Kohler’s $11,500 Smart Toilet Comes With Built-in Alexa, Speaker and Mood Lighting

December 20, 2022

Kohler’s ,500 Smart Toilet Comes With Built-in Alexa, Speaker and Mood Lighting

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From faucets to smart mirrors, the home goods company Kohler is no stranger to unique smart home devices. In 2019, the company announced the Kohler Numi 2.0 Smart Toilet with LED Light, a speaker and Alexa voice controls, but now it’s finally available to be installed inside homes.

The smart toilet has got a whole suite of features and is priced at $11,500. According to the official site, Numi comes with built-in surround sound speakers, ambient mood lighting, a heated seat, warm water cleansing with a dryer and automatic lid opening/closing and flushing. The smart toilet also has Amazon Alexa voice controls built in so one can check the weather, listen to the news or order more toilet paper all while sitting on the loo.

Moreover, Numi also has a bidet feature that can wash both front and back bits, and UV lights for cleansing the bidet. It also has a dual-flush mode, auto deodorising and an air dryer to keep the user fresh once the bidet is finished doing its job, according to The Verge.

The Kohler website explains some of its features by saying, “Kohler’s most advanced toilet now offers personalized settings that let you fine-tune every option to your exact preferences, from ambient colored lighting and Bluetooth wireless technology to the heated seat with hands-free opening and closing.”

The Numi 2.0 is a part of Kohler’s connected bathroom, which also includes a smart tub, smart shower and smart mirror. As per The Verge, the smart toilet is available to distributors in the United States and it should be available to purchase directly over the coming days.

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Infinix Hot 20 5G Review: 5G on a Budget

By
hitesh
-

December 20, 2022
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With 5G networks now available in major cities, Indians are still paying the ‘5G tax’. This basically means that as a buyer, if you choose a 5G-capable smartphone, you end up with less capable hardware and features because 5G has been prioritised over everything else. This is felt the most in the budget segment, because of the rising cost of hardware. The recipe for cooking up a budget 5G smartphone for India has been the same since they started appearing in the first half of 2021. Now, Infinix has just launched its version of a budget 5G smartphone, the Hot 20 5G, so let’s see if anything has changed.

The company promises to deliver a true 5G experience with twelve 5G bands compared to other smartphones in this segment which usually skimp on support. There’s also a capable processor, a high-refresh rate display, and a large battery, all of which come at an impressively low price tag of Rs. 11,999. Does it all blend well when put together? Read on to find out.

Infinix Hot 20 5G price in India

The Infinix Hot 20 5G is available in one configuration which has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage and is priced at Rs. 11,999. The phone is available in Space Blue, Blaster Green, and Racing Black. I received the Space Blue finish for review.

While the price seems quite competitive given the hardware this phone offers, the iQoo Z6 Lite 5G (from Rs. 13,999) offers slightly better hardware, but omits a charger from its box. However, compare both of these smartphones to a 4G-only model such as the Moto G52 (available from Rs.11,999 onwards) and both seem to fall quite short when it comes to specifications and features.

Infinix Hot 20 5G design

While the Infinix Hot 20 5G does go big on hardware, design clearly was not a priority. The phone has a basic design that feels more entry-level than budget. The key factor in this is the use of a polycarbonate unibody forming the sides and the rear panel. The waterdrop display notch also makes this phone look a bit dated. However, this design also feels practical as the textured back with its fine grooves helps with the grip and keeps the phone smudge-free during use.

The Infinix Hot 20 5G has its volume rocker and power button on the right

The phone features a single speaker, a Type-C USB port and a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom. There’s the volume rocker on the right, below which is the power button that also doubles up as the fingerprint scanner. The top is blank but the left has the SIM tray, which has space for two nano-SIMs and a microSD card.

The display, apart from the water drop notch, also has thick bezels all around with the bottom being even thicker. The display does gather fingerprints and smudges but these can be wiped off easily. Despite being made primarily of polycarbonate, the Hot 20 5G feels surprisingly heavy at 204g and does not have any IP rating.

Infinix Hot 20 5G specifications and software

The Infinix Hot 20 5G has a MediaTek Dimensity 810 SoC which is commonly found in budget 5G smartphones these days. Communication standards include Wi-Fi 802.11 ac and Bluetooth 5.0. Infinix claims that the Hot 20 5G is one of only a few smartphones to support twelve 5G bands (n1/ n3/ n5/ n7/ n8/ n20/ n28/ n38/ n40/ n41/ n77/ n78), which should make for a seamless 5G experience wherever networks are available. It supports microSD card expansion up to 1TB, which is nice to have on a budget smartphone. The Hot 20 5G has a 5,000mAh battery and can be charged using the 18W charger that comes in the box.

The Infinix Hot 20 5G is powered by the company’s XOS software, version 10.6.0, which is based on Android 12. The latest version features larger home screen folders which makes it easier to identify the apps inside them. One can also swipe left or right once inside a folder to browse through other folders on that page on the home screen, which is convenient. There are other neat touches such as a notification that plays once the battery is fully charged, a customisable Power Boost mode which lets you select what to disable, and more.

The Infinix Hot 20 5G’s XOS operating system is based on Android 12

Those coming from a near-stock Android device, or even any of today’s common custom skins such as MIUI or Realme UI will have a steep learning curve trying to navigate the XOS interface. This is mainly because most things aren’t found in places that we are used to. A simple example is the notifications tray. It’s split up into two parts, so swiping downwards from the left of the notch will show notifications, while swiping down from the right reveals the quick settings toggles. The toggles section also has an odd layout with some large buttons at the top for Wi-Fi, mobile data and Bluetooth, with smaller buttons below that are left-aligned to accommodate a brightness bar on the right. Head into the Settings app and it will take you a while to find battery usage information. This is because it’s hidden inside a section in the Settings app called Power Marathon> Battery setting> Battery usage.

One detail that first-time Infinix buyers will notice is the sheer abundance of bloatware and third-party apps, most of which cannot be uninstalled. These include AHA Games, Beez, Boomplay, Carlcare, Facebook, Hi Browser, Palm Store, WeLife, WeZone, Visha Player, YoParty and many more. Many of the built-in apps had an “agree to proceed” pop-up asking for permissions to collect information. I also noticed some odd ads for the Hi Browser app when launching the Phone Master app.

Surprisingly, I was not bombarded by pesky notifications from these apps during the review period, save for the Palm Store app which prompted me to download apps from it every day. The Phone Master app did annoy me from time to time when installing apps, or with random notifications reminding me to clean up the phone’s memory. At the time of this review, Infinix could not confirm whether an Android 13 software update is in the works for this particular smartphone.

Infinix Hot 20 5G performance

Infinix seems to have taken a gamble of sorts by going with a 6.6-inch IPS LCD panel instead of a better AMOLED unit. What you do get is a 120Hz refresh rate which attempts to make software interactions feel smoother. While this display appears sharp enough with a full-HD+ resolution, colours are a bit too saturated and I noticed a slightly bluish tint. Brightness is a bit below the mark and I often found myself manually cranking it well above 50 percent even when indoors. Outdoors, the display just wasn’t bright enough to tackle bright sunlight whether I was watching videos, browsing through the phone’s interface or using the camera app. Widevine support is limited to L3 which is good enough for SD quality playback but streaming video does not appear sharp. The single bottom-firing speaker sounds tinny at best and just isn’t loud enough, either for watching movies or for playing games. The fingerprint reader built in to the power button worked reliably every single time.

The Infinix Hot 20 5G has a 120Hz IPS LCD display with a waterdrop notch at the top

While the software experience with XOS was far from best in class, performance was lacking as well. There were random instances of lag when launching and switching between, and minimising apps. I also noticed some random stuttering when scrolling through long lists inside apps.

With a Dimensity 810 SoC inside and 4GB of RAM, the phone performed as expected in the usual benchmark tests. The Infinix Hot 20 5G scored 3,12,324 points in AnTuTu, and managed scores of 587 and 1,681 in Geekbench’s single and multi-core tests respectively. In GFXBench, the phone managed 57fps in T-Rex, 23fps in Manhattan 3.1 and 12fps in Car Chase. Given the processor, the phone is mainly capable of low to mid-level gaming and works better with casual titles. While games such as Subway Surfers 2 ran smoothly without any hiccups, Asphalt 9: Legends stuttered quite a bit, along with some instances of lag during gameplay. I also tried Call of Duty: Mobile, which was just about playable at medium graphics and framerate settings, but I found the 180Hz touch sampling to be insufficient.

