IQOO is a new brand in India and the company has already launched its IQOO 3 smartphone which also comes in a 5G variant. But is the performance worth the money? We find out.
Build and Design
The IQOO 3 is a premium offering from the brand and it is evident as soon as you pick the device up. Smooth finished front and back held together by a metal frame. It comes in three different colours Volcano Orange, Tornado Black, and Quantum Silver.
The one we tested is the Tornado Black colour option which has a pattern to it on the back when you try viewing it from an angle. On the right, you have the volume rocker and the power button which comes in orange and bears a texture on it while the left side gets a button which can directly summon the Google assistant.
Not only this, but two pressure-sensitive shoulder buttons are also present on the right side which you can use for gaming. The bottom features the speaker grille and USB-C type charging port along with the microphone and the top has the headphone jack and a microphone.
Coming to the display, it is a 6.44-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with support for HDR10+ and 2.5D curved glass. There is no notch on the display and the front-facing camera peeps through a hole which is punched on the display.
The display is bright and IQOO 3 claims an average brightness of 800 nits and up to 1200 nits when the brightness is at the maximum setting. The only downer is the 60Hz refresh rate of the display which could have been better. The phone is slightly thicker and heavier when compared to other flagship models but it boasts a good overall design and build quality that we look for when buying a phone.
Performance of IQOO 3
Now coming to the hardware, it is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Octa-core processor paired with 12GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage in the 5G variant of the phone. The processor is clocked at 2.84 GHz and an Adreno 650 GPU which handles intensive graphics. Moreover, the UFS 3.1 storage provides with fast loading times for applications and games.
The IQOO 3 also comes with an Ultra Game Mode which offers a game space which allows users to block calls and notifications and allowing higher resource allocation when gaming.
For cooling, the IQOO 3 features a Carbon Fibre VC Liquid Cooling system to keep the temperatures in check. With all that hardware, the phone draws power from a 4440 mAH battery. To keep things fast, the IQOO 3 is supplied with a 55 W charger out of the box which charges the phone from zero to hundred percent in under 40 minutes.
In the camera department, the IQOO 3 gets an AI quad-camera setup with a 48-megapixel main sensor, 13-megapixel super-wide-angle, 13-megapixel telephoto and a 2-megapixel depth camera.
The front gets a 16-megapixel selfie snapper. Image quality from the cameras is quite commendable with punchy colours, sharpness and details. However, low-light performance could have been better. Images from the front camera also exhibit a great level of detail.
Verdict
Performance of the device is pretty amazing with fast loading time, no lags, hang or stutters even during heavy multitasking or long gaming sessions. While we still cannot comment on the 5G speeds, internet connectivity and speeds have never been a problem. The IQOO 3 comes with a great display, great hardware and promised good battery life. Price – Rs, 44,990/-
Technology’s deep impact in human lives means we are very dependent on technology for our day to day lives. As much as humans, technology is rapidly evolving and taking the best shape around us humans. The biggest part of technology in our lives is perhaps our smartphone, which enables us to a lot more and provides access to all sorts of information and data right at the fingertips.
Smartphones have been catching up on all the technology trends and the latest is, of course, folding screens. Flexible folding screens have received a lot of interest both among technology enthusiasts and consumers alike. However, the implementation of folding screens is challenging in itself. Smartphone manufacturers have been using different mechanisms, form factors and materials to reach the destination fold.
Motorola is the name everyone has heard of. They were some of the early pioneers of the mobile world and came up with a lot of interesting phones during the early days out of which a folding phone which snaps into half in the middle was the most preferred way of people’s expression. Again folding feature phones just like any other commodity was being offered by most of the phone companies, Motorola created their iconic Razr phone which was an immediate success. The Motorola Razr of the yesteryear was a uniquely designed phone with its distinct ‘clamshell’ like the design. Its design featured a chin which housed some of the components of the phone as well as giving its iconic look. Motorola did bring out many iterations of the Razr phone and with time, the design just got better and better. It was so slim even after folding, it stood true to its ‘Razr’ name till the time exciting feature phones were murdered with the arrival of the touchscreen, Android and iOS devices.
2019 was no different and the market is oozing with new phones. Meanwhile, Samsung’s second-generation Galaxy Fold was already selling after its first unfortunate screen disaster. Motorola saw the right time and hit us with the Motorola Razr, a smartphone which was about to change the folding smartphones game. Behold the Motorola Razr, a clamshell design folding smartphone which follows the same design lines with the original Motorola Razr.
Early 2020 the Motorola Razr was already on sale in the international markets and in India, we had to wait a bit longer to have our hands on the device. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that has shaken the world to its core, Motorola finally made an official announcement of the Razr in India. As the case would be, we got out hands on the retail unit of the Razr and here is what we think about it.
Build and Design
The design inspiration comes from the original Moto Razr which featured a folding clamshell-like design and was pretty slim in its form, even when folded down. The folding design was so much on the point that one could flip out and flip-close the phone with just one hand. The thin cross-section of the phone led its name to be ‘Razr’ comparing its razor-thin body. The Razr was a particular hit of the time. Motorola did launch other folding handsets but out new devices coming in folding phones lost their charm.
