Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Review: Building the Ecosystem

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November 14, 2022

Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Review: Building the Ecosystem

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The idea of a product ‘ecosystem’ isn’t a new one, but few have truly succeeded in building a platform that achieves the intended goals. Samsung has been working on this for a while now, with its Galaxy Buds range of true wireless earphones that are designed to work best with the company’s own smartphones and tablets. The latest in the product range is the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, the successor to the Galaxy Buds Pro headset which was released in 2021.

Priced at Rs. 17,999 in India, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro is the company’s newest and most advanced true wireless headset in India. With promised improvements in active noise cancellation and sound quality thanks to the new 24-bit Samsung Seamless Codec, is this the ideal companion to your Samsung smartphone? Find out in this review.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro have active noise cancellation, and a design that is more comfortable than that of the Galaxy Buds Pro

Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro design and features

Samsung’s colour choices for its product range have always been a bit adventurous, including for its true wireless earphones. There are currently three colour options available for the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, chosen to match with the company’s smartphone range — white, graphite, and bora purple. I quite like the bora purple variant sent to me for review, but many might want to match the colour to that of their smartphone.

In terms of design, there are some notable changes as compared to the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro. The charging case looks similar in shape and size but has a nicer looking matte finish, while the earpieces see some important improvements in design which make them a lot more comfortable to wear. The fit of the Buds 2 Pro remains secure and suitably noise isolating, aiding the active noise cancellation’s effectiveness.

The earpieces are smaller and a bit lighter than before, with microphones on both the inside and outside for ANC and voice functionality, along with a wear-detection sensor on the inside. The earpieces are usefully IPX7 rated for water resistance, and should therefore be able to handle significant levels of water exposure. There are three pairs of silicone ear tips in the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro’s box for a customisable fit, along with a USB Type-C to Type-C cable for charging.

There are touch controls on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro which are customisable through the companion app, and can even be deactivated entirely if needed. You can control playback, active noise cancellation and transparency mode, and answering or declining calls through the touch controls ordinarily, but a ‘Labs’ experimental feature in the app also lets you control the volume by double-tapping the edge of the earpieces.

Some additional features on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro include 360 Audio with head tracking (for a virtualised surround sound effect), quick pop-up pairing with Samsung devices, a voice detect feature that reduces the volume and activates transparency when the user speakers, and support for the Samsung SmartThings app and system to locate the earpieces, similar to Apple’s Find My app. The Bixby voice assistant is also supported on the earphones natively, but there’s no way to invoke any other voice assistants directly from the earphones.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro app and specifications

Samsung’s app experience for the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro is a bit confusing, and it all depends on the source device you’ll use the headset with. On a Samsung device, I had to install the Galaxy Wearable app, while on a non-Samsung device, I had to additionally install the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Manager app, which then enabled the earphones to be used by the Galaxy Wearable app.

Once done, the app experience was the same regardless of whether I used a Samsung smartphone or any another Android smartphone. There is no companion app for iOS unfortunately, but you can still use the earphones with an iPhone thanks to universal Bluetooth connectivity.

The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro work best if you have a Samsung smartphone to use them with

The app offers a graphical view of the battery level of both the earpieces and the charging case at the top, with a large section dedicated to switching between ANC and ambient sound modes, right below. Other features that can be toggled and customised are voice detect, 360 audio, and touch controls. A menu called ‘earbuds settings’ lets you further control things such as the equaliser, Bixby, in-ear detection for calls, and firmware updates. You can also add a widget to quickly toggle between the ANC and transparency modes on the home screen.

Notably, there is no toggle for in-ear detection for playback. Removing both earpieces does pause music automatically, but this doesn’t work if you only remove one earpiece, as with many other headsets. ANC does automatically turn off when you remove even a single earpiece, so the shortcoming here can potentially be fixed with a software update, since the hardware is already in place and works fine.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro use Bluetooth 5.3 for connectivity, with the SBC, AAC, and SSC HiFi 24-bit Bluetooth codecs supported. The use of Bluetooth 5.3 also suggests that the Bluetooth LE Audio codec could be supported in due course. It’s worth mentioning here that the SSC Hi Fi codec is the same as the Scalable codec (and even reflects as such on a Samsung smartphone), with the notable difference being an increase in bits per sample, up from 16-bit to 24-bit.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro performance and battery life

Samsung’s ‘ecosystem’ play is a bit different from that of Apple, primarily because of the Bluetooth codec in use. This naturally makes it enticing to use the earphones with a compatible Samsung smartphone or tablet, with the Scalable codec unlocking better sound quality. With the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, Samsung has gone a step further with its codec, promising better audio quality than even competing options such as LDAC and Qualcomm aptX.

Although termed as ‘Samsung Seamless Hi-Fi Codec’, you’ll still see ‘Scalable’ as the codec in operation on the device itself (requires OneUI 4.0 or higher). However, things are a bit different, in that the bits per sample and sample rate register at 24 bits and 48kHz respectively, up from 16-bit and 44.1kHz as seen on earlier Samsung true wireless headsets such as the Galaxy Buds 2. This does have a notable effect on sound quality, with the overall sound coming across as a bit more detailed and tonally precise than competing options from Sony and Sennheiser.

Listening to club classic Drop The Pressure by Mylo, there was a sense of sharpness and attack in the sound that was refreshing to listen to. The tonality of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro was impressive, particularly when the heavily auto-tuned and progressively rhythmic vocals kicked in. On the whole, this made this synthesised track sound almost orchestral and performed live — a rather good sonic signature and tone to have.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro true wireless earphones are loud, and turning up the volume to around the 70 percent level with the right codec in operation made for an immersive and beautifully detailed soundstage. With Go 2 by Netsky, the melody and thump in the bass seemed to reverberate and pulse through, all while gradually building up the intensity and drive as the track’s tempo increased.

Sound quality and ANC performance are excellent on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, under the right conditions

The sonic signature of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro has a fair bump in the lows and highs, while the mid-range sees only a slight drop. This makes for a sound that generally goes well with most popular genres, and the codec capabilities and driver tuning help the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro keep pace with the fastest and busiest of tracks.

With non-Samsung devices (I tested with an iPhone and a OnePlus smartphone), the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro uses the AAC Bluetooth codec. While the sound was still pretty decent, there was an audible difference in the level of detail and tonality. This does put the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro at a significant disadvantage, if you don’t have a compatible Samsung smartphone to use it with.

Active noise cancellation on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro is excellent, and largely on par with similarly-priced options in the true wireless segment. The headset offers a significant noise reduction both indoors and outdoors, and is particularly effective against wind noise and the typical hum of the urban outdoors. There is no customisation or adaptive control for the ANC though; it’s either on at its full setting, or off.

The ambient sound mode was similarly effective, offering a fairly natural sense of hear-through that was nearly on par with not having the earphones on at all. There wasn’t too much amplification of sound which made it comfortable to use the mode even for long stretches, but it didn’t sound quite as natural as that of the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Gen).

Battery life on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro is claimed to be five hours per charge with ANC on, and I was able to match this figure in my testing. The charging case added almost three full charges in addition, for a total battery life of around 18-19 hours per charge cycle. This isn’t exceptional as compared to competing options, but is decent enough given the capabilities of the headset in terms of Bluetooth codecs and ANC quality. It’s quickest to charge the case through the USB Type-C port, while Qi wireless charging is also present.

Verdict

If you have a Samsung smartphone (or plan to buy one soon) and are looking for premium true wireless earphones, the decision is simple enough — buy the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. The ecosystem benefits are really evident here, with particular emphasis on sound quality thanks to the improved 24-bit Hi-Fi codec. Add to that the very good active noise cancellation, along with decent design and comfort, makes this a fairly complete pair of earphones.

If you don’t have a Samsung smartphone, you’ll want to look elsewhere. Samsung’s latest true wireless earphones, while excellent, are just not as device-agnostic as competing products from Sony and Sennheiser. Additionally, it might also be worth considering the more affordable (but nearly as good) Samsung Galaxy Buds 2.

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Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G Review: All About That Display

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hitesh

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November 11, 2022

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Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G Review: All About That Display

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Xiaomi has been taking things slow and steady in the laptop space in India, with just a handful of models launched since it brought the first Mi Notebook here in mid-2020. Rather than attacking every possible price point and buyer profile as it does with phones, Xiaomi seems to have identified its niche – slick, premium models for those who want something better than the basics. The Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G aims to stand out in terms of design as well as features. While it isn’t as affordable as some of the company’s previous offerings, there’s a value proposition here that might just work for you. Read on.

Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G price in India

Aimed at students, professionals, home users, and the mobile workforce, the Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G is available starting at Rs. 69,999. The higher-priced variant costs Rs. 76,999 and the only difference between them is that the latter has a discrete Nvidia GeForce MX550 GPU in addition to the integrated Intel graphics capabilities that you get with the base version. Xiaomi inconsistently refers to the less expensive version as the Notebook Pro 120 (minus the G, for graphics) – so you might see the two options listed as different models in some places. All other specs are the same, and it’s a bit surprising that there are no options when it comes to CPU power, RAM, or SSD capacity.

We have the higher-priced variant for this review. It’s available through Xiaomi’s own website in India as well as Amazon and official offline retailers.

The Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G has a relatively minimalist look

Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G design and features

Much like its Mi Notebook series predecessors, the new Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G has a fairly plain design. The body doesn’t have any angles or curves except for rounded corners. There’s a small but shiny Xiaomi logo on the lid which is the only thing that takes away from the overall minimalist look. The exterior is made of dark grey aluminium and has a sandblasted finish which looks nice up close. It did pick up minor smudges over the course of a few weeks, but those could easily be wiped away.

Weighing 1.4kg, this isn’t the lightest or most portable laptop around. It’s 15.9mm thick, which is fairly normal. You get a relatively small 100W brick-style adapter in the box, rather than the oversized wall plugs that are becoming more common.

The hinge feels quite firm and the lid doesn’t wobble when typing on this laptop, which is nice. Xiaomi has gone with relatively narrow screen borders for the Notebook Pro 120G, and there’s enough space for a webcam above the panel. Thankfully, this is a non-reflective matte screen which is better for productivity.

The keyboard layout is fine, and it has white backlighting with two brightness levels. There’s a separate power button with an integrated fingerprint sensor. The upper rightmost keyboard key is a programmable macro key that can be set to open any one program or file. In terms of typing comfort, the keys are a bit too mushy for my liking but most people can get used to this. I liked the fact that there’s very little keyboard flex and the display doesn’t shake when typing. The trackpad is fairly large but the texture isn’t great for swiping and other gestures.

