Xiaomi, Samsung Top Choices for Smart TV in Indian Market for Q3 2022: Counterpoint

By

-

December 2, 2022

Xiaomi, Samsung Top Choices for Smart TV in Indian Market for Q3 2022: Counterpoint

[ad_1]

India’s smart TV market recorded a 38 percent year-on-year growth in shipments during the July-September quarter, mainly driven by festive season supplies, multiple new launches, discount events, and promotions, said a Counterpoint Research report.

According to the report, global brands led India’s smart TV segment with a 40 percent share, followed by Chinese brands with a 38 percent share. While the Indian brands showed the fastest growth, doubling their share to 22 percent of the total smart TV shipments.

“The share of smaller size TV is increasing, with 32-inch to 42-inch displays making up approximately half of the total shipments during the quarter. Although LED displays remain the preferred choice, advanced technology displays such as OLED and QLED are gaining ground,” the report said.

Now more models are being launched with QLED displays. Besides, Dolby Audio and better speakers are other features that are increasingly being provided by brands, it added.

“Smart TV penetration of overall shipments reached its highest-ever share of 93 percent during the quarter,” said the report, adding, this penetration is expected to go up further due to more launches in the sub-Rs. 20,000 price range.

During the quarter, the contribution from the online channels in the total shipments increased to 35 percent as all major e-commerce platforms offered various promotions and discounts, along with exclusive launches, during the recent festive season sales.

Xiaomi (which includes Redmi‘s share) continued to lead the smart TV market in the third quarter of 2022 with an 11 percent market share, followed by Samsung with 10 percent share and LG with 9 percent.

During the quarter, OnePlus grew 89 percent YoY, cornering an 8.5 percent share in smart TV shipments.

While the homegrown brand VU share was more than doubled in the third quarter of 2022, the report added.

According to the report, many new Indian brands are entering the highly competitive smart TV market.

“OnePlus, Vu and TCL were the fastest growing brands in the smart TV segment in Q3 2022,” said Counterpoint Senior Research Analyst Anshika Jain.

Once again, LG has secured the third spot due to the introduction of new models, especially in the Rs. 20,000- Rs. 30,000 price range. Other emerging brands in the top 10 included Realme and Haier, she added.

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

[ad_2]

Source link

Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) Review: Not Quite Flagship, but Still Good

By

hitesh

-

December 2, 2022

0

Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) Review: Not Quite Flagship, but Still Good

[ad_1]

If you’re looking for a premium true wireless headset and want options from Sony, you’re likely to take notice of its flagship WF-1000XM4 first, and rightfully so. Sony’s flagship true wireless headset is among our top picks in this space, thanks to the generally good active noise cancellation, features, and sound quality. However, at nearly Rs. 20,000, it is undoubtedly expensive and would be out of reach for many. Sony’s latest true wireless headset, the LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) may offer something of a solution.

Priced at Rs. 16,990 in India, the Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) costs a bit less than the flagship WF-1000XM4 but promises an experience that is nearly as good, thanks to advanced Bluetooth codec support, active noise cancellation, and a lightweight form factor that makes it a viable ‘wear-all-day’ option. Does this unique positioning make the Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) worth the price? Find out in this review.

The Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) is very different from the original LinkBuds, thanks to a more traditional form factor which also allows for ANC and advanced Bluetooth codec support

Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) design and features

While the naming convention might suggest that the Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) is the successor to the original Sony LinkBuds (WF-L900), the new headset is quite significantly different. The design is decidedly more traditional, with a proper in-canal fit and earpieces that don’t look strangely out of the ordinary in any way.

That said, the LinkBuds S earpieces are considerably smaller and lighter than most competing options in the premium segment for true wireless earphones. The earphones are available in three colours — black, white, and ecru. The black review unit that I received had a nice texture and feel.

Sony suggests that the LinkBuds S is a wear-all-day kind of true wireless headset, and the 4.8g weight and compact shape of the earpieces certainly help in this regard. Although quite comfortable for an in-canal fit, the Sony WF-LS900N isn’t as comfortable as the original LinkBuds, and I found it hard to actually keep the earphones on all day as Sony might suggest. That said, wearing the earphones for 2-3 hours at a time was no trouble at all.

The traditional form factor and styling of the Sony WF-LS900N allows for a secure fit with proper noise isolation and active noise cancellation. However, the compactness means that Sony has had to go with smaller-than-usual 5mm dynamic drivers in the earpieces. The outer surface of each earpiece is flat to allow for easy use of the touch controls (customisable through the app), while the inside has a proximity sensor which controls the auto play-pause functionality, among other things. The earpieces are IPX4 rated for water resistance.

The charging case of the Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) is a fairly straightforward one, with the colour of the case identical to that of the earpieces. It’s a compact, convenient shape and size, with an indicator light just under the lid, and the USB Type-C port and pairing button at the back. Notably, there is no wireless charging on the Sony LinkBuds S, which is a bit disappointing given the price of the headset.

The eco-friendly sales package includes four pairs of silicone ear tips, and a USB Type-C charging cable. Other features on the headset include support for Spotify Tap and Endel personalised soundscapes, Google Fast Pair, and multi-point connectivity for up to two devices simultaneously.

Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) app and specifications

Sony’s excellent Headphones Connect app handles the connection with all of its premium wireless headsets, including the LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N). The app is available for iOS and Android, and has a largely similar interface and selections regardless of the platform, adding to Sony’s continuing approach to platform agnosticism.

That said, the Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) are best used with an Android device, in order to take advantage of the support for the LDAC Bluetooth codec. This, and the associated functionality, are the only points where the app experience is different between the two operating systems. In fact, during my time with the Sony LinkBuds S, a software update for the earphones enabled multi-point Bluetooth connectivity, along with introducing a distinct section for services integrations such as Spotify Tap.

When paired with an Android device, I was able to use the LDAC Bluetooth codec on the Sony WF-LS900N earphones

Other key features in the app include music playback controls, adaptive sound control for ANC and ambient sound mode customisation, speak-to-chat, Bluetooth connection quality customisation (to favour sound quality or connection stability), touch controls customisation, auto play-pause when the earphones are worn or removed, and a graphical display for battery life of the earpieces and charging case, among other things.

The app covers practically everything you could need on the Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N), although perhaps the only real drawback is the lack of detailed customisability for the controls. The Sony WF-LS900N lets you choose control ‘sets’ for the right and left earpieces separately — these include ANC and Ambient Sound controls, playback controls, and volume controls. This means that you’ll have to choose two of three essential sets, while entirely excluding one, and then making sure you remember the somewhat confusing controls going forward.

The Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) has 5mm dynamic drivers, with a frequency response range of 20-40,000Hz (with the LDAC codec in operation). For connectivity, there is Bluetooth 5.2, and support for the SBC, AAC, and LDAC Bluetooth codecs. The headset uses Sony’s Integrated Processor V1 for connectivity and ANC functionality.

Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) performance and battery life

Sony is pitching the LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) as a slightly more affordable alternative to the flagship WF-1000XM4, and indeed has practically everything the latter has to offer in terms of features, but at a price which is around Rs. 3,000 lower. However, there are some notable differences that explain the difference in price and positioning, the biggest of which is sound quality.

The Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) uses 5mm drivers, smaller than the 6mm drivers on the WF-1000XM4. While the actual size of the drivers may not be indicative of anything, there is definitely a notable difference in the sound on the WF-LS900N, as compared to the more expensive and better-sounding WF-1000XM4.

The Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) has very good active noise cancellation and decent battery life

The sound came across as fairly straightforward in terms of tuning, adhering to the commonly used U-shape frequency response curve for the most part, being well-suited to most popular music genres. The lows and highs were more pronounced than the mid-range in tracks such as Stay (Don’t Go Away) by David Guetta, deviating a fair bit from the more balanced approach of the WF-1000XM4. This also tended to affect the tonal accuracy and audible detail levels, as compared to Sony’s flagship true wireless earphones.

Listening to Je M’amuse by French electro-jazz band Caravan Palace, the sound was aggressive, punchy, and forward, while remaining comfortable and completely non-fatiguing. The dubstep-style electronic elements of the track had a distinct sense of rumble and attack, while the swing-style vocals and instrumentals held a fair amount of detail that sounded about right for the price of the headset.

However, despite the significant bandwidth advantage that the LDAC Bluetooth codec brings, the Sony WF-LS900N seemed not to be able to fully capitalise on it. The tone, drive, detail, and sense of polish present in the WF-1000XM4 were missing here, despite the many similarities between the Sony WF-LS900N and its more expensive stablemate. This is where the price and positioning difference between the two TWS headsets is most evident.

Active noise cancellation on the Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) is very good, and benefits significantly from the excellent passive noise isolation and fit of the headset. There was a considerable reduction in indoor noise; the hum of overhead air conditioning was almost completely blocked out.

There was a fairly noticeable reduction in miscellaneous noise outdoors as well, which helped to focus on what was playing even at low volumes. Music, audiobooks, and dialogue in videos sounded decent in noisy spaces even at around the 50 percent volume level. Calls were similarly well handled, with decent microphone performance ensuring that I could be heard just as well as I could hear.

Battery life on the Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) comes close to the advertised claims; I was able to get a little under six hours of listening time from the earpieces. The charging case added two full charges in addition, for a total run time of around 17 hours per charge cycle. Fast charging claims to offer an hour of listening with five minutes of charging.

Verdict

There’s very little to complain about with the Sony LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N); this is a capable, well equipped, and well priced pair of true wireless earphones, and offers arguably better comfort and ANC performance than most other options in its price range. It’s hard to argue with the proposition here on a practical level but on an emotional level, there’s just a bit missing in the WF-LS900N, and this largely comes down to the lack of anything special in the sound.

The Sony LinkBuds S sounds good enough for a premium true wireless headset, but doesn’t quite push the boundaries as far as the actual flagship headsets. This is the only real drawback in an otherwise cheerful, practical, and sensibly-priced pair of true wireless earphones.

Perhaps spending that little bit more on options such as the WF-1000XM4 or Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 might be worth it, if you can budget for it. If you’re using an Apple or Samsung smartphone, the AirPods Pro (2nd Gen) or Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro respectively, might make more sense from an ecosystem point of view. However, if the size, form factor, and promise of good ANC performance on the Sony WF-LS900N appeals to you, you won’t be disappointed at all.

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

[ad_2]

Source link

Realme Pad X Review: An iPad Air-Inspired Android Tablet but at Half the Price

By

hitesh

-

November 29, 2022

0

Realme Pad X Review: An iPad Air-Inspired Android Tablet but at Half the Price

[ad_1]

Android tablets saw a resurgence in India during the pandemic. As most people were working or studying from home, the demand for large-screen smart devices increased significantly. While things have started to go back to the old normal in 2022, companies continue to offer value-for-money Android tablets in India. The Realme Pad X is one such Android tablet, which launched in July for a starting price of under Rs. 20,000.

The Realme Pad X is currently the company’s most premium Android tablet offering in India. The unique proposition of the Realme Pad X is that it’s built for the creative crowd. From its large display, to the beefy battery and quad-speaker setup, to the support for a stylus that charges magnetically — Realme wants this to be in every creator’s travel bag. The tablet also packs a 5G SoC. With the kind of hardware it offers for the price, should you consider buying the Realme Pad X? Here is our full review to help you decide.

Realme Pad X price in India

The Realme Pad X is available in two models. The base Wi-Fi-only model has a single variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage and is priced at Rs. 19,999. Their 5G model with the same configuration costs Rs. 25,999, and the top-end variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is priced at Rs. 27,999.

The keyboard accessory for the Realme Pad X can be purchased separately for Rs. 4,999, whereas the Realme Pencil is priced at Rs. 5,499.

Realme Pad X design

The Realme Pad X seems to have taken some inspiration from the iPad Air 2022 (Review) when it comes to design. The Android tablet sports a flat frame with a plastic body. It is fairly on the heavier side at 506g of weight but the tablet is quite sleek at just 7.1mm in thickness.

Realme Pad X comes in two colours, both of which have a matte finish

Although the rear shell is made of plastic, it does not look like it. I mistook it for glass while unboxing the Realme Pad X but once I held it, it was quickly evident that it wasn’t. That being said, the tablet does not feel cheap. Realme seems to have used some good quality plastics for the tablet and the glittery finish on the back panel makes it look quite premium. The company calls it the ‘Glowing Light Design’. We have the Glowing Grey colour, which has a frosted black finish. There is also a Glacier Blue colour, which should do a slightly better job of hiding fingerprints and smudges.

On the front, the Realme Pad X has a huge 10.95-inch IPS LCD with a WUXGA+ resolution (1200×2000 pixels). While the screen is of the LCD variety, it offers quite a good viewing experience. There is barely any visible colour shift when viewed off-angles, and with 450 nits of peak brightness the display is easily legible under most lighting conditions.

When outdoors though, I preferred keeping the display brightness at max for a better viewing experience. The symmetrical bezels around the display are fairly thin for an Android tablet at this price. I also liked how the company has placed the front camera on the right bezel (landscape mode), something which is now also seen in the iPad 10th generation (Review). This helps keep the user in the centre of the frame when using the tablet horizontally on video calls.