Design-wise, it’s a success. The hinge mechanism works perfectly. When folding/unfolding the phone a tiny gap can be seen but it is interesting to see the display sink inside for a complete fold. You can still feel the middle crease on the display which slightly dips exactly where the folding happens. However, it is to be mentioned that flipping the phone open and close with one hand is a bit of a tricky job, especially if you have smaller hands. The chin portion of the Razr is fat but designed neatly. You will find a USB-C type port at the bottom along with the speakers. Motorola says that they have used the chin area as a resonance chamber for the speaker. However, you cannot differentiate that from the sound. The chin also has the fingerprint scanner and does a good job of unlocking the phone very swiftly. Sadly, the tight fitted design means you have no memory card slot, not even a physical sim which means you have to configure an e-sim to use on the Razr. Motorola has packed 128GB of onboard storage on the Razr.
Sadly a lot of perks have been trimmed down like a 3.5mm headphone jack or a micro-sd slot to make things neat and tightly packed which otherwise is a folding phone in itself. The secondary display is a 2.7-inch OLED mini screen while the primary display is an HD+ 6.2-inch POLD display. The display is a flexible one and you feel the not so firm display when using it.
The main camera on the Motorola Razr is a 16-megapixel unit while the front has a 5-megapixel selfie snapper. When in a folded position, the main camera can also be used as a selfie camera which turns the mini screen as a viewfinder.
Performance
Specifications of the Razr are not going to throw you off your seat. Yes, it is less powerful when compared to the pricier flagship devices. It is powered by a Snapdragon 710 processor which is paired with 6 GB of RAM. Storage options are limited to 128GB. The battery on the device is 2510 mAh which is almost half of some of the budget range devices.
The phone does not feel slow or laggy at any point. The hardware is very neatly integrated with the OS to offer a seamless experience. It ships with Android Pie out of the box but we believe Motorola to be quick in sharing the latest OS and updates providing the user with a very neat experience.
Gaming on the Motor Razr was not bad either. While this is not a phone which you would want to game on. Titles like PUBG, Call Of Duty and Asphalt 9 Legends run smooth with any issues. The gaming experience might not be of like most of the users because of its unusual form-factor.
Viewing content and consuming media is, however, pleasing with the nice and bright display. The overall performance of the Motorola Razr is rather smooth. What majorly concerns heavy users is battery life. With a tiny 2150 mAh battery inside you will see the charging points too often. An 18W Turbocharger comes in the box and it does a good job of charging the phone faster.
Last but not least, the retail box also offers a case which contains the accessories. The case is very similar to goggle cases and has a brained USB-C cable, paperwork and a USB-C type wired headset which is in association with Denon. The retail box itself has been designed to work in conjunction with the down-firing speaker of the Razr. When placed on the box, the sound resonates in the hollow box to make it sound like a mini boombox.
Verdict
A final say on the new Motorola Razr is quite difficult. It is a beautifully designed device which seems a lot more promising in hands than in pictures and videos. However, it does not offer everything that a power user would look for, especially when it costs Rs. 1,24,990 which is surely expensive. So here are a few points on why you should or should not buy the Razr.
Buy the Razr if
You love cutting-edge technology and rather buy a good looking phone which is sure to turn heads around. It is slimmer and smaller than the Galaxy Fold. The Razr is a throwback which is reminiscent of its past.
You like small phones and do not like carrying hefty big smartphones. You could also have smaller hands and are more comfortable with a smaller than average phone. However, when folded, the Razr’s thickness is more than conventional smartphones.
If you like Flip phones; Flip phones have lived their days of popularity and now with technology moving ahead fast, trends which are long gone are catching up at a rapid pace. As folding screens are no longer a technical challenge, it is right for smartphones to fold. The Razr is all about the style.
Do not buy the Razr if
You want high performance, go look elsewhere. There are many phones which will cost you a fraction of the Razr but deliver a higher performance and battery life. You also miss out on a higher refresh display which is the latest trend among smartphones.
You want a big battery life to support your heavy usage. It is quite a bit of sacrifice of performance for style. You will find double the capacity on some phones in just a part of the price of the Razr.
You want a great camera and are actively engaged in phone photography. At Least with four-cameras on offer on most handsets now, the single-camera setup on the Razr is no match. The Razr does take good images but as it is the case with cameras, you would want something more substantial.
Not too long ago, Canon had launched their first mirrorless camera, the EOS RP. The EOS RP from Canon is an attempt to bridge the gap and it is quite a camera to plug-in the gap, especially in their mirrorless segment. It is like Canon has taken the 6D Mark II’s soul and put it in a smaller, lighter body which missed out on the mirror. The result is a very handly and well-balanced camera. But how does it fare in this heavy mirrorless competition, let’s find out?