There are no problems with keyboard layout, but typing comfort could have been better

Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G specifications

The primary draw of the Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G is its fantastic 2560×1600-pixel 16:10 120Hz screen. The resolution and aspect ratio are great for productivity, giving you a significant amount of extra workspace compared to standard full-HD. Xiaomi promises 100 percent sRGB colour gamut coverage and DC dimming, which means no rapid flickering that might cause eye strain.

Considering that this is a premium laptop, it’s surprising that there aren’t any CPU options higher than the Core i5-12450H that Xiaomi has chosen. A Core i7 version might have been quite interesting, given what else you get. Nevertheless, this is a 12^th Gen model based on the ‘Alder Lake‘ architecture, and more interestingly, the H suffix indicates that this is a relatively powerful 45W part which should deliver better sustained performance than the typical 28W or 15W parts more commonly found in thin-and-light laptops. This CPU has four performance cores and four more smaller efficient cores, for a total of 12 threads.

If you choose the version of the Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G without the discrete Nvidia GeForce MX550 GPU, you’ll have to make do with the relatively weak integrated Intel UHD Graphics. I have the lower-end variant with me for this review.

You don’t get a lot of ports, but Thunderbolt 4 is versatile

There’s 16GB of RAM, and although it isn’t upgradeable, the choice of LPDDR5-5200 is a nice touch. You also get a 512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. The battery capacity is 56Wh and Xiaomi promises “all-day” battery life. The 100W charger is said to deliver a 50 percent charge within 35 minutes. There are two speakers on the bottom sides, firing downwards and outwards.

You’ll find one Thunderbolt 4 (Type-C) port, an HDMI 2.0 video output, and a 3.5mm audio socket on the left. On the right, there’s one USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps) Type-C port, one USB 3.1 (5Gbps) Type-A port, and a charge status LED. That isn’t a lot, but at least you have the flexibility to use a Thunderbolt dock or adapters to drive multiple external displays and other peripherals. More USB ports and an SD card slot would have been particularly useful – this laptop isn’t too thin or otherwise short on space. For wireless connectivity there’s Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.

My unit came with Windows 11 Home, Office 2021 Home & Student, and a bunch of bloatware including WhatsApp, Spotify, and Clipchamp Video Editor. Xiaomi also preloads its MIUI+ and Mi Support apps. The former lets you share files between devices, while the latter is for chatting with online service and tweaking display settings.

An SD card slot would have been useful

Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G performance

Let’s first talk about general usage and usability. While not the lightest, the Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G is still a relatively compact 14-inch laptop. The display is a pleasure to work on when it comes to reading and managing spreadsheets, but it might not be ideal for colour-sensitive photo and video editing, considering the positioning of this laptop. Colours are reasonably vibrant and motion is smooth. Videos and games look okay, but Xiaomi hasn’t specified any value for brightness and you certainly don’t get HDR.

Once I had adjusted Windows’ scaling to my liking, which was 175 percent, I found the UI a lot better for getting work done. You can also use the Windows 11 Preferences panel to take the refresh rate down from 120Hz to 90Hz or 60Hz if you want to extend battery life. One little annoyance was that Alt+F4 isn’t recognised unless you also hold down the Fn button – a lot of laptops override the Fn keys’ default shortcuts when using common Windows commands so you don’t have to do this manually.

Full-HD movies and shows on streaming services look decent enough on the 14-inch screen, and the Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G should serve just fine for casual entertainment. The stereo speakers are just about okay for dialogue in video and effects in games, but they aren’t great with music. The webcam is also serviceable but nothing special.

When it comes to performance, I had no trouble getting my day-to-day work done. This meant using Chrome and Firefox with dozens of tabs open including heavy Web-based apps, streaming video for an hour or so, and dealing with lots of messages across platforms and services. The Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G held up fine, allowing me to multitask quite easily. On the downside, the keyboard action and trackpad surface took a little while to get used to. The entire deck including the keys and wrist rest areas did feel a bit warm after prolonged use without doing anything too intense, and got quite hot when gaming.

The high-resolution 16:10 120Hz display is the main draw of the Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G

The GeForce MX550 GPU could help with some content creation or data visualisation tasks, and is just about good enough for casual gaming. Far Cry 5’s built-in benchmark ran at an average of 21fps at the native 2560×1600 resolution, using the Low quality preset. Taking the resolution down to 1920×1200 allowed for a somewhat decent 31fps average. Similarly, the relatively non-taxing World War Z ran at 33fps at the same resolution using its High quality.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider also only ran well enough at its Low preset. At 2560×1600, the built-in benchmark managed only 29fps and there was noticeable tearing and stuttering. However, dropping to 1920×1200 resulted in the average rising to a surprisingly decent 43fps average, with a minimum of 33fps. What’s more interesting is that this game supports Intel’s XeSS upsampling tech – but enabling it at the display’s native resolution using the Quality preset actually caused a drop to 23fps on average.

3DMark’s Time Spy score was 2,715 and the Unigine Superposition benchmark managed 4,678 points at its 1080p Medium quality setting. This is a significant bump up over the scores you’d get without a dedicated GPU.

As for general-purpose benchmarks, I first checked overall synthetic performance using PCMark. Its standard run returned a score of 5,430 and the Extended run managed 5,361. Cinebench R20’s CPU render test showed a single-thread score of 635 and multi-thread score of 3,786 which shows scaling to all performance and efficient cores delivers roughly a 6X boost in tasks that can take advantage of all of them. POVRay’s render benchmark ran in 1 minute, 14 seconds.

Heat and fan noise could become problematic

Transcoding a 1.3GB AVI file to H.265 took just 46 seconds, thanks to the extra CPU cores. 7zip managed to compress a 3.24GB folder of assorted files in 1 minute, 35 seconds. CrystalDiskMark reported sequential read and write speeds of 2,866.4MBps and 3,138.1MBps respectively, with random reads and writes coming in at 749.4MBps and 416.4MBps respectively.

When stressed, the Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G runs quite hot, and that also means that there’s a lot of fan noise. I was surprised by just how distracting it could be – there’s a simultaneous whoosh as well as a whistling noise, which could mean that airflow isn’t optimised very well. This only happened when the laptop was severely stressed, but even with moderately heavy tasks running, the noise was noticeable enough to be distracting in a conference room or classroom.

Battery life was a bit of a letdown, in my experience. I was able to get only about six hours of work done per full charge. If you reduce the screen refresh rate and don’t do anything too heavy, you might be able to stretch that a bit – but then you’d lose out on this laptop’s main selling points. The intense Battery Eater Pro test lasted for just 1 hour, 41 minutes before this laptop shut itself down. Charging is relatively quick though – the Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G got from zero to 23 percent in 15 minutes and 40 percent in 30 minutes.

This isn’t the slimmest or lightest laptop, but it could strike the right balance for some buyers

Verdict

The Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G seems better suited for work than entertainment, and for those who just want a compact PC at home or in the office, not a laptop to use on the go. There are a lot of compelling bullet points on its product listing, most notably the high-res, high-refresh-rate, 16:10 display. Xiaomi has chosen well in terms of core hardware too. However, actual usage revealed a few weak spots – the keyboard, trackpad, port selection, fan noise, and battery life. These might not seem like huge deals, but if you aren’t satisfied with even one of these things, long-term usage can become frustrating.

Priced at Rs. 76,999, this version of the Xiaomi Notebook Pro 120G is not as easy to recommend as its predecessors. You could get a competent gaming laptop, or a much lighter ultraportable, or a 2-in-1 with a touchscreen for the same amount. The MacBook Air (M1) is also available for not too much more. Any potential buyer will have to consider whether they want the very specific combination of features and the performance that the Notebook Pro 120G offers.

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Black Panther Wakanda Forever Review: Not Even Ryan Coogler Can Save Marvel’s Phase Four

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hitesh

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November 11, 2022

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Black Panther Wakanda Forever Review: Not Even Ryan Coogler Can Save Marvel’s Phase Four

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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — out now in cinemas — already had the big task of following its universally beloved 2018 predecessor, which I dubbed the king of Marvel movies. But then in 2020, after the death of Chadwick Boseman, the franchise was forced into an impossible corner. What do you do with a sequel when the actor who plays your lead character is gone? Returning director Ryan Coogler, who almost quit filmmaking after the tragedy, has attempted to infuse the loss of his friend and colleague, and his feelings associated with it into Wakanda Forever. But although the second Black Panther movie is cast in the shadow of grief, it’s sadly not too poignant. (Maybe Coogler is just too overwhelmed. You could sense that in his voice during the film’s press tour.)

Instead, the newest chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is at times more a meditation on the cycles of violence. Though its commentary is far from convincing or successful, that’s what Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spends more of its time on. This is primarily thanks to the introduction of Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), the flying king of a new underwater civilisation called Talokan. With Atlantis having already come into play in the 2018 DC film Aquaman, Coogler and his co-writer Joe Robert Cole have shifted Namor’s comic book origins in a Mayan direction, with a history tied to Spanish colonisation. But the world of Talokan feels weirdly muted — you can’t help but compare it to Aquaman‘s richer and more vibrant Atlantis.

It never invokes the same sense of awe that you got with Wakanda’s Afrofuturism in the original Black Panther. An even bigger problem for Wakanda Forever is that it’s disjointed. (Maybe that’s because there are three credited editors: Michael P. Shawver, Kelley Dixon, and Jennifer Lame.) It’s also longer than it should be at 161 minutes, Coogler fails to impress with the few action sequences there are, and the occasionally incoherent narrative doesn’t know how to bring its promising pieces together. At the same time, Wakanda Forever is very moving in parts; mournful and unlike most superhero movies. It also wants to unpack ideas that other MCU films are eager to avoid. Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good — I just wish everything had been thought out better at each step of the way.

Everything You Need to Know About Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

A year after King T’Challa/ Black Panther (Boseman) dies of an unspecified illness, all responsibility for the kingdom of Wakanda has fallen on the shoulders of the Queen mother, Ramonda (Angela Bassett). Publicly, she’s trying to carry her son’s torch to make Wakanda more open to the world — though opportunistic powers believe this is the perfect time to get their hands on some vibranium, what with Wakanda having lost its protector. Privately, she’s trying to get her daughter, Shuri (Letitia Wright), to move forward — but T’Challa’s younger sister has buried herself in her technology to avoid confronting the pain of her loss. Shuri is the gateway through which Coogler channels his grief over his dear friend.

