RPGs, action-adventure, horror, choice-based - there are many gaming genres that I have enjoyed over the years. But, fighting games is something I haven’t tried that much. Still, I belong to a generation that grew up playing Tekken in Arcades so I have some experience. And when I heard about Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, I knew I wanted to give it a shot. And yes, this was purely because I am a big-time Marvel fan and the idea of fighting as some of my favourite characters was just too good to ignore. The only problem? My fighting-game skills are nowhere close to what I would call impressive. I can manage the basics, but put me in a match against someone who actually knows what they are doing and things can get chaotic very quickly. And I found that out pretty quickly after picking up the controller against a veteran - my husband.

We played the game on my PS5 Pro connected to an OLED TV and this combination made the game's colourful, anime-inspired presentation look fantastic. The character designs immediately caught my attention, while the combat reminded me a lot of Dragon Ball FighterZ. There is the same kind of fast-paced, flashy action, but with Marvel characters taking center stage.

So should you go ahead and get this game? Read on as I share my experience with it in this review. 

Also read: The Witcher 3 is getting a remaster: Here is who gets it for free

Characters and visuals

For a game like this, it all begins the moment you look at the screen and witness those characters being introduced. For me too, the first thing that caught my attention when I started playing was the characters.

I have seen these Marvel superheroes in movies, shows, comics and games for years. So, I was curious to see what they would look like in a fighting game that clearly takes a lot of inspiration from anime. And I am glad to say that I really liked what I experienced.

The game does not simply take the familiar versions of these characters and put them into a fighting arena. It gives them a completely different look while still making them recognisable.

Iron Man is probably the best example of this. Instead of the familiar Iron Man suit that we have seen countless times, the game gives him an almost Gundam-inspired design. It is very different from the version I am used to seeing and that is exactly what made it so exciting. 

Now let’s talk about the character I played the most - Captain America. His costume design is much more stylised than the version I am used to, but he still looks and feels exactly like Cap.

And this is something I noticed across other characters as well. The developers have taken familiar Marvel characters and given them their own visual identity instead of simply copying what we already know.

The anime influence is also impossible to miss. The characters move with a lot of energy, attacks are flashy and special moves can take over the entire screen. There were moments when I genuinely felt like I was watching an anime fight play out in front of me.

Playing the game on an OLED TV made this even better. The colours really stood out, especially when multiple characters, attacks and effects were filling the screen.

Combat and gameplay

If you have played games like Tekken and Dragon Ball FighterZ, you will probably feel at home in Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls pretty quickly. I certainly did, even though I haven’t tried out those titles as extensively.

The fast movement, flashy attacks, assists and the sheer amount of action happening during a match immediately reminded me of Arc System Works' Dragon Ball fighter. Now, since I had already seen something similar before, getting into Marvel Tokon did not feel as intimidating as I expected it to.

That was important for me because, as I mentioned earlier, fighting games are not exactly my speciality.

I was able to pick Captain America, start experimenting with attacks and eventually figure out a few combinations without spending hours studying the controls. The basic mechanics are easy enough for someone who is new to the genre, although there is clearly plenty more here for players who want to spend time mastering the game.

In other words, it is easy to start playing, but actually mastering it is a completely different story.

My husband proved that to me almost every time we played.

While I was still trying to remember which button did what and wondering why my character was suddenly flying across the screen, he was already chaining attacks together and making my health bar disappear. The gap between us was a pretty good demonstration of the game's depth.

The 4v4 format also changes how you approach a fight. You are not just picking one character and repeatedly attacking your opponent. You have a team, assists and different abilities to think about, which means choosing the right combination of characters can make a difference. Now for new players, this can feel like there is just too much happening at once. 

When you are still learning how to play, trying to keep track of your own character while four characters are fighting and effects are going off everywhere can be confusing. There were several moments when I knew I was pressing buttons, but had no idea whether I was actually doing anything useful. So in my case, it definitely took me some time to get comfortable with the game. But once I did, I started enjoying the chaos a lot more.

Story mode

The story mode is quite different from what you might expect if you are coming into Marvel Tokon purely for the fighting.

Instead of relying heavily on traditional cinematic cutscenes, the game uses a comic-book-style presentation to tell its story. The narrative is split across different characters and teams, so you get to see different sides of the game's world as you progress. And this just works in the game’s favor because it is a reminder of sorts to where it all began. 

The story itself kept me interested enough to continue through the chapters, although there is one thing that some Marvel fans may not love- the main villain is not someone from the MCU.

Personally, I did not have a problem with that. I actually liked the fact that Marvel Tokon is trying to do its own thing instead of simply recreating what we have already seen in the movies.

But if you are expecting to see the MCU translated directly into a fighting game, you may need to adjust those expectations.

Marvel Tokon has its own version of these characters and its own world, and I think the game is better when you treat it that way.

Music and sound 

In any game, music and sound effects matter more than you might initially realise. And in this case, both aspects are actually the highlights. 

The soundtrack has exactly the kind of energy you would expect from a fighting game. It keeps things moving during a match and becomes impossible to ignore when the fight starts getting intense.

There were several moments when I was already caught up in a match and the music would kick in at just the right time. It made the whole fight feel more dramatic and hyped me up while playing. 

The sound effects also do a good job of making attacks feel impactful. When you combine that with the flashy animations, the fights can feel much bigger than what is actually happening.

Verdict

As we’ve established already, I went into Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls knowing that I was probably going to lose a lot of matches. And I was right. But what I did not see coming was to have this much fun even though I was losing.

I could pick up the game, learn the basic controls and start having fun with my family pretty quickly. And after spending several hours playing the game, I do not remember the matches where I lost the most. I remember the ones where someone immediately said, “one more match.

Now as someone who has never been that invested in fighting games, that is probably the biggest compliment I can give Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. The game costs ₹3,999 for the Standard Edition on the PS5 and it completely justifies its price tag.

Rating: 8/10

Also read: The Blood of Dawnwalker will get a 60 FPS mode on consoles, Rebel Wolves confirms

My entire life revolves around laptops. And this isn’t only because I test them for a living, but because I also find myself using them the entire day. At work, I am busy with Chrome, juggling dozens of tabs, documents, video calls, and much more. Once at home, I spend most of my time gaming. Now, when I sit down to unwind with my favorite titles after a long day, I really don’t want to worry about whether my laptop will be able to handle the load. I actually want the laptop to disappear into the background and let the game take over. So, of course, a good display, design, build, strong performance, and portability matter to me. When I started using the new Alienware 16X Aurora, it felt like it could strike a sweet spot across all of these areas. 

I have spent nearly a month with the device, and by now, it has become a part of my daily routine. But there is one thing that is hard to ignore: the hefty price tag of Rs 3,27,390. So, is the Alienware 16X Aurora worth spending close to Rs 3.3 lakh? Time to find out.

Also read: 3 Windows settings you should change now to declutter your PC

Alienware 16X Aurora: Design and build

The Alienware 16X Aurora does not try to hide what it is. The laptop comes in an Interstellar Indigo colour, which is a really dark shade of blue that looks different than your usual black and white laptops. The Alienware branding on the lid makes it clear that this is built for gaming. The design does not rely on an excessive amount of RGB lighting or sharp angles to make a statement, which is the case with several Alienware laptops out there. In a nutshell, the Aurora 16X still has the Alienware character, but it can also sit on a desk without looking completely out of place when you are using it for work.

As for the build, it feels sturdy and premium, which is what you would expect from a gaming laptop at this price. There was some flex when I put pressure on the lid, but it isn’t so much that it gets you worried.

This is, however, a large machine and not something I would casually hold in one hand and go about my day. But, considering the kind of power this thing holds, it is justified. I still carried the 16X Aurora to work every day in my large tote bag and didn’t feel like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. There is some context to that, though. 

I drive to work. So, my carrying was mostly limited to the short walk between my car and my desk, and then back home. In case you rely on public transport or have a long commute on foot, the size and weight could become a much bigger consideration. As far as my routine is concerned, it was manageable.

Alienware 16X Aurora: Display

I enjoyed using the Alienware 16X Aurora, and a big reason for this is the display. The laptop comes with a 16-inch WQXGA OLED panel with a 2560 x 1600 resolution and 240Hz refresh rate. It is sharp, colourful, and just flawless for all your games. Colours look rich; dark scenes benefit from the OLED panel's ability to produce deep blacks, and everything is just super clear and precise. 

And if there is one thing I absolutely loved about the display, it was the anti-glare coating.

We all know that OLED displays can look fantastic. But reflections can become annoying when you are working (or gaming) under bright office lights. But with the Aurora 16X, I was able to sit in my office and work on Google Docs without constantly seeing reflections on the screen. A really bright tube light is right behind my desk, but in this case, it was much less distracting than what I have seen on several glossy OLED laptops.

Alienware 16X Aurora: Keyboard, ports, and speakers 

I am generally fond of mechanical keyboards and use one in my home setup, so my expectations from gaming laptop keyboards are usually high. And the Alienware 16X Aurora meets those expectations. Well, almost. The keys are responsive and comfortable to press, making it easy to spend long hours typing or gaming. There is also a dedicated Copilot key, along with shortcuts for screen brightness, keyboard backlighting, screenshots, and switching to performance mode. That said, I miss the mechanical feel that is found on other Alienware laptops, but if you prefer quieter keys, you are going to love the experience here. 

The backlighting can be customised through Alienware Command Center and is bright enough to get noticed in a well-lit room. One important thing, though, the backlight here is one-zone. This means that you can only apply one colour to the entire keyboard. 

Coming to the trackpad, it is decent but definitely has scope for improvement. It is not really large, but it supports multi-touch gestures and works well enough for regular navigation. My bigger issue with it was the slightly plasticky feel and the amount of force needed to register a click. Since I anyway use a mouse with all my laptops, this did not bother me much. But if you are someone who relies on a trackpad, things just might get annoying.  

Moving on to the ports, you get quite a decent number of options here. At the back of the laptop, there is a charging port, two USB Type-C ports, an HDMI port, and a USB Type-A port. On the left edge, you get an RJ-45 Ethernet port, a USB Type-A port, and a headphone jack.  I like the fact that the ports are located at the back as well as the left edge. This way, my desk space wasn’t overly cluttered with wires, and I also didn’t have to get up every single time I quickly needed to connect an accessory. 

As for the speakers, they are loud enough for watching videos and casual gaming. I turned the speakers to max and played a song at my office desk, and got side-eyes from my colleagues because they could hear it clearly. But as far as the quality is concerned, I would still strongly recommend external speakers or gaming headphones to get the best experience. That said, for everyday use, the speakers are perfectly fine.

Alienware 16X Aurora: Performance and benchmarks

The Alienware 16X Aurora is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus chip, 32GB of DDR5 memory, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 laptop GPU with 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM.

Now, for regular office work, this is far more power than I need. I had several applications open at once, and the laptop simply got on with it. The real test, however, was what happened when I started putting it to the test with benchmarks.

In Cinebench R23, the laptop scored 31,703 in the multi-core test and 2,340 in the single-core test. That is a strong result, particularly for multi-core workloads. So if you are using the laptop for rendering, compiling, or other CPU-heavy work, there is plenty of processing power available.

To test the storage performance, I ran the CrystalDiskMark benchmark. It recorded sequential read speeds of 7,043.70MB/s and write speeds of 6,478.33MB/s. This meant large files such as video footage and other project files moved around quickly here, with very little time spent staring at a progress bar.

I also ran several synthetic GPU tests on the device. The laptop scored 30,224 in 3DMark Fire Strike, 15,340 in Fire Strike Extreme, and 7,816 in Fire Strike Ultra. In the Port Royal ray tracing test, it scored 7,964. These are impressive numbers for the RTX 5070 laptop GPU.

Alienware 16X Aurora: Gaming experience

Now, benchmarks are one thing. For a gaming laptop, there is only one true way to understand what it can actually do. Yes, gaming. 

I started playing 007 First Light at 2560 x 1600 resolution, high graphics settings, and no upscaling. The laptop, in this case, managed around 45 FPS. The game looked gorgeous, but the problem was that it did not feel as smooth as I wanted it to. This became quite obvious once I started moving around as Bond rather than simply looking at the environment.

I then enabled Nvidia DLSS Super Resolution, set it to Balanced, and switched frame generation to 4X. The frame rate jumped to around 180 FPS, and the game felt super smooth. Now, there definitely was a small trade-off. Some reflections did not look quite as impressive as they did with native rendering. But when you are running around while fighting a bunch of robots, you probably won’t care how ‘shiny’ a game looks. 

To find a sweet spot, I set Nvidia DLSS to Quality with 2X frame generation enabled. This brought the frame rate down to around 96 FPS, but the image quality was almost as good as native. 

I also played The Witcher 3 on the Alienware 16X Aurora, and it led to a similar experience. With ray tracing enabled, graphics set to high, 2560 x 1600 resolution, and no upscaling or frame generation, I was getting around 30 FPS. The game was still playable, and the world looked absolutely stunning on the OLED display. But it was still just 30 FPS. When I switched the DLSS on and set it to Balanced mode, I started getting around 50-60 FPS, and the gameplay was a lot smoother without any major drop in image quality.

I then tried DLSS at its maximum performance setting, which pushed the frame rate to around 80 FPS. But in this case, the visual quality trade-off was quite visible. The game still looked great, but if you are particular about image quality, you will notice the difference.

I also tested Minecraft with shader packs, and the laptop managed around 60 FPS. That is a good result considering how quickly some shader packs can bring even the most powerful gaming laptops to their knees.

So, the Alienware 16X Aurora is capable enough to play the latest AAA games at 2560 x 1600 resolution, but you should not expect every new title to run at maximum graphics settings and soaring high FPS without using technologies such as Nvidia DLSS.

Alienware 16X Aurora: Thermals and battery 

All this gaming performance comes with a noticeable amount of heat. After playing 007 First Light for around an hour, the CPU package temperature reached 105 degrees Celsius. That is quite high, and it is something I would keep in mind if you plan to run demanding games for several hours at a time.

Even when I was not gaming, temperatures hovered around 80 degrees Celsius during my testing. As for the surface temperatures, it gets quite hot. But never too hot to stop using the keyboard. 

Now, let’s talk about something that gaming laptops are notoriously famous for: battery life. And as you would expect, the Alienware 16X Aurora is not a device that comes with a great battery life when you are gaming. But when you are using it for work, you can still get a decent number of hours in before looking for a charger. 

I started using the Alienware 16X Aurora at  8 AM on a Monday, and my work involved typing on Google Docs, browsing the web, and watching a couple of YouTube videos. By 12 PM, the battery had dropped to 30 per cent, and the Energy Saver automatically kicked in. By 3 PM, the laptop ran out of juice, and I reached for a charger. So, I basically got around 6 hours of battery life while working on this device, which is not bad at all.

PS: The keyboard backlight was turned off, display brightness was set to 30 per cent, and the laptop was running in Balanced mode. Altering any of these settings would also impact how much battery life you get from the device. 

As far as gaming is concerned, the Alienware 16X Aurora will last a little over an hour when you are running a demanding title. 

Alienware 16X Aurora: Who should buy

Coming to the Rs 3 lakh question: who exactly is this laptop for? If you are looking for a laptop with some strong performance and don’t want to go all the way up to the machines that cost over Rs 5 lakh, the Alienware 16X Aurora can be the sweet spot. 

However, this is not a laptop you will want to carry around all day. It weighs over 2.5kg and comes with a large power brick. Battery life also takes a hit while gaming, so the laptop is better suited to those who plan to keep it plugged in and mostly use it at a desk.

Finally, there is the high price tag that puts it out of reach for most people. But if you have the budget and want a powerful gaming machine that can double up as your work laptop while looking the part, the Alienware 16X Aurora is something you can definitely consider. 

Also read: MacBook Ultra coming soon: 5 features to get excited about

Many of us want large-screen TVs for more immersive visuals. And when you look at what is available around the Rs 1 lakh mark, 75-inch TVs are becoming increasingly interesting. The Haier P7 Pro is one such example. At Rs 90,900, it gives you a 75-inch 4K QLED display, Dolby Vision and HDR10+, a 50W 2.1-channel audio system, Google TV with Gemini, four HDMI ports, VRR and a 120Hz gaming mode. On paper, that is a lot of TV for the money. But the P7 Pro also makes some compromises to get there. The panel has a native 60Hz refresh rate; its 400-nit peak brightness is modest by premium-TV standards, and there is no local dimming. 

So, while the specification sheet is clearly designed to grab your attention, the more important question is whether its combination of size, features, and price makes it a sensible alternative to spending more on a better-equipped Mini LED TV. Here's my review of the Haier P7 Pro.

Haier P7 Pro: Display and picture quality

The Haier P7 Pro uses a 75-inch 4K QLED panel with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. Haier claims up to 93% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, and we got the same on the Calman Colour Gamut check. The colours look fine for the most part, except for some changes in skin tones and blues. 

Similarly, in the Calman luminance test, the peak brightness reached 390 nits, close to the 400-nit claim. I didn’t find any problem watching it in a bright room. But when you compare it against a FALD Mini LED TV, watching HDR content in the same bright room, the highlights don’t appear strong enough. 

Well, HDR scenes don’t carry depth either because of a lack of detail in shadows. While watching Thanos's last fight scene in Avengers: Endgame, the visuals felt flat without the required depth. And in the new Avengers: Doomsday trailer, there was a lack of details in some portions. Banding, wavy like, instead of smooth gradients. 

Meanwhile, in the Revenant night scene, wherein Leonardo DiCaprio's character is coming out of darkness, the jungle felt darker than it should, and the black levels were crushing. In its defense, let me tell you it managed to present the dark submarine scene in Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning better than a Mini LED TV I tested recently. Also, the close-up shots of characters carry sharp details, giving you a good 4K feel.

For regular streaming, television and sports, the large 75-inch panel still remains a big attraction. Sit at the right distance and the screen gives films and games a much more immersive feel than a 55-inch or 65-inch television. This is where the P7 Pro makes a lot of sense. You are spending the money on screen size first.

The Haier P7 Pro TV also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ as well as AIPQ and MEMC. I choose to keep the latter turned off because I don't prefer the over-smoothed look. Similarly, although the panel's native refresh rate is 60Hz, Haier uses DLG technology to offer a 120Hz gaming mode. This offers smoother visuals at the cost of resolution. The TV also supports VRR and ALLM and provides easy access to game-related settings through a Gaming Bar.

Also Read: Lumio Vision 9 (2026) Mini LED TV review: Gets a lot right but still needs tuning

Connectivity and software

You get four HDMI ports and two USB ports, along with eARC, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on this TV. Four HDMI inputs are particularly useful on a 75-inch TV because you can connect a console, streaming device, soundbar and another source without constantly swapping cables. But note that they all support 4K60 only, and the HDMI 1 port supports ARC/eARC as well.

The software is based on Google TV, which makes the P7 Pro familiar to anyone who already uses Google TV devices. Even for someone new, this is fairly easy to start and straightforward to use. You get access to the major streaming apps, content recommendations and Google's wider smart-TV ecosystem.

Haier ships the TV with Android 14 and our review unit was running on the April 1 2026 security update. It is great to see the latest Android version and what's more special is the presence of Gemini voice assistant. You can trigger it hands-free by just saying ‘Hey Google.’ Please ensure you verify the responses, as it is not always accurate.  

And for most users, aspects like UI smoothness and software support will matter more anyway. The 2GB RAM feels a bit limiting in navigation between apps, but the 32GB storage seems fine. 

Design, audio, and remote

A 75-inch TV is going to dominate a room regardless of how thin its bezels are. My colleague and I were joking that many of us don't have a big enough hall in our Delhi NCR flats. The fascia looks clean with slim bezels on all three sides. The chin has a lustrous sheen meant to attract. 

A TV this big is better wall-mounted, as the corner stands mean you need a table or shelf that big. Also, the P7 Pro does wobble despite the stand being properly screwed in by the Haier personnel.

The bigness of the screen is well complemented by a big 50W 2.1-channel system with an integrated subwoofer. The output has ample weight and presence. The TV also supports Dolby Atmos and a Bluetooth Speaker Mode. This latter feature lets you keep the display off and use the TV audio as a Bluetooth speaker. Haier has clearly thought about the audio system on the TV.

Should you buy the Haier P7 Pro?

At Rs 90,900, the Haier P7 Pro's biggest selling pitch is its 75-inch QLED screen. If you want a screen this big, know that the rest of the package is decent to give you a fine immersive experience. 

The 390-nit peak brightness I measured is enough for comfortable everyday viewing, and 93% DCI-P3 coverage means most content looks rightly coloured. But HDR content lacks the punch you get from a good Mini LED TV. There is also no local dimming, and I noticed crushed blacks and a lack of depth in some of the darker scenes I watched. So, if your priority is movies and HDR picture quality above everything else, I would spend more on a better display.

In case of gaming, features like DLG 120Hz, VRR and ALLM are useful additions, but the native panel is 60Hz only. The four HDMI ports also support up to 4K at 60Hz. So, the P7 Pro is not a TV I would recommend to someone looking to get the full benefit of a high-end gaming PC or the highest refresh rates from a current-generation console.

The P7 Pro also faces competition from Xiaomi's QLED TV X Pro, which is a cheaper 75-inch QLED TV. It offers the same basic 75-inch 4K QLED proposition, a 60Hz native panel with DLG 120Hz, Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and Google TV, but costs considerably less. Xiaomi also gives you Filmmaker Mode and features such as AirPlay 2. 

For the higher price, the Haier P7 Pro gets you four HDMI ports instead of three on the Xiaomi, a strong 50W 2.1-channel audio system with an integrated subwoofer, easy-to-use Android 14-based Google TV, hands-free Gemini voice control, and a three-year warranty. So, I would look at the P7 Pro as a large-screen all-rounder rather than a picture-quality champion. 

However, if picture quality is your main concern, Haier itself has a 75-inch Mini LED M70 at Rs 1,02,990, which is only Rs 12,000 more than the P7 Pro. That could be a much more interesting upgrade if you care about HDR brightness, contrast, and dark-scene performance.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar TV reviews.

Also Read: Xiaomi S Mini LED 75 2026 review: Big-screen cinematic TV under Rs 1 lakh but with some compromises

There are phones that impress you when you first pick them up, and then there are phones that change the way you think about smartphones. The latter used to happen more often when phone designs were actually exciting. But in 2026, I can safely say the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is firmly in the second category for me. I have been using this phone as my daily driver for over a month now, and after living with this device every day, I have started to question why slab phones have become so tall in the first place. Even something like the iPhone 17 now looks unusually tall to me. The Fold 8, on the other hand, feels comfortable, compact, and incredibly easy to use. In my opinion, with the Fold 8, Samsung has created a foldable that does not feel like a compromise. Not that foldable phones are a compromise; in fact, it’s the opposite. If you want the most ‘phone’ in your phone, you get a foldable.

Of course, there are still a few things I would change, especially the lack of a telephoto camera, and some apps still show letterboxing. But beyond those issues, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 has become the most enjoyable phone I have used this year. Here’s my full review.

Galaxy Z Fold 8: Samsung has got the form factor right

Let me start with the obvious. I still absolutely love the design of the Galaxy Z Fold 8. I have already spoken at length about this in my first impressions and early review, but after using the phone for longer, I can say that my initial excitement has not gone away. If anything, it has become stronger. The Fold 8 has the kind of form factor that makes you realise just how accustomed we have become to tall, narrow slab phones.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 early review: Lots to unpack!

When I first picked up the Galaxy Z Fold 8, I described it as feeling like the foldable Samsung should have made in the first place. After using it as my main phone, I stand by that statement.

The 5.5-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X cover display is not simply a smaller version of a normal smartphone screen. It has definitely changed how I interact with the Fold 8. For instance, I can comfortably hold it in one hand, scroll through X, reply to messages, check notifications, browse websites, and do plenty of other things without feeling like I am stretching my fingers across a giant slab. And this is something I did not fully appreciate until I went back to other phones. As I already mentioned above, even the iPhone 17 now looks incredibly tall to me, which I know may sound strange to some because the iPhone 17 is by no means a big phone.

But after using the Galaxy Z Fold 8, I have started appreciating how much easier it is to use a wider, shorter phone with one hand. More importantly, it does not feel tiring after extended use.

Then, of course, you can unfold it. And this is where the Galaxy Z Fold 8 becomes something you have never seen before. The 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X inner display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 4:3 aspect ratio feels much more natural for reading, browsing, gaming, and consuming content. It does not feel like Samsung simply took a regular smartphone and stretched it into a tablet. The entire interface feels intentional and designed around the extra space. I have found myself reading more on the Fold 8 than I expected. Articles, documents, and ebooks are all far more comfortable on this display, and the 4:3 ratio gives you a much more natural canvas.

Samsung has also done a great job with the crease. It is still there, obviously, but it is far less noticeable than on previous generations. The combination of the new hinge mechanism, Flex Titanium, and the anti-reflective coating makes the inner display feel much more refined.

And then there is the weight. At 201g, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is remarkably light for a foldable. At 4.5mm when unfolded, it is also incredibly thin. This makes a massive difference when you carry the phone around all day.

There is one downside, though. The smooth matte finish is quite slippery. I have had moments where I have genuinely worried about the phone sliding out of my pocket. It is one of those situations where the phone looks and feels premium, but you probably want a case for peace of mind. I haven’t got one yet, but I am definitely looking forward to getting a good case or maybe applying a carbon-fiber skin.

The hinge is another part of the design that I really like. The spring-loaded mechanism gives the Fold 8 a satisfying snap when you open it completely. It is a small thing, but it makes using the phone feel more mechanical and deliberate.

Overall, I feel Samsung has finally made a foldable phone that feels like a phone first and a foldable second. Everything about the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s design feels purposeful, and that makes a big difference when you use it every day.

Galaxy Z Fold 8: The displays are fantastic

Samsung has been making some of the best smartphone displays for years, so there was never much doubt that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 would have good screens. The cover display is a 5.5-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a 1-120Hz refresh rate, while the inner display is a 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with the same smooth refresh rate.

Both are excellent. The colours are punchy, viewing angles are great, and the displays get bright enough to remain comfortable in most situations. While the peak brightness is rated at 3,000 nits, I was easily getting a score of around 2,750 nits in High Brightness Mode when I tested it out in the Digit Test Labs. Plus, the anti-reflective treatment on the inner screen is also quite useful because reflections can be a real problem on large folding displays.

But the biggest improvement here is not necessarily the display technology itself. I mean, we all know Samsung makes great displays for their phones, and for other phone makers as well. I think the biggest improvement with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, if you haven’t guessed by now, is the inner screen’s aspect ratio.

The 4:3 inner display simply makes more sense to me. Of course, watching videos is still not perfect because you will obviously get some black bars depending on the content, but the overall experience is much more natural and definitely better than what we are accustomed to seeing on previous-generation Samsung folds or even the Fold 8 Ultra.

Reading is excellent, though. Browsing in portrait orientation, in a 3:4 aspect ratio, feels closer to using a small tablet, and even apps that were designed primarily for conventional phones feel better when they make proper use of the additional space.

With that said, there is one issue, though. Some apps still show letterboxing. Not that it is a huge deal-breaker for me, and it is certainly not as big a problem as I expected it to be when I first started using the phone. A lot of the most popular apps have already caught up with the new aspect ratio. Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Amazon, Myntra, Swiggy, banking apps such as iMobile, FedMobile (the list goes on), and several third-party Google apps are properly optimised, and I have not had a problem using most of the apps I need every day.

Of course, there are still some exceptions. Snapchat, for example, is one of the more obvious ones. But this is one of those problems that I expect to improve with time. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has introduced a different way of thinking about smartphone displays, and developers will need some time to adapt.

For now, I would call app optimisation a minor annoyance rather than a reason not to buy the phone. And to be fair, I think it is only going to get better from here.

Performance is exactly what you would expect

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage, depending on the variant. I have received the base 12GB + 256GB variant (priced at Rs 1,79,999) for review.

Given the hardware prowess, there is very little to complain about here. Everything I have done on the phone is unapologetically fast. App loading times, app switching, animation and transitions, or, for that matter, demanding games such as BGMI, COD: Mobile, and Genshin Impact run without any major issues. But again, the form factor is what makes the performance feel more interesting. Gaming on a 4:3 display is simply more immersive. You have more room to see what is happening on screen, and the larger canvas makes games feel much closer to a tablet experience.

When I last wrote my early review, the aforementioned games were not fully optimised, and many benchmarking apps were also not whitelisted. I am happy to report that both BGMI and COD: Mobile now support 120fps in both battle royale and TDMs.

For everyday use, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 feels and behaves like a flagship in every sense of the word. And because I have actually been using it as my primary phone, rather than keeping it around as a secondary device for testing, that tells me more than any benchmark score could.

Software goes hand in hand with the hardware

Samsung's software experience has come a long way, particularly when it comes to foldables. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 runs Android 17 out of the box with Samsung's One UI 9 layered on top, and the combination works well with the larger inner display.

Multitasking remains one of the biggest reasons to buy a foldable, and Samsung has made it easy to run multiple apps side by side. But what I like most is that I am not constantly thinking about the fact that I am using a foldable — which might sound strange, but it is important.

The best technology becomes invisible when it works properly. I am not constantly unfolding the phone just to show someone that it can unfold. I use the cover screen when I want a traditional phone, and I open it when I need more screen. And that is exactly how it should work.

Galaxy AI is also a big part of Samsung's software strategy, although some of the more interesting features are still dependent on region and availability. For instance, the cool Gemini Intelligence demo, which lets you do your trip and hotel bookings with a single prompt, is only coming later this year to the US and South Korean markets. Now, if and when this feature eventually comes to India, that’s going to be a big deal.

But otherwise, too, I have said this a lot of times, and I will say it again — One UI is by far the best and the most feature-loaded Android skin out there. The suite of features you get in Galaxy AI — whether it be call screening, live translate, photo assist, audio eraser, voice transcription, text generation, image generation, and so much more — is the most useful and practical set of AI features that actually work on any smartphone.

Of course, the potential is huge. Agentic AI is just getting started. But for me, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 does not just need AI features to justify its existence. The form factor itself is the biggest feature.

Cameras are finally good enough on a Fold

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has a 50MP primary camera and a new 50MP ultra-wide camera, along with 10MP selfie cameras on the cover and inner displays. And, in a nutshell, the cameras are really good.

Starting with the primary camera, it produces excellent photos in almost every lighting condition I have tested it in. I took a bunch of photos in London, and the colours turned out pleasing with strong dynamic range, and Samsung's image processing also does a great job of producing shots that are ready to share. I also really like how easy it is to use the cover screen as a viewfinder when taking selfies with the 50MP primary camera. You get a much better camera to work with, and the cover display makes it easy to frame yourself before taking the shot.

The ultra-wide camera is perhaps the bigger surprise. The 50MP sensor gives it considerably more detail than what we have traditionally seen from foldable phones, and I really like the consistency between the primary and ultra-wide cameras, especially when it comes to the tone and the colours. As always, the lens does a fine job of capturing a wider field of view, which comes in handy when you want to fit more into the frame.

In good light, both cameras deliver excellent results. Even in more challenging conditions, they hold up well. The last time I used a fold, which was the Fold 6, I know I can't say with the same confidence that the Fold 6's camera was something I could completely rely on. With the Fold 8, though, I can. If I pull the phone out of my pocket to take a photo, I have confidence that it will give me a good result. And that is a big deal.

The 10MP selfie cameras on both the cover and inner displays are also perfectly capable for video calls and of course, the selfies. They do a good job in well-lit conditions, although I would still recommend using the 50MP primary camera whenever possible, especially if you want more detail and better overall image quality.

Of course, there is still one glaring omission — the telephoto camera. I really wish Samsung had managed to squeeze one into the Fold 8. The digital zoom works surprisingly well in good lighting. Samsung's processing is good enough to make the results look convincing, particularly at moderate zoom levels. But once the light drops, you start seeing the limitations. Details become softer, noise creeps in, and the image simply does not have the same confidence as something captured using a proper telephoto lens. And that is when you find yourself thinking, if only Samsung had added a telephoto camera. It would have sealed the deal for me.

Again, don't get me wrong. The camera system is good enough that I am comfortable relying on it, and that is something I could not say about previous Fold models. But let’s put it this way — the Galaxy S26 Ultra is my benchmark for smartphone cameras. I still consider it one of the best camera phones out there. The Fold 8 does not beat it.

But for the first time, I do not feel like I am making a huge camera compromise just because I chose a foldable. And that is what I call progress.

Galaxy Z Fold 8: The battery is surprisingly solid

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 packs a 4,800mAh silicon-carbon battery, which is not the biggest battery you will find in a flagship smartphone. But because this is silicon-carbon tech we are talking about here, this has allowed Samsung to fit more energy into a relatively small space, which is particularly important in a device that is as thin and light as the Fold 8.

In my experience, battery life has been good. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 comfortably gets me through a day, and there have hardly been days when I have had to charge the phone before evening. And this is particularly impressive when you consider the amount of time I spend using the larger 7.6-inch display.

Charging is also faster than previous Fold generations, with support for 45W wired charging and 20W wireless charging. The phone juices up about 65 per cent in 30 minutes, while a full charge takes about 70 minutes.

Of course, I would not call the battery life class-leading, but it is certainly good enough for the kind of phone this is.

Should you buy the Galaxy Z Fold 8?

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is not perfect. As I said, some apps may still need to catch up with the new aspect ratio. The lack of a telephoto camera is felt, particularly when shooting in low light. Also, it is not the best camera phone. That crown still belongs to the Galaxy S26 Ultra for me. And then there is the price, which remains firmly in premium flagship territory.

Also read: Why right now is the best time to buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Fold 8 Ultra

But look past those things, and there is something very compelling here. Something we haven’t seen before in a smartphone’s design and form factor in a very long time.

For what it’s worth, Samsung has finally figured out what a book-style foldable should’ve been in the first place. It should be compact when you want a phone. It should become a proper canvas when you need more screen space. It should be light enough to carry every day. It should be powerful enough to replace your flagship phone. And, most importantly, it should not make you feel like you are constantly compromising because you chose a foldable.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 checks all of the aforementioned boxes.

I have used foldables, and then after a point, I have always resorted to a traditional slab phone. With the Fold 8, I don’t want to go back to a slab phone. So, what happens to my Galaxy S26 Ultra? Or how will I make the switch to the Galaxy S27 Ultra next year? I guess all of this is a conversation for a different time.

I am not simply using the Galaxy Z Fold 8 because it is a foldable. I am using it because I genuinely like this smartphone.

LG QNED85 is positioned as LG's higher-end 2026 QNED model, and its biggest selling point is its Mini LED backlight. It combines that with the company's Dynamic QNED Color Pro technology and Precision Dimming. The result is a TV that is designed to give you far more brightness and better control over dark areas than a conventional LED TV. It is priced at Rs 107000 and offers a 120Hz panel, 144Hz VRR, four HDMI 2.1 ports, Dolby Vision, webOS 26 and LG's latest Alpha 8 AI Processor 4K Gen3. We got the 65-inch model (65QNED85BLA) that is aimed at buyers who want a premium large-screen TV for movies, sports, streaming, and gaming, but do not want to spend LG OLED G6-like money. In our more than a month-long test, we realised there's a long list of things to like here.

LG QNED85: Display and picture quality

The QNED85 uses a 4K Mini LED LCD panel. Although it uses small LEDs as a backlight, these LEDs are present on the edges only. But as per LG, its Precision Dimming feature can finely control the dimming zones to improve contrast and provide clearer details.

In our Calman tests under Vivid picture mode, the highest reading was around 764 nits at a 25% window, while the 10% window reached around 754 nits, and at a 100% window, I got around 611 nits. For a living room with moderate ambient light, this should be enough for an impactful HDR experience.

Meanwhile, the HDR Calman snapshot recorded a minimum luminance of 0.09 nits.

In everyday viewing, and even in demanding test content such as the busy Penguin chase sequence in The Batman, I could easily make out the darker parts of the road, details on Batman's suit, and water splashes on the wet surface. The TV also maintained a clear contrast between the headlights and the surrounding black environment. 

Also Read: Sony Bravia 7 II review: The best LCD TV I’ve tested this year

While there was no bothersome blooming around bright objects in the content I watched, including the sequence above, the end credits of the first Knives Out or the different lights appearing in the submarine scene in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, the Magic Remote's cursor was a different story. When moved over a dark background, it created a fairly large halo around itself.

I also noticed a minor uniformity issue with near-black scenes. During the end credits of the first Knives Out, the otherwise black background developed a faint purple band along the bottom of the screen. This was not something I noticed during most of my viewing, but it was glaring in this particular instance. 

LG also claims 100% DCI-P3 colour volume certification from Intertek for its Dynamic QNED Color Pro system. We managed to get 95.77% in this gamut in Filmmaker mode. And the ColorChecker result was an average Delta E of 2.96, and Greyscale Multi recorded 2.74 points.

So, while the QNED85 panel has the potential to produce a strong picture, the Calman results suggest that it is not perfectly tuned out of the box. LG offers plenty of customisation tools in the settings, AI or otherwise, to control the experience to your preference.

Similarly, you get HDR formats like Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG. LG does not list HDR10+ support. Dolby Vision and HDR10 mean a wide range of HDR content gets covered.

And LG's Alpha 8 AI Processor 4K Gen3 supports AI Picture Pro, AI Super Upscaling 4K, Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro and AI HDR Remastering, so that you get a good experience across varied content.

Last but not least, the viewing angles were respectable, and reflection handling isn't the best.

LG QNED85: Gaming, UI, and connectivity

The LG TV comes with a native 120Hz refresh rate. LG's TruMotion processing can also adjust motion smoothing depending on the content genre. The visuals were smooth. Additionally, for gamers, the company has given VRR support up to 144Hz and a Motion Booster feature that can further simulate the refresh rate to up to 288Hz to improve motion clarity.

Speaking of gaming, four HDMI inputs are HDMI 2.1 and support 4K 120Hz, VRR, and ALLM. Even some higher-end TVs don't offer this. The TV also supports AMD FreeSync Premium, HGiG, and Dolby Vision for gaming at 4K 120Hz. There is also a Game Optimizer and Game Dashboard, which let you easily access gaming-related settings without leaving the game.

LG also underlines Bluetooth Ultra Low Latency controller support, with compatible controllers meant to reduce controller input delay to below 2.5ms. 

So, connectivity is one of the QNED85's clear strengths. You get four full-fat HDMI 2.1 ports, with eARC support on HDMI 2, two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, optical audio output, and two RF inputs. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.3. Like with HDMI, it would have been good to see up-to-date standards on these other connectivity options.

What’s up to date is QNED85’s software, which is Linux-based webOS 26. This is a rather mature operating system with different hubs, profiles, and recommendations. You get a personalisable My Page, 150+ free live channels through LG Channels, Multi AI Search with Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, alongside AI Concierge and an AI Chatbot. This makes you feel you have a really smart TV, but how often you use it depends on you. Because of all of these, the UI can feel a little sluggish at times. Not a common or frequent affair, though. 

The webOS Re:New programme is more important in my book. LG says the TV can receive platform upgrades for up to five years, so up to webOS 30. For a TV that costs more than Rs 1 lakh, long-term software support matters. 

LG QNED85: Design, audio, and remote

The QNED85 is a remarkably slim TV for a Mini LED model. It weighs 21.5kg without the stand and 21.9kg with it. The light and slim profile lets you easily carry and mount it on a wall or a table. Either way, it also looks clean. The inverted V table-top stand, however, being on the edges, demands some space.

Similarly, the LG's AI Magic Remote with its air-gesture-based cursor control demands some getting used to. It is useful if you get the hang of it. It helps in quickly entering text, selecting items, and moving around menus. Otherwise, it can be a bit annoying. Well, in that case, you can use traditional buttons.

As for sound, the QNED85 has a 20W, 2.0-channel down-firing speaker system. This is coupled with AI Sound Pro, which can create a virtual 11.1.2-channel presentation. There are also other AI goodies like AI Object Remastering Pro, Clear Voice Pro, Dolby Atmos, Adaptive Acoustic Tuning, and WOW Orchestra. The built-in audio is fine for regular everyday watching, and these processing tools can enhance the out-of-the-box sound experience. But since you are spending Rs 1.07 lakhs and want a proper home-cinema experience, I would suggest adding a dedicated soundbar or audio system.

Should you buy the LG QNED85?

At Rs 107000, the LG QNED85 is a good balanced 65-inch TV. You get a Mini LED display with good HDR brightness, strong contrast for an LCD TV, a 120Hz panel, 144Hz VRR, four HDMI 2.1 ports, Dolby Vision, and a mature smart-TV platform.

The picture quality is generally very good for a variety of content. It handled difficult dark scenes well in my testing, with good shadow detail and no distracting blooming around bright objects in the content I watched. But there are some caveats. As the Calman results show, the panel is not perfectly accurate out of the box. It doesn’t handle reflections all that well, and I encountered uniformity and haloing artefacts. 

And while there are Mini LED TVs with stronger hardware offerings in this range, like the Haier M92, LG's response is through a strong gaming and software suite. 

Four HDMI 2.1 ports supporting 4K 120Hz, VRR and ALLM give you plenty of flexibility, while VRR can go up to 144Hz and Motion Booster can simulate up to 288Hz for improved motion clarity. You also get FreeSync Premium, HGiG, and Dolby Vision gaming. 

Meanwhile, WebOS 26 is mature, the Magic Remote is useful once you get used to its cursor, and LG promises up to five years of WebOS platform upgrades through its Re:New programme. I also think this and strong after-sales support matter more than the TV's collection of AI features. Gemini, Copilot and the AI Concierge may be useful, but software support is something you are likely to appreciate throughout the TV's lifespan.

So, if you want a 65-inch all-rounder TV that can handle movies, sports, regular television, streaming, and gaming, the QNED85 is a sensible choice. If you are chasing the best possible HDR performance, built-in audio, or dark-room movie experience, there are other options. The better choice depends on what you value more.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar stories.

Also Read: LG OLED G6 review: One of the most complete TVs I have tested this year

Before this, my entire mental model of an ASUS keyboard was built on a brief fling with an Azoth. Great board, wrong crowd for what I'm about to review. The Azoth is pure ROG: black-on-black styling, a chassis that could double as a projectile in a fight, RGB that insists on being noticed. Walk into the Jelly75 KD201 expecting more of that and you'll be confused within thirty seconds. This thing looks like someone raided a candy store and decided a keyboard could use some sugar too. And somehow, ASUS makes it work.

Also read: iQOO Z11 Review: Battery beast with a catch

Design and build

The Jelly75 has a clear housing and keycaps that look like they've been 3D-printed from gummy bears – round, tall, and slightly squishy-looking without being squishy. Its chassis allows you to get a view of the internals, which is one of the best things about a gasket-mount board. If your desk is now an all-white shrine to "gamer minimalism," then the Jelly75 is going to be an act of rebellion. It rejects the entire ROG approach to things and embraces its own style of life, and I mean that as a compliment.

In terms of layout, it's a 75%, the same as my daily driver – the Aula F75 – which made the learning curve very fast. But where it falls flat is density. ASUS put more keys into less space than most 75% boards do, and the result is that the arrow keys are cramped alongside the Copilot key. I need arrow keys. I do not need Copilot. In fact, avoiding that exact key is the reason I still plug in an external keyboard with my laptop instead of using the one built in. Muscle memory betrayed me here more than once, and Copilot popped up on my screen enough times that I started to wonder if it was doing it on purpose.

Unboxing and value

Once the box is opened, the excitement evaporates a bit. You will find a USB-A to Type-C cable, the 2.4GHz adapter and a sense of being cheated in some way. At a price of Rs. 8,999, not even one extra switch, and surprisingly, not even a hot-swap tool on a board that sells itself on the feature of hot swapping. Someone somewhere at ASUS must have forgotten the very essence of hot-swappable ports, i.e., that there was something to be swapped in the first place.

Connectivity and multitasking

This is where the Jelly75 really earns its keep. Five computers with one keyboard: 2.4GHz, wired and three Bluetooth channels, each fully switchable with not a hitch. Visualize the traditional dual system: one Mac computer for office use and one Windows computer for playtime after work. Done with work? Flip the switch and switch from Bluetooth to wired or 2.4GHz before you even get to your mouse. There's even a special button on the keyboard that switches your entire keyboard into the correct operating system mode at the same time you switch the connection.

Gaming performance

Polling rate, for those new here, is essentially how many times per second the keyboard shares data with the computer on what button was just hit. In wired mode, the polling rate of the Jelly75 reaches 1000Hz, making it an absolute benchmark for competitive gaming. 2.4GHz polling rate, by comparison, reaches 500Hz, which is good enough. However, a Bluetooth connection will provide no more than 133Hz of polling rate, which seems perfectly fine but not when you are checking a corner in Valorant, and your inputs come in late. I have tested each of the polling modes in the course of several ranked matches, and Bluetooth is to be avoided the minute the stakes are raised.

Typing experience

This is where the Jelly75 won me over. Look past its clear housing, and you'll find the gasket mount at work; there are little silicone bands holding up the plate such that it bends rather than hitting the enclosure head-on with every key press. Flexibility is the only thing separating boards which clatter like a hail storm from boards like this one. The Jelly75 occupies a space which I rarely get to enjoy with my keyboards; it isn't too crisp like a naked PC board, nor is it too mushy like budget-friendly models which have been over damped.

ASUS calls the layer underneath a uni-cushion silicone structure, working with the gasket mount to soak up vibration before it reaches your fingers. Put another way, it means that you can go for an entire hour of typing without hearing complaints about your wrists. As for the switches themselves, they’re linear and feature 4mm actuation distance while feeling like they come already pre-lubricated rather than raw out-of-the-box, which surprised me at this price level. There’s not much of a wobble of the switch stem, no rattling from the stabilisers when hitting the larger keys and the noise is consistent regardless of whether you are typing your fast Slack response or struggling with a 2,000-word piece of writing.

Slide your fingers over the keys of the typing test and the Jelly75 has a bounce to it, responsive to the touch on the downward press, soft on the rebound, but with just enough resistance that you’re not hitting bottom with every key press. Contrast this with your typical office membrane board (Please stop using these) and it’s not even close to being a contest. But compare it with an actual enthusiast custom build with a completely lubricated stabilizer kit and foam stuffed inside the case and yeah, the Jelly75 will come off as slightly more rough around the edges. But compared to the typical keyboard you can pick up off a shelf without ordering switches and disassembling stabilizers yourself, it’s got a custom keyboard vibe about it.

Battery life

This keyboard delivers on its promises with 4000mAh battery life. Typing for three weeks straight with the backlight active and I still did not have to plug it in once. Only complaint is that there isn't an accompanying app to monitor the battery level. It takes complete guesswork since you have no idea when it will give out on you.

Also read: Neosapien Neo 1 review: Great at remembering, but not quite ready to be forgotten

What's missing

A few weird omissions are worth mentioning. There's no place on the board to store the 2.4 GHz dongle, so now it’s up to you to make sure that you don’t lose it amid the desks. The lack of any sort of indicator for caps lock is also an omission, as well as the lack of any indicator for Mac/Windows switcher.

Verdict

The ASUS Jelly75 KD201 fulfills its mission perfectly by offering the lifestyle audience a colourful and comfortable alternative to the never-ending line of gaming boards which always come in black and gray colour options. No sacrifices have been made when designing the keyswitches, as they, combined with the gasket mount, provide exceptional performance compared to the price. Multi-device switch function is a true productivity tool, while the battery lasts long. However, there are some minor drawbacks which may hinder the experience. For example, there is nothing spectacular about the packaging, considering the price point of this keyboard. Furthermore, there is no place for the dongle, while the Copilot button sits in a very inconvenient position. There are also no status lights. None of these issues would make me recommend avoiding the product, however, they create friction which makes it difficult for me to make a clear recommendation without any disclaimers.

Also read: Brother DCP-B7620DWB review: Easy, efficient and effective monochrome printer

I’m not sure how many times you may have heard, but it's true that the smartphone market is going through a transition that nobody really saw coming. The rising memory and component costs have pushed prices beyond the ceiling for almost every price segment, from sub-Rs 20,000 smartphones to premium flagships costing over a lakh. At the same time, brands are being forced to make difficult choices: either increase prices or cut back on hardware to keep devices within their intended price brackets. The result is a market where finding genuine value for money is becoming increasingly difficult.

For manufacturers, everything that is going on is less about choice and more about survival. The current situation, for me, is a phase the industry will eventually adapt to, but until component and memory prices stabilise, compromises are becoming an unavoidable part of new smartphone launches.

And with that context in mind, I spent the last few days with a smartphone from a series that has traditionally been synonymous with value, the Redmi Note. Xiaomi has just introduced the Redmi Note 17, and it comes at a time when even this segment is feeling the pressure. There are a few obvious compromises here, and honestly, they were probably necessary to keep the phone at its price point.

At the same time, Xiaomi has even tried to balance those compromises with some meaningful upgrades, including a bigger battery, a larger and improved display, and a more stylish design. On paper, the Redmi Note 17 looks like a familiar Note-series formula adapted to a very different market. But how much of that value actually translates into real-world experience? After using the phone for a few days, here's what I think.

