BlackBerry Key 2 LE is a toned down version of the Key 2
BlackBerry has finally launched the much anticipated BackBerry Key 2 LE in India. The Key 2 LE is a toned down version of the Key 2 and just like the Key 2 it also comes with a physical keyboard up front. At a price of Rs. 29,990, the BlackBerry Key 2 LE comes in Space Blue colour variant and will go on sale starting October 12 exclusively via Amazon India.
Specifications
As for the specifications, the BlackBerry Key 2 LE features a 4.5-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1620x1080 pixels and a 3:2 aspect ratio. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC coupled with 4GB of RAM. For storage, the dual-SIM handset comes with 64GB of onboard storage which is further expandable up to 256GB using a microSD card. The phone runs on Android 8.1 Oreo layered with BlackBerry's security features on top. All of this is backed by a 3,000mAh battery.
On the optics front, the BlackBerry Key 2 LE sports a dual-camera setup at the back consisting of a 13-megapixel primary and a 5-megapixel secondary sensor. Up front, there is an 8-megapixel selfie shooter.
Alternatives
In case you just cannot wait till October 12 or the BlackBerry Key 2 LE failed to impress you enough, check out these alternatives.
BlackBerry KeyOne
BlackBerry KeyOne sports a physical keyboard up front
If you really want a physical keyboard, we recommend checking out the BlackBerry KeyOne from last year. Unlike the Key 2 LE, the BlackBerry KeyOne has a capacitive layer on the keyboard which allows you to swipe on the keyboard itself to swipe through web pages and much more. The BlackBerry KeyOne Limited Edition is currently available for a price of Rs. 30,990.
BlackBerry Evolve
BlackBerry Evolve has an Industrial Design
BlackBerry recently announced the availability details of the BlackBerry Evolve. The Evolve is set to go on sale starting October 10 at a price of Rs. 24,990. The smartphone lacks a physical keyboard but features a larger 5.99-inch display up front. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC coupled with 4GB of RAM.
If you are looking for flagship grade hardware for under Rs. 30,000, look no further than the Asus ZenFone 5Z. The ZenFone 5Z is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor coupled with up to 8GB of RAM. The device comes with up to 256GB of onboard storage and it is available at a starting price of Rs. 29,999.
OnePlus Bullets Type C were announced ahead of the OnePlus 6T launch
OnePlus recently announced that they will be launching a pair of Type-C earphones with the new OnePlus 6T smartphone. The new pair of earphones is here to compensate for the missing 3.5mm headphone jack on the upcoming smartphone. However, these earphones will not be bundled in the box and have to be purchased. Here's a trick that can allow you to get these earphones for free of cost.
OnePlus and Amazon have partnered up again for the OnePlus 6T which means the device will be exclusively available via Amazon. If you pre-order the device from Amazon India, you will be eligible to grab a pair of OnePlus Type-C earphones for free. Additionally, you will get Rs. 500 Amazon Pay balance which you can use to get Rs. 500 off on the smartphone.
If you are interested in the offer, you need to follow these steps
The offer is available only till October 30
Head over to the Amazon app or website
Search for the deal and buy the coupon
Use the coupon code at the time of buying the OnePlus 6T. The coupon will allow you to get the free Type-C earphones and the Rs. 500 Amazon Pay balance.
OnePlus 6T is set to launch this month and will be available exclusively via Amazon in India. The smartphone confirmed to come with an in-display fingerprint scanner and in lieu of that, it will lack a 3.5mm headphone jack. The device is said to feature a water drop style notch, Snapdragon 845 SoC and up to 8GB of RAM. It will run on Android 9 Pie out of the box.
The popular Battle Royal game, PUBG has just received an update on its PC version of the game. The new update for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds brings in a new ranking system alongside the patch 22. The ranking system will be available in the upcoming season and here's everything you need to know.
PUBG's new ranking system has a total of eight different levels including Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Elite, Master and Grandmaster. Here Bronze is for amateurs while the Grandmaster is for the pros. In order to get one of these ranks, the players will need to complete 10 placement matches which will unveil their initial ranking. Additionally, there will be a top 100 global leaderboard for every rank.