I managed to get about 6-7 hours of screen-on time from the 5,000mAh battery, which is good for a budget smartphone. Our standard video loop battery test managed 15 hours and 27 minutes, which is only average. The 18W charger in the box felt relatively slow, taking a good two and a half hours to fully charge the Hot 20 5G.

Infinix Hot 20 5G cameras

The Infinix Hot 20 5G packs in two rear-facing cameras, of which only one can be accessed by the user. The primary camera is a 50-megapixel unit, and it is accompanied by an “AI camera” which is used for gathering depth data. Selfies are handled by an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. Unlike the rest of the XOS software interface which felt a bit out of place, the camera app felt familiar and was quite simple to use. What I did not like was its laggy performance when switching between camera modes, and when shooting in low light. The phone can record video at 720p, 1080p and 2K resolutions, when using the front and rear cameras.

The Infinix Hot 20 5G has two rear cameras, of which only one is accessible by the user

In daylight, the primary camera captured mostly natural-looking colours when shooting landscape photos, but closeups of objects didn’t look as good. Photos lacked the usual sharpness and detail, and dynamic range was average with the HDR working overtime and making shots appear a bit dreamy. The phone lacks a macro camera and I could not get the primary one to capture sharp images at close range. Selfies taken in daylight also appeared a bit soft and dreamy. Switching to Portrait mode turns off the HDR system, so backgrounds appear completely blown out when shot under bright light. Edge detection was also strictly average.

Infinix Hot 20 5G daylight camera samples. Top to bottom: Landscape, Close up, Portrait mode selfie (tap to see full size)

While I did not have great expectations from a budget smartphone when shooting in low light, the results from this camera did take me by surprise. The image quality dropped drastically when shooting photos post sunset. Resolved details were non-existent and the shots appeared mostly like paintings, with defined outlines around objects. Firing up the night mode only made things worse with overblown contrast and crushed blacks. Selfies in low light came out with passable detail, and the front-facing flash does improve the quality drastically, so it is useful.

Infinix Hot 20 5G low-light camera samples. Top: Auto mode, bottom: Night mode (tap to see full size)

Overall, video quality was quite average for a budget smartphone. The recorded video lacked stabilisation and appeared quite shaky when panning or walking. Details weren’t as sharp as I expected. Low-light video recordings were unusable.

Verdict

With the Hot 20 5G, it sure feels as though Infinix solely focussed on 5G as a selling point and ignored everything else. This phone packs a MediaTek Dimensity 810 SoC, but XOS lacks the optimisations to make everything run smoothly. While I did not expect phenomenal gaming performance at this price point, I did hope for decent daylight camera performance, which I didn’t get from the Infinix Hot 20 5G. Apart from battery life and support for multiple 5G bands, there is little reason to check out this smartphone.

Despite lacking a charger in the box, the iQoo Z6 Lite 5G (Review) seems to be better optimised in terms of software and also offers superior still image performance with its primary camera. If you are fine with a 4G device, you can treat yourself to far better hardware by choosing the Moto G52 (Review). It has a superior 90Hz AMOLED display, stereo speakers, an IP52 rating for water and dust resistance, 30W charging, and bloatware-free near-stock Android software.

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Need for Speed Unbound Review: Just Shy of Greatness

By
hitesh
-

December 16, 2022
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Need for Speed Unbound — now out on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S/X — sets itself apart from the competition by adopting a unique street art-inspired style, while continuing to offer the high-octane action that the NFS franchise is renowned for. We get police chases with real jeopardy, a racer AI that is happy to take you out, and a high-risk high-reward system that prevents the action from ever getting dull. There is also a classic underdog story on our hands in its ‘Story’ mode. All these things come together to deliver an exhilarating arcade racing experience.

Set in the fictional city of Lakeshore, the NFS Unbound map is on the smaller side, considering the scale of most open-world games today. It still serves as an effective backdrop to the street races with various tracks and terrains. Petrol heads will be excited to see an assortment of some of the most iconic rides from the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Porsche, and BMW. Overall, Need for Speed Unbound includes over 140 cars at launch. There are also specific body mods and extensive customisation options available for each vehicle. These are some of the most realistic-looking car models in an NFS game to date.

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NFS Unbound review: gameplay

Rather than asking you to take the perfect racing line, Need for Speed Unbound rewards players for taking a corner in the flashiest ways possible. Drifts, near-misses, drafting, and high jumps add to your two nitrous metres — one meant for a long blast, and the other intended for short bursts. Even at the start line, a perfectly timed acceleration can give you an instant boost. However, tip slightly over the edge or lag a bit short, and the engine will stall, leaving you stranded and allowing other racers to gain an edge. It is this high-risk high-reward approach that kept me thoroughly engaged for most of my play through.

While getting to grips with the arcade-style handling was a piece of cake, mastering it took significant time. (There were a lot of crashes involved, I admit.) NFS Unbound can be a bit unforgiving in this regard. The game does not include a rewind option that has become a staple of modern racing titles. Instead, depending on the race, you get a limited number of retries in the Story mode. The only saving grace is that cars reset almost instantly after a crash.

The Unbound racing AI doesn’t make things easier either. Other racers will fight for every slight space and cause some frustrating collisions. On the flip side, it is equally satisfying to see them crash into oncoming traffic as they make mistakes — or when you force them to. Need for Speed Unbound also has police cars, who raise the tension by interfering with races and continuing with the chase even after you’ve crossed the chequered flag.

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Returning to the garage after piling up wins on the road, you will get to spend your cash on plenty of performance parts and body modifications in NFS Unbound. You can have your pick from a list of 140 cars if you have enough money in the bank. There are also a plethora of options available when it comes to paints and wraps. I am glad there is an option to copy community-made designs. However, if you are more artistic than I, then you will find yourself spending hours creating the perfect look for your ride.

NFS Unbound review: Story and multiplayer

Need for Speed Unbound includes a single-player campaign that could have very easily come across as cheesy and unforgettable. The premise leans heavily into traditional action movie tropes — betrayal, friends becoming rivals, and dirty police. But it’s the authenticity of the characters that upholds this underdog story. Their hearty banter made me appreciate it more than I thought I would. More importantly, it does a great job of setting up the world of Lakeshore. Without going into spoilers, our protagonist has four weeks to qualify for The Grand, Lakeshore’s ultimate street race. Each week, you hit the streets during the day or night to win races, and earn enough cash to enter the weekend qualifier.

Races are split based on vehicle tiers, which encourages players to make conscious decisions about upgrading their vehicles. You can’t pack top-tier performance parts in all your cars and bump them up to the highest “S+” rank. If you don’t have the right vehicle, you might miss out on high-stakes races. You will also need to ponder which vehicles to upgrade, and which ones to keep as the best-in-class model. It is a minor alteration from the norm — but one that adds a surprising depth to NFS Unbound.

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While races earn you money, you gain heat from police with each race. Challenges like Speed Trap and Drift Zones are the only way to avoid attracting police and still earn cash. The Police will become an increasing presence as your heat grows. The real thrill of the chase comes from the fact that if you get caught, you lose all the money that you earned in that particular session. Considering that a significant amount is needed to enter the big weekend races, these NFS Unbound encounters become even more nerve-wracking. The only way to reset your heat is to be caught, or return to your garage without getting busted.

Unfortunately, police vehicles are restricted to the Story mode only. There are no chases in multiplayer, nor any worries about losing cash. It instantly makes the online experience duller than the Story mode. There are no live events, instant head-to-heads, or any other interactive means to make Lakeshore feel alive. With those features absent, the whole city feels like a glorified hub in multiplayer. And with NFS games having been terrible in terms of post-launch content, I’m not holding my breath for any significant additions to its online scene. All in all, NFS Unbound multiplayer feels like a massive letdown in comparison to its well-executed single-player.