Redmi Note 17 display

The Redmi Note 17 comes with one of its strongest upgrades, the display. It features a large 6.9-inch AMOLED panel with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, 100 per cent DCI-P3 colour coverage and a claimed peak brightness of 1,800 nits. It also gets HydroTouch 2.0, which is designed to keep the screen responsive when your fingers are wet or oily.

On paper, these are impressive specifications for a phone in this segment, particularly because a large battery often comes with compromises elsewhere. Redmi has managed to retain an AMOLED panel here, and that immediately makes a difference. The screen looks vibrant, punchy, and attractive, with deep blacks and strong contrast. Whether you are watching a movie, scrolling through social media, or playing a game, the display has the visual impact you would expect from a more expensive smartphone.

During our testing, we recorded a peak brightness of around 2,200 nits, which is more than enough for comfortable outdoor usage. Even under harsh sunlight, I did not find myself constantly adjusting the viewing angle to read content.

And in our Calman testing using Spectracal C6, the colour measurement tells a nuanced story. The display covers essentially the entire sRGB gamut and around 98-99 per cent of DCI-P3, which is excellent for this price segment. However, colour accuracy is not perfect, with the panel showing some deviation from reference colours in our Calman testing. In practical terms, most users will not notice this. The display is clearly tuned more towards vivid and punchy visuals than strict colour accuracy.

Simply put, the display is well-tuned, and you will not face any problems while streaming content or watching photos in its segment.

Redmi Note 17 design

The Redmi Note 17 follows a fairly familiar design approach, but it does manage to look more premium than its positioning suggests. I have the Starlight Purple variant, and the matte finish with its ‘Starlight’ pattern does a good job of catching attention without becoming too flashy. The squarish camera module houses the camera setup and carries the 50MP branding alongside the Redmi logo. It gives the rear panel a more distinctive appearance and, overall, the phone looks considerably more expensive than it actually is.

In terms of durability, the Redmi Note 17 comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 7i, an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance, a reinforced chassis, and HydroTouch 2.0. These are useful features for a device that is likely to see plenty of everyday abuse.

However, there are trade-offs. At 8.4mm, the Redmi Note 17 is not exactly slim, and its large footprint makes it feel big and slightly bulky in the hand. That is understandable given the massive battery inside, but it does affect one-handed usability, given it is 47 grams heavier compared to the Note 15. I also miss the softer, more premium feel that curved edges can provide.

Redmi Note 17 performance

Performance is where the Redmi Note 17 may feel underwhelming for power users. The phone is powered by the 4nm Snapdragon 4 Gen 4, an octa-core chipset designed primarily around efficiency and sustained everyday performance rather than outright processing power. It is paired with up to 8GB of RAM, while storage can be expanded up to 2TB. There is also 10,416 mm² of graphite cooling and Xiaomi's Long-Term Fluency Engine, which is designed to manage system resources and maintain performance over longer periods.

The problem is that the chipset feels like a step backward for the Note series. Xiaomi has often highlighted that Redmi Note users tend to keep their smartphones for longer, which makes the choice of Snapdragon 4 Gen 4 particularly difficult to justify. The Redmi Note 15, for instance, used the considerably more capable Snapdragon 6 Gen 3. Moving down a tier here means buyers should not expect the same level of longevity or performance headroom.

Having said that, in everyday usage, the Redmi Note 17 is perfectly usable, but again, you need to keep your expectations in check. Social media, messaging, web browsing, streaming, and basic productivity are handled without major problems. However, once you start pushing the phone with multiple apps running in the background, the limitations become more apparent. I noticed occasional stutters and jitter while switching between applications, with some tasks taking noticeably longer to process.

In terms of benchmarks, the Redmi Note 17 scored 6,31,200 on AnTuTu, while Geekbench 7 returned 779 in single-core and 2,100 in multi-core. In PCMark Work 3.1, it managed 11,524 points. More encouragingly, the phone retained around 95 per cent of its peak performance in our CPU throttling test, suggesting that Xiaomi's cooling solution is capable of keeping sustained workloads under control.

On the software front, the Redmi Note 17 runs Android 16 with HyperOS 3 and gets four Android updates, up to Android 20, alongside five years of security updates. The software experience is generally smooth, and the newer desktop-style widgets are useful additions.

Redmi Note 17 battery

The Redmi Note 17 packs an 8,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, and this is easily one of the biggest talking points of the phone. Xiaomi claims up to 2.5 days of typical usage, while light users can potentially stretch it beyond three days. Considering the size of the battery, the fact that it fits inside an 8.4mm-thick body is also worth noting.

In real-world usage, the endurance has been impressive so far. Regular activities such as social media, messaging, navigation, calls, and video streaming barely make a dent in the battery percentage. In our PCMark Battery Life test, the Redmi Note 17 lasted 20 hours and 14 minutes, which is a strong result and gives the phone plenty of endurance for heavy users.

Charging is handled by a 45W charger, included in the box. However, the sheer size of the battery means charging isn't particularly quick. In our testing, it took approximately 115 minutes to go from 0 to 100 per cent. That's considerably longer than what some faster-charging rivals can manage, but it is also a trade-off that comes with having such a large battery.

For what it’s worth, the phone also supports 22.5W wired reverse charging, which is particularly useful if you want to charge accessories or another phone in an emergency.

Redmi Note 17 camera

The Redmi Note 17 gets a 50MP AI camera at the rear and an 8MP selfie camera. Xiaomi has focused this setup primarily on everyday photography, with features such as a dedicated Night Mode, AI HDR, AI Scene Detection, Dynamic Shots, AI Bokeh, and a 2x in-sensor zoom mode. However, there is no ultrawide camera, while both front and rear cameras are limited to 1080p video recording at 30fps. There is also no OIS, which immediately puts some limitations on the camera hardware.

In daylight, the 50MP primary camera is capable of producing good-looking images. Details are reasonably sharp, colours are rich without going excessively overboard, and the dynamic range is stable in well-lit scenes. This is also where the camera's tuning makes the most sense for casual users and social media. Portraits are decent too, with natural-looking skin tones and reasonably reliable edge detection. However, finer details can appear slightly soft when you zoom into the images.

The bigger issue is what you don't get. The absence of an ultrawide camera limits the phone's versatility, particularly for landscapes, group photographs, and architecture. Competitors such as the Motorola Edge 70 Fusion, Nothing Phone 3a Lite, and OnePlus Nord CE6 Lite offer more flexible camera systems.

Low-light photography is where the limitations become more apparent. The smaller sensor and lack of OIS mean that images can lose detail in darker environments, while moving subjects can be difficult to capture cleanly. Night Mode helps brighten scenes, but it cannot completely compensate for the hardware limitations.

Redmi Note 17 verdict

The Redmi Note 17 is a smartphone that makes its priorities very clear. Xiaomi has put considerable emphasis on the 8,000mAh battery and 6.9-inch AMOLED display, and both are genuinely strong aspects of the phone. Battery endurance is excellent, the display is vibrant and bright, and the overall design looks more premium than the price suggests. Features such as reverse charging, Gorilla Glass 7i, and IP65 protection further add to its everyday appeal.

However, the compromises are equally difficult to ignore. The Snapdragon 4 Gen 4 feels underpowered for a Redmi Note device, particularly when the series has traditionally offered stronger performance. This is a phone for everyday users rather than anyone looking for serious gaming or long-term performance headroom. The camera setup is another area where Xiaomi has clearly cut costs. The primary camera performs reasonably well in daylight, but the absence of an ultrawide camera, OIS, and 4K recording makes the Redmi Note 17 less versatile than several competitors.

So, is it a bad phone? No. In fact, if your priorities are battery life, display quality and a stylish design, the Redmi Note 17 makes a reasonable case for itself. But if you expect strong performance, versatile cameras and a phone that feels future-proof for several years, there are compromises you will have to accept.

A friend of mine still uses last year’s iQOO Z10, and when I mentioned I’m reviewing the Z11, the first thing he asked wasn’t about the chipset or the camera, it was whether it’s actually worth upgrading. But then the conversation flipped around: is the 144Hz display actually better, does the new processor have enough power to handle heavy tasks, is the ultrawide sensor worth having, and does any of that justify the price hike of Rs 15,000? For these questions, the answers would be mixed. That conversation stuck with me through the whole week, and this review is built around trying to actually answer it and here’s what I found.

iQOO Z11: Display

The iQOO Z11 features a 6.83-inch 1.5K curved AMOLED panel with a 144Hz refresh rate, and it's one of the strongest parts of this phone. I watched Operation Safed Sagar on Netflix over a couple of nights, and the display handled it well. Aerial shots of jets held their detail, mountain scenes came through with real depth, and dark sequences stayed properly black rather than sliding into grey.

At 144Hz, scrolling feels smooth, and if you spend a lot of time moving through social media feeds, that smoothness is noticeable. One thing worth knowing, not every app runs at the high refresh rate by default. You'll need to turn on high refresh mode manually for individual apps in the settings.

The curve on the display did cause one issue for me. While shooting photos, I accidentally kept touching the edge of the screen, which occasionally shifted focus in the viewfinder.

On the bench, the numbers back up what I saw. Our Calman test returned an average Delta E of 1.23, an excellent result, and the Colour Gamut test measured 97.67% coverage. Peak brightness is where things get interesting, our testing recorded 3,560 nits, higher than iQOO's own claim for this panel. What isn't in question is real-world visibility. I never had to squint at this screen, even in harsh direct sunlight.

iQOO Z11: Design

When I picked up the iQOO Z11, the camera island on the back is the first thing that stands out, it's laid out in a way that immediately reminded me of a Pixel phone. Beyond that, the design stays fairly minimal. iQOO sent us the Aurora Green colourway, which shifts to a blue tint under certain light and looks distinct. Buyers can also buy the Celestial Blue option.

Despite the size of the battery inside, the iQOO Z11 does not feel heavy. At 199 grams and 7.99mm thick, it sits comfortably in hand, and I never struggled with typing on it for long stretches. The one real complaint is grip, the back is slippery enough that I'd recommend using the case iQOO includes in the box rather than skipping it.

Stereo speakers here can hit up to 200% volume, though sound quality drops off and gets distorted the louder you push it. Durability is solid on paper, with MIL-STD-810H certification alongside IP68 and IP69 ratings for water and dust resistance. The in-display optical fingerprint sensor worked reliably every time I used it.

iQOO Z11: Performance

The Z11 runs on MediaTek's Dimensity 7500 Turbo, paired with 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage on our review unit. This isn't a flagship chipset, and it doesn't try to be one, but that doesn't mean it feels slow. Apps open quickly, multitasking is smooth without issue, and RAM management felt well handled throughout my time with it.

BGMI is capped at Smooth graphics with Extreme frame settings, which means you can play BGMI up to 60fps. Call of Duty Mobile fares better, running also at 60fps but the frame rates stayed consistent through my sessions.

I also noticed the phone getting warm during extended use in direct sunlight, and that warmth resulted in occasional jitter while scrolling through the UI. It wasn't a constant issue, but it was noticeable enough to mention.

On the benchmark side, the iQOO Z11 scored 1,107,516 on AnTuTu. Geekbench returned 1,194 in the single-core test and 3,271 in multi-core. The 3DMark Wild Life Extreme test gave it an overall score of 1,161, and the CPU Throttling Test showed the chip holding on to 87% of its performance under sustained load.

iQOO Z11: Software

OriginOS 6, built on Android 16, runs on the iQOO Z11, and it feels smooth throughout. Animations are clean, and apps open and close without any noticeable stutter.

There's bloatware here, as expected at this price, but all of it can be removed. One thing worth flagging for anyone setting the phone up for the first time, the initial boot process prompts you to install some third-party apps. It's easy to miss, so make sure to uncheck that option if you'd rather not add third-party apps you didn't ask for.

iQOO has added a few AI features worth mentioning. AI Caption handles real-time translation, useful for multilingual meetings, videos, or conversations where context and accuracy matter.

AI Writing helps with drafting emails, summarising meeting notes, pulling out action items, and cleaning up documents. Circle to Search is also here, letting you pull up information on anything visible on your screen without leaving the app you're in.

In terms of Software updates, iQOO is promising three years of Android Updates and five years of Security Patches.

iQOO Z11: Battery

The Z11 packs a 7,050mAh battery with 44W charging support, and in daily use it held up exactly the way a battery this size should. Across full days of heavy use, gaming, scrolling, and content watching, it never once ran out on me, and it regularly carried over into a second day. In day-to-day use, this is a phone that gets you through a day and a half without needing to think about a charger.

For lighter, more casual use, I'd expect close to two days of screen-on time. It's also worth pointing out that a 7,000mAh-plus battery isn't the rarity it used to be, several brands are building around this size now, so it's becoming closer to a new baseline than a standout feature.

At Digit Test Labs, the PCMark Battery Life Test returned 22 hours and 37 minutes of screen-on time, a strong result that lines up with what I saw day to day.

Charging is the one area that felt behind. 44W is usable, but at this price and battery size, I expected something closer to 65W or higher. We charged this phone from 0 to 100% and it took 1 hour and 46 minutes in our testing.

iQOO Z11: Cameras

The Z11 keeps its camera setup simple, a 50MP Sony IMX822 main sensor paired with an 8MP ultrawide, and a 32MP selfie camera up front.

Photos of human subject where this camera struggles most. Shots came out over-processed and softer than I'd like, with detail getting lost in the process. In one shot of mine, the camera added colour where there shouldn't have been any, my black shirt picked up a tint that wasn't there in real life, and for context, every shot from the iQOO Z11 was taken entirely in Natural mode.

Photos looked good enough to post straight from the gallery without editing, and depth of field came through naturally without needing portrait mode to fake it.

Low light performance was a pleasant surprise, particularly with skies; images matched what I was actually seeing in the moment rather than over-brightening or losing colour.

Portrait mode is a mixed bag. Edge detection is generally solid, though it occasionally struggles specifically with human subjects, the same weak spot as the main camera. When it works, though, the bokeh effect looks creamy, and the overall portraits hold up well.

The ultrawide camera is fine rather than impressive. Don't expect a lot of detail, but for wider shots where framing matters more than sharpness, it does the job.

Selfies are a genuine strength here. Detail holds up well, edge detection in portrait selfies is great, and skin tones come through natural rather than overprocessed.

iQOO Z11: Verdict

After a week with the iQOO Z11, the pattern is fairly clear. Display and battery are the two things this phone gets right without much to argue about, a bright, accurate AMOLED panel backed by genuinely excellent brightness and colour numbers, paired with a battery that comfortably stretches past a single day. Performance holds up fine for daily use and the main camera handles almost everything well but sometimes struggle with portraits.

At Rs 34,999, the Z11 makes the most sense for someone who prioritises screen quality and battery life over gaming headroom or portrait photography. If either of those two things matter more to you than the display or the battery does, it's worth looking elsewhere in this price range.

We have become very good at having conversations and very bad at remembering them. On a busy workday, you can sit through meetings, speak with dozens of people, and still struggle to remember who said what by the time evening comes. Of course, taking notes helps, but writing everything down can mean you are busy documenting instead of actually listening. This is the problem devices like the Neosapien Neo 1 are designed to solve. Worn around your neck, it listens to conversations and turns them into transcripts, summaries, and action items that you can search later. Sounds cool in theory, right? 

Well, I wore the Neosapien Neo 1 for two weeks, using it in a variety of situations, to see how well it handles real-world conversations. Here is my full review.

Design and Build: Simple, but doesn’t feel as premium as it looks

The Neo 1 is a 20-gram pendant that sits around your neck on a metal chain. There is no screen, speaker, or complicated set of controls. A double tap starts or stops recording, while a white LED confirms that the device is listening.

I initially liked the simple design of the Neo 1 because it does not look like a typical gadget. However, after using it for two weeks, I have mixed feelings about the build quality. The black paint on my unit has already started chipping under normal use, while the plastic body doesn’t inspire confidence. The parts around the chain have also started to loosen.

The chain itself can be annoying. It gets tangled in clothes, and many times, while taking it off, it gets stuck in my hair. 

Recording controls: Convenient yet frustrating

The double-tap control on the Neo 1 is a nice idea because you can start recording without opening your phone. But there is no vibration or sound to tell you that the tap actually worked. This means I often found myself looking down at the LED to confirm whether it was recording. For a device designed to let you tap and forget about it, this feels like an unnecessary interruption.

There is another issue that bothered me more. You need to keep an eye on whether the device has gone into sleep mode. The Neo 1 is supposed to be something you can wear and forget, but I found myself checking it occasionally to make sure it was still active.

Transcription: Good in controlled conditions

I tested the Neo 1 on the Delhi Metro, and while the transcription was generally decent, it struggled in noisy environments. Sometimes, it picked up nearby conversations, making it hard to tell what I was saying from what other people were saying.

I noticed a similar issue while travelling in public places that have a noisy environment. I found that the device occasionally mixed conversations from other passengers and people nearby with our own. However, its performance improved a lot in quieter and more controlled settings.

The Neo 1 worked especially well indoors with very little background noise, such as during meetings. In these situations, it captured conversations more clearly and produced much more reliable transcriptions.

Hindi transcription also worked well in my testing. It was able to accurately capture proper nouns, including company names, which can often be difficult for speech-to-text systems. The company says the Neo 1 supports more than 140 languages, although I wasn’t able to independently verify that claim.

AI Summaries: Things that make sense

The raw transcript is useful when you need to search for something, but I found the AI-generated summary much more practical for everyday use. Instead of reading through an entire conversation, you get a short summary along with important points and action items. If you have two different discussions in one recording, the Neo 1 can also separate them into different memories.

For me, this was the feature that truly made the device feel like more than just a microphone. During closed-room meetings, I use it to quietly listen to the meeting details and later check the AI summaries that have been provided to me as a clear recap of the conversation. Doing so saved me a significant amount of time and made it much easier to stay focused on the meeting instead of worrying about taking notes.

Neosapien Neo 1 Search: It feels like a second memory

The search function is probably the feature I would miss the most if I stopped using the Neo 1. You do not have to remember which meeting something was discussed in. If you remember the topic, you can search for it and find the relevant conversation. The app keeps things relatively clean, with transcripts, summaries, and action items presented without unnecessary clutter. This is particularly useful if your work involves back-to-back meetings, interviews, or events.

Recording on Neosapien Neo 1: Where is that?

Despite everything the Neo 1 does well, I still had to use a separate recording device during important conversations. The reason is simple: it does not give you the original audio back. Once it has processed the conversation, you are left with the transcript and AI-generated information.

That is fine when you only need to remember what was discussed. But during an interview, sometimes a summary is not enough. You may want to hear exactly how someone said something, understand the context behind a statement, or check a particular word. I would like Neosapien to add a recording option, because having the original audio alongside the AI notes would make the device much more useful.

Battery Life: Not quite always on

Battery life is another area where my experience did not fully match the idea behind the product. Neosapien claims around two to three days of battery life, but with regular recording, you should expect considerably less. For something designed around continuous listening, this can become inconvenient.

I also found the device going to sleep occasionally, which meant I had to keep checking it. That takes away some of the convenience of simply wearing it throughout the day. The good thing is that the Neo 1 can continue recording over Bluetooth even when there is no internet connection. It can then process and sync the information when you are back online. In my testing, the device took around 95 minutes to fully charge from 0 per cent to 100 per cent.

App and connectivity: Good, but have some rough edges

Pairing the Neo 1 with the app is simple, and the overall interface is clean. There is also a desktop app for Windows and macOS that can capture audio from your computer for services such as Zoom, Meet, Teams, and WhatsApp calls without needing a bot to join the meeting.

However, I did notice some syncing issues, and there were also moments when the device randomly went to sleep. Another limitation is that integrations are still a work in progress. I would like to see the Neo 1 automatically push notes into apps such as Notion or directly update tasks and CRM entries.

Privacy: Useful device but difficult conversation

A device that listens to conversations will always raise privacy concerns. While the company says raw audio is deleted after transcription and that data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, its privacy policy also identifies several categories of third-party services that may process user data, including payment providers, logistics providers, AI partners, and cloud storage providers.

The company also says it regularly audits and tests its systems for vulnerabilities, although the privacy policy does not publicly identify any third-party security agencies or provide detailed audit reports. It further states that user conversations will not be used to train AI models unless the user explicitly opts in to such use.

Neosapien Neo 1: Should you buy it?

The Neo 1 is an interesting product because the idea behind it genuinely works. I found myself saving time while covering events and searching for quotes, and the quality of its transcripts and summaries was better than I expected.

But there are too many compromises for me to call it a complete product. The battery life needs improvement; the device can go to sleep unexpectedly; the build quality doesn’t feel premium; the chain is inconvenient, and Android syncing needs more work. The inability to access original recordings is also a serious limitation.

At Rs 12,999, I would recommend the Neo 1 mainly if your day revolves around meetings, interviews, events, or conversations that you regularly need to remember. If you rarely have such use cases, you may struggle to justify the price.

For the Neo 2, I want better battery life, stronger hardware, a better form factor, proper integrations, the ability to work without the phone nearby, and most importantly, access to the original recordings. The Neo 1 has a genuinely useful idea at its core. Now, Neosapien needs to make the hardware and experience good enough to match it.

iQOO is known for gaming-centric devices at accessible prices. Besides phones, the company is gradually extending that approach to audio. Two years after the iQOO TWS 1e, a new pair of in-ear truly wireless earphones, simply called the iQOO Buds, has launched in India. These new buds come in at Rs 1,899 and bring features like 10mm drivers, 42ms gaming latency, Bluetooth 6.1, multipoint connectivity, dual-mic call noise cancellation, and up to 50 hours of total battery life. 

But this is also one of the most competitive segments in the TWS market. A long feature list alone is not enough anymore. So, the question is whether the iQOO Buds offer a good everyday experience, and after using them for about a week, I can tell you how well they hold up as a pair of affordable true wireless earbuds. Let’s get started.

iQOO Buds: Design and fit

The iQOO Buds have a familiar in-ear design with stems. There is nothing particularly distinctive about the earbuds themselves. The shape is conventional, and I found the fit secure and comfortable enough for extended listening.

Each earbud weighs about 3.8g, while the complete package weighs around 41.3g. Both the buds and the case are light and easy to carry around.

The earbuds are also IP54-rated, which gives them some protection against dust and water splashes. However, the matte black finish of the case could be prone to smudges and scratches, especially over a long period of use.

The earbuds, meanwhile, have a glossy black finish, and the magnets in the case hold them firmly. Taking them out is easy, too. 

When you take out the earbuds, the LED indicator on the front of the case blinks in pairing mode. They glow a constant orange for charging indication.

You get a USB-C port on the bottom of the case, and above the LED indicator, on the front, there is also an iQOO engraving.

While all of this is par for the course, the light, plasticky quality of the case lid tells you one area where the corners have been cut. But it is functional, and only time will tell you about its durability. 

iQOO Buds: Connectivity and latency

Pairing is as easy as it gets, especially on compatible Vivo and iQOO phones. Just opening the case puts the earbuds into pairing mode when they are being set up for the first time. And on the familial phones, you’ll get a quick pairing prompt when the case is opened nearby.

It supports Bluetooth 6.1 in everyday use, and the connection was stable. Bluetooth multipoint is another notable addition. You can keep them connected to two devices at the same time. Playback will happen one at a time. So, pause on one device to begin playback on the other.

Gaming is where iQOO has the clearest reason for making these earbuds.

The Buds support 42ms gaming latency, and with the Esports sound mode on, the Buds can adapt sound based on games. For online videos, the latency was fine, even in the Standard sound profile.

iQOO Buds: Sound quality

The iQOO Buds use 10mm drivers and support AAC and SBC codecs. There is no active noise cancellation, which is worth keeping in mind when comparing it with some alternatives in this price range.

Again, with gamers in mind, iQOO’s acoustics team has worked on enhancing bass while keeping the mids and highs slightly controlled. This is meant to give game effects such as gunshots and explosions more impact without completely sacrificing the voices of players and other details.

Even in our frequency response curve test, iQOO Buds show a very bass-heavy tuning. The vocals are reasonably clear, but the elevated bass makes the overall presentation feel thicker than I like, and treble extension is limited. 

You get EQ profiles called DeepX 4.0 sound effects in the companion app. This includes Mega Bass, Clear Voice, Clear High Pitch, Esports mode for games, and even an audiobook mode. I stuck with Standard mode as it is the most balanced one among the lot. 

There is also spatial audio, with four modes: Theater, Concert Hall, Studio, and Live Concert. However, this feature requires a compatible Vivo or iQOO phone, so it is not something every buyer will get access to out of the box.

Also Read: Boat Airdopes ProClip review: An open-ear design that gets the basics right

iQOO Buds: Calls and smart features

The Buds are said to have a particular design and dual microphones for clear calls. There is also AI-based call noise reduction for sounds like wind and sudden horns. 

You can take or reject calls through touch gestures. These touch controls can be customised through the phone or the vEarphones app. The app also comes with EQ settings, a Find earphones feature, and a remote camera shutter option on supported Vivo and iQOO phones.

In-ear detection is missing but is fair considering the price.

iQOO Buds: Battery life

Battery life is one of the strongest parts of the iQOO Buds.

iQOO claims up to 12 hours from the earbuds and up to 50 hours with the charging case. It also claims that a 10-minute charge can provide up to four hours of playback. These figures are based on AAC playback at 50% volume with ANC disabled, so real-world results will vary.

In my testing, the earbuds lasted 10 hours and 32 minutes on a single charge. It was a continuous playback of a FLAC file at 80% volume. 

The case has a 513mAh rated battery, while each earbud has a 51mAh minimum battery capacity.  iQOO rates charging the earbuds at around 60 minutes.

So, the battery runtime is more than sufficient.

Should you buy the iQOO Buds?

iQOO has clearly prioritised gaming, battery life and connectivity here. The 42ms latency, multipoint support and 10-hour-plus battery life are useful additions, especially at Rs 1899. The lightweight build and secure fit also make the iQOO Buds easy to use throughout the day.

The sound tuning will appeal to those who like heavy bass. This, however, makes the presentation thick, while the limited treble extension takes away some detail and separation. There is also no ANC, which is something some competing earbuds in this segment offer. Some of the features will be available in compatible iQOO or Vivo phones only.

For anyone, especially iQOO and Vivo phone users who play games, are fine with bass-forward sound, and want long battery life from their earbuds under Rs 2000, the iQOO Buds make a reasonable case. But for those for whom music quality or ANC matters more, there are better-rounded options in this price range.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar stories.

Also Read: A day with the spectacular Hisense 116UX RGB Mini LED TV that costs Rs 30 lakh

Open-ear earbuds have created their niche, and you have plenty of options in the market. At the same time, they have a very different proposition from regular TWS earbuds. They don't seal the ear canal. In practice, when you sport open-ear earbuds, you get ambient awareness but no form of noise cancellation. Now, for those who want this kind of earphones, Boat has launched the Airdopes ProClip. It features the clip-on design, 12mm dynamic drivers, Bluetooth 6.0, multipoint connectivity, a claimed 52-hour battery life, 55ms low latency, and AI-powered Environmental Noise Cancellation for calls. All at an asking price of only Rs 1799.

I have been wearing the Boat Airdopes ProClip for a week now, and here's how it fared as my primary buds for music, movies, calls, and navigation instructions, while keeping me aware of my surroundings.

Boat Airdopes ProClip: Design and build

Our Boat Airdopes ProClip review unit has a chic Velvet Wine colour and a matte finish. The other two options are Silk Grey and Satin White. The buds have a flexible C-shaped bridge between their two modules. The smaller module has the driver and sits in front of the ear, and the battery and controls are present in the other module, which sits behind the ear. While it is very light and the bridge ensures the earbuds don't fall off even during workouts, occasionally, after several hours of wearing them, I did feel mild pressure.

Thankfully, wearing them and removing them is easy. So, whether it is because of fatigue, rain, or while washing my face, I could easily take them off. By the way, because of IPX4 ingress protection, the buds can withstand some splash. Also, you can keep them and still hear your neighbours talking to you, even if music is playing. But to have a conversation, the music will need to be stopped.

Boat Airdopes ProClip: Connectivity and app controls

For pairing, the user has to open the Boat Airdopes ProClip case and press the button on the back of the case for a few seconds. Choose it in your device's Bluetooth settings. That's it. You can start using it, or if you want to tweak any settings, use the Boat Hearables app. The app takes a second to register the connection.

The connection stayed stable throughout my use. You get Bluetooth multipoint support, too, enabled by default. You can connect to two devices at a time, but playback on the first device needs to be paused for audio to be heard from the second device.

You can find Multipoint and other settings within the Boat Hearables app. The app needs you to log in with a mobile number and an email ID, by the way. Also, the app asks you where you purchased the earbuds from and offers you complementary Spotify and JioSaavn subscriptions.

Inside, you get to see the battery status and basic tweaking options. The two primary settings I found useful were that you can choose and change the 10-band EQ and configure the touch controls.

You have to tap the module present on the back of the ear to trigger the touch controls. It works decently but takes a sweet second to register. Sometimes, that can be annoying.

There's also a Beast Mode that is said to reduce the latency to 55ms. This worked alright for gaming and watching dialogue-heavy content on screen.

Boat Airdopes ProClip: Sound quality

Let me tell you right away that the sound experience from the Boat open-earbuds was nice and better than my expectations. It is fairly airy with ample clarity for vocals, instruments, and respectable weight for bass.

I vividly remember the atmospheric feel I got while listening to Snehithine cover by Masala Coffee on YouTube Music. The vocals by the band's lead singer, Sooraj Santhosh, and the violin strings reached high notes impressively. The different instruments could also be heard from different positions, showcasing the earbuds' better-than-expected sound staging.

Since open-ear earbuds do not seal the ear canal, they cannot deliver the same low-frequency impact as in-ear earbuds. Still, the bass drops in songs such as Like This by Miss Tyka were fine for the part and price.

Again, lower volume level and more sound leakage than in-ear buds are part of the package. Even though the Boat Hearables app consists of a Private Mode in EQ settings, which is meant to reduce sound leakage, my neighbour could still hear what I was listening to. Open earbuds after all.

Also Read: Skullcandy Method 360 ANC review: Standing out is easy, but can it stand apart?

Boat Airdopes ProClip: Calls and ambient noise

Open earbuds like the Boat Airdopes ProClip are best used while walking outdoors and in any situation wherein you want to hear what's happening around you. You don't need to turn on transparency or ambient mode. It is on by design, and there is no artificiality to the ambient sound and voices.

As for voices over calls, the quality was adequate indoors. I could hear the other person well, and their voice sounded clear and familiar. But they mentioned that I sounded a little bassy. And, of course, surrounding noises were creeping in.

Boat Airdopes ProClip: Battery life and charging

Each earbud packs a 50mAh battery, while the charging case has a 500mAh battery. Together, they are rated to provide up to 52 hours of total playback at around 60% volume. Our test involved running it continuously, playing a FLAC music file at 80% volume, and it lasted 8 hours.

The earbuds are said to take 50 minutes to fully charge via the USB Type-C port, while the case takes up to 2 hours. Additionally, the fast-charging feature is quite useful. A 10-minute charge provides up to 200 minutes of playback, according to Boat. That should give the earbuds enough charge before leaving home.

For everyday use, the battery life is more than sufficient. You can wear these through a workday and several workouts without thinking much about charging.

Should you buy Boat Airdopes ProClip?

At Rs 1799, the Boat Airdopes ProClip makes sense if you specifically want the benefits of an open-ear design. It is comfortable, stays secure during workouts, has good battery life, and lets you hear your surroundings without relying on a transparency mode. I also found the sound output decent.

However, as expected from this design and price, there are some compromises. You get more sound leakage and less bass impact than a sealed TWS earbud. Call quality is adequate indoors, but background noise can creep into calls outdoors.

As long as you can live with these trade-offs, for under Rs 2000, you can absolutely consider the Boat Airdopes ProClip.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar stories.

Also Read: Realme Buds Clip review: A comfortable open-ear earphones under Rs 6,000

While looking for a printer, I was considering more than just the hardware price. I also looked at the printer type, colour output, cost per page, print speed, print capacity, and smart features such as Wi-Fi Direct and app support. The Brother DCP-B7620DWB ticked most of these boxes, and its specifications matched my requirements. At an asking price of Rs 21990, it is a monochrome laser printer with Brother's Toner Box system, offering print speeds of up to 34 pages per minute, automatic duplexing (2-sided), dual-band Wi-Fi and a 250-sheet paper tray.

As part of my work, I regularly take printouts of questionnaires for interactions, daily and weekly work schedules for my team, and recently, various sheets for coordinating Digit India's Top Appliance Awards. The Brother DCP-B7620DWB handled all of these tasks. It was simultaneously being used by my brother, my wife and me. And after using this review unit for a month, here's my experience. I will tell you how well it fits the way I print, scan and copy documents, and whether it might fit your workflow too.

Brother DCP-B7620DWB: Industrial design

The DCP-B7620DWB comes in a black matte finish and looks as if it is designed to fit in an office environment. At 410 x 399 x 272 mm and 10.5 kg, it is very compact. It was easy to unbox and set it up. Follow any online video if you need help installing it. It doesn't take much space on my work desk at home.

The build quality feels solid for the most part. Some parts feels a little flimsy but do not rattle during operations. The controls are also simple. You get a two-line LCD and physical buttons rather than a touchscreen. It is a boring but practical design.

The main paper tray holds up to 250 sheets, and you can manually slot in single sheets with up to 230 gsm. You can protect the sheets from moisture in the paper cassette enclosure.

Brother DCP-B7620DWB: Easy, reasonably quiet and efficient printing

The DCP-B7620DWB's print engine can print up to 34 pages per minute on A4, increasing to 36 ppm on Letter paper. It also supports 1200 x 1200 DPI output, and I didn't have a problem getting printouts of text-heavy documents from it.

It comes with a 600 MHz processor coupled with 256 MB of memory, which in my use was sufficient for larger documents and multiple print jobs arriving over a network.

Since we bought a single bundle of A4 sheets, the Automatic duplex printing came in handy to print both sides automatically. It works with duplex speeds of up to 16 sides per minute on A4. Besides reducing paper usage, this makes longer reports and documents easier to handle.

I didn't hit the quoted maximum duty cycle of 35,000 pages per month. But it does indicate that Brother designed the machine for much heavier workloads than a basic home printer.

The printer uses a TN-B021 Toner Box that is separate from the drum. The supplied toner can print around 2,600 pages, while replacing it could cost around Rs 1000 as per online listings. That is about 40 paise per page cost. That is fairly low, especially compared to what you pay for a paper printout in stores.

Also Read: Godrej Magnus 2026 split AC review: Gets the basics right under Rs 40000

Further, the DR-B021 drum cartridge is rated to last 12000 pages, and it is another cost component. But its cost can be spread across that much larger print volume.

Moreover, the laser printer does not have the same concern around ink drying or printheads clogging after long periods of inactivity. This matters a lot from a total cost of ownership point of view.

When operational, DCP-B7620DWB produces around 49 dB(A). There is a Quiet Mode that reduces this to roughly 44 dB(A), but of course with slower motor speed. Ready-mode noise is rated at around 30 dB(A). Last but not least, the printer consumes around 43 W in ready mode and about 4.1 W in sleep mode.

Brother DCP-B7620DWB: Basic scanning

The DCP-B7620DWB is equipped with a flatbed CIS scanner with an optical resolution of 1200 x 1200 DPI. Copying can reach up to 34 copies per minute, and documents can be scaled from 25% to 400%. This is perfectly fine for occasional scanning.

But if you decide to scan a stack of pages, the absence of an Automatic Document Feeder means you'll have to place every single page individually, and that can get frustrating. Do keep this in mind while you are making the purchase decision. You can consider DCP-B7640DWB if ADF matters to you.

Brother DCP-B7620DWB: Useful connectivity

This Brother printer supports USB 2.0, Ethernet and dual-band Wi-Fi, including both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks. It also features Wi-Fi Direct, Apple AirPrint, Mopria and Brother's Mobile Connect app.

You can connect it to a network and share it across multiple systems. This makes it a better fit for an office space with a lot of users relying on one printer.

And since Brother has baked in the WPA3 security protocol, you can be reassured while sending sensitive documents for print or scan. For a small office in particular, this is crucial.

Should you buy the Brother DCP-B7620DWB?

Having a printer that can print quickly at 34 PPM, handle duplexing and keep the toner cost around 40 paise per page has made it a practical addition to my home office.

I also like that I don't have to worry about ink drying if the printer sits unused for a few days. At the same time, the 250-sheet tray means I don't have to keep loading paper when several of us are using it. With multiple people using the printer, the ability to connect it over Wi-Fi and share it across devices has been useful.

For people who print regularly in black-and-white, say in small offices, home offices and professionals and want predictable running costs, the DCP-B7620DWB is easier to recommend.

Still, there is a big limitation, which is the flatbed-only scanner. I only scan documents occasionally, so placing one sheet at a time is not a major issue. But if you regularly scan or copy multi-page documents, the lack of an ADF will become frustrating. In that case, Brother's own DCP-B7640DWB or the HP LaserJet Tank MFP 2606sdw would make more sense. They are more expensive, though.

So, at around Rs 21990, I think the DCP-B7620DWB is a good fit if printing is the main reason you are buying a multifunction printer. For my workflow, it has been reliable and practical. But if scanning is just as important as printing, I would spend a little more on one of those ADF models.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar stories.

Also Read: LG OLED G6 review: One of the most complete TVs I have tested this year

Optoma's history in India has, for most of its time in this market, been a value-led one. The brand is known to offer solid DLP projection at competitive prices, with the reliability that has made it a consistent presence in the mid-range projector segment. But what has been absent from that story, until now, is a presence in the ultra-premium projector segment. When buyers with serious home cinema ambitions begin their research, the names they typically encounter are JVC for native contrast, Sony for natural image rendering and Epson for versatile laser systems. The Optoma UHR90DV, at Rs 15,90,000, is the most expensive and most ambitious projector Optoma has ever brought to India. It is Optoma's first RGB triple-laser home cinema projector for this market arriving with a convergence of technologies that, in a single chassis at this price, has not previously been assembled anywhere. You are looking at 5,000 ISO lumens, 96% BT.2020 colour gamut coverage, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, IMAX Enhanced certification, Filmmaker Mode and motorised lens controls with memory positions. The UHR90DV is a clear statement of intent and Optoma wants to be in the same conversation as JVC and Sony, but whether it belongs there is what this review sets out to find out and whether the image quality and trade-offs justify the asking price.

Optoma UHR90DV key specifications

Design and build

At 486 x 432.5 x 185.5 mm and 11.5 kg, the UHR90DV is in no way a discrete projector. For all intents and purposes, this is an installation projector, designed to live permanently in a dedicated theatre room rather than move between spaces. The chassis is large and designed to accommodate the thermal management that a 5,000-lumen RGB triple-laser engine demands and the build communicates throughout that this is a long-term investment rather than a regular projector purchase.

All lens controls are motorised and zoom, focus and lens shift operate via electric motors driven from the backlit remote, with no manual dial on the lens itself. On the connectivity front, it is as comprehensive as an installation-grade product. We get three HDMI inputs (one HDMI 2.1 supporting 48 Gbps bandwidth with ARC/eARC, two HDMI 2.0 at 18 Gbps), three USB-A power ports, S/PDIF optical output, 3.5mm analogue audio, RJ45 for LAN control, RS-232C and two 12V triggers for automated screen and lighting integration. There is no built-in speaker, which is the correct decision for hardware of this calibre. The UHR90DV is designed to be the visual centrepiece of a complete home cinema system, not a standalone device. There is a reason the best home cinema installations do not begin with the projector but with the room that has controlled lighting and acoustic treatment that make the pursuit of colour accuracy a worthwhile endeavour. 

In my use, I found that the operating noise at 27–30 dB was impressive for a projector at this output level. But in a proper home theatre setup where it will be ceiling-mounted at a typical viewing distance, the fan is quiet enough that it will not intrude on quiet passages in film content, which at this price is a baseline expectation the UHR90DV comfortably meets.

Optoma UHR90DV performance

The main engineering achievement of the UHR90DV is that it achieves 5,000 ISO lumens and 96% BT.2020 colour gamut coverage simultaneously, without compromise between the two.

Brightness and colour saturation typically have an inverse relationship in projection. If you push higher output, the colours begin to look diluted, and if you restrict the colour space, you can recover brightness. Most projectors make a compromise somewhere along this curve, but the RGB triple-laser architecture largely dissolves it. By using dedicated red, green and blue laser light sources operating independently, rather than a white light source filtered through a colour wheel, the projector generates its primaries directly. The result is colour purity that holds at full output rather than washing out under the weight of the brightness. 

In practice, the image at full output is strikingly vivid without appearing artificially oversaturated. Neon signage retains distinct individual shades rather than bleeding into adjacent colours. Skin tones remain neutral across very different scene exposures. Subtle gradations in complex textured surfaces such as period costumes, stone walls and foliage are resolved rather than collapsed into approximations. This is what 96% BT.2020 coverage in a 5,000-lumen projector actually looks like in use, and in my encounter with various projectors over the years, the UHR90DV offers a different category of experience as opposed to a lamp-based or single-laser home cinema projection.

The light source is rated at 30,000 hours in Eco mode, which effectively removes lamp replacement from the ownership conversation for the life of a realistic home cinema installation.

Filmmaker Mode

For film content, Filmmaker Mode is where the UHR90DV's character as a cinema projector reveals itself most clearly. The mode disables motion interpolation, preserves the intended frame rate and targets D65 colour temperature, prioritising the filmmaker's intent and the experience is tonally precise and deeply satisfying.

HDR tone mapping in Filmmaker Mode is among the strongest available from any home cinema projector currently on sale. The UHR90DV's brightness headroom gives its dynamic tone mapping significantly more room to operate than projectors at a third of its output. Demanding sequences with rapid transitions between extreme highlights and deep shadows are handled with genuine control. The nighttime trench sequence in 1917, with its burst of orange flares against dense smoke and deep shadow, remains one of cinema's most reliable HDR stress tests. On the UHR90DV, the highlights remain intense without clipping, the shadow textures are preserved rather than crushed and the transitions between the two happen with a naturalism that reflects the physics of the light engine rather than the limits of tone mapping. Across a 120-inch screen, fine detail in hair, fabric, architectural surfaces and environmental textures stays fully resolved without any artificial sharpening.

The colours in Filmmaker Mode reward close attention and it serves the content rather than competing for attention. Complex hues in adjacent image areas maintain their individuality and gradation across the full HDR brightness range with a completeness that reflects both the light engine's capabilities and the quality of the tone mapping.

IMAX Enhanced Mode

It is rare for a projector to be certified for both IMAX and Dolby Vision. The UHR90DV has both of them. Of course you will need physical Blu-ray discs with IMAX Enhanced certification for the mode's intended use case. IMAX Enhanced Mode is nominally the mode for viewing certified IMAX content at the 1.90:1 aspect ratio with DTS:X audio and IMAX Digital Media Remastering applied. But its more impressive application is when applied to standard HDR content; it produces a balance of colour, brightness and gradation that makes a credible case against large televisions in a properly controlled environment.

The mode optimises for visual impact rather than the precision targets of Filmmaker Mode and the result is an image that is richer and more immediately engaging for general viewing. The colours are vivid without appearing synthetic, the HDR effect has genuine punch and the wide-angle viewing characteristic of projection on a white screen also removes the edge vignetting that LCD panels produce at oblique angles, which becomes an increasingly obvious advantage as screen sizes increase. For gaming in particular, IMAX Enhanced Mode is the setting that most consistently rivals television-quality HDR rendering: sunlit outdoor environments, high-contrast action sequences and richly lit interiors all benefit from the combination of brightness and colour volume that this mode unlocks.

Dolby Vision

The UHR90DV's Dolby Vision implementation is the most sophisticated in Optoma's current lineup. The fundamental advantage it carries over HDR10 is dynamic metadata: where HDR10 applies a single static tone-mapping target across an entire film, Dolby Vision adjusts on a scene-by-scene basis, allowing highlights in individual scenes to be maximised without compromising darker scenes later in the same film.

Four sub-modes address different viewing contexts. Cinema is the default for film content in dedicated rooms and the most tonally faithful. Bright targets environments with some ambient light. Dark is calibrated for fully blacked-out rooms where shadow nuance is the priority. Vivid emphasises contrast and colour saturation for general entertainment viewing. The UHR90DV's higher base brightness gives each mode enough headroom to feel purposeful rather than constrained. Even the dark Mode is well-balanced here and for films built around deep shadow work, it is the strongest choice.

For movie content, Cinema Mode is consistently the right starting point. Vivid Mode works well for general entertainment but can make deliberate film colour decisions feel overstated. The dynamic metadata advantage of Dolby Vision is most apparent in content with wide intra-scene brightness variation, where HDR10's static target would either clip highlights or underexpose shadows in compensation.

Gaming

The UHR90DV is a credible gaming display alongside its home cinema role. HDMI 2.1 supports 4K/120Hz input, ALLM handles automatic low latency switching for compatible sources, and input lag in 4K/60Hz mode is 20 ms. Enabling ultra-low latency mode reduces input lag at 1080p/240Hz which is competitive with gaming monitors.

IMAX Enhanced Mode performs particularly well with game content, as noted above. The HDR rendering is vivid and immediate, and the projector's brightness and colour volume give sunlit environments, snow-covered landscapes and high-contrast action sequences a visual quality that rivals televisions rather than merely approximating them. For buyers considering the UHR90DV partly as a gaming display, this is a meaningful capability.

PureEngine Ultra

PureEngine Ultra is Optoma's advanced image processing suite, divided into four independently adjustable parameters: brightness, colour, motion and detail. Used judiciously, it can enhance the image for specific content types or viewing conditions. Used aggressively, it tends to undermine the natural quality that the RGB triple-laser engine produces without assistance. The UHR90DV's image is strong enough at its defaults that PureEngine Ultra is best treated as an optional refinement rather than a baseline improvement and for most serious cinema viewing, leaving it at minimal settings or off entirely is the right call.

Verdict: built for one purpose and very good at it

If you are comparing the UHR90DV against a 100-inch television for your family living room, you have already misunderstood the product. It is built for a specific context and belongs inside a dedicated home cinema with a quality screen, controlled lighting, proper acoustics and a capable external audio system, the last of which is essential given the absence of built-in speakers. That setup itself costs significantly more than the projector itself, but it makes sense if you are building a multi-crore home theatre installation.

The UHR90DV represents Optoma's arrival in a segment the brand has not previously occupied. The RGB triple-laser engine achieves 5,000 ISO lumens and 96% BT.2020 colour coverage simultaneously, without the colour dilution that high-output lamp and single-laser projectors typically suffer. The HDR implementation across Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and IMAX Enhanced is among the strongest available from any home cinema projector on sale today. And the combined feature set of RGB triple laser, Dolby Vision, IMAX Enhanced and 5,000 ISO lumens in one package exists nowhere else at this price.

The home cinema market in India is changing with dedicated screening rooms appearing well beyond the largest metros. The UHR90DV is built for that room and that buyer building a dedicated home theatre, for whom the north star has always been the pursuit of recreating the magic of a commercial theatre at home.

Last year, when we tested the LG OLED G5, we found it to be one of the best OLED TVs for a mainstream audience. And even though it didn't offer the most authentic colours, everyone, except us testers, seemed to prefer LG's visual treatment over the competition. It was another interesting example of the difference between critics' and the public's reactions to creative work. So, when the LG OLED G6 reached the Digit Test Labs, I decided to look beyond the critical lens when needed and see how much better the new LG TV really is, and whether it has improved enough to be a clear winner for both the critic and the user in me.

In this LG OLED G6 TV review, I will be testing its upgraded reflection handling, colour accuracy with the new Hyper Radiant Color Tech, brightness and black levels from the Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel, sound from the new speaker setup, the experience of webOS 26, and more.

In India, the 65-inch LG OLED G6 is currently available for Rs 2.3 lakh. The question, therefore, is not whether the G6 produces a good picture. It does. The more important question is whether its improvements are visible enough to justify spending this much. After spending time with it across movies, television, sports, and games, the answer is mostly yes.

Appropriately bright, black, and beautiful

The biggest change with the G6 TV is brightness. LG's new OLED panel is said to have up to 3.9 times higher peak brightness than conventional OLED in a 3% window with its Brightness Booster Ultra system.

Our Calman Ultimate measurements show just how far the G6 can go with small HDR highlights. At a 1% window, the panel reached around 2,970 nits. It stayed close to that level at 2% and 5% windows. At 10%, brightness was still around 2,850 nits.

The drop becomes more noticeable as more of the screen turns white. We measured roughly 1,300 nits at 25%, around 680 nits at 50%, approximately 510 nits at 75%, and 435.6 nits with a full 100% white window. 

