Tag: Tech Magazine

OnePlus 10R-R stands for rapid charging or rebranded?

It doesn’t look like a OnePlus phone!

The OnePlus 10R feels like it was rebranded, and maybe that’s true. The new age, flat edge design looks neat, but the sharp design with more contemporary looks does feel a stark departure from the traditional curved configurations of the past from OnePlus. It feels relatively lightweight for a 6.7-inch display phone with plastic sides and back along with Gorilla Glass 5 protection up front, weighing 186gms. Buttons are tactile, and the overall sharp edge feels like a love or hate situation. Available in two colours – Forest Green and Sierra Black, we test the latter but opine the former as a choice. 

Top-tier hardware but lacklustre software  

Our unit features a mind-blowing 160W charger inside the box and a 4500mAh battery. This device’s highlight must be that insane combination of blazing-fast 150W SuperVOOC charging. The phone juices up in less than 10 mins when it comes to charging up to 70+% and thus eliminates charge anxiety in a weird way. A full charge comes in less than 18 minutes, which is mighty impressive. The phone is no slouch either, with Dimensity 8100 Max (custom SOC), 12GB RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1, an in-display fast fingerprint sensor and relatively long-lasting battery life. 

The AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate feels fast, but the Oxygen OS 12.1 is based on Android 12. Yes, the usual customisations, simplicity, and speed prevail, but there are glitches, and we faced quite a few. For instance, the YouTube app would randomly hang and display over all other apps, including system UI. A long press on the power button triggered the power menu but was not accessible thanks to YouTube recommendations scrolling endlessly on display. This also happened with other apps like GPay and thus was not limited by one app misbehaving. 

We did receive two updates during our usage with the phone, but none seemed stable. That said, the hardware and the triple-camera setup are an excellent package. The 50MP primary shooter with f/1.8 and OIS can capture good images and videos even in low light. The 8MP ultrawide manages to match colours, and FOV is quite broad. There’s a 2MP macro shooter lacking details, but weirdly enough, all the rear sensors are capable of shooting in 4K! The front 16MP camera with f/2.4 is wide and clear but can only do EIS 1080p recordings. Mics and connectivity are spot-on, and there were no issues. There is dual-SIM 5G support, with no spectrum to test. 

The phone was stable after four non-stop battle-royale games, which was undoubtedly impressive with an astounding 720Hz touch-sampling rate. None of the games supports 90fps yet, but they all easily ran at their max settings. WiFi 6 support is icing on a rather tasty yet simple-looking cake. All OTT apps support FHD resolution and HDR10+ content. 

A sleeper phone?

The OnePlus 10R blazed through our tests only to get stuck on any random app requiring a soft reboot. The phone is not only capable of handling this generation of usage but charges faster than most of our bath times. As much as we loved it, we do not wish random software glitches on anyone. If the software experience improves with OTA updates, and you can look past the relatively simple generic look of the OnePlus 10R, it is a great all-around phone. 

Good – Insanely fast charging, good hardware

Bad – Generic looks 

Ugly – Software glitches

3.5/5

Processor – Dimensity 8100 Max

RAM – 12GB + UFS expandable 

ROM – UFS 3.1 256GB

Charge – SuperVOOC 150W Charging

Charge time – 0-100% – 18 Mins

Touch sampling rate – 720Hz

Display – 6.7-inch AMOLED 120Hz 

Cameras – Rear – 50MP OIS, 8MP Ultrawide, 2MP Macro, 16MP front camera

Enabling the Smartphone Future

The global pandemic has triggered digitization at an unprecedented rate in India, with the country becoming a leading mobile-first consumer economy1. As smartphone prices cease to be prohibitive, the smartphone user base is expected to reach 829 million in 2022, accounting for 60% of the population, which will represent 38% of all networked devices in India this year2. Today, India ranks second in the world for the number of smartphone users.6 

Smartphones are playing a pivotal role in bridging the divide between urban and rural India and improving digital literacy- they are offering access to education, healthcare, banking, and other vital services. In fact, during the most severe lockdowns, smartphones and internet access were central to keeping children connected and educated, especially in rural and remote parts of the country.  People are turning to their phones both for enrichment as well as entertainment. 

