#but saw SoC was trending instead

[youremyonlyhope]

Thoughts on the Six of Crows Duology

Maybe it’s because this took place over a much shorter timespan than Shadow and Bone, but I feel like I could pinpoint all the plot points and the timelines of Shadow and Bone better than I can for Six of Crows. When I made my post about SaB, it was easier to remember the order that everything happened. I think that because SoC has multiple chapters covering the same period time from different characters’ perspectives along with lots of flashbacks thrown in, that it’s causing the order of events to be a jumble in my mind.

But anyway, Six of Crows was a dramatic and fun (well... not fun..) heist novel, while Crooked Kingdom made it its personal mission to destroy me emotionally. I loved every second of it but I don’t know when I’ll properly recover.

Obvious spoilers for Six of Crows trilogy, but also the Grishaverse in general. (Most of this was written at the end of June but not posted until now)

So I guess I’ll start with Six of Crows. Maybe I’ll do a paragraph for each part... I’ll probably give up on that pretty quickly but we’ll see.

I love that the series has Inej’s POV be the first of the Crows that we get and then she also gets to be the last POV of the Crows too. If I hadn’t seen season 1 of Shadow and Bone first, I’m not sure how I’d have reacted to Kaz’s ruthlessness or the world of Ketterdam in general. I also knew that the Kanej relationship would be insane amounts of pining and the pain of requited-but-thought-to-be-unrequited love, so I was sort of shocked that in one of the first chapters Kaz changes clothes with Inej in the room and she ponders “Am I the only one he lets get this close?” And he says in that same chapter “my darling Inej, treasure of my heart...” I was like, I know he’s probably teasing but oh my god... we’re just going right into it. Leigh’s teasing us already. I knew then it would be torture. Moving on. Matthais killing a wolf hurt my soul and I wasn’t even aware that the wolves were THAT sacred to Fjerdans. And I guess maybe I shouldn’t have watched the show first since Matthais trying to choke Nina did not shock me.

I give up on this one paragraph per part thing already.

Something I did not expect was Jesper sort of having a crush on Kaz too. Did I just not notice that in the show or did they decide to leave that out? I guess I shouldn’t be shocked but still, reading about Jesper’s little tiny thoughts of jealousy was interesting. Inez’s thoughts of how much she hated that her heart’s arrow seemed to aim for Kaz when nothing can ever come of it hurt me. AHHH and idiot Kaz saying “I always come back for my investments” to Inej when he’s carrying her just.. this idiot. Did he ever even say “I’m sorry” at some point in the books? I can’t remember, it’s a blur of emotions. Kaz, sweetheart, you’re CARRYING Inej, you can barely stand having someone touch your sleeve and you’re CARRYING her. How could Inej even question that he cared about her more than just being another investment if he carried her to safety? How could you question it if he feels comfortable enough to undress around you? The boy’s dumb, listen to his actions not the stupid words he says.

It’s funny, while double checking how many more Grisha books remained as I walked to my bookstore a few days ago to pick up Nikolai’s books, I saw on Leigh’s website that she has another book called The Ninth House. And it said “While the books of the Grishaverse can be safely explored by readers of any age, Ninth House is darker, more graphic, and intended for adults.”

...

Ok Leigh. Tell me in what world would the scene where Kaz stabs and pulls out the eye of Oomen then throws him overboard be considered a scene that can be “safely explored by readers of any age”?? That was a lot. I wasn’t expecting that level of personal violence this early. I was just as horrified as Wylan and Matthais were when they witnessed it.

Anyway. Nina wishing for one more day of Healer training back in the Little Palace hurt. Looking back through the book just now I laughed at Nina saying to Jesper, of all people, “Do you know how to find a Grisha who doesn’t want to be found?” I have so many thoughts about Jesper that I will have to save for later. And Matthais’ “I might have loved you too.” felt like a stab to my heart. Honestly I know I said earlier that Crooked Kingdom ruined me, but I guess SoC did too and I just forgot about it all until just now because Crooked Kingdom turned it up to another level.

The friendships they all have. I almost wish they never needed to leave that boat. Nina and Inej were adorable when Nina sang for her. Jasper and Inej bonding over questioning why they still follow (and love) Kaz while also knowing neither of them ever want to stop was amazing. Throw in Kaz thinking “Because I’ve been looking for an excuse to talk to you for two days” about Inej and it’s just a recipe for making Hope emotional.

People had told me the Nina and Matthais scenes of SaB season 1 were pulled straight from Six of Crow’s flashbacks, and they were not lying. A few differences here and there but it’s pretty accurate. I think the show’s pacing for those scenes was off though, sometimes it felt rushed and other times it felt too drawn out (especially since I had no clue how these two would fit into everything because I hadn’t read the books yet). Reading the scenes made me appreciate what they’d been through much more. And I do like how the show adapted the reason that Nina turned Matthais in as a slaver.

Slowly having Kaz and Jordie’s backstory unfold was traumatizing. I had wondered what made him so touch averse, and now I get it. What Kaz went through was terrible. I could barely read the words because it was so painful. Inej being so understanding while not knowing everything that happened, just knowing that Kaz needs her to not judge him for fainting or recoiling from touch, was beautiful.

