Mobiles – Tech Raman

Tecno Spark Go 2023 launched in India at Rs 6,999 | Details

Lakshmi — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 09:34:57 +0000

TECNO, the global smartphone brand, has launched the SPARK GO 2023 in India under its affordable ‘SPARK GO’ series, at a price of INR 6999. The SPARK GO 2023 boasts features like a 5000 mAh battery with a Type-C charger and a 13MP primary camera with F1.85 aperture and 3GB RAM.

One of the key considerations for smartphone users is battery life and fast charging support. The SPARK GO 2023 addresses this with its 5000 mAh battery, powered by a Type-C port and a 10W in-box charger for faster charging. The camera features an Engine-inspired Dual Ring camera setup for exceptional and highly augmented photography. The phone also comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. The SPARK GO 2023 is aimed at first-time smartphone adopters looking for an upgrade from their feature phones. It is available in three colours: Nebula Purple, Endless Black, and Uyuni Blue.

The TECNO SPARK GO 2023 will be available at retail touchpoints starting January 23rd, 2023.

Some of the key Specification & features of TECNO SPARK GO 2023

6.56″ Dot Notch HD+ IPS LCD display
Mediatek MT6761 Helio A22
5000mAh mighty battery with Type-C charging at the entry level for non-stop action
13MP AI Dual rear camera
5MP front camera
Stepped Square Classic Design
Smart Fingerprint Sensor
3GB RAM and 32GB ROM
FM radio
8.9mm thickness

Commenting on the new entrant of the SPARK series, Arijeet Talapatra, CEO, TECNO Mobile India said, “We live in the age of information, where people have access to information like never before and are becoming aware of what is available to them and therefore have evolving aspirations. With that backdrop, we at TECNO are constantly working towards bringing hi-tech features and specifications to these aspirants at competitive prices. The launch of Spark Go smartphones, is aimed at making technology more inclusive and offer entry-level smartphone users the best of our tech. The strategy allows us to bring distinguished features to first-time smartphone users and consolidates our position among them. With TECNO SPARK GO 2023, we are set to disrupt and push the boundaries for the budget smartphone segment and give them a remarkable smartphone experience.”

POCO India pads up India cricketer Hardik Pandya as its brand ambassador

Lakshmi — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 07:38:39 +0000

POCO, a leading consumer technology brand in India, has announced that it has signed Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya as its brand ambassador. The brand, which focuses on challenging the status quo and representing individuals who strive for perfection and alternative options, sees the cricketer as the ideal fit for its brand. Hardik will be the face for the launch of POCO’s upcoming high-performance smartphone, the X-series. With impressive performance and competitive pricing, the X-series is set to shake up the mid-premium smartphone market.

Hardik Pandya is known for his all-around skills and his ability to defy the odds and become one of the most successful and consistent performers in world cricket. His strong connection with the Gen Z audience and his widespread appeal aligns perfectly with the brand’s target audience.

Unveiling the partnership, Himanshu Tandon, Country Head, POCO India said, “Hardik Pandya is a name that connects with India in a heartbeat. His never-give-up attitude, zeal, and enthusiasm go perfectly well with our brand’s DNA and we are confident that his personality will resonate with our audience and fans. Aligned with our brand imagery, we are confident that he will play an instrumental role for our brand and we are extremely proud to have him on board as POCO’s ambassador.”

Sharing about his newest collaboration, Hardik Pandya, who is exclusively managed by RISE Worldwide, said, “I am pleased to partner with a youth-centric smartphone brand like POCO. I admire their smart, sleek and absolute performance-led smartphones. Most importantly, I resonate with the brand’s motto of ‘Everything you need, Nothing you don’t. I look forward to this partnership and connecting with the brand’s young community.”

Hardik Pandya will begin his role as POCO’s brand ambassador by promoting the highly-anticipated X-series smartphone. The device features significant upgrades over its predecessor and is available at an affordable price point, aligning with the brand’s mission to deliver cutting-edge devices and maximum user satisfaction.

Vivo Republic Day Offer Details on Amazon and Flipkart

Lakshmi Rajan — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 19:21:35 +0000

Vivo Republic Day Sale dates: The Vivo Republic Day sale starts from January 20 on both Amazon and Flipkart. While the sale ends at January 22nd on Flipkart, you get one more day at Amazon where it ends on January 23. If you are an Amazon Prime member or Flipkart Plus member you could get an early peak or hands on the deals.

