Samsung Galaxy A50s comes in three colour variants.
Samsung has just launched a new mid-range smartphone in India, the Samsung Galaxy A50s. The device comes with a Super AMOLED display with a waterdrop style notch and an in-display fingerprint scanner. It also features a triple camera setup at the back. With the price tag of Rs. 22,999, it might feel a bit expensive. So, here are some alternatives to consider.
Oppo K3
In case you are looking to save some money and want a more modern and premium looking design, you should look at the Oppo K3. It sports a 6.5-inch AMOLED fullHD+ notch-less screen and an in-display fingerprint sensor. It is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 710 chipset paired with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. It has a 16MP pop-up selfie camera and a 3765mAh battery with VOOC Flash Charge 3.0 support. Oppo K3 is priced at Rs. 16,990.
Redmi K20
Redmi K20 offers a pop-up selfie camera.
Xiaomi India recently launched the Redmi K20 series in India. The Redmi K20 shares a lot in common with the new flagship Redmi K20 Pro. From the glass sandwich design to the pop-up selfie camera, the new Redmi smartphones have a lot on offer. The device is available for a starting price of Rs. 21,999.
Poco F1 has one of the best camera setups in the price range.
While the Poco F1 looks quite outdated with a polycarbonate back and a huge notch upfront, it is still the most powerful smartphone in its segment. The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset and comes with up to 8GB of RAM. Poco F1 is currently available in India at a starting price of Rs. 17,999.
Samsung Galaxy M40
Samsung Galaxy M40 comes with a triple camera setup at the back.
Just before the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy A50s, the company launched the Snapdragon 675 powered Galaxy M40. The smartphone comes with an impressive set of features, which include a punch-hole design, a triple camera setup at the back and much more. All of this comes in at just Rs. 19,990.
Motorola One Vision
Motorola One Vision features a punch hole design.
Motorola recently launched the Motorola One Vision mid-range smartphone in India. It sports a 6.3-inch IPS LCD display with pucnh-hole design. It is powered by the Exynos 9609 chipset coupled with 4GB of RAM. Motorola One Vision is available with a price tag of Rs. 19,999.
Oppo A9 (2020) comes with a quad-camera setup at the back.
Oppo has announced its new mid-range smartphone the Oppo A9 (2020). This device has a display of 6.5inch and sports a 16MP selfie shooter with AI Beautification feature built-in. It runs on ColorOS 6.0.1, based on Android 9 and it is powered by the Snapdragon 665 processor. Here are a few devices you can get for a similar price tag.
Redmi Note 7 Pro
Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with a waterdrop style notch.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro features a 6.3-inch display and it also comes with the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor. It also packs in a 48MP+5MP dual camera setup at the back and a 13-megapixel front-facing camera. Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. It is currently available at a starting price of just Rs. 13,999.
Realme 5 Pro
Realme 5 Pro features a quad camera setup at the back.
The phone is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 processor. The camera on Realme 5 Pro is 48MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP quad-camera setup at the rear, and a 25MP camera at the front. It packs in up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. Realme 5 Pro is backed by a 4,045mAh battery and it supports VOOC 3.0 charging. All of this comes at a starting price of Rs. 13,999.
Samsung Galaxy M20
Samsung Galaxy M20 comes with an Infinity V notch display.
Samsung Galaxy M20 comes with a 6.3-inch fullHD+ TFT Infinity-U Display and it is powered by the octa-core Exynos 7904 processor. The device runs on Samsung Experience v9.5 built on top of Google's Android 8.1 Oreo. It is available at a starting price of Rs. 9,990.
Xiaomi Mi A3
Xiaomi Mi A3 comes in three colour variants.
Xiaomi has recently launched the Android One powered Mi A3 smartphone in India. The device is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 AIE processor coupled with up to 4GB of RAM. It also sports a 48-megapixel camera at the back and an AMOLED display with an in-display fingerprint scanner at the front. It is currently available for a starting price of Rs. 12,999.
Honor Play comes with flagship-grade hardware at a relatively lower price.
