Very few people might have heard about Artificial Intelligence (AI) in TVs, and now almost every budget smartphone has AI in it. The beauty of technology is that as time passes by they start becoming accessible to the common man. Last year LG’s ThinQ was India’s first AI TV that offered an interactive experience and enabled the user to control the different functions in their TV. However, the changes after one year aren’t that significant. We find out precisely how good these new updates are which are carried forward into this year. Are they really magnificent?
How Does It Look?
The emphasis on developing the Nano Cell technology has been huge also keeping in mind that there is no compromise on the TV’s aesthetics. For a 65-inch TV, its wide viewing angles deliver pretty accurate picture quality and the fact that it has Nano bezel further elevates its viewing experience. It also comes with a Bluetooth based Magic Motion Remote that will make you lazier than ever. You can operate it from almost all possible angles and can even speak in it to control different AI-enabled functions. This function is truly tailor-made for individuals who like to get their hands dirty in the kitchen and at the same time watch its recipe on the big TV.
How Does It Perform?
LG’s ThinQ technology enables the user to give voice commands to control your AI-enabled home appliances. LG with the 2nd Gen α (Alpha) 7 processor does a magnificent job in delivering crisp videos with the right amount of clarity and sharpness. It was really difficult to notice any sort of difference when the AI was switched on for video and sound. The difference was barely recognizable. Nevertheless, there are a lot of features like the HDMI 2.1 port which delivered superb response time while gaming along with the in-built Dolby Atmos surround sound gave us an exhilarating experience. The easy access to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video with just a click of a button on the Magic Remote made life easier if I wanted to quickly switch on streaming videos from YouTube or Cable. One more cool feature that impressed me was the TV’s ability to simultaneously show your mobile’s content with your Football match happening in the background. You will never miss a goal!
Verdict
The price is on the steep side, but when you are asking for top-notch features on a TV, you will have to break the bank! Having said that, you will not be disappointed with LG’s Nano Cell technology and the clarity it offers. This Ultra 4K OLED TV from LG will surely be a worthy add-on to your AI smart home appliances.
Specifications
65-inch Ultra HD(4K)
Resolution 3840 x 2160
α (Alpha) 7 Gen 2 Intelligent Processor
Features
2.2 Ch Speaker with 40W Speaker output
webOS Smart TV operating system
AI ThinQ™ with Built-in Google Assistant & Alexa
Cloudwalker’s smart screen has plenty of aspects that you could ask for from a leading home entertainment 4K smart screen – crystal clear visuals, an easy-to-use interface in the form of Cloud TV based on (Android Open Source Project) AOSP. The ultra-slim bezel design gives it a premium look along maximizing the display area. It comes in multiple screen sizes, from 43-inch to 65-inches. It has two mid-range ten-watt speakers on the rear that gives a total output of 20 watts which is quite adequate. For better audio, you should get a good pair of speakers. The Cloudwalker smart screen offers two USBs, and one USB port is allocated by Wireless keyboard and mouse which comes along with the smart screen. It also includes 3 x HDMI ports, an RF antenna input for cable TV, RCA input for standard setup box and an ethernet port for wired internet. As expected, the smart screen comes with a remote control that has a lot of buttons and feels a little cluttered.
How Does It Perform?
Talking about performance, the main feature the consumers look at a smart screen is the picture quality of television. Running at 4K UHD resolutions, pictures look bright, sharp and appealing. The viewing angles on the Cloudwalker smart screen is excellent, and a vast improvement from previous TV’s. The colour reproduction on this panel is great. If you’re primarily viewing high-quality HD content, like on Youtube, the smart screen runs the content smoothly without any issues. If you can get your hands on some 4K content, the smart screen can play content without any lags. In case of any non-4K video formats, the smart screen automatically upscales to match the panel providing content without getting pixelated. The interface of the smart screen is simple and based on Content Discovery Engine(CDE), which offers your favourite entertainment from popular content providers like Hotstar, Zee5 and YouTube. It also has a unique “Personal Computer mode” giving a Desktop style user interface which mimics the Windows operating system. I tried using this smart screen as my desktop replacement, to be frank, the big display stresses your eyes when working on it for a more extended period. The Cloudwalker smart screen also comes well equipped with most of the latest streaming 4K content options like Netflix, Hotstar and others. There are millions of other apps and games available at Aptoide, an alternative to Playstore explicitly designed for this TV interface.
Verdict
For Rs. 49,990, the Cloudwalker 655UA7 is a premium smart screen with a 4K HDR 10 panel, 20W speaker and based on AOSP. Moreover, the smart screen even includes a wireless keyboard and mouse, making the deal sweeter. There are a few shortcomings but can be easily overlooked considering the price tag.