The bezels around the Realme Pad X’s display are fairly slim

There is support for Widevine L1 on the Realme Pad X, so apps such as Netflix can play back full-HD content. For its price, I would not expect an AMOLED display so the typical shortcomings of an LCD panel such as the lack of deep black levels or rich contrast is forgivable. The Realme Pad X does not support HDR10 and that’s most likely due to the SoC’s limitation. There is no high refresh rate support either as the Realme Pad X’s display runs at a standard 60Hz. In comparison, the much more affordable Redmi Pad (Review) offers a 90Hz refresh rate display.

When held vertically, the Realme Pad X’s top edge houses two of the four speaker grilles and the power button. The bottom edge houses the other two speaker grilles and the USB Type-C port. On the right edge, there are the volume buttons, whereas on the left, you get the SIM tray, which also has space for a microSD card.

The Realme Pad X comes with a quad-speaker setup

The Realme Pad X supports the Realme Pencil stylus, which can be attached on the right side of the tablet (when held vertically). There is also a keyboard cover, which comes with an in-built kickstand. There are no magnetic pins on the tablet to supply power to the keyboard, which means it needs to be charged separately via its own USB Type-C port. The keyboard does not have a trackpad. Both accessories are sold separately.

Realme Pad X specifications and software

The Realme Pad X is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC. The chipset, which is based on a 6nm fabrication process, has been quite a popular choice among brands for smartphones under Rs. 20,000. It is an octa-core SoC with a peak clock speed of 2.2GHz. The tablet also packs a beefy 8340mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging. Connectivity-wise, the tablet supports up to 5GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.1.

The Realme Pad X, surprisingly, does not come with pre-installed bloatware

In terms of software, the Realme Pad X runs on the Android 12-based Realme UI 3.0 out of the box. The software experience is quite clean with no bloatware apps preinstalled. The software also comes with some useful features such as support for split-screen, sidebar and floating windows. Split-screen can be enabled by swiping down using two fingers from the top of the display. Sidebar, on the other hand, lists a few apps that support floating windows, which means you can place these apps anywhere on the screen while your primary app is running alongside.

Realme UI 3.0 also allows users to customise app icons, themes, wallpapers, etc. There is no word on long-term Android updates but we can hope that the tablet at least gets the Android 13 update.

Relame Pad X performance

The Realme Pad X offers a good experience when it comes to day-to-day routine tasks. I did not experience any lag while switching between apps, or even when loading one for that matter, which is something that I expected to see from the Snapdragon 695 SoC. Sometimes, a few apps in the background did reload after I switched back to them. If you need the tablet to keep certain apps in memory, you can use the ‘App Lock’ feature in the multitasking window. This can be useful for slightly heavy games such as Call of Duty: Mobile.

Call of Duty:Mobile on the Realme Pad X

The Realme Pad X, to my surprise, offered a good gaming experience. Once you get used to the large form factor, playing games on this is fun. Call of Duty: Mobile supports ‘Max’ frame rate at ‘High’ graphics. If you want the best ‘Very High’ graphics setting, you’ll have to settle for the ‘Very High’ frame rate setting. I chose the former and the gaming experience was quite good.

Coming to some benchmark tests, the Realme Pad X scored 692 and 2006 points in Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core tests, which was on par with phones that feature the same SoC. For example, the Moto G71 5G (Review) scored 668 and 1900 points. In AnTuTu, the Realme Pad X scored 3,96,551 points, which, again, is higher than some phones with the same SoC such as the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G, which scored 365,861 points.

One of the factors for the marginally higher scores could be the tablet’s better thermal management due to the larger size, which could have helped with less throttling and better heat dissipation.

Realme Pad X with the keyboard accessory and Realme Pencil

I also used the Realme Pad X’s optional keyboard to file stories on Microsoft Word. While the key travel is good, there is no trackpad built-in. I had to often touch the screen to swipe up and down, which felt more of a chore than anything. Therefore, this setup is certainly not an ideal laptop replacement. The Pencil works fine but there is a noticeable lag when you draw or take notes. You can magnetically attach the pencil on the right edge of the tablet to charge it.

Moving on, I missed having a fingerprint scanner on the Realme Pad X. Users will have to choose between the lock screen password and Face Unlock for authentication. There is no 3.5mm headphone jack, in case you were wondering. The tablet comes with quad speakers which offer impressive sound.

The Realme Pad X does not come with a fingerprint scanner

The Realme Pad X does have solid battery life though. The company claims that users can get up to 19 hours of runtime when playing videos. In our battery loop test, the device lasted for 17 hours and 54 minutes, which was quite close to the claimed time. In fact, the battery life is better than the more-affordable Redmi Pad, but that did have a slightly smaller battery. The battery in the Realme Pad X takes quite some time to charge from zero to 100 percent. With the 33W Dart charger that’s provided in the box, it took more than 2 hours, 30 minutes to charge the tablet completely.

Realme Pad X cameras

The Realme Pad X has two camera sensors. The rear camera uses a 13-megapixel sensor which is good enough for scanning documents. There is no LED flash here. If you wish to use the tablet to capture photos, expect decent colours and dynamic range but average details. The rear camera can shoot up to 1080p 60fps videos.

The Realme Pad X has a 13-megapixel rear camera

Shot on Realme Pad X

For selfies and video calls, the 8-megapixel front camera is quite average. Selfies are slightly grainy and there is noticeable noise in videos shot in indoor lighting.

The front camera is placed on the right bezel when held in portrait mode

Shot on Realme Pad X

There is a feature called ‘Limelight’ which keeps you in the centre of the frame even when you move around during video calls. This is essentially Realme’s version of the iPad’s Center Stage feature. It is currently supported on three apps — Google Meet, Zoom and Google Duo. The front camera can also record 1080p videos at 30fps.

Verdict

The Realme Pad X is quite a solid offering in the budget Android tablet space. It offers a good multimedia experience and has a reliable performance unit. I also like how the company has offered a clean software experience while customising it enough to offer most of the essential features. The Realme Pad X also gets a huge thumbs-up for its battery life. While I do not expect tablets to offer good camera performance, I would have liked to see a better front camera.

Should you consider buying one? The Realme Pad X Wi-Fi variant has a starting price of Rs. 19,999, which is great value for money. However, the 5G variant which we have has a Rs. 27,999 price tag. For that price, you can get the more powerful Xiaomi Pad 5, which is currently available for Rs 26,999. The Android tablet comes with a powerful Snapdragon 870 SoC and a 120Hz refresh rate LCD display with Dolby Vision certification. The battery is also larger than the one on the Realme Pad X.

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

[ad_2]

Source link

Asus ROG Phone 6 Review: Obsessed With Gaming

By

hitesh

-

November 25, 2022

0

Asus ROG Phone 6 Review: Obsessed With Gaming

[ad_1]

The Asus ROG Phone series has been receiving subtle updates over the years. With gaming brands such as Nubia’s Redmagic and Black Shark leaving the Indian market long ago, Asus’ ROG Phone remains the last phone standing when it comes to high-end, gaming smartphones. This also means that Asus does not really have any direct competition in India and due to that, it can take its time refining its winning formula year on year, without needing to make any drastic changes in order to stay relevant.