With the lead star and protagonist missing, from a narrative standpoint, Coogler had to figure out a way forward. So he retooled the world of Black Panther around his former wise-cracking sidekick. In the original Black Panther movie, Shuri did elaborate handshakes, bristled at tradition, and showed off her cool innovations. Most of that is gone in Wakanda Forever — though there are remnants, such as Shuri believing the Black Panther itself to be a figure of the past. She becomes more of her past self whenever she leaves Wakanda. It’s almost as if being at home, in the shadow of her brother’s legacy, weighs on her. In some ways, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is like a rite of passage for Shuri. She’s not only discovering the kind of person she is, but whether she has what it takes to be a leader.

All of this comes to the fore after Namor delivers an ultimatum to Ramonda and Shuri: if they don’t deliver what he wants, he will attack Wakanda. This conflict drives the bulk of the new MCU movie, as the Wakandans and their allies — including T’Challa’s former spy lover Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), special forces Dora Milaje chief Okoye (Danai Gurira), and CIA agent Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman), all returning from the first Black Panther film — try to keep Namor at bay, without giving him what he desires. But given that no one has previously dealt with the Talokanil, this is uncharted, underestimated territory for Wakanda. Namor, who’s referred to as K’uk’ulkan (the feathered serpent god) by his people, leads a nation that’s more than a match for the Wakandans.

Black Panther 2 Leaked on Torrent Sites Ahead of Release in India

Tenoch Huerta Mejía as Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Photo Credit: Eli Adé/Marvel

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever strains to serve its ensemble cast, feeling smaller than its predecessor despite introducing a new whole world. While Ramonda, Shuri, and Namor are at the centre of things, everyone else gets the short shrift. The new MCU film carves out as much room as it can for Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), the MIT child prodigy who creates a suit of armour just like Iron Man. She’s set to get her own Disney+ series next year, but in Wakanda Forever, she’s more a MacGuffin than an actual character being developed. Nakia, the one closest to T’Challa’s heart, feels shielded in some ways. Okoye and the others — including Wakandan mountain tribe leader M’Baku (Winston Duke) — get even less. Ross, and another surprise return, seem so ancillary to the whole story that they feel like a producer’s call.

The problem with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is that it’s never as thrilling as the 2018 original. For one, it’s missing those juicy characters who operated on a different moral and ethical plane. Michael B. Jordan’s villain Erik “Killmonger” Stevens and Andy Serkis’ smuggler Ulysses Klaue were magnetic and enigmatic in ways that Namor simply wasn’t designed to be. Sure, he’s rip-roaring, takes charge, and has a powerful backstory — but he’s more muted at the end of the day. And two, Wakanda Forever fails in terms of satisfying action scenes. The third act calls for something special, but Coogler isn’t great at designing action set pieces. Talokan’s water bombs are cool, but that’s basically it. There’s so much wasted potential here, it pains me.

While the Black Panther sequel is certainly an attempt at a tribute to Boseman, I kept trying to think of what T’Challa would have wanted for Wakanda after his death. He was against the isolationist practices of his father, and driven by Killmonger who said almost all the right things, he threw open its doors at the end of the original film. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever posits that this huge, bold move essentially backfired. By exposing vibranium-rich Wakanda, he made the world envious. No country is happy with a resource being that exclusive, especially one as valuable as vibranium.

Black Panther 2 to Monica O My Darling, the Biggest Movies in November

Winston Duke as M’Baku in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Photo Credit: Eli Adé/Marvel

And so, although T’Challa had the best of intentions, it didn’t pan out as he envisioned. With T’Challa gone and Wakanda facing sneak attacks from Western forces trying to get their hands on the impossible metal, the country has become even more defensive and isolationist than before in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Early into the new MCU film, Ramonda delivers public rebuttals that make good theatre, but are not great foreign policy. The depressing lesson the new Black Panther movie invokes is that the world is messy — and idealistic approaches don’t go down well.

Wakanda Forever is also messy; unable to hammer home its themes in a meaningful and resonant way like the original managed to. Ultimately, it’s too much like standard Marvel fare. It feels as though it was made because the legacy of Black Panther needed to be continued, not because those making it were sparking with ideas. Now, thirty movies into the MCU, we’re at a stage where content is the product that keeps the machine going.

On the back of what has been a largely disappointing “phase” since Avengers: Endgame, it fell to Coogler to salvage the situation. But the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director already had too much on his plate. Just like Shuri is unable to move on, Coogler has also struggled to move on with Wakanda Forever. The film grapples with the gaping hole left behind by Boseman’s death — and it discovers that it has no answer. That feels fitting, albeit frustrating.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is released Friday, November 11 in cinemas worldwide. In India, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is available in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.

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Monica, O My Darling Review: Vasan Bala’s Netflix Movie Is Overstuffed and Undercooked

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hitesh

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November 11, 2022

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Monica, O My Darling Review: Vasan Bala’s Netflix Movie Is Overstuffed and Undercooked

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Monica, O My Darling — now streaming on Netflix — wants you to think it’s a hatke movie. For those who don’t speak Hindi, hatke in this context means different from what you’re used to, as in not something you would usually see come out of Bollywood. In statements, it’s been described as a mix of neo-noir, black comedy, and crime thriller. But nearly all of that is hyperbole. The cinematographer, Swapnil S. Sonawane, throws in over-the-top shots like dolly zooms to impress you, but in the most-uncalled for situations. And Monica, O My Darling goes heavy on the background score, with the same song — “Yeh Ek Zindagi”, a riff on ‘70s Bollywood dance numbers, replete with an Asha Bhosle imitation — plastered across the movie. It’s still ringing in my head as I type this review, and I’m so sick of it.

A bit of this is déjà vu for me. Monica, O My Darling director Vasan Bala pushed style over substance in his previous film, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (released as The Man Who Feels No Pain internationally). Except here, there’s no substance. For all its showiness, peppy attitude, and too-cool-for-school attitude, Bala can’t hide the fact that Monica, O My Darling is oppressively mundane. Adapted by Andhadhun co-writer Yogesh Chandekar from Japanese mystery veteran Keigo Higashino’s little-known 1989 novel Burūtasu no Shinzō, this Netflix film is all plot, plot, plot. There are so many twists and machinations — this one killing that one, that one trying to kill the other one — that it’s all basically meaningless by the end. It’s running around like a headless chicken.

Monica, O My Darling is, ultimately, overstuffed and undercooked. It wastes most of its ensemble cast too. Of the performances by the three biggest stars who lead this Netflix film — Rajkummar Rao, Huma S. Qureshi, and Radhika Apte — Apte’s cop is the only enjoyable character, Qureshi impresses in the little she’s given to work with, while Rao (who has the most screen time) spends the entire movie fretting and putting out fires. Those billed lower are either dead within 30 minutes of the story kicking in, boring and insufferable, or only there to serve the narrative.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to Monica, O My Darling, the Biggest Movies in November

This new Indian Netflix film primarily follows Jayant “Johnny” Arkhedkar (Rao), who hails from a tiny fictional Maharashtrian town. Monica, O My Darling repeatedly notes his poor background, but it never really comes into play, so it’s essentially a waste of time. After having gone to an (unidentified) Indian Institute of Technology, he landed a job at the robotics company Unicorn Group, where he rose through the ranks to become a board member. Publicly, Johnny is dating the boss’ daughter Nikki (Akansha Ranjan Kapoor) and is on track to become his son-in-law. But privately, he’s seeing Monica Machado (Qureshi), the secretary to the boss, who’s introduced in what is basically an item number. Monica, O My Darling makes some strange choices.

Speaking of Monica, she reveals to Johnny — in the opening minutes of Monica, O My Darling — that she’s pregnant. And though she’s happy to raise the child by herself, she also blackmails him into contributing to her inevitable expenses. Johnny soon finds out that he’s not the only one she’s targeting. Monica has been sleeping around the Unicorn office, including with the boss’s son Nishikant “Nishi” Adhikari (Sikandar Kher) who despises Johnny, and the accounts guy Arvind Manivannan (Bagavathi Perumal, credited only as Bucks) who’s forever on the edge. Nishi thinks the only way out of Monica’s financial trap is to kill her, and they plot her murder together — one will kill, one will transport the body, and one will dispose of it — and they take the foolish step to sign an “agreement” on paper.

As you might expect from a film that purports to be a comedy crime thriller, all of it backfires, but it’s neither amusing nor thrilling — Monica, O My Darling just meanders along. (There are only a few scenes across its 130-minute runtime that grabbed my attention.) As Unicorn employees start dropping like flies and their deaths make the news, the Pune Police led by ACP Naidu (Apte) trains its lens on those closest to them. Johnny and Co. don’t help their own cause; they behave worse than amateurs, revealing key details in public when they would’ve been better off keeping their mouths shut. Elsewhere, characters behave foolishly to suit the story, or wear plot armour that protects them in absurd situations.

The Crown, Monica O My Darling, and More on Netflix in November

Mild spoilers ahead. For reasons I cannot comprehend, Monica, O My Darling gives away its murder mystery right at the very beginning, and then still expects the audience to be invested in it for the rest of the film. I wondered if that was a deliberate attempt to throw us off, but 100 minutes in, we are told that it was the same individual all along. (The murderer also explains everything, as if it matters or we care at this point. An annoying trait for any whodunnit film.) End of spoilers. The Netflix film sprinkles in more twists at the eleventh hour — everyone is in on a conspiracy, right to the very top — in a bid to get you to think about it even after the credits have rolled. But Monica, O My Darling is just so convoluted that I preferred to check out.

Ultimately, Bala’s Netflix movie is nowhere near as funny as it thinks it is, nowhere near as smart as it thinks it is, and nowhere near as out there as it thinks it is. It’s a very routine affair wrapped in a near-constant background score — akin to James Gunn or Taika Waititi hoping that high-tempo songs will carry you across a lacklustre plot. Bala has fallen for the same shtick. As bodies keep dropping in Monica, O My Darling, the ensemble cast matters little, and the movie becomes unhinged. At the beginning of this review, I called out this Netflix film on the genre terms it was throwing around. It fails to be thrilling or comedic, and it’s definitely not a neo-noir. The only part that’s true is the crime bit, as I’ve established. But the biggest crime is that it got made.

Monica, O My Darling is released Friday, November 11 at 1:30pm IST on Netflix worldwide. In India, Monica, O My Darling is available in Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam.