Top Deals of Vivo Republic Day Sale:

The Vivo V9 Pro is available at a discount of Rs 2000 across both Amazon and Flipkart. The 4GB variant of the phone which has a market price of Rs 15,990 will sell at Rs 13,990 on Flipkart. There is also an exchange offer discount of Rs 1000 and no cost EMI option available for the buyers on the phone. Meanwhile, the 6GB model will sell at Rs 15,990 instead of Rs 17,990 on Amazon.
The Vivo Nex is available at Rs 39,999 a price drop of Rs 5000 on Amazon. There is extra Rs 5000 on exchange. But it should also be noted recently Nex announced a permanent price cut of Rs 5,000 on the Nex making it at the same price. The exchange offer during this sale should get you a good deal though.
The Vivo V11 Pro is available at Rs 25,990 on Amazon and Flipkart. There is additional Rs 3000 off on exchange and no cost EMI option also available on both Flipkart and Amazon. The Vivo V11 that sells at Rs 20,990 will also be available with a exchange offer discount of up to Rs 3000.
There are no flat discounts on Vivo Y83 Pro, the Vivo Y95, the Vivo Y93, Y81 and Y91 phones. However, buyers can purchase these phones at a reduced price via exchange offer.

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PUBG Mobile India Series 2019 with 1 Crore Prize money – Everything You Need to Know

Tech Raman — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 05:15:45 +0000

PUBG MOBILE Campus Championship 2018, Tencent Games , the game developer of PUBG mobile is hosting the PUBG MOBILE India Series 2019 With a prize pool of Rs 1 Crore the tournament invites people to battle it out to earn the now famous “winner winner chicken dinner”. The first edition of the competion was limited to college and university students but the new tournament is open to all, technically there is qualification though. You need to be at Level 20 to be able to qualify for the tournament which any PUBG fan worth its salt would have already crossed. The registrations have already began which will go on till January 23.

How to register in PUBG Mobile India Series 2019?

To register, you need to visit the PUBG Mobile India Series 2019 registration page, where you can sign up.
Once registered, you can either join a squad by entering the Squad ID or create a squad of their own and invite your friends.

How does the tournament played?

There are two qualifying rounds. All of the games are held in Asia server region in third-person mode. The first online in-game qualifier round will be held between January 21 and 27 where all the registered players need to play 15 classic rounds with their squad members in Erangel. The 10 best rounds will be considered for the players to qualify for the next round which will be based on a number of factors including kill count, rank, survival time, accuracy, team play, and more. The second qualifiers called the ‘Online Playoffs’ is scheduled between February 10 and February 24. The first round of the playoffs will be held between February 10 to 15, where the top 2000 squads will be divided into 100 groups with 20 squads each. The groups go head to head with each other in a knockout fashion, and the top 4 squads from every group then head to the next round. The second round of the playoffs is scheduled between February 16 and 19 where the top 400 squads from the first round will be divided into 20 slots with 20 squads in each of the slots. They will go on and compete with other with the top four squads moving onto the third round. The third round (February 21 to 24) will feature 80 squads divided into four groups of 20 squads where the top five squads will go on to the grand finale. The grand finals will be held in the month of March featuring the top 20 teams that will play one last round to earn that glorious chicken dinner. So what are you waiting for if you are a PUBG fan? Get your teams ready and go for the big chicken dinner. Rules and Regulations for each phase can be found here. ]]>

Planning last minute OnePlus buy? Here are the year-end offers on the OnePlus 6T

Lakshmi Rajan — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 06:10:01 +0000

EMI and instant discount offers: Under the new offers to welcome the new year, the company is giving ₹ 1,500 instant discounts on all EMI transactions made using HDFC bank credit and debit cards while purchasing OnePlus 6T. You can also avail 6 months of no-costs EMI if you are buying from Amazon, OnePlus’s own official website or offline stores like Croma and the other exclusive offline stores.

Exchange offers:

If you are upgrading from your old OnePlus devices users will be eligible for an additional Rs 2,000 off on exchange of their old OnePlus smartphone from Amazon, company’s e-store and exclusive offline retail stores. Non-OnePlus users will get an additional Rs 1,500 off on exchange of their old smartphone.