The Photographer in Us

Smartphones have dramatically changed our lifestyles and have become our go-to devices. People in India spend around five hours a day on these devices on average, and are one of the world’s highest data consumers per day—even surpassing China3. After all, digital natives turn to smartphones for work, play, and nurturing hobbies. Phone cameras offer rich 4K resolution today, and several new devices bring 8K video recording. These innovations have turned many people into amateur photographers and content creators, capturing and documenting our lives. However, at the same time, this means that unless we have the right level of storage, we have to make the debilitating decision of deleting our memories in order to create new ones. 

Today, dedicated storage devices are developed especially for mobile content creators, such as SanDisk® Dual Drives, which can be used to enhance mobile storage by up to 1TB5 and offer ease of moving content between various compatible devices. Moreover, dedicated storage is available both for AndroidTM and iOS devices. This simple plug-and-play device allows us to continue the pursuit of the best picture and capture our precious moments without worrying about the lack of storage space. Other options are available too, such as microSDTM cards and external SSDs, that offer phenomenal transfer speed and can be plugged directly into smartphones that feature a card slot.

1 InMobi’s Annual Mobile Marketing Handbook 2021

2 https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/m/en_us/solutions/service-provider/vni-forecast-highlights/pdf/India_Device_Growth_Traffic_Profiles.pdf

3https://www.nokia.com/about-us/company/worldwide-presence/india/mbit-index-2021/

4 https://go.inmobi.com/gaming-report-2021-india/

5 Add footnote: 1TB = 1 trillion bytes. Actual user storage less

6 https://newzoohq.medium.com/the-india-opportunity-tapping-into-one-tenth-of-the-worlds-gamers-3d9248f6fea9

Booming Mobile Gaming 

Thanks to the smartphone penetration in the country, mobile gaming has also become a mass phenomenon and is competing with other popular entertainment categories, such as short-form video, streaming services, and social networks for user attention. With one out of ten gamers across the globe being in India, it is the fifth-largest mobile gaming market globally4. Even an entry-level smartphone today comes packed with more power and features. As a result, affordable yet powerful smartphones are one of the critical enablers of this massive boom in mobile gaming. Additionally, easy access to various game titles has also aided the popularity of mobile gaming. For example, many casual games are ‘Pick Up and Play’, usually available as a free download and monetized by ads. These also attract casual gamers looking for no-obligation games to pass the time. 

Hardcore gamers can easily access the games of their choice from almost unlimited title options and play immersive multiplayer games, which are gaining traction. While immersive and graphically taxing titles are becoming popular, these take up a lot of space on the device, which can hamper the gameplay in the absence of the right storage. The storage should be designed to avoid the lagging graphics that can slow the game down. For example, the microSDTM card, in addition to offering ample space, should also offer high-performance speeds to support demanding game graphics and 4K ultra-HD video. 

Smartphones have changed our world and have become a crucial part of our lives. However, these devices will become inhibited without storage.  

iPhone 14 to get the biggest front-facing camera hardware upgrade in years?

The upcoming iPhone 14 has gathered the world’s attention with its leaked refreshing new design on the front, although there is not much to be expected of the back. Apple is finally moving on from its longstanding notched display design, at least for the highest-end Pro variants. 

However, recent leaks and developments have revealed what to expect on the inside of this new ‘i’ shaped design. Earlier in the year, the new iPhones were reported to be getting major camera improvements on the front and back modules. These reports are now further corroborated by reliable supply chain insider Ming-Chi Kuo, who states that Apple has gathered all of its suppliers for the new line-up of iPhones. Long story short, Apple has completely omitted Chinese camera manufacturers from their supply chain due to substandard quality by their metrics.