The latest Asus ROG Phone 6 isn’t a big leap over its predecessor, the Asus ROG Phone 5s. There are the usual performance-related enhancements which are expected from every new update. There’s a new processor, improvements to the internal cooling system, and a new and an updated cooling accessory. Its design also remains similar to the previous model, only with a couple of changes. But there’s also an improved camera setup, which could make it a premium all-rounder. This last bit is important, given that the ROG Phone 6 has seen a noticeable price hike over the previous model.

Asus ROG Phone 6 price in India

The Asus ROG Phone 6 is priced at Rs. 71,999 for the sole 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration. It’s available in two finishes: Storm White and Phantom Black, and I received the latter for this review. There’s also an ROG Phone 6 Pro that’s gone on sale for Rs. 89,999 but the only difference between it and the 6 is a slightly different back panel design with an additional 2-inch OLED display and more RAM (18GB) and storage (512GB). You can read our first impressions of it.

The Asus ROG Phone 6’s price tag is a lot higher than the ROG Phone 5s which was priced at Rs. 57,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant, when launched last year. The price of this year’s base ROG Phone 6 is actually closer to last year’s Pro model which was priced at Rs 79,999.

Combine this increased price tag with Asus’ delayed release in India since the phone was announced in July 2022, and you can see how it needs to be twice as appealing to its niche gamer audience.

Asus ROG Phone 6 design

Part of that appeal seems a bit lost this year, with Asus recycling the same design year after year. Asus keeps taming the design of the ROG Phone every year, but this year appears a bit different. The camera module around the back now protrudes a bit and is quite large compared to previous devices. There’s now two RGB elements in the rear panel. Along with the usual “fearless eye” logo which has gotten the dot-matrix treatment (similar to newer ROG-branded laptops), there’s now a second customisable RGB element under the “Dare to Play” slogan.

The Asus ROG Phone 6 has two customisable RGB elements on the real panel

The Asus ROG Phone 6’s Gorilla Glass 3 rear panel is still a smudge magnet and the device feels quite chubby with a thickness of 10.3mm, and heavy at 239g (which is quite close to a quarter of kilogram). The ROG Phone 6 finally gets an IPX4 rating. This is good for helping it survive against splashes of water and this brings it a little closer to becoming a proper premium flagship.

However, it’s still quite large and heavy to be used as a daily driver in my opinion, even if you account for its larger than usual battery capacity. Unless you happen to have really large hands, the ROG Phone 6 demands proper, two-handed operation and I wasn’t able to sit comfortably with it in my pants pocket. Even while playing games, the phone feels a bit heavy to hold during extended sessions.

The Asus ROG Phone 6 has thick bezels at the top and bottom edges of its display

I’m not a fan of razor thin bezels on a smartphone, but the chunky bezels at the top and bottom of the display do appear quite dated for a smartphone launched in 2022. I would have preferred slightly slimmer ones that would have made the device look a bit more modern. Redmagic’s 7S Pro sure looks a lot slicker in comparison with its thinner bezels and the hidden selfie camera (like on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4), which makes for a distraction-free display.

The thick bezels on the Asus ROG Phone 6 do hide the large speakers and so, they have a reason to be there, but it sure takes away from the appeal of the smartphone. In fact, a transparent bezel exposing the hardware below would have definitely looked a lot cooler than the thick black bands at each end.

Asus ROG Phone 6 specifications and software

The processor in the Asus ROG Phone 6 gets upgraded from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ in the ROG Phone 5s to the newer Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. While the SoC is fairly new, the delayed release of the ROG Phone 6 in India may see a few buyers holding back their purchase until the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC starts showing up on premium smartphones, some of which are expected to arrive as early as the end of this year.

The ROG Phone 6 offers LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage which is the best that you can get on a premium device. Communication standards include support for multiple 5G bands, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and two USB-Type C ports. There is no dedicated slot for a microSD card but the built-in 256GB of storage should be sufficient. The phone is powered by a 6,000mAh battery and comes with a 30W charger in the box in India. The phone does support up to 65W fast charging, but that charger is sold separately.

The Console section of the Armoury Crate app lets one tweak and adjust performance settings

The Asus ROG Phone 6 runs Android 12 which has overlays of the brand’s ROG UI and Zen UI. The interface appears typically Asus with ROG UI elements used in the Armoury Crate app, which is where all the gaming-specific hardware adjustments can be made. Tinkerers will love this since you can do anything from adjust the touch sensitivity of the display to tweak the battery performance modes. While the Armoury Crate app appears the same as before, the Game Genie slide-out dashboard has seen an overhaul of sorts.

A swipe from the top-left corner of the display while in a game gives you access to this dashboard, which lets you switch performance modes on the fly and even lets you activate some game-specific settings. While the layout now pops up from the bottom and is much wider, there are still some options or toggles hidden in some scrollable menus, which I did not know about until I accidentally swiped over them.

As for the regular Android software interface, everything is where it should be and runs quite fluidly no matter how many apps or games have been opened in the background. The lack of Android 13 on a smartphone launched towards the end of 2022 stands out like a sore thumb when compared to other flagships at this price point. Asus did not comment about when the update to Android 13 would be available either.

Asus ROG Phone 6 performance

As expected, the Asus ROG Phone 6 performed really well in benchmarks and easily takes down most high-end Android premium flagships. When running most benchmarking apps, the phone forcibly used X Mode, but I managed to get regular scores as well. AnTuTu only ran in X Mode and returned a score of 10,83,480, which is the highest we have seen among the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 devices we have reviewed. The phone managed 1,220 and 3,719 points in Geekbench’s single and multi-core tests respectively when tested without X Mode, and 1,325 and 4,284 when tested with X Mode. Other tests also showed a noticeable increase in scores (or performance) when tested with X Mode.

The Asus ROG Phone 6 has a sharp, 165Hz refresh rate display with a 720Hz touch sampling rate

The phone’s 6.78-inch AMOLED display is a tiny bit smaller than the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s panel, but because of the thick bezels, it feels a lot bigger. It produces slightly saturated colours in the default colour mode, but can be adjusted to a user’s preferences in Display Settings. It supports the HDR10+ certification which is available in streaming apps such as Netflix and Youtube.

The 165Hz refresh rate made the software experience appear quite fluid but this panel is not of the LTPO variety. It can still switch between 60Hz, 90Hz,120Hz,144Hz, and 165Hz depending on the application in use. However when it comes to games, I rarely came across a title (even from Asus’s 165Hz library) which managed to cross 144fps. Most popular games managed 120fps with no problems.