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Need for Speed Unbound review: music and graphics

The graffiti-inspired theme and its artistic flair adds to NFS Unbound’s realistically-designed world and vehicles. Even the character models carry a cartoony look. But none of this bogged down the game on PC graphically — it all meshed together seamlessly. My trusty AMD Radeon RX 570 8GB was able to output 55–60fps, on a mix of ‘Medium’ and ‘High’ settings. While Need for Speed Unbound ran smoothly and didn’t suffer from any major crashes, there are frequent visual glitches in the game that can be annoying.

Music has always been a core part of NFS games, and it is no different on Unbound. There are tons of tracks that complement high-speed racing. Annoyingly though, music only kicks in during races, which is a weird choice. Why can’t I enjoy music while simply cruising down the highway? On top of that, there are no radio stations — and there’s no option to skip tracks either. I have found myself stuck with terrible songs during intense races that sullied the experience.

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NFS Unbound review: verdict

Overall though, there is a lot that works in Need for Speed Unbound. Its arcade handling is easy for newcomers, but a real challenge to master. Vehicle body customisation is miles ahead than the likes of Forza Horizon 5. Its unique visual style and character models help the game stand out, what with most racing games leaning more and more towards life-like graphics. Add to that likeable characters and a simple premise, which makes its Story mode an enjoyable affair.

On the flip side, NFS Unbound fails to take advantage of its open-world setting in multiplayer. The absence of police online particularly hurts. The way music works in the game is also infuriating. All these shortcomings bring Unbound a few pegs down, in what is otherwise a solid entry in the NFS franchise. If you’re on PC, I suggest you opt for the EA Play Pro subscription, complete the Story mode (and skip its abysmal multiplayer), and unsubscribe.

Pros:

Unique visual style

Exciting police chases

Rewards high-risk driving

Likeable underdog story

Vehicle variety, customisation

Cons:

Frequent visual glitches

Bland multiplayer experience

No music radio stations

No police vehicles in online races

Rating (out of 10): 7

Gadgets 360 played Need for Speed Unbound on a PC with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU, AMD Radeon RX570 GPU, and 16GB of RAM.

Need for Speed Unbound released December 2 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X.

Pricing starts at Rs. 3,499 on PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and EA Store; and Rs. 4,499 on Xbox Store and PlayStation Store.

Need for Speed Unbound is also included in the EA Play Pro subscription, which starts at Rs. 999 per month. The standard Rs. 315 per month EA Play membership gives players access to a 10-hour trial for the game on all platforms.

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Google Brings Matter Support to Android Devices, Nest Home Products for Smart Device Interoperability

By
hitesh
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December 16, 2022
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Google has announced that its Android, Google Nest, and Google Home devices will, starting today, be interoperable with smart ecosystems from other brands. This has been made possible by the search giant through support for the Matter protocol on the aforementioned devices. Matter is an open-source, royalty-free, next-generation unifying protocol for smart home device connectivity developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). The alliance, first conceived in 2019 has around 300 companies onboard including major players Apple, Samsung, Amazon, and Huawei.

According to an official blog post from the search giant, Google Nest and Android devices, have been automatically updated to with support for the Matter protocol. The list of devices that are already Matter-enabled, as of today, include Google Home devices like the Google Home Smart Speaker, Google Home Mini Smart Speaker. Google Nest devices like the Google Nest Mini, Google Nest Audio, Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub (2nd gen), Nest Hub Max, and the Nest Wifi Pro also get support for Matter, as per the company.

Google has also added Matter support for Fast Pair on Android which will allow users to quickly connect to Matter-enabled devices to their home network, Google Home and other smart devices.

Matter utilises a wireless technology based on a combination of internet protocol (IP), and the Thread protocol. Smart devices from different brands have been utilising different technologies or protocols to build their smart devices which resulted in the smart devices being incompatible with each other.

The Matter smart home standard also allows devices that were previously heavily dependent on internet connectivity and the cloud for functioning, to work even when offline. The decrease in reliance on internet and cloud connectivity also reduces the latency between human action and smart device reaction. This is probably one of the most significant advantages that Matter brings into the smart home ecosystem and one that could truly revolutionise smart device adoptability and ease of use at large.

Google also announced that it is continuously working with industry partners in improving the smart device operating protocol.

The search giant also confirmed that it is working with South Korean conglomerate Samsung to develop a built-in Multi Admin feature that will allow users to have cross-platform control over their smart devices and smart home ecosystem. The multi-admin feature will arrive sometime in 2023, confirmed the company.

Meanwhile, Google also announced that it will bring Matter support on iOS through the Google Home app. However, the search giant shied away from mentioning a timeline for the same.

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Avatar: The Way of Water Review: James Cameron Gives Us the Biggest ‘Video Game Movie’ Ever

By
hitesh
-

December 15, 2022
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Avatar: The Way of Water — now playing in cinemas worldwide — has a gargantuan task on its hands. (And I’m not even talking about the sequel’s need to earn over a billion dollars at the box office to turn a profit.) James Cameron, the returning director, co-writer, co-editor, and co-producer on the second Avatar movie, must prove to audiences that his world of Pandora is worth revisiting thirteen years on. The original Avatar was both a showcase of 3D cinema and otherworldly visuals. One of them is on its last legs, while VFX and scale are seemingly everywhere these days. The spectacle alone — Cameron had little to offer on the story and characters front back then — cannot carry Avatar: The Way of Water. It needs more.

Additionally, the first sequel is an audition for more Avatar sequels — slated to open every alternate December between now and 2028 — one of which has already been filmed, one that has a script in place, and another with a figment of an idea. Cameron doesn’t just need you to be invested today for Avatar: The Way of Water. He has to sell you on the grand plan he’s been cooking for over a decade. But all that is moot if this new chapter doesn’t work. (That’s where the commercial aspects come in more, with Cameron attempting to buy himself cover ahead of release, by noting that he’s prepared to end on the trilogy mark should the new film underperform.)

For better and for worse, Avatar: The Way of Water is crafted along the lines of its predecessor. It’s built structurally like the original, with an initial heavy exposition dump, followed by an immersion into a new culture, leading to a major confrontation between mankind and Pandora’s natives. The finale is better than everything that comes before it. There are even callbacks to the first film, not that anyone will spot them given the massive time gap and Avatar‘s lack of re-watchability. And the sequel’s visuals are paramount, with Cameron seemingly pouring more VFX money into certain scenes than the entire budget of Bollywood movies. Avatar: The Way of Water is a fascinating dive into alien waters, with every aspect of the new world shining gloriously.

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But Avatar: The Way of Water also shares some of the original’s problems. The story is paper thin, the dialogue clunky and cringe, the background score utterly forgettable, and the character development outright laughable. Cameron paints so broadly with his themes that it makes you wonder if he’s trying to make a global point or if he lacks the skills to be specific. (He’s credited on the screenplay alongside the Rise of the Planet of the Apes duo Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Two other scribes contributed to the story alongside Jaffa, Silver, and Cameron.) On top of all that, the returning Avatar director — known for his fascination with filmmaking technology — has made a choice that threatens to undermine it all.

For reasons I cannot fathom, Cameron has decided to present Avatar: The Way of Water in variable frame rates: standard 24fps, and high-frame-rate 48fps. Most of the dialogue scenes make use of the former, while the action is all rendered in the latter. At times though, the Avatar sequel switches between the two on the fly, in the same scene, in what is both unnecessary and jarring. The best way I’ve found to describe it is a budget computer struggling with a new-age video game, and thereby dropping frames to maintain fidelity. Cameron believes this solves HFR’s pain point, but I’m not convinced.

A decade on from the events of Avatar, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) are raising four children: the eldest Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), second son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), adopted Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and youngest Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss). A fifth, a human boy Spider (Jack Champion), is also part of the posse. But their familial happiness is shattered when the “Sky People” return, and set up a new massive base of operations in record time. With Jake and Co. being a constant pain in the bottom for the humans, commander-in-charge General Ardmore (Edie Falco) raises old villain Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and his company from the dead, by putting their memories in Avatar bodies.