Build, handling and ergonomics
The EOS RP is placed alongside the Canon EOD 6D Mark II in its lineup and most importantly, it shares a lot of tech with the latter, including the sensor and some feature set. But what makes this EOS RP a completely different camera is the well designed and small body, which is lightweight and easy to carry. At 485 grams, you might as well call it the lightest full-frame camera and that would not be wrong either. To my surprise, I found that it is quite as close to the EOS 800D body and that is a real win for Canon.
If you looking to pair it up with a Canon EOS L lens and the adapter, you will be surprised to see how easy to handle this camera is. But for now, you will only have to do with some of the bulky native lenses from the EOS R-Mount.
On the top, you have the Mode dial which sits flush on the panel. Similarly, the on-off switch on the other side which is again seated flush. The 0.39-inch 2.36 million dots electronic viewfinder sits on top without a major bump on the top. What makes a lot of people happy is the fully-articulating, 3-inch, touchscreen display which is very responsive. With the incorporation of the fully-articulation screen, Canon has just widened its reach to make videographers and vloggers who are looking for quality video output and also want a fully tilting display. Overall, it is a well-designed body which is light in weight and easy to use with less clutter.
Specifications and Features
The Canon EOS RP features a 26.2 MP image sensor and is powered by the new Digic 8 processor. The sensor is almost similar to the one on the 6D Mark II, but it has received some design changes to fit the RP. The RP features an ISO range of 100 to up to 40,000 and is expandable to a crazy 102,400. Now we all know that sensitivity really isn’t being used on a daily basis, but Canon has been thoughtful over it. As expected, Canon’s Dual Pixel CMOS AF makes its way into the RP and it claims to focus down to -5EV, which I can say, the camera never had many issues focussing in dark places. Canon also claims a focus speed of 0.05 seconds, and as per my use and experience, it has never really let me down with AF issues. The AF covers 88% – 100 % which provides a whopping 4,779 AF pointers which again are divided into 143 zones. What this essentially means is that the AF performance does not let down.
Interestingly, the servo AF now supports eye AF and Face Tracking. The EOS RP can shoot 4K videos with up to 25 frames per second, but you would not get the Dual Pixel CMOS AF and also gets a brutal 1.76 times crop. It can shoot 1080p videos up to 50 frames without a crop, where you get the Dual Pixel AF working for you. The RP does not get in-body image stabilization, but it uses Dual Sensing IS which along with the IS lenses compensates for the shakes caused while using the camera handheld.
Performance and Image Quality
For the time the EOS RP was with us at the office, I have used it extensively to shoot images and have been very satisfied with the overall performance. The review unit had been sent with a native 24-105mm f/4 lens which was an all-rounder and served multiple purposes. From shooting stills to taking videos, the EOS RP was a good performer. The images that came right out of the camera were sharp and had great colours which are very true to the scene. The ISO performance has been decent and low-light situations have been very satisfying and I have at times pushed the ISO up to 6400 to see very less grains and noise.
The video performance has been great. As we spent time shooting videos of gadgets and vehicles, the output videos were very crisp. With better lenses, expect the quality to go up even further. With the burst mode, you get 4 fps on servo mode and 5 fps with One-Shot. While this is not a great number, you can still get 50 14-Bit RAW files on a high-speed UHS-II SD card, which stands pretty impressive. You must remember that it is not a sports-oriented camera which is usually meant for snapping many frames per second.
The RAW files have enough depth and colour information which allows you to retain as much as information in the image files. This will allow you to bring out most details and tweak the images as per your liking when working on the image in post-processing. Overall, the image quality will definitely suffice all sorts of needs, be it a budding photographer who has just upgraded or a full-time professional who needs a light-weight back up camera.
Verdict
So, the question is, should you really buy the EOS RP? If you ask me now, I might have already invested my money on one. It ticks all the major boxes of performance and then brings in the soul of the 6D Mark II in a smaller and more lighter version. Technology is eventually forcing things to go smaller and yes cameras are a big part of it. Since DSLRs are now slowing down in the race with the mirrorless counterparts, it is worth investing in one, especially if it promises such performance.
What is life without music and beats? My day starts with switching on my vintage Pioneer integrated stereo amplifier, which is matched to a pair of Sony V-700 speakers which are from the 1985’s. How do they sound? Well for most of us it is just good sound, but for those who seek more, they will know how the highs are crisp, the mid-range is detailed and the bass is punchy with almost no distortion. Well, I am not a true audiophile, but I can differentiate between good sound and bad. That’s why I never got myself a Bluetooth speaker because I feel they all sound the same and I do not enjoy the quality unless it some extraordinary sounding one form some manufacturer I cannot afford.
Now comes this package which is handed over to me and I open it to find something of my interest. A pair of over-the-ear headphones from the Swedish manufacturer JAYS. The JAYS a-Seven Wireless headphones now become a part of my everyday schedule and here is my experience of using the a-Seven for more than a month on a daily basis.
