draw will receive a scooter. But keep that in mind, this offer is valid for a limited period only.

Images from Apex Digital, Dang

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Gotta Catch’em All!

Yes, the Pokémon Go is now officially available in Nepal. You can download it from official  Google Play Store or iOS app store.

A lot of us (Pokémon fans)  used to play the game (downloading it from unofficial stores) until, all of a sudden, Niantic decided to remove all the Pokémons, PokéStops, and Gyms from Nepal. I don’t know about you guys, but it was a very disappointing experience for me– all my hard work (long walks), money on mobile data and favorite Pokémons vanishing into thin air.

Well, now that it is officially here in Nepal, we can enjoy it again! The good news? If you had played using your Google account, you can resume your game (start from the level you left).

Also, it looks like we have been missing out a lot. There are a lot of improvements. The great thing is that you can now keep a Pokémon beside you while walking. This feature is called Pokémon Go Buddy. Your buddy will not only walk alongside you but also help you earn candies.

What is Pokémon Go?

Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game developed by Niantic. The gameplay is pretty simple. You create your avatar, catch wild Pokémons, visit Pokéstops, and join a team to fight in battles with your Pokémons. Overall, it is a great game and easy to learn. You will get the hang of it pretty easily.