According to Kuo, the new front camera technology will be a massive leap from the previous generations, seeing the new specifications. First, Kuo predicts that the new front-facing shooters will finally ship with auto-focus, which was unavailable on the fixed-focus cameras used today. This will improve sharpness in photos and videos and low-light performance for the less well-lit situations. 

The new module will also sport a 5-element lens versus the current 4-element arrangement, which would improve sharpness and clarity in photos and videos. Furthermore, the aperture will be wider, at f/1.9, compared to the f/2.2 aperture on the last three generations of iPhone. 

Latest leaks and rumours on the iPhone 14

The Pro line-up for the 2022 range of iPhones has previously been tipped to finally move on from the 12-megapixel efforts on iPhones since the iPhone X to a 48-megapixel shooter, enabling the iPhone to finally shoot 8k video, keeping up with its modern Android rivals.

 

Contrary to the existing line-up of phones: iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max, the new range seems to be ditching the mini completely, in favour of a non-pro Max variant, i.e. the iPhone 14 Max, sporting the same tech as the vanilla 14, but with a larger size due to the disappointing outcomes of the 13 mini. 

Some not-so-great news is that the vanilla 14 models (14 and 14 Max) will feature not the new and upcoming A16 but the existing A15 bionic SoC at the helm of the current generation of flagship iPhones, along with the iPhone SE and iPad mini. As powerful as the A15 is, it would be slightly upsetting to see the last generation SoC for a second year running. 

 

Everything new in iPadOS 16

The iPad, iPad mini, and iPad Pro are Apple’s three iPad product lines. For tech products to thrive in the market, updates and changes are very important. Apple has done precisely that. 

In the recent update, Apple Inc. introduced an entirely new multitasking experience with the Stage manager and full external display support, bringing in new ways to collaborate via the Messages app, significant updates to Mail and Safari, new apps and more. 

Updates to Messages

The Messages application now has new capabilities that make it simple to collaborate and manage shared material across Apple-based applications like Files, Keynote, Pages, Notes, Reminders, Safari and other third-party applications. The document, spreadsheet, or project is automatically shared with all the members of the thread/group when users submit a collaboration invitation via Messages. Everyone will also be able to see live updates to a shared file right at the top of the Messages thread when someone modifies. 

In addition to the improved collaboration, messages will also allow users to have a better messaging experience by enabling users to edit sent messages and recover recently deleted messages. 

New Application: Freeform

Apple is introducing a collaboration application called Freeform during the iPadOS 16 updates. With this application, you can view, share, and collaborate all in one location without worrying about layouts or page sizes. Coming to iPadOS 16 later this year, Freeform will permit users to view others’ contributions as they add content or make edits while enjoying a real-time collaboration space by starting FaceTime sessions and getting updates from others on Messages. 

New Application: Weather

In the new update, the long-awaited weather app is being added to the iPad. Users may access essential weather information with only a swipe or browse maps to check precipitation, air quality, and temperature. Users will also receive notifications when a severe weather alert is issued in their location and monitor the air quality using a colour-coded scale. 

Updates to ‘Live text’ and ‘Visual look up.’

Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Live Text identifies text in photos. This functionality has been extended to videos, allowing the reader to interact with stopped video frames. Users can now use this feature to convert currencies, translate different languages, or copy the text in a live video!

Updates to Safari & Mail

Shared Tab Groups allow users to collaborate on a set of tabs with friends and see updates instantly while they work together, share tabs and bookmarks, and start a conversation right from Safari. 

Passkeys, a quicker and safer sign-in technique meant to replace passwords on the web and in applications, make browsing in Safari even more secure. Passkeys are stored on the iPad and are unique to the sites they were created for. Hackers can’t leak passkeys or fool users into providing them since they’re special digital keys that stay on the device and are never saved on a web server.

Mail introduces new smart tools; some are options to cancel the delivery of a message before it reaches a recipient’s inbox, schedule emails to be sent at the perfect moment and more. 