The design language from the Swedish manufacturer is very minimal and simple. I paired it with both my android smartphone and my laptop for the source. I also have an entire collection of music in high-quality FLAC format which also ensures a great listening experience when the sound output is good. The first thing to notice is how good the Bluetooth connectivity is. There were very fewer dropouts and even walking around in the house with the phone inside the room did very less to drop the transmission. Only when things got too far, it started to lose connection but, the moment you walk into the range, the music is on. The built-in controls are simple, allowing you to play-pause, skip tracks and rock the volume up and down. The presence of a built-in microphone makes it easy to take calls and the microphone is very efficient for calls as well.
The a-Seven uses the Qualcomm Bluetooth atpX chip which improves the overall audio performance. However, it does not support AAC which is a downer as most Apple devices use AAC format for high-quality music content. The sound from the headphones is quite detailed, especially when you play music from a good and a very good source. The difference is evident.
My playlist includes rock and roll, instrumental and a wide variety of from Dire Straits to Def Leppard, AC DC, Metallica, Guns and Roses, Rolling Stones, Daft Punk and some podcasts with hour-long sets of funk and disco. The sound the headphone deliveres is quite clear with good and punchy bass and clear highs and mid-range. I wish the mid-range was a bit more detailed but it is definitely good for the package.
But wait, there is more to share. The headphones look very neat and have a matte black finish. The construction is from lightweight aluminium and the overall ergonomics is very good. The band sits firmly over the head and there is enough padding on the band to keep it comfortable. The earpads are filled with memory foam which is a great thing. I am not a fan of over-the-ear headphones but I was keeping the a-Seven on for hours without worry until it began to hurt from the less padding and the drivers hitting the ears and I think JAYS has been a bit stingy about it. It comes in four different colours but the one unit I reviewed is black in colour. The most important thing though is the very nominal hours of charging required which translated into 25 hours of listening. This is something which more than impressive I would say and I personally could exhaust the battery in almost 3 days of listening while travelling and every break I could.
The standby time of 35 hours allows you to continue from where you left off. I think the headphones still need to burn in a lot and the sound should improve even more. For those audiophile ears, these might not cut in, but for most of the music-loving folks out there, the a-Seven are worth keeping. The box is supplied with a USB cable for charging and a cable for using it as a wired headset. I wish JAYS would have been thoughtful enough to bundle a headphone carrying case or at least a pouch which would have made the whole deal sweeter. For Rs. 7,999/-, this is as good as it can get and the a-Seven wireless is worth investing. One can find some better deals online especially on headphone zone where they are known for selling some very great products for all the audio lovers out there.
Laptops are one of the most used personal devices after smartphones obviously. The main factor for choosing laptops is the form factor and portability. Laptops are getting even smaller than they were before. They are slimmer, have less weight and also have a host of hardware such as high-quality screens which makes these small computers really powerful for all your day to day work.
But does the laptop still has to be this big in the days where physical hardware is slowly starting to lose its meaning? Most smartphone makers have found innovative ways to increase the screen real estate on the front and have been eliminating (read concealing) their physical hardware like front cameras and sensors inside the phone itself. You can see how the latest smartphones like the OnePlus 7 Pro, Oppo Reno and the Asus 6Z which have mechanisms built-in to pop and retract the camera module.
Now it’s about time that manufacturers start making smaller, more portable and powerful laptops with innovative designs. Not only this, the trial and error of making the devices smaller are giving birth to even more possibilities. Not too long ago, Asus added a small screen in place of the trackpad of the laptop which also works as a secondary screen. Following up on this development, Asus has recently unveiled a powerful laptop with dual screens. Yes, two screens on a laptop. An OLED screen as the primary one and secondary screen where you would expect the physical keyboard to be. The physical keyboard has been moved ahead and the trackpad has been moved to the right of the keypad. This gives the laptop a unique design and perspective for use, especially when multi-tasking. We expect this laptop from Asus to be commercially launched soon as it is a very innovative way of making a laptop different.
Now in an interesting attempt, electronics giant Lenovo has come up with something very unique. Something which might have been tried by many, but was perfected by none. Lenovo has created a folding screen which loses out on the physical keyboard but gets an OLED 13-inch OLED 2K screen which folds in half to make the form factor not more than a small hardbound book. The fordable PC is being called by the name of Lenovo ThinkPad X1, which is expected to join the list of Lenovo devices as early as 2020. The device is still in its early stages of development. However, Lenovo was smart enough to rope in a few tech experts and sent the device for an opinion.
The device in question if a fully folding OLED display. An OLED display is something even high-end laptops miss on. However, manufacturers are now trying to incorporate better screens on laptops which would definitely enhance the overall viewing experience. The ThinkPad X1 is something which has been imagined to be in a laptop territory without being too big or have any issues of portability. This device can be folded in half and can be used with a separate keyboard or simply used with the on-screen keyboard. However, some people would still miss a physical keyboard as mentioned by many tech experts who have had a hands-on with Lenovo’s latest innovation.