The reveal that Jesper was a Grisha was sort of spoiled for me because 1) in the show one of the Heartrenders said “What are you? You’re a-” to him so that was a big hint. And 2) a YouTube comment I saw confirmed that that line referenced that he was Grisha. This is a trend, YouTube comments have spoiled me multiple times over the last 2 months. You’d think I’d learn, but nope, I just got spoiled for Rule of Wolves not even an hour ago because of a YouTube comment. I thought I was finally safe to watch SoC videos since I wouldn’t be spoiled. I forgot that people can discuss the other books too. Anyway, Jesper being a Fabrikator is a dream come true since that’d be my ideal Grisha power. Even though I knew it was coming, I still was sort of surprised by the way it was revealed, so I’m sure that it came as a shock to readers who avoid spoilers, unlike me.

The entire heist in the Ice Court caused me constant anxiety. How in the world could everything go so wrong in so many different ways and still work out? I felt like every single page there was some new blindside and yet the Crows (but mostly Kaz) managed to figure out a way out of it. I really didn’t think that it’d start to go wrong as early as it did with literally the first very first steps of the plan failing. Nina and Kaz searching the cells and getting caught, Inej finding out that the chimney was hot and ended up melting her shoes (I was so especially mad about the shoes being ruined). I was very surprised that Kaz was as reckless as he was to detour and find Rollins. It felt out of character, but proved how deep his hatred is if he nearly risked the entire reward just to make sure that he still has the chance to get revenge on Rollins later.

Nina and Inej pretending to be with the Menagerie was insane. Inej’s internal freak out when Heleen recognized her made me feel so scared for her, but I was 20 times more scared for Nina with Brum. Those few moments where I thought Matthais really had betrayed the Crows and sold them out to Brum made me so mad. I knew deep down it had to be a bluff to get Brum out of the way, but I was still scared it was real. God, I felt so much relief when Matthais let her out, they found Kuwei, and Kaz got them all out through the Sacred Ash.

The stealing and driving of the tank was borderline ridiculous, but I was just happy to be along for the ride. Nina using the parem though... and the pain she went through afterwards while in withdrawal. God that hurt me. I couldn’t even be remotely happy at Kaz admitting he wants Inej because I was so worried about Nina. I literally was like “Kaz shut up about your feelings, Nina’s body is literally falling apart in the other room.”

I should have seen it coming that the Van Eck deal was too good to be true, and yet I was still blindsided by the attack and the kidnapping of Inej. And then going straight into a chapter narrated by Pekka Rollins was like whiplash, but I just went with it. I didn’t really realize how strange it was to get Pekka’s POV, but I didn’t care because I saw all the remaining pages and wanted to see how they’d save Inej. Then that chapter ended and on the next page I read the words “I have a degenerative condition...” I was confused by the sudden use of first person, and realized I was at the Acknowledgements, which meant the book was done.

I looked from the last page, back to the acknowledgements, and back to the last page, then I literally said “WHAT” out loud as it hit me that the book had ended with the worst cliffhanger I think I’ve ever experienced. I legitimately tossed the book to the floor after I came to terms with the fact that book was done. I was so mad.

Onto Crooked Kingdom! Boy did I not know what I was in for. I thought I did. I knew Chapter 40 was coming but instead I got an entire book of emotional destruction.

First of all, I love maps. So I was very glad to get a detailed map of Ketterdam with streets! And actual places! I probably stared at it and studied it for 5 minutes straight before even reading the book. The more detailed a map is, the happier I am. This map made me very happy.

The biggest takeaway of the first section of Crooked Kingdom is that Inej still believes that Kaz only cares for her as an investment. Breaks my heart. But also, Kaz traumatizing a little girl in the first few chapters makes you wonder if he even deserves Inej (he does, but wow is he ruthless. He didn’t kill the kid at least I guess). 

Colm. I have thoughts about Colm. He’s such a loving father. I will say more later when it’s more relevant. I loved that the rest of the Crows came to Jesper’s defense to create a lie for his dad, and that Colm adopted all of the kids. I can’t even read the word Colm without wanting to sob so I’ll stop with him for now.

I don’t know how I feel about us, as the readers, being left out of pieces of the plan. I’m not sure if this is something I love or hate about the way that Leigh writes the Crows novels. It’s fun for plot twists and usually does make sense when it’s from the POV of a character that Kaz purposefully leaves out of part of a plan, but that doesn’t always end up being the case. The Alys kidnapping was a complete blindside to me. Matthais sharing the chocolates he bought for Nina with Alys was sweet though, that he wants Nina to eat again so much that he’s ok with it just being sweets. I feel so bad that Nina can’t even eat that.

The Goedmedbridge plan with all the fake Mister Crimsons was an actual stroke of genius, if only the Shu didn’t come out of nowhere. Once again, everything going wrong yet the Crows finding their way out of it somehow. While Six of Crows felt like everything was going to plan until it wasn’t and then they were able to get back on track in a different way, Crooked Kingdom felt like constant blockages and blindsides and conflicts that came out of nowhere. The story and the plan and the plot changed so many times that it felt like I was on a roller coaster getting whiplash.

I’m scanning Part 3 and honestly, this feels like it all happened 5 minutes ago not like it was in the first half of the book. But oh my god, the line after Kaz and Inej stakeout the Van Eck house. “I would come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together – knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.” Inej, my girl, how in the world do you think this boy doesn’t care about you? Oh my god... oh my god... I’d die if someone said something like that to me. Kaz, sweetheart, love, sometimes you say the stupidest things, but then other times you say the most violently romantic things I’ve ever heard.