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Kate Winslet as Ronal, Cliff Curtis as Tonowari — both of the Metkayina clan — in Avatar: The Way of Water
Photo Credit: Disney/20th Century Studios

Realising he and his family have a target on their back, Jake decides they must leave their adopted home of the forest, and seek refuge with the Metkayina, the Reef Clan, out by a group of islands. Everyone and everything associated with Omaticaya, the Forest Clan, is discarded save for Neytiri. It’s a clever reset in some ways as both the protagonists and the audience are thrown into a new world. For nearly 45 minutes or so after the Sullys arrive in the waters, Avatar: The Way of Water becomes a mix of exposition, oceanic wonders, and characters adapting to their new surroundings. It’s the longest second arc of its kind I’ve seen in a blockbuster movie in years — though it’s partly because Cameron doesn’t have a real plot to offer.

Along the way, Avatar: The Way of Water tries to navigate what the sequel wants to be about. Cameron has noted that he wrote the script for the first Avatar back in 1995 when he was barely a father. Having started the second Avatar in 2012, as a father to multiple teenage children, he incorporated more of the family into the story. But intentions do not guarantee results. Cameron’s views on family are traditional and his exploration of it is surface-level. His depiction of teenagers is nothing unique: they rebel, bicker, and get themselves into trouble. Heck, they get kidnapped so often that the film eventually leans into self-referential humor. (That said, the film isn’t all that funny. It’s more interested in wowing you and pushing your emotional buttons.)

Cameron’s attempts at commentary are more successful. With the first film, the Avatar writer-director was making a post 9-11 Iraq and Afghanistan movie in some ways — in addition to being inspired by a thousand other things, from Pocahontas to Princess Mononoke, and from cyberpunk literature to Hindu gods. Avatar: The Way of Water doesn’t build on American interventionism, be it the US’ bungled 20-year occupation of Afghanistan, the failed nation-building efforts in the Bush and Obama years, or the disastrous withdrawal under the Biden administration.

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A tulkun, a whale-like sea creature, in Avatar: The Way of Water
Photo Credit: Disney/20th Century Studios

The closest the new Avatar movie comes to making any meaningful commentary is regarding humanity’s attitude toward other life forms. (In Avatar: The Way of Water, Earth is said to be desolate with mankind in need of a new home.) We’ve hunted species after species to near extinction — some have been lost for good — and while conservation efforts have produced results in recent years, scientists are warning that we’re in a sixth mass extinction driven by human activity. And Cameron sketches out our inhuman practices on an IMAX canvas, with a lengthy heart-wrenching scene depicting the killing of a highly-intelligent sea mammal.

Cameron spends so much time with these Pandora creatures that one of them becomes the “hero” in the boisterous — albeit repetitive in parts — third act of Avatar: The Way of Water. It was the first time in a cinema that I heard an audience cheer for a sea creature’s action chops and intelligence on the battlefield. (Take that, Aquaman.) That crowning shot is part of the new Avatar film’s best stretch, as it moves swiftly and seamlessly between surfaces, displaying a fluidity and understanding of choreography that the oceanic climax of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever severely lacked. For portions of that concluding stretch, Cameron’s embrace of technology meets his Terminator 2 heyday, washing over you in ways that are almost enough to make you look past the film’s flaws.

In those moments, the 48fps HFR presentation works in Avatar: The Way of Water’s favour. But though the quality of VFX has come a long way since the days of Avatar — the original hasn’t aged well and watching the movie today, a lot of it feels fake — problems exist. It’s virtually impossible to tell what’s real and what’s fake in Cameron’s environment. The entire film feels like CGI, be it the sky, the water, the creatures, the warships, and even the characters (whose performances rely on motion capture).

Sure, it might technically be a live-action movie, but it’s more akin to The Lion King reboot. Except that was rendered like a (24fps) film. Avatar: The Way of Water is closer to a new-age PS5 game, as I’m only used to seeing such smooth footage in said medium. And that feeling you’re watching 192 minutes of video game cutscenes is accentuated by the constant frame-rate switching and Russell Carpenter’s cinematography (which employs snap zooms). Avatar: The Way of Water is, in some ways then, the world’s biggest and most expensive “video game movie” ever.

And we might be looking at three more like it — all with Jake Sully vs Colonel Quaritch. Oh, Eywa.

Avatar: The Way of Water is released Friday, December 16 worldwide. In India, the second Avatar movie is available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.

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Noise IntelliBuds True Wireless Earphones Review: ‘Smarter’ Listening

By
hitesh
-

December 14, 2022
0

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Noise has quickly risen to become one of the main volume drivers for affordable gadgets in India, with a strong focus on smartwatches and true wireless earphones. Most of the company’s products are priced competitively, but Noise’s most recent launch in the TWS space takes a considerably different approach — one that shows intent and ambition to drive the average price of its products upwards. The Noise IntelliBuds is among the company’s most advanced and promising true wireless earphones so far.

Priced at Rs. 4,999, the Noise IntelliBuds have been developed in collaboration with Bragi, famous for being the first brand (that we know of) to go to market with true wireless earphones back in 2015. The headset is pitched as a ‘smart’ one, with head-gesture controls, hot voice commands, and plenty of customisation options through a specially-developed app. Is this the smartest true wireless headset under Rs. 5,000 that you can buy right now? Find out in this review.

The Noise IntelliBuds has a USB Type-C port for charging, and delivers good battery life

Noise IntelliBuds design and features

Although the IntelliBuds is the most expensive true wireless headset in Noise’s product range, it’s still priced fairly affordably as compared to much of the competition, at Rs. 4,999. Expectedly, it’s a fairly ordinarily looking pair of earphones with no exceptional design cues or even the tendency to pack more into a smaller form factor. The earpieces and charging case on the Noise IntelliBuds are large and somewhat bulky, although not unpleasantly so.

The Noise IntelliBuds have a proper in-canal fit, long stems extending downwards, and a flat touch-sensitive surface with the brand’s logo etched on. The earphones are available in two colours, black and white; while I don’t have any complaints regarding the white review unit sent to me, the black looks a bit better in my opinion.

The earpieces are IPX5 rated for water resistance and weigh 5.4g each, while the charging case weighs 45g. It isn’t a particularly small charging case, but you should still be able to slip it in your pocket when not in use without much trouble.

Unlike most options priced at around Rs. 5,000, the Noise IntelliBuds don’t have active noise cancellation. This might be an eyebrow-raiser for many, but the brand is pitching the IntelliBuds as a ‘smart’ option and wants you to look beyond the lack of obvious features such as ANC. That said, the secure, comfortable in-canal fit does offer decent passive noise isolation, and there is a transparency mode.

The ‘smart’ experience on offer on the the Noise IntelliBuds is admittedly an interesting one for a number of reasons. The headset has features that are designed at making the user experience easier and more intuitive, such as hot voice commands and head tracking gestures, as well as detailed app-based functionality. If you prefer a more predictable and classic approach to the way you use earphones, standard touch controls are present as well.

Noise IntelliBuds app and specifications

Much of what the Noise IntelliBuds offer has to do with the collaboration with Bragi. The earphones are powered by ‘Bragi OS’, but it’s important to clarify here that this isn’t an ‘operating system’ in the same way that devices such as smartphones, media streamers, or even smartwatches have them. Instead, Bragi OS enables some additional ‘smart’ functionality on the Noise IntelliBuds, such as the on-device voice controls and head gesture tracking.

All of this works through the Noise IntelliBuds (NoiseFit smart) app, which is available only for Android at the time of this review. The app lets you set up and calibrate some of these features, which then work natively on the earphones themselves, instead of relying on the connection with the smartphone and Internet to function.

The app for the Noise IntelliBuds is only available for Android, as of this review

You can also use the app to view the battery levels of the earpieces, configure and customise the touch controls, and adjust the equaliser settings. The app interface is nicely laid out and easy to get used to, although I did find the touch controls to be a bit complicated to configure. Connectivity with the app was buggy on occasion as well, with the battery indicators sometimes not showing the levels correctly, and on a couple of occasions not loading the interface at all despite the earphones being connected.

The Noise IntelliBuds true wireless headset has 6mm dynamic drivers, with Bluetooth 5 for connectivity and support for the SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs. The sales package includes three pairs of silicone ear tips for the earphones, and a short charging cable.