The higher peak brightness makes an impact in headlights, sparks, reflections, sunlight, or explosions against a darker background. One of my favourite scenes for testing this is the underwater sequence in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, where Tom Cruise's character dives to the wreck of a sunken submarine. The scene moves between the almost pitch-black depths of the ocean, the dimly lit interior of the submarine, and sudden bursts of light from his gear and the vessel’s internal lights. At the same time, 435.6 nits across a full-screen white pattern is a useful result for everyday viewing. It means large, bright scenes, such as a cricket pitch, a snowy landscape, or a bright daytime exterior, do not look as restrained as they can on older OLEDs.

In some cases, though, the excess brightness can make a scene or portion of the scene look brighter than it naturally is. 

On the other hand, the LG OLED G6 registered 0 cd/m² on a black pattern. This means the TV can produce the deep blacks and extremely high contrast that you buy an OLED for. It was a visual treat to watch dark, nightly, HDR sequences in movies and shows. You see this in The Revenant, where Leonardo DiCaprio's character emerges from the darkness as a group of horse riders approaches, carrying fire lamps. Most of the frame is extremely dark, while the lamps create small, intense pools of light. There was no blooming or unnecessary lifting of blacks.

But I did notice some banding in the underwater sequence in Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning, when Tom Cruise's character settles on the oceanbed. So, you realise even the best is not flawless when you look closely.

I saw some colour deviation in skin tones while watching Masters of the Universe (2026). The faces of caucasian actors appeared with a slight reddish tint. In the Calman tests, we saw the G6 isn't perfectly aligned with the reference across the entire greyscale range. We got an average Delta E of 3 with some luminance error in the Greyscale Multipoint test. But the Colorchecker analysis was more encouraging with a Delta E of 1.84. This is indicative of an overall accurate colour reproduction.

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The colour measurements are also strong. Our Calman test recorded 99.35% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut using CIE 1931 xy and 99.45% using CIE 1976 u'v'. BT.709 coverage was 100% in both measurements. These and the 83% BT 2020 coverage are either better or comparable to the LG G5’s scores. 

That's not it. The LG OLED G6 has a lot more good going for it. The Alpha 11 processor's upscaling also handles lower-quality content reasonably well, without simply adding excessive sharpening. 

In sports content, I found the motion is clean, the camera pans across a cricket ground remain stable, and fast-moving players do not leave obvious trails. OLED's fast pixel response helps here, while LG's motion processing gives you control over how much smoothing you want.

Another major upgrade this year is LG's Reflection Free Premium treatment, which is meant to reduce the effect of ambient reflections on the screen. This was evident and should be useful in normal room lighting conditions. The viewing angles are excellent, too. 

All in all, the LG OLED G6 is a great TV to watch a good 4K HDR film. The combination of brightness, contrast, and colour becomes difficult to ignore. Dark scenes retain their depth, while bright highlights have enough intensity to look almost physical. Case in point: the above image.

Specced up for gaming and connectivity 

LG has well-equipped the G6 TV for gaming. The panel has a native 120Hz refresh rate but supports VRR up to 165Hz. LG also supports Nvidia G-Sync, AMD FreeSync, ALLM, and Dolby Vision gaming at up to 4K 120Hz. The Game Optimiser interface is useful too. You can change gaming-related settings without leaving the game, which is more practical than repeatedly opening the main settings menu.

For console players, 120Hz is still the more important number. For PC gamers with powerful hardware, however, 165Hz gives the G6 a useful advantage. So, serious gamers, there is ample reason to choose the G6 over a similarly priced cinema-focused television.

This is backed by a reliable connectivity stack. You get four HDMI inputs, three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, optical audio, and two RF inputs. HDMI 2 provides eARC, while wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3. USB 2.0 is sufficient for most television-related tasks. But as a 2026 flagship, USB 3.0 would have been more appropriate.

The good thing is four HDMI 2.1 inputs, which should be particularly useful for gamers. There is also enough flexibility for a soundbar, streaming box, console, and PC without constantly switching cables.

Gallery design and AI Magic Remote come with a catch

The LG OLED G6’s Gallery design looks wow on a wall. At just 24.3mm thick, the 65-inch model is unusually slim and is designed to sit flush against the wall. But if you don't want to mount it on the wall, note that LG doesn't sell a stand in India.

Similarly, the bundled AI Magic Remote features an ambitious gesture, scroll, and click-based navigation mechanism. This feels unique the first time you use it. I appreciate the pointer for helping me navigate menus and type considerably faster than using a traditional directional pad. The scroll wheel is also useful. But many a time it gets in the way of using the TV. It triggers accidental movements of the cursor and doesn’t always move the pointer as intended. Moreover, for a premium television remote, this unfortunately lacks a backlight.

So, the Magic Remote remains one of the unique TV remotes around. But its shortcomings are erratic and annoying. 

WebOS is mature, but LG's AI push is less convincing

The LG OLED G6 runs webOS 26. It is fast, smartly organised, and easy to understand, and LG supports features including Google Cast, Apple AirPlay, Google Home, LG ThinQ, Multi View, and LG Channels. However, getting the most out of the software requires a little more commitment to LG's ecosystem. You need to sign in with an LG ThinQ account to download additional apps and access several of the TV's connected features, including AI voice commands. The ThinQ app can also work as a secondary touchscreen remote, which is useful when you want a larger touch-based interface instead of the Magic Remote.

ThinQ also brings mirror and casting capabilities, letting you picture and share sound between the TV and phone, and use the phone as another way to interact with the television. There are also personal recommendations and other connected features that become available once the TV and phone are linked to the same LG account. These features are useful, but there’s a clear push towards using a ThinQ account. And another gripe is with how webOS shows more advertisements and recommendations than you would normally expect. I guess that’s the new normal for modern TVs. You can toggle off many of these things if you find them intrusive.

And as a 2026 TV, there is a concerted push for AI features too. LG's AI features like AI Concierge, AI Voice ID, and the AI Hub are interesting, but they do not fundamentally change how I use the television. AI voice commands are more useful if they can catch your accent well. And even if they do, I don’t find them a solid reason to buy the TV.

Gladly, webOS itself remains one of the better smart TV platforms. Navigation is quick, apps open without much delay, and the interface is relatively easy to understand. 

The more useful long-term feature is LG Shield and the five-year software update commitment through the company’s Re:New programme. It is good to know that a premium TV like this will remain capable and supported for years to come. Good, good!

The built-in speakers are better than expected

The LG OLED G6 has a 4.2-channel, 60W speaker system with Dolby Atmos support. LG also includes AI Sound Pro and WOW Orchestra for pairing the TV with a compatible LG soundbar. For most users, the speaker output should be more than adequate. Dialogue is clear, voices remain easy to follow, and there is enough volume for a reasonably large room. The sound also has more body than you might expect from such a thin television.

But if you are buying a flagship OLED TV, you probably have a good soundbar or the money to buy one. A dedicated and capable soundbar can create a huge sense of cinematic scale that a built-in TV speaker would struggle to produce.

Should you buy the LG OLED G6?

Traditionally, peak brightness has been a weakness of OLEDs but LG has solved that with its latest flagships, and the G6 in particular. You are getting a supremely bright display that also delivers the deep blacks you come to expect from an OLED. Save for some exceptions with skin tones, the LG OLED G6 produces very accurate colours, too. Any differences still remaining are subtle and not something I would call a problem.   

Sure, as a critic, I can still find certain shortcomings. There is some banding in demanding scenes; brightness can occasionally make parts of an image look more intense than they should, and there are small inconsistencies that become visible when you actively look for them. The Magic Remote can also be erratic, and the software experience isn't as open as increasingly tied to LG's ThinQ ecosystem.

But as a user, the LG OLED G6 is much easier to recommend. The extra brightness is genuinely useful, particularly in HDR content and bright rooms. It handles daytime viewing better than many OLEDs, retains the deep blacks that make OLED special, and works equally well for movies, sports, and gaming. The four HDMI 2.1 ports and 165Hz VRR support also make it a very reliable gaming TV. All in all, it offers an impressive experience across a wider range of content and conditions.

So, for Rs 2.3 lakhs, you are getting a plenty bright, versatile, and easier-to-live-with OLED TV that produces a much more natural-looking picture than before. The LG G6 is therefore one of the most complete TVs I have tested this year.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar reviews.

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 in Digit Test Labs: Familiar, but fresh

Earlier phone names carrying a “Power” tag used to mean one specific thing: more processing power, a stronger chipset, something under the hood that justifies that tag. That is no longer the case. The word has changed its meaning across the market, and Poco M8 Power is another example of that. Where “Power” variants once promised faster chips and better benchmark results, most of them today, including the M8 Power, are all about batteries. It's the upgraded version of the Poco M8. However, the upgrade also comes with a few compromises. I used the Poco M8 Power for a week as my main phone, for games, streaming, calls, the usual, and ran it against the Poco M8 on every test that mattered. So, here's my review and thoughts on the newly launched Poco M8 Power.

Poco M8 Power: Battery

Let’s start with this one, which is why this gets the title “Power”: the battery. Poco M8 Power comes with a massive 8,000mAh battery.

Across a full day of heavy use, gaming, YouTube, Netflix, general scrolling, the phone did not run out on me once. On days I skipped gaming, it stretched to a day and a half, and it still had room to spare after that.

In our PCMark Work 3.1 Battery test, the M8 Power gave 20 hours and 9 minutes of screen on time. That is a strong number on its own, though I have tested phones with smaller batteries that push past 22 to 23 hours in the same test. Benchmarks aside, nothing about the real-world battery life here gives you a reason to complain.

Charging comes from a 45W brick that Poco actually includes in the box. A full charge from 0 to 100 percent took me 1 hour and 43 minutes, a reasonable wait for a battery this size. The M8 Power also supports 22.5W reverse wired charging, which comes in handy for topping up a pair of earphones or lending charge to a friend's phone when you need to. It’s basically a power bank on the go.

Poco M8 Power: Design

When I picked up the M8 Power for the first time, the size registers before anything else does. I was like ‘This is a big phone, and using it one-handed takes real effort’. At 8.4mm thick and 225 grams, it sits on the heavier side of what I've tested this year.

Despite that, it does not feel uncomfortable. The rounded corners work in its favour, and typing on it for long stretches never bothered me. However, the haptics did, though. Every tap comes with a slightly weird sound, and the feedback itself does not feel refined.

Build quality holds up well. The back is plastic, but the front gets Gorilla Glass 7i, and the phone feels solid rather than hollow in hand. If I have to nitpick, there is a small chin at the bottom, and the buttons themselves are tactile. An IR blaster sits on top, a small addition that is genuinely useful if you have ever misplaced your AC or TV remote.

Poco sent us the Blaze Orange variant, a colour that has been showing up across several phones this year and suits the M8 Power well. Poco is also offering the Black and Silver colour variants, if orange is not your thing. Water and dust resistance comes via an IP65 rating, decent but not the strongest number in this segment.

Poco M8 Power: Display

Poco M8 Power features a 6.9-inch AMOLED panel that runs at a 120Hz refresh rate, and it is easily one of the better hardware features of this phone. Bezels are slim, and Gorilla Glass 7i sits on top for protection.

I watched a couple of episodes of Lock Up on Netflix and Project Hail Mary on Amazon Prime Video on this display, and both looked good. Blacks go deep thanks to the AMOLED panel, colours come through saturated without looking artificial, and nothing on screen looked flat. Viewing angles hold up well too. The one thing missing is HDR support, which content-heavy users will notice.

Poco claims a peak brightness of 1,800 nits. At Digit Test Labs, we measured 1,780 nits, which is very close to what Poco claims. Out in Delhi's summer sun, I never had to squint to read the screen.

In our Calman test, the Poco M8 Power returned an average Delta E of 3.5, and the Colour Gamut test measured 99.87% coverage. The colour gamut number is excellent. The Delta E is more on the middle side, though it did not stand out as an issue during regular viewing.

Poco M8 Power: Performance

Poco used the M8 Power to become the first phone in India to launch with the Snapdragon 4 Gen 4, an octa-core chipset built on a 4nm process. If you know, chipset prices across the industry have been climbing for a while now, memory costs especially, and that pressure is showing up in how brands pick their processors. Our review unit came with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, though a 6 GB plus 128 GB option is also available if you want to save a bit more.

Going with an entry-level Snapdragon rather than something further up the stack is Poco's way of keeping the phone's price in check without pushing it into a different bracket altogether. For casual users, someone who mostly deals with calls, messaging, social media and the occasional light game, this chipset is decent enough to get through the day without friction.

On the bench, the M8 Power returned an AnTuTu score of 627,178. In Geekbench, the M8 Power recorded 905 in the single-core and 2,158 in the multi-core. The CPU Throttling Test showed the chip holding on to 86% of its performance under sustained load, and on 3DMark Wildlife, it posted an overall score of 777.

In day-to-day use, the M8 Power did not lag in any way that prevented me from using it normally, but I did notice UI jitter and a small delay when opening apps. That traces back to the UFS 2.2 storage rather than the chipset itself. For casual use, none of this gets in the way. I played a few rounds of BGMI on it too, and it ran at settings that kept the game playable without becoming frustrating.

Poco M8 Power: Camera

The primary camera remains the same as the Poco M8. Poco M8 Power comes with a 50MP primary sensor along with a depth sensor. On the front, you get an 8MP selfie shooter; again, it’s a downgrade from the Poco M8, because M8 comes with a 20MP selfie shooter. 

Daylight shots come out decent without much effort, though don't expect the kind of detail flagship sensors resolve. While capturing human subjects, the photos came out soft around the face, and colours lean towards the warmer side.

Portrait mode is inconsistent. Some shots come out clean, but edge detection often so background objects occasionally get pulled into the subject rather than left out of focus.

The 8MP selfie camera gets the job done rather than impresses. Colours here lean towards the warm side too, matching what I noticed with the rear camera.

Poco M8 Power: Software

The M8 Power runs Android 16 on top of HyperOS 3.0 out of the box. The interface itself is easy to use, and transitions look clean. Where it falls short is consistency. Swiping up to open the App Drawer stutters occasionally, and scrolling from the bottom of a long list back to the top introduces the same kind of lag.

Bloatware is present, as it usually is on phones this price, but all of it can be uninstalled. Poco is committing to 4 years of Android updates and 6 years of security patches here, a genuinely strong promise for this segment.

AI features carry over too, Circle to Search and AI Magic Eraser Pro among them, and both worked the way they are supposed to when I tried them. In HyperOS 3.0, there is a feature called HyperIsland, an interactive notification system built around the front camera cutout. It displays real-time information such as music playback controls, charging status, timers, voice recordings, and other live activities directly in the status bar, making it easier to access important updates without opening apps.

Poco M8 Power: Verdict

The M8 Power changes several things compared to the Poco M8, and the changes run in both directions rather than one clear direction. Battery capacity increases from what the standard M8 offers, the AMOLED display performs well in both everyday use and lab testing, and durability features along with additions like the IR blaster carry over from the M8 lineup. Performance moves the other way, with lower scores across every benchmark we ran, a lower-resolution selfie camera compared to the M8, and occasional stutter in parts of the software, such as when opening the App Drawer.

For buyers who prioritise battery life above other factors, the M8 Power represents a clear improvement over the M8. For buyers deciding between the two Poco phones where performance is also a factor, the standard M8 offers a more balanced set of trade-offs at a lower price point.

Lite phones exist for a simple reason: not everyone wants to spend flagship money, and every brand knows this well, especially Vivo. The Vivo T5 Lite 5G is the company’s latest attempt at the budget end of its T-series, and you guys already know what to expect. A few cuts here and there to hit a lower price, in exchange for the one thing most people actually care about daily: battery life that lasts. I spent about two weeks with the Vivo T5 Lite as my daily driver, running it through our usual benchmarks at Digit Test Labs, and testing everything from the display to the cameras, to see where Vivo made the right choice and where the compromises actually start to show. Here’s my full review of the Vivo T5 Lite.

Vivo T5 Lite: Design and build

On the design front, the Vivo T5 Lite looks better than you would expect once you flip it over. The back gets a wavy pattern that catches the light, almost like waves on water. Now, if you don’t like this design, there is also a cleaner, more minimal Twilight Shadow colour variant to pick from.

Build quality is decent for the price. You get a plastic back that sits inside a metal frame, and at 209 grams, it is not too heavy. The phone is on the larger side, so I have to use both hands to use the device comfortably. The edges are not sharp, so it sits fine in the hand, but I did notice one thing, the phone is very slippery, and it slipped out of my hands three to four times during testing, thankfully without any damage. And it is not a concern, though, because the Vivo T5 Lite comes with military-grade shock and drop resistance, an SGS 5-star drop-resistance certification, and an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance.

There’s a Dynamic light on the back that lights up for notifications; it will also tell you when the device is fully charged. You can also customise the light in the settings; you can change the colours, brightness, and duration of it. On the features front, you still get a headphone jack, and the side-mounted fingerprint scanner is fast and reliable, though Vivo has cut corners with only a single, top-firing speaker.

Vivo T5 Lite: Display

The Vivo T5 Lite's display is where you can see the trade-off. You get a 6.74-inch HD+ LCD panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, which means that you get a smooth and fluid experience across daily interactions and while it does not get deep blacks like that of an AMOLED display, it gets bright enough. Vivo claims 1200 nits of peak brightness, and in our testing at Digit Test Labs, it got a peak brightness of 1,020 nits.

In my daily use across web browsing, scrolling and apps, the content looks sharp and vibrant. In our Calman test, it got an average delta E of 4.22, which is in line with LCD panels alongside 97 per cent colour gamut coverage.

I watched some FIFA World Cup highlights on the T5 Lite, and while it gets the job done for casual viewing, do not expect to pick out fine detail. In day-to-day scrolling, I did not notice any lag or stutter, and transitions stayed smooth throughout our time with the phone.

Vivo T5 Lite: Performance

Under the hood, you get a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chipset, and our review unit came with 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage. For everyday use, that is enough for social media, YouTube, navigation, and general multitasking felt smooth without any jitter.

On the benchmarks, the Vivo T5 Lite scored 579,427 on AnTuTu. In Geekbench, it got a 725 score in single-core and a 1,853 score in multi-core, respectively.

In our CPU throttling test, the chipset retained 91 per cent of its peak performance, a genuinely great result for sustained performance in this segment.

When it comes to gaming, BGMI ran at 60fps at smooth plus extreme graphics and casual gaming sessions of around thirty minutes held up just fine. You can expect the T5 Lite to perform great with casual games but you will have to keep your expectations in check if you want to try out demanding titles such as Genshin Impact.

Vivo T5 Lite: Camera

Camera hardware is where the T5 Lite plays it the safest, and it shows. You get a 50MP primary rear sensor paired with a basic 0.08MP secondary sensor, while selfies are handled by a 5MP front camera, a fairly basic setup next to the competitors.

That said, the main camera holds its own in daylight: images come out with natural-looking colours. However, if you click pictures indoors, it tends to warm the human subject, and Vivo has not gone overboard with processing, so photos avoid looking oversaturated or artificially sharpened.

Portrait mode is a weaker point though; edge detection is not great, subjects can look cut off, and the resulting images tend to be soft and light on detail.

Selfies fare similarly: faces get brightened up more than we would like, and fine detail is scarce, but they are perfectly fine for a quick social media upload.

Video tops out at 1080p at 30fps on both cameras, so do not expect anything beyond the basics here.

Vivo T5 Lite: Software

The Vivo T5 Lite runs OriginOS 6 on top of Android 16, and the software experience is one of the stronger parts of this package. The interface is clean, animations are refined, and the customisation options run deep: home screen layouts, icon styles, wallpapers, lock screen animations, and even dark mode and eye comfort settings are all yours to tweak. However, some bloatware in the T5 Lite can be uninstalled.

Vivo has also thrown in a handful of AI features that actually feel useful day to day: AI Creation for generating content, AI Documents for summarising files, AI Captions for live captions, and Transcript Assist for converting spoken audio into text, which came in handy for lectures or meetings.

The one letdown is software support: Vivo is only promising two years of OS updates and four years of security patches, noticeably shorter than what you get further up the price ladder.

Vivo T5 Lite: Battery

If there's one section where the Vivo T5 Lite genuinely earns its keep, it's the battery. The 6,500mAh cell comfortably stretches past a day of heavy use, and honestly, I never once found myself worrying about battery through a full day of social media, streaming, calls and general use.

Vivo claims up to 48 hours of local video playback, over 80 hours of music playback, more than 20 hours of social media use and over 54 hours of voice calls. I could not independently verify those numbers, but based on my own usage, they do not feel like a stretch.

What I can confirm is our PCMark Battery test result: a massive 27 hours and 11 minutes of screen-on time, one of the best results we have recorded on a phone this year.

Charging is handled by a 44W charger, and a full 0 to 100 per cent charge took around 75 minutes, a fair trade-off for a battery this size. There is reverse wired charging too, so you can use the T5 Lite to top up smaller gadgets on the go.

Should you buy the Vivo T5 Lite?

If battery life is genuinely your biggest priority, and you can live with an HD+ display and a fairly basic camera setup, the Vivo T5 Lite delivers exactly what it promises. The screen-on times we recorded are some of the best we have seen on any phone this year, the software experience is polished, and the build feels durable enough to survive the odd drop.

Where it does not hold up is anywhere image quality matters: the display lacks the sharpness and colour accuracy you get even on some similarly priced rivals, and the camera setup is clearly built to a budget. If a great screen or a capable camera is high on your list, look elsewhere. But if you want a phone that will comfortably survive a long day, or two, without ever going near a charger, the Vivo T5 Lite does that job better than most.

Ever since handheld gaming PCs became a thing, I have found myself asking one question every single time a new one launches. Can this finally replace my gaming setup, at least for a few days? The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ made me ask that question again. It has been over 10 days since this became my primary gaming machine. And during this time, I’ve played AAA games on it, carried it to work, connected it to my TV, and even spent time running benchmarks. Somewhere along the way, I realised I had stopped thinking about the hardware altogether and was simply enjoying the games. That, in my opinion, is the biggest compliment you can give a gaming handheld. 

During Computex this year, the MSI Claw EX AI+ was the center of attention. And a big reason for that is the new Intel Arc G3 Extreme processor, which has been built specifically with handheld gaming in mind. By promising a smoother performance, better efficiency, and an experience that feels much closer to a dedicated gaming console than a Windows PC, the chipset has been talked about a lot. But does it actually deliver? Let's find the answer to that question in this review.

PS: The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ hasn’t launched in India yet. But read on to find out that when it does land here, should you pick it up or not. 

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+: Design and display

The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is undoubtedly one of the best-looking handhelds I have used. The new colour looks premium without trying too hard, and the massive 8-inch display immediately grabs attention. If you place it beside another handheld, the larger screen is the first thing you'll notice. However, there is one compromise. The Claw is big. And I mean, really big. 

In fact, it is almost as wide as my MacBook Neo, which was super surprising when I first placed them side by side. It is also on the heavier side. While carrying it around the house wasn't an issue, I definitely started feeling the weight after gaming continuously for more than an hour. My wrists didn't hurt, but they did remind me that I was using a fairly hefty device.

That said, the controls themselves are comfortable. The joysticks feel responsive, the triggers have enough travel, and all the buttons are placed where your fingers naturally rest. It is a handheld that feels familiar within minutes.

Coming to the display, I wouldn't really call it the star of the show, but it certainly gets the job done. The 8-inch IPS panel is large enough to make open-world games feel immersive, while the 120Hz refresh rate keeps gameplay smooth. Colours look pleasing and the display is bright enough for indoor gaming.

Would I have preferred an OLED panel considering the asking price? Absolutely.

But once I was deep into a mission, I rarely found myself thinking about the display. Instead, I was focused on the story unfolding in front of me.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+: Performance

If there is one area where the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ will have you surprised (in a good way), it is performance. And that is all thanks to Intel’s new chip. 

As mentioned already, this model is powered by Intel's new Arc G3 Extreme processor, and the improvement is immediately noticeable. Intel has paired the chipset with Xe3 graphics architecture, hardware ray tracing, XeSS 3, Multi Frame Generation, and 32GB LPDDR5X RAM. Now on paper, it is an impressive package. But in practice, does it deliver?

When I was testing the device, I simply couldn't get it to struggle in terms of performance. And boy, did I try to do that.

Games launched quickly, Windows felt responsive, applications opened instantly, and switching between tasks was never sluggish. More importantly, modern AAA games ran exactly the way you would expect from a premium handheld. I didn’t really notice any stutters, random frame drops, or moments where I had to stop playing just to tweak settings.

I also ran several benchmarks and considering this is a handheld, the results were quite decent.

The Claw scored 117 in Cinebench 2024's single-core test and 835 in the multi-core test. In Cinebench 2026, it managed 459 in the single-core benchmark and 3,388 in the multi-core test. Meanwhile, 3DMark Steel Nomad returned an overall score of 1,522.

These numbers reflect that the Arc G3 Extreme has enough muscle to comfortably power demanding games while keeping the overall experience smooth and consistent.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+: Gaming experience and speakers

Now, benchmark tests are useful, but they only tell part of the story. The real test, for a device like the MSI Claw 8AI+, is gaming.

I spent most of my time playing 007 First Light, and the Claw handled it without any lags or stutters. Running at 1080p on medium graphics, I consistently saw around 80 FPS, with frame rates occasionally touching 90 FPS in Best Performance mode. Even during action-heavy sequences, the experience remained smooth and responsive. There were no annoying stutters or sudden dips that broke immersion.

Some other games that I tried here were Red Dead Redemption 2, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Pragmata, Forza Horizon 6, and Doom: The Dark Ages. And I had a decent experience overall. Demanding titles like RDR 2 and DOOM needed to get graphics tweaked to low. But other games ran well even at medium to high graphic settings.  

A special mention to games like Hollow Knight: Silksong and Mouse PI For Hire because these two were buttery smooth on this device.

One of my favourite moments, however, came when I connected the Claw to my television using a dock.

My gaming setup is on a different floor of my house, and there are plenty of days when I simply don't feel like sitting at my desk. The Claw solved that problem. I plugged it into my TV, paired a controller, and within minutes I was playing my Steam library from the comfort of my bedroom. It almost felt like carrying my gaming PC from one room to another without actually moving it. And on a lazy Sunday, that is all you need. 

Talking about the speakers, they have some decent quality but just aren’t loud enough. You will definitely need a pair of earphones if you want to completely immerse yourselves in the game. 

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+: Battery and thermals

Now, when it comes to battery life on a gaming handheld, it's important to be realistic. You simply can't expect a handheld Windows device running AAA games to last an entire day. What you can expect is around two hours of gaming on a single charge, and that's exactly where the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ stands. I started gaming on the device when its battery was at a perfect 100 percent on a busy day. And when I started trying out the latest AAA titles on it and got completely immersed for 2 hours and 15 minutes, I saw the battery running out. 

One thing to mention here is how wonderfully the handheld performs even on low battery. I started playing 007 First Light at around 72 percent battery on the device. And by the time it dropped to just 3 percent, the game was still running exactly the way it had been earlier.

There was no lag. No stutters. And no sudden frame drop. The handheld delivered a consistent experience right until it shut down. And that’s not a small achievement. 

As for thermals, there isn’t much to complain about here. After long gaming sessions, the Claw became warm, but for me, it was never too uncomfortable to hold. The heat stayed away from the grips, allowing me to continue gaming without constantly adjusting my hands.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+: Verdict

The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is a capable handheld overall. The Arc G3 Extreme is easily the highlight here, delivering excellent performance across benchmarks and, more importantly, during actual gameplay. The large display, comfortable controls, and ability to double as a living room gaming machine make it a great package.

However, things aren’t absolutely perfect here. The handheld feels bulky during longer sessions, the display could have been better considering the asking price, and the price of nearly ₹2 lakh makes it difficult to recommend to everyone. 

If money isn't a concern and you want one of the fastest Windows gaming handhelds currently available, the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ won't disappoint. For everyone else, its biggest competition isn't just other handhelds, but also powerful gaming laptops that cost almost the same.

Also read: GTA 6 gameplay may be unveiled soon and fans are excited

iQOO's Z Lite series has always been about hitting an affordable price point first and worrying about specs later. So, what really happened with the pricing this year? If you recall, the Z10 Lite launched around this same time last year for under Rs 10,000. The iQOO Z11 Lite, on the other hand, doubles that, and comes at a starting price of Rs 19,499 for the base 4GB RAM + 128GB storage variant. This is a significant increase of about Rs 9,500 from its predecessor. Of course, if you haven’t guessed by now, the reason behind the insane price hike is the global chip shortage situation. Because the cost of components has increased exponentially, so have phone prices.

Looking at the bright side, compared to the older-gen model, the iQOO Z11 Lite brings a slightly faster processor, a bigger 6,500mAh battery with faster 44W charging, and Android 16. However, everything else, including the design, display, and cameras, remains largely unchanged. So before getting into how the iQOO Z11 Lite actually performs, the bigger question is: despite the ongoing situation, does the new model justify the significant price jump? Well, here’s my take on it in this detailed review. 

iQOO Z11 Lite: Design and build

Design is really the only place iQOO has made a genuine change here, and it comes down to colour. The Z11 Lite ditches the T5 Lite's wave-pattern back for two new options instead: a moodier Midnight Blue, and a brighter Solar Flame for anyone who wants their phone to stand out.

iQOO sent us the Solar Flame colourway, which looks good and forms a distinctive pattern when the light hits it. Everything else about the build carries over almost identically. You still get a plastic back over a metal frame, and at 209 g and 8.39mm thick, the Z11 Lite weighs exactly the same as the T5 Lite. The side-mounted fingerprint scanner is back too, and it works fast and reliably. This budget device comes with an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance, so it will be safe to use during the monsoon.

In the iQOO Z11 Lite as well, you get a single top-firing speaker and headphone jack, which is good and helpful for gamers who use 3.5mm headphones and charge the phone at the same time. If you liked how the T5 Lite felt in hand, you will feel right at home here, just with a different colour looking back at you. But for me, using the iQOO Z11 Lite with one hand was not possible, and to reach the top corners I have to adjust my grip every single time.

iQOO Z11 Lite: Display

On paper, the display is identical to the T5 Lite: a 6.74-inch HD+ LCD panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and a water-drop notch that, frankly, still feels a generation behind in 2026. iQOO rates the panel at up to 1200 nits of peak brightness in HBM mode. However, we tested its display in our Digit Test Labs, and it got a peak brightness of 1040 nits. So sometimes in harsh sunlight you have to squint your eyes to use the display.

During my testing, I watched Squid Game Season 3 on Netflix along with a few scenes from Primal Fear. The panel doesn’t deliver OLED-like blacks or that punch; I honestly found it decent for casual binge-watching. Colours look reasonably natural, skin tones don’t appear over-saturated, and the 120Hz refresh rate makes scrolling through Netflix, Instagram and YouTube feel smoother. Viewing angles are okayish, although the display does lose some contrast when you watch from a tilted angle.

Interestingly, in our testing at Digit Test Labs, the T5 Lite returned a slightly different result. The Z11 Lite's Calman test gave an average delta E of 3.26, noticeably better than the T5 Lite's 4.22, and closer to what we would consider colour accurate, though colour gamut coverage came in at 94.43 per cent, which is slightly behind the T5 Lite's score.

Small unit-to-unit or calibration differences like this are not unusual on phones that share the same panel, and in day-to-day use, the viewing experience is close enough to the T5 Lite that we would not expect most people to tell the difference.

iQOO Z11 Lite: Performance

Under the hood, it's the same MediaTek Dimensity 6300 5G chipset as the T5 Lite, an eight-core, 6nm chip clocked at up to 2.4GHz. iQOO offers the Z11 Lite across three memory configurations: 4GB plus 128GB, 6GB plus 128GB, and 6GB plus 256GB, with storage expandable up to 2TB via microSD if you need more room.

The review unit I tested handled everyday usage comfortably. Opening multiple apps, switching between Chrome, WhatsApp, Instagram, Spotify and YouTube rarely caused major slowdowns. That said, this isn't the fastest phone in its segment.

There were occasional animation hiccups while quickly switching between heavier applications, and I noticed brief stutters while loading image-heavy social media feeds. Nothing that made the phone frustrating to use, but enough to remind you that this is an entry-level chipset. Gaming performance is exactly what I expected.

BGMI runs comfortably at around 60fps with occasional frame drops during intense fights or hot drops. Casual games like Subway Surfers, Clash Royale, and Temple Run ran smoothly without any noticeable issues.

Here are the benchmark numbers from our testing:

AnTuTu: 577,882

Geekbench Single-Core: 696

Geekbench Multi-Core: 1,789

3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 365

CPU Throttling Test: Maintained 93% of its peak performance

The throttling result is actually great. Even after extended stress testing, performance remained relatively stable without severe drops.

iQOO Z11 Lite Camera

iQOO Z11 Lite comes with a 50MP primary sensor along with a 0.08MP depth sensor, while the selfies are handled by the 5MP front camera.

In daylight photos, the photos that came out of it were nice. Colours stay fairly on the natural side instead of looking artificially boosted. However, the skin tones are generally on the brighter side. The dynamic range is decent, I would say, for the price. But at the same time, there are not enough details in the pictures, plus it softens the images at the same time as well.

Portrait mode, however, remains inconsistent. Edge detection is not good because in this picture you can see it blurred the right side of my friend's glasses. It also struggles around hair, as you can see in my picture.

Indoor photography is acceptable as long as there's sufficient lighting. Once the light starts dropping, you can easily see the drop in image quality.

Selfies are decent but tend to brighten skin tones more than I'd personally prefer. They're perfectly usable for social media, although they won't impress a lot of users.

Video recording maxes out at 1080p 30fps from both the front and rear cameras. Footage is usable in daylight, but stabilization is very basic.

iQOO Z11 Lite: Software

Software is identical too, at least on the surface. The iQOO Z11 Lite ships with OriginOS 6 on top of Android 16, complete with deep customisation options and the AI toolkit, like AI Creation, AI Documents, AI Captions, and Transcript Assist all worked well during my usage.

Like most phones in this price category, there are a few pre-installed apps, but thankfully most of them can be removed. In terms of software updates, iQOO is promising 2 years of Android Updates and 4 years of Security Patches.

iQOO Z11 Lite: Battery

Battery specs on paper look promising: a 6,500mAh cell paired with 44W wired charging, and the iQOO is claiming to give you a full day of usage around video, music, social media, and call time endurance.

The 6,500mAh battery easily lasted me close to two full days with my regular usage, which included around three hours of YouTube and Netflix, social media browsing, camera usage, messaging, Bluetooth earbuds, and roughly an hour of BGMI.

Even on heavier days, I comfortably ended the night with battery remaining. Charging is handled by a 44W charger, and in my testing, a complete charge took roughly 72 minutes, which feels reasonable considering the battery capacity.

Should you buy the iQOO Z11 Lite?

The iQOO Z11 Lite isn't trying to be the most powerful camera phone or the fastest gaming phone in its category. Instead, it focuses on delivering a dependable everyday smartphone experience. After using it as my daily device, I came away appreciating its strengths more than its weaknesses. The battery life is genuinely excellent, the software experience feels polished, performance is reliable for everyday workloads, and the new Solar Flame finish gives the phone a distinct look.

At the same time, the HD+ LCD display feels dated compared to AMOLED alternatives, the cameras remain fairly basic, and power users may notice occasional stutters during heavier multitasking.

If you're looking for a phone primarily for long battery life, dependable day-to-day performance, smooth software, and a distinctive design, the iQOO Z11 Lite is an easy recommendation. Just go in with realistic expectations regarding its display and camera hardware.

While flagship headphones often showcase a brand's best technologies, it is the mid-premium segment where the real competition lies. Buyers today expect far more than they did a few years ago, and thankfully, they no longer have to make major compromises to get features like active noise cancellation, multipoint connectivity or long battery life. The JBL Live 780NC is JBL's latest attempt to stand out in this crowded space. It is priced at Rs 15999 and offers 40mm drivers, JBL Signature Sound, True Adaptive Noise Cancelling 2.0, multipoint connectivity and a foldable design, all wrapped in several vibrant colour options. I spent the past few weeks using it for work, commuting and entertainment to find out how well these features translate into everyday use, and what compromises, if any, come with them.

JBL Live 780NC: Fresh and functional design

The Live 780NC comes in multiple vibrant colours, and our review unit is the Blue variant. It has a deep indigo-blue finish, with a subtle sheen on parts of the hinges and the outer earcups. JBL's logo is embossed on both earcups, and the 'Live' branding is present on the underside of the headband. Neither draws much attention. Even so, the headphones leave a good first impression thanks to their clean design and solid fit and finish.

The ear cushions are soft and plush. That, along with the headband's decent clamping force, makes them comfortable for long listening sessions. The headband's padding could have been thicker, but it is still reasonably soft. Unlike the fabric-covered headband on the Live 770NC, JBL has switched to a silicone finish here. It doesn't absorb sweat or hair oil as easily, which should help the headphones stay cleaner and age better over time.

The headband and the hinges are metallic. The headband can be extended from both hinges, which lets you adjust the fit, while the foldable hinges make the headphones easier to carry and store.

Overall, the Live 780NC feels modern, comfortable and well built. The sturdy construction along with the foldable design makes it practical for everyday use as well as travel.

JBL Live 780NC: Physical controls over touch controls

JBL has provided a volume rocker on the left earcup, while the right earcup houses the on/off/manual pairing switch, Auracast button and a USB-C port. So, you get all the required controls. The buttons are tactile and easily reachable.

The company has also given touch controls here, on the right earcup. They work, but not always reliably. Finger taps don't register. Taps with my palm work, but even then, triple taps were hit or miss. Also, the touch area can trigger accidental taps, resulting in unwanted pauses.

Thankfully, both touch and button controls are customisable, and you can choose whatever works better for you

JBL Live 780NC: Software that adds genuine value

The JBL Headphones app is one of the strongest aspects of the ownership experience. I am very familiar with it, having used it with the Tour Pro 3 series. It is one of the most feature-rich companion apps out there.

You don't have to create an account to access any features. You simply pair the headphones and begin customising them.

The app offers:

• Adaptive ANC controls, including Ambient Aware (transparency mode) and TalkThru (pause playback and talk to someone)
• Multipoint management
• Auracast
• Touch control customisation, as mentioned in the previous section
• 10-band equaliser
• Personi-Fi for calibrating audio output to your ears
• Wear detection: Auto Play and Pause
• Spatial Sound
• LE Audio and LDAC

While some of these features are table-stakes in headphones priced at the 10-16K price range, JBL has some differentiating features that set it apart. For starters, it is the only model here with Bluetooth 6.0, making it the most future-ready in terms of wireless connectivity.

I was excited to use features like Auracast, which allows the Live 780NC to broadcast audio to other compatible devices nearby for a shared listening experience. The 10-band equaliser gives granular control, and then there is Personi-Fi, which performs a hearing test and creates a personalised and clearer sound profile based on your hearing ability.

And everything from the initial pairing experience to everyday use with multiple devices, Live 780NC worked reliably throughout. It connects to my laptop and phone simultaneously, but I must pause the first device before the second one can play. This manual switching feels limiting and something found on budget-tier headphones.

JBL Live 780NC: Battery life lives up to the promise

JBL claims up to 80 hours without ANC and 50 hours with ANC enabled. I got closer to those estimates. I played a FLAC music file continuously with ANC and LDAC at 80% volume, and the Live 780NC ran for hours. So, this can easily be a pair of headphones that you carry for a long weekend trip, or use for several days without worrying about charging.

This also means you can forget to charge it and realise when you are heading out somewhere. Gladly, fast charging support is there. Plug it in for 5 minutes, and you can extend its life for another 4 hours. That should be plenty long for a daily commute.

And let's not forget JBL also offers 3.5mm wired listening support. But the only catch is that wired mode works only when the headphones are powered on. That's such an unnecessary limitation!

Also Read: Skullcandy Method 360 ANC review: Standing out is easy, but can it stand apart?

JBL Live 780NC: Mass-friendly, customisable sound

JBL's tuning would please most consumers out there as there is an intentional emphasis on bass, while the soundstage is fairly open and key aspects like vocals and instruments sound clear. This was evident in Ain't Nobody from DC (2026), wherein the Live 780NC produces potent bass drops, and the vocals by Anirudh Ravichander and the instruments can be heard clearly.

The default Studio equaliser mode didn't sound much different to my ears. The other modes like Jazz, Vocal and Club can make some difference, but I preferred the default sound still.

While the bass is engaging for the most part, there are moments in certain tracks where you feel it is dominating the mix and slightly masking some of the finer vocal details.

For the best listening experience, I had to listen at full volume. And even at that level, the high strings and vocals in songs like Ghar Aa Maahi (I'm Waiting For You) and Yeh Raat from Bandish Bandits S02 sounded smooth. Harmonic overtones in these tracks sounded clean.

So, the presentation sounds enjoyable and mass-friendly, but the boosted low frequencies lack the natural balance that more neutral headphones offer.

However, the main sticking point for me is that the sound experience here isn't all that different from a lower-priced headphone like the CMF Headphone Pro.

JBL Live 780NC: Noise cancellation and calls are dependable

The Live 780NC uses JBL's True Adaptive Noise Cancelling 2.0 with six microphones working to raise the noise cancellation based on the environment you are in. But I chose to keep the cancellation at max level, and the experience was decent. It isn't class-leading or impressive, but it is enough to keep you concentrating on your work or give you some peace from Indian traffic noise.

Transparency mode sounds reasonably natural, which is useful for walking on less busy roads and having short conversations without removing the headphones.

During meetings and normal phone conversations, people on the other end reported hearing me clearly, while background office noise remained well controlled.

Should you buy the JBL Live 780NC?

After spending several days using the Live 780NC across work, entertainment and travel, I have realised it is made to give a well-rounded and feature-rich ownership experience. It is cool, comfortable, and well-built. The folding design makes it very portable. And the control options are plenty and easily accessible. It has one of the best companion apps in the segment with standout features like Bluetooth 6.0, Auracast, a 10-band equaliser and a lot more. The audio tuning is bass-leaning and good for most everyday music, movies and other media you consume. And the battery lasts long enough for you to forget about charging it.

More importantly, nothing about the headphones became frustrating enough for me to wrap up with the review quickly and move on.

However, I still hold reservations about recommending it to all. If you are someone wanting a neutral sound, this ain't it. Even the built-in equaliser can't do much about that. The lack of passive wired playback is a clear and weird limitation. And as you have read above, the touch controls don't always reliably respond.

These aren't major shortcomings that should deter you from considering them. But they are things you should know while deciding. And if your priorities include long battery life, extensive software customisation, reliable everyday ANC and a bass-forward sound, then the Live 780NC should be on your shortlist.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar stories.

Also Read: Realme Buds Air 8 Pro review: Expressive and easy to recommend

Motorola launched another G Power series phone after the G37 Power, G57 Power, and G67 Power, and now we have the Moto G77 Power. By the way, there’s a specific kind of phone buyer Motorola has been chasing for years now for their Power series phone, and it isn't the one reading spec sheets on paper. It’s the person who wants to stop thinking about a charger. The Moto G77 Power, priced at Rs 25,999, is Motorola’s latest device to their power hungry users, and this device is built around a 7,000mAh cell, a Sony primary camera, and three good-looking Pantone colour variants. I spent more than two weeks with the device and also spent some time with it at our Digit Test Labs to check its brightness, colour accuracy and full benchmarks to check whether the number on the spec sheet actually holds up in the real world. Here’s my full review of the Moto G77 Power.

Moto G77 Power: Design and build

The design of the Moto G77 Power looks exactly like other G Power series phones. You get a vegan-leather finish on the back of the Pantone Nautical Blue colour variant. The back has a soft, grippy texture instead of glass. I used it without a case for the full two weeks, and I didn’t face any issues using it.

But the first thing I noticed was the weight in my pocket. At around 210 grams and 8.6mm thick, I felt it sitting there on my commute in a way my old phone never did. I got used to it by day three, but the weight is justified because it comes with a 7,000mAh battery.

I also caught a bit of rain on my way home one evening and wiped it off without worrying, which is what the IP64 rating came in clutch for me. Plus, it also has MIL-STD-810H certification, meaning it'll shrug off the kind of daily bumps.

The power button sits right where my thumb lands and also works as the fingerprint reader. I unlocked the phone one-handed on the metro every single day without missing once. The 3.5mm jack is still here, which mattered to me since I plug in wired earphones at my desk.

The Moto G77 Power is available in three colour variants: Pantone Fuchsia Red, Pantone Impenetrable, and Pantone Nautical Blue.

Moto G77 Power: Display

Moto G77 Power features a 6.72-inch FHD+ LCD display with a 120Hz refresh rate. I watched a few episodes of Heeramandi on this phone over two nights, mostly to see how the costumes and set colours held up. They read close to how I remember them on my iPhone, and that surprised me for an LCD panel. Our Calman test returned a Delta E of 1.54, and the Colour Gamut test measured 97.3% coverage. Both numbers back up what I saw while watching.

I also rewatched a couple of Delhi Crime episodes at night with the lights off, and this is where the LCD limit showed up. Dark rooms and shadows came out as a lifted grey rather than black, and I could see the backlight bleeding a bit at the edges during the darkest scenes. This is not something I noticed casually. I had to be watching in a dark room to catch it.

I used the phone to check maps while walking in the harsh sunlight of Delhi summer, and sometimes I had to struggle to read something on the display. Motorola claims 1,050 nits peak brightness. We measured 1,040 nits at Digit Test Labs, which is close enough that I would not call it a false claim.

Moto G77 Power: Performance

Under the hood is the MediaTek Dimensity 6400, a 6nm chipset we've already seen in the Moto G37 Power earlier this year. Motorola pairs it with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM plus a RAM Boost feature that borrows storage space to simulate extra memory, which helps keep background apps alive longer than the physical RAM alone would manage.

In daily use, it felt fine. WhatsApp, Instagram, Chrome, switching between them while replying to work messages- none of it made me wait. But when I left apps open in the background for hours and came back to find them, it reloaded the whole app.

I played BGMI for about an hour over two weekends, at Smooth plus Extreme settings since that is what the phone can play at 60fps. Gameplay ran without stopping, but I did notice frame drops during firefights with more than four players on screen.

To test more, I ran some benchmarks on this device. The phone scored 383 on 3DMark Wild Life Extreme, and 560,337 on AnTuTu. Geekbench 6 returned 816 single core and 1,262 multi core. By the way, none of these are gaming flagship numbers.

What I did not feel was the phone slowing down the longer I played. Our CPU Throttling Test showed the chip holding on to 87% of its starting performance after sustained load, and that tracked with my experience. The phone got warm in my hand after 40 minutes of gameplay in BGMI.

Moto G77 Power: Software

Right out of the box the Moto G77 Power comes with Hello UI based on Android 16 and here as well it looks close to stock Android, and I mean that as a compliment. Swiping through the home screen and opening the app drawer at 120Hz felt smooth the whole two weeks, no stutter, no frame skipping that I could notice. Opening and closing apps has a short, quick animation rather than the bounce or zoom effect some other brands add, and I preferred it that way.

But this time around, Motorola is giving some third-party apps on their device, like Newsroom and other apps, which can be uninstalled.

I used Moto Actions to chop for flashlight a few times when I was looking for my keys at night, and it worked on the first try each time. 

‘Ready For’ feature came in handy once when I connected the phone to my TV to show photos to my parents, though I did not use it often enough to call it a daily feature for me. Attentive Display kept the screen on while I was reading long work emails, which saved me from tapping the screen every few seconds.

Moto G77 Power: Camera

On the back, you get a 50MP Sony LYTIA 600 primary sensor with PDAF supported by an 8MP ultrawide sensor, while a 32MP sensor covers selfies up front.

The Sony sensor is clearly the star. Daylight shots are detailed, well-exposed, and colour-accurate, without the oversharpening,  but sometimes it over-processed the images, which turns them into softer pictures with less detail. The PDAF keeps focus locked on quickly and reliably.

In portrait mode, the human subject looks good, without being too soft. The bokeh effect is very good but it sometimes struggles in edge detection.

The 8MP ultrawide is the more ordinary half of the pairing, fine for landscapes and group shots, but detail softens fast the moment you crop in, which is fairly standard at this price. Low light from the main sensor holds up reasonably well without excessive noise, and Night mode stretches that further, though anything genuinely dark still runs into the natural limits of a sensor without OIS.

The 32MP front camera deserves a specific callout, selfies are sharp and naturally lit in good conditions, comfortably ahead of the 16MP (or lower) selfie cameras many rivals still ship at this price. Both front and rear cameras record video up to 2K at 30fps, but the video quality if not on par.

Moto G77 Power: Battery

This is the highlight of the Moto G77 Power because it comes with a massive 7,000mAh battery with 30W fast charging.

In terms of screen-on time, on a normal weekday, work calls, Instagram scrolling on my commute, an episode of something on Netflix at lunch, and messaging through the evening, I ended the day with 40 to 50 percent left on the battery. On a lighter day, I skipped charging entirely and still had over 30 percent by the next evening.

