Samsung did begin the year 2020 with the launch of their flagship Galaxy S20 series, but with the ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19, it seems likely that a lot of launches will have to wait until the dust settles everywhere.
Build and Design
The Galaxy S20+ has a refined design when compared to its predecessor. The smartphone now comes with thinner bezels and the glass curves onto the edges of the display. The phone has a glass back held together with an aluminium frame.
The glossy finish on the phone means it does feel slippery in the hands and also attracts a lot of fingerprints and smudges. It weighs around 186 grams but does not feel heavy in the hands.
The display on the S20+ is a 6.7-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel which also supports HDR 10+ and a refresh rate of 120Hz. You can choose between QHD+ resolution which will bring down the refresh rate to 60Hz. The 120Hz refresh works only at Full HD resolution.
The display has a centre-mounted punch-hole for the selfie camera which does not really bother you. On the right, you have the volume and power buttons and the left has the dedicated Bixby button.
The sim-tray is at the top while at the bottom you have the USB-C type charging port and the speaker. You can also choose to expand the memory on the device with a micro-sd card. The main camera setup at the back looks very similar to Samsung’s A-series smartphones.
Having said that, the Galaxy S20+ feels very premium when you are holding it. In the box, you get a 25W fast charger, Type-C to Type-C charging cable, protective case and an AKG-branded headset
Performance
The Samsung S 20 Plus sold here in India only comes with 4G support and only one configuration. It is powered by an Exynos 990 processor paired with 8Gb of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. Samsung has used LPDDR5 memory on the S20+ which promises higher data rates and low power consumption.
Performance of the Galaxy S20+ is rock solid. The 120 Hz refresh rate makes it really smooth and fluid to scroll around. There is no lag or stutter when running heavy applications and also while gaming.
Heavy titles like PUBG, Call Of Duty and Asphalts 9 Legends could be run at maximum settings without any hiccups. The phone does get hot during the extreme gaming sessions but is nothing that one cannot handle.
The display is top-notch and the colours are rich and saturated while the screen brightness is adequate. With the slimmer bezels, watching content is a delight on this display.
Samsung has given the S20+ an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner which is surprisingly fast. You also have the option of choosing face recognition for unlocking the device.
Battery life on the S20+ is pretty solid and the 4500mAh battery means it will deliver a full day of usage. The 25W charger will charge the device to 100% in about an hour. It also supports Wireless PowerShare or reverse wireless charging, which can be used to charge accessories such as the Galaxy Buds+.
Finally, the Samsung S 20 Plus has a new camera setup with two of the highlight features being 8K video recording and up to 30x hybrid zoom. The primary sensor has a 12-megapixel resolution with Dual Pixel autofocus, an f/1.8 aperture, and OIS, but the pixel size is now 1.8 microns. The ultra-wide-angle camera also uses a 12-megapixel sensor and f/2.2 aperture, and no autofocus.
The telephoto camera is a 64-megapixel sensor without OIS. The selfie camera is a 10-megapixel with Dual Pixel AF and f/2.2 aperture. Images from the S20+ have been no less than amazing with sharpness, contrast and true to scene colours while the front camera does a good job of taking selfies.
Verdict
For a price of Rs. 73,999, you get a lot of capable hardware. While the price clearly indicates its premium segment. With great performance, great cameras and good battery life, money spent on the Galaxy S20+ is money well spent.
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.
The Samsung Gear S3 is larger than the Gear S2, this a smartwatch that is actually a little bit hard to recommend for people with smaller wrist, but we can recommend Gear S3 Classic instead. However, this 46mm body casing is one of the best looking smartwatches in the market right now.
Gear S3 is made out of 316L grade stainless steel construction that’s backs by an IP certification and military grade protection. The watch itself could be submerged up to 1.5 metres in the water for 30 minutes, thanks to its IP68 rating making it dust and water-resistant.
To add more ruggedization, the Gear S3 comes with the 22mm active silicon band that can be easily changed. Now for some, this watch could be a little manly with it’s 12.19 mm thickness but personally, I have no problems with a more bold looking watch. There are two buttons on the right side which help to navigate among the screens and the various apps that can be installed via The Samsung Gear App. The rotating bezel makes it a breeze to scroll down to larger blocks of text or even some pictures that come through a messenger like hangouts. There is a tiny little microphone below the button that you speak into during phone calls which I personally think is the optimal placement if you happened to wear your watch on your left hand. On the left, there is a built-in speaker that let you listen to the music and taking a phone call.
Moving around the interface can be done with a full touchscreen, however, the Gear S3 takes navigation to whole new level with rotating clicky bezel that requires very little effort to rotate it and scroll accurately and wonderfully through all the different elements. It provides one of the most unique and best tactile experiences than any smart wearables available today. The Gear S3 frontier edition which we are writing a review is actually able to fit in with formal, casual and fitness attire.
The 1.3-inch AMOLED display is covered in gorilla glass SR+ and provides great colors and brightness that I’ve encountered on a smartwatch. Turning ON the always-on display toggle allows for the selected watchface to a darker and the less busy version when the watches is in standby, this does cut into the battery life a little bit but not so much thanks to the AMOLED screen.
On the sensor front, the new altimeter and speedometer are joined again by the accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, heart rate monitor and ambient light sensor.
How Does It Perform
The Samsung Gear S3 packs Tizen operating system which has grown since the Gear S2 and now there are a lot of applications available in the Gear manager mobile app. The Exynos 7270 processor powers the device, supported by 768MB of RAM and 4GB of on-board storage so you can put some music on the watch itself and use Bluetooth headsets in order to listen to it locally. Behind the Corning Gorilla Glass, you’ll find Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi b/g/n, NFC and GPS for connectivity.