Noise IntelliBuds performance and battery life

Although Noise has seen some phenomenal growth in sales figures in recent months, the brand is still largely viewed as a specialist in the affordable space. This puts significant expectations on the Noise IntelliBuds, given the Rs. 4,999 price tag and the promise of premium-grade capabilities. Indeed, the overall experience for me was largely pleasant, although some features did feel forced and unpolished, and the sound did not seem to match up completely to competing options in this price segment.

To start with, I tried out the special features that come as part of the collaboration with Bragi — hot voice commands and head gestures. The former worked quite well for me, with the earphones registering the wake command most of the time, and usually understanding any of the specific voice commands I gave right after.

I was able to control playback, volume, turn on or off the transparency mode, and accept calls using voice commands. Interestingly, this doesn’t need an Internet connection to work, as is the case when using voice assistants such as Google Assistant or Siri; all of this works natively on the IntelliBuds headset itself, once set up. Of course, this only covers hardware functionality, but you do have the option to use your smartphone’s default voice assistant for the more comprehensive functionality it offers.

There is no active noise cancellation (ANC) on the Noise IntelliBuds, but the in-canal fit offers decent passive noise isolation

Head-tracking gestures on the other hand, didn’t work very well. Despite redoing the calibration process a few times, even the slightest head movements tended to cause something to inadvertently happen on the Noise IntelliBuds. Keeping my head in a certain way would cause the volume to increase or decrease unexpectedly, among other undesired effects. I found it best to keep this feature switched off.

While the feature set and specifications come across as decent for a headset in this price range, sound quality on the Noise IntelliBuds is rather underwhelming on the whole. I wouldn’t go as far as to call the sound unpleasant, but there certainly wasn’t anything special about it. The headset felt held back and restrained even at loud volumes, with the tuning feeling a bit lazy and unrefined.

Listening to New To You by Calvin Harris, the sound was comfortable and entirely bearable even over long periods of time, but the delivery lacked any real drive or feeling. The violin riff at the beginning of the track and its accompanying electronic beat sounded dull, with the Noise IntelliBuds not really delivering any emphasis at any part of the frequency range. While the highs felt a bit more pronounced a bit further into the house-pop track, the bass felt a bit boring and unexciting.

Even with more vibrant and naturally lively tracks such as Tokyo Night Train (Claes Rosen Remix) by The Midnight, the Noise IntelliBuds felt restrained and somewhat lacking in character. The somewhat dull sonic signature might have been forgiven, was there a reasonable amount of detail to be heard, but there wasn’t too much of that either. That said, you’re unlikely to be put off by the sound in any way; your favourite tracks shouldn’t really be adversely affected, but the point of enhancing the listening experience is somewhat lost with the Noise IntelliBuds.

Transparency mode does a decent job of improving your ambient awareness without interfering with audio playback, but it did sound a bit too artificially amplified for my liking. Call quality is acceptable indoors, but the lack of active noise cancellation did affect my ability to concentrate on calls in even relatively quiet outdoor environments. Connection stability wasn’t an issue for me, with the Noise IntelliBuds working well at distances of up to 3m from the paired smartphone.

Battery life is pretty good on the Noise IntelliBuds, with the earpieces running for around seven hours on a single charge at moderate volume levels. The charging case added three full charges, for a total run time of around 28 hours per charge cycle. Fast charging is present, and the earpieces can fully charge within the case in up to 30 minutes, but a full charge of the case and earpieces took around two hours for me.

Verdict

Noise has typically enjoyed success in the budget segment for true wireless earphones, but the IntelliBuds is a refreshing sign of intent from the Indian company. It’s an approach that is tech-driven, yet focused on the user experience rather than often meaningless specifications and feature-padding. It’s also incredibly brave, given the lack of ANC despite this being the company’s most expensive true wireless headset yet.

Unfortunately, the Noise IntelliBuds is let down by what comes across as an unpolished and seemingly unfinished overall experience. Gesture controls didn’t work too well for me, and the sound was uninspired and dull on the whole. While I look forward to whatever comes next from Noise, for now, the IntelliBuds aren’t quite worth a recommendation at this price, and you’ll be better served by the OnePlus Buds Z2 or Oppo Enco Air 2 Pro in this budget.

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Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) Review: Does More, Costs a Bit Less

By
hitesh
-

December 12, 2022
0

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It’s easy to think of the Apple TV 4K as a streaming device, and indeed that’s what it is for the most part. However, it’s considerably more expensive than most streaming devices, and many might not see the point in spending around Rs. 15,000 when competing devices (or even your television’s own operating system) can do a lot of the same things for much less. However, the Apple TV 4K is also much more than that, making it a unique product that sits in a niche category of its own.

The recently launched Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) is more powerful, more capable, and better equipped than its predecessor in many ways, while interestingly priced a bit lower than before at Rs. 14,900 onwards. Is this device aimed only at Apple fans, or can anyone benefit from having an Apple TV 4K? Find out in this review.

The sales package contains a power cable for the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen), but you’ll need to buy a good HDMI cable separately

Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) design and specifications

The Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) is a bit smaller and lighter than the previous-generation model. However, it is still considerably larger and heavier than most other products in this general product segment. It retains the table-top form factor, although subtle design changes are visible, such as the Apple TV logo on the top being replaced by a smaller and simpler Apple brand logo. Notably, the cost of entry is lower than before, but the non-4K model has been discontinued.

As before, the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) is available in only a single colour option – black, with a silver remote. However, there are now two variants of the device; the Rs. 14,900 variant has 64GB of internal storage and only Wi-Fi for Internet connectivity, while the Rs. 16,900 variant (the review unit sent to me) has 128GB of storage and an RJ45 Ethernet port for wired connectivity, in addition to Wi-Fi.

This is also the only difference in design between the two variants, with the Ethernet port lining up at the back alongside the HDMI port and power socket. Included in the box along with the device are a power cable and the remote, but nothing else; you’ll have to purchase an HDMI cable to connect to your TV and an Ethernet cable (if needed) separately.

The Apple TV Remote (3rd Gen) has a USB Type-C port for charging

In terms of specifications, the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) supports HDMI 2.1, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5. The device is powered by Apple’s A15 Bionic processor, notably also used in the iPhone 13 series, as well as the basic iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus models, among other devices.

The Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) can stream at up to Ultra-HD (3840×2160) resolution, with support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and HDR10 formats. Dolby Atmos audio is supported as well, and the device runs on Apple’s iOS-based tvOS platform.

Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) remote and features

The remote of the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) is quite impressive, thanks to its aluminium casing and combination of physical buttons and touch-sensitive clickpad for navigation. Unlike most other streaming devices’ remotes, which use disposable and replaceable batteries, the Apple TV remote (3rd Gen) has a built-in, non-replaceable battery that needs to be charged.

Interestingly, the remote itself is largely the same as that of the previous generation, save for one big change – it has a USB Type-C port for charging (no charging cable is provided in the box, though). While the remote looks and feels great, it’s also fairly susceptible to scuffs and dents, so you’ll need to be careful handling it.

The remote has buttons for navigation and selection, volume adjustment, and playback, as well as invoking Apple’s Siri voice assistant. The ‘TV’ button on the remote is customisable, and can be set to either open the Apple TV app or go to the home screen on the tvOS interface.

HDMI CEC allows you to control connected devices using a single remote. Apple’s tvOS software platform (version 16.1.1 at the time of this review) supports numerous apps and services optimised for use on a television screen. Additionally, tvOS also gives you access to Apple Arcade, the company’s excellent subscription-based gaming service.

Apple’s tvOS 16 interface is easy to get around, but often feels a bit oversimplified

Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) performance

Apple’s tvOS platform is largely efficient, and I experienced quick loading times, with fast and hassle-free navigation. There was no noticeable lag at all during my time with the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen). The operating system will feel familiar to anyone who has experience with iOS, with most modifications designed around making it suitable for the large screen and navigation using the remote.

That said, tvOS does at times feel oversimplified, with certain elements within apps appearing a bit under-equipped as compared to Android TV or Amazon’s Fire TV interface. This can be a good thing, as with the easy-to-navigate grid on the home screen and content previews at the top, but there are also some drawbacks such as limited subtitle selections in some apps, occasional HDR format compatibility issues with certain streaming services, and unreliable content-level support for Dolby Atmos on the Netflix app on tvOS.