OnePlus 6T Pricing:

OnePlus 6T is available in different variants and new colours and McLaren limited edition. The base variant of OnePlus 6T is priced at Rs 37,999 for the 6GB + 128GB variant and Rs 41,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model and Rs 45,999 for the 8GB + 256GB option. The brand has also introduced a new Thunder Purple colour option for the 8GB RAM variant that is priced at Rs 41,999. Recently the company also introduced a special OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition with 10GB of RAM for Rs 50,999.

OnePlus 6T Specifications:

To recap, OnePlus 6T has a 6.41-inch full-HD+ AMOLED screen, strengthened by Gorilla Glass 6 and incorporates in-display fingerprint sensor, it’s powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC, with a choice of 6GB/8GB and top of the line 10GB variants. It packs 3700mAh battery. It will be available in four variants – 6GB RAM/128GB storage, 8GB RAM/128GB storage, 8GB RAM/256GB storage and limited edition 10GB/256GB . The smartphone comes with dual cameras at the back – 16-megapixel + 20-megapixel sensors, and a 16-megapixel front camera. ]]>

OnePlus opens up its first R&D Facility in India at Hyderabad

Lakshmi Rajan — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 17:48:23 +0000

Within a couple of years, OnePlus has become the largest selling premium Smartphone brand in India beating heavyweights like Samsung and Apple. It also is a fastest-growing brand in the premium segment and has managed to capture 40% of the market share in the premium segment (Price of over ₹30,000). With such an impressive performance and a large community here, it is expected from the Chinese Smartphone brand to start an R&D lab here in India.

Today, the company announced its first facility at Hyderabad. OnePlus also stated its India commitment and said the facility will grow to become its biggest such centre globally in three years.

The company noted that the facility will play a crucial role in the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning in OnePlus product and also drive innovations and features that would be relevant to its Indian users. “The centre will also contribute to nurturing and giving opportunities to fresh talent as the company initiates the campus hiring programme at a number of universities including IIT Delhi and IIT Mumbai this year,” the company statement mentions.

With the spectacular sales in India, OnePlus seem to be fully confident of Indian operations and the R&F facility would find a synergy with the “Make In India” campaign and will bring more local acceptance from the consumers and all stakeholders.

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Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro on a SuperCharge Mode

Lakshmi Rajan — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 17:36:32 +0000

While Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro will be officially unveiled at an event in London on October 16 the leaks are flowing in thick and fast. While previous reports claimed that the Huawei Mate 20 Pro would feature three camera sensors with a primary 40-megapixel sensor with 1.7 micron pixel size and the triple camera would also find place in the Mate 20 but with less megapixels than the Pro. The news also has trickled down about the interesting square-shaped encolosure to house the triple camera setup. Now there are further news on the battery and charging speed of the phones. According to a Chinese website, the Mate 20 will have a battery capacity of 4000mAh, while it is same as Mate 10, the report says the battery life has increased by 21% probably because of the Kirin 980 on-board which is supposed to have better energy efficiency. The Mate 20 Pro would have a battery capacity of 4200mAh, a 200mAh up from the previous generation. The phones also support SuperCharge 2.0 which is claimed to charge the phones to 70% in half an hour which if true would be truly impressive. In addition to the Supercharge 2.0, the Mate 20 Pro is also reported to offer faster wireless charging bettering the Samsung Note 9 which has the quickest fast charging right now in the market with a 10watts support. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is rumoured to support 15W wireless charging, a 50% higher than the Samsung Note 9. We have seen in our previous article, how Kirin 980, the world’s first 7nm SoC would be delivering better performance and efficiency. The Mate 20 Pro and Mate 20 would be the first devices to come with the Kirin 980 out of the box. Kirin 980 delivers 60% more single-core performance, 45% better multi-core performance and 40% superior GPU performance compared to the Kirin 970. For more on the Huawei Mate 20 series, keep following us.]]>

Huawei Kirin 980 chip: Everything you need to know

Lakshmi Rajan — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 17:24:29 +0000

Huawei announced its top of the line flagship system-on-chip (SoC), the Kirin 980 recently at the IFA 2018 in Berlin. The new chip is the successor to the Kirin 970 which is under the hood of all the Huawei / Honor flagship products currently selling in the market. The new chipset also boasts of being the world’s fist 7nm processor and comes with dual NPU. Here is everything you need to know about the Kirin 980 chipset and what new performance, power and AI capabilities it brings across the table.