Charging is handled by 30W TurboPower, and to charge a 7,000mAh battery, this took too much time to fully charge. I charged this device from 0 to 100 per cent, and it took me 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The 6W reverse wired charging is a small but genuinely useful extra, letting you top up a pair of earbuds, or you could save your friend's dying phone.

Verdict

I went into this review expecting the battery to be the only thing worth talking about, and it is still the reason to buy this phone. But the display held its own on my benchmark tests and in day-to-day experience as well; the Sony camera handled daylight and low light better than I expected at this price, and I did not run into software stutter once in two weeks of daily use.

The trade-offs are real too. Gaming has a ceiling I felt directly during BGMI sessions, the LCD panel loses to AMOLED the moment you watch something dark, and the phone sits heavier in the pocket than most phones I have carried this year. If none of that bothers you, and battery anxiety is something you deal with often, the Moto G77 Power at Rs 25,999 is worth your money.

Earbuds across price ranges have been trying to differentiate themselves with unique designs and partnerships with established audio brands. Skullcandy has chosen to go its own way with the Method 360 ANC. The new TWS earphones pair was launched recently in India, priced at Rs 12499. It has an unconventional charging case that can be hung from your backpack. And there's the 'Sound by Bose' branding, which immediately raises expectations. Together, they make the Method 360 ANC one of the more intriguing launches in the premium TWS space. But does it all come together for a good pair of earphones? You'll have the answer here.

Skullcandy Method 360: Design that stands out

Most earbuds have compact pebble-or squircle-shaped cases. Skullcandy has given the Method 360 a long rectangular case that resembles a vape. Some bystanders asked and gawked at what this thing I was holding. It has a translucent surface with a grooved finish. This was good to hold. But it is noticeably larger and not something you can easily slide into your jeans/pant pocket.

With the built-in carabiner, the Method 360 is meant to be hung from a bag or belt loop. While that's certainly distinctive, I wasn't comfortable doing so. A case hanging in plain sight feels more vulnerable to accidental knocks, scratches or even theft in crowded places. But I know some people who would love to hang it, as it is sure to be a talking point.

It feels like Skullcandy has prioritised style and identity over portability. Even while I was in a crowded metro, taking out the earbuds was tough. The sliding mechanism to open the case felt cool but slightly cumbersome. Putting the earbuds back in also didn't always come naturally to me. 

The earbuds themselves are also a tad bigger in size than most earbuds out there. But they are lightweight, and the rubber earwings offer a comfortable fit. They wouldn't quickly fall off during light workouts and movements. You can choose between the different ear tips and silicone wings present in the box for the right combination. The larger size of the earbuds offers more surface for touch/tap gestures, which again matters a lot in everyday use.

Last but not least, the Method 360 ANC earbuds support an IPX4 rating, which means you don't have to worry about sweat or light rain, although some competitors offer better protection against dust as well.

Skullcandy Method 360: Sound by Bose promise vs performance

Ever since Bose began licensing its 'Sound by Bose' audio tuning, we've started seeing the branding appear on some earbuds. Method 360 also gets this, and as per Skullcandy, the partnership includes Bose engineers' involvement in not just audio architecture but also the design of the ear gels. The claims include 'high-fidelity audio experience defined by clarity of sound and depth of range,' but that's not exactly what we get. The sound signature is more bass-forward than balanced, which is fine for listening to hip-hop, EDM, workout playlists, and Bollywood pop. But even the quality of the bass isn't too deep or energetic.

In 'Matador' by Jayo, the rumble in the beginning portion of the track isn't prominent on the Method 360, while its strong presence is meant to create an exciting sense of depth and energy. The same is true for the bass drops on Jailer 2's 'One Name.' They don't dig as deep as they should, making the drops feel less impactful than they are meant to.

The high notes of the synth beats on The Weeknd's 'Open Hearts' aren't clear either. The soundstage is very narrow, too. So, a track like Hangova from 'DC' sounds confined. While the overall loudness sounds low when compared to our reference earbuds at the same volume level, the vocals by Anirudh Ravichander in this Hangova track sound recessed on the Skullcandy pair.

Overall, the Method 360 delivers an easy-going sound with more lower-end emphasis but doesn't try too hard to impress. Just don't expect the kind of refined listening experience the 'Sound by Bose' branding might lead you to anticipate.

Thankfully, the companion app includes a custom equaliser. More on that in the next section.

Also Read: Skullcandy Uproar TWS review: A bit too simple for its own good

Skullcandy app: Ample customisation

The app has a simple dark-themed interface with colourful accents that instantly feel on-brand for Skullcandy. It has most of the essential features one would need, but then there are some notable omissions.

You can see the battery status, change volume, noise modes (ANC, transparency), equaliser modes, enable game mode, multipoint pairing, and change button controls. You also get Spotify Tap and camera shutter controls, which some may find useful. I appreciate the customisability of touch gesture controls.

Of course, the app isn't without its flaws, though. It occasionally detects earbuds from other brands as available devices, the battery percentage isn't always accurate, the EQ presets don't make a meaningful difference to the listening experience, and there's no option to disable in-ear wear detection.

Skullcandy Method 360: ANC and calls

Method 360's ANC sufficiently blocks constant low-frequency sounds, such as the sound of a fan, AC, chimney, etc. You can still hear sudden noises and nearby conversations, albeit at a low volume.

Transparency mode is good enough for quick conversations without taking the earbuds off. However, your own voice sounds bass-heavy and distant, making conversations feel less natural than they should.

During regular voice calls, the other person sounded clear to me, but they consistently said my voice sounded distant, as if I were speaking from farther away.

Skullcandy Method 360 ANC: Reasonable battery life

Skullcandy has equipped the Method 360 ANC with an above-average battery life of 8 hours 15 minutes with continuous music playback (FLAC) with AAC codec, 80% volume and ANC on. But the battery life between the two earbuds was constantly inconsistent.

As per the brand, the Method 360 can last for 9 hours and with the case, up to 32 hours with ANC on, and with ANC off, the battery life can last up to 11 hours with the earbuds and up to 40 hours with the case.

So, the runtime in our test was a tad shorter than the brand's claims, but that could be due to different testing conditions. Your mileage may vary based on your listening preferences.

You get fast charging speed, which is said to give 2 hours' worth of playback with just 10-minutes of top-up. Nice. That said, the absence of wireless charging will be missed by some at this price point.

Skullcandy Method 360 ANC verdict: Should you buy it? 

The Skullcandy Method 360 ANC is a product that dares to stand out with a distinctive charging case. With that and the 'Sound by Bose' branding, Skullcandy is trying to differentiate itself from the sea of earbuds under Rs 13000. Well, if you're after something that starts conversations and offers a decent fit, you'll like this.

However, the overall experience feels less compelling when viewed against similarly priced alternatives. The bulky case isn't the most practical for everyday use, the app needs polishing, transparency mode and call quality leave room for improvement, and the sound doesn't deliver the refinement the Bose partnership leads you to expect. While the battery life is respectable, the lack of wireless charging is another omission at this price. At a lower price, some of these compromises would be easier to overlook.

At Rs 12499, the Method 360 ANC competes in a crowded segment where several rivals offer a more well-rounded experience. So, if you are someone who wants distinctive-looking earbuds with a secure fit, customisable controls, and an easy-going sound, you may still find the Method 360 appealing. But if sound quality and overall refinement are your priorities, it's worth comparing the Skullcandy earbuds with alternatives before making a decision.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar reviews.

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Kent is one of the most recognisable names in India's water purifier market. However, this Smart Alkaline-Mineral RO Water Purifier (Model 11055) is sold through Qnet's direct selling network. We were approached by Qnet seeking whether we would like to test this purifier model. And since it is a rebadged Kent purifier, we decided to review it. The 11055 model is sold at an MRP of Rs 41050 (plus Rs 2000 shipping and handling charges) and comes with Kent's established RO technology with an interactive touch display and alkaline mineralisation. There is no smartphone connectivity, and everything happens on the purifier itself. After using the Qnet Kent RO purifier for a month or so, here's an account of our experience regarding its actual purification performance.

Qnet Kent 11055: Design, installation and UI

The purifier has a white ABS food-grade plastic body with rounded edges and some blue accents. The tap and a stripe on the front have a metallic grey colour. There is a transparent water level indicator and a centrally placed colour touchscreen with key information such as purified water TDS, filter status, service reminders, etc.

The body weighs 8.6 kg and is compact enough for most Indian kitchens. It has to be wall-mounted, and the Kent technician arrived on schedule, completed the installation without any complications, explained the purifier's basic functions and left after verifying that everything was working properly. The overall experience was smooth and required little intervention from our side.

Since there is no companion mobile app with the Qnet Kent purifier, you'll have to rely on the front-mounted interactive touch display. This interface is responsive and easy to use. No need to log in to an app. But the absence of an app means you must be standing in front of the purifier to monitor the performance metrics. Purifier models with an app let you access remote alerts, water usage history and performance status right on your phone. No such facility here.

QNET Kent 11055: Purification performance

The 11055 model uses a multi-stage purification process comprising RO, UF, UV, sediment filtration, carbon filtration, alkaline filtration and Kent's patented mineral retention technology. According to the company, it is suitable for municipal, tap and brackish water supplies.

Our source water measured 458 PPM TDS. After purification, the output water measured 143 PPM. This represents a substantial reduction while retaining some dissolved minerals instead of reducing the TDS to extremely low levels.

Also Read: Livpure Lotier review: Best water purifier under Rs 20000?

The purified water tasted clean without the flat taste commonly associated with some RO systems. Whether the alkaline filter offers measurable health benefits remains a subject of broader scientific debate, but from a day-to-day usage perspective, the water was pleasant to drink.

The purifier also delivered 20 litres of purified water within one hour, matching the company's claim.

In our measurements, the purifier produced 5 litres of purified water while expelling around 8 litres as wastewater. So, over one hour, it purified approximately 20 litres while rejecting around 32 litres, resulting in a total water input of 52 litres.

This translates to a recovery rate of roughly 38%, which is within the expected range for a conventional RO purifier. While acceptable, it is behind some newer purifiers that result in less reject water.

The purifier stores up to 9 litres of purified water, which should comfortably serve most families before requiring another purification cycle.

Should you buy the Qnet Kent RO?

The Qnet Kent Smart Alkaline-Mineral RO Water Purifier gets the fundamentals right. During our testing, it consistently reduced the TDS of the incoming water, delivered its claimed purification rate and produced water that tasted clean. The touchscreen display is responsive and provides useful information like purified water TDS, filter status and service reminders. You don't require a companion app and don't get one here.

That said, the overall package feels less competitive because of that and other reasons. The lack of smartphone connectivity and a conventional 38% water recovery rate mean the 11055 model doesn't stand out in a market where water purifiers with app-based monitoring and higher water recovery are present.

The Qnet Kent RO purifier is priced at Rs 41050 (plus Rs 2000 shipping and handling charges) and is offered with a one-year on-site warranty. Beyond that, owners will need to factor in annual maintenance costs, including filter replacements and servicing. Official annual maintenance contracts are available separately. Several similarly priced alternatives now include two to three years of comprehensive maintenance within the purchase price, reducing the overall cost of ownership during the initial years.

So, if your priority is dependable purification backed by Kent's established RO technology, the Qnet Kent RO (11055 model) is a capable performer. However, given its price and long-term ownership costs, its overall offering is less compared to what the competition offers.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar reviews

Also Read: Native M2 Pro review: A smarter take on water purification

The biggest problem with modern entertainment isn't a lack of content. Rather, it's finding something to watch that's of interest. Most of us follow the same routine every evening: we open Netflix and scroll for a while, but the movie we want isn't there. So, we switch to Prime Video, then JioHotstar, then YouTube, and it goes on until nothing catches the eye. So we end up giving up and turning off the TV instead. Partly the reason behind this process is that we can’t watch Live TV. Don’t get me wrong, in 2026, we have never had more entertainment options, yet somehow it takes longer than ever to pick one. This is where the ACT Stream TV 4K steps in.

With the Stream TV 4K, ACT wants you to stop managing separate apps and services and instead have all your entertainment live inside one set-top box. Whether it be Live TV, OTT platforms, voice search or AI-powered recommendations, on the Stream 4K TV, they all come together in a single interface.  

So, after spending several days with the ACT Stream TV 4K, I found that it gets many things right. The device looks premium, has a stable frame and delivers excellent picture quality. It also has a few rough edges that I hope ACT will improve soon. However, before you get all ready to buy it, there is one important thing you should know. Read along to find out.

ACT Stream TV 4K: Not your regular set-top box

Unlike most streaming devices, which work on regular networks, the ACT Stream TV 4K is closely tied to ACT's broadband ecosystem. In simple words, if your home does not have an ACT Fibernet connection, then this set-top box is not meant for you. That may sound restrictive, but it also explains why the overall experience feels well integrated. ACT is not selling just another Android TV device but is extending its broadband service into your living room.

However, if you already use ACT Fibernet connection, the Stream TV 4K becomes a natural extension of your internet connection. If you rely on another broadband provider, you will have to switch to ACT before this device becomes an option. That single requirement will decide whether this review matters to you or not.

The Stream TV 4K set-top box features 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, giving you enough space to install popular streaming apps. Furthermore, it also supports dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth connectivity, Google Assistant voice control, Chromecast built-in, and access to over 400 Live TV channels through its integrated entertainment platform. 

ACT Stream TV 4K: Smooth like butter

Most of the set-top boxes and Fire Sticks these days claim to be plug-and-play devices, but when you actually start setting them up, you have to go through a long list of dos and don'ts. But that was not the case with ACT Stream TV 4K, as all I was required to do was to connect the set-top box to my television, power it on and follow the simple on-screen instructions to get it rolling. Indeed, the device downloaded the latest software update during the initial setup, which is expected with any new smart device, and that was the only part where I had to exercise patience during the setup process. 

Logging into my ACT account was just as easy as the setup. I entered my login details, verified my account with an OTP, and I was in. Pairing a remote was also super convenient, something many devices struggle with. 

As the Stream TV 4K runs Android TV, you need to connect your Google ID with it to use it, and once I did that, Wi-Fi connected immediately, and within a few minutes, I was browsing through the interface. It is the kind of setup experience you almost forget, as mostly when you try to set up a new device, you face hiccups.

Set-top box vs remote: The build matters

When you hold the hardware, it gives you a fairly premium first impression. Although the set-top box is made from plastic, it never feels flimsy. The construction is solid, the finish looks neat, and the overall quality is better than I initially expected.

Unlike compact streaming sticks that disappear behind your television, the Stream TV 4K is a proper set-top box, and it sits beside your TV just like a traditional cable or DTH receiver. Personally, I don't see that as a disadvantage because it keeps the setup tidy and makes accessing ports much easier, and the all-black colour blends in with the aesthetics of your room.

Post setting up, I was happy with the Stream TV 4K set-top box, but the remote, that was a different experience. The first thing I noticed was its size. It is much bigger than most streaming remotes, which I'm used to dealing with. The reason becomes obvious once you look closely, as ACT has included a full numeric keypad. Remember the good old days?

At first, I felt the number keypad was not needed, but after using the device to watch Live TV, I changed my mind. The button layout is practical, and entering channel numbers directly is much faster than scrolling through a long list of channels. People switching from a traditional DTH connection will find this very useful, especially the elders. 

That said, the build quality could have been better. While the set-top box feels premium, the remote feels quite basic. The plastic does not feel as good, the edges are a little sharp, and the buttons do not give the solid, satisfying click you get on better-quality remotes. If you have used an older MacBook with a butterfly keyboard, you may find the button feel on this remote somewhat similar. The buttons work, but they don't provide much feedback when pressed.

To be honest, none of these issues affects functionality. Every button responded correctly throughout my testing, shortcut keys worked as intended, and I never experienced missed inputs.

ACT Stream TV 4K: Software experience

On the software front, there were no issues at all regarding lag or glitches. Yes, opening an OTT app on this device versus opening it on a phone does take a couple of seconds longer, but it was never slow enough to become frustrating. Plus, once an app was loaded, everything from switching between different tabs to starting up the videos and other tasks went without a hitch.

I also noticed that the Stream TV 4K manages heat quite well. During the testing time, I used it continuously for prolonged periods, at times even for about seven to eight hours in a single go. Even after that, the set-top box was only slightly warm to the touch. Considering the hot and humid weather in North India, this is completely normal and not something to worry about.

ACT Stream TV 4K: One bug I noticed

Of course, no product is perfect, and the Stream TV 4K is no exception. Surprisingly, the problem I ran into had nothing to do with streaming or picture quality. Instead, when I turned off the set-top box while leaving the TV on, and turned it back on after a while, it started acting strangely. Instead of loading the home screen, my user profile was logged out with no option to sign back in. In simple words, the interface just froze.

Now, the only fix was to power off the Stream TV 4K set-top box for about 30 seconds and restart it. After that, everything worked fine again. 

Also, this wasn't just a one-time glitch, as it happened several times during my testing. To me, it appears like a software issue rather than a hardware problem. I already discussed it with the ACT team, and they confirmed they are looking into it and will fix it as soon as possible.

ACT Stream TV 4K: Live TV

If you have spent years using a traditional DTH or cable connection, the ACT Stream TV 4K set-top box will take a little getting used to. The biggest difference appears the moment you switch channels. Unlike a conventional DTH set-top box, where channels appear almost instantly, the ACT Stream TV 4K takes a few seconds before the selected channel starts playing. It is not a long wait, but it is noticeable, especially during the first few days of use.

Personally, I stopped noticing it after some time because the delay was always the same and didn’t change randomly. However, if you often switch between channels, you should know about this issue in advance. 

Speaking of which, the numeric keypad on the remote proved to be more useful than I had expected. The channel selection itself was reliable. Every time I entered a channel number, the correct channel opened without any errors. Sure, the loading time remained, but the navigation felt familiar for anyone moving from a traditional television setup.

Another interesting detail is that not every channel plays directly inside the Live TV interface. However, some of the channels redirect you to an OTT app. It may seem odd initially, but it is also in line with how broadcasters are distributing their content via several platforms nowadays.

Most importantly, I did not encounter any buffering during my Live TV viewing experience. Once a channel started playing, the experience remained smooth throughout.

ACT Stream TV 4K: Video, audio, voice assistant and AI

What really stood out to me is how smooth the audio and video quality is. If you've used regular DTH connections, you know that annoying lag between what you see and hear. The Stream TV 4K doesn't have that problem. Everything here felt in sync and clear.

The voice assistant on the set-top box also surprised me. It picked up on what I was saying right away, and I rarely had to repeat myself. Whether I was looking for a specific app, a movie, or just some general info, it understood what I meant without much fuss. Honestly, it responded fast enough that I found myself talking to it more than typing, which isn't something I expected.

The remote also deserves a mention. It has shortcut buttons that let me jump straight into the apps I use most, so I'm not stuck digging through menus every time. Sounds like a tiny thing, saving a few seconds, but when you're using it every day, the small details add up.

There's also an AI button on the remote that's genuinely handy for finding stuff to watch. I tried it out by asking for comedy movies under two hours, and the suggestions it gave me were spot on.

ACT Stream TV 4K: Final Verdict

After spending several days with the ACT Stream TV 4K, I came away with a largely positive impression. But, should you buy the device? That answer depends less on the product itself and more on the internet connection inside your home. As I already mentioned, if you have an ACT Fibe internet connection, the ACT Stream TV 4K is an easy recommendation.

What impressed me the most was not one standout feature. It was the overall balance. The Stream TV 4K set-top box does not try to overwhelm you with gimmicks. Instead, it focuses on making everyday entertainment simple. Live TV and OTT services work together comfortably. The interface stays smooth and the picture quality remaining consistently good.

The ACT Stream TV 4K also avoids one of the biggest problems many affordable Android TV devices suffer from, which is overheating. Even after several hours of continuous use, the set-top box remained only slightly warm.

That said, there is still room for improvement. The remote could benefit from a more premium build, and the app launch times could be faster. Additionally, the software bug I encountered should be addressed through a future update. 

However, considering everything that’s on offer at an asking price of Rs 4,499, the ACT Stream TV 4K is definitely a value-for-money device.

It’s been three years since AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D established a straightforward formula for gaming-focused desktop processors by combining eight Zen 4 cores with a large pool of vertically stacked cache along with slightly lower clock speeds in exchange for stronger performance in latency-sensitive games. Knock off a few multipliers off the base and boost clocks, and you’ve got the Ryzen 7 7700X3D which follows that same basic template. It goes without saying that the 7700X3D does not feature a fundamentally new processor design. Like the 7800X3D, the Ryzen 7 7700X3D uses a single eight-core Zen 4 compute die equipped with first-generation AMD 3D V-Cache. It consequently offers eight cores, 16 threads and 96 MB of L3 cache. The principal difference, like we mentioned, is with the frequencies. Its 4.0 GHz base clock is 200 MHz below that of the 7800X3D, while its maximum boost clock falls from 5.0 GHz to 4.5 GHz.

The resulting product is positioned as a more accessible route into AMD’s cache-heavy gaming line-up. It also gives existing AM5 owners another potential drop-in upgrade, subject to motherboard BIOS support. AMD describes the processor as a way to broaden the choices available to builders upgrading within AM5 or entering the platform for the first time. That positioning creates an interesting balancing act. The Ryzen 7 7700X3D needs to provide a meaningful gaming advantage over the ordinary Ryzen 7 7700X, while remaining sufficiently differentiated from the faster 7800X3D. It must also compete with newer processors that may offer stronger general-purpose performance, even when they cannot consistently match the benefits of 3D V-Cache in games.

AMD Ryzen 7 7700X3D Specifications

The Ryzen 7 7700X3D is built around AMD’s Zen 4 architecture and uses the AM5 socket. It has eight physical CPU cores with SMT (Simultaneous Multi Threading), giving it 16 processing threads. This core configuration places it alongside the Ryzen 7 7700X and 7800X3D, although the processors behave quite differently because of their cache and frequency configurations. We’ve already talked about the differences in frequencies, so that sums up the differences between the older 7800X3D and this new 7700X3D. As for cache, the processor carries 8 MB of L2 cache, divided into 1 MB per core. More importantly, it has 96 MB of L3 cache. A conventional Zen 4 eight-core compute die contains 32 MB of L3 cache, with AMD’s vertically stacked cache die adding a further 64 MB. Even though AMD has the second gen 3D V-caching in their top tier 9000-series processors, the implementation used here is AMD’s first-generation 3D V-Cache design. The cache die is layered over the processor cores.

AMD gives the Ryzen 7 7700X3D a 120 W thermal design power rating and a default package power tracking limit of 162 W. Also, the maximum junction temperature is 89°C. These limits are identical to those listed for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Like other desktop Ryzen 7000 processors, the 7700X3D also includes basic integrated Radeon graphics. These are not intended to replace a gaming GPU, but remain useful for display output, troubleshooting and systems that temporarily operate without a discrete graphics card.

The single-CCD design is another practical advantage. AMD’s higher-end dual-CCD X3D processors require software and operating-system scheduling mechanisms to direct games towards the compute die carrying the additional cache. The 7700X3D has only one compute die, so every CPU core has access to the same 96MB L3 configuration. It avoids the scheduling complexity and core-parking behaviour associated with asymmetric dual-CCD designs.

Test Rig

We've tested the Ryzen 7 7700X3D with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 as well as the Radeon RX 9070 to check out the Rebar performance impact. Aside from that, the platform used was the Colorful iGAME X870E Vulcan OC 14, 32 GB of G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 memory in a 2x 16 GB configuration, and Samsung’s 9100 Pro NVMe SSD. Cooling is handled by the Corsair H150i, while a Seasonic Focus Gold 850W PSU powers the system. This is a suitably high-end platform for a processor of this class, and it also aligns closely with AMD’s own recommendation of DDR5-6000 memory and a 360 mm liquid cooler for best results and stable behaviour.

AMD Ryzen 7 7700X3D Performance

Cinebench 2024

Cinebench 2024 is based on Maxon's Cinema 4D software, designed to evaluate a processor's performance in rendering complex 3D scenes. It tests both single-core and multi-core capabilities, highlighting how efficiently a CPU handles multi-threaded tasks common in professional rendering workflows. The benchmark utilizes modern instruction sets and large datasets, providing an up-to-date assessment of CPU performance in contemporary applications.

Cinebench R23

Cinebench R23 is the older version based on the same Cinema 4D engine and it too measures a processor's ability to render photorealistic 3D scenes. Though replaced by Cinebench 2024, we retain it to compare against processors launched a few years prior. It also focuses on both single-threaded and multi-threaded performance, simulating real-world tasks relevant to content creators and professionals in 3D rendering.

Blender

The Blender Benchmark assesses a processor's performance by rendering scenes using Blender, a popular open-source 3D creation suite. It evaluates both CPU and GPU capabilities in handling complex rendering tasks. This benchmark provides insights into how well a processor performs in real-world 3D modeling, animation, and rendering scenarios. An interesting aspect is that it highlights the efficiency of different CPU architectures in multi-threaded workloads, as Blender can effectively utilize multiple cores. It's particularly useful for professionals and enthusiasts relying on Blender, indicating how hardware upgrades might impact workflow efficiency and rendering times.

V-Ray

V-Ray is another benchmark that measures a processor's performance in rendering but it uses the V-Ray engine, widely used in visual effects, architecture, and design industries. It tests both CPU and GPU rendering capabilities, focusing on multi-threaded performance and handling complex calculations involved in ray tracing. CPUs with higher core counts and multi-threading technology tend to excel here as V-Ray efficiently utilises available threads.

Procyon Office

The Procyon Office Benchmark measures a processor's performance in real-world office applications like the Microsoft Office suite, testing tasks such as document editing, spreadsheet calculations, and presentation creation. It focuses on both single-threaded and multi-threaded performance, providing insights into how a CPU handles everyday productivity tasks.

Mozilla Kraken

Mozilla Kraken is a JavaScript benchmarks evaluating a processor's performance in executing complex web-based scripts, reflecting real-world web application usage. It tests single-threaded performance and the efficiency of a CPU's instruction pipelines in handling dynamic scripting languages.

7 Game Average

While 3DMark is an excellent synthetic benchmark, it's not really indicative of real-world gaming performance and that's why we have to rely on popular AAA video games to assess how well the processor deals with contemporary video game engines. We revise the video games once every two years based on what's most popular as per Steam and we also maintain a mix between different game engines.

Thermals and power

On paper, the Ryzen 7 7700X3D has a 120 W TDP and a 162 W default PPT limit. AMD lists an 89°C maximum junction temperature and recommends a 240-to-280 mm liquid cooler or an equivalent high-performance air cooler. These limits match those of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. The lower frequency ceiling may allow the 7700X3D to consume less power than the 7800X3D in some lightly threaded and gaming workloads. We saw the processor hit about 124 Watts at peak load. 

The stacked-cache design also imposes different thermal constraints from an ordinary Ryzen 7000 processor. Heat generated by the cores must travel through the additional cache structure before reaching the integrated heat spreader. This is one reason X3D processors operate with tighter voltage and temperature management rather than simply pursuing the highest possible clocks.

Verdict

The Ryzen 7 7700X3D is a focused response to a fairly specific buying question i.e. how much of the 7800X3D’s gaming performance can be retained at a lower price? From the results, the answer is most of it. The processor was approximately 4 per cent slower than the 7800X3D in gaming whereas against the regular Ryzen 7 7700X, it produced an average gaming improvement of roughly 8-9 per cent and delivered gains exceeding 15 per cent in certain cache-sensitive titles. That makes the 7700X3D a substantial gaming upgrade over the 7700X in the right circumstances. The compromise is equally clear. A maximum boost frequency of 4.5 GHz leaves the processor behind the 7700X in most productivity benchmarks. It also trails the 7800X3D outside gaming, despite sharing the same core and cache configuration.

Its final value proposition rests heavily on pricing. A Ryzen 7 7800X3D retails for about Rs 42K in India and there’s a Ryzen 5 7500X3D available at Rs 25K. A modest discount over the 7800X3D would not be enough, because the older processor is consistently faster and avoids some of the 7700X3D’s productivity limitations. A meaningful price gap, however, would make the new model an appealing entry point into eight-core 3D V-Cache gaming. Internationally, AMD is pricing the unit at USD 329 so if the 7700X3D were to sell around Rs 32-33K, then that would be actually make the processor a great buy for folks looking to build gaming PCs.

Smartphone brands are packing more and more features into their devices with every new launch. Bigger batteries, high-resolution cameras, brighter displays and AI features have now become common talking points. However, a long list of specifications does not always guarantee a good smartphone experience. What matters is how all these features come together and perform in the real world. The newly launched Oppo Reno 16 comes with a long list of features too, including three 50MP cameras at the back, a massive 6,700mAh battery with 80W fast charging support, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 SoC and a 6.32-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. 

All these specifications look quite good on paper. But the Oppo Reno 16 starts at Rs 61,999 in India, which puts it in a segment with some serious competition. At this price, buyers have several options that promise top-tier performance and cameras.

So, naturally, the Oppo Reno 16 has a lot to prove. I spent a few weeks using the phone to see where it delivers and where it falls short. Here’s my full review.

Oppo Reno 16: A versatile camera system

In true Oppo fashion, without a shadow of a doubt, cameras are clearly the biggest highlight of the Reno 16. The phone houses a triple 50MP camera setup on the back, comprising a main, an ultrawide and a 3.5x telephoto lens. At the front too, there’s a 50MP AF camera for selfies and video calls. And trust me, this is not just a numbers game. The cameras are actually quite versatile.

Let's start with the 50MP main camera that my colleague and I used the most during our testing. In daylight, the Reno 16 captures detailed and bright photos. There is a slight boost in contrast, but it does not feel overdone and instead gives photos a punchy, social media-friendly look. Fine details are also preserved well. Textures on buildings, faces, and other objects look sharp when you zoom into the image.

The 50MP ultra-wide camera is another strong part of the setup. It’s a better and upgraded sensor from the previous-gen model. Usually, ultra-wide cameras on phones are a clear step down from the main sensor. That is not the case here. The Reno 16 manages to maintain fairly consistent colours when switching between the main and ultra-wide cameras. 

However, my favourite camera on the Reno 16 is the 50MP telephoto camera. It offers 3.5x optical zoom and is one of the phone's biggest strengths. You can stand at a comfortable distance from the subject and still get a close frame. Faces also look more natural compared to portraits shot using the main camera at 1x.

The 3.5x zoom also works particularly well for portrait photos. Edge detection is mostly accurate, even around hair and clothes. The background blur also looks natural. It does not always have the artificial blur that we see on some smartphones. Skin tones are handled well too. 

The telephoto camera is also equally useful in portrait mode. At 3.5x, photos retain plenty of detail. I found myself using this camera to capture graffiti walls, buildings and subjects that were slightly far away. 

You can further digitally zoom up to 120x, but image quality starts to drop as you move up the zoom range. Because, just like other phones with insane digital zoom capabilities, at very high zoom levels, the Reno 16 relies heavily on processing. And naturally, fine details start to look soft and artificial. That said, I would still say photos are quite usable at high zoom levels in good light. Just know, for the absolute best results, you can simply not go wrong with the 3.5x optical zoom camera.

Interestingly, low-light performance is also good, especially from the main camera. The Reno 16 captures bright photos and manages noise well. Even in low light, the phone brings out a good amount of detail in images. 

The 50MP selfie camera also deserves a special mention. It has a wide 100-degree field of view and supports autofocus. The wide frame is especially useful for group selfies. You do not have to stretch your arm too far to fit more people into the photo. Autofocus also helps keep faces sharp. Selfies have plenty of detail in good lighting, and skin tones look natural.

Oppo has also added several camera features aimed at social media users and content creators. AI Remix Collage is one of my favourite tools that lets you combine photos into more creative layouts. Different filters and shooting options inside the camera app are fun to experiment with. More importantly, they are built directly into the phone. You do not need a separate editing app for every effect. Neat! 

In a nutshell, the Oppo Reno 16 has one of the most versatile camera setups in its segment. If cameras and creativity are your priority, the Reno 16 gives you plenty to work with. 

Oppo Reno 16: Looks gorgeous and well-built

Now, Oppo phones are not just known for solid cameras, but also for their elegant designs. The Reno 16 is one of those phones that grabs your attention the moment you take it out of the box. I received the Starry White variant for this review, and it is really eye-catching. The back panel has what Oppo calls HoloVerse 3D design, which creates a floating planet-like effect. The finish also has a hint of sparkle that gives the phone a stylish look without going overboard. 

But what I liked even more than the finish is the size of the phone. It is not too big and not too small. It is simply easy to hold, fits comfortably in one hand, and slides into your pocket without feeling bulky. Even after using it for long periods, it never felt uncomfortable.

The Reno 16 is also well-built. The flat frame gives it a solid in-hand feel, while the rounded corners make it comfortable to grip. Despite housing a large battery, the device does not feel heavy. The weight is distributed nicely. Oppo has even done a good job in integrating the camera module into the overall design. 

Another highlight is durability. The Reno 16 comes with IP66, IP68, IP69 and IP69K ratings for dust and water resistance. This means it can handle everything from a dunk into the pool to dust exposure. Of course, I wouldn't recommend intentionally testing those limits for this phone or any other phone, but it is reassuring to know that the phone is built to survive everyday accidents.

Overall, Oppo has done a great job with the Reno 16's design. It looks stylish, feels premium and is compact. While the HoloVerse 3D effect may not be for everyone, it does help the phone stand out from the crowd. IP ratings also add an extra layer of confidence for everyday use.

Oppo Reno 16: Bright and punchy AMOLED display

Now, let's talk about the display. The Oppo Reno 16 features a 6.32-inch FHD+ display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate and 3,200 nits of peak brightness. The display quality is quite impressive, to say the least. Colours look bright and lively, and the screen has enough sharpness for everyday use. I watched several videos and spent a fair amount of time scrolling through social media on the Reno 16. The overall viewing experience was really good. Dark scenes look deep, while colourful content has the right amount of pop. 

I also tested the display using Calman and the SpectraCal C6 Colourimeter, and it recorded an average Delta E of 1.6, which is really good. In simple words, this means the display is able to reproduce colours quite accurately. It recorded almost 100 per cent gamut coverage in the sRGB colour space, which is excellent. This means the screen can show a wide range of colours, something you will immediately notice while watching content or looking at photos.

I was also quite amazed by the phone’s real-world brightness. Now, if you don’t know by now, when smartphone makers claim big peak brightness figures, it usually just means a tiny cluster of pixels hitting that limit during specific HDR scenes. What actually matters is High Brightness Mode, or HBM. This is the sustained brightness your screen kicks into when you step outside. And so, in the Digit Test Labs, I pulled out our lux meter to test the real-world output, and the results are fantastic. On a standard white screen YouTube video, the Reno 16 clocked 1,760 nits. When I pushed it with an HDR white screen video, it hit a massive 2,900 nits. 

For perspective, these are incredibly high numbers for everyday use. As a matter of fact, this screen is literally trading blows with ultra-premium flagships like the Galaxy S26 Ultra and the iPhone 17 Pro Max when it comes to sheer visibility. My point is, with the Reno 16, you will never have to squint to read a text message or frame a camera shot under direct midday sunlight.

Also read: Native M2 Pro review: A smarter take on water purification

Oppo Reno 16: Balanced overall performance

The Oppo Reno 16 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset and comes with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. For this review, I received the top-end variant with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.

Given the hardware and optimisation on offer, the Oppo Reno 16 feels quick and smooth for most regular tasks. I spent a lot of time scrolling through Instagram, switching between apps, replying to messages and using the camera. The phone remained responsive throughout. Apps open quickly, and animations feel smooth. I also did not notice any kind of lag during my testing. Multitasking is handled well too. I could leave several apps running in the background and return to them without seeing frequent reloads. 

Basically, the phone delivers the kind of everyday experience that most users would expect from a high-end smartphone, i.e., delivering a balanced camera, design and overall user experience.

On the software side, the Reno 16 runs ColorOS 16 based on Android 16. Once again, the software experience is polished and fluid. Animations look smooth, and navigating through the interface feels quick. ColorOS also offers plenty of customisation options. However, there are still a few pre-installed apps on the phone. Thankfully, you can uninstall them if you don’t need them. 

Oppo has also added several AI-powered tools, including AI Mind Pilot, AI Scan and AI Extract. These tools can actually be useful in everyday situations. Oppo is also promising five years of major Android OS updates and six years of security updates for the Reno 16. This is a welcome move and adds to the phone's long-term value.

Oppo Reno 16: Reliable endurance

The Oppo Reno 16 packs a massive 6,700 mAh battery and supports 80W fast wired charging. During my time with the phone, I had literally zero complaints when it came to endurance. In my general use, I spent hours scrolling through Instagram, watching YouTube videos, using Google Maps and clicking plenty of photos without constantly checking the battery percentage. Even after a busy day, I usually had enough battery left to keep the phone running.

The Reno 16 also performed really well in the PCMark battery test. It lasted around 24 hours, which is excellent. But synthetic tests are one thing. So, I also tested how the battery performs during common everyday tasks. 

Streaming videos for around 30 minutes consumed roughly 4 per cent of the battery. Meanwhile, one hour of Google Maps navigation drained only around 5 per cent. These numbers are impressive and show how well the phone manages power during regular use.

With light to moderate usage, the Reno 16 can easily last close to one and a half days on a single charge. Even on days when I used the camera heavily, streamed videos for long hours and played games, the phone comfortably survived an entire day. 

The bundled 80W charger took the Oppo Reno 16 from 0 to 100 per cent in around 55 minutes during my testing. 

Oppo Reno 16 verdict: Should you buy it? 

After spending a few weeks with the Oppo Reno 16, it is quite clear who this phone is meant for. Of course, being a Reno phone, Oppo has put cameras at the centre of the experience, and the Reno 16 delivers well in this area. But the phone scores well in other areas as well. It has a stylish and compact design that feels comfortable in the hand. The 120Hz AMOLED display is bright and colour accurate. Battery life is another strong point. 

Also read: Oppo Find X9 Ultra review: More camera than smartphone

Overall, at a starting price of Rs 61,999, the Oppo Reno 16 is a solid camera-focused phone that also offers a stylish design, an impressive display and good battery life. In fact, with the right card offers and discounts, you can easily get the phone for under Rs 60,000 as well. And, if these are the things that appeal to you, in that case, the Reno 16 definitely deserves a place on your shortlist.

Surprised by the name? Well, the HyperX OMEN 15 marks a fairly substantial shift for HP’s gaming laptop portfolio. OMEN has long been the company’s recognisable gaming PC brand, while HyperX has largely been associated with peripherals, even before HP acquired it from Kingston. The HyperX OMEN 15 brings the two identities together, placing the better-known gaming accessory name directly on the laptop itself. The model reviewed here is the HyperX OMEN 15-ga0028TX, powered by an Intel Core i7-14650HX processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Laptop GPU. It also includes 24 GB of DDR5 memory, a 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD and a 15.3-inch 2560 × 1600 IPS display with a 180 Hz refresh rate.

Prima facie, this is a sensible entry-level gaming configuration. The Core i7-14650HX remains a capable processor, the display is sharper and brighter than what many gaming laptops in this price range provide, and the 115 W TGP RTX 5050 gives the GPU enough room to operate close to its intended limits. The problem is pricing and that’s an industry-wide concern thanks to the memory shortage issues. This configuration carries an MRP of around ₹1,80,000 and is available online for approximately ₹1,59,990. An RTX 5060 version with the same Core i7 processor costs roughly ₹10,000 more. That small jump places considerable pressure on the RTX 5050 model, particularly when buyers are already spending well above ₹1.5 lakh. 

HP HyperX OMEN 15-ga0028TX Specifications

The Intel Core i7-14650HX combines eight Performance cores with eight Efficient cores, producing a total of 16 cores and 24 processing threads. It includes 30 MB of L3 cache and is built for high-power gaming laptops rather than light machines. And to go with that, we have the RTX 5050 Laptop GPU has 8 GB of dedicated graphics memory and runs at a maximum graphics power of 115 W in this configuration. That power allocation is something you should never ignoore because laptop GPUs carrying the same name can perform differently depending on how much power the manufacturer permits them to draw. The 24 GB memory capacity provides more headroom than the more common 16 GB configuration, particularly for content creation, larger games and multitasking. 

Features

The HyperX OMEN 15 is managed primarily through the OMEN Gaming Hub. The application brings performance profiles, cooling controls, lighting options and system monitoring into one interface. HP also promotes an Unleashed Mode designed to expose additional performance controls. It gives users more freedom to tune system behaviour, although the exact options available can depend on the hardware configuration and firmware. 

Then there’s a tab for OMEN AI which is intended to automate game optimisation. HP claims that it can adjust operating system, hardware and supported game settings to improve frame rates without requiring the user to manually test every combination. As with any automated optimiser, the results are likely to vary between games, but the concept is useful for less experienced users who do not want to spend time adjusting individual settings. You already have NVIDIA’s own add-on software to help here.

The cooling system includes a dust-cleaning function that reverses fan airflow to help move accumulated dust away from the internal components. This can be controlled through the gaming utility. The feature does not eliminate the need for eventual maintenance, but it may reduce dust buildup over time. The laptop also supports configurable four-zone RGB keyboard lighting. The implementation is less elaborate than per-key RGB, but it provides enough control to set different colour zones without turning the keyboard into an overly bright display piece.

Audio is handled by a pair of bottom-mounted speakers with HyperX tuning, DTS:X Ultra and HP Audio Boost. The speakers can become reasonably loud, although the output is otherwise typical of a gaming laptop. External speakers or a headset remain preferable for games, films and music.

Build quality

The HyperX OMEN 15 uses a Shadow Black finish with a relatively restrained design. The top lid has a smooth matte coating with a large HyperX logo positioned at the centre. The branding is bold, but the rest of the chassis avoids overly aggressive gamer styling. The C-surface carries subtle decals that add some visual character without becoming distracting. The edges are sharp and clearly defined, giving the laptop a slightly angular appearance. Structural rigidity is good. The chassis does not feel flimsy, and the keyboard deck remains reasonably firm during typing. The lid also feels secure enough for regular travel, though the laptop is clearly better suited to a backpack than frequent one-handed carrying. A long rubber foot spans much of the bottom panel. It raises the chassis slightly and gives the underside vents enough clearance to draw in cooler air. The large intake areas are covered by a double mesh layer, although the internal components remain visually exposed enough to give the underside a somewhat unfinished appearance.

At slightly over 2.4 kg, the HyperX OMEN 15 is not a lightweight notebook. The 230 W power adapter adds further bulk but the weight is reasonable for a performance-oriented 15-inch gaming laptop, particularly one with an HX-series processor and a substantial cooling system. It is still better treated as a machine that occasionally moves between locations rather than one carried around throughout the day.

Connectivity and I/O

The port selection covers the essentials, but placement is a mixed bag. The rear contains the HDMI 2.1 output and USB Type-C port. Positioning display and docking connections at the back helps keep cables away from the mouse area. However, both ports sit close to the exhaust vents. Plugging or unplugging a cable while the laptop is under load can warm up your hands nicely. The right side houses Gigabit Ethernet and one USB Type-A 10 Gbps port. The left side contains a second USB Type-A 10 Gbps port, the power connector and a combined headphone and microphone jack.

The USB Type-C connection supports a 10 Gbps signalling rate, DisplayPort 1.4, USB Power Delivery and HP Sleep and Charge. Two Type-A ports are sufficient for a mouse and another peripheral, but an additional Type-A connector would have been useful on a gaming laptop. Many users will connect a mouse, keyboard, external drive, controller or headset dongle at the same time.

Webcam

The 1080p webcam produces decent image quality for calls, classes and streaming previews. It supports automatic HDR switching and temporal noise reduction. The image is not comparable to a dedicated external webcam, but it is clearer than the 720p cameras still found on many gaming machines. The dual-array microphones are also effective at retaining voice quality during calls, making an external microphone unnecessary for routine communication.

Keyboard and mouse

The full-sized keyboard includes a number pad and full-sized arrow keys. Its layout is comfortable for both gaming and productivity, and the keys remain pleasant to use during longer typing sessions. Travel and feedback are adequate rather than mechanical-keyboard-like, but the keyboard does not feel shallow or vague. Anti-ghosting support also helps when several keys are pressed simultaneously during games. The default lighting is red, while the four-zone RGB system can be customised through OMEN Gaming Hub. Four-zone lighting offers less precision than per-key control, but it is sufficient for creating a consistent colour scheme. HP says that this is one of the few laptops that has a keyboard with a high polling rate. Typically, you have a 1000 Hz polling rate by default which is quite high but there will be folks who might see a benefit if they’re extremely competitive. Most folks can rarely outtype 1000 Hz, so the benefit is limited to fast-typing individuals.

Coming to the trackpad, it is sensibly sized, extending roughly from beneath the C key to the full-stop key. Its matte surface feels smooth, and pointer movement is accurate. The placement is slightly left of centre due to the number pad. Palm rejection works properly during typing, while the integrated click mechanism is usable across most of the surface. Gaming will still require an external mouse, but the trackpad is comfortable enough for general navigation and productivity work.

Removing the bottom panel is relatively straightforward. A series of screws around the edges secure the cover, and there are no unusually complicated internal clips. Inside, the cooling system uses two fans connected to a shared heatpipe assembly. The RAM modules are positioned near the centre of the board, with the occupied SSD slot located immediately to the left. A second vacant M.2 slot sits on the right side, allowing storage to be expanded without replacing the original drive. 

The battery occupies most of the lower half of the chassis, while the speakers sit along the bottom edge. The memory, SSD and battery are all reasonably accessible. Replacing or upgrading these components should be manageable for an experienced user or technician. 

Performance

CPU performance

The Intel Core i7-14650HX remains a capable high-performance mobile processor. Its combination of eight Performance cores and eight Efficient cores gives it enough processing resources for gaming, content creation and demanding multitasking. The Geekbench 6 single-core score of 2,751 reflects strong everyday responsiveness. Applications launch quickly, web browsing remains fluid with numerous tabs open, and routine office workloads do not challenge the processor. The multi-core result of 13,253 shows that the laptop is also well suited to heavier workloads. Video encoding, software compilation, 3D rendering and batch processing can make use of the additional cores.

Cinebench 2026 results tell a similar story with single-core scores at 600 and multicore scores at 3350. The processor is not among the latest generation of high-end mobile chips, but it continues to provide more than enough CPU performance for a system built around an RTX 5050. Suffice to say, gaming workloads are unlikely to be limited by the processor in most situations. The graphics card will generally become the bottleneck first, particularly at higher settings and resolutions.

Sustained performance was assessed through a repeated Cinebench loop. No significant throttling was observed across the test. The cooling system allowed the processor to maintain consistent performance rather than producing a strong initial score followed by a sharp decline. That matters more than a short burst benchmark because gaming and rendering workloads often run for extended periods. The CPU still operates at relatively high temperatures, but there was no evidence of those temperatures causing a substantial reduction in sustained benchmark performance.

GPU performance

The RTX 5050 Laptop GPU is configured at a maximum graphics power of 115 W, which gives it a relatively generous power budget for this GPU class. A Time Spy score of 8,861 positions the system as a capable Full HD gaming machine. It can also handle some games at 2560 × 1600, although demanding titles will require reduced settings, upscaling or frame generation. The Port Royal score of 5,724 illustrates the GPU’s ray-tracing capability, but ray tracing places substantial pressure on this class of hardware. Turning on intensive ray-traced effects without DLSS is unlikely to produce comfortable frame rates in newer AAA games.

The RTX 5050’s main advantage comes from NVIDIA’s software stack. DLSS upscaling can render the game at a lower internal resolution before reconstructing it to the target output, while frame generation inserts additional generated frames between traditionally rendered ones. These technologies can produce a significant increase in displayed frame rate, although generated frames do not remove the underlying rendering latency. A game displaying 120 fps through frame generation will not necessarily feel identical to one rendering 120 native frames each second.

The Procyon AI Computer Vision score of 102 indicates that the GPU can accelerate compatible local AI workloads. It is suitable for experimentation, image processing and AI-assisted applications, but the RTX 5050 is not intended for heavier professional AI training or large local models.

RAM performance

The laptop uses a single 24 GB Samsung DDR5-5600 module. In AIDA64, the read result of 45,095 MB/s is close to the theoretical bandwidth of a single 64-bit DDR5-5600 channel. Write and copy performance are a bit lower, while the 87.7 ns latency is relatively higher than typical levels. This is primarily due to the memory configuration. The 24 GB capacity is useful, but using only one module limits available bandwidth. Adding a second compatible module should improve memory performance and may help in CPU-limited games and productivity workloads. The laptop remains responsive in its standard configuration, and 24 GB is enough for most gaming use. 

Storage performance

The 1 TB Kioxia KBG60ZNV1T02 PCIe Gen 4 SSD delivered strong sequential performance. Sequential read speeds of over 6,100 MB/s are strong for an OEM laptop SSD. Large applications and games load quickly, while file transfers involving large assets benefit from write speeds exceeding 5,300 MB/s in the highest queue-depth test. The 4K Q1T1 result is more representative of everyday operating system responsiveness. 