And then Matthais saying Nina looked “Enchanting” in the Fjerdan clothing? This was just chapter after chapter of me squealing. And honestly, once again, meeting Zoya in the tavern feels like it happened in Part 5 not Part 3. I read this book so quickly that I really can’t remember the order of events until now that I’m scanning it.

I’m really glad that we got more of Wylan’s backstory and got to meet his mom. I wish he could have been better prepared for that, but there was no way. Hearing about Matthais’ wolf Trassel was the perfect thing to start breaking my heart. I said this last time with Hershaw and Oncat, I’m more sad when a pet is left behind by their dead/missing owner than when the pet themselves die. I nearly sobbed when Matthais thought about how Trassel must have been abandoned by the other Druseklle when he disappeared. 

Matthais, Jesper, and Kuwei half-theorizing an antidote for parem was amazing. Also I love that Matthais is the one who kind of guesses that Jesper’s restlessness is the effect from him not using his power regularly. Matthais, you really had a knack for understanding the Grisha.

Ok. Here we go. Jesper’s backstory. When I found out that Jesper was half Kaelish and half Zemeni, I was beyond overjoyed. I am half Black half Irish, with the same parentage as Jesper, so that representation made me happy. I didn’t expect to shed tears though when we finally got his backstory and to get to know his parents a little. The love that his mom and dad had for each other was absolutely beautiful. The fact that Aditi died while trying to save a little girl hurt me so much. Jesper wondered if he had been older and more trained would he have saved her, but honestly, he probably would have just put the poison in himself and died instead. Colm saying “She was a queen, Jes. She was our queen” tore out my heart. The way that Jesper and Colm had to look after each other after that. Jesper trying to cook and burning the food but Colm still eating every bit. Them just having to try to be ok after losing her, and Jesper knowing he wasn’t meant for this life on the farm. All of it continued to tear my heart straight out of my chest and stomp on it.

Guys I’m legitimately tearing up all over again. I had to fight to not be a mess reading it the first time and I still shed some tears over it. This is why I can’t even type Colm’s name without letting out a sob. He loves his son and his wife so much. He always wanted what was best and was constantly worried for them because they’re Grisha. They’re Zowa. I couldn’t handle Jesper’s backstory. And every single interaction Colm and Jesper had after I read what they went through, I’d let out a sob or even shed a tear. I loved their relationship and the love they have for each other so much.

Everything going wrong in a billion different ways at once honestly made me go “Come on not AGAIN.” Dunyasha coming out of nowhere, Pekka Rollins sabotaging Kaz, the other Lions ambushing the Black Veil. It was honestly a miracle that they all got out of it. I was especially, ESPECIALLY, proud of Matthais coaching Kuwei and Jesper on how to use their powers to get them out of the situation. This boy went from killing Grisha, to helping lead them. This character development is amazing. And he’s still internally fighting the part of him that says “Unnatural” and is making the choice to ignore the hate that was trained into him. I love him.

Nina’s zombies though. At first I was like “Oh haha she can control bones, that’s fun” when she blew up the tavern windows, but that turned morbid, literally morbid, very quickly. Animating corpses. I mean. It’s a great power to have honestly. Disgusting and horrifying, but very useful. 

“What do you think my forgiveness looks like, Jordie?” “Who the hell is Jordie?” When I say I gasped and my jaw dropped at that part... Literally, I couldn’t move past that line for at least 30 seconds. I just stared at the page and reread those two lines over and over again because I could not believe Kaz really slipped up like that. But also, oh my god, the implications of how much Kaz cares about Jesper if he’s mixing him up subconsciously with his brother, the brother who literally is the reason he has fought to become the feared gang leader he is and to bring down Rollins. He called Jesper Jordie. I still cannot believe it. And the way Kaz’s face looked frightened... I’m so excited to see this scene in the TV show.

Ok, home stretch.

Jesper and Colm finally clearing the air was yet another scene that made me shed tears over these two. The way that we found out that Colm didn’t want Jesper to go to be trained but gave him the choice anyway, and that Jesper didn’t go because he didn’t want to leave his father behind. God, my heart would have just broken if he’d left Colm behind. Oh no I’m going to start crying again. “His heart hurt. His head hurt. Guilt and love and resentment were all tangled up inside him, and every time he tried to unravel the knot in his gut, it got worse.” I felt that. I hate that after all of that, the conversation didn’t even get to get to end on good terms. Colm still doesn’t want him to use his power because of what happened to his mother, and Jasper says “I’m dying anyway, Da. I’m just doing it slow.” and it absolutely destroyed me. It’s like they put my heart back in my chest, only to rip it out again and shred it this time.

And then of course that led to Jesper kissing Kuwei instead of Wylan, which brings up some messy dubious consent stuff. I thought it was a little out of nowhere, but then I remembered the Kuwei did complain earlier “Why do you keep looking at him? I look just like him. You can look at me.” At that time, that complaint seemed strange, but it made sense when this kiss happened that Kuwei liked Jesper too.