Huawei Kirin 980 chip: The new Architecture stack

The new Kirin 980 also is the first chipset to embed ARM’s new Cortex-A76 cores. The new core architecture is built on ARM’s DynamiQ technology and is reported to be 75 per cent more powerful and 58 per cent more efficient compared to its predecessor. The Kirin 980 follows an eight-core architecture with a two Cortex-A76 2.6GHz “higher-performance cores” for heavy demanding tasks and two Cortex-A76 1.92GHz “middle cores” for day-to-day tasks and four 1.8GHz Cortex-A55 “efficiency cores” for lighter ‘workload.’ Huawei talks about “Flex-scheduling” technology to allocate the “right cores to the right tasks.”

Huawei Kirin 980 chip: Power, Speed and Efficiency

The current chipsets like Huawei’s Kirin 970 or Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 845 are fabricated on 10nm architecture. The Kirin 980 is t he world’s first to be built on 7nm process manufactured by TSMC. What it means is the new process could pack in more transistors than the previous generation. Huawei claims that the Kirin 980 has 6.9 billion transistors in less than 1 square area centimetre which is an increase of 1.6 times compared to the 10nm manufacturing process used on Kirin 970. With more transistors at its disposal, the new chipset has more computation power and delivers better performance. Huawei states that the new 7nm fabrication will deliver a 20 per cent increase in SoC performance and power efficiency by 40 per cent. Huawei claims that the Kirin 980 will consume 33 per cent less power as compared to Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 845 SoC. As for the memory, the Kirin 980 has support for 2133MHz RAM and the chipset is said to have 20 per cent better bandwidth and 22 per cent lower latency.

Huawei Kirin 980 chip: GPU

The new SoC has a new graphics card, Mali-G76. The new GPU is claimed to provide 30 per cent more efficiency and performance density as compared to the previous generation. Huawei claims that the graphics chip integrated into the Kirin 980 SoC will deliver 46 per cent better graphics processing and 178 per cent improved power efficiency that Kirin 970’s Mali-G72 GPU.

Huawei Kirin 980: Camera, ISP

There is a new dual ISP (image signal processor) added to the chipset, which the Huawei claims to be 46 per cent faster at camera processing and 23 per cent more efficient than its predecessor. Huawei says that it will translate to “better contrast” and “finer details”, thanks to the new high dynamic range (HDR) colour reproduction technology and a ‘multi-pass noise reduced’ algorithm.

Huawei Kirin 980 chip: AI

Huawei is the first company to bring AI into the mobile mainstream last year and since then every mobile OEMs talk about AI in their Smartphone these days. The Kirin 970 had its own Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and the latest Kirin 980 has dual NPU for more AI processing. The NPU with its machine learning and AI can recognize more scenes and objects on the phone now than the Kirin 970. With the dual NPU onboard, the Kirin 980 could recognize up to 4,500 images per minutes compared to the 2,371 images Snapdragon 845 could muster or the 1,458 images the A11 Bionic chip could recognize.

Huawei Kirin 980 chip: World’s Fastest WiFi modem on the phone

Huawei has always taken a lead on the modem technology with a robust R&D in that domain. The HiSilicon Kirin 980 is the fist chipset with a modem to support Cat. 21 LTE that supports downlink speed at 1.4Gbps. It will support a theoretical peak download speed of 1.7Gbps and 160MHz bandwidth. Also, the GPS receiver gets support by L1 + L5 dual frequency to deliver accurate target location while navigating in “complex terrains.” ]]>

6 Amazing Vivo Nex Features and additional 15+ FunTouch UI Tricks You Should Know

Lakshmi Rajan — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 03:33:20 +0000

Elevating Selfie Camera This is undoubtedly the crowd puller feature of the Vivo Nex, the pop up selfie camera. Initially when I started using the phone, I would have just popped up the mechanized selfie camera a zillion times just for fun. It’s mesmerizing watching a motorized action in your Smartphone, which we don’t get to use in other mobiles. The camera elevates effortlessly when you open the selfie mode in the camera app and sinks in when you close the camera app or shift to the rear camera mode. To top it, the movement is also accompanied by a pop up sound albeit a faux one but nevertheless it adds the dramatic feel of the camera movement. The camera app also has a setting for the pop-up sound where you can mute it or opt for a Sci-Fi or rhythmic sound accompaniment. Apparently, the elevating camera module is sturdily built and also pop up within 2 seconds of opening the selfie mode. Pretty neat and one of a kind implementation.