New Feature: Powerful Multitasking

Stage Manager is a brand-new multitasking experience that organises programmes and windows for you, making switching between jobs a breeze. Users may now construct overlapping windows of various sizes in a single view, drag and drop windows from the side, or start applications from the Dock to build groups of apps for quicker, more flexible multitasking on the iPad for the first time.

Final Conclusion

These are the most significant updates coming to the new iPadOS 16. These changes will positively impact the user experience of iPads because additional features for multitasking were much needed, which now have been implemented to the iPadOS.

Optoma GT1080HDR DLP Projector – An Ambiguously Pleasing 4K/HDR DLP Projector

Don’t we all love large displays, why else would we want to watch movies on those large crisp projections in a movie theatre? LCD, and OLED displays as good as they may be and as large as they get, might not be the optimal solution when it comes to viewing content on a large canvas especially while saving some bucks. Do you know how much a 55-inch television with 4K HDR 120Hz refresh rate costs in India? You might want to google search and see for yourself!  This is exactly why movie theatres use projectors rather than large AMOLED displays. Today, we have an alternative to something as large as a 300-inch crisp 4k HDR 120Hz display, powered by something so small, that we could carry it around. Meet the Optoma GT1080HDR DLP Projector. 

Simply Optoma:

Design is simple yet lightweight and installation on a table or ceiling is easy. The front-facing projector is about a foot wide with 12.4-inches, 4.5-inches tall and 9.5-inches in length. The remote has all the necessary buttons and every button is illuminated. There’s also a lens cover that covers the short throw lens neat and complete. 

More value than money:

Being DLP this projector is virtually maintenance-free, has better picture quality, wider colour range and greater contrast while also being capable of displaying up to 3800 Lumens of vibrant bright projection. Do not go by its name of GT1080HDR as the projector is able to project up to 4K HDR at 120Hz refresh rate. Optoma has packed the GT1080HDR DLP Projector with multiple I/O when it comes to connectivity. HDMI 2.0, HDMI 1.4a, VGA in and out, USB power in and out, audio in and out, RS 232 port, AC power and Kensington lock. 

Projector distance can be adjusted from as low as 1.3 feet to 11.3 feet. Being a short-throw projector the Optoma GT1080HDR DLP Projector can produce a crisp 4K 120inch display from a mere 4 feet. The remote is illuminated, a clever trick especially for a projector. Active and passive 3D is offered with the right content and glasses at a rapid refresh rate of 144Hz, mighty impressive for a product that costs less than a 55inch 4k television with similar specs. The contrast is 50000:1 and thanks to DLP, the projector lamp is easily replaceable by a claimed viewing time of 10 years as per normal usage of 4 hours per day. If all of this wasn’t enough, Optoma has loaded a 10-watt speaker inside the projector to have an audio and video experience right out of the box. 

 

We played a couple of games at a 4K HDR high refresh rate and the projector pleasantly surprised us. Colours and contrast are amazing in games and games look more immersive with naturally punchy colours. The speaker too performs decently for a built-in speaker and no complaints here. The built-in fan is relatively silent and never audible. Next, we tried a couple of movies, youtube songs and the audio-video experience left us mesmerised. Optoma colour reproduction is one of the best when it comes to projections. Colour tones are natural throughout ECO and ECO+ modes. HDR performance was at par with expensive projectors and overall, the Optoma GT1080HDR DLP projector seems to have more value than money for what it provides.

Verdict:

If you are looking for a capable 4K display and own a new-gen console like the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, definitely consider auditioning the Optoma GT1080HDR DLP Projector. With the right panel, proper sources and innate capabilities like impressive colour tones, passive 3D, and keystone correction with +/- 40 degrees, this Optoma projector is definitely a great value addition to your display arsenal. 