But who even cares about Jesper and Wylan and Kuwei having some sort of love triangle, when the bathroom scene is coming up for Inej and Kaz. I don’t mean to push Jesper and Wylan’s relationship woes to the side, but oh my god. I swear, I was holding my breath while reading this bathroom scene. I felt like I was personally interrupting their moment every second that I was reading it, but also I needed to keep reading to see what would happen. Every touch was as nerve-wracking for me as it was for Kaz (ok maybe not, but still). And after all of that, after Kaz tells her the horrible things he did to the people who were in on Rollins’ plot that killed Jordie, she still sees the good in him. I cannot handle these two. Oh my god. These two are on a completely different level of pining. “If you ever cared about me at all, don’t follow.” Poor Inej, having to go from that intimate moment to watching Kaz be beaten and somehow win a fight with 20 people.

Sturmhond showing up made my life. The moment I read the words “fox-faced man” my whole body perked up. I was like “Hope. Don’t get too excited. Yes it’s probably him, but don’t get excited.” but when Kaz recognized him I actually squealed at the confirmation. Nikolai owns my heart. And so does Jesper now. So the little bit of dialogue those two shared made me actually kick my feet with joy. “Take me with you.” Honestly, these two together for a period of time longer than 1 minute would probably make the world explode. But oh, what I’d give for a Jesper and Nikolai buddy comedy...

When Leigh let us believe that everything was going wrong in the plan (Wylan telling Van Eck everything, the fake Council of Tides crashing the auction, Inez saying Kuwei has to die) only for us to find out that it was all really a part of the plan was just plain cruel. I was so upset. I guess it’s fitting, after all the things that really went wrong for them, they had to take a little bit more. But this is one of the few times that we the reader are completely left out of the plan, and it’s not just because we’re following the POV of someone who was left out of whatever specific part of the plan didn’t involve them. This time all the characters knew, but Leigh didn’t tell the reader. 

The way that Van Eck’s story and lies all just fell apart bit by bit was beautiful, though. Masterful. Kaz pretending to take Rollins’ son was almost cruel, but he was lying, so it’s ok. I was going to be horrified if he really did it though, but I was also thinking “When would he have had time to do all that anyway?”

Chapter 38. I had been spoiled before even starting the books that Matthais would die. And I had seen a YouTube comment that said “I can’t wait to see Nina and Matthais’ actors do Chapter 40.” I assumed his death happens in Chapter 40. So when I started Chapter 38, I assumed this would be the last time I’d read a chapter in Matthais’ POV. I was wrong of course.

But Matthais’ death gave me nearly the same feelings that Owen Harper’s first death in Torchwood did. It came out of nowhere, right when you think everything is solved and all that’s left to do is go home. Our beloved character talks calmly to the person with the gun, relates to them, tells them they’re more reasonable than to shoot, and then gets shot point blank anyway out of nowhere. “You don’t want to hurt me. I know. I was like you once.” is what Matthais said. “We’re both rational men, scientists. I know you don’t want to shoot her.” is what Owen said as he protected Martha. The main difference is that I wasn’t spoiled for Owen’s death, so it really blindsided me, but he also got revived shortly after. I was spoiled for Matthais’ death right down to the chapter it happens in, but his death was finite. 

And then I think we’re about to lose Kuwei, but Zoya’s able to save him. Matthais shows up, gives us a little hope that he might be ok (but I knew he wouldn’t), and dies in Nina’s arms. Nina attempting to resurrect him ALSO gave me Owen vibes, right down to the black eyes, but that resurrection didn’t stick. God. If I had known Matthais’ death would be so similar to Owen’s... no, I don’t know what I’d do. I can’t tell if I’d have been better off knowing how much it would remind me of Owen ahead of time. Maybe it’s better I didn’t know of the similarities since that made the death worse, despite me knowing it was coming.

Chapter 40 still being in Matthais’ POV, right when I had come to terms ahead of time that Chapter 38 would be the last time I read his narration, came as a real shock. He’s with the wolves in heaven. Ahhhhh. Help. The friends not even knowing how he died makes it even worse.

“We were all supposed to make it.” That’s when I started to let tears fall. I’d really been fighting it. I was like “Hope. You knew this was coming when you started this series. You are fine. You’re fine.” and then Wylan says that and I’m like “I’m not remotely fine.” And Colm telling them to say their goodbyes, and Colm being himself and making me cry with every other line he said anyway, just made more tears fall as they walked up and said goodbye.

I’m glad Nina got Matthais’ share of the money. It breaks my heart that she now has to go and bury him. I’m excited to see what she does in King of Scars or Rule of Wolves (or both, I know she’s in at least one of them) since she’ll hopefully keep up Matthais’ dream of helping the Fjerdans accept Grisha. I was beyond proud of Jesper to be like “I shouldn’t hold that much money right now” and Kaz saying “That’s the right move, Jes” in approval. And of course, Colm and Jesper saying goodbye did nothing but make me cry MORE.

And here we go. The chapter that made me actually cry. Before this, it was just shedding tears and choking a sob or two. Inej’s final chapter made me actually sob and cry so hard that I could barely read the pages through the tears. Kaz really bought her a boat and named it after her. “I don’t know what to say.” “Say you’ll return.” just tear my heart out please.

But what really got the waterworks going was Kaz having Nikolai find Inej’s parents for her. God. The last time a book made me happy cry was The Color Purple, and it was a similar situation. Celie’s sister Nettie returns to her, and I had to fight not to cry when I finished that book while on the train. When I saw the musical version on broadway a few months later, I sobbed so hard with happiness that I cried through the finale, through the curtain call, and kept crying as I walked up the aisle and out the theater. I couldn’t handle how happy I was.