Most apps that are relevant on tvOS – major streaming services, Apple Arcade games, and the like – are well put-together and work as expected. There are some mainstream apps that haven’t been updated in a while (Tinder, for example), but these aren’t really relevant and you probably wouldn’t even want to use them on a television screen if you have a smartphone or tablet handy.

As with other Apple ecosystem devices, you can quickly and effortlessly connect any AirPods or HomePod speakers you have to the Apple TV 4K. Another interesting feature is dynamic wallpapers – the device downloads high-quality, high-resolution scenic clips as backgrounds for the tvOS interface. All of these were quite nice to look at, but the downloads are expectedly data-intensive.

A major differentiator for the Apple TV device is access to Apple Arcade and other popular games that have been optimised for tvOS. A compatible game controller is necessary to be able to play a lot of the games on the Apple TV 4K, although many others can be played using the Apple TV remote itself. The experience was better on the big screen for many games, making the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) a very capable ‘micro-console’ of sorts, and this is where the powerful A15 processor comes in handy.

Siri on the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) is rather underwhelming, at least compared to its capabilities on other Apple platforms such as iOS and CarPlay. I wasn’t able to play specific content on streaming services apart from YouTube, Apple Music, and the Apple TV app, although I was at least able to open apps already installed on the device and navigate around the App Store with voice commands.

Coming to the core capabilities of audio and video streaming, the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) is notably better in terms of stream stability and quality than devices running on other platforms, particularly on slower Internet connections. Buffering was minimal, and the picture and sound were noticeably better on the Apple TV 4K on a mobile data connection. Even with a much faster and more stable Wi-Fi connection, certain streaming services such as Apple TV+ and Netflix did look a bit better using this device than on the default Android TV platform on the Xiaomi Smart TV X50.

Verdict

The Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) might seem like just another streaming device – and a particularly expensive one, at that – but there is a lot to this gadget than most first impressions suggest. It does, of course, perform its core functions well enough for the most part, although tvOS occasionally feels like it needs an overhaul. There’s plenty of storage, useful connectivity options, and Apple’s highly-regarded ecosystem to sweeten the deal, particularly if you already have other Apple hardware and subscriptions to its key services.

Although undeniably expensive for a streaming device, the Apple TV 4K is powerful and capable enough to be considered a micro-console, and it can bring many of the capabilities of your iPhone or iPad to your much larger TV screen. With this in mind, and if you’re already on the Apple bandwagon, the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) is worth buying.

Price: Rs. 14,900 onwards

Ratings:

Design and specifications: 9
Features: 9
VFM: 7
Performance: 9
Overall: 9

Pros:

Very good design and build quality

Optional Ethernet connectivity

Powerful SoC, excellent specifications

HDR10+ now supported, in addition to Dolby Vision

Great for gaming

Lots of Apple ecosystem benefits

Cons:

tvOS sometimes feels oversimplified, still has some minor drawbacks

Siri feels under-equipped on this device

Still somewhat expensive despite the price drop

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Amazfit Band 7 Review: More Than a Fitness Band?

By
hitesh
-

December 9, 2022
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When we reviewed the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 (Review) last year, we were convinced that it was the gold standard for smart bands in 2021. However, for reasons best known to Xiaomi, the tech giant has not launched its successor, the Mi Smart Band 7, in India this year. Amazfit aims to take advantage of that void by launching its first fitness band for India.

Called the Amazfit Band 7, the fitness band is packed to the brim with features such as support for voice commands and it even has support for an app store. Can the Amazfit Band 7 take down the wildly popular Mi Smart Band 6 at its own game? I’ve used the fitness band for a few weeks and here’s what I think about it.

Amazfit Band 7 price, design and specifications

The Band 7 is Amazfit’s first fitness band for the Indian market. It’s the successor to the Band 5 and is priced competitively at Rs. 3,499. Unlike the Mi Smart Band 6, which is only available in a single colour, Amazfit’s Band 7 is available in three colours: black, pink and white. However, these colours are simply the colour of the straps that hold the black rectangular unit in place. Unlike the other smartwatches from Amazfit, you can’t buy the straps separately so you’ll need to choose wisely at the time of purchasing the band.

Like most fitness bands, the Amazfit Band 7’s design consists of a TPU strap and a rectangular core unit. The watch has a rectangular-shaped display with rounded corners and thick bezels all round. It’s as tall as a 47mm Apple Watch Series 8, but about half its width. There’s no physical or capacitive buttons on the Band 7, so navigation happens only via swipe gestures.

The removable core of the watch has a 5ATM rating for water resistance, so it should be good for splashes of water and light submersion. The core unit is made of polycarbonate and has the BioTracker 3.0 PPG biometric sensor, which is used for tracking heart rate, blood oxygen levels and stress. At the back, there’s two flat pins for charging the device using the bundled magnetic charger.

The Amazfit Band 7 is as tall as an Apple Watch Series 8, but a lot narrower

The core unit of the Amazfit Band 7, along with the strap, weighs 28g which is quite light. The strap is soft and comfortable and I did not face any issues or irritation while wearing it. What did annoy me was the strap’s pin buckle system, which is quite difficult to fasten and there were plenty of instances during the review period where the strap opened up. Pressing down the pin into the tiny cavity is a difficult task by itself and requires a lot of patience and pressure. For some functions, the fitness band needs to be strapped really tight and this can make it uncomfortable to wear over time. This is needed especially for SpO2 monitoring, which otherwise simply won’t work.

The core unit of the Amazfit Band 7 has a plastic case which is held in place by a TPU strap.

While the band does not have a speaker, it does have a microphone and vibration motor which vibrates for all sorts of notifications and alarms. The mic is used for accepting voice commands for Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant. The device packs all the necessary sensors to measure heart rate and blood oxygen levels and comes with a 232mAh battery, which is quite large for such a small fitness band.

Amazfit Band 7 software, performance, and battery life

The Amazfit Band 7 runs Zepp OS which appears to be customised to work on a smaller display. Oddly, on the Band 7, it looks and feels very similar to what’s available on Xiaomi’s Mi Smart Band 6, especially when you enter the Settings menu. The smaller display means that there’s less place to display many options at once, and because of this, there’s a lot of scrolling to be done. Some apps like Calendar look very odd and are extremely confusing to use, so I often found myself lost in the interface when doing so.

The main menu, which displays all of the built-in apps for example, can only display two apps at a time, which makes it quite difficult to figure out how far up or down you are in the list. To make things worse, there is no scroll-bar-like indicator on the side to show how long the list is or the point where you have scrolled down to either.

A swipe to the right of the homescreen takes you to the notifications area, which does a good job of displaying all types of notifications in their entirety. However, it’s not possible to reply to any of these. A swipe to the left from the main watch face reveals a widget-like interface which relays glanceable data from various built-in apps such as Activity, Heart rate, PAI, Sleep etc. Swiping left or right from the watch face goes into a loop and will bring you back to the homescreen. As for watch faces, there are plenty to choose from and they are highly customisable.

Inserting the pin into the cavity of the band requires a lot patience

As for the native apps on the Amazfit Band 7, there’s enough to keep one busy whether it’s fitness tracking or general health, wellness, and all sorts of activities.The watch can track running, walking, cycling, dancing, boxing, water sports, winter workouts, and even board and card games like Chess, Checkers, Go or Bridge. Each of these apps also relay a lot of data. It involves a lot of scrolling but there’s plenty of information available on the watch itself, which is impressive.

There’s also an app store which can be accessed from the companion app. While the app selection is limited to just fourteen apps (at the time of publishing the review), you can install and uninstall these and there are some useful ones such as Watch Storage Space, BMI and Calculator.

The Zepp Health companion app is not the easiest one to master. It is the same one used for Amazfit’s more expensive smartwatches such as the GTR 4 (Review). I set up the Band 7 with a Pixel 7 Pro and granted the limited permissions that this fitness band requires which made the setup quite quick. You will still need to set up the additional features such as Amazon’s Alexa voice assistance, Calendar, Weather and more, individually, as you use the fitness band.