The idea and attempt to create something like this is commendable. But, there are a few questions that arise with the device. Is the folding display really a good idea? Will it have a life long enough to go through the daily grind of power-hungry multimedia users, how long will be the battery life on a portable device of this size and how will the company create the similar typing experience on the device which physical keyboard users are looking for. Unless this technology becomes mainstream, it is really difficult to have an opinion about it or even to speculate anything. Going to work with a book-sized device which fulfils every bit of requirement of a laptop, a fully-fledged one would simply be an amazing experience.
With such small and space-saving devices, computing is about to take a very interesting turn. Physical hardware is slowly disappearing and screens are replacing major hardware and experiences. This surely is going towards a very interesting direction where smaller devices will be more powerful and have equal or more features, and the day doesn’t seem too distant either.
More and more people are entering into being creators, especially people who are into full-time sound and music production, the need and rise of professional-quality monitoring headphones are also on the rise. While brands like Sennheiser and Audio Technica make excellent headphones in this segment, they also quite expensive with the quality they provide. However, CLAW has come up with a very affordable but very effective Closed Back Studio Monitor headphones, which promise to deliver quality and comfort.
Looks and Hardware
The CLAW SM100 comes in a solid box. Inside, you get the actual headphones, supported wires (3.5 mm to 3.5 mm and a 3.5 to 3.5 mm which can be fitted with a 6.3 mm jack adapter for studio use. There is no storage pouch included in the box which would have been a great addition to the package. The earcups on the SM100 are large and very nicely padded. The padding is very soft and allows good ventilation as well as keep the comfort quotient for long usage hours. The hinges have an effective design which allows you to fold and tuck them away inside a backpack. Now for the wiring, you get a 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm cable which also has a microphone and volume control. This allows you to tweak volume levels and answer calls when needed. The other coiled cable comes with a 6.3mm jack adapter for using it with high-end audio system for the studio. The coiled cable is what provides convenience.
Performance
Coming straight to the matter, which is the actual performance of the headphones. I have used it extensively for listening to music while our video editors have used this for working on video edits which include tweaking audio files. The sound output from monitor headphones is flat, which means the monitor headphones do not have any added bass or treble added to the final output sound. This is because, with monitors, creators get the clearest of the output sound that has been recorded which they can edit and add effects in post-production. These headphones reproduce the sound as they were created.
When listening to music, these headphones do not offer anything extra but reproduce the actual sound in a very clear manner. This is likely to attract audiophiles who love to listen to the details in the music. This allows you to hear more than what you hear with other headphones. The headphones come with 50mm drivers which have a lively audio reproduction. Imagine listening to a song and you get to listen to each and every instrument being played individually. My experience with the SM100 has been close to listening to music in a listening room.
For a regular music listener, the SM100 will deliver more clarity and better vocals. The differences might be slight for all regular users but the trained ears will be able to talk about the difference. My time with the SM100 has been only limited to listening to high-quality music files like AAC and FLAC played through my computer with an external DAC. The output was clean the sound clarity was top notch. This essentially means, I am sold on the SM100 and would not mind is swapping with my earphones for listening to music. As mentioned, these are cabled headphones and thus there are limitations to its use, especially in this age of small, light and wireless audio solutions.
Verdict
Introduced at a price of Rs. 6490/-, these headphones are actually a steal deal. No, we are not talking about the high-end monitor headphones which also cost a lot of money, but for creators who are beginning and working their way up, can definitely have these as their weapon of choice for audio monitoring solutions. Not to mention the ease of use and comfort that the SM100 offers.
Sony has been on every other person’s wishlist, especially for the WH-1000XM3 ANC headphones. But the fact that those aren’t cheap kept a lot of people from buying that ultimate piece of electronic gadget. But then Sony didn’t disappoint the music lovers and came up with the WH-XB900N headphones which we are going to talk about in just some time. The headphones are considerably cheaper than the elder sibling but are offering some features and tech which sure takes it a notch higher especially music lovers. Now let’s get into the details, shall we?
How Does It Look?
The construction of the Sony XB900N what we would call it here is good but the plastic is lightweight. The first touch does not feel very premium but then, there is more than what meets the eye. The overall weight is 254 grams making easy to carry around. The fir and flexibility are top-notch and the clasp is not too tight, making it comfortable to wear. The ear cups rotate 90-degree, lie flat and fold so you can carry it around in your bag easily. The texture on the headphones feels a bit weird, but it’s actually grippy so you will not end up dropping it off your hands. The memory foam padding is plush and the ears sit very comfortably inside the cups. However, I found them getting warm after extended use, but maybe it’s me nitpicking as I have never been a fan of over-the-ear phones. The padding keeps the isolation at a very high level and you will mostly not listen to most of the ambient sounds clearly after you put it on. The headphones look very stealthy in black. The left cup has two buttons, a power button and a custom button. There is a USB Type-C for charging and a blue LED light for indication, a 3.5 mm jack for using it as a wired headset.
How Does It Perform?