Inej being reuinited with her parents was Celie and Nettie all over again. Now that is some HIGH praise. The Color Purple is one of my favorite books. I cannot give any higher praise to Crooked Kingdom than to compare Inej’s reunion to Celie’s. 

And Kaz being a little concerned that he’d overstepped by doing it, then Inej insisting he come to meet them too was adorable. “Is my tie straight?” And her mom’s shock at finally seeing her daughter again, oh my god. I read this in bed last night at 3am. When that chapter finished, I put the book on my chest and just lied there and sobbed for a full minute. I couldn’t stop right away like I managed to do for the other cries. This cry had to come out and it had to take at least a little bit of time to run its course.

Of course, I’m glad that Inej got to ensure that Rollins never returns to Ketterdam, and I get that having Pekka have the last chapter is a parallel to Six of Crows, but I almost wish the book had just ended when Inej found her family.

I am at 4600 words and still not done, but it’s 2am so I’ll add more thoughts tomorrow evening.

...

That was all from late June. Fast forward almost a month, I’m finally adding to this post.

Something I was worried about when I first started reading Six of Crows was that there was colorism when casting Jesper. Reading that he was described as dark skinned and then looking at Kit Young, I felt a little bit... iffy about it. Because I know, as a mixed person, we get a lot of privilege in Hollywood and are often the only Black people in tv-shows and movies. We benefit from colorism, especially when it comes to mixed women, since light to medium skinned Black actors are often cast instead of dark skinned actors. I spent most of Six of Crows worried that they’d taken the Zemeni character of Jesper, who also happens to be the only Black character, and casted him with a mixed actor. I could tell while reading the book that Kit had played Jesper perfectly, which made me feel a little better, but I still had a bit of discomfort. I was worried it was Rue in the Hunger Games all over again.

However, once it’s hinted that Jesper’s father has some Kaelish heritage, and then we later meet Colm and he’s fully Kaelish with light skin and red hair, I felt much better. I actually felt overjoyed because Jesper was mixed exactly like me. I was relieved that casting Jesper with a mixed actor was not colorism, but a requirement for his character in order to be accurate. I was so relieved and also now I fiercely clung to Jesper as another example of representation for me. On that note, maybe they could have casted him with a darker skinned mixed actor, someone like Alfred Enoch for example, just to give dark skinned mixed people some more representation since Jesper is described as dark and Kit’s skintone is medium. But then again, Kit was definitely the perfect choice since he completely captured Jesper’s character and he said he really identified with Jesper’s mixed heritage being like his own. Basically, I’m very happy that Jesper is a mixed character played by a mixed race actor, and not another example of pure colorism in Hollywood (though that’s still a major issue). I really can’t even complain. I love Jesper and I love Kit’s portrayal.

Honestly, the casting in general for the show was really perfect. I might be biased since I saw the show first, but reading the book I was shocked at how perfectly cast they all were.

I am concerned though about Wylan. He is going to be very hard to cast. Or more accurately, Kuwei’s actor will be tough to cast and will have a very difficult job portraying 2 characters at once. And then I guess whoever gets cast as normal Wylan will have to just deal with barely appearing in Crooked Kingdom. Also, as for Wylan changing race to be disguised as Kuwei... I had some mixed feelings about it at first. I really was like “Leigh... what are you doing with this... be careful...” But then Wylan’s narrative showed him being unsure how to navigate the world looking like he’s Shu, having people come up to him speaking a language he doesn’t speak, and being treated differently because he looks foreign to them, especially since the Shu who were in Ketterdam didn’t have the best intentions. I appreciated that. I like that it opened Wylan’s eyes a bit more because he’d been so sheltered his whole life. Even after living in the Barrel and joining the Crows, there were still things he needed to be exposed to, like racism. So I’m glad the story went in that direction with his tailored face. I’m honestly more excited to see who is cast as Kuwei than who is cast as Wylan because Kuwei’s actor is going to have the more interesting performance. 

I REALLY enjoyed the Six of Crows duology. I sped through the two books in about 3 weeks (I think I read Crooked Kingdom in probably only a week). Honestly, I’m not speeding through King of Scars that same way. It’s a combination of my work life being very chaotic for the last few weeks, and me being so devastated that Nikolai’s back to having the shadow monster that I almost don’t want to read on. I was beyond devastated when that happened in Ruin and Rising, I thought he’d never be ok again, then I was relieved when it went away. Now that it’s back... I’m just incredibly sad every second that I read this book. I’m nearly halfway through the book though, after the same amount of time it took me to read both Crows books, so we’ll see where it goes.

But I could not put the Crows books down while I read them if you paid me. Literally. I read during every single lunch break at work and was probably a few minutes late coming back because I’d want to finish the page. I stayed up late reading and reading and reading the books. I read on the ferry, I read in the car, I read during times that I’d usually spend watching TV shows or movies. These books were amazing. They destroyed me emotionally, in both happy and sad ways. I can’t get over them. I can’t wait to see them brought to life in the show.

[chemicalmagecraft]

I Would Totally Kick Jiraiya’s Butt Chapter 6

A/N: See, I actually had this (supposedly) planned out in advance, and it's actually a total coincidence that I started it in the month of June, so lol.