As for games themselves, they ran flawlessly without a hiccup on the Asus ROG Phone 6. The phone did get hot around the back but the heat is evenly distributed so it did not feel too hot to hold. The display offers up to a 720Hz touch sampling rate. With X-mode on, I managed to tweak the screen’s touch sampling rate to the highest possible value and the results were impressive when playing FPS titles such as Call of Duty: Mobile.

The Aeroactive Cooler 6 with its peltier chip did a good job of keeping the device cool during intense gaming sessions

Asus sent across the Aeroactive Cooler 6 and I was quite excited to try it out. In theory, it’s an impressive piece of kit, with a peltier cooling setup found in some smaller fridges. Of course, the technology has been miniaturised to deliver better efficiency, but during my testing it did let me run Genshin Impact at the highest possible settings and the phone was a lot cooler than any other premium flagship that I’ve used.

This cooler has four additional buttons (L1, L2, R1, R2) that can be mapped to various functions within games. However, the thickness of the new cooler makes them quite hard to reach, especially when I wanted to use the built-in AirTriggers on the phone, along with the cooler buttons. Upon using the buttons I also noticed that the cooler would randomly disconnect, which made it a big problem when playing competitive games. It’s not just the cooling that stops, but the buttons also become inactive during gameplay. It’s possible this was an issue with just my accessory, so I’ll give Asus the benefit of doubt here.

I also found the build quality of the cooler to be a problem, given that this accessory will set you back by an additional Rs. 5,999. One of the buttons popped out during the review period and the fold-out kickstand also seemed quite flimsy and felt like it could break with a little pressure. I would definitely recommend using just the Kunai Gamepad accessory for better controls, but the cooler is a must-have to keep the device running cool when playing demanding games at maxed-out graphics and hardware settings.

The Asus ROG Phone 6 comes with a quality plastic case in the box

The two speakers on either side of the Asus ROG Phone 6 are possibly the best I have heard on a smartphone. Asus claims to have added more cubic space to deliver better bass, and I can confirm that it’s doing its job quite well. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack for those who would like to plug in while gaming.

The phone’s massive battery easily gave me about two days of casual use with some gaming sessions and camera usage. Extended gaming sessions and the use of the new cooler did drain the battery faster (a 10 percent drop instead of 5 percent, every 15 minutes). Our HD video loop battery test managed an impressive 17 hours and 41 minutes of runtime with the display’s refresh rate set to 165Hz.

Charging the phone is surprisingly quick when using the bundled 30W charger. The phone charges to 44 percent in 30 minutes and completes the charge in about 1 hour, 7 minutes, which is impressive. Asus also offers a bypass charging mode that will keep the phone powered directly via the adapter in order to reduce heat while playing demanding games. This mode can be activated in the Game Genie dashboard.

Asus ROG Phone 6 cameras

Asus has upgraded the cameras on the ROG Phone 6 this year. There’s now a Sony IMX766 50-megapixel primary camera which strangely lacks optical stabilisation (OIS), a brighter 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with an f/2.2 aperture, and a 5-megapixel macro camera. Selfies are handled by a 12-megapixel camera. The camera interface is typically Asus and Zen UI with all the necessary controls within reach and customisable camera modes. Video recording quality maxes out at 8K 24fps and the phone can also record HDR video.

The Asus ROG Phone 6 has three rear-facing cameras

Daylight photos using the primary camera had good details and sharpness. Dynamic range was good as well so you get plenty of detail in the shadows. Colours weren’t overdone but quite accurate. There was plenty of detail in close-ups as well. The macro camera did an average job with details and dynamic range. The ultra-wide-angle camera also captured some quality photos with slightly less detail compared to the primary, but were quite good on their own. Barrel-distortion was handled well, but there was minor purple fringing around brightly lit-up objects. What I really liked is that both cameras managed to deliver a level of consistency with similar colour tones, which I did not expect from a gaming smartphone.

Asus ROG Phone 6 daylight camera samples: Primary camera, ultra-wide-angle camera and selfie portrait (Tap to see full size)

In low light, the primary camera continued to impress with good details and dynamic range in street-lit conditions. Problems began to crop up when I pointed it at darker and dimmer areas. The Night mode is triggered automatically in most conditions, but there were instances when the phone indicated that it would take a three second auto-night-mode exposure, but snapped a regular photo with less detail and dynamic range. The lack of (OIS) can be felt here as the images turn out looking a bit soft with smudged textures even after firing up the dedicated Night mode.

Selfies in daylight using the Portrait mode looked impressive, with good dynamic range and excellent edge detection. However, it captures quite average looking photos in low light.

Asus ROG Phone 6 low-light camera samples. Top: Auto mode, bottom: Night mode (Tap to see full size)

Video recording quality is good in daylight and showcases good stabilisation even at 4K resolution. While 4K video recordings hit the sweet spot with detail, sharpness and dynamic range, they have some abnormally saturated colour tones, which almost appear as though a vivid filter has been applied. While HDR video recordings managed to bring out a lot more detail in the darker areas, the quality was not good and the colours appeared abnormal at best. 8K video recordings were not usable as they were too choppy due to the lower frame rate. Video quality in low light is far from the best I have seen at this price point. with footage having less detail, more noise, and appear quite soft in general.

Verdict

With expected upgrades when it comes to gaming, Asus did surprise me with a quality primary camera this year in the ROG Phone 6. It offers good performance in daylight and has decent low-light quality which is rare when it comes to gaming smartphones.

To a gamer who’s main priority is playing games along with having excellent battery life, this might be enough. To a regular consumer, the camera performance isn’t the best when compared to similarly priced flagships such as the Vivo X80 Pro (Review). This phone too has good gaming performance (minus the frills of the ROG of course), shoots excellent photos and is a lot more pocketable despite having a large display. It also gets you an IP68 rating.

While the phone will not appeal to casual gamers and regular buyers, the Asus ROG Phone 6 is still the only phone in the market to offer this level of hardware and software customisation, which only professional gamers will appreciate. Get one if you are dead-serious about mobile gaming and don’t mind lugging this phone around. For those who still want a premium gaming smartphone but don’t want to spend as much, last year’s Asus ROG Phone 5s from Rs. 49,999 is still a good choice.