While the Honor Play is almost a year old now, it is the only smartphone that offers flagship-grade specifications at this price. It is powered by the company's in-house Kirin 970 processor coupled with up to 6GB of RAM. The smartphone is currently available at a starting price of Rs. 12,999.
Apple, just yesterday, hosted their annual Apple event where they showcased the all-new iPhones alongside a couple of other products. Since the keynote went for more than an hour, it is quite obvious that not many people would have liked to sit in front of their computers with their eyes glued at the screen for two hours. So, here's a summary of everything Apple launched on September 10, 2019.
Apple iPhone 11
The star of the show has to be the much-awaited Apple iPhone 11. The company has changed its naming scheme a little bit. First of all, they have gotten rid of the roman numbers in exchange for the simpler numeric ones. Also, the iPhone XR successor, which was expected to be the iPhone 11R is actually the iPhone 11. They must have done it considering the XR was the most popular phone last year.
Now that we have understood the naming scheme, lets come down to the specifications. The iPhone 11 now comes with a much faster and more efficient Apple A13 Bionic chipset. While the chipset has changed, the display remains the same at 6.1-inches with same tech like Liquid Retina and lower than HD resolution.
Starting Price: 699 USD (Rs. 64,990 in India)
One of the biggest updates received on the new iPhone is the new camera setup. The iPhone 11 sports a dual-camera setup at the back consisting of a 12-megapixel primary and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens.
Apple iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max
What was expected to be the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max is actually the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max. These smartphones are successors to the iPhone Xs and Xs Max. Since they are just incremental upgrades, they look similar from the front. The back of these phones is a matte finished glass back, which looks quite attractive.
iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max come with triple camera setups at the back.
Starting Price: Rs. 99,990 and Rs. 1,09,990 for iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max respectively.
Just like the iPhone 11, the 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max also come with the latest Apple A13 Bionic processor. However, the Pro variants come with a 12-megapixel triple camera setup at the back consisting of a wide-angle, an ultra-wide-angle and a telephoto lens.
Apple Watch Series 5
The all-new Apple Watch Series 5 is quite similar to its predecessor but it now comes with an always-on display. The new watch also gets a compass for more precise navigation. Even with all these features coming on board, Apple still promises a battery life of 18 hours.
Price: Rs. 40,900 and Rs. 49,900 for GPS and GPS+Cellular variants respectively.
Google was spotted working on a new feature for its Google Play Store dubbed Google Play Pass. The company is now finally gearing up to launch the feature. They made the announcement via the official twitter handle of Google Play. With the help of this feature, Android users will gain access to hundreds of premium apps and paid games.
The Google Play Pass service is quite similar to Apple Arcade, which was launched earlier this year. Apple Arcade allows users to access paid apps and games by paying a certain subscription amount. While Google has not yet given any further details about the Play Pass service, it is confirmed that the service will be live sooner than later.
According to the leaks and rumours, the Google Play Pass subscription service is said to be available at USD 4.99 (roughly Rs. 360) per month. The company is also said to offer a free trial for 10 days. At the time of launch, the subscription is expected to offer access to premium apps such as Stardew Valley, Marvel Pinball and Limbo and more.
Since Google has a different pricing strategy for India in its YouTube Premium service, the company might choose a variable pricing structure across various markets. This means that Android users in India might get the subscription service at a lower price while it could be costlier in the US or Europe.
Vivo U10 will be the first phone under the new U-series
Vivo is gearing up to launch yet another smartphone in India. The company launches tons of smartphones in a year and they are majorly focused towards the offline market. However, the company is now planning to change that by bringing a new online-focused series, the U-series. The first phone under the new series will be called the Vivo U10.
In order to sell these phones in the online market only, Vivo is collaborating with the popular e-commerce giant, Amazon.
Mr. Nipun Marya, Director Brand Strategy, vivo India said, “We strongly believe in offering innovative and personalised experiences that meet the varied preferences and requirements of our customers across the country. Our association with Amazon.in for our brand-new U-series portfolio will help us cater to the specific needs of our Gen Z customers who want a reliable, responsive and performance- driven smartphone that fits their budget well.”