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Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED (UX9702) Review: Flexing Hard

By

hitesh

-

November 10, 2022

0

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED (UX9702) Review: Flexing Hard

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The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is arguably one of the coolest laptops we’ve ever come across and it left quite an impression on us when its launch in India was first announced back in October. However, its unconventional form factor also raised a lot of questions around practicality and usability, and we’ll be exploring all of that and more in this review. According to Asus, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED (UX9702) is the world’s first 17.3-inch laptop with a folding display, and while that might be true, it’s not the first laptop of any kind to do it. That title goes to Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold which had a 13.3-inch folding display, and this was followed up by a second-generation model a few months ago with a 16.3-inch folding display.

With HP also reportedly working on a product similar to the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, there clearly seems to be some potential for such a device, however niche it may be. It’s time to find out if Asus’ latest (very expensive) experiment is just a novelty item or if there’s any actual practical advantage to choosing this over a conventional large-screen laptop.

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED (UX9702) price in India

The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is available in a single configuration (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) for Rs. 3,29,990 in India, which sounds absurd but if it’s any consolation, Lenovo launched its ThinkPad X1 Fold in 2021 for roughly the same price and that laptop had a much smaller display. If you are one of the buyers who pre-booked the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, then you mighthave gotten it for an effective price of Rs. 2,84,290, which includes discounts and some freebies such as an extended warranty and a portable SSD.

One could easily get a top-of-the-line gaming laptop or even multiple premium laptops for the cost of a single Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, but that would be missing the point. You’re paying the price for the ability to fold a 17-inch touchscreen in half, which is as cutting-edge as it gets.

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED (UX9702) design and accessories

The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes in a fancy box, along with some accessories such as a Bluetooth keyboard with a touchpad that’s specially designed for this laptop, a USB Type-C to Type-A dongle, and a faux-leather carry case. The Bluetooth keyboard is designed in a clever way such that the laptop can be folded with it sitting between the two halves. Asus does not include a stylus with the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, which will disappoint some creative professionals.

The laptop itself arrives in an unfolded state in the box, much like other foldable display devices we’ve come across. Asus says the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED uses a proprietary hinge that has been tested for 30,000 cycles (of opening and closing). This is nowhere near the rated 200,000 cycles of the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4’s (Review) hinge, but I guess users won’t open and close a laptop as often as a phone.

The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is built using premium materials

For a first of its kind, I think Asus has done a pretty good job with the build quality. The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED feels sturdy and premium with a mix of glass and metal for the back panel, and faux-leather for the sliding mechanism protecting the hinge and the built-in kickstand. The laptop also gets a MIL-STD 810H certification for durability. There’s no camera on the back like most tablets, but then again this isn’t really meant to be used as one. The device is fairly chunky even in its unfolded state, and quite heavy too. It’s a little thicker than an iPad Pro (11-inch) (Review) and this doubles when it’s folded, making it look like a small binder folder or encyclopaedia. The laptop weighs a little over 1.5kg making it heavier than a MacBook Air (M2) (Review). It’s still relatively portable, just a bit unwieldy.

While the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED can be used in multiple ways, the layout of the components and ports on the laptop point to two main use cases – as a regular laptop with the screen partially unfolded, or completely unfolded and propped up on the kickstand. When using it as a regular laptop (with or without the keyboard), you’ll find the webcam and IR sensors for Windows Hello face recognition on the top, where they should be.

The upper half of the laptop is where the motherboard and main components are placed, including a cooling fan, while the lower half houses the battery. Two speakers fire upwards, above the webcam, while the other two are placed on the bottom. In laptop mode, you’ll find the volume buttons and a USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 4) port to the sides of of the speaker grilles on the top. The right side has the second Thunderbolt 4 port, a headphone jack, battery status LED, exhaust vent, and power button with a built-in LED. When using the laptop on its kickstand, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED rests on two little rubber feet on the side. Face recognition still worked fine even with the change in orientation.

The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED can be used as an AiO with the built-in kickstand

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED (UX9702) specifications and software

The highlight of the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is its display, which is made by BOE. It’s a 17.3-inch panel with a 2560×1920 resolution and a 4:3 aspect ratio, capable of up to 500 nits of brightness. The display also has certifications for Pantone colour accuracy, Dolby Vision HDR, and VESA’s DisplayHDR True Black 500. The display itself needs to be handled with care since there’s no ultra-thin glass protecting it, especially the area near the hinge. An instruction leaflet in the box warns users about how to correctly hold the laptop when trying to fold it, in order to avoid damaging the screen.

If you use the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED with the Bluetooth keyboard attached to the lower half of the display, the area below it automatically switches off (effectively consuming less power) and all your content automatically adjusts itself to the top half of the display, thereby giving you a 12.5-inch screen running at half the resolution: 1920×1280.

The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is powered by the Intel Core i7-1250U CPU which has a total of 10 CPU cores (two performance and eight efficiency cores). The U-series Intel 12th Gen CPUs are designed to consume the least amount of power (9W TDP) and can be used without active cooling. Asus still uses a heatpipe and fan to cool the Zenbook 17 Fold. The 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM is soldered onto the motherboard, and for storage you get a standard 1TB PCIe SSD. These components are understandably not user-upgradable. The laptop has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5, along with a 75WHr battery which can be charged rather quickly with the bundled 65W Type-C charger.

The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes with Windows 11 preinstalled, accompanied by the typical apps such as Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021 and a trial version of McAfee LiveSafe. You also get some first-party apps such as MyAsus which lets you run diagnostics, change the battery charging style based on your usage, tweak the colour saturation of the display, and do plenty of other things. There’s even a dedicated button on the Bluetooth keyboard to launch it.

The MyAsus (left) and ScreenXpert 3 apps are quite useful in making the most of the large display

Features such as Pixel Refresh (activates a special screen saver if there’s no activity for 30 minutes) and Pixel Shift are enabled by default, and are intended to prevent any unwanted burn-in if a static image is displayed for a long time. This is something we’ve seen on previous OLED laptops from Asus such as the VivoBook K15 OLED (Review). Target mode is a useful feature for saving some battery power, keeping only the active window lit while dimming the brightness of any background windows and the desktop.

Asus’ ScreenXpert 3 is a handy tool for quickly switching between different window layouts for your open apps. Hovering over the ‘Maximise’ button for any window gives you multiple options for placing it on the display.

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED (UX9702) performance and battery life

I used the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED for a couple of weeks, and the software experience was quite good, albeit with a few teething issues. The shortcut for quickly arranging open windows and apps to various corners of the screen was immensely useful. Windows 11 is also very quick at changing resolution and layout the moment you dock or undock the Bluetooth keyboard.

However, every once in a while I encountered a software glitch when changing the orientation of the laptop (landscape to portrait) or switching between usage modes (laptop to AiO mode), where Windows refused to readjust its layout correctly. This would usually sort itself out if I just left the device alone for a bit or if I restarted it. Every once in a while, the screen would also flash for a split second, but I only noticed this happening when static content was displayed.

The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is quite a bit thicker than a MacBook Air (right), when closed

I didn’t travel with the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED much during my review period but when it’s folded, it has a much smaller footprint than most 13-inch laptops, despite the thick bezels around the display. The only downside is that it’s very thick and a bit heavy; similar to carrying around a big diary. Like most folding devices that don’t close flush, dust tends to settle on the display easily.

Asus envisions multiple ways of using the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED; with the keyboard unattached and the display sitting either vertically or horizontally on a desk, or even as a giant tablet. The touch response of the display is good, although I didn’t find myself interacting with the screen a whole lot since I preferred using the keyboard and trackpad. I mostly used the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED in laptop mode or as an All-in-One (AiO) PC on a desk, using the kickstand. It’s actually not that comfortable to use on a lap since it’s a little top-heavy, but this isn’t an issue when it’s on a desk. The AiO mode is probably the best way to use it since the massive display offers plenty of screen real estate to comfortably do multiple things at once.

The bundled Bluetooth keyboard is an essential part of the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED experience. It’s slim and light, the keys have good travel and aren’t very noisy, and the trackpad works decently well. It attaches to the bezel of the laptop magnetically. However, I think Asus could have done a much better job here. It has a lot of flex and feels flimsy when typing in the docked state. I also wish it had the ability to charge when attached to the laptop, rather than needing to be plugged in separately. There were many occasions when I folded the laptop with the keyboard docked but forgot to power it off, only to come back to a low battery warning.

You only get two USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 4) ports on the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

The next big missing feature is backlighting for the keys, which makes it difficult to use this laptop in the dark. I also found the Bluetooth connection to the Zenbook Fold 17 OLED to be a bit unstable when sitting even just a foot away from the laptop. It would intermittently not register inputs from the trackpad.

Besides the obvious productivity benefits of the Asus Zenbook Fold 17 OLED, it’s also an insanely good laptop for content consumption, all thanks to that gorgeous OLED display. The crease where the display folds is barely visible when the unit is unfolded, and high-resolution content looks absolutely stunning on it. The display truly shines with HDR content, so much so that I often preferred watching TV shows and movies on the Zenbook Fold 17 OLED than on my 50-inch television. The sound quality from the four Harman Kardon speakers is equally impressive. The volume can get incredibly loud and while there is some distortion when you max it out, it’s still mighty impressive for a laptop.

The performance of the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED in general is very good. Windows 11 is quick to boot, multitasking is snappy, and apps are quick to load thanks to the ample RAM. Despite being a U-series CPU, this Intel Core i7 actually managed better numbers in certain synthetic benchmarks than the P-series and H-series Core i7 CPUs seen in the LG Gram 14 (Review) and HP Pavilion Plus 14 (Review), respectively. The Zenbook 17 Fold scored 592 and 2,379 points in Cinebench R20’s single and multi-core tests, while putting up 4,915 points in PCMark 10. This laptop isn’t meant for gaming but you can play casual titles.

When folded, the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is more compact than the average 13-inch laptop

Some games such as Asphalt 9 Legends struggled a bit to run smoothly at the display’s native resolution but worked better in laptop mode. Newer titles were even more challenging for the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II was barely playable at 1080p at the lowest graphics settings. When stressed, the half of the body that has the CPU and cooling fan does get hot but you’ll mostly never feel the heat, unless you’re holding that end. The fan is also barely audible even if you put your ear to the exhaust area.

I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of battery life but I was pleasantly surprised when I got similar runtimes when using the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED at its full resolution and in laptop mode. The Battery Eater Pro app ran for 4 hours, 24 minutes in laptop mode, and 4 hours, 12 minutes in AiO mode. On average, with mixed usage (laptop and AiO modes), an hour of standby, and with a bit of work (Chrome, Slack desktop app) and play (streaming through Netflix), I was easily getting around 10-11 hours of actual runtime, which I feel is more than adequate. The Zenbook Fold also charges quickly with the bundled charger, going from an 18 percent charge to 97 percent in an hour.