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

[ad_2]

Source link

Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC Review: A ‘Marvellous’ but Pricey Port

By

hitesh

-

November 24, 2022

0

Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC Review: A ‘Marvellous’ but Pricey Port

[ad_1]

It’s no secret that Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ arrival on PC was simply a question of “when” and not “if.” In just over two years, co-developers Insomniac Games and Nixxes Software have established a firm footing in the PC market, freeing not just one — Spider-Man Remastered — but both web-crawling odysseys from PlayStation’s exclusivity. Following in the footsteps of his mentor Peter Parker, this spin-off sequel is a natural extension, building on the legacy through Miles Morales’ suave but energetic personality, whilst retaining the same core framework. Its shorter playtime does give the impression of a glorified DLC, but this PC port packs quite a punch, with technical upgrades unfamiliar to the PS4 and PS5.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC review – Gameplay and controls

Left to defend New York City by himself, our titular hero grapples with new responsibilities and insecurities, as he tries earning the trust of Harlem locals. His lack of experience occasionally seeps through in clumsy web swings, failed landings, and amateur mistakes. But Spider-Man: Miles Morales balances things on the combat front, by arming you with explosive jolts of bio-electricity, as you stack up combos and unleash snappy, acrobatic finishers. Stealth segments are also improved, with the covert Camouflage ability turning you invisible for brief periods and opening room for creative takedowns. These can be gradually refined by dumping points into the skill tree, further distancing Miles from the original Spider-Man. This upgrade system fits perfectly with the tightly woven story, which on a thematic level, explores a teenager’s struggle with self-discovery.

Content-wise, you’re getting the same action-fuelled experience with as the 2020 console version of Spider-Man: Miles Morales — the main campaign, a wintry New York to explore, and uninspired side quests. It’s a basic copy-paste PC port that doesn’t include any extra cosmetics or new DLC tailored to the fresh platform. In my Spider-Man Remastered PC review, I mentioned how booting up the title opened a launcher window, where one could configure graphics settings before heading into the actual game. This continues in Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC, but there’s an improvement. Once you’ve found the ideal settings, you can disable the launcher window entirely and skip the extra step. Previously, hitting play in Steam or Epic Games triggered the launcher every time.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Review: Hanging by a Thread

The new Venom strike ability separates Miles Morales from his mentor Peter Parker
Photo Credit: Insomniac Games

That said, the initial setup of Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC was a hindrance for me, crashing several times during the opening credits and loading screens. It was a mundane cycle of restarting the game over and over to trigger the next animation and eventually, progress to the main menu. Post that, it was smooth sailing across the board. The control scheme is quite like that of Spider-Man Remastered, save for Miles’ new shock ability, which by default, is bound to the right-click button. This moves the ‘Aim’ action to the middle mouse button, which, while jarring at first, isn’t a big deal since it can be customised to your liking.

Sure, there are a few combinations that are awkward for keyboard and mouse players, but accessibility features exist to simplify this. For instance, executing an airborne trick while swinging requires you to hold ‘T’ and press a directional button, which can be difficult to pull off with a single hand. However, these options allow you to map the control to a toggle action instead, so you can easily whiz past skyscrapers in style. Similarly, one could have entire QTE sequences play out automatically or even reposition the camera to a waypoint. Visual aids are also included, ranging from icon size changes to shader and contrast settings, aimed at people with low vision or challenges such as colour blindness.

Contrast and shader settings add a new filter that helps differentiate between characters
Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Rahul Chettiyar

Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC review – Graphics

Insomniac Games has come in clutch yet again with a new PS–PC port that’s nothing short of a visual feast. Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PC looks marvellous even at the lowest settings, prioritising character models above all else. Much like the recent Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, loss in visual quality is mainly noticeable in the surrounding open world, though it’s a bit more distracting here. The game carries over the Manhattan map from its prequel, adding a winter coat of paint and a few structural changes. So, when favouring performance over fidelity, it’s no longer a matter of simply blurring textures. The higher the graphics preset you choose, the denser snow gets, even settling between tiny cracks on wall surfaces.

These effects can be seen in real-time, thanks to the menu’s placement which only covers half the screen. Technical jargon is neatly described beside each setting, and there’s no need to restart the game to apply changes either. In addition to textural clarity, cranking the settings to Medium and beyond adds skin texture, increased hair density, and overall depth in images, thanks to areas in black getting darker. Even without ray tracing, shadows behave realistically, for the most part, getting cast in long or short forms depending on lighting, and that doesn’t exclude pedestrians or cars. There were a few moments during combat though, when I noticed some inconsistencies. When shooting webs to plaster foes onto structures that aren’t buildings, I sometimes found the latter behaving like transparent objects. So, instead of forming suitable, geometric shadows, all I could see were enemy shadows floating in the air.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC graphics settings
Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Rahul Chettiyar

While the graphics settings between Spider-Man Remastered and Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC are pretty much the same, I found reflections to be far superior here. Swinging around town through crowds of cheery bystanders feels immersive when you see the reflections of tall skyscrapers passing by. However, they are pre-rendered/ hard-coded into the windows. Similar to lighting effects in interior segments, these remain constant and are unaffected by what presets you choose. With Screen Space Reflections (SSR) enabled, however, material world objects cast real-time reflections, provided they’re close to a reflective surface.

Crawling on glossy windowpanes as Spider-Man throws up a spitting image of our hero, with accurate depictions of what suit you’re wearing. This is a massive upgrade compared to the previous game, where reflections could only be seen from specific, narrow angles and even then resembled a greyish, translucent shadow. That said, SSR is restricted to the ‘Medium’ preset and above. Toggling it on at ‘Very Low’ or ‘Low’ settings will not create these immediate reflections, causing some areas to appear bland even if well-lit. But that’s the trade-off.

Notice the change in reflection going from Very Low (L) to Very High (R)
Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Rahul Chettiyar

Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ visual splendour extends to finer details such as real-time footprints and tire tracks in the snow. Christmas vibes are in full force here, with apt decorations and warm lighting that serve to soothe your eyes after intense action sequences. My only gripe with visual presentation would be the erratic snowfall during cutscenes, which I know sounds odd, because cinematics is something these first-party PlayStation games usually have a knack for. At times, when the footage cuts to a different shot, snowflakes would take a few seconds to load, and it was jarring enough to break immersion.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC review – Performance

For being a new-gen PS5 launch title, Spider-Man: Miles Morales performed surprisingly better than I anticipated, on my medium-end rig. I tested this game on an AMD Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6GHz processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super GPU with 6GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, and a 500GB SSD. Playing at Medium–High settings, I was able to achieve eye-catching visuals with near-smooth frames that seamlessly transitioned into cutscenes and back. Even as I stumbled into the occasional split second-stutter — due to new assets loading — the heroic background score never cut out, which I appreciate since music is a key component to Miles’ character.