Commenting on this, Mr. Nishant Sardana, Category Leader – Mobile Phones, Amazon India said, “Our customer understanding & insights, clubbed with vivo’s technology prowess form the cornerstone of the new U-series. The new U10 will see an enviable blend of technology and price for today’s savvy millennial. With this launch, we continue to build a strong portfolio in the smartphones category, providing customers with a vast selection across price points and an unmatched shopping experience.”
In marketing, the company is pushing the word "Fast Charging in the box" a lot, which means it is going to be one of the very few phones in the segment to offer fast charger inside the box. This could mean that the company is focusing on hiting a price tag somewhere below Rs. 8,000. It will result in competing directly against the likes of Realme C2 and the Redmi 7A.
Asus is currently the market leader when it comes to innovation in the laptop segment. Whether it is with the gaming laptops in their ROG lineup or with their budget segment laptops on their Vivobook lineup for their flagship consumer laptops in their ZenBook lineup. Asus, continuing that trend has unveiled their latest ZenBook series laptop, the ZenBook 14 UX434F with their latest ScreenPad 2.0 technology.
The Asus ZenBook series of laptops, like always feature a premium build and a lot of fancy utilities, making the laptop a bargain. However, many times these fancy utilities can become just gimmicks and be worthless. So is the new ZenBook 14 and it's ScreenPad just a fancy gimmick or something that is a great innovation? Let's find out.
Asus ZenBook 14 Review: Specifications
Asus ZenBook 14 UX434F is available in a variety of configurations. The variant we had for review purposes came with an 8th Generation Intel Core i5 8265U processor coupled with 8GB of RAM. It can also be specced with 8th Generation Intel Core i7 8565U with up to 16GB of RAM. In the graphics end, it comes in with NVIDIA GeForce MX250 with 2GB VRAM. For the display, it sports a 14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) NanoEdge display. You can get it with a touchscreen if you wish to.
The ScreenPad acts as a secondary display
For the storage, we had a 512GB PCIe SSD, but you can get it with up to 1TB of PCIe SSD. Some of the other highlights include a 3D IR camera for Windows Hello and a 50Wh hour battery and Harman Kardon speakers. However, the most important feature of this laptop is arguably it's 5.65-inch ScreenPad display.
Asus ZenBook 14 Review: Design
The Asus ZenBook 14 looks sleek and portable with a unique look to it. There are subtle similarities with the last few generations of the Zenbook series, but it still looks unique. The subtle concentric circle's pattern on the lid, along with the 92% screen to body ratio, the massive fingerprint-resistant touchscreen in the place of the touchpad, makes the laptop completely different than anything else.
The concentric circle's pattern on the lid looks great with a touch of gold Asus logo
The outer shell is made out of metal and has a nice feel to it. There is a massive Asus logo on the back in the center in the Gold accent. There are many gold accents on the laptop which give the laptop a great look especially with our Royal Blue variant.
Overall the design on the laptop is great.
Due to small bezels and an impressive screen to body ratio of 92%, the laptop has a small chassis for a 14-inch laptop which makes it easier to carry around. The display has a glossy finish to it and gets bright enough for outdoor usage if needed to be.
The design of the Asus ZenBook 14 is what you would call well balanced. It's not dull and it's not screening look at me. It is nothing fancy, but nothing out of the normal. It looks good while not attracting all the attention to it, which according to me is the best thing about the laptop. The gold accents with the Royal Blue color give the laptop a soothing look to the eye.
Asus ZenBook 14 Review: Display
Asus ZenBook 14 sports a 14-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. The panel is big enough for day to day work, especially considering the bezels are minimal. However, a matte finish display would be an icing on the top. The color accuracy and brightness are good offering a great balance for indoor and outdoor usage.