Verdict

Having a large display on any computing device, especially when travelling, is immensely beneficial and something that no one would turn down. It improves the content consumption experience, productivity is better, and battery life is generally longer. However, every device category has its limits, and you can only make a display so large before it starts becoming an inconvenience. 17-inch displays on laptops are nothing new, but most of these devices aren’t exactly portable.

The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is a bold new way of looking at large-screen laptops and even 2-in-1s in general. Rs. 3,29,990 is a lot of money but that’s the price you pay for staying ahead of the curve. The two things that I hope Asus improves on with the next iteration, apart from price, are the keyboard and overall thickness.

The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED offers an excellent display, superb-sounding speakers, good battery life, decent performance, and a very unique design. If you think your workflow could benefit from such a form factor or if you simply want to show off, this laptop could very well be worth the investment.

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

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Aura Air Purifier Review: Could Have Been Smarter

By

hitesh

-

November 7, 2022

0

Aura Air Purifier Review: Could Have Been Smarter

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An air purifier is a niche but rather useful device for a number of reasons. Buyers in India are now warming up to the idea of having an air purifier at home, and various brands offer products in this segment, including big names such as Dyson, Philips, Samsung, and Xiaomi. Throwing its hat into this ring is Aura, a new company that claims to be a specialist in the air purification space, and the product I’m reviewing here is the Aura Air Purifier.

Priced at Rs. 37,500 in India, the Aura Air Purifier promises a combination of simplicity and modern convenience. With smart connectivity through an app, voice assistant integration, and a promise of superior air purification, is the Aura Air Purifier the best high-end air purifier you can buy right now? Find out in this review.

The Aura Air Purifier can be wall-mounted, unlike most floor-standing air purifiers currently available in India

Aura Air Purifier design and features

Most high-end air purifiers are built as a ‘tower’ or floor-standing form, so the Aura Air Purifier stands out for its wall-mounting design. The included screw hooks let you conveniently hang the air purifier on a wall, thereby saving precious floor space. That said, you don’t have to wall-mount the Aura Air Purifier; it can be used standing upright with the fan facing outwards, and can therefore be placed on any tabletop.

The Aura Air Purifier is expectedly quite large, with the electronic and electrical components at the back of the device, and the removable and replaceable air filter at the front. The back panel has a grille design which serves to allow clean air to ‘exhaust’ out the back after going through the air filter.

Interestingly, the device has just a single, and rather hard to locate, button that is used to reset the device when needed. There are no other buttons to control power or fan speed on the Aura Air Purifier itself; when connected to a power outlet and turned on, the device is always running and can only be turned off by switching off the power from the main outlet. You can use the app to adjust the fan speed, though.

The front of the air purifier has a cover over the fan itself, but with room along the edges to effectively pull in air. There is also a small light at the bottom, which indicates power and connectivity status.

Included in the sales package of the Aura Air Purifier is the power adapter and cable which connects to the back of the main device, and the screws and anchors to wall-mount it. The filter system (which is said to be using technology patented by Aura) comes pre-fitted, and has four elements of air purification — a pre-filter, the main HEPA Ray filter, an air ioniser, and ultra-violet LEDs to kill bacteria and viruses. A new filter is included with the purchase, and replacement filters are priced at Rs. 5,000 each.

Aura Air Purifier app

The Aura Air Purifier has a companion app called Aura Air (available on Android and iOS), but this app offers very little by way of control over the functions of the air purifier. Instead, it’s more of a resource for information regarding the device’s activity and effectiveness. The air purifier functions in ‘always-on’ mode when receiving power, and the only way to power it down is to shut off the main power switch or unplug the device, which can be a bit bothersome.

The only major thing about the Aura Air Purifier that you can control is the device mode, which essentially governs the speed of the fan the noise it generates. You can also set a schedule for Night Mode, which will have the air purifier operate more silently. If you keep it in ‘Auto’ mode, it will adjust the fan speed according to detected indoor air quality.

There are also controls for the LED status light, and the ability to reset the filter’s day count manually when you install a new air filter. Aura states that a brand new filter is good for up to 180 days of continuous use. The app supports setting up and viewing statistics for multiple Aura devices across multiple locations as well.

The Aura Air app is available for iOS and Android, and provides insights into indoor and outdoor air quality

Various integrations are available, including Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Siri, and more. The functions offered by these integrations vary, with some offering controls over the power modes, and others providing details and information on air quality through voice prompts. The Alexa and Siri integrations worked as expected, but didn’t add much by way of functionality; I preferred using the app to view information or change power modes.

Keeping you informed of air quality is really the key function of the Aura Air app. This includes indoor and outdoor air quality measured by AQI (the latter requires location permission to fetch the information for your location from the Internet), and detailed daily and weekly charts for various specific air quality levels as measured by the device.

This includes sensors for AQI, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, PM10 and PM2.5 levels, humidity, and temperature. The charts are easy to understand, and the app itself worked fairly smoothly on iOS.

Aura Air Purifier performance

The benefits and functionality of an air purifier can only truly be measured by how you feel, and most air purifier makers recommend running the devices continuously to truly feel the effects. The Aura Air Purifier adopts a simplistic approach that almost seems to force you to run it all the time; there is no power switch, and power supply to the device will automatically turn it on and activate it.

Unlike the similarly-priced Dyson Purifier Cool, the Aura Air Purifier has no air blowing capabilities that allow it to work like a floor-mounted fan. Instead, air is purified by the filter from the front and blown out the sides, which seemingly ensures better inflow and outflow volumes.

The results are displayed in the app, which showed a noticeable improvement in air quality in my living room in just 10 minutes. Setting the Aura Air Purifier to ‘Auto’ mode was ideal, as it adjusted its operation depending on the air quality in the room. That said, it was often quite noisy when it the air had many impurities, but it slowed down and got a bit more silent after a while.

The Ray filter is expected to be useful for around 180 days, after which it will need to be replaced

The night mode ensured that the Aura Air Purifier ran silently, and this of course meant that it took a bit longer to bring air quality levels up to code. If operating through the day and with the windows and doors to other rooms kept closed, the device was able to maintain decent air quality levels throughout the day, while operating silently.

Open windows obviously caused the device to work harder, and it’s usually recommended to turn an air purifier off when windows are open. However, the always-on power mode of the Aura Air Purifier suggests that you’re meant to let it operate even if windows and room doors are open, but do note that this could cause the Ray filter to be replaced more often that expected.

As for the quality of air purification, it’s difficult to say just how effective the Aura Air Purifier was for me, but the air did feel cleaner indoors on days when I ran the air purifier as compared to days when it was switched off. The air quality charts generated by the Aura Air app showed marked progress and improvement in air quality both in the short and long term, and varying conditions in the room usually reflected as expected on the charts.

Verdict

The Aura Air Purifier looks good, offers seemingly good air purification, and is very easy to use. However, it falls a bit short when it comes to smart functionality and the ability to set it up and use it to your liking. The simplified approach might sound good in theory, but the lack of a power button and detailed controls feel a bit strange in practice.

Furthermore, the Aura Air Purifier seems a bit expensive for what’s on offer, with even the price of replacement filters coming across as a bit too high. It might perhaps appeal to those looking for a wall-mountable air purifier with decent performance, but competing options from brands such as Dyson, Philips, and Samsung are a bit more appealing in the premium segment.

Price: Rs. 37,500

Ratings (out of 10):

Design: 8
Performance: 8
Value for money: 5
Overall: 7

Pros

Can be wall-mounted
Good purification performance
Offers decent insights on air purification

Cons

No power button, only basic controls
Device and replacement filters are expensive
A bit loud in normal operation

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

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Aura Air Purifier Review: Could Have Been Smarter

By

hitesh

-

November 7, 2022

0

[ad_1]

An air purifier is a niche but rather useful device for a number of reasons. Buyers in India are now warming up to the idea of having an air purifier at home, and various brands offer products in this segment, including big names such as Dyson, Philips, Samsung, and Xiaomi. Throwing its hat into this ring is Aura, a new company that claims to be a specialist in the air purification space, and the product I’m reviewing here is the Aura Air Purifier.

Priced at Rs. 37,500 in India, the Aura Air Purifier promises a combination of simplicity and modern convenience. With smart connectivity through an app, voice assistant integration, and a promise of superior air purification, is the Aura Air Purifier the best high-end air purifier you can buy right now? Find out in this review.

The Aura Air Purifier can be wall-mounted, unlike most floor-standing air purifiers currently available in India

Aura Air Purifier design and features

Most high-end air purifiers are built as a ‘tower’ or floor-standing form, so the Aura Air Purifier stands out for its wall-mounting design. The included screw hooks let you conveniently hang the air purifier on a wall, thereby saving precious floor space. That said, you don’t have to wall-mount the Aura Air Purifier; it can be used standing upright with the fan facing outwards, and can therefore be placed on any tabletop.

The Aura Air Purifier is expectedly quite large, with the electronic and electrical components at the back of the device, and the removable and replaceable air filter at the front. The back panel has a grille design which serves to allow clean air to ‘exhaust’ out the back after going through the air filter.

Interestingly, the device has just a single, and rather hard to locate, button that is used to reset the device when needed. There are no other buttons to control power or fan speed on the Aura Air Purifier itself; when connected to a power outlet and turned on, the device is always running and can only be turned off by switching off the power from the main outlet. You can use the app to adjust the fan speed, though.

The front of the air purifier has a cover over the fan itself, but with room along the edges to effectively pull in air. There is also a small light at the bottom, which indicates power and connectivity status.

Included in the sales package of the Aura Air Purifier is the power adapter and cable which connects to the back of the main device, and the screws and anchors to wall-mount it. The filter system (which is said to be using technology patented by Aura) comes pre-fitted, and has four elements of air purification — a pre-filter, the main HEPA Ray filter, an air ioniser, and ultra-violet LEDs to kill bacteria and viruses. A new filter is included with the purchase, and replacement filters are priced at Rs. 5,000 each.

Aura Air Purifier app

The Aura Air Purifier has a companion app called Aura Air (available on Android and iOS), but this app offers very little by way of control over the functions of the air purifier. Instead, it’s more of a resource for information regarding the device’s activity and effectiveness. The air purifier functions in ‘always-on’ mode when receiving power, and the only way to power it down is to shut off the main power switch or unplug the device, which can be a bit bothersome.