Screen SoundCasting and Hidden Sensors

While the elevating camera takes the limelight, there is another less talked but equally interesting technology that has been adapted on the Vivo Nex , the screen sound casting technology. Yes, in case you have not noticed yet, the Nex phone has done away with one of the most prominent part in every Smartphone in the world – the ear piece speaker. So how does the sound transmitted then? Vivo Nex uses the in-display sound casting, where the entire display turns out to be a speaker of a sort. Interesting right?! This also helps in making the phone truly bezel-less. The Screen SoundCasting tech uses bone conduction to transmit audio waves. The first generation of Mi Mix had a similar technology but Vivo has fine tuned it and wriggled out the audio quality issues. So if you position your ear on the top half of the display, middle or bottom half or turn the phone upside down, you will still get to hear what the person at the other end says. In technical terms, the science behind the in-display Sound casting technology is made possible by piezoelectric transducer placed between two metal plates. When sound waves strike one or both plates, they vibrate, which translates into waveform similar to sound waves. These sound waves are sent to the display, rather than to the speaker. In short, the technology converts the entire display into a speaker. What about the sensors? The proximity sensors, the ambient light sensors? The proximity sensor sits neatly at the very edge of the screen and Vivo uses a ultrasonic tech to adjust the brightness.

In-display Fingerprint Sensor

Vivo pioneered the in-display fingerprint technology in their Vivo X21 Smartphone, the updated and improved second generation of the technology is implemented on the Vivo Nex. The fingerprint sensor is under the display and it looks ultra futuristic when it lights up and the animation that goes with it. There is also a choice of three animation you can choose. Additionally, the settings also gives us an option to keep the fingerprint sensor area always lit up or only when needed.

Ultra Full View Design

So when you have a pop up selfie camera, hidden sensors, in-display speaker you have the entire screen real estate for the display and that is what the Vivo Nex offers , a truly ultra fullview display with bezel-less design. It offers a stunning screen-to-body ratio of 91.24% which I really fell in love with this phone. It is perfect for watching movies and playing games offering a truly immersive experience. The Vivo Nex offers 6.59 inches, Super AMOLED display with fullHD+ resolution. There is a very slim bezels – 2.16 mm on the top; 5.08 mm on the bottom; and 1.71mm on each side that makes the display almost bezel less. I am quiet addicted to PUBG mobile these days and when you play on the NEX screen, the other Smartphone displays fails to excite you.

Dedicated AI button

Another notable addition to the NEX is a new button on the left side – the AI button. It can be used to launch the Google Lens camera or Google assistant. While the Google Lens can also be accessed within the camera app, the quick way when you want to reach it is a simple press on the new hardware button and it triggers the Google Lens camera.

Dual Engine Quick Charging

The Nex comes with a 4000mAh battery. The battery life is pretty good for a flagship Smartphone and can easily sail through a day which is a rare for flagship Smartphone these days. Further more, there is a dual engine quick charging and the box comes with a 22 watts charger. A 30 minutes charge can push from 0% to 50% and one hour can raise the bar to 90% which is pretty good.

15+ other notable FunTouch UI Features, Tips and Tricks in Vivo Nex

Navigation Gestures

Vivo Nex out of the box comes with on-screen navigation buttons but to get a truly full view immersive experience, try out the navigation gestures. To access the Navigation gestures go to Settings > System Navigation > Navigation Gestures You can use gesture actions to navigate to home, back and menu buttons and also open the control center which swipes up from the bottom. The setting also gives you option to choose the order of sliding gestures and navigation gesture styles like a bar style or a three dot style.

Smart Click

Settings > Smart Click There is a small trick you can do with the volume button with this Smart click option. When the screen is off, press and hold the volume down button to enable certain specified functions like to turn on/off flash light, record audio open camera, open facebook or you can custom set it to launch a particular app you have assigned for this action.