Paring it with my android smartphone was a simple deal. It quickly connects after you press the power switch on. The buttons feel a bit wobbly but are tactile in feedback. It also makes use of NFC to pair to nearby devices. It uses Bluetooth 4.2 but considering 2019, it’s a bit of a bummer. However, this headphone gets advanced codecs like Sony’s LDAC, aptX and aptX HD. You can download the Sony Headphones Connect application to control the amount of ambient noise as well as twenty different noise cancelling levels. The headphone gets noise-cancelling microphones which listen to everything around you. You can also select adaptive sound control and let the headphones adjust the settings on the fly. The app also allows you to have several other settings like in-built equaliser, surround options.
These phones also work with Google Assistant and Amazon Axela. The right earcup has the touch controls which allow you to play, pause, skip songs and rock the volume with just touch of your fingers. Placing your palm on the right earcup dims the volume of the music allowing you to hear in case someone is speaking to you which I feel is an amazing feature and you do not have to take your headphones off each and every time. Sony claims a total of 30 hours of battery life and personally, I have not been able to exhaust the charge in two days with a lot of constant use. You can still use them with the 3.5mm cable if the battery runs dry. These headphones are very bassy and are tailored for bass heads. The mids are quite prominent but the highs let lost, especially with the very punchy bass coming.
Verdict
If you are a bass head, listen to a lot of bass-heavy music, look no further. Great battery life, light-weight and ability to use them while travelling or commuting makes them an impressive buy. However, for a true audiophile, you can look at a lot more different options which however are far more expensive. For everything else, save some money and get the Sony WH-1000XM3 instead and you will be the happiest.
Specifications
Weight – 254 grams
Type – Over the ear with Active Noise Cancellation
The Smartphone industry in India is booming, especially in the budget segment, specifically in the sub Rs. 20,000/- price bracket. This space has been constantly witnessing a lot of contenders and Realme with its competitive products and pricing is making a huge mark in the Indian smartphone market.
The Realme 5-Series are very worthy successors to the Realme 3 Pro and the Realme 3. They offer better hardware and Quad camera setup. I have been using the Realme 5 Pro for a significant amount of time now and in fact, I took it along with me to use it as a primary snapper during my recent motorcycle ride to Ladakh. So how is the Realme 5 Pro in real life and is it worth it to place your money on it? Read on to find out.
First things first, the Realme 5 Pro is aimed truly at the budget buyers who do not wish to spend more than Rs. 20,000/- on buying a smartphone It comes in three variants and prices start from Rs. 13,999 to up to Rs. Rs. 16,999.
Looks, Design and Hardware
Crack the box open and it is all the regular things inside. Of course, you get the Realme 5 Pro smartphone, a TPU case, sim ejector tool, manuals, a 20W VOOC charger and USB Type-C cable. Coming to the phone, it looks very good and the Sparkling Blue colour theme with patterns on the back of the phone makes it look quite premium. Realme calls the back as Holographic Gradient back and whatever the name could be, I am pretty impressed by the design in the back.
The phone is made out of polycarbonate and has a smooth glass finish. The overall footprint of the phone isn’t too large which makes it easy to hold in the hands. The side of the Realme 5 Pro is made of plastic and you can see the ride side which has the power button and the left side houses the volume rocker buttons and the sim-card tray. The buttons are firm and offer good tactile feedback.
The four-camera setup at the back has a slight bump but nothing to worry about as you can use a case which will not allow the camera hump to rub against any surface when placed on its back. The capacitive fingerprint scanner is placed right beside the camera setup making it easier to operate when holding the phone. On the bottom, you get a Type-C charging port, the headphone jack and the single speaker grille. The phone pretty solid in hands and the front is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. There is no IP certification for the Realme 5 Pro but Realme claims splash resistivity.
Now coming to the display, it is a 6.3-inch FHD+ screen with 19:9 screen ratio and over 90 per cent of the screen to body ratio. The phone does have bezels but they are thinner on the sides and slightly bigger at the chin area. The screen is an IPS LCD panel which might seem a bit dull. Turning it on to full brightness shows its vivid nature and warm colours. Reading the screen outdoors is a bit of an issue but Realme had to cut some corners and the display is one of them.
To back the nice physical appearance, the heart of the matter for the Realme 5 Pro is the Snapdragon 712 which is clocked at higher core speed. Paired with it, you get the option of 4GB, 6GB and 8GB of RAM and 64GB or 128 GB of internal storage. What makes the LPDDR4X RAM better is the pairing with the UFS 2.1 storage for faster read-write.
Performance and Camera Quality
During the time I have used the Realme 5 Pro, it was a very good performer with most of the applications and multitasking. It did not face any lags or stutters as it is the case with some budget-oriented smartphones. The ample amount of RAM on the 8GB 128 GB variant made it easy to multitask with most of the things thrown at it. Gaming was a breeze on the Realme 5 Pro and the Game Boost is present to optimize the performance. Titles like PUBG and Asphalt 9 – Legends had no issues or frame drops while playing.
On the OS front, it runs ColorOS 6 which comes with several features just like any other Android-based operating system. However, I would prefer a much cleaner user experience with minimal changes to the original android. I hope smartphone makers think about giving a true android experience or at least optimize their OS to the finest levels to allow a much better experience of using their phones.