The only major thing about the Aura Air Purifier that you can control is the device mode, which essentially governs the speed of the fan the noise it generates. You can also set a schedule for Night Mode, which will have the air purifier operate more silently. If you keep it in ‘Auto’ mode, it will adjust the fan speed according to detected indoor air quality.

There are also controls for the LED status light, and the ability to reset the filter’s day count manually when you install a new air filter. Aura states that a brand new filter is good for up to 180 days of continuous use. The app supports setting up and viewing statistics for multiple Aura devices across multiple locations as well.

The Aura Air app is available for iOS and Android, and provides insights into indoor and outdoor air quality

Various integrations are available, including Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Siri, and more. The functions offered by these integrations vary, with some offering controls over the power modes, and others providing details and information on air quality through voice prompts. The Alexa and Siri integrations worked as expected, but didn’t add much by way of functionality; I preferred using the app to view information or change power modes.

Keeping you informed of air quality is really the key function of the Aura Air app. This includes indoor and outdoor air quality measured by AQI (the latter requires location permission to fetch the information for your location from the Internet), and detailed daily and weekly charts for various specific air quality levels as measured by the device.

This includes sensors for AQI, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, PM10 and PM2.5 levels, humidity, and temperature. The charts are easy to understand, and the app itself worked fairly smoothly on iOS.

Aura Air Purifier performance

The benefits and functionality of an air purifier can only truly be measured by how you feel, and most air purifier makers recommend running the devices continuously to truly feel the effects. The Aura Air Purifier adopts a simplistic approach that almost seems to force you to run it all the time; there is no power switch, and power supply to the device will automatically turn it on and activate it.

Unlike the similarly-priced Dyson Purifier Cool, the Aura Air Purifier has no air blowing capabilities that allow it to work like a floor-mounted fan. Instead, air is purified by the filter from the front and blown out the sides, which seemingly ensures better inflow and outflow volumes.

The results are displayed in the app, which showed a noticeable improvement in air quality in my living room in just 10 minutes. Setting the Aura Air Purifier to ‘Auto’ mode was ideal, as it adjusted its operation depending on the air quality in the room. That said, it was often quite noisy when it the air had many impurities, but it slowed down and got a bit more silent after a while.

The Ray filter is expected to be useful for around 180 days, after which it will need to be replaced

The night mode ensured that the Aura Air Purifier ran silently, and this of course meant that it took a bit longer to bring air quality levels up to code. If operating through the day and with the windows and doors to other rooms kept closed, the device was able to maintain decent air quality levels throughout the day, while operating silently.

Open windows obviously caused the device to work harder, and it’s usually recommended to turn an air purifier off when windows are open. However, the always-on power mode of the Aura Air Purifier suggests that you’re meant to let it operate even if windows and room doors are open, but do note that this could cause the Ray filter to be replaced more often that expected.

As for the quality of air purification, it’s difficult to say just how effective the Aura Air Purifier was for me, but the air did feel cleaner indoors on days when I ran the air purifier as compared to days when it was switched off. The air quality charts generated by the Aura Air app showed marked progress and improvement in air quality both in the short and long term, and varying conditions in the room usually reflected as expected on the charts.

Verdict

The Aura Air Purifier looks good, offers seemingly good air purification, and is very easy to use. However, it falls a bit short when it comes to smart functionality and the ability to set it up and use it to your liking. The simplified approach might sound good in theory, but the lack of a power button and detailed controls feel a bit strange in practice.

Furthermore, the Aura Air Purifier seems a bit expensive for what’s on offer, with even the price of replacement filters coming across as a bit too high. It might perhaps appeal to those looking for a wall-mountable air purifier with decent performance, but competing options from brands such as Dyson, Philips, and Samsung are a bit more appealing in the premium segment.

Price: Rs. 37,500

Ratings (out of 10):

Design: 8
Performance: 8
Value for money: 5
Overall: 7

Pros

Can be wall-mounted
Good purification performance
Offers decent insights on air purification

Cons

No power button, only basic controls
Device and replacement filters are expensive
A bit loud in normal operation

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Apple Wants to Drop ‘Hey’ From the ‘Hey Siri’ Wake Phrase for Voice Commands: Report

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hitesh

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November 7, 2022

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Apple Wants to Drop ‘Hey’ From the ‘Hey Siri’ Wake Phrase for Voice Commands: Report

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Apple is said to be working on changing the wake phrase for its Siri voice assistant, and will change the phrase from ‘Hey Siri’ to simply ‘Siri’. This will make it much easier to invoke the voice assistant on supported devices once implemented, but the change is said to be a technically challenging one since it involves AI training and a lot of engineering work, as per the report. More words in the phrase usually makes it easier for voice assistants to understand the invocation of the voice assistant, so implementing this properly will be a challenge for Apple.

The report comes via journalist Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter on Bloomberg, and states that Apple has spent the past several months working on shortening the wake phrase. Siri has for long supported voice invocation through a wake phrase, which has thus far been the familiar ‘Hey Siri’. The company is now working on making the phrase ‘Siri’, similar to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, that is invoked by simply saying ‘Alexa’.

Longer phrases are typically less prone to errors, and shorter phrases might be said differently according to languages and accents across the world. Apple is said to have factored these challenges into its work, and is already testing the simplified phrase with company employees. If all goes to plan, we could see Apple products, including those on iOS, macOS, WatchOS, tvOS, and HomePod devices, work with the simplified ‘Siri’ wake word.

A significant challenge for voice assistants is miscues – phrases that sound similar to the main wake phrase tend to wake the devices and have them listen for commands. This is a frequent issue for smart devices and smartphones that have always-on microphones, as it can cause devices to react even when no response is expected. Shorter wake phrases typically increase the chances of these miscues, but are admittedly a lot easier for users who frequently use them. Siri serves as the default (and in some cases, only) voice assistant on many of Apple’s devices, including the HomePod mini and Apple Watch range.

Apple launched the iPad Pro (2022) and the iPad (2022) alongside the new Apple TV this week. We discuss the company’s latest products, along with our review of the iPhone 14 Pro on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro Review: It’s Not Just About the Cameras Anymore

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hitesh

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November 4, 2022

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Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro Review: It’s Not Just About the Cameras Anymore

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Google’s Pixel smartphones have always been known for their excellent camera capabilities, despite not always having the most competitive hardware. But with some of the recent crop of flagship Android phones sporting add-on imaging chipsets, manufacturers have been able to deliver a similar level of imaging quality that easily rival the Pixel’s AI photography smarts. Google’s return to the premium smartphone segment in India after four long years may have enthusiasts and Android purists very excited, but can it still attract the vast majority of users who have moved on to competing brands? Read on to find out.

Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro pricing in India

Pricing is always a touchy subject in the premium smartphone space, but Google seems to have done justice to the new Pixels by pricing them well-below the ‘Pro’ and ‘Ultra’ offerings from Apple and Samsung. The Google Pixel 7 is available for Rs. 59,999 for the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant, while the bigger Pixel 7 Pro is priced at Rs. 84,999 for the 12GB RAM and 128GB storage variant. Both phones have been launched in just their respective base variants in India.

The storage may seem a bit limited (especially for the Pixel 7 Pro) with no option to expand it, but this also allows Google to push users into buying one of its cloud storage plans. Sadly, there’s no free unlimited cloud backup available anymore either. The Pixel 7 is available in Obsidian, Lemongrass, and Snow finishes, while the Pixel 7 Pro is available in Obsidian, Snow, and Hazel. I received the Pixel 7 in Obsidian and the Pixel 7 Pro in the Hazel finish for review.

Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro design

I like how Google has made an effort to give both of its 7 series smartphones a different feel, despite having the same overhauled design which is based on the previous Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. The Google Pixel 7 is smaller than the Pixel 7 Pro, but not as small as Samsung’s Galaxy S22, which still one of the few proper compact (or mini) Android flagships.

Google’s Pixel 7 (right) and Pixel 7 Pro (left) have Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and rear panels

The Pixel 7’s frame has a brushed metal look which looks similar to the Pixel 6a (Review), but feels smoother and appears more refined with a camera module looking a lot cleaner thanks to the single piece aluminium band that stretches across the width of the phone. The Pixel 7 Pro gets a similar treatment but has a polished aluminium frame instead.

As expected, the matte finish of the Google Pixel 7 makes the phone quite slippery, so I always ended up placing my index finger under the thick camera bump, which seems to be Google’s signature design feature since the Pixel 6 series. The polished frame of the Pixel 7 Pro makes it a lot easier to grip. Both smartphones have polished glass rear panels made from Gorilla Glass Victus and the same goes for the displays on the front, both of which did an excellent job of resisting fingerprints and scratches.

The Google Pixel 7 Pro’s rear camera module gets scratched easily

Both smartphones also have a nice heft to them which added to the premium in-hand feel, which I felt was missing on the Pixel 6a. The Pixel 7 weighs 197g and the Pixel 7 Pro weighs 212g, both of which aren’t abnormally heavy compared to other devices in their respective segments. Both devices also feature an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.

During the review period, I noticed that polished camera module on the Pixel 7 Pro got scuffed very easily. The matte-finished camera module of the Pixel 7 however did not pick up any scratches at all. The curved edge display of the Pixel 7 Pro certainly makes it look and feel more premium compared to the flat display of the Pixel 7. I also found the edges of the Pixel 7’s frame a bit sharp when swiping in from the sides. The bezels on Pixel 7 are also not as thin as I expected it to be, which takes a bit away from the device’s premium charm, especially since the Pixel 6a looks quite similar.

Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro specifications and software

The Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro do share a few common components despite being priced far apart. There’s the new Google Tensor G2 processor, a 50-megapixel primary camera and 10.8-megapixel selfie camera, and stereo speakers. Communication standards between the two phones also remain identical, with both offering Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, USB Type-C (3.2), and support for the usual satellite navigation systems.

The Google Pixel 7 gets a 4,355mAh battery with 20W wired charging, while the Pixel 7 Pro gets a bigger 5,000mAh battery with 23W charging. Both smartphones support wireless charging at 20W and 23W respectively and also support reverse wireless charging (Battery Share) for charging accessories. Surprisingly, the Pixel 7 is missing the Ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna that’s available on the Pixel 7 Pro.

The Google Pixel 7 (right) looks quite similar to the Pixel 6a (left) which was launched earlier this year in India

Both the Google Pixel 7 and the Pixel 7 Pro run the latest version of Android 13, which has been customised to deliver the unique Pixel software experience. The phones are loaded with software smarts such as the incredibly accurate voice recorder app that can also do real-time transcription of audio to text. These smarts also make their way into other apps like the Google Assistant-powered keyboard which can also enter text in text fields accurately using just voice commands. The phones are also capable of transcribing audio messages in the Messages app, which is handy.