App Clone

Settings > App Clone The FunTouch UI also offers App clone or dual app feature where you can duplicate WhatsApp, Facebook or Instagram, so you can run two instances of the same app parallely on the same phone. For example, if you have two SIMs on your phone, you can have two WhatsApp app on the same phone and assign to both the numbers each.

One Hand mode

Settings > One-handed The 6.59″ display can be daunting to use for some people at certain time, the one-hand mode feature comes handy especially to minimize the keypad to either left side or right side for easy reach.

Smart Gesture actions

Settings > Smart Motion > Smart wake The FunTouch UI offers gesture motion to launch quickly certain apps by drawing specified alphabet when the screen is off.

Smart Call

Settings > Smart Motion > Smart call There is a set of smart call features that include Smart call where you can simply lift the phone to your ear when the contact or message thread interface is open to call the particular person, smart answere by lifting the phone close to your ear to answer incoming calls, Smart switch to speaker mode when in hands free mode by lifting the phone to your ear, smart mute by covering the screen with your palm when the phone is ringing, and wave to hands free with your palm over the top of the phone to answer calls hands free.

Shake to Turn on the flash

Settings > Smart Motion > Shake to Turn on the Flashlight If you have assigned the Smart click to other action but you need a quick method to turn on the flash, this feature should come handy. Simply turn it on and next time you need to turn on the flash, just shake the phone.

Smart Remind

Settings > Smart Motion > Smart Remind You can get missed calls and unread message notifications when you pick up your phone.

Face beauty for Video call

Settings > More actions > Face beauty for video call These days people do more of a video call via Whatsapp, Facebook and FunTouch UI offers beauty mode when you are doing video call on these apps.

Easy Touch

Settings > More actions > Easy Touch Easy Touch is a floating dial which can be moved around the edges of the screen. It gives quick access to notifications, screenshot, background wall paper, back button and home button but you can also customize the menu by a simple drag and drop feature in the settings. Additionally there is also a double tap easy touch icon for an extra action.

Flash Notification

Settings > More actions > Flash notifications Ok if your phone is away from you and still you don’t want to miss out an incoming cal, messages or event alert you can turn on this feature which would flash the display when you get the mentioned alerts.

OTG

Settings > OTG Finally, the phone also supports OTG but whenever you want to use the function, you need to enable it in the settings. The function will be automatically disabled if not being used within 5 minutes. So what you think of Vivo NEX? Share your thoughts.]]>

9 Reasons why Honor 9N scores over Redmi Note 5 Pro

Lakshmi Rajan — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 06:27:41 +0000

The plain fact is there is no one best Smartphone, had it been there no one would be buying any other mobiles, right? Every phone has its own plus and minus points that people weigh over when buying their new Smartphone, when their needs matches more with the positives a phone offer, they buy it. Simple. If you are looking for an affordable mid-range Smartphone, the choices narrow between the newly launched Honor 9N and the Redmi Note 5 Pro, while both the phones have their own goodie bags, I list 9 reasons why Honor 9N beats over Redmi Note 5 Pro and if you value these points as priority, you get your right pick too.

Design

Smartphone has become almost an extension of us, most of us can’t live without it and is our integral part. For a device that we carry almost always with us, the ergonomics matter a lot. The phone has to be lighter and get its dimension right for ease of use in our daily life, this is where Honor 9N has a vital advantage. The Honor 9N measures 149.2 x 71.8 x 7.7 mm as compared to 158.6 x 75.4 x 8.1 mm reading of Redmi Note 5 Pro, a few mm does make a huge difference and anything less than 8mm definitely is better. More importantly, the Honor 9N at 152 grams is much lighter than the 181 grams the Redmi Note 5 Pro weighs. Clad in glass body as compared to the more common in the category metal body the Redmi note 5 pro comes and available in exquisite one of the kind robin egg blue color and Lavender purple along side the traditional black and Honor’s special blue shade, the Honor 9N could easily win hands down the most stylish Smartphone in this price category.