The Amazfit Band 7’s display is quite small and gets harder to use with swipe gestures

The 1.47-inch AMOLED display may feel a bit too small, especially when Xiaomi offers a taller panel on its Mi Smart Band 6 at the same price. While brightness was not a problem, I did have some issues with touch sensitivity and gestures. I found the interface to run smoothly when swiping through the built-in apps and the app menu, but it stuttered a lot when swiping through the notifications area. The touch sensitivity of the display isn’t the best either and the smaller size made swipe gestures quite confusing, especially when I was in the middle of a workout and needed to access a certain feature. There were times when I resorted to opening the smartphone app to start a workout, instead of fidgeting with the display.

Alexa Voice integration worked quite well. Activating it needs a bit of work as it requires a few swipes to reach the widget, post which, you can tap the display for Alexa to start listening. However, the responses will only be displayed on-screen and not read out loud as there’s no built-in speaker. While a voice assistant may be a novel feature to have on a fitness band, you have to remember that it relies completely on the smartphone, which you will need to have in the vicinity in order for it to function.

Amazfit’s Zepp Health app is not the easiest to navigate and has a learning curve

The Amazfit Band 7 does a good job when tracking health and fitness activities. Sleep monitoring is quite accurate and the results are very detailed as it lets you know not just about the stages during sleep, but also breathing patterns while sleeping. The band, just like the other Amazfit smartwatches, can also track naps, which is nice to have.

Heart rate monitoring was quite accurate when compared to an Apple Watch Series 8. The watch does not have GPS built-in, so it relies on a smartphone for position data on runs or walks outdoors. This also means you will need to carry your smartphone with you if you need this data. The route tracking accuracy even when connected to a smartphone was not as accurate as I expected it to be. However, step counting was surprisingly on point.

The Amazfit Band 7 also supports SpO2 readings but they were consistently inaccurate when compared to a standalone pulse oximeter. Sit-stand detection, just like with the more expensive Amazfit GTR 4, did not work well.

The always-on display feature works well, but uses a lot of power

As for battery life, it was up to expectations. The Amazfit Band 7 lasted about four and a half days on a single charge with the display’s brightness set to 50 percent (as it does not have an ambient light sensor) and the always-on functionality enabled. During this time, I used the watch for mild workouts and mainly for tracking notifications with all auto-health tracking features like heart rate monitoring, sleep monitoring, stress monitoring and blood oxygen monitoring, enabled.

Amazfit claims that its alway-on display feature cuts down battery life by 50 percent, so one should expect up to two weeks or more with it disabled, which seems good enough. When connected to a standard 10W power adaptor, the Amazfit Band 7 charges from 0-100 percent in about 1 hour, 41 minutes, which is quite average when compared to the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6.

Verdict

At Rs. 3,499, the Amazfit Band 7 offers plenty more features than Xiaomi’s slightly dated Mi Smart Band 6. You get plenty more sport exercise modes, an always-on display, bigger battery, voice assistant, and a mini app store. However, what the Band 7 makes up for in terms of features, it loses in terms of functionality due to the smaller display and slightly broken software experience, which is not as optimised or polished for gesture-based navigation.

Xiaomi’s Mi Smart Band 7, which is the successor to the Mi Smart Band 6, has yet to launch in India. This band packs a bigger display with AoD capability and more sport modes along with a slightly bigger battery compared to the Mi Smart Band 6. If you are looking to spend a bit more, Realme’s Watch 3 Pro can get you a smartwatch-like experience which also includes Bluetooth calling at Rs. 4,999. It features a bigger display, speaker and even standalone GPS.

If you aren’t in a hurry, it makes sense to wait a bit till Xiaomi’s Band 7 or maybe a newer version arrives in India. But if you need to get a fitness band right away, then the current Mi Smart Band 6 is not a bad deal, unless you really plan on using the additional features offered by Amazfit’s Band 7.

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Realme 10 Pro 5G and 10 Pro+ 5G First Impressions: New 5G Champs?

By
hitesh
-

December 8, 2022
0

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The Realme 10 Pro series has finally been launched in India. The company has launched two new mid-range smartphones as part of its new number series. The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G sits at the top of the lineup and is the successor to the Realme 9 Pro+ 5G (Review). The Realme 10 Pro 5G on the other hand, comes with just incremental upgrades over the Realme 9 Pro which launched earlier this year in India.

The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G is currently the most affordable smartphone to sport a curved AMOLED display. The company has launched it in three variants. The base model with 6GB of RAM + 128GB of storage is priced at Rs. 24,999. It is also available with 8GB of RAM + 128GB of storage for Rs. 25,999, and 8GB of RAM + 256GB of storage for Rs. 27,999. The Realme 10 Pro 5G arrives in two storage options. The 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant is priced at Rs. 18,999, whereas the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant is priced at Rs. 19,999.

The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G and Realme 10 Pro 5G are available in three colours. We have the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G in its Hyperspace colourway, which has a mirror finish. Although the rear panel primarily has a gold shade, it has a prism-like effect in blue when light falls on it or when you look at it from certain angles. The Realme logo on the back gets a glittery finish, which fades as you move to the top of the phone. There is a lot going on here in terms of design, which might not suit everyone’s taste.

Realme 10 Pro+ 5G in its Hyperspace colourway

While glitter and the shifting colours gives the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G a refreshing look, I am not a fan of the fingerprint-friendly glossy finish. However, you can always slap on the transparent case that the company has provided in the box. While we are at it, the box contains a 67W charging adapter, SIM ejector tool, and some documentation. The Realme 10 Pro 5G has the same in-box contents, except for the fast charger, which is 33W.

I really like the in-hand feel of the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G, despite it being a tall device. The curved rear panel sits nicely in the hand, and because the phone weighs just 173g, it is fairly light to hold. The device is also just 7.78mm thick. The right edge of the 10 Pro+ 5G has the power and volume buttons, whereas at the bottom, you get the primary speaker grille, a USB Type-C port and a dual-SIM tray. The left side of the phone doesn’t have anything, while the top has the secondary microphone.

The highlight feature of the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G is its curved AMOLED screen. The display measures 6.7 inches diagonally and is said to have a 61 degree curvature on the sides. I have not yet experienced any issues with accidental touches, which is a good sign. The display also boasts of many features such as a HDR10+ certification, support for a 120Hz refresh rate, and a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The display also has a very thin chin bezel, which is something I have not seen in phones at this price point.

Realme claims that the thickness of the chin bezel is thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Review) at 2.33mm. The 10 Pro+ 5G also comes with a quick and responsive in-display fingerprint scanner. I’ll leave my final verdict about this curved display for the full review, after using it for a longer period.

Realme 10 Pro 5G (top) and Realme 10 Pro+ 5G (bottom)

Coming to the Realme 10 Pro 5G, it features a polycarbonate casing and back panel. The flat sides of the phone definitely make it easier to hold. The 10 Pro 5G’s frame has a matte finish, which means it shouldn’t attract fingerprints easily, but I can’t say the same about the back panel, at least on the variants which have the glossy finish. The SIM slot is on the phone’s left side, while the power button with embedded fingerprint scanner and the volume buttons are on the phone’s right side. At the bottom, we have the USB Type-C charging port, speaker grill, microphone, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The main attraction of the Realme 10 Pro 5G is its display, which is a 6.72-inch IPS LCD panel with very narrow bezels on three sides, except for the chin. The display is fairly sharp, has a refresh rate of 120 Hz, and produces good colours. This smartphone has a 16-megapixel front-facing camera, as well as a front-firing top speaker.

The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G comes with a dual speaker setup. While the speakers are quite loud and offer rich sound, there is definitely some channel imbalance. The Realme 10 Pro 5G also comes with a dual speaker setup and offers descent audio output. One thing to note is that Realme 10 Pro 5G comes with a headphone jack. which is missing on the 10 Pro+ 5G.

The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G features a MediaTek Dimensity 1080 SoC and supports up to eight 5G bands in India, whereas the Realme 10 Pro 5G uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC. The 10 Pro+ 5G packs a 5000mAh battery with support for 67W fast charging. The company claims that users can get up to 50 percent charge within 17 minutes. The 10 Pro 5G has the same 5000mAh battery capacity, but supports only 33W fast charging.