The ErgoLift hinge provides the little bit of elevation which helps a lot while typing
The secondary 5.65-inch ScreenPad display is also good. It offers fingerprint-resistant smudge-proof matte finish display at your fingertips for all sorts of shortcuts. Its quality and brightness is not the greatest, but considering its placement and use case that something you wouldn't care about.
The laptop is powered by the 8th Generation Intel Core i5 8265U processor coupled with 8GB of RAM and NVIDIA GeForce MX250 with 2GB VRAM. That should be quite enough for any everyday task. There is a 512GB PCIe SSD which can be upgraded. There is no HDD but that is for the good. Being a consumer laptop, Gaming is something we didn't expect to be doing on this laptop, but considering it has a basic graphics card, light gaming on the laptop works like a charm.
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Working on my daily basis, with around 10-15 chrome tabs open and a couple of tabs open on opera, with music in the background and typing and browsing the web with a video playing in another chrome window on the ScreenPad, the laptop ran without any hiccup.
Asus ZenBook 14 Review: Keyboard and IO
The keyboard is great with good key travel and feedback
The laptop comes with a backlit chiclet-style keyboard. It is quite comfortable for both, gaming and long typing sessions. The key travel is great which makes long typing sessions not that much of a pain. The keyboard spacing is a little bit bigger than what I prefer but I could easily adjust. It looks a bit cramped look at it for the first time. However, in normal usage, it is completely normal. Also, the laptop has something Asus calls ErgoLift. The hinge is designed in such a way that the laptop can lift up to 3-degrees when the screen is open at the max of 145-degrees. This offers a comfortable typing and viewing experience on the laptop.
The IO is plentiful considering the competition
The IO on the Asus ZenBook 14 is great considering the competition in this segment. The right side contains a USB A port with a micro-sd card slot, headphone jack and power and charging indicators. While the left side contains a USB A Port, a USB C port, HDMI and a proprietary power connector port. Unlike many laptops in this segment, the IO is plentiful.
Asus ZenBook 14 Review: ScreenPad
Coming to the touchpad, the touchpad of the laptop is nothing of a big significance. A good quality touchpad is generally enough, however, Asus dreamt of something different. They picked up the improved version of the ScreenPad technology found in their flagship ZenBook Pro and put it in the new Zenbook 14. The ScreenPad 2.0 technology offers a 5.65-inch fingerprint-resistant matte finish display where the touchpad should be. You can still use it as a touchpad by either shutting off the display completely or by going into mouse mode.
The ScreenPad can be used as a secondary display to reference off while working
However, when you don't use it in the mouse mode you get a fairly big touchscreen display to play around with. Its general use is with the shortcuts for your everyday usage. With software like word, you get shortcuts and handwriting recognition for great comfort while long typing sessions. You can pin any app to look at a video tutorial while working on a project or you could control the music while working. The ability to have a small additional display there is excellent. It is kind of a gimmick but it has a great use case to make your life a lot easier.
Considering what the laptop offers, the battery life is decent
Battery life is the most important thing in any portable gadget. Especially with the thin and light portable laptops. You don't wanna run out of battery when you are working on the go. The company promises a battery life of around 12.3 hours which is a bit too much. With the brightness at around 50% and laptop at balanced performance and ScreenPad on the music playing over Bluetooth, we were able to get an average of 6-7 hours easily without any issue. So running the laptop at a lower brightness and power saver mode and without the ScreenPad, one could easily achieve that 10+ hours which is good enough. Considering that the laptop has to power two display's at a time, the battery life was supposed to be worse than others.
Asus ZenBook 14 Review: Verdict
Asus ZenBook 14 is the laptop you can carry anywhere, sit on an airplane, train, office, home to work or watch a movie. The ScreenPad helps a lot while working on anything. When you don't want it or want to save power, you can just turn it off at will and use it as a normal trackpad.
Overall, the new Zenbook 14 is not something you need, but something that you should want because its that good.