Now the most important of the bit is the Quad camera setup. The combination consists of a 48 MP Sony IMX56 sensor, 8-MP ultra-wide, 2 MP Macro camera and 2 MP portrait sensor. On the front is a 16 MP selfie snapper housed within the display notch. The 48 MP primary sensor comes with f/1.8 aperture and uses Pixel binning to produce sharp and vivid 12MP images. The colours seem to be quite accurate and the camera attains focus in very less time. HDR will sort of boost the images, especially the ones in tricky lighting situation. The images are slightly warm and have plenty of details and the quality is up to the mark. The edge detection of the portrait mode is quite accurate as it is able to mask out the background from the subject quite effectively. The 16 Mp front camera does the job it has been hired for and the selfie images and videos seem quite nice out of the camera.
Finally, it is time to look into the power source of the Realme 5 Pro which is a 4035 mAh battery. It is able to deliver a day’s worth of power with all the regular multimedia and app browsing. The cherry on the top is actually the bundled 20W VOOC 3.0 fast charger which charges the phone from zero to full in little more than an hour. At this price point, you have nothing much to nitpick.
Verdict
So, here comes the final question of whether you should buy the Realme 5 Pro or not? Well for this price, it is a good buy, especially the 8 GB RAM variant which is quite snappy with the performance bit. Gaming too is a charm on the Realme 5 Pro but I wish, Realme would have chosen a better display for this one. In case you think you are not convinced, you can always spend some more and get the Realme X or the even better Realme XT.
Are you planning to buy a new smartphone within a specific budget? Lenovo has recently launched three new smartphones which cover a wide spectrum of the price. The Z6 Pro, K10 Note and the A6 Note. However, the K10 Note is placed in a mid-range budget segment. But how does the K10 Note perform in the real world? We have used the K10 Note for more than 10 days now and this is the review of the Lenovo K10 Note.
Look, Design and Hardware
The Lenovo K10 Note comes with a simple and minimalistic design. But do not be fooled as it looks quite elegant and has a great build quality. The body has been constructed from plastic which makes it even more lightweight. Even with a lot of usage, it never felt heavy to hold. The plastic back is prone to getting fingerprints which I personally feel is a tradeoff all smartphone makers so to use the back area for incorporating designs and patterns. You can wipe the back clean with a soft cloth and it should not be a problem. The rear is also the home for the triple camera setup and an LED flash. The fingerprint scanner is placed at the back as we have seen with most of the phones. On the right side, you have the power and the volume rocker keys while the left side houses the sim-card try. The bottom houses the USB Type-C port and the speaker grille and the still beloved 3.5mm headphone port. On the top, you can notice the small port for the secondary microphone. The overall design is simple and it looks quite stylish, especially if you consider its budget tag.
Now turn over the phone to the front, you will come to see the 6.3-inch Full-HD+ LCD display which gets a water drop-shaped notch on the top. It has an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The bezels are quite thin except for the chin area at the bottom. Lenovo has skipped on Corning’s Gorilla Glass to use Panda Class for protection. The screen is quite bright and vibrant and is quite consistent at different viewing angles. Not only this, but the legibility of the screen in bright sunlight was also very good as I had no difficulty in reading whatever was on the screen.
Hardware specifications of the K10 Note include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 SoC which is paired with up to 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. The phone draws its power from a 4050mAh battery which also has support for 18W fast charging. The camera trio consists of a 16 MP primary camera, an 8MP secondary lens which gets 2X optical zoom and a 5 MP depth sensor. The front-facing camera is a 16 MP unit for selfies and video calling.
Now coming to the software of the smartphone, it runs Android 9.0 Pie out of the box. One noticeable factor is that you only have a very little level of customisation leaving with you a pure Android experience. Even with a high amount of multitasking, the phone did not face too many lags or stutters. You can enable gestures on this K10 Note via the 4D U-Touch in the settings menu. The K10 comes with a few additional applications installed but not all of them can be removed.
Performance and Camera Quality
Now moving towards the performance department of the Lenovo K10 Note, it appeared to run very smoothly for the entire duration of use. There was no lag observed while launching multiple applications or while switching between tabs. If you like playing games, you might encounter a bit of heating on continuous gameplay. However games like Asphalt 9: Legends on long session got the phone warm only slightly. The beautiful surprise is the battery life. The 4050mAh battery easily lasts a day of usage including a lot of multimedia content consumption and browsing social media applications, maps etc. The fast charger in the box means the phone could be fully charged in around two hours. Talking about multimedia, the sound output on the K10 Note is pretty impressive considering the fact it features Dolby Atmos and even with a single speaker, the sound output felt adequate. The fingerprint scanner of the K10 is fast and sometimes even faster than the facial recognition.