Display

The 15.3-inch display has a native resolution of 2560 × 1600 and a 16:10 aspect ratio. The additional vertical space is useful outside gaming, particularly for web pages, documents and editing timelines. The panel reached approximately 486 nits in testing, close to HP’s 500-nit claim. This is brighter than many gaming laptops in the same segment and makes the screen usable in well-lit indoor environments. Colour coverage reached the claimed 100 per cent sRGB range, while the measured Delta E of 1.9 indicates good colour accuracy. A Delta E below 2 is generally suitable for content creation that does not require a specialised reference display.

The 180 Hz refresh rate produces smooth motion in competitive games and during general desktop use. The high refresh rate is especially useful in lighter esports games, where the RTX 5050 can generate enough frames to take advantage of it. At the native resolution, the display is sharp, but 2560 × 1600 is demanding for an RTX 5050. Users will frequently need to rely on DLSS or reduce the output resolution to 1920 × 1200 or Full HD in demanding games. The anti-glare coating helps control reflections, while viewing angles are consistent with a good IPS panel. Overall, the display is one of the HyperX OMEN 15’s stronger components.

Networking

Wireless connectivity is handled by the Realtek 8852BE-VT Wi-Fi 6 adapter. Gigabit Ethernet is available for users who prefer a stable wired connection. The inclusion of an RJ-45 socket remains valuable for competitive gaming, large downloads and local network transfers. Lastly, there’s Bluetooth 5.4 support for wireless controllers, headsets, keyboards and other accessories.

Gaming

Cyberpunk 2077 is among the more demanding games used to assess modern laptop GPUs. With ray tracing, DLSS and frame generation enabled at Full HD, the HyperX OMEN 15 produced approximately 130 fps. That is a high frame rate, but it relies on every major performance-assistance feature available to the RTX 5050. So you need to have DLSS and Frame Generation turned on. Dropping the output resolution to Full HD is the quickest way to improve performance in newer games. This creates an unusual relationship between the laptop and its display. The 2560 × 1600 panel looks sharp for desktop work and less demanding titles, but the RTX 5050 is better matched to Full HD for modern AAA gaming. 

Competitive games should run comfortably at high frame rates, allowing the 180 Hz panel to be used more fully. More demanding releases will require a combination of medium or high settings, DLSS and, where supported, frame generation. The GPU is, therefore, workable but it does not leave much performance headroom. You should note that the RTX 5060 configuration is available for only around ₹10,000 more.

Noise and temps

The HyperX OMEN 15 remained surprisingly restrained during testing. Fan noise was barely noticeable under lighter workloads and did not become intrusive during gaming. There was no coil whine or other unusual electrical noise. The lack of distracting acoustic behaviour improves the overall experience, particularly during non-gaming use. The cooling system does still push warm air through the rear vents, and users may notice the exhaust when connecting cables near the HDMI and USB Type-C ports. Acoustically, however, the laptop performs well for an HX-series gaming machine.

The Core i7-14650HX reached approximately 86 to 88°C during heavy gaming. These temperatures are high but not unusual for an HX-series mobile processor operating inside a compact gaming chassis. The RTX 5050 recorded a lower peak of around 78°C. This is a reasonable result for a 115 W laptop GPU and leaves some margin below typical thermal limits. We did not notice any significant throttling during an extended Cinebench loop so the temperatures are being managed effectively. The laptop runs hot internally, but not to the point where performance collapses under sustained load. 

Battery life

The 70 Wh battery lasted 2 hours and 52 minutes in the PCMark video playback test. That is a common expectation with gaming laptops. Gaming on battery power will reduce runtime further and also limit performance. The laptop is at its best when connected to the power adapter. The 180 Hz display, HX-series processor and discrete GPU all contribute to the relatively short endurance. Switching the screen to 60 Hz and using a quieter power profile may extend runtime, but those adjustments are unlikely to transform it into a long-lasting portable machine. HP claims that the battery supports fast charging to approximately 50 per cent in 30 minutes and we did see it easily charge the battery fast. So that’s a nice way to compensate for the lower battery life that these gaming laptops have. 

Verdict

The HP HyperX OMEN 15-ga0028TX gets many of the fundamentals right. It has a sturdy chassis, a comfortable keyboard, a useful selection of ports, straightforward internal access and a cooling system that maintains performance without producing excessive fan noise. Its display is particularly good and CPU performance is another strength. The Core i7-14650HX handles modern games and multi-threaded productivity workloads comfortably. But when you look at the RTX 5050, it can produce smooth gameplay, but demanding titles require DLSS, frame generation and lower output resolutions. 

At approximately ₹1,59,990, the configuration is difficult to recommend, especially considering that the RTX 5060 version with the same Core i7-14650HX costs around ₹10,000 more and offers a more appropriate level of graphics performance for this price category and the laptop’s 2560 × 1600 display. There are competing laptops with the RTX 5060 at the same price point such as the Acer NITRO V15 or the Lenovo LOQ 2025 which cost significantly lesser but you’ll see a bit less memory or an older 13th Gen CPU on those units. From a purely-FPS perspective, those laptops do better in most games but there will be times when you’d have wished for a better CPU. So it’s a choice, either you can compromise on the GPU and get the HyperX OMEN or compromise on the memory and get the competing units. But if you really want an HP laptop, then the RTX 5060 variant is a better buy.

Water purifiers are one of those appliances most people install once and then think about only when something breaks. Over the past few years, I have seen a lot of them, and the pattern is usually the same: a plastic box under or beside the sink, a tap, and no real way of knowing what is actually happening inside until the filter light comes on or the water starts tasting off. And, of course, the aftermath is also difficult and sometimes hard on the pocket. But over the years, the dynamics have changed. You get a lot of tech, from apps to more unique designs and even better, affordable service is already available, but only if you choose one. This search brought me to the recently launched Native M2 Pro by Urban Company.

The Native M2 Pro is priced at Rs 19,499 and wants to change the conversation entirely, with its purification method and after-sales structure as its main selling points. So, how has it been? Here is my take.

Native M2 Pro: Design and installation

The Native M2 Pro has a fairly clean, understated design: a matte black body, a touch panel up front, a retractable tray, and a small light near the base that switches on automatically at night, which is a nice detail if you're filling a bottle without turning on the kitchen lights. It does not scream smart appliance the way some competitors do with extra LEDs and displays; it's closer to a piece of kitchen furniture that happens to dispense water.

At roughly 24.5 × 13.2 × 9.9 inches, the Native M2 Pro is not the smallest unit around, but it doesn't feel bulky either, and the 8-litre tank is enough for a household of four to five without needing to refill constantly. However, the installation can be a little tricky, specifically if you have a small kitchen like me. This one does need a reasonable amount of counter or wall space, so I would suggest you measure your kitchen layout before ordering rather than assuming it'll slot into a tight corner.

Installation includes the purifier itself, a mounting and installation kit, and an external sediment filter, and Native offers free delivery and installation as part of the deal. I didn't have to arrange anything separately for this unit, which was a welcome change from setups where you're told mid-installation that you need an additional valve, tap, or part before the technician can finish the job, a common (and often irritating) surprise with other brands.

Native M2 Pro: How it purifies water

Before receiving it, I read a lot about the Urban Company Native M2 Pro and, to be honest, its purification method. And to test my knowledge, I had a detailed conversation about how it works with the Urban Company's engineer who came to install it, and I think you should read it too.

A lot of RO purifiers in this price range use an MTDS control or bypass valve, essentially blending a bit of untreated water back into the purified stream to hit a target TDS reading. It is cheaper to engineer, and it keeps the water from tasting ‘too pure’ or flat, but it also means a portion of what comes out of the tap hasn't gone through the RO membrane at all.

What I found out is that the M2 Pro skips this step. All the water goes through RO purification first, and minerals, along with copper, are added back afterwards for taste and balance, rather than being blended in from an untreated source. On top of that, there is a UV stage and an alkaline stage, which brings the total to a 10-stage process, and the unit is rated for input TDS up to 2,500 ppm, which should comfortably cover most municipal supplies and a good number of borewell sources too.

Whether this purification approach matters to you in day-to-day use is honestly debatable. Most people can't taste the difference between water that's been through a bypass valve and fully RO-treated water with minerals added back afterwards. But for buyers who actually read the specification sheet and care about how the number they see on a TDS meter was arrived at, it's a real and meaningful distinction, not just marketing language.

Native M2 Pro: Dispensing

I usually don't mention this section in a review, but this one is practical. It's one of the day-to-day parts of the experience and probably the feature you will notice the most once the novelty of a new appliance wears off. Rather than holding down a button and watching the glass fill while trying not to overflow it, there are touch presets for Glass, Bottle, and Free Flow: tap the mode, place your container, and it stops on its own once the preset amount has been dispensed.

It's a small thing on paper, but it does cut down on the standing-around-waiting part of getting a glass of water, especially with the presets being adjustable if the defaults don't match your usual glass or bottle size, which is useful if your household uses everything from small tumblers to one-litre bottles. There is also a battery backup for dispensing during power cuts, so you are covered in such cases as well. But do note that the battery only backs up the dispenser and not the pump.

Native M2 Pro: The companion app

Honestly, this one is new for me. I have switched from a classic Aquaguard to the Native M2 Pro, and suddenly I have a lot of options to look at. You can simply track the water quality, filter health, and usage data, along with the Smart Rinse auto-clean function that's meant to run on its own without you having to remember to trigger it.

However, I will admit that I have not opened the app often after the initial setup. It's not something that you will be checking daily, and the novelty of 'smart' monitoring does wear off after the first week or two. But it is actually useful to have around for the moments that matter: knowing when to change the filter, what the water quality is, and when you should call your technician.

Native M2 Pro: Ownership costs

This is where Native tries hardest to differentiate the M2 Pro from other purifiers on the market, and arguably where the brand's Urban Company parentage shows most clearly, given the company's background in RO servicing. The M2 Pro comes with a two-year filter life that requires no servicing, and a two-year unconditional warranty covering filters, membranes, electrical components, and service visits.

After that initial two-year period, a full filter refresh costs Rs 5,000 to renew the cycle, which is worth budgeting for upfront rather than being surprised by it later. Optional add-ons, including a booster pump for low water-pressure situations, a PRV (Rs 250), and a PE kit (Rs 500), are available if your home's plumbing needs them, and delivery and installation are, of course, free.

The package actually makes sense. If you do the maths, you would actually save a few thousand rupees in just four years.

Native M2 Pro: Verdict

None of the individual technologies in the M2 Pro is new: RO, UV, mineral addition, and app-connected monitoring have all existed in other purifiers before this one, sometimes for years. What Native has done is package them in a way that's a bit more transparent about the purification process itself, and a bit less annoying to live with day to day, particularly through the auto-stop dispensing feature and the no-servicing warranty structure.

It's not a purifier that will wow you with novelty, and at Rs 19,499, it sits solidly in the upper-mid segment rather than being a budget pick, so it's not the right fit if you're shopping purely on price. But if your priorities are knowing exactly what your purification process involves, not wanting to think about servicing for two years, and having a slightly more convenient dispensing experience day to day, it does deliver on those fronts reasonably well.

Working from home sounded relaxing at first. But now, we all know, it is anything but that. Long meetings, hours of typing, switching between various devices, and more are just part of the deal, and before you know it, you realise you have spent the entire day sitting at your desk. The same is true for those who work from the office. While introducing the Signature Comfort Plus mouse and keyboard, Logitech claimed to have a solution for exactly this. I’ve been using the Logitech Signature Comfort Plus M850 L for more than a week and have been pleased with the experience so far. But does it actually bring you the comfort that Logitech promises? Read on as we explore the answer in this review. 

Also read: Best laptops to buy under Rs 60,000 for work, study and gaming in 2026

Logitech Signature Comfort Plus M850L: Ergonomics and design

When you talk about comfort, the design and ergonomics are the first aspects that deserve attention. And, the first thing that you notice once you unbox the Signature Comfort Plus M850 L will be the palm cushion. Yes, you read that right. This mouse comes with an in-built cushion so that your palms stay comfortable all day long (in all honesty, that’s a sentence I never imagined I’d write for a mouse review). 

Now the idea sounds thoughtful, and it really is, but when you actually rest your palm on this mouse, you may wish it were just a bit more… plushy. When I used the mouse throughout my workday, it was certainly comfortable, but I am not sure how much of that was down to the cushion. That said, when I slammed my hand against the mouse in the middle of a panic session at work, I didn’t hurt my hand at all. So that’s a plus. 

Moving on from the in-built palm cushion, the rest of the design is exactly what you would expect from a good Logitech mouse. My hand wrapped around it comfortably, the size felt just right, and the rubberised sides provided an excellent grip.

In terms of looks, the mouse feels built to last while looking good at the same time. The signature Logitech logo sits neatly in the centre, and the graphite colourway gives it a clean, understated aesthetic. There is also an off-white colourway available if you prefer a lighter look. 

As for the build quality, the mouse feels sturdy enough to handle everyday wear and tear. It is certainly on the heavier side and won’t appeal if you are used to lightweight mice. But with that extra weight comes precision, which is far more important for some users. 

Buttons, scroll wheel and clicks

Comfort is not just about how a mouse feels in your hand. It is also about how it performs during a long workday. And the Signature Comfort Plus M850 L gets most of the basics right.

The left and right click buttons feel tactile without requiring too much force, and Logitech's silent click technology really does make a difference here. The clicks still provide enough feedback, but without all the noise that most traditional mice make. So if you do not like loud mouse clicks, this is something you will greatly appreciate. 

The SmartWheel also deserves a mention here. It automatically switches between precise line-by-line scrolling and faster scrolling depending on how quickly you move the wheel. During my usage, browsing through long documents, Excel sheets and web pages felt effortless, and I rarely found myself reaching for the scroll bar.

There are also programmable side buttons that can be customised using Logitech's Logi Options+ software, which we’ll talk about more in just a moment. So if your workflow involves frequently switching between applications or assigning shortcuts, these buttons can save you quite a bit of time. While I mostly left them with the default settings during my testing, you will certainly get more value out of them if you enjoy customising the buttons.

Logi Options+ Software

Like most Logitech peripherals, the Signature Comfort Plus M850 L becomes much more useful once you install the Logi Options+ software. The app allows you to remap buttons, customise the Actions Ring, create Smart Actions that automate repetitive tasks, and even access Logitech's AI Prompt Builder for generating AI prompts with preset instructions. None of these features is enabled by default, so you will have to spend a few minutes setting them up. Once configured, though, they can make your workflow noticeably smoother.

Battery life is another area where Logitech continues to impress. The company claims the mouse can last up to two years on a single battery. Since I only used it for a little over a week, I obviously cannot verify that claim, but I never had to replace the battery during my testing. So, this is one less device you'll have to worry about charging or plugging in regularly.

It is also nice to see Logitech putting some focus on sustainability. The mouse uses recycled plastic in its construction, depending on the colour variant, arrives in FSC-certified paper packaging, and is designed to reduce battery replacements over its lifespan.

Connectivity and multi-device switching

Now, coming to one of my favourite features of this mouse: working across multiple devices.

The Logitech Signature Comfort Plus M850 L mouse can pair with up to three Bluetooth-enabled devices, and switching between them takes just the press of a button located at the back of the mouse. During my testing, I regularly switched between my Windows laptop and MacBook without any hiccups, and the connection remained stable throughout.

The mouse works across Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, Android and even iPadOS, making it a versatile option if you use different operating systems during the day.

The only thing worth keeping in mind is that the standard version relies entirely on Bluetooth. Unlike many other Logitech wireless mice, you do not get the Logi Bolt USB receiver in the box. That receiver is reserved for the business variant, so users who prefer a dedicated wireless dongle may find this slightly disappointing.

Should you buy?

The Logitech Signature Comfort Plus M850 L tries to make your workday a little more comfortable. And, for the most part, it succeeds. The palm cushion isn’t as soft as you would want it to be, but the overall ergonomics, comfortable grip, silent clicks, reliable Bluetooth connectivity and excellent software support make this an easy mouse to live with. 

At Rs 7,762, this isn't a budget purchase, and there are plenty of capable wireless mice available for much less. However, if you spend eight or more hours at your desk every day and want a productivity-focused mouse that prioritises comfort, the Signature Comfort Plus M850 L is well worth considering. It may not transform your workday overnight, but after using it for a while, going back to an ordinary mouse certainly feels like a downgrade.

Also read: Nvidia GeForce Now finally available in India with no waiting list

Buying truly wireless earbuds under Rs 4000 is both easy and confusing. Easy because there is no shortage of options, and confusing because almost every pair promises the same things: active noise cancellation (ANC), bigger drivers, long battery life and AI-powered features. On paper, they often look nearly identical. The real differences only become apparent after using them for a few days. I have been using the OnePlus Nord Buds 4 as my primary earbuds for work, music, videos and calls for a week to find out whether they justify their Rs 3299 price tag. They promise features such as up to 52dB active noise cancellation, 12mm dynamic drivers, a six-microphone AI Clear Call system, up to 47ms low-latency gaming mode, up to 54 hours of battery life and some AI-powered features. The answer to whether they're worth buying is already in the title, but the real question is how well these features perform in everyday use. Let's find that out.

OnePlus Nord Buds 4: Verdict

The OnePlus Nord Buds 4 may not lead the segment in every technical aspect, but they deliver a polished everyday experience. They are comfortable, sound good across genres, offer reliable ANC, long battery life and a feature-rich app. If you prefer a warmer, more relaxed sound signature over an analytical one, they are worth considering at Rs 3299.

OnePlus Nord Buds 4: Design

However good-looking or good-performing a TWS earbuds pair is, if the case isn't portable enough, then it fails the point. The good thing is Nord Buds 4's case is compact and chic in looks and profile. Even the firmness with which the hinge snaps adds to the earbuds' appeal. The teal colour is easy on the eyes, but it can get worn out over time.

Inside, the earbuds have a tried-and-true stem form. The fit and comfort are also superb. The default ear tip worked fine, but you can swap it with the alternative pairs in the box.

Last but not least, the OnePlus Nord Buds 4 carry an IP55 rating, which means they should easily withstand sweat during workouts or light rain.

OnePlus Nord Buds 4: Sound quality

OnePlus Nord Buds 4 share the infatuation that most budget earbuds have for bass. While the bass here isn't too much, it is still more noticeable than on a Realme Buds Air 8 (review). This is true for the sub-bass in Childish Gambino's 'Retro', and the reverb in 'Retrograde' by James Blake, which are tighter on the Realme earbuds pair.

In another test track, 'Feel Good Inc' by Gorillaz, the guitar bassline sounded deeper and punchier on the Realme Buds Air 8. Meanwhile, Damon Albarn's vocals also sound clearer, while the rap verses were easier to follow. The OnePlus Nord Buds 4 delivered an enjoyable listening experience, but the Realme earbuds brought forward more detail from the track. Even the signature laughter effects sounded more open and prominent on the Realme, whereas they felt slightly recessed on the OnePlus. 

Basically, with OnePlus, you can expect a smoother, more relaxed character that many listeners may actually prefer during longer listening sessions.

Meanwhile, in the treatment of higher frequencies, the Realme Buds Air 8 does a cleaner job. The OnePlus Nord Buds 4 sounded itsy bitsy shrill in the elevated portions of 'Dawn of the Iconoclast' by Dead Can Dance. The opening drum sequence and percussion in the same track sounded weaker on the OnePlus earbuds, but had some weight in the Realme earbuds' presentation.

That said, all these differences aren't large enough to take away from the overall listening experience, and for casual listeners switching between genres, the Nord Buds 4 deliver a warm and enjoyable sound signature.

By the way, I tried all of these with the Balanced (default) EQ preset with BassWave feature disabled. The latter dynamically boosts bass in tracks. Within the HeyMelody companion app, you can enable Gaming mode for low latency in fast-paced titles. We'll talk more about this app later. So, all in all, you have options to tweak the sound to some extent, which is good.

Also Read: Realme Buds Air 8 Pro review: Expressive and easy to recommend

OnePlus Nord Buds 4: ANC and call quality

The Nord Buds 4 with its 52dB ANC ceiling, can reduce the background noises, be it office chatter, clacking of keyboard keys, traffic noises, AC, fan and vacuum cleaner noises to a great extent. But the Realme Buds Air 8 offers a marginally better cancellation up to 55dB, which is noticeable if you really pay attention.

So, the noise doesn't vanish completely, but it becomes far less distracting. As for the various ANC modes available, the High mode offers more aggressive noise cancellation, and the Moderate mode was also effective in cancelling most of the noises and was slightly less overpowering.

Transparency mode is suitable for brief conversations or hearing announcements without removing the earbuds. Voices sound normal, but you can feel there is a thin sieve in between. Considering the price, I can't complain, but the Realme Buds Air 8 does a better job here, too. Realme gives a voice enhancement option as well.

Besides noise handling, the mics on the Nord Buds 4 earbuds do a good job for calls. OnePlus underlines the use of AI to enhance clarity.

OnePlus Nord Buds 4: Battery life

Like the OnePlus Nord Buds 4 Pro, the standard model also delivers a day-long battery life. During my testing, with ANC off and music (FLAC format) continuously playing at 80 per cent volume, the Nord Buds 4 ran for 11 hours and 12 minutes. And so in everyday use, it is but obvious that I never actually managed to drain them completely in a single working day. The total playback with ANC off can go up to 54 hours, as per OnePlus's claims.

And with ANC on, at 50 per cent volume, the brand says the earbuds will last for 6.5 hours and with the case, they can last as long as 27 hours. Your mileage may vary.

Even if it drops dead, the fast charging support is very useful. After the battery drain test, I plugged them in for some time, and when I checked them, the earbuds had regained 90 per cent health. The Nord Buds 4 is said to take 55 minutes to fully charge, and the case takes another half an hour.

OnePlus Nord Buds 4: Software experience

The pairing was straightforward and quick. The OnePlus Nord Buds 4 supports Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair.

After pairing, you will need the HeyMelody app for controlling the rest of the experience. This app shares the same simple design philosophy as the earbuds' design. It offers two screens. The main screen shows the remaining battery life and has noise control, dual connection, equaliser, game mode, etc. The second screen offers touch controls, with plenty of customisable gestures for both the left and right earbuds. The earbuds also give Spotify Tap, which lets you quickly launch the streaming app. Since I primarily use Spotify, I liked this integration.

You can configure tap gestures to trigger an AI assistant, and there's also an AI-powered translation feature. These are nice to have.

OnePlus Nord Buds 4: Should you buy it?

If you simply compare specifications, the OnePlus Nord Buds 4 don't always come out on top. The Realme Buds Air 8 also edges ahead in areas such as sound detail, transparency mode and active noise cancellation. However, that doesn't mean the Nord Buds 4 is bad.

I had a comfortable experience using it over the past week. This includes the lightweight build of the earbuds, the compactness of the case, the comely finish of the earbuds and case, reliable battery life, dependable call quality, a breadth of touch controls, and a simple-to-use yet feature-rich HeyMelody app. The sound signature is also easy to listen to across different genres. Even here, you get customisation options so that you can choose based on your taste.

That matter of taste is what makes you choose between the Realme Buds Air 8 and the OnePlus Nord Buds 4. Listeners who enjoy picking apart every layer in a song may prefer the Realme Buds Air 8. Realme also offers a more aggressive noise cancellation and transparency mode. The differences are meagre, though, and if you are a casual listener, you would enjoy the OnePlus earbuds' sound too.

And that brings us back to the question posed at the beginning of this review. When almost every pair of earbuds under Rs 4,000 promises the same features, what really matters is how those features come together in everyday use. The OnePlus Nord Buds 4 may not win every technical comparison, but they are comfortable, reliable, feature-rich and consistently enjoyable to use. So, at Rs 3299, you can consider them as your next TWS earbuds if you like a warmer and more relaxed sound profile.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar stories.

Also Read: Huawei FreeBuds SE 4 review: Should you buy these TWS earbuds under Rs 6000?

I type... a lot. And my workspace, (just like many other writers), has a hard time staying clean. Okay, let’s say I may be having a hard time keeping it clean, but that isn't what we need to focus on. What we do need to focus on is the reason behind all that clutter. Endless gadgets, chargers, external drives, cables and all the other accessories that somehow always end up scattered here and there. So when I got the opportunity to review the new Asus AIO (All-in-One), I couldn't help but wonder if this could finally give me a cleaner, more organised workspace. And after using this as my primary work machine for over a week, I can say that it does its job flawlessly.

Unlike a traditional desktop, there isn't a bulky CPU tower sitting under the desk or a dozen cables running in every direction. The PC is built right into the monitor stand, making the setup look far cleaner than what I'm used to. Now, of course, good looks alone aren't enough, especially when the Asus AIO comes with a price tag of Rs 1,11,990. So, does this device deserve your hard-earned money? Let us find out.

Also read: Asus Zenbook S14 review: Premium style at a premium price

Asus AIO: Specs, setup and installation

Before we delve deeper into the review, here is a quick look at what the device offers: 

Setting up and installing the Asus AIO was super quick and easy. All you need to do is take the AIO out of the box, connect it to a power source and press the power button located on the right edge of the monitor stand and connect its receiver to a USB-A port at the back of the monitor. Once the PC powers on, simply switch on the wireless mouse. The bundled keyboard doesn't come with a dedicated power button and automatically pairs with the system during the setup process.

Once this is done, it's the usual Windows setup. You'll be asked to connect to a Wi-Fi network, sign in with your Microsoft account and complete a few basic setup steps before reaching the main desktop screen. The entire process took me around 15 minutes from unboxing to getting started. And since there are hardly any cables to deal with, it all looks super clean. You also don't have to spend time connecting a separate CPU, monitor or speakers. Everything is ready to go within minutes, making the Asus AIO one of the easiest desktops I've ever set up.

Asus AIO review: Design and build 

Asus has been really smart with the design here. The entire PC is inside the monitor stand, which means it takes up less space and gives you a much cleaner desk. And trust me, if your workspace gets messy as quickly as mine does, you'll love this.

Another thing I loved is that despite everything being packed inside, this thing isn't ridiculously heavy. I was able to take it out of the box and set it up on my work desk all by myself. So if you ever need to move it between rooms or offices, it isn't going to be a huge task.

But, I also want to mention about something most brands don't really get enough credit for: the ports. And Asus has done a great job here. At the back of the monitor, you get an HDMI port, Ethernet, and three USB Type-A ports. And the ports you'll probably use every day, like the USB Type-C port and the headphone jack, are placed on the left side of the monitor stand. That means if you quickly want to plug in your headphones or connect an external device, you don't have to reach behind the monitor every time awkwardly. 

With that said, one thing that I did miss here was the height adjustment option. You can tilt the monitor to find a comfortable viewing angle, but that's about it. If your desk or chair sits a little higher or lower than usual, you might have to rely on a monitor stand or adjust your seating position to get the screen exactly where you want it.

But overall, the monitor itself feels premium and well-built, has a reassuring weight to it, and nothing feels flimsy. 

Asus AIO review: Keyboard and mouse

The Asus AIO comes bundled with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Starting with the keyboard, this is a full-sized 104-key layout, so you get a dedicated number pad and all the standard keys. And the typing experience is actually pretty decent. The keys are responsive and comfortable, once you get used to them. Personally, I come from a MacBook Air, so it definitely took me a day or so to get used to this Asus AIO. But once I adjusted, I had absolutely no issues writing long stories throughout the day.

As for the mouse, performance-wise, it is completely fine and does its job well. Clicks are responsive, tracking is accurate, and the scroll wheel feels smooth. My only complaint here is, well, the size. During my usage, my wrist kept touching my desk continuously. The mouse simply felt like it was too small. Now it was not so uncomfortable that I wanted to stop using the mouse altogether, but I definitely would've preferred a slightly larger mouse.

Also, while both accessories work well, they don't really feel like accessories that come with a PC costing over Rs 1 lakh. A little more premium look and feel would've completed the package.

Asus AIO review: Display, webcam and speakers 

The Asus AIO gets a 24-inch touchscreen IPS panel. And the first thing you'll notice here is the slim bezels. These don’t just enhance the overall feel but also give you a little more usable screen space. Now, the touchscreen here might appeal to some users, but as for me, I only kept accidentally closing important tabs while adjusting the viewing angle of the monitor.

The good thing is that this display comes with a matte finish, which means that reflections here are never a problem. I was able to work here comfortably even when I was sitting under those bright office lights. And that is a huge advantage. 

Brightness is another area where the display performs well. In fact, I spent most of my time using it at about 40 per cent brightness. Turning it all the way up to 100 per cent felt a little too bright for my eyes, so I never really needed to push it that far. 

As for the webcam, it's decent enough for everyday use. Whether it's Teams meetings, Zoom calls or catching up with colleagues, it gets the job done without any major complaints. It's not going to blow you away with image quality, but for a work-focused machine, it does exactly what's expected.

The speakers, on the other hand, were a pleasant surprise. I watched the trailers for Assassin's Creed Resynced and Marvel's Wolverine, and the audio sounded clear throughout. Dialogues were easy to hear, and action scenes had enough depth to make them enjoyable. Now, of course, these won't replace a dedicated pair of speakers. But for attending meetings and casual content consumption, the speakers are more than enough.

Asus AIO review: Performance and benchmarks

Now you could do everything right on a desktop, but it means very little if the performance isn't there. And thankfully, that is not the case with the Asus AIO. This machine is super responsive, and day-to-day performance was never an issue during my time with it. Running multiple apps, keeping around 20 Google Chrome tabs open, or working across Microsoft Office apps, the PC never felt like it was struggling. Everything remained smooth, even during long work sessions. 

I also ran several benchmark tests on the Asus AIO, and here’s how it went.

In the PCMark Applications test, the Asus AIO scored 12,942 points overall, including 7,041 in Word, 20,731 in Excel, 12,815 in PowerPoint and 15,001 in Edge. So if your work revolves around Microsoft 365, this machine is more than capable.

Moving on to Geekbench, it scored 2,121 in single-core and 10,587 in multi-core. In Cinebench R23, the machine scored 5,207 points in the multi-core test and 968 in the single-core test. And in the 3DMark Night Raid test, the Asus AIO managed 16,238 points.

Should you buy the Asus AIO?

So… coming to the Rs 1 lakh question: should you get the Asus AIO for your home or office setup? Simply put, if you're someone who wants a desktop without a bulky tower and messy cables, this machine is built for you. It looks clean, saves up space, and comes with excellent performance and display for everyday work. 

Granted, at Rs 1,11,990, this isn't exactly an affordable desktop. Especially when previous Asus All-in-One PCs have been available for almost half that amount. So yes, you're paying a premium. But if you have the budget and want a clean, clutter-free desktop that performs well for office work and everyday use, the Asus AIO checks all boxes.

Also read: Asus ExpertBook Ultra review: Built for business, not attention

My old air conditioner had stopped cooling properly, and with Delhi's unforgiving summer around the corner, I was already planning to replace it. Around the same time, Godrej sent over its new Magnus 2026 air conditioner for review. This particular model packs a slightly larger 1.6-ton capacity than a typical 1.5-ton AC, carries a 3-star energy rating under the latest BEE norms, and adds features such as 5-in-1 convertible cooling and smart app connectivity. At Rs 39990, it also competes in one of the busiest price segments in the market.
On paper, it promises stronger cooling than most similarly priced 1.5-ton models without asking buyers to spend significantly more on a premium 5-star AC. But specifications rarely tell the full story. After using it through Delhi's peak summer, here's what the Godrej Magnus gets right, and where it still leaves room for improvement.

Godrej Magnus 2026 AC: Design and installation

The indoor unit has a clean, industrial design, and unlike most white indoor units that are designed to disappear into the background, the grey finish makes the Magnus stand out. On the right side, there is a small rectangular black display that offers some nice contrast to the rest of the body. Even when the display is on, there are only minimal LED indicators for temperature, cooling modes, timer counter, etc. Overall, the design looks urban but not necessarily fancy.

Build-wise, too, it seems built for long-term use rather than showroom appeal. Godrej uses copper for both the condenser and evaporator, instead of mixing copper and aluminium. That's a welcome decision because copper is easier to repair and generally holds up better over the years of use. The Blue Fin coating on the coils should also help if you live in a coastal city or an area with high pollution, where corrosion often shortens an AC's lifespan.

The remote feels sturdy, although it's slightly larger than those bundled with most ACs. It includes dedicated buttons for almost every function, so you rarely need to dig through menus. Despite its size, the curved edges make it comfortable to hold, and most buttons are within easy reach. My only complaint is the lack of a backlight, which makes using it in a dark room a little inconvenient.

As for the installation experience, the Godrej technicians carried out the setup smoothly. One of the technicians also demoed what each of the remote functions/buttons means. Like most brands, Godrej charges separately for the outdoor unit stand and any additional installation materials, such as extra copper piping or cable, if required.

Also Read: Hisense Intelli Cool Pro 1.5 ton AC review: Reliable cooling with reasonable smarts

Godrej Magnus 2026 AC: Performance, efficiency and noise

Instead of the usual 1.5-ton capacity found in this price range, Godrej AC has a 1.6-ton configuration with a 5200W capacity. The AC is also designed to continue cooling even when outdoor temperatures climb above 50°C, something that's becoming increasingly relevant in many parts of northern India during peak summer.

My room is on the first floor of a 4-storey building and receives harsh afternoon sunlight. The AC did a fair job in bringing the room temperature to the desired Celsius. Most of the time, I was running it up to 28°C only. The room will get quite cool at 26 or 25°C.

The AC also features four-way air swing, and you can direct the horizontal and vertical swing using the dedicated buttons on the AC remote. The airflow is also well controlled and reaches across my 150 sq ft room. By the way, Godrej claims a 190 sq ft coverage. The throw was even, as reflected in our temperature gun test. In the test, the AC took around 13 minutes to bring the wall temperature down from 32°C to the set temperature of 28°C. All the walls in the room took approximately 19 minutes to reach that temperature.

For most everyday use, the Godrej Magnus remains impressively quiet. The indoor unit only becomes noticeably louder when Turbo mode or the highest Convertible mode is activated.

Furthermore, if you want the AC's cooling output to match the weather outside, you can enable the required convertible mode. This reduces power consumption when full cooling isn't required. The Magnus is rated at around 4.40 ISEER, placing it among the better-performing 3-star options currently available. During my testing, daily usage ranged from around 1.8 kWh on lighter-use days to just over 4 kWh on hotter days, which is in line with what I'd expect from a 1.6-ton inverter AC cooling a sun-facing room in Delhi.

Godrej Smart Life app and features

The Godrej Smart Life app gives you essential control over the AC from your phone. You can adjust the temperature, change cooling and convertible modes, schedule operation by time and temperature and monitor electricity usage without using the remote.

By the way, the AC provides the following convertible modes. You can choose them depending on your cooling needs, and the more capacity used, the more electricity is also consumed.

• C5: 110% cooling capacity
• C4: 100% cooling capacity
• C3: 80% cooling capacity
• C2: 50% cooling capacity
• C1: 40% cooling capacity

Like most modern ACs, the Magnus includes an anti-dust filter and a self-cleaning function. Don't get them wrong. Neither is a replacement for an air purifier, but both are meant to keep the AC internals free from dust, mould and smell. Still, routine manual maintenance is recommended to keep the filter clean.

The remote has more options like the i-Sense mode, which lets the AC adjust cooling as per the temperature in the area of the remote. So, while sleeping in a big area with the AC remote next to you, this feature can help you have a comfortable sleep, as even a small difference in room temperature can affect sleep.

These features are genuinely useful rather than gimmicky.

Should you buy Godrej Magnus 2026 AC?

If you're shopping in the Rs 40,000 price range, the Godrej Magnus (19M3TG) delivers where it matters most. It offers reliable, quiet, and even cooling, with its 1.6-ton capacity, 5-in-1 convertible modes and four-way swing. Most days, I found 27 or 28°C was enough to keep my room comfortable when the outside temperature was intense.

If you have a moderate use in mind, then the 3-star rating shouldn't be a deal-breaker either. Under the latest BEE norms, efficiency standards are much stricter than before, and unless you plan to run the AC for 10 to 12 hours every day throughout the summer, spending considerably more on a 5-star model may not result in meaningful savings for several years.

The AC also includes useful everyday features such as i-Sense, self-cleaning, an energy consumption monitor and timer functions. But, if a polished smart home experience is high on your priority list, then note that the Godrej AC doesn't include smart assistant support and better IoT standards like Matter.

So, overall, the Godrej Magnus AC gets the fundamentals right. It performs well, is fairly efficient, and has a reassuring warranty package of up to 10 years. If your priority is dependable cooling rather than the smartest connected features, you can consider it in the Rs 40,000 segment.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar stories.

Also Read: Mova E40 Ultra review: A reliable robot vacuum cleaner under Rs 50000

If you are in the market looking for a smartphone, then you might already know that you are no longer short of options, specifically if you are considering some device in the mid-range segment. Why? In the past few years, the sub-Rs 20,000 and sub-Rs 30,000 categories have become quite competitive, with brands constantly trying to outdo each other with better cameras, larger batteries, brighter displays, and longer software support. Of course, this makes standing out in a segment increasingly difficult, but the good thing is that consumers have more choices. Adding to the choice is the new Samsung Galaxy A27.

But at the same time, manufacturers are dealing with their own challenges. Rising memory prices, increasing component costs, and supply chain troubles have quietly affected the decisions brands make behind the scenes. The result? A market where meaningful upgrades are becoming harder to deliver without pushing prices upwards. Every new launch now carries a bigger question: what exactly is new enough to justify your attention?

Which brings us back to Samsung’s newest A series device, the Galaxy A27. This will be a 2026 model for the mass market, and it comes with a Snapdragon chipset, improved durability and a handful of upgrades. On paper, it certainly sounds like a sensible package and why not? The Galaxy A series has been one of Samsung's strongest weapons in India, consistently appealing to buyers looking for a balance between brand value, reliability and features.

But the question is, does Samsung's latest mid-ranger bring enough to the table to justify its place in this crowded segment? Or is it simply another smartphone trying to keep pace with rapidly rising expectations? Here is what I think.

Samsung Galaxy A27: Display and design

Starting with the best segment, the display. It comes with a 6.7-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display featuring a 120Hz refresh rate and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection. On paper, it checks most of the boxes that I expect from a modern mid-range smartphone: large screen, smooth to hover around and durable.

In day-to-day usage, the display delivers exactly what you would expect from a Samsung panel. The colours are good and vibrant, blacks are deep, and contrast levels remain excellent across different viewing experiences. So, if you are watching movies, streaming web series, scrolling through Instagram or the web, you will like it.

The animations are fluid, scrolling is smooth and multitasking across apps is also responsive. And of course, One UI gets credit here. The optimisation and features offer a good experience.

During our testing, the panel reached around 1,340 nits in High Brightness Mode, which is sufficient for comfortable outdoor visibility even under harsh sunlight. Text remains readable, and content retains its punch without requiring users to constantly seek shade.

But… Yes, there is always a but. Competitors in this segment, such as the Motorola Edge 70 Fusion, offer curved OLED panels, higher 144Hz refresh rates, sharper 1.5K resolutions and even higher brightness levels at a similar price.

On pure specifications alone, Samsung's display does not necessarily lead the category. However, Samsung counters that with something equally important: durability. The Gorilla Glass Victus+ gives the Galaxy A27 an edge over its rivals. Still, for what it’s worth, many of its competitors in the segment are offering MIL-STD-810H military-grade certification. The Galaxy A27 doesn’t have that.

Coming to design, Samsung has adopted a familiar approach. The Galaxy A27 features a glass front and back protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+, paired with a plastic frame. It is 7.8mm thick, weighs 200 grams and feels substantial. It also gets an IP64 rating for dust and water resistance, an upgrade over its predecessor.

Samsung Galaxy A27: Performance

The Samsung Galaxy A27's performance is a classic case of Samsung prioritising balance over brute force. The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm's 4nm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset, which focuses on efficiency and delivering stable day-to-day performance. Samsung is also offering fast LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, which means you get improved app loading times, multi-tasking efficiency and overall responsiveness.

Whether you're switching between social media apps, browsing with multiple tabs open, responding to emails, attending video meetings or streaming content, the Galaxy A27 handles these tasks comfortably. That said, performance enthusiasts will definitely notice that competitors are beginning to offer more aggressive hardware at similar price points. Devices in this price range come equipped with newer Snapdragon 7-series chipsets that deliver noticeably higher CPU and GPU performance.

Benchmark results place the Galaxy A27 firmly in the upper mid-range category. The device scored 884,477 points in Antutu and achieved 12,843 points in the PCMark Work 3.1 test, 964 and 2,878 points in Geekbench 6’s single and multi-core tests, respectively.

Gaming, however, is not the Galaxy A27's strongest area. Casual titles run comfortably, and lighter games present no issues, but demanding titles require reduced graphics settings to maintain smooth gameplay. During testing, the device averaged around 50-55fps on smoother graphics presets.

However, the Galaxy A27 gets an edge in software longevity. The device offers six years of software support, which is more than what any rival in the segment offers. Also, there are some Galaxy AI features, such as Google Gemini, Perplexity integration, Bixby, and real-time voice transcription, that genuinely come in handy.

Samsung Galaxy A27: Battery

Here, the Galaxy A27 faces tough competition. The device packs a 5,000mAh battery, which remains perfectly adequate for everyday use, but several rivals in this segment have moved towards larger battery capacities. Phones in the same price category, like the Motorola Edge 70 Fusion and Redmi Note 15, offer noticeably bigger batteries, giving them an advantage on paper.

In our PCMark Battery Life test, the Galaxy A27 lasted 12 hours and 8 minutes. While that is enough to comfortably get through a full day of regular usage, it falls short of some competing devices in the same price bracket. For moderate users, battery life should not be a concern, but power users may find themselves reaching for the charger sooner than expected.

The Galaxy A27 supports 25W wired fast charging and takes a little over 90 minutes to go from 0 to 100 per cent. More importantly, Samsung only includes a charging cable in the box, while some rivals offer faster charging solutions and bundle the adapter as well.

Samsung Galaxy A27: Camera

The Samsung Galaxy A27 comes with a triple-camera setup consisting of a 50MP primary sensor with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS), a 5MP ultrawide camera and a 2MP macro lens. On the front, it houses a 12MP selfie camera. If we look at the specifications alone, the company has opted for a practical camera setup.

In daylight conditions, the primary camera offers good results. Images are sharp, colours look natural, and dynamic range is generally good for the segment. The post-processing also avoids excessive saturation, and you get more balanced and realistic visuals. I took some portraits as well, and the results were equally impressive. Skin tones appear natural, exposure is handled consistently, and edge detection remains reliable even around more challenging subjects such as curly hair. The background blur is software-generated, but the transition between subject and background looks smooth enough to avoid appearing artificial.

Close-up photography is one of the stronger aspects of the main camera. Flower and product shots benefit from good detail retention, accurate colours and natural depth. The camera is capable of producing images that look visually appealing without relying heavily on aggressive processing.

The ultrawide sensor is also useful for taking landscapes or group shots. However, it does show some limitations. Detail levels are lower than the primary camera, and some softness is visible around the edges.

Low-light performance is surprisingly decent. The primary sensor manages light sources well, retains decent detail and controls noise better than expected. The shots take indoor maintain a good balance between highlights and shadows.

Check out some camera samples

All in all, the Galaxy A27 offers a decent camera experience for everyday photography. But if you are specifically looking for a camera-centric smartphone that takes some brilliant social-media-ready photos, I’d suggest checking out the Motorola Edge 70 Fusion as well.

Samsung Galaxy A27 verdict: Should you buy it?

The Samsung Galaxy A27 is a device that plays around the traditional strengths. In the segment where brands are competing aggressively with larger batteries, fast charging, more powerful chipsets and increasingly ambitious cameras, Samsung has offered a more balanced approach focused on reliability, software longevity and everyday usability.

The display is among the strongest assets that offer vibrant colours, deep blacks and a smooth experience that buyers have come to expect from Samsung's AMOLED panels. The camera system is also decent and offers natural-looking photos with good dynamic range and consistent portrait performance. And yes, the clean One UI experience, useful AI features and six years of software support add weight to the package.

However, the phone is not without compromise. The performance is good for everyday tasks, but enthusiasts may ask for more. Battery life and charging speeds are also adequate rather than class-leading.

So, the Galaxy A27 is not the most exciting phone in the segment, but I would say it is definitely one of the safest choices. If you are somebody who prioritises software support, reliability, a polished user experience and a decent camera, you won’t go wrong with this.

I recently reviewed the Mova E40 Ultra, a robot vacuum cleaner priced at Rs 47999. Around the same time, I also received the Dreame L50S Pro Ultra for review, which costs Rs 79999. On paper, the Dreame promises higher 30,000Pa suction, hotter mop washing, more advanced camera-assisted navigation and even pet monitoring. But do these features make a meaningful difference in everyday use, or are they simply nice additions to an already capable robot vacuum? Well, you would get a noticeably better ownership experience, but not in the way you'd expect. Here's what I mean.

Verdict

The Dreame L50S Pro Ultra doesn’t just clean for you, it is also convenient to use. It quietly takes care of everyday floor cleaning, navigates obstacles more confidently and automatically takes care of much of its own maintenance. It struggles with sticky stains, but those are minor compromises. At Rs 79999, it offers a refined, largely hands-off ownership experience and is a strong choice for anyone looking to buy a premium robot vacuum.

Powerful, quiet and quick cleaning

While the higher suction power of the Dreame L50S Pro Ultra cleaned stains better than the Mova E40 Ultra, there isn't a dramatic difference. The floors didn't suddenly become cleaner. In fact, I found the experience very comparable since both Mova and Dreame belong to the same ecosystem.

Compared to a competing product in the same price range, the Dreame vacuum cleaner used less water while mopping, but took longer or more cycles to clean some tomato ketchup stains. It is fairly fast at its job, cleaning the perimeter first and then the area within in an S-shaped pattern.

You just need to give it commands through the app, and the machine is intelligent enough to work without further intervention. It follows its route, cleans the area, returns to the dock for refilling water, charging itself or clearing the dust and dirty water. It automatically empties its dustbin, refills its onboard water tank, washes the mop pads with hot water, dries them with hot air and even dispenses detergent automatically after you fill the dock's detergent tank. These are the quality-of-life features that make living with the robot easier over time.

Also Read: Sony Bravia 7 II review: The best LCD TV I’ve tested this year

The L50S Pro Ultra is also one of the quietest robot vacuums I've used. Even while vacuuming, it never became noisy enough to interrupt conversations or distract me while working. It gets noticeably loud when the dock empties the dustbin or dries the mop pads, but those tasks don't last long and are easy to ignore.

That doesn't mean it's flawless. Sticky stains still needed two or three cleaning cycles before disappearing completely. It sometimes fails to clean hair follicles, and also, since it is bound to a pattern, if there are obstructions, it may not always clean perfectly.

But for everyday dust, footprints and loose debris, the robot was consistently reliable enough that I rarely had to think about whether the floors had been cleaned.

Familiar design and feature-rich app

The L50S Pro Ultra sports a circular design with a height of 10.38 cm, and when combined with the docking station, neither is too heavy. So, you can move them around easily, if required. The build quality looks and feels decent. Only after long-term use will we know how durable the robot and its various components are.

Setting up the robot took only a few minutes. As expected, you'll need a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi connection, and the first mapping run is mandatory before you can start using room-specific features. The mapping process itself was quick and accurate, and I didn't face any problems during setup.

Post that, I was mainly using the vacuum cleaner to clean by rooms and rarely by zones. Within the Dreamehome app, you get customisation options for room-specific cleaning routines, schedules, suction levels and virtual boundaries.

The Dreamehome app is feature-rich. On the home screen, you can see the current battery and operation status, the camera feed option, and quick commands to start cleaning, charging, etc.

Most other features are tucked away under different menus. So, the interface looks clean, and only when you dig deeper will you explore the many customisation options and other settings. If it feels overwhelming, you can use shortcuts for personalised cleaning based on your preferences or widgets on your phone's homescreen. Also, while comparing the L50S Pro Ultra with a competitor, I found Dreamehome's UI isn't the fastest. So, the widgets and shortcuts can come in handy.

Smart robot with a camera

The L50S Pro Ultra navigates around the house with very little hesitation. Thanks to its combination of LiDAR, AI-powered obstacle recognition and a front-facing camera, it avoids objects on its path, mostly. During testing, it correctly recognised a polypropylene carton strap and ignored it, while another robot vacuum tried to suck it in. It also successfully avoided a loose cable piece that another competing robot vacuum swallowed completely.

The Dreame L50S Pro Ultra is also equipped with a camera that is more useful than I expected. Being able to check on the house while away is surprisingly reassuring remotely. If you have pets, the feature becomes even more useful because you can locate them through the app, view a live feed and even interact with them remotely. It's not something you'll use every day, but when you need it, you'll be glad it's there.

Moreover, thanks to the EasyLeap Obstacle Crossing, the robo wheels can let it climb small elevations of up to 40mm.