Japanese technology giant, Panasonic has been one of the most well-recognised brands in the Indian consumer electronic space and has been known to stay ahead of the game by introducing timely innovations in their product range. The mercury levels in our country can soar upto 50 degrees during peak summer and Air conditioners are more of a necessity now than luxury. To tackle the same, air-conditioning space in the Indian market has been evolving constantly with newage additions like Inverter tech coming into play.
First Impressions
The 1.5 tonne unit came in two separate packaging- one for the indoor unit and one for the outdoor unit. The installation team reached my place within 30 minutes of the Air conditioner being delivered. The installation took around an hour and Panasonic’s trained engineer explained me the basic functionality of the AC. I asked him a couple of questions about the Inverter technology and he explained me most of it perfectly. The unit shared with me is a 1.5-ton variant( Inverter AC U18UKY) which comes with Inverter technology and a 5 star BEE rating which ensures that you get the best of cooling without consuming a lot of electricity.
What’s Interesting
The interesting bits include the new-age tech features that this split AC comes with. It gets Nanoe-G which is Panasonic patente, air purification system. What it does is basically removes the PM2.5 and other pollutants from the air using a threestage purification process: Firstly, the PM2.5 filter removes airborne particles that are smaller than 2.5 Micrometres.Then, the Catechin filter coated with tea leaf extracts deactivates bacteria up to 90% and removes bad odours. And lastly, the PM2.5 Active Filtration where Nanoe-G unit releases 3 trillion nanoe negative ions deactivate most of PM2.5 and airborne particles such as bacteria, viruses and mold. Along with removing air-borne particles, it also works on microorganisms on surfaces such as fabrics, furniture, etc.
Panasonic also claims that it’s i Auto-X feature provides 35% faster cooling at start-up and helps you save upto 65 percent of electricity along with the smart inverter. Well, the area where the air conditioner has been installed at the moment is approximately 160 sq. ft and still the entire area gets perfectly cool in about 15 minutes! Also, my house is on the top floor of 4 storey building which is very close to the sea and tends to get heated up pretty quickly due to direct sunlight and huge windows. However, all of that is of no worry for this beast as it has been working pretty effectively! Another noteworthy bit is that the AC has a Quiet mode which reduces the fan speed and you can hardly hear any noise from both-the indoor and the outdoor unit.
Price: ₹ 66,900 Rating: 90/100
What is Inverter technology?
The Inverter technology is the latest evolution of technology concerning the electro motors of the compressors. An Inverter is used to control the speed of the compressor motor, so as to continuously regulate the temperature. A microcontroller can sample each ambient air temperature and adjust accordingly the speed of the compressor. The inverter air conditioning units have increased efficiency in contraction to traditional air conditioners, extended life of their parts and the sharp fluctuations in the load are eliminated. The inverter AC units might be more expensive than the constant speed air conditioners, but this is balanced by lower energy bills.
Verdict
The Panasonic Aero Series looks good, works like a charm and will ease up on the electricity bills as well, thanks to the inverter technology! What else can you ask for?
It’s just been a few days since Apple have unveiled their new products and applications meant for their existing and upcoming devices as well. The most interesting product unveiled at the WWDC has to be the new Mac Pro, the most expensive offering starting at $5,999. Not only this, but Apple also launched the Pro Display XDR which starts at $4,999. The Mac Pro is by far the most powerful computer that Apple is offering now and it is purely meant for high-end processing and content creation for creators. For the ease of mobility, people prefer laptops as they are now smaller, thinner, lighter and more powerful. Apple has its MacBook lineup and since its inception, it has been a choice of millions of users all over the globe. Not too long ago when Apple went ahead and redesigned the MacBook Pro with an added touch bar, which also took its prices higher up. This calls for real alternatives which can be used if you are not looking to go into the Apple bandwagon or simply do not want to break a bank for the purchase of an Apple product. Any alternative to the Mac OS will definitely be Windows. And with the arrival of the Microsoft Windows 10, the overall computing experience on windows has increased several folds. We look at some of the best windows laptops which could be better alternatives than the Macbook.