At these settings, Spider-Man: Miles Morales averaged 63fps, with frequent dips as low as 52fps when cycling between moments of calm and interior combat, respectively. When performing at its best with SSR enabled and barely any action on-screen, the game was able to hit highs of 78fps, though it would fall back to 62fps during cutscenes. Some screen tearing managed to stick out during these cinematics, though I caught none of it during gameplay, thanks to motion blur being enabled. While the setting is deemed counterintuitive for most titles out there, as I mentioned in my Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves PC review, Sony never goes overboard with the effect.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC System Requirements Detailed

Our first encounter with Rhino is heavy on the hardware
Photo Credit: Insomniac Games

A good chunk of world interaction involves swinging around the city at a blistering pace, which understandably caused performance to drop a little. With traffic, crowd density and weather effects set to medium, Spider-Man: Miles Morales averaged 46fps on my PC, before settling at 51fps when coming back to earth and mingling with citizens. During an explosive boss fight against the beastly Rhino, involving a handful of thugs, performance averaged at 59fps, with lows of 49fps, depending on how populated my screen was with artefacts and elemental effects.

Pushing the game to its limits, the opening chase sequence has you tear through New York City’s Christmas-themed malls and establishments, cycling between spurts of combat and cinematics in haste. At the aforementioned Medium–High settings, Spider-Man: Miles Morales managed to chug out 53fps on average, peaking at 63fps. Thankfully, the developers reduced snowfall during the swinging action, or else my framerate could have dropped way below 30fps. That said, these erratic figures are not representatives of lag spikes. Nowhere in my playthrough did I experience a heavy enough dip to cause me to lose immersion. But still, this game could benefit from a VRAM usage indicator to help you figure out the right settings, so you don’t end up maxing out your graphics memory.

If you’re running a system that’s similarly specced as mine, please refer to the table below to understand how Spider-Man: Miles Morales performs at different presets. Bear in mind, these numbers are the worst-case scenarios based on the aforesaid chase sequence, which is full of epic-scale destruction effects that occupy a lot of screen space. As for general gameplay, at the lowest possible settings, I was able to max out at 116fps. Visually, I also didn’t notice any major disparity between the High and Very High presets — because they’re heavily geared toward ray tracing.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC (all values are in fps)
VERY LOW			LOW			MEDIUM			HIGH			VERY HIGH
LOW	AVG	HIGH	LOW	AVG	HIGH	LOW	AVG	HIGH	LOW	AVG	HIGH	LOW	AVG	HIGH
46	65	105	46	60	80	35	53	63	35	46	55	30	42	50

Spider-Man: Miles Morales PC review – Verdict

Spider-Man Miles Morales might be a shorter experience than its predecessor, but it offers a ton of improvements on the gameplay end, fitting comfortably as an introductory tale in the larger Insomniac universe. With impressive PC performance and the ability to adapt to hardware dating back to the GTX 950 days, this game is an absolute banger to play through. It’s also crazy to think how in recent years, the PC has become the definitive platform to best experience these first-party PlayStation games.

At the same time, the publisher continues to baffle me with its exorbitant, yet inconsistent prices. For a title that launched two years ago and isn’t as long, Rs. 3,299/ $49.99 is clearly on the higher end. In comparison, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection on PC was priced the same, offering one-and-a-half games versus the “half” that is Spider-Man: Miles Morales. I would suggest waiting for a sale — but please, do not bail on this one.

Pros:

Well optimised
Superb visuals
Intuitive keyboard and mouse controls
Motion blur is not obnoxious

Cons:

A bit on the pricey end
No VRAM usage indicator
Shadows can be inconsistent
Crashed a few times initially

Rating (out of 10): 8

Gadgets 360 played Spider-Man: Miles Morales on a PC with AMD Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6GHz, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super GPU 6GB, 16GB RAM, and a 500GB SSD.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales is priced at Rs. 3,299 on Steam and Epic Games Store.

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

[ad_2]

Source link

Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro Robot Vacuum-Mop Cleaner and Auto Empty Station Review: Self-Emptying on a Budget

By

hitesh

-

November 23, 2022

0

Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro Robot Vacuum-Mop Cleaner and Auto Empty Station Review: Self-Emptying on a Budget

[ad_1]

Robot vacuum cleaners aren’t quite as attractive a proposition as they once were. The slow crawl back to normalcy has seen many of us go back to the traditional ways of keeping our homes clean. However, there’s no denying the impact of the product segment, and indeed the utility of having a secondary cleaning tool at your disposal. Among the many brands in the segment is Ecovacs, which is a specialist in the space and focuses on robotic cleaning devices across various price segments.

A recent launch by Ecovacs, the Deebot N8 Pro is the product I’m reviewing here. Priced at Rs. 36,900 on Amazon, and compatible with the optional Rs. 17,900 Auto Empty Station, the Deebot N8 Pro promises a more hands-off approach to home cleaning, without having to spend too much. Is it everything it promises, or are more expensive alternatives from brands such as iRobot more capable at the job? Find out in this review.

The Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro has two sweeping brushes, in addition to a separate, removable mop fitting

Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro design

The idea of the self-emptying docking station for robot vacuum cleaners isn’t new, with iRobot being a notable name in the segment with this technology. Where the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro hopes to separate itself from the competition is in its pricing and capabilities. The N8 Pro offers both vacuum cleaning and mopping capabilities, while the optional Auto Empty Station handles the task of keeping the on-device dustbin clean.

All of this comes at a combined cost of Rs. 54,800, which is a fair bit more affordable than the iRobot Roomba j7+. The Auto Empty Station comes with two disposable dust bags included in the box, and you can purchase more as needed. Each 2.5L dust bag is rated to allow for up to 30 days of dirt disposal before needing to be replaced.

Apart from serving to empty the on-device dustbin, the Auto Empty Station also doubles up as the charging dock for the robot, which is able to drive up and park itself in place with no assistance from the user. It is expectedly large in order to accommodate the suction mechanism, and has a nifty lid at the top to access and replace the dust bag, as required.

The Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro is like much of the competition in terms of design, with a disc-like shape, a module up top for the laser navigation hardware, and two sweeping brushes at the front, in addition to the main roller brush in the vacuum zone. At the top is the power button (although it doesn’t control the power, as such) and a lid, under which, are the on-device dust bin, Wi-Fi connection button, and sliding power switch that actually powers the N8 Pro on or off.

The device is available in a single white colour option for now, and has a flexible bumper at the front to handle slight bumps and collisions with furniture and other objects at home. The back has a large slot area for the mop fitting to be attached; interestingly, the device works in vacuum mode even with this fitting not attached, although the device admittedly looked strangely hollow when operating this way.

Two disposable dust bags come included with the Auto Empty Station

Included in the sales package of the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro are the standard (and much smaller) charging dock and power cable, mopping plate and replacement mopping pads, and the brushes to fix onto the robot. The Auto Empty Station comes with two dust bags, a power cable, and its own on-device dustbin. This will need to be fixed into the N8 Pro for it to work with the Auto Empty Station, since it has the openings for the suction mechanism which the regular dust bin does not have.

Many cleaning robots, including the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro, use laser-based LIDAR to navigate; it’s widely considered the most accurate technology available on mainstream consumer-grade devices in this product segment. This also means that while the device has a fairly limited ‘field of vision’ in the traditional sense, it is capable of seeing all that it needs to both, in well-lit conditions as well as in the dark.

