Tech2 Touch

Author: Aniruddh

  • Redmi Note 7 Pro Pros and Cons

    Redmi Note 7 Pro is a feature packed smartphone with aggressive pricing. 48MP rear camera, an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor, a large 4,000mAh battery and an eye catchy design are the key USP of this device. On paper, it is one of the best value for money smartphone in the price segment. Here is the quick list of Redmi Note 7 Pro pros and cons.

    Redmi Note 7 Pro Pros and Cons

    Redmi Note 7 Pro Pros

    Let us get started with some of the merits of Redmi Note 7 Pro.

    Design

    Unlike last iterations of Redmi Note series smartphones, Redmi Note 7 Pro design looks more premium. It has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on both front and back. This looks great and ensures smartphone is durable. There is a plastic rim around the edges. The glass rear panel is curved. This makes the device feel good in hand.

    Display

    Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro sports 6.3-inch full-HD+ (1080 x 2340 pixels) LTPS In-Cell display panel with aspect ratio of 19.5:9 and pixel density of 409 ppi. The colour reproduction and viewing angles are good. The content on the screen looks sharp. Outdoor visibility is good and auto brightness calibration is excellent.

    Camera

    Redmi Note 7 Pro has hude 48MP primary sensor on the back with 5MP depth sensor. There is a 13MP selfie camera which supports functions like HDR, AI beauty, portraits, and mirror function. However, autofocus isn’t on the list of features.

    The 48MP capability of the primary rear camera can only be enabled within the Pro mode. The 12MP is the standard photo mode. In low light situations, Redmi Note 7 Pro camera impresses with good details and less noise.

    In good lighting conditions, it takes beautiful images with good amount of details and high dynamic range. The colors are punchy and has good vibrancy. 13 MP selfie camera performance also impressive.

    Performance

    Redmi Note 7 Pro is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC paired with up to 4GB/6GB of RAM. It manages to handle day to day usage with ease. Heavy graphics demanding games like PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends are playable on this device.

    Battery

    Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro has 4000 mAh battery with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4.0 fast charging technology support. With even heavy usage, it manages to cover full day with 10- 15% power left.

    Redmi Note 7 Pro Cons

    Here is the list of Redmi Note 7 Pro cons or demerits.

    • Hybrid SIM card slot: No dedicated slot for microSD card. Between 2nd SIM and microSD card, user need to choose either of one.
    • No bundled fast charger: The device supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4.0 fast charging technology. But bundled charger is not a fast charger.
    • 5 MP rear secondary is limited for depth sensing: Like we saw in Galaxy M series smartphones, secondary camera does not takes wide angles photos.
    • Bloatware and ads in MIUI.

  • Thomson 40 inch 4K Smart TV at Rs.20,999 Launched in India

    Thomson, once a popular TV brand has launched its latest 40 inch 4K Smart TV in India. It is priced aggressively at Rs.20,999. The sale will commence from 16th March 2019 via flipkart.

    Thomson 40 inch 4K Smart TV

    The new Thomson UD9 series TV has 40 inch screen with 4K(3840×2160 pixels) resolution and 60Hz standard refresh rate. The screen has brightness of 550 nits and offers an active HDR10. The TV has 20W audio output. It has three HDMI ports and two USB ports. For connecting to internet, it has built in WiFi and Ethernet (RJ45) port.  

    This Smart TV comes preloaded with 6 apps which includes Youtube , Netflix and Amazon Prime. Thomson UD9 40 inch 4K TV runs on a custom version of Android 7.1. Videocasting can be done on this TV using the Miracast. It supports 18 plus languages such as Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Gujarati and more, as per the company.

    Thomson branded TVs in India are manufactured by Noida-based Super Plastronics Pvt. Ltd (SPPL). Company so far launched 3 smart TVs in India under the Thomson UD9 4K smart TV series which includes 43-inch, a 50-inch, a 55-inch. 40 inch is the latest addition. All the variants are available for purchase through Flipkart. The top variant of Thomson UD9 smart TV is priced at Rs.37,999.

  • Asus VivoBook 15 (X505Z) Review-Pros and Cons

    There are very few good laptops in the budget of around 35k. Asus VivoBook 15 (X505Z) is aimed to fill that void. It has modern stylish design and good internals. The base variant is priced at Rs.30,999 and the top variant is priced at Rs.35,990. Here is our Asus VivoBook 15 (X505Z) review with pros and cons.

    Asus VivoBook 15 (X505Z) Review

    This review is based on the Asus VivoBook 15 (X505Z) variant which has following specification.

    • 15.6-inch FHD anti glare display screen.
    • AMD Ryzen 5 2500U processor with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx graphics.
    • 8GB RAM and 1TB of hard disc.
    • Windows 10.

    Design

    VivoBook 15(X505z) is smaller in size compared to most of the 15 inch laptops. It is relatively slim and lightweight. It has thickness of 18.9 mm and weighs around 1.6 Kg. This makes it easy to carry and never feels too bulky. Asus has not done any compromise on the ports. It has two USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 (both Type-A), a USB Type-C 3.1 (Gen1) port, HDMI, a headphone and microphone combo port, Gigabit Ethernet, and a full-sized SD card slot.

    Display

    The Asus VivoBook 15(X505z) sports 15.6 inch LED-back-lit FHD (1920 x 1080) 60Hz Anti-Glare Panel with 45% NTSC. The viewing angles, Brightness are good considering the price. Overall with narrow bezel display provide good for watching movies and for gaming.