As for the interface, there’s now more varied colour palettes to choose from upon selecting a wallpaper. However, themed icons continue to remain in a beta state and only a few third-party apps currently support the design feature.

Google’s software performance on the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro is fluid thanks to no added bloatware

Google continues to add software and Tensor-powered features in its Pixel smartphones year on year, and this year is no different. The new Tensor G2 allows for features such as Cinematic Blur which applies the bokeh effect to video recordings, and Photo Unblur which does a decent job at sharpening old and recently shot blurred photos from any source.

The Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are guaranteed to get Android updates for the next three years, and security updates for the next five years.

Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro Performance

Software performance was fluid across both the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, though I noticed some random instances of stuttering initially. I also encountered my fair share of interface-related bugs which were more common when I first began using the devices, but these disappeared after subsequent software updates. Both phones heat up a bit when you’re simply browsing through the interface outdoors during the day or when downloading large files or games, but I had no problems otherwise.

Performance in benchmarks turned out as expected, but Google’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro fall behind the current generation of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1-powered devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 or the Galaxy Z Fold 4. The Pixel 7 Pro with 12GB of RAM managed scores of 1,039 and 3,116 in Geekbench’s single and multi-core tests respectively. In terms of graphics, the Pixel 7 Pro achieved scores of 60fps, 120fps, and 37fps in GFXBench’s Manhattan 3.1, T-Rex and Car Chase tests respectively. The Pixel 7 with 8GB RAM and its lower resolution display also came quite close in terms of benchmark scores.

Gaming performance was quite good on both phones. I tried out Call of Duty: Mobile which defaulted to ‘High’ graphics and frame rate settings, but managed to run smoothly at the ‘Very High’ settings too. The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro tend to heat up slightly while playing games but this didn’t affect performance too much.

The Pixel 7 Pro (left) has a 120Hz QHD+ AMOLED display while the Pixel 7 (right) has a 90Hz full-HD+ AMOLED panel

The 6.3-inch full-HD+ display on the Pixel 7 is of the AMOLED variety and produces a sharp-enough image thanks to its 416ppi pixel density. It’s sufficiently bright outdoors and the 90Hz refresh rate felt sufficient, both while playing games and during regular usage. The 6.7-inch QHD+ curved-edge AMOLED display on the Pixel 7 Pro is quite large, but does not feel as unwieldy as the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s display, which is broader.

The Google Pixel 7’s display, unlike the Pixel 7 Pro, does not feature LTPO technology which according to Google lets its refresh rate vary between 10Hz-120Hz. However, enabling the ‘Show refresh rate’ option in Developer Settings revealed that it only went from 60-120Hz as far as I could tell, which was a bit strange. Colour reproduction on both the displays are vivid at the default setting but changing this to ‘Natural’ made it more true-to-life. The touch sampling rate on both smartphones was spot-on so there was no problem when swiping through apps or even playing intensive 3D games.

Battery life on the Google Pixel 7 was pretty good and it easily lasted for one and half days with casual use, along with some gaming and camera usage. Unfortunately, things were not as good on the Pixel 7 Pro as the battery usually would not last beyond a full-day of use. Our HD video loop test reflected similar results with the Pixel 7 lasting 14 hours and 34 minutes, while the Pixel 7 Pro managed 12 hours and 30 minutes.

This could be down to its QHD+ display on the Pixel 7 Pro, which according to an earlier report, is said to consume more power compared to other phones with a similar panel. Regardless, the with day-to-day usage, its battery life is still quite poor compared to devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra which has an equally large and high-resolution display.

Charging the Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro was a relatively slow experience too. Since both smartphones don’t come with a charging adapter in the box, I relied on my 61W USB PD adapter to get the job done. The Google Pixel 7 managed to charge from zero to 100 percent in 1 hour and 47 minutes, while the Pixel 7 Pro achieved the same in 1 hour and 55 minutes. Indeed, this is relatively slow even when compared to Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 45W fast charging. Compare this to the Vivo X80 Pro which charges its 4,700mAh battery fully in just 36 minutes (using the charger that comes in the box) and suddenly, Google’s charging speeds for its new Pixels feels dated.

Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro Cameras

The Google Pixel 7 has two rear cameras. There’s a 50-megapixel primary and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera. The Google Pixel 7 Pro has three which includes the 50-megapixel primary as the Pixel 7, a slightly different 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with a 126-degree field of view (instead of 114 degrees), and a 48-megapixel telephoto with 5X optical zoom and up to 30X SuperRes Zoom. Both smartphones share the same selfie camera which is a 10.8-megapixel shooter, which does not have autofocus.

The new Motion photos features includes the Long exposure and Action pan modes for adding a creative blur effect to photos

The camera app’s interface of the Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro is typically “Pixel”, with quick settings tucked under the settings icon located in the top-left corner. Not much has changed here compared to the Pixel 6a which I reviewed earlier this year. There is a new Cinematic video mode (available on both phones) which does a decent job at shooting subjects with blurred backgrounds, but is only capable of doing so at 1080p with a rather unstable frame rate.

Google finally added macro capability on the Pixel 7 Pro (not available on the Pixel 7) and it works really well. Macro photos were sharp and had good details. This mode doesn’t let you get as close to your subject as you can with an iPhone 13 Pro, but it’s still close enough. More importantly, Google also lets you shoot macro photos with Auto Night Sight (slightly longer exposures are supposed to bring in more light), but it did not make much of a difference to the result in my experience.

Also new is Motion Photos which includes Long exposure and Action pan. Motion photos delivers an effect that is similar to selecting Long Exposure to a Live Photo on an iPhone. The results are pretty good in all types of lighting conditions and makes for interesting long exposure photos without needing a tripod. Action Blur adds a motion blur to the background on a moving subject. It’s tricky to use but the results are pretty solid. What’s more is that both of these modes can be used even at 2X or 5X zoom.

Google’s Pixel 7 Pro can shoot Motion photos in all types of lighting and even at 2X or 5X zoom (Tap to see full size)

The differences in image quality between the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are negligible. The only difference lies in the ultra-wide angle cameras, where the Pixel 7’s camera offers a slightly constricted field of view (114 degrees) versus the Pixel 7 Pro (126 degrees). The Pixel 7 also showcases minor purple-fringing towards the edges.

Coming to image quality, I compared the images from the Pixel 7 Pro with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra as it is arguably the best smartphone in terms of camera capability in the Android space.

The primary camera on the Pixel 7 Pro snaps some really good photos which aren’t too sharp and also pack in plenty of details. Google does not over-process the images like Samsung does. I found the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s photos a bit saturated (typically Samsung) and with increased sharpness, which corrupts the textures on objects at a distance. However, this is only visible if you pixel-peep.

Google Pixel 7 Pro daylight camera samples (Tap to see full size)

With photos taken with the Pixel 7 Pro’s ultra-wide-angle camera, Google once again manages to outdo Samsung but only by a tiny margin. Colours from the Pixel 7 Pro are natural and the tone is similar to the primary camera. Google’s processing also manages to capture more details and better dynamic range.

When it comes to zoom, I noticed that the Google Pixel 7 Pro handles photos better with less sharpening, while Samsung tends to sharpen photos quite a bit from the 3X magnification onwards. Surprisingly, the Pixel 7 Pro maintains good image quality till 5X optical zoom, showing fine details like antennas on buildings in the distance. Photos captured at 10X are still quite impressive, with the quality taking a noticeable hit at 30X. Samsung’s telephoto images take a hit at 3X zoom for some reason but then kicks into gear from 10X, delivering sharp but contrasted photos up to 30X, post which the image quality takes a noticeable hit.

Google Pixel 7 Pro versus Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra zoom comparison (Tap to see full size)

As for selfies, Samsung captures sharper-looking selfies that are packed with detail. Samsung also manages better and more natural-looking colour tones compared to the Pixel, which for some reason made my face appear orange (probably due to the setting sun). Edge detection with Portrait selfies is more accurate on the Pixel 7 Pro.

Google Pixel 7 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra low-light zoom comparison (Tap to see full size)

When it comes to low-light zoom performance, the Pixel 7 Pro comes out on top again, this time for consistency. Google’s Pixel 7 Pro somehow manages to keep the colours in check and consistent between along the zoom range and also performs better when it comes to noise reduction. I could still spot some blotchy textures around lit up objects, but these still looked far better than the noisy images from the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Despite Samsung’s telephoto hardware managing a 100X magnification, the results in low light appeared like oil paintings, with flat textures.

In terms of general low-light performance, the primary cameras of both the Pixel 7s and the Galaxy S22 Ultra do a good job in capturing good details with low noise, but aren’t able to handle lens flares very well from ambient lighting. Having too many bright light sources in the scene tends to drop the image quality drastically, which I found a bit strange especially since I had the Pixel’s Auto Night Sight and Samsung’s ‘Nightography’ modes turned on. These are supposed to automatically calibrate the cameras based on available light.

However, the Google Pixel 7 Pro still managed much better image quality, despite showing lens flares while Samsung’s images turned out textureless and noisy. With their respective Night modes on, the Galaxy S22 Ultra tends to deliver better dynamic range with a good level of detail.

Google Pixel 7 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra ultra-wide camera comparison in low light (Tap to see full size)

Google’s Pixel 7 Pro shoots the best quality video at 4K 30fps and 4K 60fps in daytime. Videos recorded at 1080p turned out a bit choppy with an unsteady framerate. Stabilisation was good and so was the dynamic range. However, Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra performed a lot better at all recording resolutions, with a rocksteady framerate and excellent stabilisation.

In low light however, things took a u-turn. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s footage was quite noisy and with low detail. There’s also focus-hopping which was quite annoying. Google’s Pixel 7 and 7 Pro surprisingly managed better quality videos in low light, at all recording resolutions. Stabilisation was also good and the same can be said about handling lens flares, which Google managed better than Samsung. Both smartphones are capable of recording HDR video, but the Galaxy S22 Ultra did a better job when shooting in daylight.

Overall, Google’s Pixel 7 Pro fares better than the Galaxy S22 Ultra for general purpose photography as it manages better quality photos and videos in all kinds of lighting conditions. Samsung on the other hand did a better job with selfies, whether it was day or night, and also has the edge when it comes to the maximum zoom level. The Pixel 7 captures nearly identical photos as the 7 Pro, which should be good enough to most causal users. However, if you need macro capability or high-quality zoom, then the 7 Pro has the advantage.