Realme 10 Pro+ 5G features a hole-punch cutout

The rear panel of both phone houses two large circular cutouts for the cameras. The Realme 10 Pro+ features a triple-camera setup with a 108-megapixel main camera sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The Realme 10 Pro 5G offers a dual-camera setup with a 108-megapixel main camera and a 2-megapixel portrait camera.

For selfies, the hole-punch cutout houses a 16-megapixel front camera on both the phones. We noticed that the front camera quality differed quite a bit between the two models when we tried it out, side by side. Colours from the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G looked way more natural in comparison to the contrast-heavy look from the Realme 10 Pro 5G. Of course, this is just our initial impression based on the available ambient lighting at the time, so we should have a more definitive answer when we test both these phones at length.

Lastly, the Realme 10 Pro series runs on the Android 13-based Realme UI 4.0 software, out of the box. The new custom skin gets a new design, including a revamped control centre, textured icons with vibrant colours, and an improved Always-on Display (AoD). The new update also comes with Realme’s Dynamic Computing Engine, which claims to offer the perfect balance between high performance and low power consumption.

We will be testing the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G and the Realme 10 Pro 5G thoroughly to see if the devices do justice to their respective price tags and the claims made by the company. Stay tuned for the full review coming soon on Gadgets 360.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.

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Lava Blaze 5G Review: True Value for Money?

By
hitesh
-

December 5, 2022
0

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Once a popular Indian smartphone brand, Lava faded into the background over the past couple of years as industry heavyweights such as Samsung and cash-loaded Chinese brands such as Realme and Redmi pretty took over the mainstream smartphone landscape. However, Lava marked its resurgence in 2021 with the Lava Z series. Last year, the company also launched its first 5G smartphone in India called the Lava Agni 5G (Review). Now that the 5G rollout is in place, Lava wants to attract buyers who want the 5G experience by spending the least amount of money. For such customers, the company has launched the Lava Blaze 5G.

The Lava Blaze 5G currently holds the title of the ‘most affordable 5G smartphone’ in India. The smartphone comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC, a “glass-back design”, and a triple-camera setup. Should you consider getting the Lava Blaze 5G? Here is our review to help you find out.

Lava Blaze 5G price in India

The Lava Blaze 5G is available for purchase in a single 4GB RAM + 128GB storage option. The device comes in two colours — Glass Blue and Glass Green. It was available for an introductory price of Rs. 9,999 in India when it launched, but it is currently listed for Rs. 10,999.

Lava Blaze 5G design

Despite being a budget smartphone, the back of the Lava Blaze 5G is made of glass which is quite impressive. The device feels nice to hold but it does feel a bit heavy at 207g. The Glass Green colour that Lava sent us also features a matte finish. If you are someone who likes a pastel shade, you should like this colour. While the rear panel is made of glass, the flat frame around the phone uses plastic materials.

Lava Blaze 5G in its Glass Green colour

The Lava Blaze 5G comes with a USB Type-C port which is sandwiched between the bottom-firing single speaker and the headphone jack. On the right edge is the power button that also doubles up as a fingerprint scanner. The volume buttons on the left edge offer good feedback. The phone comes with a hybrid-SIM slot, with support for up to 1TB of expandable storage via a microSD card.

The Lava Blaze 5G comes with a dual-tone rectangular camera module on the back which does not protrude as much. On the front, the Blaze 5G sports a water-drop notch at the top of the display. While the side and top bezels are fairly thin, the device gets the typical budget treatment with a thick chin bezel.

Lava Blaze 5G has a fairly thick chin bezel

The Lava Blaze 5G comes with a 6.5-inch IPS LCD with an HD+ resolution (720×1600 pixels). The screen also supports a 90Hz refresh rate for slightly smoother animations and scrolling experience. The viewing angles are surprisingly quite good. The screen is fairly bright and is legible outdoors in daylight, provided you push the brightness to its max setting. The Lava Blaze 5G comes with a WideVine L1 certification but on our unit, Netflix detected a WideVine L3 certification.

Lava Blaze 5G specifications and software

The Lava Blaze 5G’s highlight feature is in its name. With support for eight 5G bands, the device is currently the most affordable 5G smartphone in India, and comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC. We have seen the chipset in other budget smartphones under Rs. 15,000 in India, including the recently launched Redmi 11 Prime 5G (Review). The phone also comes with a 5000mAh battery. While it supports 15W fast charging, the Blaze 5G comes with a 12W dual-USB port charger in the box. In terms of connectivity, the phone supports Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, etc.

The Lava Blaze 5G runs stock Android 12

The Lava Blaze 5G offers a clean, bloatware-free software experience with Android 12. There was no lag as such and the overall experience for day-to-day tasks was quite good. The company has promised to roll out the Android 13 update but the timeline remains unknown. Lava has also promised to provide quarterly security updates for two years. At the time of writing this, our review unit had the September 2022 Android security patch.

Lava Blaze 5G performance and battery life

The Lava Blaze 5G did not have any issues while performing basic, day-to-day tasks. Be it scrolling through social media or switching between apps, the phone did a decent job. RAM management was not as aggressive but some heavy apps running in the background did reload when I switched back to them. This is despite the multitasking window showing that the phone had about 2GB of RAM available.

When it comes to benchmark tests, the Lava Blaze 5G scored 507 and 1588 points in Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core tests. In comparison, the Redmi 11 Prime 5G, which comes with the same SoC, scored 521 and 1757 points. In AnTuTu, the Lava Blaze 5G scored 2,69,416 points which was much lower than the Redmi 11 Prime 5G’s score of 3,37,683 points.

I also played a few games on the Lava Blaze 5G. Call of Duty: Mobile, for reasons unknown, took slightly longer than usual to load. The game supported ‘Medium’ graphics and ‘High’ frame rate settings, which resulted in an average framerate of about 40fps. The overall gaming experience was decent but there were some stutters at times. For those who want a casual gaming experience, the Lava Blaze 5G can do a decent job.

The Lava Blaze 5G has a USB Type-C port at the bottom

The 5000mAh battery lasted for more than a day easily, courtesy of the not-so-hungry SoC and HD+ display resolution. In our battery loop test, the Lava Blaze 5G ran for just 11 hours and 56 minutes, which was surprisingly below-average. The bundled charger took over three hours to charge the phone from zero to 100 percent.

For biometrics, the Lava Blaze 5G has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, which is quick at authentication. It also supports AI face unlock which although is snappy to unlock the device, is less secure compared to the physical scanner.

Lava Blaze 5G cameras

The Lava Blaze 5G has a triple-camera setup on the back. However, only one of them is actually useful. There is a 50-megapixel main camera sensor, along with a 2-megapixel macro camera and a VGA sensor. For selfies, the phone comes with an 8-megapixel front camera.

The Lava Blaze 5G sports a dual-tone camera module design

The main camera on the back does a good job when it comes to capturing daylight photos. While the dynamic range is poor, the sensor manages to capture good details. It does tend to boost colours though. Another thing to note is that the highlights are usually blown out in a bid to get some details in the shadows. In low light, the main camera gets decent photos, provided there is some ambient light. However, the lack of any form of stabilisation results in shaky images with some loss of details.

I liked the front camera more, which was very accurate in capturing the actual skin tone. It does smoothen the skin textures a bit though. Portrait mode performance was also quite good for a phone priced at Rs. 10,999.

Lava Blaze 5G camera samples (tap to see full size)

Night mode camera sample shot on Lava Blaze 5G

Portrait mode camera sample shot on the Lava Blaze 5G

The Lava Blaze 5G can record up to 2K videos using the rear camera, whereas the front camera can capture 1080p videos. Overall, the videos shot on the Lava Blaze 5G offer a bit of boosted colours with decent details. The dynamic range is also quite good, something which I did not expect from the device.

Verdict

The Lava Blaze 5G gets it right in many areas when it comes to a budget 5G smartphone. While the camera performance is its weakest link, it scores points for its design and performance. Battery life, while decent with actual usage, underperformed in our video drain test. The device also provides as many as eight 5G bands in India. The display experience is also above average for a smartphone in this price segment.

Lava’s target customer for the Blaze 5G is someone who wants to try 5G without having to spend too much. There are a few shortcomings but when you look at the price tag, it’s hard to complain too much.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.

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