The Gear S3 frontier has a 380 mAh battery that can go up to two days but with the rigorous usage, you can get only a day. The included wireless charger is magnetic, making it easy to dock the watch. Setting up the Gear S3 and Gear manager properly allows for syncing of notifications between the two devices via Bluetooth or WiFi.
Ratings: 85/100
Priced: ₹ 28,500/-
❝ Vivid Display And Powerful Performance Without Compromising Battery Life Makes It One Of The Best Smartwatch Available In The Market. ❞
The Samsung Gear S3 Frontier undoubtedly is Samsung’s best performance smartwatch. The most of it goes to the great display and a unique rotating bezel. The Gear S3 manages to be decent at basically every role such as notification, call functionality, tracking health statistics and much more. Samsung really managed to pack a bulk of features that works well enough and making it one of the best enjoyable smartwatch experiences till date.
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.
So let’s start with the thing most people are going to notice about the EOS R when they pick it up – Build and Design. It has a very light and compact form factor, smaller than the 5D range of DSLR cameras. The physical dimensions of the camera feel a little bit small from my big hands, but thanks to the large grip, it feels like you’re never going to drop the camera, even in slippery and wet conditions. The new RF mount is wide and the distance between the mount and the image sensor is just 20mm. This gives Canon to build better lenses that let in over 100% more light compared to Canon mount body. Unlike some other mirrorless cameras, removing the lens didn’t expose the sensor.
The EOS R launched with four RF lenses, but that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with just those lens. You can attach Canon EF full-frame or APS-C EF-S lenses on the EOS with three new adapters with no loss in quality.
Performance
The Canon EOS R has a 30-megapixel full-frame sensor with 5655 focus points covering 88% of the frame horizontally and 100% of the frame vertically. This means while you have good control over your AF area placement, adjusting it is a very slow controlling with keys. But we’re very much impressed with the autofocus, thanks to the Dual Pixel technology. The main benefit of Dual Pixel CMOS AF is that it quickly speeds up focus when the camera is being operated in live-view mode. Canon EOS R supports 4K video recording. But, the 4K video is crushed by a 1.8x crop factor which means it can’t take the full advantage of the full frame sensor. On top of that, it lacks in-body stabilization, putting it at a disadvantage to rival models from Nikon and Sony. Being a mirrorless camera means the EOS R is all digital, so there is no optical finder. Instead, it has a built-in electronic viewfinder offering a high-resolution view with no lag issues. The display can flip to the front, making it ideal for selfie lovers or for vlogging. The Canon EOS R uses a custom LP-E6N rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a dedicated battery charger. It also has a USB-C port and can charge the battery over it. It doesn’t work with all chargers, Canon recommended to use its own original charger.
Specs
30.3 Megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor.
Dual Pixel CMOS AF with 5,655 manually selectable AF points.
DIGIC 8 image processor.
Built-in EVF with 3.69 million dots.
Vari-Angle Touchscreen LCD and dot-matrix LCD panel.
Single memory card slot that supports UHS-II media.
“ It Literally Felt Like Playing On A High-end Desktop Gaming Machine, Despite Being A Portable Machine. ”
Design
MSI GT75 Titan 8RG is the God Father of all gaming laptop. It has a gorgeous design, monstrous size built and sturdy body material. Although it exceeds the gaming laptop in weight with 4.56kg, it does offer heavy specs including 8th generation processor along with powerful GTX 1080 graphics card. It also provides five USB 3.0 ports including one Type-C port, multi-card reader, Ethernet, HDMI port and Mini-DisplayPort. It has one switch to turn on the powerful fan and another to change the colour of the backlit mechanical keyboard which is aesthetically appealing. Even the MSI logo branding on the back lights up as the dragon awakens from its sleep. Talking about the display, it comes with full HD 17.3-inch full HD display that offers 120Hz refresh rate, which means the display is best suited for gaming. By the looks and weight alone, it feels like a hybrid of a Laptop and Desktop.
Performance
MSI GT75 Titan 8RG is a monster that packs an Intel latest 8th generation Core i7-8750H processor, 32GB DDR4 RAM and Nvidia GTX 1080 graphics card. This laptop comes with 512GB M.2 SSD to run Windows 10 OS and 1TB 2.5-inch HDD for storage. We tried running GTA 5, Battlefield 4, The Division and Just Cause 3 on it and the performance was smooth and lag free. It felt like playing on a high-end desktop gaming machine, despite being a portable device. This high-performance gaming laptop will get you an average of 60fps on ultra settings. Though the laptop heats up quickly while playing graphics intensive games, but it can be cooled down easily as it provides the exhaust fan that ventilates the heat outside automatically with just the touch of a button. MSI offers Cooler Boost Titan technology offers 30 per cent more airflow at same RPM.
Specs :
Intel Core i7 – 8750H
32GB DDR4 RAM
NVIDIA GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5x
512GB M.2 SSD & 1TB HDD
17.3-inch full HD Display with 120Hz
Rapid Mechanical keyboard by SteelSeries
Price: ₹ 2,99,999
Rating: 85/100
Pair it up with
Rapoo V600
Verdict
Overall, the MSI GT75 Titan 8RG is an excellent machine. It is best suited for pro gamers who are looking for the best gaming laptop. Is this worth the price? Honestly, the answer depends on your needs. If gaming is your passion, then this machine is a perfect solution for your needs.
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.