Verdict

Google’s Pixel 7 is a solid premium smartphone with good camera performance, battery life and a decent display. It’s not going to win many points on style and design, mainly because it appears very similar to the mid-range Pixel 6a (Review), even though it’s built using more premium materials. A solid competitor to the Pixel 7 is the Samsung Galaxy S22 5G (Review). It is compact, offers similar battery life, a faster 120Hz refresh rate, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. It also looks more premium with its razor-thin display bezels and is available from Rs. 62,999.

The Google Pixel 7 Pro gets just about everything right save for battery life and charging speeds, which falls short of expectations. Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra (Review) may cost a lot more with prices starting from Rs. 1,08,990, but it adds equally good value by offering better battery life, faster 45W charging, a built-in S-Pen stylus, unique design, and better telephoto capabilities.

As for direct competitors to the Pixel 7 Pro, we have the Samsung Galaxy S22+ 5G (Review) at Rs. 84,999 onwards and the Vivo X80 Pro (Review) at Rs. 79,999. These two phones definitely offer good value and equally impressive camera performance as the Pixel 7 Pro. What gives the Pixel an edge though is its software experience and the promise of timely software updates, which will always arrive on the Pixel 7 series before any other smartphone.

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God of War Ragnarök Review: Fitting End to Kratos and Atreus’ Nordic Era

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hitesh

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November 3, 2022

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God of War Ragnarök Review: Fitting End to Kratos and Atreus’ Nordic Era

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God of War Ragnarök — out November 9 on PS4 and PS5 — has a mighty task on its hands. How do you follow up a critically-acclaimed and universally-loved soft reboot that reinvigorated the franchise? With 2018’s God of War, Santa Monica Studio not only transported its Greek demigod Kratos to Norse mythology, but reimagined some fundamental aspects of the series along the way. Its director Cory Barlog faced pushback from both Sony and within the team. But it delivered, in spades. That success means a lot is riding on Ragnarök, which has the additional task of wrapping up God of War’s Nordic era. (That’s appropriate. After all, Ragnarök leads to the end of days. Next time you see Kratos, he might pop up in Mayan or Egyptian mythology, as has previously been hinted.)

But back to the question at hand. The answer is simple: if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. God of War Ragnarök either retains or builds on the foundation laid by its predecessor. It’s as cinematic as before, told in a deceptive one-shot that never cuts away. That illusion is broken whenever Kratos travels through portals, which is part of how Ragnarök hides its loading screens. (It’s also got unnecessary long tunnels, rocks you need to squeeze between, or places you need to crouch around.) The immersive cinematography is married with writing (Matt Sophos and Richard Gaubert) and direction (Eric Williams) that’s mostly very good. It feels like a movie. In fact, the Ragnarök cutscenes were so engaging at times that I didn’t want them to end, because then I would have to play.

This is an issue with the medium itself. Because video games have to give players something to do — not just for a few minutes, but hours and hours. More so for AAA titles that must “earn” their price tag — their stories nearly always suffer as a result. That happens in God of War Ragnarök too. That said, it seems foolish to complain when the playing is as enjoyable as it is here. Ragnarök retains the frenetic, satisfying, and at times comical combat of 2018’s God of War, though the camera continues to be tighter than many would prefer. It builds on what we’ve seen with a couple of new moves and mechanics, and allows Kratos’ now-teenage son Atreus to be a more active participant.

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God of War Ragnarök review: combat

The biggest change in attack is the use of the triangle button, be it on the DualSense (for PS5) or DualShock 4 (with PS4). In the 2018 God of War, the triangle button was used to equip or recall the Leviathan Axe. But if you already had the axe in your hand, the triangle button did nothing. In God of War Ragnarök, holding down the triangle button covers the axe with frost. Your next melee or ranged attack — R1 or R2, respectively, on both PlayStation controllers — will then deliver an additional chill to your enemies. You can do something similar with the Blades of Chaos, Kratos’ signature weapon in the Greek era, which is now available from the start on Ragnarök. Except instead of frost, the effect is naturally fiery.

These abilities are part of God of War Ragnarök’s skill tree, where you can spend XP — earned by completing objectives — to teach Kratos and Atreus a variety of skills, spanning melee, ranged, technique, and instinct talents. As you make use of these new skills, you will unlock new tiers, going from bronze to silver to gold. Each time you level up, you can choose how to improve said ability. Even though there’s a decent amount of choice baked into Ragnarök, I found the tier system to be interesting. Character growth is defined, in some ways, by your play style, and not just arbitrary assignment of earned XP. To be fair, that does exist, but how you approach combat is equally valuable. If you prefer one weapon or attack a lot, that will become more powerful than the rest of your tools.

While many of the abilities improve the versatility of your weapons, that’s not the only way to upgrade them. There’s the standard method: you earn XP and gather resources as you play, and you use them to boost weapon quality and strength. Additionally, you can also slot in runes — granted after you defeat mini-bosses — for elemental effects. Both weapons, be it the axe or the blades, offer a light and heavy runic attack in God of War Ragnarök. They are great for crowd control and dealing extra damage, though you do need to be wary of their cooldown timers.

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God of War Ragnarök is filled with all sorts of weird creatures
Photo Credit: Sony/Santa Monica Studio

Weapons aid in traversal too on Ragnarök. The Blades of Chaos function as grappling hooks — these are the most ubiquitous tool in modern-day gaming — allowing you to climb to places you couldn’t otherwise, interact with objects that help unlock loot or new areas, or even just latch onto enemies to wreak havoc. Additionally, Kratos’ movement can aid in combat. In God of War Ragnarök, you can sprint off cliffs and slam into enemies below, dealing damage to them and those in their vicinity.

What I love about combat in God of War Ragnarök is that it’s a lesson in how you can do more with less. There are just two weapons here — the axe and the blades — but still such a variety of play. You can charge your weapons with frost or fire, hold down buttons to trigger special combos, and of course, line up attacks in a coordinated fashion to maximise damage dealt.

What I don’t love is how the game limits what you can see. Enemies get free shots in God of War Ragnarök simply because the camera won’t let you see them. And the way Kratos dodges attacks isn’t always natural. Moreover, while you can command your companions — be it Atreus or someone else — to help you in combat, it feels very limited in the heat of battle. In most cases, the companions only help you with the enemy you’re already focusing on, or the ones in your field of view. They will rarely attack anyone who’s not in your vision, leaving them wide open to strike at you.

Moreover, God of War Ragnarök is all about old-school level game design. The enemies that routinely pop out of the ground are meaningless fodder — they only exist to help you level up for the story baddies. This is also true of some mini-bosses who show up out of the blue to help you gain XP. Without a narrative purpose to it, it feels like combat exists for combat’s sake at times.

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Týr, the Norse God of War, is an ally thankfully
Photo Credit: Sony/Santa Monica Studio

God of War Ragnarök review: PS5 graphics settings

Ragnarök brings the God of War franchise to Sony’s flagship console — natively — for the first time. While the 2018 God of War was granted a PlayStation 5 patch in early 2021, boosting its fidelity and performance to a smooth 4K 60fps, Ragnarök is the series’ first true release on Sony’s flagship gaming console.

You can do 4K 30fps for best visuals, 60fps and dynamic resolution for more performance, or even 120fps if your TV is capable of that. And if you’re on the PS5, all without any fan noise that we had with God of War on the PS4.

I only played Ragnarök on a PS5, as I don’t have a PS4 or PS4 Pro with me, so I can’t speak to graphics and performance on older Sony consoles.

God of War Ragnarök review: story

There are times when God of War Ragnarök feels like a loot simulator. It’s clear that most maps are designed to allow Ragnarök to place chests in strategic spots. Some of the loot is tied to environmental puzzles that I largely enjoyed. But the loot is also left out in the open in many cases. Characters will even at times remark how you love to break objects, and break away from the primary objective at hand. But the fourth-wall-breaking nature of it can’t take away from the mundaneness of it. That said, it’s nowhere as annoying as the approach other games have taken, some from the house of PlayStation itself.

It helps that you’re immediately pulled into the narrative, with characters easy to admire and root for. God of War Ragnarök is a coming-of-age story for the naive teenage Atreus, who is a big advocate for being more involved in the affairs of gods. And it falls to the protective Kratos — who’s seen a lot more of the brutal world — to shield him from the dangers of the nine realms. At the same time, Atreus wants to learn more about who he is. But is he charting his own path in life, or is he merely fulfilling prophecies by learning more about them?

Even when the story is not progressing in God of War Ragnarök, the dynamic and exchanges between Kratos, Atreus, and the severed head of Mimir serve you well. The dry humour borne out of the father-son duo’s conflicting personalities — Kratos’ curtness and sincerity, and Atreus’ nagging and inquisitive nature — is still here. If anything, it’s expanded because Atreus is less afraid to express himself now.

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Ratatoskr and Atreus in God of War Ragnarök
Photo Credit: Sony/Santa Monica Studio

And now that Atreus is a little grown up, he can have adventures on his own. (Without telling his father mostly.) There’s a lot to do and explore here, with God of War Ragnarök taking you across all nine realms of Norse mythology this time around — be it the exquisite beauty of Svartalfheim, the icy embrace of Niflheim, or the eeriness of Alfheim. In fact, there’s so much that Ragnarök feels like two games in one as you push deeper in. I’m not alone in that sentiment. The developers felt the same way, and even considered splitting God of War Ragnarök into two games, as its scope became much larger than they had originally planned.

It would have turned God of War’s Nordic era into a trilogy, which is always an alluring prospect. But they didn’t want to spend 15 years telling one story — what with both the 2018 God of War and Ragnarök having taken five years apiece. And hence, God of War Ragnarök is both the second and third chapter, in a way, if it were a trilogy. It sends you across the nine realms in the hunt for identity and a desire to stave off war, as you deal with quests for vengeance, and battle a series of monsters of all sizes, armed with a bunch of new tools and combat techniques. All of it set against the backdrop of the end of days.

Pros:

Very cinematic
Writing, direction are solid
Character growth defined by your playstyle
Combat does more with less
Variety and diversity
Elemental effects look cool

Cons:

Camera is too tight
Companions could have been more helpful
Too much old-school level design
Plays like a loot simulator in places

Rating (out of 10): 9

God of War Ragnarök is released Wednesday, November 9 on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. On PlayStation Store, God of War Ragnarök is priced at Rs. 3,999 for PS4 and Rs. 4,999 for PS5.

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