PUBG Corp says “Each of the 8 Ranks represents a range of total RP earned throughout the current season. At the start of a new season, RP will be soft reset and you will enter placement matches once again to determine your new starting rank, which takes into account your final standing from the previous season. Ranks will be gained and lost as you cross their point thresholds, with no additional qualifying matches required to move to the next rank,” in its Dev Letter: Rank System Beta.
Once you get a rank after 10 successful matches, you will be able to rank up according to your RP (rank points). The RP for solo games will be earned independent of Duo and Squad games and will differ for both FPP and TPP game modes. The first season to implement the ranking system is just around the corner. When a new season comes in, the ranks of the players will be soft reset.
The ROG logo on the Asus ROG Strix Hero II also has RGB lighting
Asus recently launched their Asus ROG Strix Hero II laptop in India. The gaming laptop is focused on the MOBA gamers and the USP of the device is its 144hz display. Does the RGB lighting all around and the 144hz display means that it is the best gaming laptop for your money? Well, let's find out in our full in-depth review of the Asus ROG Strix Hero II.
Asus ROG Strix Hero II: Specifications
The ROG Gaming Center allows you to manage the RGB lighting, fan speeds and much more
As far as the specifications are concerned, the Asus ROG Strix Hero II features a 15.6-inch IPS LCD 144Hz display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a response time of 3ms. The laptop is powered by the Intel Core i7-8750H 8th Gen CPU coupled with 16GB of DDR5 RAM. For graphics, there is a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM. The storage is being taken care of by the 256GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD drive paired with a 1TB HDD which runs at 5400rpm.
Asus ROG Strix Hero II: Design
As soon as you take the Asus Strix Hero II out of its packaging, you will notice that the device shouts premium. The top panel is made up of metal and has a ROG logo on it which has RGB lighting built in. Opening up the laptop reveals the 15.6-inch IPS panel which has very minimal on the sides as well as the top. However, the chin is relatively huge as it houses a ROG logo and the webcam. The webcam is not in the best place and it is that one thing you should ignore about this laptop.
While the top panel was made up of metal, the bottom panel that houses the keyboard is made out of polycarbonate. The quality of materials used are really premium and the laptop should last long enough. There is an RGB backlit keyboard and a trackpad at the bottom.
Left
Right
Coming to the I/O on the ROG Strix Hero II, the laptop gets you covered with almost every port you would ever need. One the left of the laptop, there is a charging port, an ethernet port, a mini display port, an HDMI 2.0 port, two USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port and a headphone jack. On the right, there is a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port, an SD card reader and a Kensington lock.
One thing which I think can bother many people about the design of this laptop is the placement of the fans. The fans blow hot air from the right side where most people usually have their mouse. However, I personally did not face any issues as my mouse is usually a little far from that place.
The power, charging and other notification LEDs are easily available even when the flap is closed
There is also an RGB light strip up front which is quite unique and gives a nice aesthetic to the gaming laptop. There are two 3.5W downwards firing speakers which are loud enough and sound pretty good. However, when the audio levels are cranked up to 100 per cent the speakers start to struggle.
The Asus Strix Hero II sports a 15.6-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. The most impressive part about the display is the 144Hz refresh rate and the 3ms response time which really improves your gaming experience. The display has minimal bezels on the top, left and right but has a significantly larger chin at the bottom.
I personally feel that the display itself can be the unique selling point of this laptop as it takes your gaming experience to a whole new level. Especially first-person shooter games like CS:GO look a lot smoother than on a traditional 60Hz panel. Even browsing on the web and scrolling between different things feels faster.
The Asus ROG Strix Hero II comes with a 144Hz FullHD panel
The display gets up to 310nits of brightness level which is quite enough for most use case scenarios. It has a good amount of colour accuracy as well.
Asus ROG Strix Hero II: Performance
Asus Strix Hero II comes with the Intel i7-8750H 8th Gen CPU which is a 6-core processor and can easily run anything thrown at it. The 16GB of RAM can make multitasking an ease and you can easily open up more than 50 tabs on your browser and the RAM would still have room to breathe. The GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card with 6GB of VRAM was easily able to handle any game we threw at it.
We were able to achieve around 250 to 300 fps on CS:GO with High settings. More demanding games like PUBG and Battlefield 1 ran quite smoothly even with 1080p ultra settings. However, to gain a little more FPS we cranked down the settings to High and we were easily able to see a reasonable 90FPS on our FPS counter.