Apart from the ScreenPad, the new Zenbook 14 is a great laptop. It combines style with productivity and portability. With our specification starting in at Rs 79,990 one might think it is a bit expensive, but when you think about all the possibilities the second screen just at your fingertips can offer, the price seems adequate. It is not something you absolutely would need, but something you should have. The capabilities are so much and it's so much more efficient that it is something that everyone should consider at the very top of their list.
Huawei Mate X also supports the latest 5G standards.
Since Samsung has officially launched its foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold again, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei did not want to lack behind. While they have already showcased their version of a foldable phone, they are now ready to launch it and start handing it over to the masses.
Richard Yu, Huawei's consumer business CEO, announced at the IFA 2019 that Huawei Mate X, the company's first foldable smartphone with a flexible screen will be launching as soon as next month. It was initially said to be launched in June but due to the problems faced by Samsung with the Galaxy Fold, Huawei wanted to delay the launch.
Apart from the regular Huawei Mate X that was showcased earlier, the company is also gearing up to launch another variant of the same with the latest Kirin 990 processor. It is also reported that the foldable smartphone has passed 3C certification and network access license test.
As far as the specifications are concerned, the Huawei Mate X sports a large 8-inch display when unfolded. Once it is folded, the screen size reduces down to just 6.6-inches. In comparison, the Galaxy Fold features a 7.3-inch and 4.6-inch display unfolded and folded respectively.
The current version of the Huawei Mate X is powered by the HiSillicon Kirin 980 octa-core processor coupled with 8GB of RAM. It comes with 512GB of onboard storage, which is further up to 256GB expandable using an NM card. All of this is backed by a 4,500mAh battery that supports 55W fast charging.
In terms of the optics, the Huawei Mate X sports a triple camera setup, which includes a 40-megapixel primary, a 16-megapixel ultra-wide and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens.
Apple iPhone 11 series are launching on September 10.
Apple is all set to launch its next generations of iPhones at its upcoming Apple Special Event. The event is scheduled to take place on September 10 at 10:00 AM PDT (10:30 PM IST). Just like last year, this event will also take place at the Steve Jobs Way, Cupertino, USA. Here's everything we can expect and how to watch the live stream.
How to watch the live stream?
Just like every year, Apple will be live streaming the event so fans can watch the event from anywhere around the globe. While the live stream has been only available on Apple's website till date, this time around the company is also live streaming on the popular media streaming platform, YouTube. The company has already listed the event on YouTube and you can watch it from right here.
What to expect?
Following the tradition that was created last year, the company will be launching three new Apple iPhone models. These models are expected to be called as the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Max and the iPhone 11R. Some rumours suggest that there might be a fourth device as well dubbed iPhone 11 Pro. All these iPhones will be powered by the latest Apple chipset, which is rumoured to be called the A13 chip.
Apple iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max are said to come with a 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch OLED displays respectively. The iPhone 11R, on the other hand, might feature a 6.1-inch LCD display. These new 2019 iPhones will also come with next-generation FaceID technology. While the design is expected to be similar from the front, the back will shout that its a new iPhone with the help of new triple camera setup.
IFA is the world's leading trade show for consumer electronics and more. IFA 2019 has just wrapped by in Berlin and here are Top 5 things that debuted on the trade floow this year.
TCL Plex
For the first attempt, the TCL plex is not a bad smartphone
TCL is the company that is best known for its value for money televisions and displays. They have ventured into the smartphone market with brands like Alcatel and Blackberry. However, they haven't ever launched a TCL branded smartphone yet. The IFA 2019 saw the launch of the TCL Plex, company's first self-branded smartphone.
The first smartphone under the TCL name is not bad. It sports a 6.53-inch LCD FHD+ display. Under the hood, it sports mid-level specification, being powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675, 6GB of RAM, plenty of storage options along with a microSD card support, a headphone jack, and a decent triple-camera setup.
The ProArt StudioBook One is the no-compromise laptop from Asus
Among the many devices Asus unveiled at IFA 2019, the most interesting one was the Asus ProArt StudioBook One. It is the first laptop to come with Nvidia’s Quadro RTX 6000 GPU. Along with that, it sports an Intel Core i9 processor, 1TB of SSD storage and massive 32GB RAM. As for the display, you can get a 15.6-inch 4K UHD display with up to 120Hz of refresh rate.