Rating – 4.5/5

Good – Short-throw projection, display customisation

Bad – Manual keystone correction, old UI

Ugly – Bright mode distorts colours

Projection – Upto 300inch 4K Signal / HDR Compatible

Shorter installation distance with short throw lens design

Bright 1080p projector – 3,800 ANSI Lumens

High contrast outcome – 50,000:1

Easy connectivity – HDMI, VGA, R232, 10W speaker

Low ownership costs – up to 15,000 hours of lamp life (Eco+ Mode)

26dB Quiet Operation

POCO Smartphones to be Launched Globally as Redmi Note 11T and 11T Pro

After launching POCO M4 5G in the Indian markets, the brand is all set to launch the smartphone in the global markets. As per the reports, POCO M4 5G might not be the only phone that the brand is gearing up to launch globally. Two new POCO smartphones with model numbers 22041216G and 22041216UGwere spotted on the FCC certification database.

On having a closer look at the documents, the model numbers are rebranded as Redmi Note 11T and the Redmi Note 11T Pro. The FCC certification database also reveals some specifications of the product.
The new smartphone comes with an MIUI 13 for POCO along with an 8GB and 12GB RAM option with 256GB internal storage.

The new POCO smartphones will have 5G, Bluetooth, and NFC connectivity options. An expectation of a 4300 mAh battery with 120W fast charging is set as Redmi Note 11T was seen with exact battery details on the 3C certification website.

Another record implies that Xiaomi hopes to sell the 22041216UG in Europe and the US. A launch date for each smartphone has now no longer surfaced yet, although a confidentiality record indicates that the pair should be with us by the end of October at the latest. In all likelihood, Xiaomi will announce 22041216UG and 22041216G in the subsequent month or two.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3402ZA) OLED Displays Should Be Mainstream!

Intel’s 12th generation processors are a giant leap forward in performance, and many brands are soon adopting newer processors. Intel is still the preferred choice of many professionals for its hassle-free operations and no unnecessary need to update BIOS to get the best performance out of their hardware. We have been using the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED for about a month, and here is our take.

Designed to be casually professional 

The design is professional yet classy, with design elements finished in matte and glossed geometric lines. Overall, it is lightweight at 1.4Kgs with an all-metal chassis. It is still bottom heavy like most non-touchscreen laptops, but overall weight distribution is even across the computer. The gloss metal hinge looks interesting in real life. There’s also a 180-degree ergo-lift hinge. Two Thunderbolt 4 Type C USB ports, a Type A USB port, a full-fledged HDMI 2.0 port, a MicroSD card reader, two status lights, a 3.5mm headset jack, and Kensington lock ports complete the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED’s good I/O selection. 

 

 

The display is glossy, unlike the entire matte finish feel of the laptop. The keyboard is a highlight with contoured keys and a clicky feel. Three levels of illumination with TKL design make it ample space for typing and a biometric fingerprint scanner in a subtle thin chrome bezel is fast. There’s a large touchpad with Asus NumericPad 2.0 and two brightness levels on this, along with usual gesture recognition. Both the camera and mic get a dedicated one tap manual access for privacy and hardware-level control.

OLED beauty

The USP of this laptop has to be an insane 550nits bright 2.8k OLED display featuring a 16:10 aspect ratio. With 100% DCI P3 and 109% sRGB colour calibration, this display is bright, colour accurate for professionals, and display nerds would be more than happy staring at this laptop all day long. The brightness levels are ample for outdoor viewing, but the glossy panel will have you staring at your face while using this laptop outdoors. Indoors, this is one of the best displays money can buy. Adding to the credibility of this laptop is Pantone validation. 

Performance – Fast and Furious!

 Asus Zenbook 14 OLED’s performance is top-notch thanks to their integration of Intel’s latest 12th gen processors. Ours was an i7 1260p with 12 cores and 16 threads paired with 16GB DDR5 RAM at 4800mhz and 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD by Samsung. Productivity is snappier than any Zenbook series we’ve ever tested. The only downside is the heat it produces. It can get warm enough to be uncomfortable on your lap, and fans tend to get audible enough to notice.