Asus ROG Strix Hero II can play games like PUBG and Battlefield 1 quite smoothly
As this laptop is targeted towards MOBA games, we also tested out games like League of Legends and Dota 2 which ran quite well and gave us a smooth gameplay experience even at the highest settings.
The laptop also has multiple modes for the fan, Silent, Balanced and Overboost. The Overboost mode cranks up the fans to the fastest and helps in cooling down the GPU and the CPU so that you do not face any FPS drops. However, in this mode, the fans can be pretty loud and they might not bother you while you are wearing headphones but it will bother your teammates when you use the mic to communicate.
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The hardware that made a world of a difference in performance was the 256GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD. The Windows boot time was exceptionally fast and even installing updates or any software on the SSD did not take much longer. We played a few games directly off the SSD and did notice that the map load time was quicker as well.
Asus ROG Strix Hero II: Keyboard and Mouse
The keyboard on this laptop is really comfortable and has a good amount of travel. Whether it be gaming or long typing seasons, this keyboard is not going to disappoint you. However, there is a learning curve when coming to this keyboard as the placement of the arrow keys are little weird. The RGB lighting is 4-zone instead of being induvial lit for every key. Asus provides a software where we can easily control the lighting and have them static or switch colours on their own.
QWER keys are translucent as the laptop is geared towards MOBA gamers
The trackpad is one of the best you could find on a gaming laptop. Most companies tend to use cheaper trackpads as they consider people are going to use a dedicated mouse for gaming anyways. The trackpad comes with Windows Precision drivers which makes Windows 10 gestures pretty smooth. Also, I appreciate that they have separate buttons for right and left click which is not the case in most Asus laptops.
As this is a gaming laptop, you cannot expect much from its 64Wh battery. During my testing, I was able to get around 3 to 3.5 hours of usage. However, you can gain some extra juice by bringing down the refresh rate of the display to 60hz and turning off the RGB lighting all around the laptop. If you are gaming on this laptop, you will need to use the power brick anyways as that can give you the best performance.
Asus ROG Strix Hero II: Verdict
Asus ROG Strix Hero II brings great performance at a decent price
Though the Asus ROG Strix Hero II is focused on gamers, it is also good for content creators or other people who need more performance out of their laptop. This one is not the easiest to carry around as it is quite heavy and can seek attention at coffee shops or libraries with all its RGB lighting. As the battery is not the best in the segment, you also might want to carry the beefy power brick around.
At a price of Rs. 1,39,000, the Asus ROG Strix Hero II does offer a great value for money. There is also a Scar edition available which comes with similar specifications, but it is focused more towards FPS gamers. If you are looking for more performance, we recommend waiting for the GTX 1070 variant to arrive in India which should happen pretty soon.
Google is gearing up to launch the much anticipated Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL at an event on October 9. The company is hosting the event in New York and will also be live streaming the whole event via its official social media handles and a dedicated webpage. As the launch is close and we have seen enough leaks and rumours till date, here's a quick wrap up giving you an idea of what these upcoming devices will look like.
The Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with the Adreno 630 GPU. The larger of the two is expected to feature a 6.7-inch display with a resolution of 1440x2960 pixels and a 19:9 aspect ratio. Both the smartphones are said to pack in 4GB of RAM and up to 256GB of onboard storage. The smartphones will run on Android 9 Pie out of the box. The Pixel 3 XL is also said to come with a 3,430mAh battery which is relatively smaller for the bigger display it has.
As for the design, we have seen enough leaks and rumours to know what the devices would possibly look like. Just like the last year's pixel devices, the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL will have quite similar design at the back. There will be a piece of glass on the top while most of the back will be covered with metal. Up front, the smaller variant will have an 18:9 display without a notch of any sort while its elder sibling will have a notch up front.
The new smartphones are also said to come with a feature that was missing in the previous generation of Pixel devices, Wireless charging. There are videos, leaks and rumours claiming that the upcoming Pixel devices will come with wireless charging. However, one thing still remains missing which is the 3.5mm headphone jack.