But it isn't as smart as an adult human, and also, its confident movements can sometimes seem too hasty. One example is when it is done with the cleaning, it usually moves quickly back to the dock, and during this, we saw it bumping into some corners. Even though the brand claims the L50S Pro Ultra can detect over 220 obstacle types, we suggest you don't keep delicate objects on its path.

Another thing worth noting is that if you change the base station's location, the robo cleaner will lose its way back home. Even if the dock is kept closer to it, it will seem clueless. This is even with all the sensors and the RGB camera in place. This isn't a fault per se. It is by design meant to follow the map it has of the floor area. If you decide to change the dock's location, you are advised to map the place again before starting cleaning.

So long as the dock is at the mapped place and there aren't many obstacles on its path, the L50S Pro Ultra quietly does its job and lets you get on with yours.

In case you are concerned about privacy, note that camera access can be locked behind a password. And if you don't want it at all, you can turn the live camera off within the settings. We have asked the brand how it processes the data collected.

One feature I did miss was regional language voice prompts. For those who are not comfortable with English, local language support would make the robot more approachable.

Should you buy the Dreame L50S Pro Ultra?

A premium robot vacuum cleaner like the Dreame L50S Pro Ultra primarily offers features that offer convenience and save your time. It strictly follows the commands, navigates around obstacles more confidently, quietly gets on with its job and automatically takes care of cleaning itself on the dock. Even features like the video camera are useful for pet monitoring or simple, real-time, two-way audio communication.

But like any robot, the Dreame vacuum cleaner isn't perfect. Sticky stains still require multiple rounds of cleaning. You'll also want to keep cables and delicate objects off the floor. Since it is a machine designed to follow commands and patterns, obstacles can interrupt its cleaning process. The Dreamehome app offers extensive customisation, but it isn't the fastest, and support for regional language voice prompts would have made the experience more accessible.

Even so, at Rs 79999, the L50S Pro Ultra strikes a sensible balance between dependable everyday cleaning, thoughtful automation and a polished software experience. If you're buying your first premium robot vacuum in this price segment, it's worth shortlisting. And if you're upgrading from a capable upper mid-range robot vacuum, you can expect slightly better cleaning, but more importantly, a refined, quieter and largely hands-off ownership experience.

Also Read: Livpure Lotier review: Best water purifier under Rs 20000?

Huawei remains one of the biggest names in consumer technology globally, but geopolitical restrictions have kept its presence in India relatively quiet over the past few years. Now, the company is gradually making its way back with products like the FreeBuds SE 4 and the more premium FreeBuds 7i. I received the Huawei FreeBuds SE 4 for review. The company promises long battery life, active noise cancellation, AI-backed call clarity and a lightweight design. These aspects matter a lot in modern TWS use. But India's TWS market is now filled with great options, even in the sub-Rs 6,000 price range. 

After using the Huawei FreeBuds SE 4 for a few weeks, I have the answer to whether the product stands a chance in this market. Here’s my full review.

Huawei FreeBuds SE 4: Familiar but functional design

The Huawei FreeBuds SE 4 case looks quite similar to the AirPods Pro. The only easy giveaway, setting it apart from the Apple TWS, is the Huawei branding on the back of the case. But even that gets hidden by your palm most of the time. Despite that, whether you prefer the resemblance or not, one thing’s for sure: the Freebuds SE 4 will provide you with a comfortable fit. They're light and stay securely for hours, which matters when you are out and about. The compactness of the case allows for easy portability.

Since the FreeBuds SE 4 are IP54 rated against dust and water splashes, I confidently wear them while washing my face or while striding through the dusty, humid Delhi summers. And overall, comfort is one of the biggest strengths of these TWS earbuds.

Huawei FreeBuds SE 4: Balanced sound, workday battery

The Huawei FreeBuds SE 4 doesn't chase an exaggerated sound profile, and I like it for that. The tuning is fairly balanced and open. Bass has enough presence to make hip-hop music like Rockstar by DaBaby and Fell In The Sun by Big Grams enjoyable. Each song gets the befitting bass treatment. 

Vocals come through clearly, and instruments remain distinct in most songs. It's an easy sound signature to listen to. Even high notes offer decent details. But at high volume, in certain tracks, voices, and higher frequency notes sounded slightly shrill. Still, for most everyday content, the FreeBuds SE 4 perform well.

At around 80% volume, the Freebuds SE 4 ran for 7 hours and 36 minutes on a single charge. That's below what some of its competitors could manage. Still, the buds can bear through a regular workday.

Huawei FreeBuds SE 4: Effective ANC, useful awareness

Huawei includes up to 24db active noise cancellation in the FreeBuds SE 4, which works effectively at reducing constant background sounds. Sudden, unpredictable sounds can still seep in. The FreeBuds SE 4 couldn’t dampen wind noises, though. And the general noise cancellation is a bit weaker compared to the likes of Realme Buds Air 8.

Also Read: Realme Buds Air 8 Pro review: Expressive and easy to recommend

The Awareness mode works well for everyday use. It lets you hear your surroundings clearly, and conversations sound fairly natural, so I rarely felt the need to remove the earbuds to speak with someone.

Call quality was acceptable for everyday voice and video calls. The lightweight design also made the Freebuds SE 4 comfortable to wear during longer conversations.

Huawei FreeBuds SE 4: A major shortcoming

My biggest gripe with the Huawei FreeBuds SE 4 is that it lacks convenience features that are common in most TWS earbuds these days. It doesn’t come with wear detection and Bluetooth multipoint.

There is also no official companion app to check any of the earbuds’ settings in India. An app is a standard aspect of any gadget experience, and the absence of it means you have to stick with the touch gestures and sound profile you get out of the box. No app to customise these things.

However, that may not bother users who simply want to listen to music and are happy with the out-of-the-box experience. But for anyone used to the app experience offered by modern TWS brands, it feels like an odd omission.

Huawei FreeBuds SE 4 verdict: Should you buy it?

The Huawei FreeBuds SE 4 gets the basics right. It is comfortable enough to wear for long hours, delivers balanced sound that suits everyday listening, offers effective ANC for routine use, and the battery easily lasts through a workday. The responsive touch controls and useful Awareness mode also add to the overall experience.

However, the lack of an official companion app in India is difficult to ignore. At a time when even affordable TWS earbuds let you tweak the sound profile, customise gestures and receive firmware updates through an app, the FreeBuds SE 4 feels a step behind.

If you simply want a comfortable pair of earbuds with balanced sound and don't mind sticking with the default experience, the Huawei FreeBuds SE 4 is worth considering. But if you like fine-tuning your audio or want a richer software experience, you'll find stronger alternatives in the sub-Rs 6,000 segment.

Also Read: Moto Buds 2 review: Impressive value with a few inconsistent features

Colorful has built a substantial presence in the graphics card market, particularly across Asian markets, we even reviewed their laptops as they’d introduced them to the Indian market. However, its motherboards have generally remained less visible than competing products from ASUS, ASRock, Gigabyte and MSI. The iGame X870E VULCAN OC V14 is an attempt to change that perception. Rather than producing another broadly equipped X870E gaming motherboard, Colorful has developed a platform with a clear emphasis on competitive overclocking, DDR5 memory tuning while targeting AMD’s Ryzen X3D processors.

The fact that this is a top-tier premium model is immediately apparent from the hardware. The board uses just two DDR5 DIMM slots, reducing the electrical load placed on the memory controller and improving signal integrity at very high data rates. It also provides an external clock generator, physical base-clock adjustment buttons, onboard voltage measurement points, Safe Boot and Retry buttons, LN2 and Slow Mode switches, dual BIOS chips and an unusually substantial 18+2+2-phase power-delivery system. While the above mentioned features do position the iGame X870E VULCAN OC V14 as an open-bench overclocking board, it’s got a lot of connectivity options to broaden its appeal. Five M.2 slots, three of which support PCIe 5.0 x4 drives, sit beneath extensive aluminium cooling plates. Networking is propped up by 5GbE and Wi-Fi 7 options, while the rear panel includes two USB4 ports. A configurable onboard LCD, 60W front-panel USB-C charging support and an ALC1220 audio implementation with an ESS DAC further broaden its appeal.

This combination makes the VULCAN OC unusual as it attempts to retain the specialist hardware of boards such as the Gigabyte X870 AORUS Tachyon ICE and ASRock X870E Taichi OCF while looking and functioning more like a conventional flagship gaming motherboard. With a retail price standing at approximately Rs 1,23,000 in India, the board sits among, and to some extent above, some very well-established alternatives. Its value, therefore, depends less on basic Ryzen performance and more on whether its combination of memory overclocking, physical tuning controls, ample storage expansion and integrated display will prove their worth.

Packaging and contents

The packaging reflects the board’s flagship status. The large outer box uses the black and red visual language associated with Colorful’s iGame products, with angular artwork and prominent VULCAN branding rather than a conventional photograph of the motherboard. The presentation is more elaborate than the packaging accompanying most mainstream X870E boards, including an internal pop-up mechanism that reveals the board as the box is opened.

The VULCAN OC is a particularly heavy ATX board. Its large VRM heatsinks, M.2 armour, integrated display, backplate and numerous metal covers place considerably more stress on the PCB than a conventional motherboard design. The rigid packaging keeps the board from moving during transit and helps protect the LCD assembly.

Colorful has also supplied a comprehensive accessory bundle. It includes a USB flash drive containing drivers, operating manual and quick-start guides, stickers, a pair of gloves, a screwdriver kit, a Wi-Fi antenna and a graphics card support strut. Storage accessories include four SATA cables, additional thermal pads for the M.2 sockets, four M.2 standoffs and screws, and cable ties. Two three-pin ARGB extension cables are included for lighting installations, while two quick-connect front-panel adapters simplify the connection of a case’s power, reset and indicator cables. The front-panel adapters are especially useful because several onboard controls and headers are partially surrounded by the motherboard’s armour.

The gloves and screwdriver kit are not essential, but they fit the nature of the product. Much of the board is covered by dark metal, smoked plastic and semi-gloss surfaces that collect fingerprints quickly. There is no M.2 expansion card, external fan controller or separate RGB controller in the box. Given that five M.2 slots, eight fan headers and four addressable RGB headers are already integrated into the board, their absence is nothing serious to be talked about. 

Board layout

The iGame X870E VULCAN OC V14 uses a standard ATX footprint measuring approximately 305 x 245mm. It should consequently fit most modern mid-tower cases, although the thickness of the heatsinks, integrated backplate and right-side LCD assembly make it worth checking clearance around tightly positioned cable-routing cut-outs. A 10-layer black PCB forms the foundation of the board. Colorful says it uses a server-grade construction and an electroless silvering process intended to improve signal integrity. Only small sections of the PCB remain visible once the heatsinks and armour are installed. The result is a remarkably cohesive appearance, with the upper VRM assembly, lower M.2 covers, chipset heatsink and audio shroud forming an almost continuous black surface.

CPU socket and power connectors

The AM5 socket occupies the upper central section and supports compatible Ryzen 7000, Ryzen 8000 and Ryzen 9000 processors. Cooling compatibility is broadly identical to other AM5 motherboards, although large air coolers may partially conceal the upper heatsinks and make some of the nearby fan connectors harder to reach.

Two eight-pin EPS connectors are positioned along the upper-left edge. Only one is required for normal operation, while the second provides additional current capacity for heavily overclocked processors and sub-ambient benchmark configurations. Their location is conventional, but connecting both cables after the motherboard has been mounted in a compact case may be awkward. However, someone who’d likely spend Rs 1,23,000 on a motherboard would have put down an equally absurd amount for a versatile chassis that allows easy access from the top. 

A massive finned VRM heatsink surrounds the top and left sides of the socket. The two sections are linked by a heatpipe and covered by a smoked decorative shroud. Thin RGB strips follow the shape of the upper assembly, providing restrained accent lighting rather than illuminating the entire board.

Memory area

Only two DDR5 DIMM slots are fitted. They support up to 128 GB using two 64 GB modules, along with both AMD EXPO and Intel XMP memory profiles. Official memory limits vary by processor architecture. Colorful lists speeds beyond DDR5-8600 for Ryzen 9000 desktop processors, with considerably higher speeds possible when using Ryzen 8000 APUs and their stronger integrated memory controllers. The company has advertised support reaching DDR5-10000 and, under specific configurations, DDR5-10400.

The two-slot topology is a deliberate engineering decision rather than cost cutting. Each populated memory channel adds electrical load and routing complexity. Removing the second slot from each channel permits shorter, cleaner traces and makes it easier to tune memory at extreme frequencies. The compromise is reduced maximum capacity compared with four-slot X870E boards that can accept 192GB or 256GB.

The slots are reinforced and use single-sided locking tabs. The upper latches remain accessible when a graphics card is installed, although the lower ends of the modules sit close to the primary PCIe slot.

Surrounding the memory slots are several overclocking and diagnostic features. These include voltage measurement points for VDDCR, VDDIO, SoC and miscellaneous rails, four diagnostic LEDs and a two-character POST-code display. The LEDs provide a quick indication of whether a boot failure is related to the CPU, memory, graphics card or storage device, while the numerical display provides more precise diagnostic information.

Vulcan Smart Screen and onboard controls

The Vulcan Smart Screen is mounted vertically along the right side of the board, next to the memory slots and 24-pin power connector. It can display temperatures, frequencies, monitoring data, static graphics and animated content configured through iGame Center. Without a profile, it shows a splash screen during startup and may subsequently switch off rather than defaulting to a basic CPU temperature or clock-speed readout. This makes the initial experience less polished than it could have been.

Power, Reset and Retry buttons are integrated around the display assembly. They are clearly labelled and easy to reach on an open test bench. A graphics card release mechanism, called VGA Snap-fit, is also positioned in this area. It mechanically disengages the latch on the primary PCIe slot, reducing the need to reach underneath a large graphics card with a screwdriver.

The 24-pin ATX connector and an additional PCIe power connector sit beneath or beside the screen assembly. The additional connector is used to provide enough power for the internal USB-C header’s 60W Power Delivery function. Without it, the front USB-C connection remains usable for data but cannot necessarily deliver its full charging output.

Expansion slots and lane sharing

The primary expansion slot is reinforced and it supports PCIe 5.0 x16 operation with a conventional single-GPU configuration. A second full-length slot is attached to the chipset and electrically operates at PCIe 4.0 x4. The primary slot can be divided into an x8/x4/x4 arrangement. This permits CPU-connected lanes to be allocated to the two additional PCIe 5.0 M.2 sockets. Installing a drive in M.2_2 or M.2_3 reduces the graphics slot to PCIe 5.0 x8. That still provides bandwidth equivalent to PCIe 4.0 x16 and should not materially restrict current graphics cards in most workloads, but it is important for buyers expecting simultaneous x16 graphics and three fully connected Gen 5 SSDs. The secondary PCIe 4.0 x4 slot is suitable for capture cards, additional network adapters and storage controllers. Its position beneath the primary slot means it may be blocked by a graphics card using a four-slot or larger cooler.

Storage layout

Five M.2 sockets are distributed across the board. M.2_1, M.2_2 and M.2_3 support PCIe 5.0 x4 drives and connect to the processor. M.2_1 accepts drives up to 110 mm long, while the other two CPU-connected slots support the more common 80 mm format. The remaining M.2_4 and M.2_5 sockets operate at PCIe 4.0 x4 through the X870E chipset. Four SATA 6Gbps ports are also provided for conventional SSDs, hard drives and optical drives. RAID support varies by processor but includes the usual RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 configurations where supported.

All five M.2 positions are covered by aluminium heatsinks. The primary drive has its own removable plate, while the lower sockets sit beneath larger sections of Colorful’s Vulcan Thermal Armor. The extensive coverage produces a clean appearance and spreads heat across a larger area, although accessing a lower SSD requires removing a comparatively large panel. The primary heatsink is not as thick as some dedicated vapour-chamber or tower-style Gen 5 SSD coolers. It should be adequate for most drives under normal desktop workloads, but sustained transfers from a high-power PCIe 5.0 SSD may still benefit from good case airflow.

Internal connectivity

The board includes eight four-pin fan or pump headers, supporting both PWM and DC control. Four addressable three-pin RGB headers are also present. Their distribution allows a case to be wired without relying entirely on external hubs, although some of the lower headers become harder to access after the graphics card and M.2 armour are installed. Internal USB connectivity consists of a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C header capable of 20Gbps transfers and up to 60W charging, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 header and two USB 2.0 headers. The latter remain useful for liquid-cooler controllers, power-supply interfaces, lighting hubs and other internal devices.

Additional controls along the lower edge include Safe Boot, BCLK increase and decrease buttons, BIOS selection, LN2 Mode, Slow Mode and lighting switches. Their placement makes sense for an open test bench but is less convenient once the motherboard is installed inside a conventional case with a graphics card covering part of the lower section.

Rear I/O

Rear connectivity is led by two USB4 Type-C ports operating at up to 40 Gbps. Both support DisplayPort Alternate Mode and can output up to 4K at 60 Hz when paired with a processor carrying integrated graphics. There is no dedicated HDMI or full-size DisplayPort connector, which may inconvenience troubleshooting situations where only a conventional monitor cable is available. The panel also provides four USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, four USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 connections. A legacy PS/2 connector is included for keyboards or mice, particularly those used in competitive benchmarking environments where USB behaviour can occasionally become unpredictable at extreme settings.

Networking consists of a Realtek RTL8126 5GbE controller and a MediaTek Wi-Fi 7 module with Bluetooth 5.4. The Wi-Fi system supports the 6 GHz band and 320 MHz channels where regional regulations and the connected router permit them.Audio output is handled through analogue connections and an optical S/PDIF output. Clear CMOS, BIOS Flashback and X3D tuning controls are also accessible from the rear, allowing several recovery and optimisation functions to be used without opening the case.

VRM details

The VULCAN OC V14 uses an 18+2+2-phase power topology. Eighteen phases are assigned to the processor cores, with the remaining stages serving the SoC and supporting voltage rails. At the centre of the design is a Renesas RAA229521 PWM controller. The Vcore phases use Renesas RAA2209004 smart power stages rated at 110A each. Multiplying the stage rating by the 18 Vcore phases produces a theoretical combined capacity of 1,980 A.

That number should not be interpreted as an amount of current that the CPU will actually consume. Power-stage ratings are measured under defined laboratory conditions and do not directly represent continuous motherboard output once temperature, efficiency, PCB resistance and cooling are considered. Even after those practical limitations are taken into account, however, the VRM has considerably more capacity than any mainstream AM5 processor requires under ambient cooling.

Power enters through the dual eight-pin EPS connectors and is distributed across the 10-layer PCB. The large number of layers assists current distribution while also allowing Colorful to separate high-speed memory and PCIe traces more effectively. The Vcore stages are cooled by two sizeable finned aluminium heatsinks connected by a heatpipe. Finned heatsinks provide more surface area than simple solid blocks, improving heat transfer when air moves through the upper part of the case. Thermal pads create contact between the stages, chokes and heatsink assembly.

We recorded VRM temperatures of approximately 59 degrees Celsius from the internal sensor and 53 degrees Celsius using an external measurement. These numbers are dependent on the kind of CPU you’ve got installed but they indicate that the VRM cooling system has ample thermal headroom for normal Precision Boost Overdrive tuning.

For an ordinary gaming system, the VRM is excessive. For the kind of open-bench tuning that the VULCAN OC is intended to support, it is appropriately specified and paired with a cooling design capable of using that capacity.

BIOS overview

Colorful’s UEFI opens in an Easy Mode interface with a black background, red highlights and white text. The presentation is readable and consistent with the physical board, although the layout and graphical elements look less refined than the current firmware interfaces used by ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI. Easy Mode presents the core information required during setup, including processor and memory detection, temperatures, fan behaviour, storage devices and boot order. A visual Main Panel shows an illustration of the motherboard and indicates which sockets or interfaces are populated. This provides a useful way to identify a missing drive or incorrectly seated component without manually checking every menu. Advanced Mode exposes the voltage, timing, frequency and platform settings required for detailed tuning. A hardware monitor remains visible alongside the main controls, allowing temperatures and fan speeds to be checked while adjustments are made. 

The BIOS includes standard AMD functions such as Precision Boost Overdrive, Curve Optimiser, memory timing controls, Infinity Fabric settings and load-line calibration. It also exposes the board’s external clock-generator controls and High-V mode for configurations requiring unusually high memory or processor voltages. The most prominent processor-specific feature is X3D A.I Turbo. When a supported Ryzen X3D processor is installed, the BIOS presents several automatic tuning profiles. There are Turbo modes 1 through 4, along with additional profiles that combine the second or third tuning mode with BCLK adjustment. The profiles range from relatively conventional PBO-style optimisation to more aggressive base-clock changes. There also an X3D High Frame Rate Mode that adjusts parameters such as the base clock and PBO behaviour. These options lower the barrier to experimenting with X3D tuning, but they do not remove the need to test stability. Raising the base clock can influence multiple buses and devices, depending on how the external clock generator and BIOS dividers are configured.

The physical BCLK increase and decrease buttons allow the base clock to be adjusted while a benchmark is running. This is particularly useful for competitive testing, where a system may only remain stable at its highest frequency for the duration of a light workload or final validation run. Safe Boot attempts to start the system using conservative settings without permanently erasing the saved configuration. Retry triggers another boot attempt, which is useful when memory training fails intermittently. Slow Mode reduces the processor frequency to help the system remain stable between benchmark runs, while LN2 Mode adjusts boot behaviour for operation at sub-zero temperatures.

Dual BIOS chips add a further layer of protection. A failed firmware update or unusable tuning configuration can be recovered by switching to the secondary chip. Each firmware chip has a 256-megabit capacity, equivalent to 32 MB. That is sufficient for current AM5 support, but it provides less room than the 64 MB chips appearing on some newer high-end motherboards. 

Fan control is available through the hardware-monitor section, with support for PWM and voltage-controlled devices. The controls are functional, though not presented with the same degree of visual clarity or guided configuration found on some established competitors. The BIOS therefore contains the functionality expected from an overclocking platform. Its weakness is presentation rather than depth. Experienced tuners should be able to locate the necessary options, but less experienced users may find the terminology and menu hierarchy less approachable than the automated interfaces available elsewhere.

Board software

Colorful’s principal Windows utility is iGame Center. It combines hardware monitoring, RGB control, device information and configuration of the Vulcan Smart Screen. The monitoring pages display processor, graphics, memory and system information, along with available temperature, utilisation and clock-speed readings. The software can also manage compatible Colorful graphics cards and other iGame components, allowing lighting effects to be synchronised across a system. 

Lighting control covers both the motherboard’s integrated RGB strips and devices connected to its four ARGB headers. Effects, brightness and synchronisation can be adjusted without returning to the BIOS. The Smart Screen configuration tool is the most important motherboard-specific part of the application. It can place temperatures, frequencies and other monitoring values on the display, while also supporting static images and animated graphics. Custom screen layouts can be assembled by combining multiple graphical elements. The implementation is flexible, but it is not particularly intuitive. Setting up a useful monitoring display requires more manual arrangement than expected, and the screen does not present a practical system-information layout by default. Some downloadable graphics and functions may also require an iGame account.

A gaming section attempts to estimate frame rates at 1080p, 1440p and 4K based on the detected hardware. The software also contains an AI section centred around animated pets and avatars rather than hardware optimisation. We don’t see the appeal here but there might be certain markets where this is a welcome feature. The software covers the essential monitoring, lighting and LCD functions, but it feels just as lacking as the software from all the other motherboard manufacturers..

Overclocking

The iGame X870E VULCAN OC V14 is built around overclocking in a way that most premium gaming motherboards are not. Its external clock generator, two-slot memory layout, physical tuning controls and recovery features provide tools that are difficult to justify on a mainstream system but valuable during competitive benchmarking. For daily operation, Precision Boost Overdrive and Curve Optimiser remain the most practical methods of extracting additional Ryzen performance. PBO raises the current and power limits available to the processor, while Curve Optimiser adjusts the voltage-frequency behaviour of individual cores or the entire CPU.

A negative Curve Optimiser value can reduce the voltage needed at a given frequency. This may lower temperature and allow the processor to sustain higher boost clocks within the same thermal and power envelope. Stability must be verified thoroughly, as an unstable curve may only produce errors during light, single-threaded or idle transitions rather than during an obvious all-core stress test. The board’s VRM does not meaningfully constrain this form of tuning. Cooling and processor quality will become limiting factors long before the 18 Vcore stages approach their rated capacity. The external clock generator provides another route. Increasing BCLK raises frequencies derived from the base clock and can offer additional performance on processors with limited multiplier adjustment. The rear X3D tuning button, BIOS profiles and onboard BCLK controls are particularly relevant to Ryzen X3D models, whose manual multiplier options have historically been more restricted than those of conventional Ryzen processors.

Colorful’s X3D A.I Turbo profiles provide several levels of automatic adjustment. Some rely primarily on PBO-style behaviour, while others combine the profile with base-clock increases. They offer a convenient starting point, although the most aggressive profile will not necessarily be stable with every processor, memory kit and cooling system. The board has demonstrated its credentials under extreme cooling. In March this year, an overclocker by the name “Takukou” used the VULCAN OC V14 to validate a Ryzen 7 9850X3D at approximately 7.410 GHz. He still retains the top position for the 9850X3D at 7.5 GHz but with an ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Apex. Merely the fact that this board managed to achieve such a high score and stand among established peers is commendable.

Memory overclocking is arguably the board’s more useful strength. The two-slot layout reduces trace complexity, while High-V mode, extensive timing controls and direct voltage measurement support detailed tuning. Safe Boot and Retry become valuable during memory tuning because failed training is common when timings or voltages are close to the edge. Safe Boot can recover the system without immediately discarding every saved value, while Retry allows another training attempt without cycling the power manually. And as mentioned previously, Dual BIOS support reduces the risk associated with experimental firmware or heavily modified settings. A stable firmware version can be retained on one chip while the other is used for newer releases or benchmark-oriented configurations. LN2 Mode and Slow Mode are irrelevant to ordinary cooling but demonstrate that the board was designed with input from competitive overclocking use cases. Slow Mode allows the processor to operate at a reduced frequency between test runs, helping a system remain stable while a benchmark is prepared. LN2 Mode modifies low-temperature boot behaviour and related protections.

The VULCAN OC therefore offers considerably more overclocking infrastructure than a typical premium X870E motherboard and it provides the controls, recovery mechanisms and electrical foundation needed to explore the limits of those components.

Value for money

Value is the most difficult aspect of the iGame X870E VULCAN OC V14. We could not find any listings for this motherboard but some estimates put it over USD 600 in international markets. In India, it’s going for an eye-watering Rs 1,23,000. At that level, buyers can consider models such as the Gigabyte X870 AORUS Tachyon ICE, ASRock X870E Taichi OCF and ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Dark Hero. The Gigabyte and ASRock boards have similarly clear overclocking identities, while ASUS offers a more polished firmware and software ecosystem alongside extensive premium connectivity. 

The board makes the strongest financial case when its specialist features are genuinely required. A user buying it specifically for high-frequency memory, BCLK tuning, X3D experimentation, multiple Gen 5 drives or competitive overclocking receives a substantial amount of relevant hardware. For a stock Ryzen gaming system with one graphics card and one or two SSDs, it is difficult to justify. Less expensive X870E and B850 motherboards can deliver virtually identical application and gaming performance, often with four memory slots and simpler software. It should therefore be judged as a specialist tool rather than a universal flagship. Its value is high for a narrow audience and comparatively poor for buyers who will leave most of its physical controls untouched.

Verdict

The Colorful iGame X870E VULCAN OC V14 is a convincing piece of motherboard engineering. Its 18+2+2-phase power system, Renesas 110A stages, 10-layer PCB, extensive VRM cooling and dual eight-pin CPU inputs give it enough electrical headroom for any current AM5 processor. The two-DIMM topology and detailed memory controls also make it a credible platform for pushing DDR5 well beyond normal Ryzen operating speeds. Colorful has avoided turning it into a single-purpose benchmark board. Five M.2 slots, USB4, 5GbE, Wi-Fi 7, 60W front USB-C charging, eight fan headers and a well-equipped audio section make it practical enough for a high-end gaming PC or workstation. The physical design is generally excellent and the accessory package includes most of the items required for a premium build.

Its weaknesses are concentrated around refinement and price. For competitive overclockers, memory enthusiasts and builders seeking an unusual black flagship with an integrated display, the iGame X870E VULCAN OC V14 is a capable and technically interesting choice. It has the hardware required to compete with established overclocking motherboards and has already shown that it can operate at extreme CPU and memory frequencies. For everyone else, it is more motherboard than the system is likely to need. Its performance at stock settings is appropriately strong, but not fundamentally different from a well-built board costing far less. The VULCAN OC earns its place through specialised tuning hardware, not through ordinary gaming benchmark scores. Nevertheless, Colorful has succeeded in producing a serious flagship motherboard. The remaining task is to bring its BIOS, Windows software, international availability and pricing up to the standard set by the physical board.

Almost nine years ago, in late 2017, Apple showcased what could have been the future of wireless charging. It was called AirPower, and it promised a single charging mat that could power an iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods simultaneously, no matter where they were placed. It was an ambitious idea that never saw the light of day, eventually getting cancelled in 2019 because Apple couldn't overcome the engineering challenges behind it. Since then, we've seen plenty of wireless chargers for individual devices, but very few companies have attempted to build an actual charging ecosystem. DailyObjects has now taken a shot at that idea with its new Node Wireless Charging Ecosystem. And, don’t get it wrong, it isn't Apple's AirPower reborn, nor is it trying to be. Instead, what I feel is that it offers something arguably more practical: a modular wireless charging system that works across brands and devices while keeping your workspace clean, organised and surprisingly elegant.

I've been using the DailyObjects Node Wireless Charging Ecosystem every day. Here's my experience and everything you need to know before deciding whether it's worth buying.

Also read: iPhone 17 Pro Max review: Brilliance at a price

What exactly is the DailyObjects Node Wireless Charging Ecosystem?

The first thing to understand is that the Node Wireless Charging Ecosystem isn't a single product. Think of it as a modular platform where you build your own charging setup depending on the devices you own. It starts with the charging dock. You can choose between a 2-in-1 Dock priced at Rs 2,999 or a 3-in-1 Dock that costs Rs 3,499. Once you've picked the dock, you can add whichever modules make the most sense for your setup.

The review unit sent to me by DailyObjects includes the 3-in-1 Dock along with four modules: the Wireless Charging Phone Stand (Rs 6,499), the Wireless Charging Disk (Rs 3,499), the Apple Watch Charging Stand (Rs 2,999) and the Portable Lamp (Rs 4,499). Put together, the complete setup costs a whopping Rs 20,995, which is certainly not cheap! In fact, it is probably the first thing you'll notice about the Node ecosystem. But unlike conventional wireless chargers that perform just one function, every module here is designed to do more than simply sit on your desk.

For instance, the Phone Stand supports Qi 2.2 certified 25W wireless charging and doubles as a portable power bank thanks to its built-in 7,800mAh battery. Lift it off the dock, and you have a battery pack ready to charge your MagSafe phone on another desk or even while travelling. Likewise, the Wireless Charging Disk can also be detached and used independently via its USB Type-C port, making it much more versatile than a permanently fixed charging puck. More on it in a bit.

All these charging modules support magnets, so they work extremely well with Apple devices, like the iPhone and the Apple Watch. And speaking of the watch, the Apple Watch Charging Stand offers 5W wireless charging, securely holds the watch in place and neatly integrates with the rest of the system.

Last but not least, there is the Portable Lamp, which may initially feel like an odd addition to a charging ecosystem, but I used it for a while, and it made sense on my bedside.

Living with the Node ecosystem every day

I've been using the Node ecosystem every single day, and it has become a permanent fixture on my work desk. My iPhone almost always sits on the Wireless Charging Phone Stand throughout the workday. The elevated design keeps the display easily visible in iPhone’s Standby Mode. I’m easily able to check notifications or glance at incoming calls. The magnetic alignment is also reassuringly strong, and portrait and landscape orientations work equally well.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review: King of the hill

The Wireless Charging Disk usually takes care of my TWS earbuds, but every now and then, I place my Galaxy S26 Ultra on it as well. Since it supports Qi2-compatible devices, switching between brands isn't really a problem, which is perhaps one of the biggest strengths of this ecosystem. You're not locked into Apple products.

The Apple Watch Charging Stand completes the trio. Instead of having three separate charging cables running across my desk, everything sits neatly on a single dock. In the process, my workspace feels cleaner, and surprisingly, that has been one of my favourite aspects of using Node. You don't realise how much cable clutter affects your desk until it disappears.

Another thoughtful touch is that every module docks magnetically through pogo-pin connectors. There's no plugging and unplugging individual cables every time you want to use one independently. Lift it off, use it elsewhere, and simply place it back when you're done.

More than just a wireless charger

The module that surprised me the most wasn't actually a charger. It was the Portable Lamp. After unboxing, I initially thought it would be an extra accessory bundled into the ecosystem to make it feel more premium. But after taking the Node setup home for a few days, I found myself using the lamp every evening. I placed it on my bedside table, and it instantly became both a functional light and a nice piece of decor. The warm lighting feels quite pleasant, making it ideal for winding down before bed. There are three brightness levels depending on your preference, while the built-in 2,600mAh battery is claimed to deliver enough runtime that even if it is undocked, it should be able to run for 2-3 evenings on a single charge, before you sleep.

But yes, just like the rest of the Node modules, it docks onto the charging station when needed and can also be charged independently through its USB Type-C port. You read that right. Even if you skip the charging dock altogether and simply want to buy individual modules for your desk because they look aesthetically pleasing, you can. Just plug them into a charging brick using a USB Type-C cable, and you're good to go.

That sums up the Node ecosystem rather well. Every module feels like it has been intentionally designed with utility in mind. The overall build quality also deserves praise. The aluminium construction, soft-touch finishes and magnetic docking mechanism all feel premium. The modules snap into place with satisfying precision, and everything feels sturdy enough to withstand daily use.

Of course, this is clearly a design-first product, but thankfully, it doesn't sacrifice practicality in pursuit of aesthetics.

Then there is the price...

As much as I've enjoyed using the Node ecosystem, recommending it comes with one major caveat: the price. As I already mentioned, the setup I have costs Rs 20,995, which is a considerable amount to spend on charging accessories. For that money, many people would rather upgrade their earbuds, or maybe buy a smartwatch or put it towards a new smartphone altogether.

Even if you choose fewer modules, this is still positioned as a premium accessory rather than an impulse purchase. And that's not necessarily a criticism because I don’t think DailyObjects is targeting everyone here. The Node ecosystem is aimed at people who appreciate well-designed desk setups, own multiple wireless charging devices and are willing to pay for convenience and aesthetics.

If you're someone who charges just one phone every night, this probably isn't the product for you. A regular Qi charger costing a fraction of the price will do the job just fine. But if your desk usually has an iPhone, a pair of wireless earbuds, a smartwatch and perhaps another Qi-compatible phone lying around, then the Node makes a lot of sense. I know it does for me. The convenience of having everything neatly organised in one place, while also being able to detach individual modules whenever required, is actually useful.

Daily Object Node Wireless Charging Ecosystem: Verdict

The DailyObjects Node Wireless Charging Ecosystem is probably the closest we've come to a mainstream wireless charging ecosystem since Apple abandoned the AirPower dream. It doesn’t solve the same engineering challenge faced by Apple, nor does it charge multiple gadgets on a single mat. Instead, it takes a modular approach, and that's a much more practical solution.

Is it expensive? Absolutely. Is it essential? Not really. But that's also not what DailyObjects is trying to build. The Node ecosystem is a premium lifestyle accessory that happens to charge your devices exceptionally well while keeping your workspace organised. If you're already invested in multiple wireless devices and care about having a clean, clutter-free desk without compromising on design, the Node ecosystem is easy to appreciate. It is not for everyone, but for the right audience, it is one of the most thoughtfully designed charging systems currently available.

Going for a job and ensuring your home stays prim and proper is a tough task. Even if there's a homemaker, then also, making sure your house remains clean is that one thing that takes time and multiple cycles of effort throughout the day. Initially, I thought of hiring a maid for this, but then, I got this robot vacuum cleaner called the Mova E40 Ultra, and even though all of us were initially sceptical regarding its performance, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. That said, robot vacuum cleaners aren't a one-stop solution. And from my month-long experience, let me tell you how capable the titular vacuum cleaner is, where it falters and whether it still makes sense to invest in this Mova robot vacuum cleaner priced at Rs 47999.

Verdict

The Mova E40 Ultra isn't perfect, but it delivers where it matters. You get fairly accurate LiDAR mapping, dependable everyday cleaning, a feature-rich app and an all-in-one dock that make it easy to live with. It occasionally misses hair, struggles with stubborn stains, and some of its components aren't very durable. But even the way it is, it consistently keeps floors clean enough that manual cleaning becomes far less frequent. So, given you have the budget, at Rs 47,999, it's a compelling robot vacuum for households.

Mova E40 Ultra: Design and docking station

The Mova E40 Ultra, including the robot and its docking station, has a clean design: white in colour with minimal branding. This looks elegant, but it can attract dust on the surface. The robo-and-dock combo won't take up much space in your room, and you can easily move it around if needed, thanks to its plastic build, which feels fine for the most part.

The clean water tank, dirty water tank, and dust bag compartment, etc., slide in and out smoothly without feeling fragile. But after a month of usage, the bottom roller brush appears to have a crack. So, you may have to eventually replace items such as mop pads, roller brushes, filters and dust bags. This is something to factor into long-term ownership.

The Mova E40 Ultra is roughly 9.7cm tall and could comfortably travel underneath most of our beds and sofas, areas that are usually difficult to reach with handheld mops.

While the robot empties its dustbin, washes its mop pads, dries them using hot air and recharges itself after every cleaning session, you'll have to periodically clean the dirty water tank and refill the clean water tank. In our case, we were changing the water every 3 days and the dust bag once a month.

After several days of use, the washing tray also naturally accumulates dirt and muddy residue. So, the docking station itself also needs occasional cleaning instead of being forgotten in a corner.

Mova E40 Ultra: App and mapping

As long as you have a 2.4GHz WiFi connection, the setup through the Mova Home app should happen smoothly. After pairing it with my account and charging itself well, on its first run, it quickly mapped the room. The LiDAR does its job well. There is no video camera here. Still, the created map was impressively accurate. Before it begins, you need to ensure it has ample charge and there is no obstruction in the areas you want it to map.

I repeat, you must let it finish mapping the first time it runs. When I first unboxed the Mova E40 Ultra, I interrupted its mapping midway because it had become late in the evening. That turned out to be a mistake. Since the map remained incomplete, I later had to ask the robot to remap the house properly.

Coming to the Mova Home app, at first, its interface looked intimidating because of the sheer number of options available. Once you spend a day or two exploring the interface, everything starts making sense. I particularly liked that multiple members of the family can install the app on their own phones. My wife, my mom and I could control the robot independently on our phones.

But I won't lie. My parents still struggle to operate it without help. So, there's a learning curve.

Once you get the hang of it, there are plenty of customisable cleaning options. You can choose cleaning room-wise, zone-wise or the entire house/workspace. You also get vacuum-only mode, mopping, vacuuming followed by mopping, option to select suction levels, adjust water flow, define room-specific cleaning preferences and schedule automatic cleaning sessions. You can rename rooms, merge or split them, create no-go zones, define carpets, set cleaning sequences and even ask the robot to clean only specific rooms or custom areas.

One nifty feature smart home enthusiasts may appreciate is that you can also control the Mova E40 Ultra with Alexa, Siri and Google Home. Moreover, the robot itself has physical buttons on top for basic operations, like sending it home, cleaning where it's placed, and turning the robo-cleaner off. So, even if you don't have your phone with you, you can get it to do the essential cleaning this way.

This reminds me of one feature I missed, which was manual navigation inside the app. There were occasions when I simply wanted to steer the robot towards a particular spot, like a remote-controlled toy car. A virtual joystick would have aided this use case.

Mova also offers Android and iOS widgets, making certain actions quicker to access. You can also use shortcuts for even more granular customisation.

Also Read: Living with Nuuk rechargeable table fan: The gadget I did not know I needed

Mova E40 Ultra: Cleaning performance

The Mova E40 Ultra isn't intelligent enough to notice every dirty spot or decide that one area needs more attention than another. It cleans using planned movement patterns and won't be as smart or effective as human judgment. But, even if it takes some cycles, if there's no obstruction, those patterns get the job done eventually.

As a result, daily dust, footprints, hair follicles and loose dirt are cleaned well consistently throughout our testing. We seldom felt the need to clean the house afterwards. But it can't clean stubborn patches, and if some hair follicles and dust are missed by it, you'll just have to run zone-based cleaning.

Carpet cleaning produced mixed results. Sometimes, it was smartly identifying carpets and raising the mop for increasing suction-based vacuuming. The carpets looked noticeably cleaner afterwards. On a few occasions, however, the robot slightly caught onto the carpet while climbing over it before freeing itself and continuing.

Then there are occasional struggles with obstacles and the elevated feet of the pedestal fan in my room, and the tiny water droplets it leaves behind after mopping sometimes. These aren't big issues, but some rough edges I noticed.

And as I have mentioned already, you'll have to manually clean its washing tray, dust bag, water tank, and the surface of the robot vacuum cleaner and the docking station.

Mova E40 Ultra: Battery and noise

Cleaning our primary bedroom of roughly 150 square feet took about 16 minutes while consuming only 5 per cent battery in Max mode. These robots don't clean or consume battery linearly, and your testing scenarios could differ. Still, this suggests even larger apartments can comfortably be cleaned on a single charge.

For larger homes, the Mova E40 Ultra can automatically return to the dock, recharge and resume cleaning from where it stopped. It is designed to remain docked and plugged in, ensuring it's always charged and ready for the next scheduled cleaning. The app also shows battery level, cleaned area, cleaning history and time taken for every session, making it easy to understand how much work the robot has completed.

The robot gives voice prompts, which announce what it's doing, whether it's returning to wash its mop pads, charging or beginning a new cleaning task. They made it easy to know the robot's status, but if you find them distracting, you can simply mute them from the app.

The sound of suction is the loudest in Max+ mode. During standard vacuuming, the Mova E40 Ultra is audible but never distracting enough to interrupt conversations or television viewing in another room. Maximum suction is naturally louder, but since the robot is designed to clean while you're busy doing something else, it rarely becomes bothersome.

As for the mops' cleaning and drying, as well as the dust bag emptying, you'll hear momentary noise. But this noise doesn't last long.

Should you buy Mova E40 Ultra?

After a few weeks using it, my mother and wife had started calling the E40 Ultra, 'Mova beta', as if it had become another member of the family. That probably says more about the product than any specification sheet can. We stopped manually cleaning the floors. Mova beta did this job well, backed by features like impressively accurate LiDAR mapping, decent battery life, fairly reliable automation features, and a pretty useful and customisable app experience.

However, E40 Ultra's pattern-based cleaning isn't without flaws. It occasionally misses hair strands, struggles with stubborn dried stains, and obstacle avoidance isn't very sophisticated. The build quality wasn't very reassuring because of the way the roller brush got damaged. So, the long-time cost of ownership could go north of the asking price of Rs 47999, making it really pricey.

But if you can afford to pay, the Mova E40 Ultra still makes a compelling case. For what you are paying, the E40 Ultra strikes a sensible balance between features, performance and convenience. It may not clean every stain perfectly or work like a human, but it consistently keeps your home clean enough that manual cleaning becomes an occasional task rather than a daily one.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar stories.

Also Read: Livpure Lotier review: Best water purifier under Rs 20000?

The smartphone market is going through something that we have not seen before. On one hand, we are seeing massive advancements in hardware, software and AI. On the other hand, rising component costs, memory prices and supply chain uncertainties have made the technology, which was supposed to be accessible, more expensive. This has made it difficult for brands to deliver compelling products without stretching budgets. While flagship devices have absorbed most of the heat, the mid-range segment is now slowly turning into the industry's battleground. Brands are now racing to offer better value, longer battery life and more 'premium experiences' without pushing prices, but honestly, they are just trying. And the latest try comes from OnePlus, which they are calling the OnePlus N6.

Right when you thought OnePlus had it all figured out. The number series commands the flagship space, and the Nord series commands the mid-range smartphone segment. What else can a company do? Well, with the launch of its mass-market N6 device, OnePlus now also wants to snatch the most accessible smartphone segment right now: the sub-Rs 20,000 price segment.

Interestingly, the word 'accessible' does not quite show the full picture here. The N6 carries much of the familiar OnePlus DNA, featuring a clean design, sturdy build, large battery and a feature set that appears far more ambitious than what its positioning might suggest. However, capturing the budget-focused smartphone segment is difficult. Competition is fierce, consumer expectations are higher than ever, and OnePlus itself is navigating through its most challenging phase in the Indian market.

So, does the OnePlus N6 have what it takes to stand out in an already crowded segment? More importantly, can it deliver the value-first experience that helped build OnePlus into a global smartphone brand in the first place?

OnePlus N6: Display and design

The OnePlus N6 comes with a 6.8-inch HD+ IPS LCD display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Yes, you read that right. We are back in the era of LCDs and HD+ resolution displays, with the N6 being the latest addition. But, as I said, given the market condition, these specs are exactly what many would expect from a phone that starts under Rs 20,000. That said, in terms of quality, the panel is pretty decent. Colours look natural, contrast levels are decent, and the display looks comfortable for activities such as social media browsing, video streaming and casual gaming. 

Speaking of the brightness, OnePlus claims a 1,200 nit in High Brightness Mode (HBM). But, during our testing, the phone fell a bit short of that claim, reaching approximately 1,080 nits in HBM, which is still very close. Importantly, the screen will not disappoint you outdoors, even in direct sunlight. You will still be able to view the display and content easily. However, you may not get the deep blacks and punchier colours that an AMOLED can offer. But again, for this price, the display delivers a practical experience. 

Coming to design, the OnePlus N6 definitely looks premium. At first glance, the phone comes with the familiar OnePlus design language, particularly with its camera module, which we have seen in the premium lineup. The build quality also leaves a positive first impression. The device feels solid and reassuringly sturdy in hand, backed by MIL-STD-810H military-grade certification. OnePlus claims the phone has been tested against extreme temperatures, rain, dust, salt corrosion and multiple drop scenarios. The IP65 rating also adds protection against dust and water exposure.

That said, durability comes with a trade-off. At 224 grams and 8.5mm thick, the OnePlus N6 is noticeably heavier and bulkier than some competitors. You may feel additional weight during prolonged usage, although it appears to be a compromise made to fit in that large 8,000 mAh battery and vapour cooling chamber. 

OnePlus N6: Performance

Speaking of performance, the OnePlus N6, on paper, does not immediately stand out against the rivals. The device is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6360 Apex chipset and is paired with a 5,300mm² vapour chamber cooling system. While it looks competent, enthusiasts comparing specifications alone may notice that some competitors like Redmi 15 offer better value, at least on paper.

In day-to-day usage, the OnePlus N6 feels smooth and responsive. Social media browsing, messaging, video streaming, web browsing and app switching are handled comfortably without noticeable lag or stuttering. Multitasking performance is also dependable, allowing multiple applications to remain active in the background without creating any major slowdowns. OnePlus has also managed to keep animations and interactions reasonably fluid, which contributes positively to the perception of speed.

As for the benchmarks, the N6 scored 6,17,192 points on Antutu, 785 in single-core and 2,015 in multi-core Geekbench 6 performance test. In our PCMark Work 3.1, we got 7,658 points. This means you and your productivity will not be disappointed at all. But what impressed me the most was the CPU throttling test. The device managed to sustain 95 per cent of its peak performance during prolonged workloads. It is an excellent result for a smartphone in this category and suggests that the cooling solution is doing its job effectively. 

During our gaming testing, the OnePlus N6 maintained an average of around 58.9fps across gaming sessions. Touch response remains decent, and frame pacing is somewhat stable, making casual and moderate gaming reliable. As expected, the OxygenOS 16 software, with the optimisations, made the user interface smoother than I expected. Good thing? The buyers will also get 2 major OS updates and 3 years of security updates.

OnePlus N6: Battery and charging

Now comes arguably one of the strongest reasons to consider the OnePlus N6. The device packs a massive 8,000mAh battery, bigger than its direct competitors in the segment; in fact, the Redmi 15 and G37 Power lag behind not only in battery capacity but also in charging capabilities.

During our PCMark Battery Life test, the OnePlus N6 delivered an impressive runtime of 23 hours and 18 minutes, making it one of the best-performing smartphones we have tested in this category. For most users, that means easily stretching through two to three full days of usage on moderate usage. 

The OnePlus N6 supports 45W fast charging, which remains ahead of several rivals in the segment. In our testing, the phone charged from 0 to 100 per cent in approximately 81 minutes. Another thing that I find useful is 5W reverse charging. It allows the phone to act as a power source for small accessories- earbuds, smartwatches and other gadgets. 