And by the way, this chapter takes place a little over a month after the last one. Wasn't sure how to say that in the chapter proper.

kukukuku~

I stuck my hands in my pockets and licked my lips as I looked up at the cloudy sky. "So you said that we're going to meet with a friend of yours?" I asked.

"Yes," Father said. "Inuzuka Tsume. She was one of my teammates back when we were genin, and currently the head of the Inuzuka clan." He ruffled Hinata's hair. "Considering their ages and how well the Inuzuka and Hyūga can work together, it's most likely that Hinata-chan and her youngest child will also be in the same genin team."

"I-I'll do my best!" Hinata said.

I smiled. "I'm sure you'll do fine," I contributed. "You're way better than you think you are." I brushed my bangs out of my eye. They were getting to the point where they weren't entirely curving away from my eye, though that didn't really bother me that much. I like my hair long. Plus, there are a looot of characters in Naruto with hair over one eye, so who am I to go against that trend? I closed my eyes and started humming a happy tune (All dead, all dead, all the dreams we had), when... something brushed on my burgeoning negativity senses, though I couldn't really tell much about it because I wasn't trying to sense anything.

"Two women raising a child?" I overheard. "You make me sick." I opened my eyes and sighed. I looked over to where I heard and felt the evil and saw three women. One of them, who was the source of the hate and presumably the hateful comment, was looking at the other two with a scornful look in her eyes and holding... was that a young Tenten? Huh, guess that's what author me decided to do about Tenten having about zero background information aside from wanting to be Tsunade and liking weaponry. Yeah, the lady was gripping the maybe young Tenten by the wrist and I could see that she looked really afraid. Stranger danger, kids. The other two women, who I decided were probably Tenten's mothers, began to give off the appropriate amount of hate that one would expect from a pair of mothers whose four-or-so-year-old daughter was snatched by a homophobe, and it showed. Mom number one looked like an older version of Tenten in everything but clothing and the fact that she only had one bun and mom letter A was a shorter orange-haired woman who wore the same sort of Chinese-style clothes that Tenten wore. 

"Give her back," mom letter A snarled, cracking her knuckles. Mom number one echoed the sentiment. At this point, my training consisting entirely of my Soc teacher showing the class a bunch of episodes of What Would You Do? and had us write a small assignment each time instead of doing actual work kicked in and I swiftly-but-silently walked over to the homophobic woman and grabbed her wrist with a red chakra-enhanced vice grip.

"No," I said, growling at her with red eyes. She recoiled in fear, letting go of young Tenten's wrist. As one might expect, Tenten immediately retreated to and began hiding behind her mothers. I relaxed my face, but kept my eyes the same. "Why exactly do you think what you just did was right? Especially the attempted child abduction?" I asked the lady.

She tried to yank her wrist away, but I slowly licked my lips and let her struggle for a bit before letting go. She haughtily scoffed like I, a small child, hadn't just vice-gripped her hard enough to leave a red mark. "It's unnatural and no child should be subjected to that. She should be sent back to the orphanage."

I used a neato trick that Kurama taught me to send hate at her with what little I knew of Bijū Telepathy. "First, I don't believe it's something 'unnatural' or 'wrong.' Second, I've been to the orphanage. It's not something I'd send someone to because I don't agree with who the parents are unless the parents are abusive or something." I took another "look" at the family's chakra. "Third, I would like to say that from the feel of their chakra, I think that the daughter is somehow related to both of them, so I think she might have never been in the orphanage to begin with." It was just a suspicion I had, but considering the feel of Tenten's and mom letter A's chakras weren't quite as close as Tenten's and mom number one's, I decided that mom letter A was a relative of Tenten's biological father. Maybe a sister or close cousin? At any rate, something about their similarities in chakra felt... familiar. I couldn't quite put my finger on it... "So the only bad person here is you," I continued. "Leave."

Evil woman clearly didn't like my tone of voice. Or my logical argument as to why she was a horrible person. "You little brat! I'll kill you!"

"You'll do nothing of the sort," Father said with an edge to his voice. He'd come over at some time during the argument, with Hinata hiding behind him. "I don't like the tone you've taken with my son."

She winced and tugged at her collar. "At least you'd agree with me when I say that those two women are deviants for being... together?"

"I honestly don't know why you might think that," Father mused. "I suppose we seem traditional most of the time, but the Hyūga have had a long history of supporting LGBT rights and love in general." He gave a small smirk that had all of the energy of a Cheshire Cat smile. "In fact, I'd like to say that I am not at all ashamed to admit that, when we were both genin, I had feelings for Namikaze Minato." The woman that I was now memorizing the face and chakra signature of for the specific purpose of giving her a hard time were I to ever see her without her immediately noping out of there scoffed and stomped off. "Are you four okay?" he asked.

"That was fun," I said, then realized how that could be insensitive that could be to the little girl who was almost abducted and her parents. "Sorry, are you three okay?"

Mom number one (I really needed to learn their names) smiled. "That was nice of you, kid. What's your name?"

"Hyūga Kouki," I said. "He's my father and the little one is my sister, Hinata." Before I was about to make any more witty remarks, I was surprise-glomped by a four-year-old.