Ecovacs additionally touts its TrueDetect 3D and TrueMapping technology, which are said to make the device a bit more effective at navigation. I didn’t often have trouble with navigation on the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro, with the cleaning robot able to move around my home fairly easily and avoid heavy collisions with furniture and walls. In fact, in most cases, the N8 Pro was able to stop short of touching any obstacles, and only once partially drove over a minor ‘cliff’ and got stuck.

Mapping was accurate for the large part with the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro. Room markings and divisions were well established, rugs were automatically detected and factored into the cleaning tasks, and small changes to the layout (such as moving furniture such as chairs and coffee tables around) didn’t hassle the device too much. The map is also quick to respond to more permanent changes in the layout; changing the position of the dock didn’t create any navigational or mapping issues, fortunately.

Although the difference in speed of movement is not very significant as compared to options such as the 360 S7, the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro was somewhat slower to get around and complete cleaning tasks, particularly when moving between rooms. The lack of pace wasn’t inconvenient, but it wasn’t particularly convenient either.

Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro app

The Ecovacs Home app is used to manage and control the Deebot N8 Pro, as well as the functionality of the Auto Empty Station, when the robot is properly docked in place. The app is available on Android and iOS, and can be simultaneously logged in and used on multiple devices with the same account and device. You can also set the app up for use with Google Assistant and Alexa, with voice commands for limited controls over the device.

The setup process is fairly simple and took around ten minutes to complete for me. The app allows you to manage multiple homes and robots (if you have multiple Ecovacs devices across locations). Once complete, the home screen of the app shows basic details, including the connectivity and battery status of the robot, and lets you either quickly start an auto cleaning task or instruct the Deebot N8 Pro to return to the charging dock.

The app for the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro is available for both iOS and Android

There is also a Smart Cleaning section, which is where the majority of the app’s functionality can be found. This includes the map (with real-time positioning and cleaning progress of the robot visible even during tasks), cleaning statistics and preferences, and map customisation settings for things such as virtual walls and no-go zones visible at the front. You can also set preferences for the Auto Empty Station, TrueDetect 3D obstacle avoidance, and scheduling for automatic operation, among other things.

The app is fairly detailed, and provides much control over the operation of the Deebot N8 Pro. It worked reliably even with heavy use, although I did notice some bugs with the map generation and connectivity on a couple of occasions. This is among the better apps I’ve used when it comes to cleaning robots, striking the right balance between simplicity and detailed controls.

Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro cleaning

Unlike the iRobot Roomba j7+, the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro can sweep, vacuum, and mop simultaneously. This makes it a more complete cleaning device, given that all of the functionality (along with the self-cleaning features) are available for much less than what the iRobot suite of products will cost you.

Indeed, the Ecovacs Deebot N8 more closely compares with my current top pick in the cleaning robot space, the 360 S7, but with the notable difference being compatibility with the rather sensibly priced Auto Empty Station. This does give it a bit of and edge in the overall comparison since it makes maintenance a lot easier, but you do need to keep in mind the fairly high cost of the dust bags and consumable parts on the Ecovacs products.

Comparing the cleaning performance of the two devices, the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro is a bit more powerful than the 360 S7 on paper, with a rated peak suction power of 2,600pa. However, this level of power is only attained when using the very noisy and power consuming ‘Max+’ power setting in the app; the more reasonable power modes aren’t quite as capable when it comes to vacuum cleaning. I often had to run the device twice over the same area to get a truly clean floor.

Mopping performance was similar — it usually took two runs to do what most other devices would be able to do in one. As mentioned earlier, the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro also moves a fair bit slower than competing devices, and thus takes a while longer to complete the task.

You’ll need to attach the special dustbin to the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro if you intend to use it with the Auto Empty Station

It usually took around 40 minutes to clean my 900 square-foot home once over, and if I ran the device twice and split vacuum cleaning and mopping in different runs, it took around two hours of use per day to get the job done. This is fine if you have the time or plan to run the device on a schedule or remotely when you’re away, but can be a bit disruptive (and loud) if you’re at home while the Deebot N8 Pro is cleaning.

The Auto Empty Station can be set to automatically clean the dustbin after every task, but I preferred to operate this manually instead, which was as simple as tapping a button on the app when the robot was docked. The suction mechanism of the Auto Empty Station is quite loud, and runs for a few seconds to clean out the on-device dustbin. While much of the dust and dirt was removed, a little bit always seemed to remain in place until manually brushed out every couple of weeks.

The dust bag is rated for 30 days of use, but this naturally depends on the conditions of specific homes and can vary a fair bit based on the usage. I didn’t have to change the dust bag during my time with the Deebot N8 Pro (a little less than 30 days in total), so it’s likely to last for as long as the company claims, or perhaps even a bit longer.

Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro charging and battery life

Ecovacs doesn’t mention the battery capacity on the Deebot N8 Pro, but the cleaning robot does have a fairly capable battery that can handle cleaning large spaces or making multiple cleaning runs on a single charge. I was able to vacuum clean my entire home once, followed by a mopping run with the vacuum on silent mode, with the battery level dropping to around 35 percent after this. Two simultaneous vacuum runs would leave around a 20 percent charge remaining.

This is pretty good, suggesting that the device could cover around 2,000 square feet in one go. As with competing devices, the Deebot N8 Pro is able to pause its current task to return to charge if the battery is low, and resume where it left off once charged up again. Charging with the Auto Empty Station took around three hours from the 20 percent level, suggesting that it would take perhaps four hours in total to charge a completely drained battery.

Verdict

Ecovacs has been around in India for a while now, but the Deebot N8 Pro puts it firmly on the radar as one of the more noteworthy options that is worth considering. This is largely because of its compatibility with the Auto Empty Station, which makes this among the more affordable options with this functionality that you can purchase right now. A good companion app, decent navigational abilities, and good battery life help as well.

Perhaps the only drawback on the Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro is the somewhat underwhelming cleaning performance, which compels you to run it multiple times to achieve the same cleaning effect as some competing products. This isn’t a massive setback though, and it might even be worth giving the device the extra time it takes since post-cleaning maintenance is reduced thanks to the Auto Empty Station. On the whole, the Deebot N8 Pro and Auto Empty Station are well worth considering for the value proposition and overall feature set on offer.

Price: Rs. 36,900 (Deebot N8 Pro), Rs. 17,900 (Auto Empty Station)

Rating: 8/10

Pros:

Very good battery life
Excellent app
Good navigation and mapping
Auto Empty Station works well
Good value for money

Cons:

Moves slowly
Needs multiple runs to clean effectively
Consumables are expensive