Entertainment

The flagships have arrived

In the last couple of months, five flagship phones have arrived in Nepal. Everybody has had their eyes on what the heavy hitters have brought out into the market and you probably can’t wait to pounce upon your favourite phone. The flagships have arrived

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Mamina Shrestha

Published at : August 8, 2017

Updated at : August 8, 2017 12:27

Samsung Galaxy S8

The Samsung Galaxy S8 has been praised all over the world for its aesthetic supremacy, many claiming it to have the design that has set a milestone. After the Note 7 fiasco, the sole responsibility of bringing Samsung out of the throes of an existential crisis was on the S8’s shoulders. And, the S8 has been able to win over hearts of many for its industry-leading hardware design.

Key Specifications:

5.8 inch (18.5:9 aspect ratio) QHD+ Super AMOLED Display
Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection (both front and back)
OctaCore Exynos 8895 Processor; Mali-G71 MP20 GPU
4 GB RAM with expandable 64GB ROM
12MP, f/1.7, 26mm Rear Camera with LED flash, OIS, dual pixel auto-focus; simultaneous 4k video and 9MP photo shoot, 4k@30fps, 1080p@60/30fps, 720p@240fps
8MP, f/1.7 Front Camera (dual pixel auto-focus); 1440p@30fps, 1080p@30fps
Iris Scanner, heart rate + SpO2 sensor, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, and barometer
Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor
3000 mAh Battery with adaptive fast charging, wireless charging
IP68 water and dust resistance
Dual SIM support
Color Option: Midnight Black, Maple Gold, Orchid Grey, Arctic Silver, Coral Blue
Price: Rs. 88,900

The Pros

Beautiful and efficient design and display
Top-notch performance
Fast charging and wireless charging option
Fingerprint recognition, Face unlock, iris scanner
Amazing camera features

The Cons

Performance of Bixby (smart assistant)
Iris scanner not good enough
Offers very less screen on time for a phone of this standard
Questionable breakability of the all-glass design

iPhone 7 plus

Launched in September 2016, this is another major flagship phone currently available in the Nepali market. Battling a wide range of Android smartphones, this comes in as a warrior from another family: Apple. iPhone 7 Plus has been lauded as an impressive member of the iPhone family as it features improvements in terms of display, battery life and camera; hereby, dramatically improving the important aspects of the iPhone experience.

Key Specifications:

5.5 Retina HD display with LED-backlit widescreen
Quad-core Apple A10 Fusion processor, iOS 10 Operating System
3GB RAM with 32/128/256GB not expandable storage
12MP, Wide-angle(28mm): f/1.78, Telephoto(56mm): f/2.8 Dual rear camera with Quad-LED True Tone flash, Optical zoom at 2x; digital zoom up to 10x, auto-focus, 4K video recording at 30 fps with Quad-LED True Tone flash; 1080p HD video recording@30 fps or 60 fps, 720p HD@30 fps
7MP, f/2.22 Front Camera (dual pixel auto-focus); 1440p@30fps, 1080p@30fps or 60fps, Optical zoom at 2x; digital zoom up to 6x
Touch ID fingerprint, Barometer, Three-axis gyro, Accelerometer, Proximity, Ambient light
2900mAh non removable battery
IP67 water and dust resistance
Dual SIM support
Color Option: Red, Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Black, Jet Black
Price: Rs 1,13,000 (32GB), Rs 127000 (128GB), Rs 138000 (256GB)

The Pros

Built to the usual sky-high standards
Top-notch performance
Excellent battery life
Improved cameras and camera features

The Cons

No notable display improvement (still only Full HD)
No headphone jack is divisive
Could have had better low light camera performance
Expensive

Xiaomi Mi6

Among a list of the emerging brands that are gaining popularity gradually, Xiaomi has also created a mark for itself. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has stated that Mi6 is the culmination of their seven years of research and development. He has further added that Mi6 is a thorough refinement of the company pushing their boundaries in terms of design and technology. Released only this August in Nepal, Xiaomi Mi6 is all set for battle.

Key Specifications:

5.15-inch (1920×1080 pixels) Full HD display
2.45GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 835 SoC
6GB LPDDR4x RAM
64GB/128GB (UFS) onboard storage
Android 7.1.1 (Nougat) with MIUI 8
Dual SIM (nano + nano)
Splash resistant
12+12MP Dual rear camera
First Camera with 1.25µm pixel size, f/1.8 aperture, dual-tone LED flash, 4-axis OIS, 4K video recording
Second Camera with 1.0 µm pixel size, 52mm portrait lens, f/2.6 aperture
8MP front-facing camera
4G LTE, WiFi 802.11ac dual-band (2×2 MU-MIMO), Bluetooth 5.0,GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, NFC, USB Type-C
3350mAh battery
Colors: Blue, Black, White
Price: Rs 54,999

The Pros

Smooth and powerful performance
Generous 6GB RAM
Under glass fingerprint reader
Splash Resistant
Seamlessly integrated dual camera setup

The Cons

Not an innovative design
Not water resistant or dust proof
Weak sunlight legibility
Limited production
No headphone jack

OnePlus 5

The Chinese company has been winning hearts all across the globe even with only a few devices under its wings. The performance and features that their first release offered at half the price of other flagship phones gave it the title of a “flagship killer”. After three years and four devices, OnePlus 5 has recently been launched by the company. Though this new phone holds close similarity, in terms of looks, with its predecessors: One Plus 3 and One Plus 3T, it has also a lot more to offer.

Key Specifications:

5.5-inch, full HD Optic AMOLED display
Android v7.1.1 Nougat with Oxygen OS
Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor
6/8GB of RAM
64/128GB Internal Storage
Rear-facing cameras: 16MP Sony IMX398 sensor with f/1.7 aperture and EIS + 20MP Sony IMX350 sensor with f/2.6 aperture
Dual LED flash on the rear
Front-facing camera: 16MP Sony IMX371 sensor with f/2.0 aperture
3,300mAh battery with Dash Charge support
Front-mounted fingerprint sensor (0.2 seconds)
Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C, NFC, Dual SIM
Color(s) available: Midnight Black, Slate Gray
Price: Rs 59,500

The Pros

Ergonomic design, high-end metal build and vibrant display
Silky smooth performance
Refined OxygenOS
Impressive dual camera setup

The Cons

Not water resistant or dust proof
Uses USB-C 2.0 with slower data transfer rate
Weak sunlight legibility

Huawei P10 Plus

Undoubtedly, Huawei has been garnering a lot of positive response from the Nepali market in the past few months by catering to the customer needs here ranging from high-end users to the general users. Released in June in Kathmandu, the Huawei P10 Plus brandishes its cameras as its main selling point. Let’s see what really has to offer.

Key Specifications:

5.5-inch (1440 x 2560) display with 2.5D curved glass and Gorilla Glass 5 protection
EMUI 5.1 on top of Android 7.0 Nougat
HiSilicon Kirin 960 Chipset
Octa-core (4×2.4 GHz Cortex-A73 and 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A53) CPU
Mali-G71 MP8 GPU
64GB/4GB RAM, 128GB/6GB RAM, Expandable up to 256GB
Dual 20MP(Monochrome) + 12MP(Color), f/1.8, OIS, Leica optics, phase detection autofocus
8MP Front Facing Camera with f/1.9 aperture
Dual SIM (nano + nano)
USB Type C
Fingerprint Sensor, gyroscope, Ambient Light Sensor.

The Pros

Much improved software
Great, versatile camera
Fast and smooth performance
Thin, well-built body
The Cons
No oleo phobic coating makes the screen a smudge magnet
Poor standby time
Not water-resistant
Mediocre speakers

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