Dell Xps
The Dell XPS is available in two different screen sizes, 13-inch and 15-inch. The Dell XPS is a very able MacBook alternative for those who want a powerful able laptop for their heavy usage. The Dell XPS looks amazing, is very compact and lightweight, with a long lasting battery increasing your productivity. There is an affordable entry-level XPS 13 which you can opt for and the price is something which is lower than Apple’s entry-level MacBook. You will get the latest Intel 8th generation of Intel processors and a display that looks amazing. The bezels are super thin and also have the option of a 4K display.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 is one of the best offerings from Microsoft. This is the reason it becomes a great alternative for a MacBook. The Surface Laptop is in its second generation and it has been very well received by users from its initial days. The Microsoft Surface 2 laptop is a well-designed piece of technology with very sharp looks. It comes in a few colour options as well and is affordable when you compare it with the latest generations of the MacBook It’s a well designed, sharp-looking laptop that’s available in a lot of colours and it’s incredibly affordable compared to a MacBook Pro. Not only this Microsoft also offers several discounts, especially for students which makes it one affordable option for students, but especially those who create content and media. You get the latest 8th generation of Intel processors and RAM up to 16GB and up to 1TB of SSD storage. Additionally, the display looks great and the laptop has a whopping 14.5 hours of battery life. Asus Zenbook Pro 15 The Asus Zenbook Pro is what we can call very close to the MacBook and its most interesting piece of hardware is actually the screen which is a 100 per cent Adobe RGB 4K display with amazing colour accuracy. The screen also has a higher pixel density than the Retina display on the MacBook and also gets dedicated graphics support. The performance of the Zenbook Pro 15 is nothing short of amazing, it is better not to compare it directly with a MacBook. However, the battery life on the Zenbook Pro 15 is a bit of concern. The touchpad is replaced with a working screen which also allows several functions.
Lenovo Thinkpad X1
Carbon Lenovo has had the Thinkpad series for a few years now but if there is one Thinkpad which could be one of the best alternates for a MacBook. The Thinkpad X1 Carbon comes with a very tactile and amazing keyboard and is designed to be loaded work. The laptop is very thin and light and comes in a stealth black colour. The screen is great and there is plenty of power for all the tasks most users would need. Along with a 13-inch form factor, the screen supports HDR adding to the viewing experience. Lenovo has included all necessary ports for connectivity and also comes with Alexa controls built-in.
Hp Spectre X360
The HP Spectre X360 comes with a screen which swivels 360 degrees and also supports a stylus. There is an option of a 4K touchscreen display too. It is offered with both Core i5 and i7 8thprocessors. Its design is something unique with chamfered edges which look neat and add to the overall appeal. The Spectre X360 comes with an assurance of 13.5 hours of battery life. What makes this laptop even more desirable is the attractive entry-level price point considering you do not want to invest buying a MacBook. Furthermore, you get a lot of customisation options if you need to extract more out of the X360. The X360 is accompanied by a stylus.
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.
First of all, the Galaxy A50s looks similar to the existing Samsung’s mid-range design lineup. The Galaxy A50s also features a glossy and reflective coating that produce hues of different colours. It is even tweaked to include a prism-like design which only accentuates the reflective colours. But due to the glass back, it also attracts fingerprint and we recommend a back case as the phone is a bit slippery. Holding it in hands, the 166 grams Galaxy A50s doesn’t feel heavy and you can easily get used to it. On the front, the 6.4-inch full HD+ display is just amazing, thanks to Samsung’s Super AMOLED panel which produce crisp images. The display is visible under direct sunlight and sAMOLED display are good for power management. There is a tiny notch which Samsung calls it Infinity-U that where the front camera is placed.
HOW DOES IT PERFORM?
The Galaxy A50s is powered by Exynos 9611 processor along with 6GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage. Using this device for a few weeks, we didn’t notice any lag and stutters even for a single time, but it does get warm while playing games like Asphalt 9 and PUBG at high-graphic settings. Samsung runs it’s own One UI based on Android 9 Pie operating system. The One UI features a lot of additional functionalities like themes, UI customization and many more. The Galaxy A50s also comes with an on-screen optical fingerprint sensor. However, the Galaxy A50s fingerprint sensor was the slowest smartphones I ever encountered.
HOW IS THE CAMERA?
The Galaxy A50s feature triple camera setup. The main camera sensor is a 48-megapixel that comes along with an 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and 5-megapixel depth sensor. The main sensor captures in 12-megapixel mode, where four adjoining pixels are clubbed as one, but you may also shoot in full 48-megapixel resolution using the pro mode or changing camera settings. The 48MP shots aren’t as crisp though, so you’d be better off with 12MP images. There is a depth sensor which helps in capturing pro mode. The ultra-wide camera offers wide coverage of the 120-degree field of view. It does capture some good shots, but the lens doesn’t support tap to focus. On the front, it features 32-megapixel camera sensor. It takes decent pictures in a bright environment but struggles in low light.
VERDICT
Samsung Galaxy A50s is a fairly good effort by smartphone manufacturer in a segment that is highly competitive. The performance is flawless including gaming. However, we weren’t impressed with the slow fingerprint sensor. Those who love shooting pictures, they are likely to find the device valuable.