As far as the pricing is concerned, the Google Pixel 3 XL is said to priced upwards of USD 1,000 (roughly Rs. 74,000) while the smaller variant will cost somewhere between USD 850 to USD 950.
Flipkart is offering the ZenFone 5Z for just Rs. 24,999
Flipkart's Big Billion Days are set to kick off on October 10 and with Asus, the e-commerce website is bringing some mouth-watering deals. Asus currently has two best selling smartphones on Flipkart, the Asus ZenFone 5Z and ZenFone Max Pro M1. While offers on both the phones are attractive, the ZenFone 5Z at Rs. 21,999 looks like the most convincing of a deal.
Asus ZenFone 5Z was launched at a starting price of Rs. 29,999. The smartphone will be available for a discount of Rs. 5,000 bringing its price down to just Rs. 24,999 during the Flipkart's Big Billion Days. If you are willing to exchange your old OnePlus smartphone for the ZenFone 5Z, you can get an additional 3,000 off on your purchase.
The offer just doesn't end at the exchange. Flipkart has also partnered up with HDFC Bank and it is offering a 10 per cent discount on the purchase. Also, the Flipkart complete mobile protection plan will be available for just Rs. 99 during the Big Billion Days.
As far as the specifications are concerned, the Asus ZenFone 5Z features a 6.2-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080x2246 pixels. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with Adreno 630 GPU. The dual-SIM handset packs in 6GB or 8GB of RAM paired with up to 256GB of onboard storage. All of this is backed by a 3,300mAh battery.
On the optics front, the Asus smartphone sports a dual-camera setup at the back consisting of a 12-megapixel primary and an 8-megapixel secondary sensor. Up front, there is an 8-megapixel selfie shooter.
WhatsApp is working on a set of new features which it plans to roll out with the upcoming updates. Some of these features are much anticipated while the others are going to bring hatred for the application from its users. Here's a list of every feature that is coming to WhatsApp this month.
Swipe to Reply
One feature that made every Android user jealous of an iOS user was the ability to swipe on any message to reply. In a chat window, if you want to highlight a message for the reply, now you can just do it with a right swipe. Apparently, the feature has not yet made it to the stable release but the WhatsApp Beta users can already enjoy the feature.
Picture-in-Picture mode
Google introduced Picture-in-Picture mode with Android 8.0 Oreo. The mode allowed users to do whatever they want on their phone while still watching a YouTube video or looking at the navigation on Google Maps. The mode will now be enabled for WhatsApp as well which means you can watch videos that you receive on WhatsApp in Picture-in-Picture mode.
Advertisements
WhatsApp gained immense popularity y remaining free to use and did not show any advertisements whatsoever. Now, the things are going to change as the company has decided to introduce ads in the stories section of the app. Just like Instagram, these ads will pop up like stories when you are swiping through different stories.
The Facebook-owned company is also working on bringing stickers to the application. This will make the competition tougher against the likes of Hike Messenger and also provide users with a more fun way to chat with their loved ones.
Samsung Galaxy S8 and OnePlus 6 are having one of the best deals this festive season
Most Indian consumers wait for this time of the year to buy home appliances, electronics and more as we are able to get really great discounts. E-commerce websites like Flipkart and Amazon bring down the prices of many smartphones and other gadgets in order to celebrate the auspicious festival. Here are the top 5 smartphones to keep an eye on during this festive season.
OnePlus 6
Amazon has announced that the OnePlus 6 will be available at a starting price of just Rs. 29,999 during the Amazon Great Indian Festival Sale. The OnePlus 6 is about to get a successor which explains why the phone is available for so cheap. OnePlus 6T is anyways going to come with the same processor, so if you do not mind the older design and want to save some money, the OnePlus 6 is the phone to get.
Samsung Galaxy S8
Samsung Galaxy S8 comes with Samsung Pay, Always On Display and many more features
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 almost 2 years ago and the phone still holds up in 2018. The phone comes with the Exynos 8895 chip with 4GB of RAM. The device sports a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1440x2960 pixels. Finding such a great display for under Rs. 30,000 was impossible until Flipkart announced that they will be selling the Samsung Galaxy S8 for just Rs. 29,990 during their Big Billion Days.