OnePlus N6: Camera

Coming to the camera, the OnePlus N6 comes with a 50MP primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture. It offers 1080p video recording at 60fps, Cinematic Video mode, Dual-View Video and up to 10x digital zoom. For selfies, the device offers an 8MP selfie camera. Along with this, you will get a host of AI-powered tools such as AI Portrait Glow, AI Perfect Shot, AI Eraser, AI Unblur and AI Reflection Eraser, which work decently for making your social media posts more attractive. 

In daylight, the primary camera works surprisingly well for its segment. The images are sharp with good detail and respectable dynamic range. It also manages the highlights and shadows, creating the balance without making the images look overly processed. The colours are vibrant and realistic, and the textures on buildings, objects and foliage do not loose its clarity. 

The close-up shots also look good. The subjects naturally get separated from the background, making a pleasing depth and bokeh without relying on post-processing. This means you will get some cool food shots, flowers and product images that look premium. 

Portrait performance is also good. Skin tones look natural, edge detection is reliable, and background blur looks controlled rather than exaggerated. Even challenging subjects, such as curly hair, are handled reasonably well. The AI-powered features further add convenience, with tools like AI Eraser and AI Unblur proving genuinely useful for casual users.

Low-light photography is also decent, but do not have high hopes. The sensor is capable enough to keep the scenes bright and maintain the ambience well. However, noise reduction can sometimes soften fine textures, particularly in foliage and distant objects. Despite this, the colours and exposure look consistent. 

OnePlus N6 Verdict: Should you buy it? 

The OnePlus N6 has entered the most competitive segment, with a clear objective: to offer all the fundamentals that matter the most in everyday usage. At Rs 20,000, it may not have the most powerful chipset in its class, nor does it attempt to be that gimmicky photography expert. Instead, it wants to deliver a balanced experience built around the battery life, durability, reliability and the familiar OnePlus software experience.

The biggest talking point is its 8,000 mAh battery and 45W fast charging, giving it a clear edge over the competitors. The durability aspect, including an IP65 rating and military-grade certifications, adds to that trust and will give users peace of mind. 

Performance is also decent, but I expected slightly better. But this does not mean that the overall experience is not smooth and dependable. The excellent CPU throttling result and stable gaming performance indicate that OnePlus has focused on sustained usability rather than headline-grabbing benchmark numbers. The camera is also decent for the asking price.

That said, the OnePlus N6 is not without compromises. The HD+ LCD display feels less ambitious, something that I said for CE 6 Lite as well. Also, the bulky form factor may not appeal to everyone. But if your priority is battery life, durability, decent performance and camera, the OnePlus N6 makes a compelling case for itself. It may not be the most exciting smartphone in its category, but it is one of the most sensible options available for around Rs 20,000.

I'll admit it. This is the first split AC I've owned. Until now, I'd only experienced split air conditioners at friends' and relatives' homes, while I continued using a window AC for years. So, when I finally decided to ditch my good old Voltas window AC and installed the Acerpure Chill Neo 1.5 Ton 5-Star split AC, I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. Were split ACs really that much better? Were they really as quiet as everyone claimed? And most importantly, was all the hype justified? After using the Acerpure Chill Neo for nearly three weeks in a 120 sq ft bedroom, I can definitely say it's made surviving Delhi's summer far more comfortable.

Also read: Livpure Lotier review: Best water purifier under Rs 20000?

Of course, for a split AC that officially retails for Rs 38,990 on Acerpure’s website, or for about Rs 36,000 on Amazon, the Chill Neo isn't perfect, but it gets the important things right, especially cooling performance, low noise levels during normal use and everyday comfort. Here's my firsthand experience.

Cooling performance is exactly what you'd expect from a modern inverter AC

Delhi summers are brutal, and if there's one thing every AC should do well, it's cool the room quickly. Thankfully, that's something the Acerpure Chill Neo has had no trouble with. My room measures around 120 sq ft, and for most of my usage, I simply leave the temperature at 24 degrees Celsius. Within a few minutes, the room starts feeling noticeably cooler, and after around 10 to 15 minutes, it reaches a comfortable temperature even during NCR's unforgiving summer.

Like most modern inverter ACs, the compressor doesn't keep switching on and off aggressively. Instead, it gradually adjusts its cooling output to maintain the set temperature. Apart from keeping the room comfortable, it also makes the entire experience feel much smoother than the older non-inverter and window ACs I've used over the years.

This is where it gets interesting. Whenever I needed the room cooled even faster, I enabled Acerpure's Ice Blast mode. I'm sure most modern ACs from other brands have an equivalent feature, but since this is my first experience owning a split AC, I really appreciated how easy it was to activate the turbo cooling mode with just the press of a button. On the ACs I'd used in the past, let’s say it wasn’t very easy to enable turbo cooling. Acerpure, on the other hand, gives it a dedicated button on the remote. As I mentioned earlier, a single press is all it takes for the compressor and indoor fan to begin operating at maximum capacity, bringing the room temperature down as quickly as possible.

And trust me, it makes a big difference. By the time I get home from the office, my room has usually been shut all day and feels quite humid when I enter. In situations like these, Ice Blast mode cools the room noticeably faster than the regular cooling mode.

Naturally, there is a trade-off. The indoor unit becomes louder because the fan is running at full throttle. Don't get me wrong, though. It's still nowhere near as noisy as the window ACs I've owned, but you do notice the extra airflow. Thankfully, once the room reaches a comfortable temperature, switching back to the regular cooling mode immediately brings the noise levels down again.

Quiet enough to forget it's even there

One of the biggest upgrades after moving from a window AC to the Acerpure Chill Neo has been the noise, or rather, the lack of it. Now, Window ACs always have that constant compressor hum sitting right beside you. You get used to it, but it's never really quiet. However, the Acerpure Chill Neo feels completely different.

During everyday use, the indoor unit is quiet enough that after a while, you almost forget it's running. At times, when I am working on my laptop, or watching TV, or just sleeping, the lack of noise in the background has been one of the biggest quality-of-life improvements.

Thoughtful features you'll actually use

Modern ACs are often loaded with features that sound impressive on paper, but you end up forgetting about them after a week. Similarly, the Acerpure Chill Neo also comes with a bunch of good things, and I have rounded up the most useful ones.

The biggest one is the 7-in-1 Convertible mode. The remote includes a dedicated ‘Convert’ button. Every press cycles through C1 to C7 modes, allowing you to change the AC's cooling capacity depending on the weather or how many people are in the room. In simple terms, these modes let you decide how hard the compressor works. Lower levels prioritise efficiency and consume less power, while higher levels unlock more cooling performance when temperatures outside are unbearable. I mostly left the AC in its default setting because it was more than enough for my room, but it's reassuring to know the flexibility is there.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra review: The Jack of all trades

The swing functionality deserves a mention too. Initially, when I got the demo from the installation guy, I assumed the AC only supported 4-way swing in Ice Blast mode. After spending more time with it, I realised the controls are actually independent. The remote lets you control both the vertical and horizontal louvres separately. The icon with the three dots on the left controls the up-and-down airflow, while the roof-shaped icon controls the left-to-right movement. You can leave either one fixed in a particular direction or let them oscillate independently. Enable swing for both together, and the AC distributes air in every direction simultaneously, creating proper 4-way airflow across the room.

Apart from this, another practical addition to the Acer Chill Neo is the Self Clean function that dries moisture inside the indoor unit after operation, helping reduce mould and unpleasant odours over time. It also comes with Blue Fin protection on the coils for improved durability, 100 per cent copper condenser coils, an easy-to-wash dust filter, Eco Mode, Self Diagnosis, and uses the more environmentally friendly R32 refrigerant.

The Self Diagnosis feature should be particularly useful because it can display fault codes if something goes wrong, making troubleshooting easier for service technicians instead of relying purely on guesswork.

I also quite like the remote. It's simple, easy to understand and gives dedicated buttons to the features you'll actually use, including the aforementioned Ice Blast, Self Clean and Convertible modes. The backlit display is another nice touch, making it easy to tweak settings in a dark room without having to switch on the lights.

The indoor unit of the Acerpure Chill Neo has a clean white finish with subtle branding and a concealed temperature display that lights up when the AC is running. It'll blend into almost any bedroom without drawing unnecessary attention. It also feels well put together.

Even after running it daily for nearly three weeks, I haven't noticed any rattles, unusual vibrations or cheap plastic noises from the indoor unit. The front panel feels sturdy, the louvres move smoothly, and nothing about it feels poorly assembled.

Ownership experience matters just as much

One thing I'd recommend prospective buyers check before purchasing the Acerpure Chill Neo isn't the cooling performance, but the after-sales support available where they live. During the 20 days I've been using the AC, I haven't had to raise a service request. My only interaction with Acerpure's service team was during the installation. While the appointment had to be rescheduled after a couple of delays, the support team was responsive when I raised the issue, promptly arranging another visit. The technician arrived on the rescheduled date as promised, and the installation itself was completed without any problems.

Based on my experience, I'd simply suggest checking whether there's an authorised Acerpure service centre in or around your city before making a purchase. Unlike long-established brands such as General, Daikin or Blue Star, Acerpure is still expanding its presence in India's air-conditioner market. That said, the product itself left a positive impression. Cooling performance, efficiency and everyday usability never felt like compromises. If Acerpure continues strengthening its service network, I think the Chill Neo line will be an even easier recommendation in the years to come.

Acerpure Chill Neo 1.5 Ton 5-Star AC: Should you buy it?

The longer I used the Acerpure Chill Neo, the more I appreciated just how simple it was to live with. Once I'd settled on my preferred settings, there wasn't much left to fiddle with. Most days, I'd simply switch it on, leave it at 24 degrees and let it take care of the rest.

The AC responds quickly to commands from the remote, the temperature remains consistent, and I never found myself constantly adjusting fan speeds or changing modes throughout the day. Dedicated buttons for Ice Blast, Self Clean and Convertible mode work perfectly fine.

Being a 5-star inverter AC, the Acerpure Chill Neo is designed to be energy efficient. Since I've only been using it for around 20 days, it's still too early for me to comment on its real-world impact on my electricity bill. That's something I'll only be able to judge after a few billing cycles rather than a few weeks of use.

Acer is a brand most people associate with laptops and monitors, not home appliances. In fact, when the Acer team initially reached out to me for reviewing this product, I had the same reaction, ‘wait, what? Acer makes ACs now? How?’ So, naturally, there's always a little hesitation when a company enters a category dominated by long-established names. However, after spending nearly three weeks with the Acerpure Chill Neo, that hesitation has largely disappeared.

Also read: Sony Bravia 7 II review: The best LCD TV I’ve tested this year

The Chill Neo cools my 120 sq ft room quickly, remains pleasantly quiet during everyday use and offers useful features. But, as I said, despite having a solid product on hand, Acerpure still has a lot of work to do in expanding its after-sales service network across India. But those shortcomings don't take away from what is otherwise a very capable air conditioner.

If you have good Acerpure service coverage where you live, the Chill Neo is an easy recommendation. It delivers where it matters most: cooling performance, comfort, ease of use and low day-to-day noise. More importantly, it proves that newer brands can absolutely compete with the established names, provided they continue investing in the ownership experience after the sale.

For my first experience with an Acerpure air conditioner, I came away pleasantly surprised. And for anyone shopping for a reliable 1.5-ton 5-star inverter AC, that's probably the biggest compliment I can give it.

I recently spent a couple of months at my in-laws' house in Gurgaon. There, the source of water includes both a municipal supply and a borewell, and my in-laws were relying on bottled water for drinking and cooking. So, I decided to install a water purifier and rather than simply installing another RO purifier and forgetting about it, I wanted something that could tell me what was actually happening to the water. That's when Livpure approached me for reviewing their India’s first AIoT water purifier, the Livpure Lotier. It is priced at Rs 18490 on Amazon, and beyond purification, it promises app-based insights into water quality, filter health and daily usage. It sounded like the kind of feature you might use once during setup and then ignore. After living with it for some time, I found that it wasn't the case. 

Here's the full review of the Livpure Lotier water purifier. Let’s dive in.

Livpure Lotier: Design and installation

The Livpure Lotier has an ABS plastic body with black colour and brownish-gold accents. There is minimal branding. The front panel has tiny touch-based controls which light up blue when the purifier is on. Below this panel is the tap through which you get the purified water.

The Lotier's glossy finish offers it a good look, but over a period of time, since it was installed in the kitchen, I had to regularly clean the surface to maintain its sheen. The chassis measures around 36.5 x 50 x 25.5cm and weighs 8.6kg. It has a very light build, and my mother-in-law, who collected it at the time of delivery, easily carried it to our first-floor room. Also, the technician who came to install it mounted it on the wall without any help.

Before calling in the technician, we suggest you decide on the wall space if you choose the wall-mounted installation. Livpure also allows tabletop installation, which is useful if drilling into walls isn't an option. In our case, wall mounting made more sense, and the technician completed the installation in 10- 20 minutes.

Note, the water tap to which you connect the Livpure Lotier purifier needs to have an RO valve. The technician will charge you separately for the valve and tap.

Along with the Livpure Lotier water purifier and its 16A wired plug connection, we also got a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter to verify the TDS levels shown by the purifier. Even before the installation, the technician used this meter to check the incoming water source, told us about the same and then went on with the setup.

He also demoed the Livpure app to us. The app name is Livpure Smart Kitchen. After giving it permissions for camera, location, microphone and nearby devices, and sharing details like your name, address, email ID, and phone number, it finally lets you pair with the purifier through Bluetooth or scanning a QR code on the purifier. The former worked, and you get to the app's homescreen.

Also Read: Kenstar Maha Kool HC 90 review: Do traditional air coolers make sense in the age of ACs?

Livpure Lotier: App and controls

The technician explained what some of the on-purifier controls do. They are basic operational icons and status indicators:

• Wi-Fi indicator: Shows whether the purifier is connected to the companion app.
• UV indicator: Lights up whenever UV sterilisation is active.
• Water droplet: Starts or stops manual water dispensing.
• Glass and bottle icons: Dispense preset quantities of water.
• Tank icon: Lights up when the purifier tank is full.
• Filter icon: Will light up if the filter health is poor and needs replacement.

The touch controls themselves are responsive and easy to understand. But I don't see the particular need for the glass and bottle presets, as the measurements could differ from glass to glass and bottle to bottle. Instead, the brand could have given a live TDS display or the percentage level of water in the tank.

For more details, you can refer to the Livpure Smart Kitchen app. Its interface is colourful and easy enough to understand, but visually it feels dated. The icons, fonts and overall layout remind me of Android applications from several years ago. It works, but it doesn't feel particularly polished for a product positioned as a premium AIoT appliance.

That said, functionality matters more than appearance. It displays the health of all filters, the quality of water, both the incoming water TDS and the purified water TDS.

The app also shows filter health, remaining filter life, daily water consumption and maintenance reminders. In a recent interaction I had with Livpure's MD and CEO, Mr Rakesh Kaul, he told us that this model is meant to offer predictive maintenance. Using this purifier, the consumers know exactly what they are drinking. It guides the user to replace filters based on actual usage and water quality rather than being misled by technicians into unnecessary changes. The data collected by Livpure lets the brand understand consumer needs and offer better value.

I found the features useful because traditional RO purifiers usually leave you guessing until something stops working. So, despite its visual shortcomings, the Lotier's companion app actually adds value to the ownership experience.

Livpure Lotier review: Performance and service expectations

The Livpure Lotier has a 10-stage purification system comprising RO, UV and UF filtration, along with sediment and activated carbon filters, mineraliser, alkaline enhancer, copper infusion, anti-scalant cartridge and in-tank UV sterilisation. This model supports input TDS levels of up to 2,000 PPM.

As mentioned already, the purifier was connected to the municipal supply water, which has a relatively high TDS of 900 PPM. But the water out of the purifier was around the set safe TDS level of 100. The purifier was doing its job as verified through the bundled TDS meter. You can also set the TDS level you want in the Livpure Smart Kitchen app, and it works with a small margin of difference.

The water looked and tasted consistently clean. The Lotier's tank is made of food-grade ABS plastic and has a capacity of 6.5 litres. The capacity was fine for a nuclear household of 4-5 members. But in this price segment, brands are offering bigger tanks.

Another aspect that deserves appreciation is the ownership experience Livpure is trying to create. The Lotier comes with a 30-month or 2.5 years maintenance-free promise, covering filter replacements, membrane replacement and service visits during this period. The company claims a no-question asked, hassle-free support during this period.

As I mentioned earlier, the technician promptly responded and resolved an issue I had after the installation.

I could find the following current published data for Livpure's post-warranty maintenance:

• A standard 1-year comprehensive AMC costs Rs 4,699 without a pre-filter, and Rs 4,899 if the pre-filter is included.
• A premium Platinum 1-year AMC is available for Rs 5,499.
• For customers who choose not to buy an AMC, a standard technician visit costs Rs 300 (as per Urban Company), while the actual filters, RO membranes, and electrical components will be charged individually based on what needs replacing.

The company also claims it has a wide service network enabled in 19,000 pin codes with over 2,500 service technicians (including on-payroll and franchise-based workers). For installation or repairs, Livpure promises a turnaround time of within 24 hours in city limits and between 48 and 60 hours for upcountry regions.

Still, the after-sales service could vary depending on the city. So, you are advised to check these things before buying/renting the product. Yes, Livpure offers a subscription model, by which customers can rent a Livpure purifier. The brand says this addresses the high total cost of ownership (TCO) in the water purifier industry, where maintenance costs can often exceed the initial purchase price within three years.

Should you buy the Livpure Lotier water purifier?

The Livpure Lotier isn't the first premium RO purifier to offer a multi-stage purification or mineral enhancement. However, it is among the modern water purifiers that tries to make this filtration functionality transparent to the user.

It consistently delivered clean water with a safe TDS level, while the companion app let me monitor incoming and purified water TDS, filter health, water consumption and maintenance alerts. You may not check the app every day, but it's reassuring to have these details readily available when you need them.

The experience isn't without its drawbacks. The app interface feels dated, the onboarding process could be simpler, and the control panel could have displayed more useful information, such as the current TDS or tank level, instead of preset dispensing options. The 6.5-litre storage tank is also smaller than what some competitors offer.

However, all in all, the Livpure Lotier combines a modern industrial design, reliable purification, a useful companion app and a 30-month maintenance-free period. If these features appeal to you, it is worth considering. However, do factor in the post-warranty AMC costs and check Livpure's after-sales support in your city before making a purchase.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar reviews.

Also Read: Beyond Appliances Eris review: Smart Android chimney with strong suction under Rs 20000

Sony Bravia 8 II and Bravia 5 (review) were the top OLED and Mini LED TVs, respectively, in last year's Digit Zero1 Awards. So, when the Japanese TV maker launched the Bravia 7 II in India, like many TV enthusiasts, we were also intrigued and excited. The Sony Bravia 7 II is a new mid-range 4K HDR TV with an advanced RGB LED backlight technology, billed as True RGB. It also brings an XR processor with AI upscaling, XR motion clarity, X-Wide Angle Pro viewing, PS5 optimisations, etc. The 55-inch model (K-55XR70M2 IN5) that came in for review is available in India at Rs 210890. 

As a Sony mid-premium flagship TV, we had some expectations for its picture quality and overall offering. Let's see if the Bravia 7 II's new True RGB backlight and Sony's tuning meet that?

Verdict 

The Sony Bravia 7 II delivers one of the best LCD TVs currently available in India. It combines accurate colours, deep blacks, refined local dimming and smooth motion handling with Sony's True RGB technology and polished image processing. While the high price, limited HDMI 2.1 connectivity and lack of HDR10+ may deter some buyers, its picture quality and the overall experience are enough to justify its premium positioning.

Sony Bravia 7 II: Display performance

The Bravia 7 II uses a 55-inch 4K VA LCD panel with True RGB LED backlight, where each tiny LED cluster consists of independently controlled red, green and blue light. Sony claims this arrangement offers less colour mixing and more authentic colours. In the Calman test, the TV scores 83.01% of BT 2020 gamut coverage (1976 CIE) and 96.56% of DCI-P3 coverage. That's for HDR content, and for SDR, it scored 92.07% in BT709 gamut. These are better figures than the Bravia 7 with regular Mini LED backlighting.

The Bravia 7 II TV is plenty bright, too. You get to see its full potential in Vivid mode. I watched some FIFA World Cup matches in this mode as the TV lacks a dedicated Sports mode. It was either this or the Standard mode, which offers more muted visuals. Vivid isn't the most authentic in terms of colours, but the bright, saturated presentation can be captivating, even if it comes across as exaggerated to some viewers. It touched 2,110 nits in 10% and 25% windows with max brightness and peak luminance settings.

Black luminance was also excellent at 0.2 nits. So, the TV can present pitch black colour and justify. Content scenes like the night jungle sequence in Raakh Ep 02 and The Revenant; the TV produced uniform, deep blacks without any crushing. To complement this, the strong local dimming ensures there are no obvious haloing or blooming artefacts.

For the record, while watching movies, shows and everything except sports, I was using Professional mode. It offers very natural colours. The brightness is dimmer than Standard or Vivid, as authentic colours are preferred in this.

Furthermore, you can enable the My Cinema Preset, which adjusts content for the director's cut. Sitting at around 8-10 feet from the TV, with this preset, I played the tense dogfight sequence from Top Gun: Maverick on Prime Video and everything from colour grading, dynamic range, reflections, and motion looked true to the scene. There were no artefacts or visual disturbances in the quick frames of the command room, inside the jet, the facial features of the actors, including sweat, reflections on the jet's glass hood, and the air movement.

I was equally impressed by how the Bravia 7 II presented the Submarine scene from Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning. I was thinking this isn't an OLED, and still, the level of quality is better than any Mini LED TVs I recall testing.

Oh, by the way, even sitting slightly off-axis, the viewing angles come out nice.

Sony doesn't give HDR10+ support. But you get Dolby Vision, IMAX Enhanced and standard HDR10, which should cover a wide library of modern content out there.

Also Read: Xiaomi S Mini LED 75 2026 review: Big-screen cinematic TV under Rs 1 lakh but with some compromises

For old school shows and movies, Sony offers upscaling, but it is very aggressive, and results in these lower-resolution visuals looking waxy. Another thing you may notice in your everyday use is that the screen is slightly reflective. Even with all the curtains on and no light in the room (except for some lit monitors), I could see myself as a ghostly reflection on the screen. Sony's higher-end Bravia 9 II (which is not released in India) boasts an anti-reflective coating, which this one lacks.

Sony has equipped the Bravia 7 II for serious gamers. It supports 4K at 120fps over HDMI 2.1. However, it includes only two HDMI 2.1 ports and two older HDMI 2.0b ports. Both HDMI 2.1 inputs support VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), as well as Dolby Vision gaming. While playing games, you can easily access quick controls and assistance settings via the Game Menu 2.0. As a Sony TV, you also get tight integration with PlayStation 5, including automatically switching genre modes and HDR tone mapping.

Sony Bravia 7 II: Audio output

The 55-inch model of the Sony Bravia 7 II has a 2.2-channel speaker setup with two side-firing full-range drivers and an Acoustic multi-audio, sound positioning tweeter. The side frames of the TV vibrate to produce sound, and the total output is 40 watts.

The Bravia 7 II speakers support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, along with 3D Surround Upscaling for virtual height effects and expanded stereo sound. The company claims the sound gets calibrated in real-time to your position, the ceiling height and the room size.

The lower bass frequency is decent but not very deep. The full-range drivers produce intelligible vocals and dialogues. If you have a compatible Sony soundbar, then you can get clearer mids, highs and deeper bass.

Sony Bravia 7 II: Software and remote

At the time of writing this, the Bravia 7 II runs on Google TV with Android 14 and the March 2026 update. So, you get a familiar and easy-to-use UI. The navigation is largely smooth, with occasional slow loading of apps, and the cold boot time takes a sweet minute. Overall, the XR Processor does a respectable job. Not great, but not bad either.

Google TV gives you access to Google Assistant, Alexa, Google Cast, Apple AirPlay, and HomeKit. Sony has assured that in a future update, you will get Gemini, too.

Currently, there are plenty of automatic calibration features on this TV. Some examples include the studio-calibrated modes for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Sony Pictures Core. The TV also features a My Cinema Preset that automatically calibrates the audiovisual settings to match the room conditions and the creator's intention. There is a button for this preset on the remote.

The remote is handy because of its lightweight, not-so-long length, lean build and the textured finish on the sides and back. Besides the regular buttons, you get a hotkey for Sony Pictures Core, JioHotstar, Netflix, Prime Video, SonyLiv and Crunchyroll. In case you don't want to go through the Google TV settings menu, the remote offers a button up top that shows an overlay of key settings like picture, audio, network, etc. One qualm is that the bundled remote isn't backlit, which may matter while using it in a dark room.

Sony Bravia 7 II: Design, build and connectivity

The front is mostly display with negligible bezels on three sides, and even the bottom chin is very thin. And thanks to the new transparent centre pedestal stand, the Sony Bravia 7 II TV is very pleasing to look at even when it's off. The back of the TV is plastic with a wavy texture. It has a very lean side profile, save for the protrusion of the stand. The leanness and side-facing ports matter while mounting it on a wall. And if you decide to place it on a table, as we did, know that the TV isn't very heavy. Just installing the stand would take some time, but you can follow an online video guide for that, if required.

Below the bottom frame, towards the left-hand side, there are manual toggles for volume, power, and even a microphone on/off button.

On the left side, you'll find two USB-A ports, a Digital Audio Out, an Ethernet (LAN) port, a cable/antenna input, a satellite tuner, and four HDMI ports. Of these, only two are HDMI 2.1, with HDMI 3 also supporting ARC/eARC. Gamers should note that ALLM is available on all four HDMI ports, while VRR is limited to HDMI 3 and HDMI 4.

Should you buy Sony Bravia 7 II True RGB LED TV?

The Sony Bravia 7 II offers one of the best LED LCD picture experiences currently available in India. Its combination of accurate colour reproduction, deep black level performance, refined local dimming and smooth motion handling puts it among the strongest performers in its category. Add to this an elegant design with a transparent stand, a handy remote, fairly loud and engaging audio, an intuitive software experience, and useful gaming features, including PS5-specific enhancements, and you get a television that feels every bit like a premium Sony product.

However, value-conscious buyers should know that the market has several more feature-packed alternatives. The Bravia 7 II is expensive compared to many Mini LED rivals, offers only two HDMI 2.1 ports, lacks HDR10+ support, and misses out on features such as an anti-reflective coating and dedicated subwoofer setup that are reserved for larger Sony models. I also found the upscaling a little too aggressive with lower-resolution content.

Ultimately, in true Sony fashion, the Bravia 7 II is not a TV you buy because it offers the longest feature list for the money. You buy it for Sony's image processing, colour tuning and overall picture quality. The rest of the package is solid and contributes to a genuinely premium viewing experience. If those are the qualities you care about most, and you're willing to pay extra for Sony's refinement, the Bravia 7 II is a compelling choice.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar reviews.

Also Read: Amazon Echo Dot Max review: A good-sounding smart home hub, still waiting for Alexa+

Business laptops don't usually get the same attention as gaming laptops or sleek ultrabooks. In fact, a lot of people don't think twice before buying one. After all, most working professionals need their laptops to open a few spreadsheets, attend some meetings, reply to emails, and call it a day. But those who spend eight or even ten hours working on a laptop every day know that this is far from the truth. Your work laptop is actually one of the most important devices you own. And when things get super busy, the last thing you want is a laptop that becomes another problem to solve. Because a good business laptop shouldn't demand your attention. It should quietly get out of your way and let you focus on your work. And that's exactly what HP is trying to do with the EliteBook X G2i 14. 

With a starting price of Rs 2.5 lakh, the EliteBook X G2i 14 is HP's premium business laptop that comes with a strong performance, all-day battery life, enterprise-grade features, and a lightweight design that's easy to carry around. I've been using it as my primary work machine for over a week, and while it gets a lot of things right, there are some tiny hiccups. Curious to know more? Read on.

Also read: Best laptops under Rs 70000 for office work in 2026

HP EliteBook X G2i 14: Design and build

The first thing I noticed about the EliteBook X G2i is, of course, the design. HP has played things extremely safe when it comes to the laptop’s looks. The device, without a doubt, looks professional but also generic. At this price point, I expected something that felt a little more special. More colour options (apart from the Eclipse Grey, Atmospheric Blue, and Glacier Silver) or a more distinctive design language could have helped the EliteBook stand out from the crowd.

The one thing that impressed me about the EliteBook X G2i was its weight. We all know that business users are constantly moving between desks, meeting rooms and offices. And if the job involves travel, there are numerous trips to even airports and hotels. In all of these cases, a laptop’s weight, as well as form factor, matters. The HP EliteBook X G2i 14 is a relatively compact and lightweight device that doesn’t compromise on durability. Throughout my testing, it never felt like a burden in my backpack or my arms, even after a full day of running around while carrying it.

Coming to the build quality, there isn’t much to complain about. The laptop overall feels reassuringly sturdy and well-built when you hold it in your hand. The keyboard deck remains solid under pressure and gives the laptop a premium feel. That said, there surely is a small amount of flex on the lid if you deliberately press down on it, but nothing that raises concerns during daily use.

One feature I want to mention here is the 180-degree hinge. And this is incredibly thoughtful on HP’s part. Let me explain why. 

Even though this sounds like a minor feature, being able to lay the display completely flat can be useful during collaborative discussions in a meeting room or while sharing content with colleagues sitting across the table.

HP EliteBook X G2i 14: Display

If there is one area where the EliteBook X G2i left me wanting more, it is the display. But before I say anything else, let’s get one thing out of the way: this is not a bad screen. The 14-inch touchscreen panel gets bright enough for indoor and outdoor use, colours look decent, and text remains sharp. So for usual day-to-day office work, the display performs well.

But the problem arises when you look at that price tag. At over Rs 2.5 lakh, expectations naturally increase. And the IPS panel simply lacks the vibrancy and contrast that many competing premium laptops now offer. The content looks good, but it is not really that impressive.

Moreover, HP's integrated privacy screen technology brings with it some viewing-angle quirks. Depending on how you position the display, colours can shift slightly, making the image appear inconsistent. And then there's the refresh rate, which is limited to 60Hz, and it feels somewhat dated in 2026. Granted, your productivity won’t be affected here because of this, but it is still something worth mentioning.

HP EliteBook X G2i 14: Keyboard and trackpad

As someone who spends most of the day writing, I immediately notice the typing experience on any device. And the EliteBook X G2i 14 scores full marks in this department.

The keys have a smooth and tactile feel that makes long writing sessions comfortable, and there is enough travel to provide satisfying feedback. In addition to this, the spacious keyboard deck gives your palms plenty of room to rest.

Even the touchpad has haptic feedback, which takes things up a notch and reminds you why this is a premium device. It feels modern, responsive, and precise, and every tap feels deliberate, while gesture navigation works exactly as expected.

HP EliteBook X G2i 14: Performance and benchmarks

The HP EliteBook X G2i is an absolute beast when it comes to performance, and I do not say that lightly. Throughout my testing, the laptop felt consistently fast regardless of what I threw at it.

Now my usual working day comes with dozens of Chrome tabs, productivity applications, messaging platforms, video calls, and occasional benchmarking runs. The laptop handled everything without any signs of struggle. This stellar real-world performance is backed by some strong benchmark results:

• PCMark 10 Overall: 7409
• 3DMark Time Spy: 7724
• 3DMark Fire Strike: 13,322
• 3DMark Night Raid: 45,772
• 3DMark Wild Life: 39,508
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 12,548
• Cinebench Single-Core: 2074
• Cinebench Multi-Core: 1611
• PCMark Full SSD: 1591

Those are some really strong numbers that prove just how capable the HP EliteBook X G2i 14 is in terms of performance and consistency. You can go hours and hours of using it, and the laptop doesn’t ever feel sluggish in terms of speed and fluidity.

HP EliteBook X G2i 14: Speakers, webcam and other features

In most business laptops, the webcam just exists. But here, the 1080p front camera actually made me look decent during video meetings when I was sitting under white office lights. The colours are vivid, and the image quality remains quite clear. There is also a physical privacy shutter that can be toggled on and off. 

The speakers are decent without being exceptional. They are perfectly capable of handling meetings, YouTube videos, podcasts, and casual entertainment. However, they aren't likely to impress audiophiles.

And of course, this is a CoPilot+ PC, which means it comes with features like Recall and live captions with translation.

HP EliteBook X G2i 14: Battery and thermals

Talking about Battery life, this is another area where the EliteBook performs well. During the PC mark battery test, the laptop lasted almost 12 hours. This was at 50 per cent screen brightness and best power efficiency mode. That means that even if you forget to carry your charger during a busy work day, there’s nothing to panic about.

Moreover, when the laptop does run out of juice, charging speeds are quite impressive. The battery reaches 50 per cent in just 30 minutes, making things super convenient.

Thermals here are also well managed. Of course, the laptop does get slightly warm while demanding tasks, but things never get too hot to handle. Even when I was running benchmarks on it constantly, the surface temperatures remained under control. But the fan noise can get distracting at times. 

Verdict

The HP EliteBook X G2i is a laptop that understands its role. It isn't trying to chase trends or stand out in a market full of business professionals. And this is sort of a double-edged sword. On one hand, the laptop nails the basics and leads to a stellar performance. On the other hand, the display feels underwhelming for the price, and the design lacks the X factor that you'd expect from a machine that costs over Rs 2.5 lakh.

That said, if your priority is productivity and reliability, the HP EliteBook X G2i is an excellent business laptop. Just be prepared to pay a premium for the experience.

Also read: Can a thin and light gaming laptop really handle AAA games? I found out

The WD Red Pro WD103KFBX is a very specialised hard drive. While it’s easy to assume that hard drives are commoditised and barely stand apart from each other, the truth is that the firmware that sits at the heart of these drives have been fine-tuned for the applications that they’re meant to be used. The WD Red Pro, for example, is meant for round-the-clock usage with negligible downtime. So these are the ones that go into NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices that need to maintain significant uptime. Unfortunately, it’s not the cheapest way to add 10 TB of stage given its price tag of Rs 49,599. It’s basically meant for folks who want reliability in a heavy-use scenario. So you might see ingest servers in media houses use drives like these unless they’ve already switched to SSDs. The WD Red Pro drives are NAS-focused 3.5-inch mechanical hard drives built for users who want dependable capacity, stronger sustained performance and RAID-friendly behaviour inside a network storage box.

Specifications

At first glance, the WD103KFBX has the right ingredients for heavy use. It uses CMR recording, spins at 7200 RPM, carries a large 512 MB cache and is rated for NAS environments rather than occasional desktop use. A lot of NAS drives used to be 5400 RPM drives but of late, we’re seeing more of 7200 RPM drives being pushed into the segment. That’s great for performance but the main trade-off is acoustics. This is a performance-oriented mechanical drive, and under random access, it sounds like one.

Aside from being a 10TB 3.5-inch SATA hard drive, the WD Red Pro WD103KFBX uses conventional magnetic recording, which is important for those seeking performance in multi-drive storage because CMR drives generally handle sustained writes and RAID rebuild behaviour more predictably than SMR-based drives. WD rates this 10 TB model for up to 267 MB/s transfer speeds, and the Red Pro family is also positioned for RAID-optimised NAS systems. Surprisingly, this is an air-filled drive. Looking at the data sheet for the WD Red Pro family, we can see a mix of air-filled and helium-filled drives with slightly different performance characteristics. So, it’s a little weird that such drives would be clubbed together. While transfer speeds are close to each other, there are other parameters such as shock tolerance, power consumption, etc which are vastly different. 

Setup and initialisation

For this review, two WD Red Pro WD103KFBX 10TB drives were installed in a QNAP TS-216G NAS and configured in RAID 1. We went for this test environment because it reflects how many home-office users, creators and small businesses are likely to deploy a pair of high-capacity NAS drives: mirrored for redundancy, connected over 2.5 GbE and used for media libraries, backups, shared folders and light application workloads.

Installation in the QNAP TS-216G was straightforward. Once the two WD Red Pro drives were added and the storage pool was created, QTS reported healthy S.M.A.R.T. status for both drives. There were no reallocated sectors, no spin retry count warnings and the power-on hours matched the testing window.

The initial RAID 1 synchronisation took approximately 14 to 18 hours. That sounds long, but it is expected when the NAS has to initialise and mirror a high-capacity pair of mechanical drives. The important bit is that the NAS remained usable during the process. File access, the QTS interface and basic app behaviour continued to work, although response times were slightly higher while the background sync was active.

This is one of the areas where NAS drive behaviour matters. A weaker desktop-class drive may technically work inside a NAS, but long background operations such as initialisation, rebuilds and indexing are precisely the sort of tasks that separate purpose-built NAS drives from general storage. The WD Red Pro drives did not throw up health warnings or obvious responsiveness issues during this stage.

Synthetic performance

The strongest numbers came from sequential testing. Inside QNAP’s Storage & Snapshots benchmark, the individual drives posted sequential read and write speeds in the 260 MB/s to 270 MB/s range. That is very close to the official rated ceiling for this model and is strong for a mechanical hard drive. Over the network, the results were even more telling. CrystalDiskMark runs over the TS-216G’s 2.5GbE connection produced stable read and write speeds between 280 MB/s and 295 MB/s for both 1 GB and 16 GB test sizes. That effectively means the NAS network link became the limiting factor rather than the drives. In a two-bay RAID 1 setup, the WD Red Pro pair had no difficulty filling the available 2.5 GbE pipe.

On a basic Gigabit Ethernet NAS, these drives would spend most of their time waiting on the network. Gigabit Ethernet typically caps real-world transfers a little above 100MB/s, far below what the WD103KFBX can deliver. The Red Pro makes much more sense in a 2.5GbE or faster setup, or in larger NAS boxes where multiple users and services may be hitting the storage pool simultaneously.

Random 4K behaviour was also good for mechanical media. It was nowhere near SSD territory, of course, but for a 7200 RPM hard drive inside a NAS, we observed healthy metrics. The large cache and WD’s firmware behaviour appear to help with small bursty operations, particularly when the workload involves many smaller writes being absorbed before being committed to the platters.

Real-world transfers

The large-file transfer test was the cleanest demonstration of what these drives can do in a modern 2.5 GbE NAS. Copying a 50 GB 4K movie file produced an almost flat transfer graph, with speeds locked around 285 MB/s from start to finish. The transfer completed in just under three minutes, and there was no obvious drop-off once the copy operation settled.

This makes the WD Red Pro WD103KFBX a strong fit for media-heavy workflows. Large video files, RAW photo archives, project backups and system images are exactly the kind of workloads where this drive feels comfortable. The combination of high sustained sequential throughput and predictable NAS behaviour makes it feel less like a bottleneck and more like the natural storage layer behind the network connection.

Small-file performance was more variable, as expected. A 10 GB folder containing around 5,000 mixed photos and documents transferred between roughly 45 MB/s and 90 MB/s. That is a wide range, but it is not erratic in a worrying way. Small files are simply harder for mechanical drives because the heads have to move more frequently and the file system has to process more metadata. The 512 MB cache helps smooth out some of this behaviour, but physics still applies. And the more you use the drive and data gets fragmented across the drive, the more mercurial the speeds will be.

At the end, there were no sudden freezes, no prolonged stalls and no dramatic collapse in throughput. Backing up thousands of photos, moving document archives and syncing mixed folders all felt consistent enough for a NAS of this class.

NAS apps and media use

The WD Red Pro drives also behaved well when the NAS was asked to do more than simple file transfers. Plex Media Server library operations, thumbnail generation and basic timeline scrubbing were handled with minimal delay. Mechanical hard drives are not ideal for every app-heavy NAS workload, especially where databases and constant random writes are involved, but the Red Pro pair handled typical media-library behaviour without making the QTS interface feel bogged down. If you’re going for a similar setup, try to look for a NAS with an SSD Caching drive. 

QNAP’s own background tasks, indexing and management interface remained responsive during testing. This is where NAS-oriented firmware tuning becomes relevant. The drive has to manage command queuing and background work sensibly so that one task does not make the entire NAS feel sluggish. In this setup, the Red Pro drives handled that balance well. For a home media server, shared family backup system, small studio archive or office file server, this level of behaviour is exactly what is needed. The drive is not pretending to be an SSD, but it does deliver enough responsiveness for a two-bay NAS that is also running everyday services.

Thermals

Thermal performance was well controlled inside the QNAP TS-216G. At idle, the two drives settled between 36°C and 39°C. After an hour of continuous small-file transfer stress, they peaked between 43°C and 46°C. Those are safe figures for a 7200 RPM NAS drive and comfortably below the operating temperature ceiling.

The TS-216G’s internal fan did ramp up slightly under sustained stress, but not in a disruptive way. The drive temperatures also did not show worrying heat accumulation over the test period. This is encouraging because two high-capacity 7200 RPM drives inside a compact two-bay NAS can generate enough heat to expose weak chassis airflow.

For long-term use, the usual NAS hygiene still applies. The enclosure should not be placed inside a closed cabinet, and dust build-up around the intake and exhaust paths should be avoided. But within a normal open-room setup, the WD Red Pro drives remained comfortably within safe thermal limits.

Acoustics

Noise is the one area where expectations need to be set properly. At idle, the drives produce a faint and steady spinning hum. In a normal office or living room with background noise, it fades away easily enough. In a quiet bedroom or silent study, it is noticeable.

Under random seek loads, the character changes. The head movement produces a distinct rhythmic thumping or clicking sound. This is normal behaviour for a performance-oriented 7200 RPM hard drive, especially one designed for NAS and enterprise-adjacent workloads, but it is clearly audible across a quiet room. Being in India, we had to wait until the middle of the night to hear it clearly. This does not make the WD Red Pro unsuitable for home use, but it does affect placement. It is better suited to a study, office, equipment shelf or utility area than a bedside table. Users upgrading from quieter 5400 RPM or lower-power NAS drives will notice the difference. The trade-off is that the Red Pro delivers stronger performance and a more robust workload profile.

Verdict

The WD Red Pro WD103KFBX is a strong 10TB NAS hard drive that performs exactly the way a Pro-class NAS drive should. In the QNAP TS-216G, a pair of these drives in RAID 1 delivered excellent sequential throughput, stable real-world transfer behaviour and healthy operating temperatures. The drives were fast enough to saturate the NAS’s 2.5GbE interface, which is a clear sign that they are not the limiting factor in this setup. The large-file transfer results were particularly impressive for mechanical storage, with sustained speeds around 285 MB/s and no visible mid-transfer drop-off. Small-file workloads were naturally slower and more variable, but still stable. QNAP app behaviour was also smooth enough for everyday media and file-server use.

The main drawback is noise. The WD Red Pro’s 7200 RPM design and assertive seek behaviour make it clearly audible under load. That is not a fault, but it does mean the NAS should be placed thoughtfully. For users building a serious two-bay NAS, especially one connected over 2.5GbE or faster, the WD Red Pro WD103KFBX is a very capable choice. It brings the performance headroom and workload confidence expected from a NAS-focused hard drive, while still offering the simplicity and capacity benefits of traditional mechanical storage. It is best seen as a dependable workhorse for active storage, media libraries and backup-heavy environments, rather than a silent archival drive for a quiet corner.

The Noise ALT Watch 1 enters a market where brands are now trying to sell an experience, and Noise wants you to buy into a design-first ecosystem backed by artificial intelligence (AI). Whether it be AI-generated watch faces or smart summaries in the mornings, the device tries hard to live up to the motto, ‘this is not just another smartwatch.' Naturally, that also raises expectations, as when a brand talks extensively about AI and positions a product as a more premium alternative, we expect the experience to justify the claims beyond a presentation slide. So without any further ado, let's deep dive and check if Noise was able to deliver what it marketed.

I used the Noise ALT Watch 1 as my daily companion for some time, and I came away with mixed but largely positive impressions. The Noise ALT Watch 1 surprised me in areas I did not expect, particularly with its display, notification handling, app experience, and health-tracking reliability. However, I too have a few complaints with the device, and some of them are in a critical department. So, the question is whether those compromises matter enough to keep it off your wrist. Let's check it out.

Design and build: Looks good but doesn't feel premium enough

The first thing I noticed when I unboxed the Noise ALT Watch 1 was its circular design, which gives it a more traditional look than the square alternatives. But, beyond the looks, once I started using it regularly, I realised that the build quality did not completely match the premium image that Noise was trying to project. At Rs 5,999, I expected something that felt a little more solid in hand. Despite featuring a metal body with an anodised aluminium bezel, the watch leans towards a plastic-heavy feel that occasionally reminds you of its price category.

That does not mean the Noise ALT Watch 1 feels poorly built. It is sturdy enough for daily use and never feels fragile, but the issue is more about perception. The marketing and design language suggest a premium experience, but the physical hardware does not always reinforce that impression.

I also took a fair amount of time to get used to the unusual crown placement. I am used to watches with a more traditional positioning of the crown, which is more towards the centre. However, this is a personal preference, and many people may not notice it at all. Also, the crown works fine for the most part. It’s just sometimes I felt that moving through the interface was not as smooth as I expected.

Display: One of the key highlights

I found the Noise ALT Watch 1’s display to be quite impressive, albeit with a minor hiccup. On the good side, the 1.32-inch AMOLED panel is bright, sharp, and extremely easy to read outdoors. During my time with the watch, visibility under direct sunlight was excellent. Whether I was checking notifications, looking at fitness stats, or simply glancing at the time while outside, the display remained clear and readable.

Honestly, this is the kind of thing that most budget and even mid-range smartwatches just don't manage to get right, so it's genuinely nice to see Noise nail it. On top of that, the display barely picked up any dust or smudges, unlike most other watches I've tried in this price range.

I also put it through a proper stress test by wearing it during the daily chaos of Delhi Metro crowds, and honestly, I was a little surprised that the screen came out without a single scratch. That's no small thing, especially since other watches I've tested in the same conditions ended up with quite a few scratches by comparison.

As for the ‘minor hiccup’ I earlier mentioned, I found the brightness adjustment of the device to be a bit finicky. There were occasions when the automatic brightness took slightly longer than expected to adapt to changing lighting conditions, or it never adapted unless set manually. While it was not frequent enough to become frustrating, it happened often enough for me to notice.

That said, the display still remains one of the strongest reasons to consider the ALT Watch 1. If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you are likely to appreciate what this panel offers.

Comfort: It’s subjective

Comfort was where my experience became a little mixed, as throughout the day, the Noise ALT Watch 1 remained comfortable enough for extended wear. It never felt excessively bulky, and I was able to work, walk, and go about my routine without constantly noticing it on my wrist.

However, as I always say, the silicone strap is not my favourite type, and my judgement remains the same with the Noise ALT Watch 1. The strap tends to accumulate sweat during prolonged use, especially in the current heat of Delhi. Furthermore, with time, this makes the watch feel less comfortable than it otherwise would, and I also noticed that sweat would occasionally build up around the sensor area, requiring me to clean both the strap and the watch more frequently.

I was also let down a bit while using the Noise ALT Watch 1 during the night. I usually sleep with smartwatches on purpose, since it's the only real way to test sleep tracking and see how comfortable a device actually is over long hours. I've done this with quite a few other watches without any issues, but the ALT Watch 1 just didn't sit right on my wrist at night. A few times, I genuinely felt like taking it off before bed instead of just leaving it on.

Now, this could come down to wrist size or personal preference, so your experience might be different. But for me, it didn't make the cut as a comfortable overnight wearable.

Health Tracking: Reliable enough for everyday users

Health tracking is probably the most important thing on any smartwatch these days, especially with brands pouring so much money into getting this right. The good news is that the ALT Watch 1 actually holds up well here. I tested it while walking, doing light jogging, and during my regular workouts, and the results were mostly the same each time.

The heart rate readings were quite accurate throughout most of the test period, and my SpO₂ measurements were also in line with my expectations. Sleep tracking proved to be accurate at depicting my sleep cycle, while the number of steps recorded was somewhat closer to the real thing.

Is the data lab-grade accurate? No. Would I trust it on a daily basis for fitness tracking purposes? Yes, certainly. In my opinion, the watch should be considered a tool for fitness and everyday monitoring, rather than one that provides absolutely accurate information. The readings may not always be precise, yet they are still accurate enough to follow your progress in terms of fitness level.

Software Experience: Seamless and quick

One of the most pleasant surprises during my time with the Noise ALT Watch 1 was the software experience. Connecting the watch via the NoiseFit application has been both fast and easy. I tried pairing it with an Android phone at first, and the process was lightning fast. Then I also tried connecting it to an iPhone and had the same nice experience.

Many people often forget about cross-device compatibility, which can be very useful in case someone switches their devices or simply owns several phones. The application itself is easy to use and offers fast access to all kinds of data and health information. I didn’t experience any problems during my testing phase, and the connection was steady all the time.

Notifications and calling performance: On point

The performance of a smartwatch is determined by its ability to perform common tasks, notifications being one of them. Luckily for us, ALT Watch 1 has done great here.