Notch Ahead

Smartphone industry keeps evolving when it comes to aesthetics and design, last season it was about the new found love for 18:9 aspect ration which helped the OEMs to bring more real estate to the screen while still managing to keep the phone narrower for grip. Redmi Note 5 Pro embraced the 18:9 aspect ratio and it was well received but there was a quick shift again from the 18:9 aspect ratio to 19:9 aspect ratio with the arrival of notch design. Undoubtedly the ‘notch’ on the top divided the tech community with many of them deriding it but ultimately what matters is the end consumers and when I interacted with many consumers, I found there are lot many people who liked to be one notch ahead. The notch was embraced again, people did like it. So Honor moved in swiftly and the Honor 9N comes with notch. You don’t find any other device in this price range with notch, atleast yet. For those who don’t like notch, the EMUI also offers a display setting to hide notch.

Display

Honor 9N has a 5.84 inches IPS LCD display with a 1080 x 2280 pixels resolution translating to 432 ppi density. On the other hand, the Redmi Note 5 Pro comes with a 5.99 inches IPS LCD display offering a 1080 x 2160 pixels working out a 403 ppi density. 9N is packed with more pixel density and also when kept side by side, the display panel looks slightly more vibrant than the Note 5 Pro giving it a slight advantage.

Game Suite

If you are a hard core gamer like me, you would like the Game suite feature in Honor 9N. Game suite offers three modes: Performance mode: to improve game performance Smart mode: to balance performance and power consumption Power saver mode: saves battery life but reduces game performance. It also offers a DND mode while you are at gaming for an uninterrupted game session. When enabled, all onscreen notification will be muted or hidden except for calls, alarms and low battery alerts. The device will not ring or vibrate for calls and alarms so you can have unhindered gaming.

GPU Turbo – The future proofing

Talking about gaming, we all know the Smartphones performance can deteriorate over a time or atleast when you buy a Smartphone, you are limited to its hardware capability. What works as advantage for Honor Smartphones is the tight integration of software and hardware since they use their own HiSiliconne Kirin chipsets, very few countable OEMs have their own chipset running on their phones. Huawei, the parent company of Honor has their own R&D centers across the world including one in Bangalore. With a talented workforce of engineers and tightly integrated ecosystem, they are pushing a GPU Turbo update to some of their Hauwei/Honor Smartphones and Honor 9N is poised to receive the update in few months, the update promises to increase the gaming performance by 30% and battery life by 20%.

Riding Mode

A recent report states that in India the use of mobile phones while driving claimed 2,138 lives last year. It’s a serious concern which made Honor introduce a Riding mode in their Smartphones including Honor 9N. It can be easily enabled from the quick settings before you start your ride. When you enable the ride mode, the bluetooth and headset will be disabled in case you have paired them, and calls will be automatically answered with voice or sms messages based on your ride mode settings. You can choose to answer by voice message, answer by text or decline calls automatically. The app also features an optional ride tracking which gives you insights on your riding pattern, distance covered and time spend on wheels.

Better Camera Controls

EMUI has probably one of the better camera app offering good number of presets or modes which helps normal users take amazing pictures, something which the MIUI on Redmi Note 5 Pro lacks. Honor 9N offers an extensive array of modes including pro photo, pro video, AR lens, night shot, light painting, and my favorite good food mode. For those who are not comfortable or unsure of handling manual modes, the light painting mode enables them to become ace photographers in capturing the city at dark with trailing lights, shoot silky water like pro. Another area in the camera app where Honor 9N scores over Redmi Note 5 Pro is the rich manual controls the EMUI offers. If you are a pro, you definitely have a better control on the camera with a Honor 9N smartphone. So either way, amateur or pro, the Honor 9N camera offers a better usability and controls.

Fingeprint Sensor – A little more

There is no denying both the phones offer accurate and quick fingerprint sensor and also has app lock feature. But Honor has few more tricks to the fingerprint sensor implementation. You can use touch and hold or slide gestures on the sensor area to do certain tasks like to answer incoming calls, stop alarm, quick access notification panel or browse photos.

Battery modes – last minute survival methods

We all scramble to prolong the battery when it is reaching the fag end, we turn off the connectivity, dim the screen and what not to make sure the battery can last a little longer. The Honor 9N offers a better power saver mode than Redmi Note 5 Pro there is a power saver mode and when you are really left with last few percentage of battery, you can turn to the Ultra power saving mode which turns the screen black, shuts down everything else except to use dialer, messages, contacts, SOS and an option to add two more apps to the home screen. So if you value any of these points above, the Honor 9N definitely should be your pick. What you think of these features, do share your thoughts. https://youtu.be/Ip6zypPW8cg ]]>