"That was so cool!" Tenten exclaimed. "You totally saved me!" I noticed that up close, her otherwise dark brown-looking hair had a red glint with the right lighting like mine. Just in case, I compared her chakra to mine to see if that was what the familiar bit to her chakra was. I was glad at myself to see that any similarity between our chakras was minimal, a bit like the similarity I noticed between Naruto and an Uchiha that I'd seen. Like we were descendants of two siblings from Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo's ti-

"Wait a minute," I thought. I used my chakra sensing on Tenten and mom letter A. Prodigious chakra capacity, disproportionate physical energy, and a bit of a sunny feel to it. For both of them. I thought about what I knew about how Tenten fights from canon. Seals all of her weapons in scrolls and has the stamina to keep up with Neji the prodigy, Lee the genius of hard work, and Maito Guy. Plus, mom number A had orange hair. "They're Uzumaki, aren't they?" I thought even as mom letter A started talking.

"My name's Uzumaki Ai." I fricking called it. "My..." she blushed slightly and tittered like a schoolgirl with her first crush, "girlfriend here is named Tenko." Great naming, me. Note the sarcasm, readers.

"And the girl hugging Kouki-kun is my little daughter, Tenten," Tenko said.

"Potentially touchy question," I said flatly, acting like there wasn't a little girl who was a little taller than me still hugging me. I gave Tenten a look and she let go.

Tenko sighed. It was more of a sad sigh and not a some-rude-kid-is-about-to-ask-me-a-potentially-touchy-question sigh. "Her father was... severely injured in the Kyūbi attack. He told me not to feel bad if I fell in love with someone else before he died..." I nodded. Yeah, that seemed like something I'd write. Tenko looked thoughtful for a moment. "If you don't mind me asking a potentially touchy question," she said, "why were you so willing to jump in? Not that it's bad to do that, but I wouldn't have thought that a little kid would be like that."

I grunted, then licked my lips. "I hate people who judge others without getting to know them at all, just basing their entire opinion on something that has no bearing on their character or that they have no control over." I closed my eyes and shrugged. "I don't know exactly where it comes from, but I think that the fact that over half the village hating my best friend for something that happened on the day of his birth and was masterminded by someone else had something to do with it." I gave Tenko and Ai a piercing stare and noticed that Tenten had completely stopped following the conversation. "I don't suppose you two realize that Naruto-chan is totally innocent of the attack that happened mere minutes after his birth, do you?" I gave Ai a bitter smile and tilted my head to the side. "'Course, given the fact that I'm pretty sure that the two of you are the only remnants of the Uzumaki clan but I haven't even sensed you anywhere near him makes that seem unlikely."

She sighed and stood there for a minute. "You're right, I should have taken him in. My brother died in the attack, but that doesn't change the fact that I turned my back on a kid who had nowhere else to go and is actually family." She looked at Tenko and smiled. "Honey, do you think Tenten-chan would like a little brother?" I could tell what the answer was when Tenten turned to her mother and stared at her with puppy dog eyes. Not Puppy Dog Eyes(TM), but close.

Tenko chuckled. "I think I'd like to have a son." Tenten squeed and jumped up and down in happiness. Then she grabbed me and Hinata in a big hug. "Well, we should probably get going with that. I don't even know where to start..."

"Go to the Hokage," Father suggested. "Considering his importance, Hokage-sama would get involved anyway."

I raised my hand. "And if you really want to speed it up, tell the secretary to tell Sarutobi-san that Hyūga Kouki sent you." Ai, Tenko, and Tenten looked at me quizzically. "And if she doesn't believe you, tell her to tell the him that Sarutobi Asuma should never fight a man with a three-bladed scythe. That should speed the process up. I think that we might have go to soon. Good luck."

Father stiffened slightly. "Right, I was taking Hinata-chan and Kouki-kun to meet a friend of mine and we really should be going. I hope that we will get to know each other in the future, considering the fact that my son is friends with the boy you're hoping to adopt, but if you will excuse us, we must be leaving now." He looked at Tenten. "If you could release my children, please?" Tenten stopped hugging us and we parted ways. A few minutes later, Father said, "You planned that, didn't you."

I covered my mouth with a hand as I grinned and did my weird snicker that sounds like I'm hissing and I decided to mess with him. "However do you suggest I did that, Father?" I asked in a voice that made it sound like I totally did plan it, even though in this one case I totally hadn't. "Such a feat would require me to have some way to know that they were going to be there beforehand." He gave me a flat look. "Sometimes, when you do good things purely out of the kindness of your heart," I continued, "events line up so nicely that people think that you planned it." He raised an eyebrow. I licked my lips and pulled out the small, featureless puppet that I'd bought to test a certain jutsu I was trying to make and started playing around with it using chakra threads. What? Just because I don't plan on using puppet ninjutsu in battle doesn't mean that I should never learn it. "Yeah, I like being all puppetmaster-y, but I really can't take credit for this one. It's just luck."

"That's so cool, Kouki-niisan!" Hinata said as she looked at my puppet. I grinned and made it bow before putting it away.

"Thaaaank you," I said. "Let's go see Father's friend now."

kukukuku~

Tsume guffawed as she looked at me. "So this is the little ankle-biter you saddled yourself with, eh Hiashi?" she said with a grin. To his credit, I was only able to bend my spine an acute angle to the side before Father said, "Please don't bite my ankle, Kouki-kun." This naturally made Tsume howl with laughter and then smile at me. "You're alright, kid!"