What surprised us was the efficiency level of this chip. This laptop is like a sprinter with a marathon runner’s stamina with normal work usage on multiple chrome tabs, including videos and audio. Throw any task apart from graphics-intensive tasks, and the laptop simply flies through the task. Over a week, we charged it only twice. At 75kWh and new-gen processing efficiency, this laptop is a thoroughbred business companion. Bundled inside the box is a Type C 65W USB fast charger, and the most exciting part of this laptop is its innate capability to charge through chargers with as low as 5W-20W output. Theoretically, it can charge over any normal power bank as well. This eliminated the need to carry multiple chargers, especially while travelling. It does take forever to charge on mobile phone chargers, but heck, it charges, and that is what matters. Video conferencing was a pleasant experience thanks to a better 3D NR camera, and noise cancellation featured mics with Dolby Atmos configured speakers. Nothing too impressive but definitely way above average.

Verdict 

A relatively higher MSRP could be a deal-breaker when this amount of money could get you something like the Samsung pro book 2 360, an AMOLED 2k display with similar hardware, and spare you enough money to get a basic Asus laptop while weighing a mere 870 gms instead of a 1.4kg Asus Zenbook 14 OLED. In isolation, this OLED laptop is beautiful, powerful and classy, bundled with all the necessary Office suite and Windows seamlessness. 

Specs

Processor – Intel 12th Gen i7 1260P (12C 16T)

Ram – 16GB LPDDR5 4800MHz

Storage – 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 Samsung SSD 

Display – 14-inch 2880×1880 2K OLED 90Hz refresh rate 550 nits brightness 16:10 aspect ratio

Wifi 6E

Good – OLED display and brightness 

Bad – Intel 12th Gen i7 1260P runs warms 

Ugly – The price tag 

Decoding Amazing features of the Apple Watch Series 7!

The Apple Watch Series 7 brings a couple features to the best smartwatch in the world. It works very well with the iPhone and packs a bunch of interesting features. Check out this video and see why Apple marches way ahead of its competitors.

ASUS VivoBook 15 K513EA – Review

Vivibook series from ASUS has always been a budget-oriented device and something you can look forward to if you are considering buying a mid-range laptop. The price for the VivoBook series starts somewhere at Rs 47,000 and goes all the way up to 80,000. 

The laptop I am currently testing is the Vivobook 15 K513EA, a CORE i5, 11th Gen device. The overall build of this machine is pretty decent. The top has a nice grey fibre finish with a clean ASUS branding on the right-hand side. On one side, you have two USB 3.0 ports and a battery charging indicator, and on the other, you have a proprietary DC port, an HDMI port, another USB 3.0 port, a USB C port just beneath that, a headphone jack, and finally a Micro SD card reader. At the bottom, you’ll see four rubber stands to let your laptop breathe easily. On either side, a speaker gives you a loud, clear sound. 

VivoBook 15 comes with Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM, 256GB SSD storage, and 1TB of HDD storage. It has a big 15.6 inch OLED display at an FHD resolution. It has enough RAM to hold multiple chrome tabs at once without giving that irritating lag. It makes for a fantastic laptop for regular office bees and students whose workloads wouldn’t stress the machine. 

I like the OLED display of this laptop, which makes the overall experience better and brighter. Even a bad OLED display looks good to an untrained eye, but this one is just plain gorgeous! The maximum brightness at around 404 nits gives a practical outdoor experience. 

The charging for VivoBook 15 goes from 0 to 100 in about 45 minutes and lasts for almost a full day when used rigorously. I have tried playing a few games on this machine and it ran quite smoothly until the machine started to overheat. Overall, it is compatible with low-res gaming but definitely wouldn’t make up for a proper gaming laptop, which is fine for a mid-range laptop. 

I have the Intel Core i5 + 16 GB RAM + 256 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD model that goes for Rs 68,990, and my final verdict is that I found the machine easy to use for everyday use. 

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