The pricing is not yet announced, but considering the specs, this might be the no-compromise laptop and the pricing will follow the suite.
Marketed as the world's smallest stabilized camera, the Insta360 Go is a feature-rich camera with an extremely small form factor.
The Insta360 Go is small coming in at only 49.4mm length and weighing in at just 18.3g, so the camera can be tucked and placed easily on any surface, or even tucked inside the shirt with the magnetic mount inside the box.
The little camera can only record small video clips in 30-60 second increments. It sports the comapny Insta360’s proprietary FlowState electronic stabilization technology. That helps to keep footage smooth. It also supports features like hyperlapse, timelapse, and slow-mo modes, as well as unique video features like Barrel Roll rotation and comes with AI-powered video editing.
The Huawei FreeBuds 3 might be the most underrated product of all of IFA this year. These are the world's first fully wireless earphones that support the new Bluetooth 5.1 standard. They also are the first to incorporate Huawei’s homegrown Kirin A1 chipset. The company claims that this chipset should ensure improved connectivity and stability, as well as ultra-low latency.
That Kirin A1 chip also brings in a new Bluetooth Protocol in itself. The BT-UHD protocol. When the FreeBuds 3 are connected to a new Huawei phone running EMUI 10 or above, both devices will connect using the new standard, which will supposedly offer up to 2.3Mbps data transfer rates.
The new Philips Hue bulbs give a touch of old school combined with modernity.
IoT-connected light bulbs or smart LEDs have been around since quite a while now. However, they all look like fancy technological bulbs which they are. Philips is here to change the game with their new Philips Hue Filament Collection bulbs.
These new connected bulbs sport an Edison-style old school bulb aesthetic. They have a thick transparent glass exterior with a glowing inner coil look. These are still LED bulbs, so you’re still getting the features you’d expect from a Hue smart bulb. You can adjust the brightness, group them into a network and control them all at once, and more but sport an old school aesthetic for looks. Also, the best part is they start at just €19.99 (~Rs 1,600).
OnePlus 7T is also expected to get a waterdrop style notch.
A few days ago, OnePlus 7T rumours were leaked out on the internet and kept everyone excited about the features of the phone. The leaks clearly state that the OnePlus 7T will be featuring a 90Hz Quad HD+ AMOLED panel. With such a teaser coming out, it is safe to say that the company is now switching to high refresh rate displays all across the range.
During an interview with CNET, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau confirmed that OnePlus is indeed working on a phone with a 90Hz screen that will be cheaper than the OnePlus 7 Pro. He said, "OnePlus was the first in the industry to use a QHD Plus 90Hz AMOLED screen with the ultra-premium OnePlus 7 Pro."
"The overwhelmingly positive feedback pushed us to bring 90Hz, which we believe will become standard on flagship phones, to our highly acclaimed premium lineup so that more people can experience the smooth scrolling display," he further added.
This clearly states that the Chinese smartphone manufacturer is going to implement the 90Hz screen on the cheaper OnePlus 7T as suggested by the leaks and rumours above. Also, there are more chances that the OnePlus 7T will use the same Quad HD+ Optic AMOLED panel from the OnePlus 7 Pro with the waterdrop notch same like OnePlus 7.
In the interview, he also stated that "We design OnePlus devices to achieve the best fast and smooth experience on the market. Implementing the best-in-industry Qualcomm 800 series processors is a major part of achieving this high-end performance."
Apart from the display, the interview also confirms that the OnePlus 7T will also get the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus processor. The chipset brings 15 percent and 4 percent boost to GPU performance and CPU performance respectively over the regular Snapdragon 855.
While the company has not yet said anything about the cameras, the OnePlus 7T is expected to come with a triple camera setup at the back. Apart from that, other features are most likely to be dragged from the OnePlus 7, which include waterdrop style notch, in-display fingerprint scanner, up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and more.