Google Pixel 2
Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are one of the best flagships from 2017
Google is launching the new set of Pixel devices on October 9, just a day before the sale begins. As a successor is almost here and the Dusshera sale is on, we can expect a hefty discount on the Google Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL smartphones. The Pixel 2 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip and it has one of the best cameras in any smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy A8+
Samsung Galaxy A8+ features a glass sandwich design
The Samsung Galaxy A8+ was launched at around Rs. 32,000 and during the Amazon Great Indian Festival Sale, you can grab one for just Rs. 23,990. Now, that is an attractive price tag as you get a 6-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080x2220 pixels. Also, it comes with some of the premium features like Samsung Pay and dual-front camera setup.
Apple iPhones
Apple recently announced the launch of three new iPhones
Apple recently launched the iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max. As the festive season is here, not only the newer iPhones but also the older gen iPhones will be available on great discounts. You will be able to grab an iPhone SE for less than Rs. 15,000 and iPhone 7 could be available for less than Rs. 30,000.
The festive season is just around the corner and this is why many people would be considering buying new home appliances and gadgets. Amazon has announced its Great Indian Festival Sale and has some great offers on TVs. If you are looking for a new TV, especially a Smart TV, you should consider these as your options.
Xiaomi Mi TV 4A Pro
If you are on a budget and do not want to spend a fortune on your next television, the Xiaomi's new range of Mi TV should get you a better value for your money. The recently launched Mi TV 4A Pro runs on Android Oreo with PatchWall slapped on to it. The TV currently does not support Netflix and Amazon Prime Videos but Xiaomi claims that an update should fix that soon. The Mi TV 4A Pro is available for a price tag of Rs. 29,999.
The Sony Bravia KD-43X8200E is a Smart LED TV which comes with a 43-inch 4K panel up front. The TV is certified to work with Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. For connectivity, it has 4 HDMI ports and 3 USB ports. Interestingly, the TV is also HDR enabled which means the content would look way better. The Bravia TV is available for a price of Rs. 67,999.
LG OLED ThinQ AI
LG has recently launched a new range of Smart Televisions which come with the company's own ThinQ AI assistant. The TV is available in 55-inch as well as 65-inch models with 4K Ultra HD OLED panels. It is powered by an Alpha 9 Intelligent processor and it is HDR and Dolby Vision enabled. You can grab one of these for a starting price of Rs. 1,76,500.
TCL is a respectable brand when it comes to purchasing televisions. TCL 109.3 cm (43 inches) 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV L43P2US comes in Gold colour which stands out from the most black televisions available in the market. It is available for a starting price of Rs. 28,990 and at this price, it is possibly one of the cheapest 4K Smart TVs available.
Sanyo Smart LED TV
The Sanyo Smart LED TV comes in two sizes, 43-inches and 49-inches at a price of Rs. 24,999 and Rs. 29,999 respectively. Both the models come with a FullHD panel with a refresh rate of 60 Hertz.
Vivo has just announced the launch of the 4GB variant of the budget-oriented Vivo Y81 smartphone. The notched smartphone was unveiled a few months ago and as the festive season is just around the corner, the company has added another variant of it to their portfolio. Here are some of the alternatives you need to check out.
Nokia 5.1 Plus
Nokia 5.1 Plus sports a notch up front
Nokia recently launched the Nokia 5.1 Plus in India and it is the perfect alternative to the Vivo Y81. The smartphone comes with the MediaTek 6771 SoC coupled with the Mali-G72 MP3. It sports a 5.86-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 720x1520 pixels. The Nokia 5.1 Plus is priced at Rs. 10,999.
RealMe 2 Pro comes with a water drop style notch up front
RealMe 2 Pro brings in more value for your money at a similar price point. The RealMe 2 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor. It also comes with a water drop style notch and up to 8GB of RAM. The smartphone is available at a starting price of Rs. 13,999.
Asus ZenFone Max Pro
Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 runs on stock Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box
If you are willing to give up on that notch, we recommend going in with the Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1. It features a 5.99-inch FullHD+ display and it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC. It comes with up to 6GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The ZenFone Max Pro M1 is available in India at a starting price of Rs. 10,999.
Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro
Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro sports a notch up front
The Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro is one of the few smartphones in the price range to come with a notch up front. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC coupled with up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The Redmi 6 Pro comes in at a starting price of Rs. 10,999.