The notifications came promptly and without delay, regardless of whether the battery was low or if the device had entered the power-saving mode. Such stability made this watch a practical companion all throughout the day, as I didn't feel the urge to pull out my phone to check on the notifications coming in.

Bluetooth calls have been mostly positive, with decent voice clarity and no issues reported by callers hearing me. On my end, the sound quality was good at normal volume levels. However, I did notice some problems when the volume was turned up to the maximum. At full volume, the caller’s voice began to crackle and buzz, as though it was being over-amplified.

AI Features: More hype than real use

Noise marketed the ALT Watch 1 as an AI-focused smartwatch. But honestly, it didn't live up to the hype for me. The morning briefs did show basic stuff like weather and temperature, but that's about it, as nothing here felt unique or particularly useful.

The AI watch faces and the AI companion app left me disappointed too. I won't go as far as calling these features completely useless, but they're nowhere near the level Noise made them out to be. What I can say is they are eye-catching.

Long story short, the marketing made them seem much more impressive than they actually are, and this creates a noticeable gap between what is promised and what you get in real use. In my view, it is better to see these AI features as small extras rather than the main reason to buy the smartwatch. If you do that, you will probably have a better overall experience.

Battery Life: Depends entirely on how you use it

Battery performance is one of the most interesting aspects of the Noise ALT Watch 1 because your experience can vary dramatically depending on your settings. Under default configurations with many advanced tracking features disabled, the battery performs very well. In that scenario, I can understand how users might approach the brand's claimed battery figures.

The problem is that most people buy a smartwatch to actually use its features. Once I enabled the Always-On Display and activated regular health tracking, battery life dropped significantly. In my usage, the watch typically lasted around two and a half days before requiring a recharge.

That is not terrible, but it is also not exceptional. It means you need to pay attention to battery levels and keep the charger nearby, especially if you rely on the watch heavily.

Charging from 0 to 100 per cent took approximately 82 minutes in my testing, which is acceptable for this category. If your goal is maximum battery life of 21 days, as claimed by the brand, then you can certainly achieve it by limiting features. However, if you're using everything the watch offers, then don't expect anything impressive.

Watch faces and customisation: Need more attention

Another area where I felt that Noise could have done a better job with the ALT Watch 1 is the customisation part of the watch faces. Though the available watch faces look fine, and there is a decent selection to choose from, I felt it lagging when compared with the other watches in the same price bracket.

One of the features that I particularly missed was the ability to customise colours on certain static watch faces. While it may sound like a minor detail, these small personalisation options make a smartwatch feel more personal and unique.

Also, it's not a major flaw, and it certainly does not affect daily usability, but it is an area where I hope that Noise gives its users more flexibility with future software updates.

Noise ALT Watch 1: Should you buy it?

The Noise ALT Watch 1 is a smartwatch that gets many fundamentals right while simultaneously reminding you that it is still a first-generation product within a new lineup.

The display is excellent, notifications are reliable, along with the polished software experience and more. 

At the same time, the watch is not without shortcomings, as the silicone strap may not be comfortable for everyone. Moreover, the build quality feels less premium than the design suggests, along with the average battery life and speakers.

Despite those criticisms, I would not call the Noise ALT Watch 1 a bad smartwatch. Far from it. If you are looking for a smartwatch with a bright display, dependable notifications, good software support, and health tracking that is accurate enough for everyday use, the ALT Watch 1 makes a compelling case for itself, especially at a price point of Rs 5,999.

The Redmi Turbo series has officially made its debut in India with the Redmi Turbo 5. Over the past few years, the Turbo series has built a reputation outside India for delivering flagship-level power without the price tag of a flagship phone, and the new Redmi Turbo 5 looks set to continue that trend. On paper, I would say Xiaomi has packed quite a lot into this device. There’s the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset, a large 7,540mAh battery with 100W fast charging, a 120Hz AMOLED display and a durable design.  At a starting price of Rs 37,999, the Redmi Turbo 5 comes at a very competitive price, considering the current smartphone landscape.

For obvious reasons, if buyers are spending close to Rs 40,000 on a phone, they would want capable cameras, a premium design, reliable software, and long-term value. For sure, the Redmi Turbo 5 looks impressive on paper; the real question is whether it can deliver a balanced experience that justifies its place among the best smartphones in its segment. After spending a couple of weeks with the Redmi Turbo 5, here’s everything you need to know.

Redmi Turbo 5: Design and build quality

The Turbo 5 features an aluminium frame and a glass back panel that feels premium in hand, while the subtle red accents around the camera module help it stand out. Redmi has also added a Matrix lighting ring inside the camera module that lights up during notifications and media playback, which can be customised in the settings.

While the design isn’t extraordinary, it feels modern and clean. Not to mention, the look is the same as the Poco X8 Pro. Also, if you’re looking for a slim phone, well, this one doesn’t feel as slim or as elegant as some of its peers.

On the durability front, the Redmi Turbo 5 comes with IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings, along with SGS certification.

The stereo speakers are also worth mentioning. With Dolby Atmos support and surprisingly good bass, the mids also come out loud and clear.

Redmi Turbo 5: Display

The Redmi Turbo 5 comes with a 6.59-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and for the most part, it’s an excellent panel. Animations are smooth, scrolling feels fluid, and touch response remains quick whether you’re browsing social media, gaming, or simply navigating through the interface.

Outdoor visibility is another strong point. During our testing at Digit Test Labs, the display reached 2,860 nits of brightness, making it easy to use even under harsh sunlight. Redmi also supports HDR10, HDR Vivid and Dolby Vision, which gives the Turbo 5 an advantage when it comes to supported HDR formats. Watching content on Netflix, YouTube and other streaming platforms is genuinely enjoyable. Colours look vibrant, contrast levels are strong, and the overall viewing experience feels high-end.

While there are displays in this segment that offer slightly better colour calibration and richer visuals, the Turbo 5’s panel remains one of its strongest features and should satisfy most users.

Redmi Turbo 5: Performance

Powering the Redmi Turbo 5 is the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset, paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.1 storage. Before I give you the real-world performance breakdown, here are some benchmark scores.

The Redmi Turbo 5 scored around 2.08 million in Antutu, while Geekbench results reached 1,604 in single-core and 6,359 in multi-core. In the CPU throttling test, the device maintained around 81 per cent of its peak performance. In the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Test, it got an overall score of 4,429.

More importantly, these impressive numbers also reflect in everyday use. Apps launch instantly, multitasking is effortless, RAM management is reliable, and the overall software experience feels consistently fast.

Gaming performance is also impressive. BGMI supports 120 fps gameplay with minimal frame drops. Call of Duty Mobile also runs at 120 fps with consistent frame rates during extended gameplay.

The only issue that I came across while using this phone under load is heat management. During long gaming sessions and benchmark runs, the Turbo 5 Pro gets quite warm. This is to the point that sometimes it becomes uncomfortable to use.

Still, for users prioritising performance, the Redmi Turbo 5 delivers exactly what it promises.

Redmi Turbo 5: Cameras

Camera setup on the Redmi Turbo 5 is pretty straightforward. You get a 50MP Sony IMX882 main camera along with an 8MP ultrawide sensor on the back. Selfies are handled by a 20MP front-facing camera.

Let’s start with the primary camera. The results are generally good. Photos are detailed, colours are vibrant, and images often look social-media ready straight out of the camera. The images have a noticeable amount of sharpness, particularly when capturing human subjects, which can make facial details look slightly artificial.

Exposure control is consistent, while HDR performance isn’t the strongest in the segment, but sometimes it’s like a hit and miss situation.

In portrait photography, the edge detection is great, subject separation is clean, and the images have a pleasing contrast that makes them stand out, but depending on your taste, sometimes the contrast can be too much.

The 8MP ultrawide sensor captures fewer details, and image quality drops in tricky lighting. It gets the job done in good light, but it’s clearly not the highlight of this device.

Selfies are decent, not exceptional. The 20MP front camera captures enough detail for social media uploads, and for video calls, you can rely on it.

Redmi Turbo 5 can record videos up to 4K at 60fps, although the video output is okayish with decent stabilisation.

Redmi Turbo 5: Battery life and charging

Redmi Turbo 5 battery impressed me a lot. The phone packs a massive 7,540mAh battery. In our PCMark battery test, the device lasted 18 hours and 2 minutes, making it one of the strongest contenders in this category. Real-world usage also tells a similar story. The phone was easily getting me through an entire day of heavy use. And if you’re a moderate user, it can easily stretch into a second day before needing to charge.

Speaking of charging, the Redmi Turbo 5 supports 100W fast charging and takes 1 hour and 11 minutes to charge from 0 to 100 per cent.

Redmi Turbo 5: Software

Redmi Turbo 5 runs HyperOS 3 based on Android 16. The interface is feature-rich and offers a lot of customisation options. Like many other smartphones, there are some pre-installed apps out of the box, but most of them can be removed easily.

The overall experience remains smooth and responsive in daily usage; there are no glitches as such, and the animations are also smooth. More importantly, Redmi has committed to 4 years of Android updates and 6 years of security patches.

Redmi Turbo 4: Verdict

Does the Redmi Turbo 5 justify its asking price? I’d say, in the sub-Rs 40,000, the Turbo 5 succeeds because it focuses on the things that matter most to its target audience. It delivers great performance, excellent battery life, a high-quality AMOLED display and strong durability.

Granted, the cameras aren’t class-leading, and the phone does warm up under heavy usage. But, at around Rs 38,000, the Redmi Turbo 5 offers one of the strongest value propositions in the market today.

If your priorities are performance, gaming, battery life and long-term software support, this is an easy phone to recommend. It may not be the most complete high-end experience available, but as an all-round value-focused device, the Redmi Turbo 5 gets a lot right.

When we look at the TWS earbuds available for under Rs 3000, there’s no doubt that the segment is quite crowded. While very few products offer a refined experience, what remains one of the key criteria for these products to be categorised as ‘refined’ is the sound. Of course, this aspect could also be very subjective. But then there are other features that tell you how competent and competitive a pair of earphones is. Into this space, Motorola has recently launched the Moto Buds 2, priced at Rs 2999. It comes with dual drivers, 55dB active noise cancellation, LDAC and LHDC audio support, multipoint connectivity, Spatial Audio, and up to 11 hours of playback on a single charge. I have been wearing the pair for a few weeks now, and I have some thoughts about it. 

I won't call the Moto Buds 2 flawless, but they do somewhat stand out in a segment where compromises are usually easy to spot. Here's my full review.

Moto Buds 2: Verdict

The Moto Buds 2 deliver where it matters most. They offer warm, engaging sound, effective ANC, long battery life, and a comfortable fit, making them an excellent value at Rs 2999. While inconsistent touch controls, in-ear detection, and weaker Bluetooth stability keep them from feeling fully polished, they don't overshadow an otherwise well-rounded experience.

Calm and comfortable design

Although TWS earphones with a stem and silicone earbuds are very common, not all of them offer a good fit. The Moto Buds 2 gladly do. These are light, and you stop thinking about them after a while. The angular edges of the stem make it easily tactual. I received the Pantone Carbon variant for review, which is dark blue-ish in colour with both matte and glossy accents. I prefer this clean and understated look over flashy designs.

As for the charging case, it is compact in size and can easily disappear into the coin pocket in jeans. The case has a dual-tone finish with a translucent lid and a white bottom. The lid feels slightly fragile and flimsy. In longer use, I will know how durable the case is.

On the durability front, you also get an IP54 rating, which can offer some peace of mind against drizzle or splashes.

The feature list doesn't feel budget

After a smooth pairing process, you can access the essential features you come to expect from a TWS earbuds pair in the Moto Buds app. It has a simple interface, and you can access Noise Controls, Equaliser, Gaming Mode, Volume Boost, Hi-res mode, Gestures, In-ear detection, dual-connection, and a few more settings.

While it is good to have features, they can be unpredictable. For instance, you take out the Moto Buds 2 while washing your face, and you can still hear sound from the earbuds. The touch gesture area could have been bigger, or the recognition should be better, as most times, the earbuds weren't recognising the taps. It isn't a deal-breaker, but it can be mildly annoying when you're trying to quickly skip a track or pause playback.

Connection stability is not the strongest. It gets spotty in certain areas where other earbuds work fine. The Bluetooth range is also shorter than expected, making the connection less reliable when you move away from the paired device.

Also Read: Realme Buds Air 8 Pro review: Expressive and easy to recommend

Moto Buds 2: Sound that's warm

A key reason to consider the Moto Buds 2 is its sound if you like a warm, bass-forward tuning. In the Flat EQ preset with hi-res mode, you'd feel the bass emphasis in all tracks. The presentation is boomy in old school hip hop tracks like Good Times by Styles P or a new track like Lights On by Big Grams. The beats really slap in a song like I'm in Love by Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King and a new Tamil song, Verappa, from the movie Karuppu. The starting bass drops in Poo Padal from another Tamil movie, 29, also sound tastefully tight.

Even with the bass, other sound elements have enough clarity. You can hear instruments and the vocals with ample separation. The dual-driver setup clearly helps here. While the 11mm driver takes care of the lower end, vocals, and the highs sound clear and sharp, thanks to a 6mm driver. The sound was louder and better than the Realme Buds Air 8, which is one of the best-sounding earbuds in this range.

ANC that actually matters

I argue that, besides how well an earphone sounds, it is also important how well it kills the ambient noise, as that determines your overall listening experience.

The Moto Buds 2 perform decently, but you can still make out what's happening around. And if you want to really be aware of your surroundings, the Transparency mode is there to help. It is clearer than what the pricer Realme Buds Air 8 offers.

For a Rs 2,999 product, the overall noise cancellation experience feels genuinely useful. Background noises are also hushed during calls, and the call experience was alright. The voice was clear and audible for both parties on the call.

Battery life is a standout feature

Motorola claims up to 11 hours of playback on the Moto Buds 2, but I was getting 8.5 hours only at 80 per cent volume. The total claimed runtime is 53 hours, by the way. So, just from the buds, you should get a workday's worth of juice, and with the case, you could carry them for a weekend outing.

For charging, the brand says that in 10 minutes, you can get up to 3 hours of playtime. This could matter when you are in a hurry, and the buds' charge is low.

Moto Buds 2: Should you buy it?

On paper, the Moto Buds 2 are a great offering. And in reality, it meets the expectation to a great extent. You get a warm and attractive sound, effective ANC, a neat design and a comfortable fit. The Moto Buds 2 app is easy to use and packs all the essential features that are meant to enhance your experience.

However, some of these features, like wear detection and tap gestures, work inconsistently. Bluetooth stability isn't as dependable as some rivals'. These aspects can be annoying, but they don't degrade the overall experience.

Especially considering the sub-Rs 3000 price segment, the Motorola branding, and strong fundamentals offered by the product, the shortcomings are easier to overlook. If not for anything else, the sound output could appeal to the mainstream audience. So, if you are looking for a feature-rich pair of TWS earbuds that sound engaging, without spending a fortune, the Moto Buds 2 deserve a place near the top of your shortlist.

Keep reading Digit.in for similar reviews.

Also Read: GoBoult Mustang Sprint TWS earphones review: Quirky design meets murky performance

We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ But sometimes, Jack has to be the dull boy, only to get things done and moving. Because at the end of the day, presentations need to be finished, emails need replies, meetings need attention, and deadlines aren't going to meet themselves. And to do it all, you need a machine that shows up with you, every single day. That’s exactly where business laptops come into the picture. These are very specific, no-nonsense devices that you won’t really find on platforms like Amazon and Flipkart. Also, unlike consumer laptops that are often designed around entertainment, gaming, and aesthetics, business laptops are built with a different goal in mind. They prioritise portability, battery life, durability, security, and productivity above everything else. And Asus just unveiled its latest one: the Asus ExpertBook Ultra. 

This laptop is pitched as a business machine that can do it all. With a starting price of Rs 2,39,990, this is strictly for professionals who spend most of their time, well, working (hello corporate employees). Let’s take a close look at it and try to find out if this device meets your business needs. 

Also read: 5 best laptops for content creators in India: Top picks in 2026

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Design and build

The moment you hold the Asus ExpertBook Ultra, you will immediately go ‘woah, that is light’. At least, that is what my reaction was when I first held the device. At just 990 grams, this is among the lightest 14-inch laptops you can buy today. And this means that carrying it between meetings, commuting with it in a backpack, or travelling with it will be completely hassle-free.

The chassis is built using a magnesium-aluminium alloy and features a nano-ceramic coating that gives it a clean matte finish as well as being lightweight. This coating also keeps fingerprints, smudges, and scratches away. During my time with the laptop, I rarely felt the need to wipe it with a microfiber cloth (which is something I find myself doing way too much with some devices that collect dust and smudges easily).

As far as the build quality is concerned, the Asus ExpertBook Ultra is super impressive. Even when I put pressure on the lid and the keyboard deck, there was no visible flex. The overall in-hand feel is also super sturdy. So, despite its lightweight design, the ExpertBook Ultra never feels fragile.

Now, even though the build quality is excellent, the design itself is another story. Asus here has opted for a design that looks absolutely built for business. And even though business users will appreciate this approach, others might expect a little more.

The ExpertBook Ultra feels a little too conservative for a laptop in this price range. Now I do understand that business laptops aren’t really built to look like an aesthetic marvel, but since we are in 2026, a bit more personality wouldn’t hurt. Now this surely isn't a dealbreaker as the laptop still looks super premium, but a different colour option other than black or grey would have been just amazing. 

Coming to the port selection, you get all you would need at work, and that is exactly how a business laptop should be. Asus has included two Type-C ports (one of which is for charging), two USB Type-A ports, an HDMI port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. 

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Display

The Asus ExpertBook Ultra features a 14-inch 3K Tandem OLED touchscreen display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a matte finish anti-reflection coating. Heavy focus on the words ‘anti-reflective’ here because that changes things completely. 

In all honesty, when I first looked at the laptop, I didn’t realise this was an OLED screen. Because when I think of OLED, I immediately think of a glossy screen with super deep blacks and high contrast. And on this device, the blacks are deep for sure, but not as much as you would expect them to be on an OLED screen. More on that later, but first, let’s talk about the aspect that changes everything: the matte finish anti-reflection coating. 

The screen basically solves the biggest problem found in almost all other OLED laptops, which is reflections. Now they all look fantastic until you take them into a brightly lit office. This is where reflections become a constant distraction, and soon, you end up looking at your own face rather than what is on your screen. But in the Expertbook Ultra, the anti-reflective matte coating makes glare almost non-existent. I used the Asus ExpertBook Ultra in various lighting conditions, and reflections were never an issue.

Apart from that, this is still an excellent OLED panel on the Asus ExpertBook Ultra. Colours look vibrant, text appears super sharp, and the 120Hz refresh rate makes everything feel fluid.

But, coming back, there is a compromise, though. Because of the matte coating, blacks do not look quite as deep as they do on glossy OLED panels. Most users will probably never notice the difference, but those who are used to traditional OLED screens may spot it immediately. For a business-focused machine, however, I think the trade-off is worth it.

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Keyboard and trackpad

As a journalist, the keyboard and trackpad matter more to me than benchmark scores. Most of my day involves writing articles, editing copy, responding to emails, and juggling multiple browser tabs at once. The good news is that the Asus ExpertBook Ultra absolutely nails the fundamentals.

The keyboard offers 1.5mm of key travel and feels comfortable from the very first typing session. Keys are tactile without being noisy, making the laptop ideal for offices and shared workspaces. I comfortably worked on long stories for hours without experiencing any finger fatigue. More importantly, the keyboard remained quiet enough to avoid attracting attention during intense deadline sessions.

The haptic touchpad is equally impressive. It feels smooth, responsive, and accurate, while palm rejection works reliably. Even when I accidentally rested my palm on the surface, the laptop never misinterpreted my inputs.

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Performance and benchmarks

The Asus ExpertBook Ultra is powered by Intel's Core Ultra X7 processor, and performance is one of its strongest areas.

During testing, I routinely had more than 40 Chrome tabs open alongside WhatsApp Web, music streaming services, productivity apps, and multiple background processes. Despite that workload, the Asus ExpertBook Ultra showed no signs of slowing down.

Applications launched quickly, multitasking felt seamless, and the overall experience remained consistently smooth.

Benchmark results were equally impressive:

• Geekbench 6 Single Core: 2867
• Geekbench 6 Multi Core: 16297
• Cinebench R23 Single Core: 1950
• Cinebench R23 Multi Core: 17732
• PCMark 10 overall: 7761 

The Asus ExpertBook Ultra also benefits from a dedicated NPU, enabling AI-powered features such as transcription, summarisation, image enhancement, and noise cancellation.

Now, even though this is not a gaming laptop, it delivers more than enough performance for demanding productivity workloads and content creation tasks. 

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Speakers, webcam and more

The Asus ExpertBook Ultra comes equipped with a six-speaker setup with Dolby Atmos support. And when you talk about the audio quality, it is super and loud enough for an office space. It, of course, isn’t perfect, but it solves its purpose. 

 I played some music on the device when everyone was in the middle of work on a random Tuesday afternoon and got side eyes from my colleagues as the volume was too loud. This didn’t make them happy, but it did make me smile. Because laptop speakers being this good is rare. Kudos to Asus for this.

The 1080p webcam is sufficient if you want to attend video meetings. In well-lit environments, video quality is perfectly suitable for meetings and virtual calls. But in darker lighting conditions, image quality does take a hit as noise becomes more visible and details start to soften.

Other features include Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, Bluetooth 6.0 support, AI-powered noise cancellation, and enterprise-friendly features that business users will appreciate.

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Battery and thermals

Battery life is another thing that the Asus ExpertBook Ultra gets right. With a mixture of web browsing, writing, meetings, messaging apps, and media consumption, I consistently managed to get through a full workday on a single charge.

For most users, 12 to 13 hours of real-world usage is easily achievable.

And when the laptop does run out of juice, the bundled 90W charger tops up the battery quickly.

Thermals also deserve a special mention here. Despite its slim profile and lightweight chassis, the ExpertBook Ultra remains cool. Fan noise also stays under control, and things never get too hot to handle. 

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Verdict

Summing it all up, the Asus ExpertBook Ultra is a laptop that values practicality above all else. It is incredibly light, offers excellent battery life, delivers strong performance, and features one of the best keyboard and trackpad combinations I have used on a Windows laptop recently. The matte OLED display is another standout feature that genuinely improves the day-to-day experience.

However, at a starting price of Rs 2,39,990, I expected a design that felt a little more special. But if your priority is productivity rather than aesthetics, this is one of the most capable business laptops available today.

Also read: What is the right way to play an open world game? GTA 6 maker answers

Ever since I reviewed the Realme Buds Air 8, I have been waiting for the Pro model. I was very impressed with the standard model and was curious to see how Realme ups the ante. The newcomer carries a price tag of Rs 6999 in India and brings dual drivers, 55dB active noise cancellation, LHDC 5.0 audio support, long battery life, and a dedicated bone-conduction microphone for calls (I’ll tell you all about it in a bit). On paper, it looks like a very interesting TWS earphone for the price, but is it really good in everyday use? Let's find out.

Here's my experience after spending time with the Realme Buds Air 8 Pro for several weeks now in my home, office, metro and rikshaw commutes, watching movies, listening to music and taking calls, and sometimes just wearing them to avoid people and noise. It wasn't perfect, but very close. Let’s dive in. 

Verdict

The Realme Buds Air 8 Pro is one of the most complete TWS earphones you can buy under Rs 7,000. It offers expressive sound, effective ANC, reliable call quality, long battery life, and a comfortable fit. Granted, the Realme Link app still needs some refinement, and the glossy design won't be for everyone, but these are minor qualms in an otherwise well-rounded package that is easy to recommend.

Realme Buds Air 8 Pro: Design and comfort

The Realme Buds Air 8 Pro come in Master Black and Master White colour options. Our review unit came in the white finish, which combines a matte body with a glossy metallic top. This is very reflective, and you can even see your face in it. The lustrous surface attracts a lot of smudges, too, especially on the case. The earbuds also have a glossy, steel-like finish on the stems, which gives them a distinct look. However, if I had to pick this or the more sober and sophisticated finish of the black one, I would go with the latter.

The Realme Buds Air 8 Pro case is compact and pocket-friendly. Both its and the buds' build quality is reassuring. The buds sit securely inside the ears without much pressure. One day, it started drizzling during my commute back home, but I confidently kept wearing them thanks to the IP55 ingress protection rating.

Overall, the design is practical and comfortable. The glossy case element may be slightly divisive, but that hardly comes in the way of your actual wearability and usage.

Realme Buds Air 8 Pro: Connectivity and controls

You get a quick and straightforward pairing experience on Android thanks to Fast Pair, and I had no issue connecting it with my MacBook. It should work fine with iPhone and Windows, too. Pairing was followed by a no-fuss connectivity experience. It runs on Bluetooth 6.1 and supports simultaneous connection with three devices, and allows seamless taking calls or switching music playback between these devices. The only catch is that if you are listening to Spotify on your phone and trying to watch a YouTube video on your laptop, you'll have to pause one to start listening on the other.

The Realme Link app is one of the better companion apps in this segment. It needs logging in, and once you do that, you can see all your Realme audio, smart home and fitness-oriented products. Tap the Buds Air 8 Pro from the list, and you can see the earbuds' battery percentage and various settings like ANC controls, EQ presets, firmware updates, wear detection settings, Game mode (low latency), and audio personalisation settings.

On one hand, features like tap-based controls are fairly customisable and quite responsive too. The swipe up/down gesture on the buds' stems to control volume is particularly useful. But the app needs some polishing. You see, I used the hearing test feature called Golden Sound to generate a profile. I applied it and was pleased by the result, but later, one day when the app prompted me to re-log in, after logging in, the saved profile was missing.

Other rough edges include the Ask AI feature (which uses Gemini), wasn't working because of a busy server. Similarly, Mindflow mode wasn't working. Face to Face Translate feature also wasn't working as seamlessly as I would have wanted it to, even though I had given it the microphone permissions.

All these things don't necessarily impact the audio experience of the earbuds, so I can give them a pass. It's just that if the brand aims to compete in a higher segment, the software experience needs to be more refined.

Realme Buds Air 8 Pro: Sound quality

The driver setup is similar to the standard Realme Buds Air 8: 11mm + 6mm duo, and you also get support for high-res LHDC 5.0 codec. The tuning has familiar attributes like good, strong bass, clear vocals and safe highs, but all of these aspects are enhanced for an even more expressive sound.

Take the 'Vallah' song from Cocktail 2, for instance, the sub-bass, dhol beats and other instruments sound tighter and tastier. Nick Hakim's I Don't Know has a very atmospheric presence on the Buds Air 8 Pro. The voice of the lead vocalist from Alabama Shakes' Don't Wanna Fight and the guitar riff both reach the corners of my mind on this pair. In The Temptations' My Girl, the high vocals and instruments in the high frequencies sound clear and not-so-harsh. So much is happening on the Buds Air 8 Pro compared to the Buds Air 8, and due to this, the 8 Pro could seem more fatiguing to some. But, I am sure, most would find the Pro's tuning more interesting than the standard model.

You can tweak the sound to some extent using EQ mode, Spatial Audio, High-definition sound, Dynamic audio, and Golden sound settings in the Realme Link app. The Golden sound option is not available on the standard Buds Air 8 model.

All in all, it is one of the best-sounding earphones in the range and easily recommendable to the mainstream audience.

Also Read: Amazon Echo Dot Max review: A good-sounding smart home hub, still waiting for Alexa+

Realme Buds Air 8 Pro: ANC and calls

Realme claims up to 55dB active noise cancellation, and the ANC performance is genuinely impressive. There is wind-noise reduction, also. I was choosing the Max mode from the different EQ modes in the Realme Link app. Even in this, you will hear sudden, random sounds occasionally, and I didn't mind that at all. On the other end of the spectrum, the Transparency mode also sounded reasonably natural.

Compared to a budget pair of earbuds I reviewed recently, this one offered a clear improvement in call quality. I preferred using the Buds Air 8 Pro while calling my wife from the office. The combination of six microphones and the dedicated bone-conduction sensor isolates your voice well. Both of us could hear each other properly without any noticeable background noise.

So good sound for entertainment and calls, and a good shield against outside noise are ample reasons to like this Realme offering.

Realme Buds Air 8 Pro: Battery life and charging

With ANC disabled, at 80% volume level, and AAC codec, playing a FLAC file, the earbuds ran for 10 hours 40 minutes. With the case, the brand claims up to 50 hours of battery life. This is lower than the Buds Air 8's claimed runtime, but it is still plenty long. Just with the buds, you can easily get through a workday and say you are going on a 4-day vacay, the Buds Air 8 Pro should last the entire trip.

Turning ANC on naturally reduces endurance, but the overall battery life remains competitive.

This is backed by fast charging support. Realme gives an estimate of 11 hours worth of playback from just 10 minutes of charging. Good figures.

Should you buy the Realme Buds Air 8 Pro?

Well, the review period is over, and I will still be keeping these as my default earbuds for daily metro rides, office work, movie sessions, and phone calls. That, more than any specification, says a lot about how good they are.

The Realme Buds Air 8 Pro improves upon the standard Buds Air 8 in meaningful ways. The sound is more expressive and engaging, ANC is stronger, call quality is excellent, and features like triple-device connectivity, swipe volume controls, and Golden Sound add genuine value to the overall experience.

The only area that sees a slight downgrade from the Buds Air 8 is battery life. Even then, it has more than the required juice for daily use and can comfortably last through a long weekend trip. During everyday use, the Realme Link app has a lot of useful features, but the AI-powered ones didn't feel particularly polished in my experience.

The glossy elements of the design are also not to my personal taste because of their reflective, smudge-prone finish. That said, they do help the earbuds stand out, and these are more personal preferences than actual drawbacks. They don't meaningfully affect what is otherwise an excellent pair of earbuds.

So yes, I can comfortably recommend the Realme Buds Air 8 Pro at its asking price of Rs 6,999. It is one of the most complete TWS earphones you can buy in this segment today.

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Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 (15IPH11), comes in as one of Lenovo’s entry-level, budget-friendly workhorses. It sits below the Yoga, Legion and LOQ series but within the IdeaPad series, it’s more in the middle of the lot. That being said, this particular model is a little special, at its core is Intel’s new Core Ultra 5 322, a Panther Lake-H chip with a 2P+4E core layout, paired with 16 GB DDR5 memory, a 512 GB PCIe SSD and integrated Intel Graphics. Intel unveiled Panther Lake at CES 2026 making it the third family of processors to have the ‘Core Ultra’ branding. The above hardware combination effectively positions the laptop as a machine for office work, web-heavy multitasking, online classes, streaming, light creative work and casual productivity rather than gaming or workstation workloads. It’s currently retailing for Rs.1,09,990 which might seem a little high for the positioning of the laptop, but you can blame the memory pricing crisis for that. 

Lenovo’s positions the IdeaPad Slim line around portability, clean design, long battery life, rapid charging, collaboration features and AI-oriented everyday usage. This range is also part of Lenovo’s Make in India push, which is worth noting for the Indian market.  

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 Specifications

If you’re looking for the exact model that we’re reviewing today then look for the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 with the 15IPH11 2 product tag and the model number 83UR009QIN. It runs Windows 11 Home and our unit was tested with Lenovo BIOS TTCN19WW dated 9 March 2026. Like we mentioned previously, the processor is the Intel Core Ultra 5 322, based on Intel Panther Lake. It is a 2P+4E processor, with a peak clock of 4.3 GHz in the tested configuration. The CPU has 12 MB of L3 cache and a typical power rating of 25 W, which is in line with its positioning inside a thin-and-light productivity notebook.

On the memory front, the unit comes with 16 GB DDR5-5600 RAM in dual-channel mode as do all DDR5 DIMMs. When we opened the unit, we saw just one 8 GB Samsung DDR5 DIMM suggesting that the other 8 GB or RAM was soldered onto the mainboard. The reported maximum memory capacity is 40 GB, which is useful for buyers who want a mainstream laptop that does not become immediately restrictive after a couple of years.

Storage is handled by a 512 GB SanDisk SN5100S NVMe SSD. That leaves you 476 GB of usable space after the metric-to-byte conversion and over-provisioning. The integrated graphics solution is the Intel Panther Lake-H GT2, which shows up as 'Intel Graphics' with dynamic memory allocation ranging between 512 MB to 2 GB, available as needed.

The display on the review unit is a 15.3-inch Lenovo LEN153WUXGA panel with a 1920 x 1200 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio and 60 Hz refresh rate. It’s rated for up to 400 nits brightness and comes with TÜV Low Blue Light certification.

Connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 through a MediaTek MT7920 wireless card. Although, technically, it can handle LMP 13 features so it can be called a Bluetooth 5.4 device if certified as such. The port selection includes USB Type-A, USB Type-C with DisplayPort and Power Delivery, HDMI 1.4, an SD card reader and a 3.5 mm audio combo jack. The system also includes a 60 Wh battery with Rapid Charge Boost support, with Lenovo claiming up to two hours of use from a 15-minute charge on the 60 Wh model. You can check out the full list of specifications below:

Features

The IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 follows Lenovo’s recent mainstream laptop playbook featuring a cleaner chassis, a taller 16:10 screen, improved conferencing hardware and enough performance for hybrid work and study. It is not trying to be a Yoga or a Legion. This is meant for students, office users, home users and anyone who wants a reasonably modern laptop without stepping into premium ultrabook territory.

The FHD IR camera is one of the more useful additions. It allows faster Windows Hello login and is paired with a physical privacy shutter, which is still the simplest webcam privacy feature that actually matters. It also packs dual microphones, smart noise cancellation and Dolby Audio speakers, all of which are aimed at online classes, video meetings and casual media consumption. Lenovo is also leaning on AI messaging with this generation. There's the typical Copilot+ PC experiences, real-time translations, intelligent captions, smarter search and Lenovo Smart features baked in.

Coming to the included software, Lenovo Vantage, which has been a mainstay on all Lenovo laptops for some time has evolved into one of the more useful software additions because it pulls together several utility functions that would otherwise be scattered across Windows settings, driver tools, audio apps, display utilities and support pages. The app shows device identity, warranty status, battery health, charge cycles, BIOS version and installed hardware in one place, which makes it friendlier for regular users who may not want to dig through Device Manager or system information menus.

The power section is particularly useful, with battery capacity, current charge, battery temperature and warranty details clearly shown. Display controls are also neatly integrated, including eye care mode, colour effects, super resolution for video playback, and presence detection features such as zero-touch login, lock and video playback. Audio and conferencing controls are similarly useful, with Dolby Atmos profiles, speaker noise cancelling, microphone noise reduction, smart meeting assistant, mute detection alerts and gesture-based microphone control for Teams.

Vantage also handles system updates, BIOS and firmware update scheduling, hardware diagnostics, system insights and real-time thermal monitoring. The result is a utility suite that feels less like preloaded bloatware and more like a practical control centre. For a mainstream laptop, this kind of consolidation makes ownership easier and reduces the friction of maintaining the device.

Build quality

The IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 follows the same design language as the previous Gen 10. It’s primarily built using ABS plastic for all the parts that are user-facing but on the inside, we can see a rigid metal chassis, presumably aluminium. The Luna Grey finish fits the understated IdeaPad identity. The chassis has a very clean and sleek look, but it doesn’t appear to be chasing the ultra-premium thinness of Yoga models, but that works in its favour if the aim is daily dependability rather than flash and pizzaz.

For a 15-inch notebook, the taller 16:10 panel makes the machine feel more useful for documents, spreadsheets and web pages. The slim bezels also help keep the design modern. Lenovo claims up to around 90 per cent active screen area ratio for the family of laptops. The review unit we received uses a 1920 x 1200 60 Hz panel, so it is clearly more of a productivity display than a high-refresh or colour-critical panel.

Connectivity options are decent. The inclusion of USB Type-A, USB Type-C with charging and display output, HDMI 1.4, SD card reader and a headphone jack means users should not need a dock or dongles for basic everyday usage. The SD card reader is particularly welcome, especially for students, creators and journalists who still move files from cameras or audio recorders. What would have been better is if Lenovo has switched to using a USB Type-C connector for the charger but it seems to be left out for the more premium models.

The keyboard has a 1.3 mm key travel, and comes with optional backlighting depending on the configuration. The model we reviewed had a backlit keyboard. The trackpad is quite large with about 120 x 75 mm in area and that’s good for folks who rely on gestures for navigation.

The internal configuration is interesting. We’ve already spoken about the mix of soldered and swappable memory. We also spotted a protective cage on the inside of the bottom cover for the memory, its edges touch the clean copper rectangle that you see around the memory. The plastic bottom cover often flexes and without the protective cage, the cover could bump into the memory DIMM and potentially damage the module. So the protective cage helps with that. 

The cooler uses a simple single blower configuration since there’s no discrete GPU and the CPU is set to 25 Watts, so there isn’t a lot to cool in the chassis. There's an empty M.2 slot in case you want to add more storage. Looking at the I/O ports, we can see that the fixtures are reinforced with metal brackets which is always a good thing to see. We’ve also seen other configurations wherein the ports are on a daughter board with a little bit of play so that accidental bumps don’t end up damaging the entire board. 

We didn’t spot any downward firing speakers or any additional ones near the bottom. Instead, we found the antennae for the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules in the spot where the additional speakers are generally seen. Overall, the design is very typical of most mainstream laptops. 

Performance

The Core Ultra 5 322 is the most interesting part of this laptop. It is not a high-core-count processor, but the test results show strong single-threaded performance and competent multi-threaded output for a mainstream thin-and-light notebook.

In Geekbench 6, the IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 scored 2,516 in single-core and 8,099 in multi-core. Cinebench R23 produced 1,819 points in single-core and 7,492 points in multi-core, with a multi-core ratio of 4.12x. Even the Cinbench 2026 single core benchmark numbers put it in same league as the Apple M1 or the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365. On the multithreaded front, it is still comparable to the Apple M1, Intel Core i7-1260U and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600H. These are healthy numbers for the segment and suggest that the laptop should feel quick in common workloads such as browser multitasking, Microsoft Office, content management systems, photo resizing, light coding and compressed file handling.

The PCMark 10 Extended score of 5,055 paints a similar picture. The laptop scored 8,976 in Essentials and 10,582 in Productivity, which are the two areas most relevant to the device. Digital Content Creation came in at 6,735, while Gaming stood at 2,761. That split is exactly what one would expect: strong everyday responsiveness, decent light creative headroom, and limited gaming capability.

In compression and decompression workloads, the results are respectable. The 7-Zip benchmark produced a total rating of 37.713 GIPS, while WinRAR reported 5,820KB/s. Blender is clearly outside the laptop’s comfort zone, but it still completed the benchmark with 35.28 samples per minute in Monster, 25.71 in Junkshop and 19.77 in Classroom. These results are fine for occasional CPU-based rendering tests, but not for anyone who regularly works in 3D.

The integrated Intel Graphics is functional rather than ambitious. In 3DMark Steel Nomad, the laptop scored 232 with a graphics test result of 2.32 FPS. That is a clear signal that modern heavy gaming is not the focus here. The GPU can handle display acceleration, video playback, light creative acceleration and older or lightweight games at modest settings, but this is not a laptop for gaming. Even casual gaming expectations should be set around older titles, esports games at reduced settings and cloud gaming rather than native high-fidelity play.

Memory performance is good. AIDA64 Cache & Memory Benchmark recorded 43,709 MB/s read, 71,687 MB/s write and 66,791 MB/s copy bandwidth, with memory latency at 120.5 ns. The write and copy figures are solid for DDR5-5600 in a mainstream system, though the latency is not especially tight. In real-world usage, the key advantage is dual-channel memory, which helps both CPU responsiveness and integrated graphics performance.

Storage performance is strong in CrystalDiskMark, with sequential read speeds of 6,680 MB/s and sequential writes of 5,240 MB/s in the SEQ1M Q8T1 test. Random 4K Q32T16 results came in at 506 MB/s read and 314 MB/s write, while Q1T1 random results were 70 MB/s read and 105 MB/s write. Those are good figures for fast boot times, app launches and large file transfers. PCMark’s Quick System Drive Benchmark was less flattering, with a score of 1,827, bandwidth of 219.78 MB/s and average access time of 69 microseconds, but the overall storage experience should still feel snappy.

Networking is handled by the MediaTek Wi-Fi 6 MT7920 card. With 1,201 Mbps link speed on the test network with 160 MHz channel width, we managed to get about 722 Mbps downstream which is more than enough for fast downloads, cloud backups, video calls and local NAS transfers, assuming the router and network conditions are up to the job.

We didn’t see any significant throttling with the Intel Core Ultra 5 322. Even with a sustained load for over 10 minutes, we only saw the Cinebench multi-threaded scores dip by 40 points. That being said, it should be noted that the Ultra 5 322 has very low core and thread count and is clocked quite moderately, so there isn’t much scope for a lot of throttling. We typically see throttling where the headrooms aren’t are large and that’s usually with the Ultra 7 or higher SKUs. 

Power consumption and battery life

The IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 comes with a Sunwoda 60 Wh battery which gives it more headroom than the smaller packs often found in budget 15-inch notebooks, and that should help when the laptop is used for mixed productivity rather than heavy sustained workloads.

The Sunwoda battery has a designed capacity of 60,000 mWh, a fully charged capacity of 63,000mWh. In our battery test, we managed to get 13 hours and 59 minutes out of the battery. Lenovo claims Rapid Charge Boost support on the 60 Wh model, with up to two hours of usage from a 15-minute charge which was easily achieved. As always, these claims depend heavily on brightness, workload, wireless usage and power mode, but rapid charging is genuinely useful in this class of laptop.

The included charger is slim and has a narrow barrel connector making it easy to carry around. Like we mentioned previously, a USB Type-C Connector would have been excellent.

Verdict

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 (15IPH11) comes across as a very sensible mainstream laptop built around the right upgrades. Panther Lake-H debuts in Lenovo’s portfolio with Intel Core Ultra 5 322 delivering great single-core scores and competent multi-core performance for a six-core thin-and-light laptop. The limitations are equally clear. The integrated Intel Graphics is not built for demanding gaming. The display is practical, but not enough to make this a creator-grade machine unless a higher-end OLED configuration is available. We’d say that the IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 works best as a modern everyday laptop for students, office users and home productivity buyers who want a clean design, good responsiveness, upgrade potential and a practical feature set. It is not exciting in the gaming or creator sense, but it gets the mainstream fundamentals right, and that is exactly where the IdeaPad Slim line needs to land.

Android tablets, long treated as inadequate alternatives to the iPad, have matured considerably. In the first three months of 2026, the market has witnessed a 5% growth in comparison to 2025 even though the prices increased due to prevailing memory shortage, according to Counterpoint Research. The premium end is particularly active with tablets priced above Rs 20,000 recording a 71% surge in Q3 2025 and 11-inch devices accounting for 59% of all tablet sales. The Xiaomi Pad 7 captured 36% of premium tablet sales in Q1 2025, per CMR's India Tablet PC Market Leaderboard. Xiaomi has played a crucial role in offering the right features-to-price ratio for buyers who want a serious Android tablet without crossing into iPad price territory. This year, the Xiaomi Pad 8 builds on that with some focused upgrades.

Place the Pad 7 (review) and Pad 8 side by side and you will not be able to discern the differences because Xiaomi isn’t here to fix what’s not broken. The Pad 8 has a slimmer, lighter chassis that houses a larger 9,200 mAh battery. The Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 on the Pad 7 gives way to the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 on the Pad 8 and HyperOS 3 ships out of the box on Android 16. The Focus Pen Pro has been redesigned from the ground up, replacing physical buttons with a haptics-based gesture system. After extended daily use as a media device and a portable work machine, the Pad 8 is an easy recommendation for the right buyer.

Xiaomi Pad 8 review: Design and display

At 5.75 mm and 485 g, the Pad 8 is thinner and lighter than its predecessor. The flat-edge aluminium design retains the premium feel of the Pad 7 and the reduced weight is immediately apparent in hand. This is a tablet comfortable enough for extended reading sessions or for propping up on the kitchen counter while following a recipe, without the fatigue that heavier slates bring with sustained use.

The 11.2-inch LCD panel carries over from the Pad 7. In our testing using the Portrait Displays’ Calman colour calibration tool, the display achieves a Delta E of 2.4 and covers 98.9% of the sRGB colour space. The brightness reaches 779 nits in manual mode and exceeds 1,000 nits in adaptive mode, which holds up well outdoors. The 3:2 aspect ratio continues to earn its keep: the additional vertical space benefits split-screen tasks and document reading that a wider 16:10 panel would not provide. At a maximum of 144 Hz, scrolling and animations are fluid throughout. In addition, a nano-texture variant is available at a premium for users who frequently work in high-glare environments.

Xiaomi Pad 8 review: Performance

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, built on TSMC's 4 nm process, is a significant step up from the Pad 7's Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3. The Pad 8 scores approximately 2.4m in AnTuTu and the gains translate into real-world use: demanding games run well, multitasking is smooth and sustained workloads do not cause thermal issues on a device with this surface area.

HyperOS 3 on Android 16 brings meaningful refinements to the software experience. The UI and apps now feel naturally befitting of the larger screen estate rather than being retrofitted, however, some UI inconsistencies such as the File Manager app opening in portrait mode even if the tablet orientation is in landscape make it fall short of being called a perfect experience. The floating windows and a workstation mode supporting up to four simultaneous apps are well implemented. The AI suite, which covers AI Writing, AI Live Subtitles via Meeting Toolbox 4.0 and AI Recorder with transcription, provides practical tools for productivity users. Xiaomi's cross-device interconnectivity now extends to the Apple ecosystem, allowing the Pad 8 to function as an extended display for Mac users. 

However, one gap that stands out is that there is no fingerprint sensor. The face unlock relies on basic 2D recognition, which Android does not classify as a secure biometric. On a tablet at this price, positioned for productivity, that absence is a notable omission.

Xiaomi Pad 8 review: Battery

The 9,200 mAh battery is the standout specification, particularly given the 5.75 mm chassis. In use, the Pad 8 handles a full day of mixed streaming, productivity, and gaming without concern and extends comfortably into a second day on lighter loads. In the PCMark battery life test, the Pad 8 ran through 12 hours and 39 minutes of continuous use which is great considering the screen size. Users can get more battery life by keeping the brightness in check. Xiaomi includes a 67 W charger in the box, and a full charge from empty takes 1 hour and 19 minutes.

Xiaomi Pad 8 review: Audio

The quad-speaker setup with Dolby Atmos and a 200% volume boost mode delivers clear, room-filling sound. It holds up well at higher volumes without noticeable distortion. For media consumption, the Pad 8 performs as well as anything in the Android tablet segment at this price.

Xiaomi Pad 8 review: Cameras

The camera hardware is unchanged from the Pad 7: a 13 MP rear sensor and an 8 MP front camera. The rear camera handles document scanning capably and produces acceptable results in good light, but it is not a replacement for a smartphone camera. The front camera is adequate for video calls, with natural colour output and reasonable sharpness. The landscape-mode camera placement means you can just prop it up on a table and you don’t have to worry about your chin showing up in office meetings.

Xiaomi Pad 8 review: Accessories

The Focus Pen Pro (Rs 5,999) gets the most notable redesign in the Pad 8 ecosystem. The physical buttons are replaced by haptic gestures: a double press, a pinch and a grip each trigger distinct functions. It is a cleaner design that feels more intuitive in use and the haptic feedback is precise enough to feel deliberate. For note-taking and sketching, the Focus Pen Pro is a meaningful step forward from its predecessor.

The Focus Keyboard Pro (Rs 8,999) is backlit with a base stable enough to use on the lap and the trackpad supports laptop-style gestures, so there’s no learning curve. It handles light writing and browsing without complaint. The combined weight is worth factoring in though: the tablet at 485 g and the keyboard at 325 g total 810 g, putting the full setup in lightweight laptop territory. The keyboard's weight is necessary for stability, so this is an understood trade-off rather than a design flaw, but buyers should assess it against their portability needs before committing to the bundle.

Verdict

The Xiaomi Pad 8 improves on the Pad 7 in the areas that matter most. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 brings performance up to a flagship level, the battery is larger and charges quickly and the form factor is the most refined Xiaomi has shipped in this segment. The HyperOS 3, based on Android 16 is a polished, capable operating system and the AI tools adds great value for work users and even designers.

The gaps are real but not deal-breakers for most buyers. The combined weight of the tablet-plus-keyboard system approaches that of a lightweight laptop. And while Android's app ecosystem has improved substantially, some third-party applications and UI inconsistencies still need to be addressed. That Xiaomi already includes a fingerprint sensor on the Pad 8 Pro makes the omission here a deliberate cost decision rather than a hardware limitation and a difficult one to justify at this price.

At the launch price of Rs 33,999 for the 8 GB + 128 GB variant and Rs 36,999 for the 12 GB + 256 GB, the Pad 8 is a strong recommendation for students, professionals who need a capable portable work device and anyone seeking the best Android tablet experience short of an iPad. The Focus Pen Pro and Focus Keyboard Pro are competitively priced for first-party accessories, but both are optional additions and should be evaluated against individual use cases.