Now it is time we talk about the camera. The images from the K10 Note produced accurate colours and were evenly exposed with good amount of details. Focusing is not an issue when pointing at faraway objects but when going too close to the subject, it takes a moment to lock focus. In low lighting conditions, the images were decent. Turning the night mode on slightly enhances the images taken in dimly lit situations. The shots taken in the portrait mode worked well however, you cannot adjust adjust the level of blur like you can in some of the other smartphone portraits. The 16 MP selfie camera does a good job of taking selfies.
Final Verdict
For a price of Rs. 13,999/- the Lenovo K10 Note ticks all the boxes for a budget smartphone user. It comes with a bright display, smooth performance and a good battery life. The cameras could have been better but that is me, nitpicking on a budget device. If you are looking to not spend more than 15 thousand on a smartphone and a good software experience, then the Lenovo K10 Note is a very good contender waiting to be picked up.
I am a big fan of motorcycles, especially multi-cylinder engines. A parallel-twin with a 270-degree crank, Oh yes. But then I had the chance to try out an inline four-cylinder engine and it was Japanese. Well, this motorcycles I am talking about seems to have no clear introduction, let me begin with one.Suzuki launched its first middle-weight motorcycle in India in 2018 and they had planned it well as it was the second motorcycle to follow the CKD route after the legendary Hayabusa, which is now assembled in India. Yes, I am talking about the Suzuki GSX S750 which is a street naked middle-weight offering from Suzuki in India. Also known as the ‘Apex Predator’ I am sure for those who have ridden it on a track, can swear by its performance. But how is it to live with it and bring it home and ride it like my daily motorcycle?
Interestingly, Suzuki was quick enough to launch the 2019 edition of the GSX S750 which now gets two more colour scheme options. It was a very brief meeting with the guys in the dealership and I was soon handed the keys of the S750. The blue-black paint job looks stunning I must admit and now, I was about to ride this beauty home. It borrows its looks from its elder sibling the GSX S1000 albeit in a bit more compact manner. Do not be mistaken as it still is a mean-looking big muscular motorcycle with a well-defined front leading up to the tank.
As soon as I swing my leg over it, I immediately felt the 215 kg of kerb weight and feels quite heavy for a naked style motorcycle. Press the starter button and the 749cc inline-four mill comes alive with a hum and I bet I could not get enough of the engine singing. A slight twist of the throttle and I could not believe how smooth the engine is. It has been at the heart of the GSX R750 and makes 114 PS at 10,500rpm and 81 Nm of torque at 9,500rpm and is mated to a slick-shifting 6-speed gearbox. What amazed me is the very linear power delivery and the which is welcome for new riders or those who have upgraded. So I began riding the S750 on a regular basis, 50 percent of city riding and 50 percent of the highway. It allowed me to have a better perspective of what this motorcycle is all about.
What comes into my mind now is the perfectly smooth engine which sings as it idles, pushes it upwards and see the hum turning into a loud wail. What adds to this is the intake howl which certainly makes riding the S750 a more pleasurable thing to do. On highways, you can twist the throttle and the three-level traction control will watch your back if you do not choose to turn it off. ABS will make braking at high speeds a safer deal with the 310mm twin-disc rotors on the front and the single rotor in the rear with Nissin callipers. The console is a small all-digital unit which gives you all the information you need and is clearly readable in all scenarios. The front brake lever is adjustable but the clutch-lever is not, which again brings me to the fact that the clutch pull is slightly heavy, the slipper clutch is missing and you feel it when riding in traffic.
Moving on, the motorcycle is very flickable and all that weight and heft seems to disappear when it gets going. You might feel the weight while moving side to side when around corners but the S750 is sure-footed and very quick to change direction as well. It is very clever of Suzuki to include this ‘Low RPM Assist’ feature which makes the clutch operation smooth, especially in city traffic where the clutch operation is maximum and also avoids stalling of the engine. You can cruise around the speeds of 120-130 and the engine would not be even bothered. Twisting the throttle will soon take you north of 150 km/hr and the lines soon begin to blur. If you switch the traction control off, you can pull off wheelies pretty easily, but on public roads? Not a good idea.
The engine sits between a twin-spar frame and everything is suspended off the ground with 41mm USD KYB forks and a link-type mono-shock at the rear, all of which come with preload adjustability. The build quality on this motorcycle is very good and the fit and finish levels are impressive. The switchgear on both sides feels very premium and sturdy. Coming to the point of efficiency, it gets a 16-litre fuel tank and in the time I was riding it, I got a consistent mileage of 16 km/l in the city and around 18km/l on the highway rides. It does heat in the traffic but the heat didn’t bother me much. Overall, the Apex Predator is a good motorcycle to live with on a daily basis and those weekend highway blasts.
Now ask me if this an affordable deal? Yes, I believe it is. It has an ex-showroom price starting at Rs. 7.45 lakhs. Sure you do not get a host of electronics, LED lighting and more of those bells and whistles. What it gives you though is a very agile motorcycle, a super-refined engine and pure riding pleasure without much intervention. Overall, it is a well-balanced naked motorcycle which follows Suzuki’s GSX line and keeps the agile DNA intact. I cannot wait to ride it again.