    Performance and Battery life

    VivoBook 15 comes in two variants. One comes with Ryzen 3  and the other one with Ryzen 5. There is difference in RAM and storage as well.

    My review unit is the top end variant which has Ryzen 5 2500U processor, 8GB RAM and 1TB storage. There is one free RAM slot available. User can upgrade the RAM upto 16GB.

    This laptop is powerful enough to do most of the regular work such as streaming videos from Youtube, Netflix, editing documents and playing light games. Wi-Fi 802.11ac with 2×2 MIMO antennas is added advantage.

    The stereo speakers are decent. It is loud. But quality is not great. Coming to battery life, for my usage it lasted around 4 hours. There is fast charging option as well. As per the claims it charges the battery 60% in just 49 minutes. In my usage, I got very close result to this.

    Keyboard and Touchpad

    The keyboard on VivoBook 15(X505z ) is good. Keys are large and layout is decent. The keys has decent travel as well. Lack of LED indicator for Caps Lock is a drawback. Overall the keyboard provides good typing experience. The Touchpad is responsive and fairly accurate.

    Asus VivoBook 15 (X505Z) Pros and Cons

    Asus VivoBook 15 (X505Z) Pros

    • Slim and Lightweight.
    • Decent display panel.
    • Good performance.
    • Pricing.

    Asus VivoBook 15 (X505Z) Cons

    • No backlite keyboard. No indicator for Caps Lock.
    • Audio output could have been better.

  • Asus ROG GX531 Hands on Review

    The new Zephyrus S GX 531 is the gaming laptop from Asus with latest hardware specifications. The top variant sports Core i7 processor, NVidia RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics and 1TB of SSD.

    ROG gx531

    Zephyrus GX 531 sports 15-inch full HD 144 Hz display panel. The thin bezels around the screen provides immersive viewing experience.  The short response time and high refresh rate makes it one of the best choice for gaming. The colour accuracy, contrast and peak are decent but not great.

    Asus ROG GX 531 powered by the six core Intel Coffee Lake-H Core i7-8750H CPU with Intel HD630+Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q 8GB graphics.  Internal storage, one opt upto NVMe 1TB of SSD disc.  The new RTX 2080 GPU enables photorealistic graphics with help of real-time ray tracing technology and AI-enhanced image processing. The GPU boosts upto 1330MHz at 90W, with 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM clocked at 6151MHz. Both can be overclocked.

    The keyboard placement on this gaming laptop is little different. It is downshifted. Instead of being in the usual spot, it is downshifted. There is no palm rest area. Coming to Keyboard, it has standard layout with well-sized and spaced keys.  Virtual NumPad is available on touchpad. 

    Key Specifications

    • 15-inch full HD 144 Hz display with 3ms response time.
    • six core Intel Coffee Lake-H Core i7-8750H CPU with Intel HD630+Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q 8GB graphics.
    • Upto 1TB SSD storage.
    • Upto 24GB 2666MHz DDR4 RAM.
    • Anti-Dust Self Cleaning Fans

  • Samsung Galaxy M20 Tips and Tricks

    Samsung Galaxy M20 has many built in useful features. Some of them are very useful on daily basis. Here is the list of simple, basic yet useful Samsung Galaxy M20 Tips and Tricks.

    While we have written this post, Galaxy M20 was running on Android 8.1. Recently it got Android 9.0 update. There may be few design changes to the steps given below.

    Samsung Galaxy M20 Tips and Tricks

    Time needed: 3 minutes

    Let us get started with Galaxy M20 Tips and Tricks

    1. Hide or Unhide Notch in Galaxy M20

      To hide notch in Galaxy M20, go to Settings->Display->Full screen apps. Then Enable Hide camera option by moving the slider to right. This will hide the notch by darkening the top of the screen and show all apps and content below the camera. Disabling the Hide Camera option will unhide the notch.

    2. Auto call recording

      If you want turn on auto call recording, go to call setting. You can go to call settings by opening the dialer and tap Options(three vertical dots in the top right corner). Now go to Settings. Slide down and find Record calls option. Enable Auto record calls.

    3. Identify spam and scam callers

      If you want to see the names and profile pictures of callers and message senders who aren’t in your contact, then this feature may help. This is done using pre installed Hiya app. To enable this feature, go to CALL SETTINGS->Caller ID and spam protection. Turn on the service. It will show the terms and conditions. If you agree with that, you can use the service.

    4. Enable or Disable VoLTE in 2nd SIM

      By default VoLTE is enabled for 2nd SIM. For some reason, if you want to disable VoLTE on 2nd SIM, go to Settings->Connections->Mobile networks. Now enable or disable VoLTE on 2nd SIM by tapping on VoLTE calls SIM 2.

    5. Type Indian Languages

      If you want to type in Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Tamil etc, in message and whatsapp then follow the steps given below.
      1. Go to Settings->General management->Language and input.
      2. Tap on On-screen keyboard.
      3. Then go to Samsung Keyboard->Languages and types.
      4. Now tap on manage input languages.
      5. Enable the language which you want to use.
      6. Whenever you want to type, in the keyboard swipe left or right on space bar to navigate between the languages.

    In this post, we tried to cover the Samsung Galaxy M20 Tips and Tricks which can be done using the pre installed apps or inbuilt features. There are other ways to achieve the same thing by installing some third party apps.

    Also Read:

    How to take screenshot in Galaxy M20