"Thank you, Inuzuka-san," I said with a small grin. "You seem nice too. Should I go introduce myself to your son?" I asked.

"Go ahead, kid." She grabbed Kiba by the head and lightly shoved him at me, then looked at the nine-year-old Hana. "You should talk to them too, kiddo. I heard Kouki's got some sort of healing jutsu, so you could talk to him about that."

"Hello," I said as she walked over. "Can I pet your puppies," I asked, pointing at the three husky puppies that were trailing behind her.

"Sure," she said with a smile. I bent down and rubbed two of them behind the ears, cooing in a totally not weird way. "Their names are Hashirama, Tobirama, and Hiruzen. We call them the Haimaru triplets."

"After the first three Hokage," I assumed.

"Umm..." Hinata said quietly. "C-can I..." Hana picked up the puppy I wasn't petting and gave him to Hinata. "Thanks..." Kiba walked up to her and started chatting to her about... something. I stopped paying attention, so I'm not sure what.

Hana crouched down next to me and began petting... I think he was Tobirama? "So what was my mom saying about you knowing a healing jutsu?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "Unfortunately it's not the sort of jutsu just anyone can use, if that's what you were hoping for. You have to have a certain special chakra that you don't have, sorry."

She sighed. "Can't be helped. I want to learn medical ninjutsu so I can be a veterinarian. I like animals, so I thought it'd be a nice goal."

I nodded as I started scratching Hiruzen's tummy. "Being any kind of healer is a worthy aspiration," I muttered. "And animals are nice, though I suppose I shouldn't have to say that to an Inuzuka, should I?" She laughed. "I want to learn medical ninjutsu too, but really, mine is just for curiosity." I closed my eyes and chuckled as Hiruzen started licking my fingers. Then I rubbed my fingers on the "skirt" my shirt when he was done. "Mine must seem petty compared to yours, huh?"

She shrugged. "I still think that it's nice to want to learn stuff like that." She chuckled. "Even if it's just curiosity. So what exactly is that healing jutsu of yours?"

I grinned and lit the tip of my finger with a bit of red chakra. "It's a bit of a long story, but I think it's an interesting one..." We chatted for a while. I think I actually made a friend! Plus, it looked like Hinata was having fun with Kiba, so that's good.

kukukuku~

Ai and Tenko walked into that one meeting room of the Hokage's. "You wanted to see us again?" Tenko asked.

"Yes," he said. "Please, sit down." The couple sat down on one of the sofas, with Ai resting her head on Tenko's shoulder, which was really adorable. "There are a few more things that I'd like to discuss with the two of you before you adopt Naruto-kun. It's very important."

"Let's hear it," Ai said as she got a little more comfortable nuzzling Tenko.

"For one, I think you should learn who his father was before you take him in," I said as I sauntered out of the shadows and dropped my very-horrible-but-still-at-least-somewhat-usable Transparency Jutsu. It really only made me a little translucent, really more like stained glass than glass, and there was still an unfortunate amount of disturbance when I moved, but with my dark clothes, the partial tan that I had from actually spending time in the sun, and the shadows, the ability of standing so incredibly still that I become invisible to the eye was easy and attainable, even if I still couldn't eat any zargnuts while doing it. "His name was Namikaze Minato, maybe you've heard of him." I flopped down on the other sofa and sprawled out on the entire thing.

Everyone was silent for a moment as Tenko and Ai looked at me incredulously. After a few seconds, Ai broke the silence by saying, "Not that I'm mad or anything because you're a nice kid, but what the hell are you doing here?"

Sarutobi cleared his throat. "To cut a long story short, I made young Kouki here my advisor because he has the ability to see the future. This is an S-rank secret that should be even more strongly guarded than Naruto's status as a jinchuriki and his heritage." I winked and flashed my open eye at them.

"Okay, so what was that about Naruto's father being the fourth Hokage?" Tenko asked. I took the pictures of Minato and Naruto that I'd prepared for that particular reason and waved them so that the corners hit each other a few times and raised my eyebrows slightly. "No, I see that now." She paused. "Actually I'm surprised that not more people have made that connection..."

"People see what they want to see," I stated with a scowl and red eyes. "Any relation to the heroic Fourth aside from 'murderer of' would get in the way of the idea that most of the villagers seem to have built up of how Naruto is a monstrous demon and not a young boy hated by over half the village for the monster sealed inside him to save said village." I scoffed. "Ingrates."

After a few minutes of utter silence, Tenko said, "I'd like to ask why nobody's ever tried to inform the village about his father, then."

I shrugged. "This guy," I pointed at Hiruzen, "decided that Naruto's parents have made some enemies and they aren't around to protect him anymore, so why not just cover up who his parents were, and not even tell him 'til he's either chūnin or sixteen. I begrudgingly accepted his reasoning on the condition that we make sure that Naruto's life isn't completely horrible and he doesn't learn about the Kyūbi or his parentage in completely traumatic circumstances."

"I would have preferred it if you didn't phrase it like that," Hiruzen said, "but that's about it. There's another matter, this one something that Kouki-kun was rather insistent on telling you."

Aiko nodded. "Spill, kid."

I sat up. Kinda. I didn't actually sit like a proper young lady, but at least I wasn't lying down on the sofa, right? "Something you guys should probably know looong before it actually becomes relevant." I tossed them the picture of Obito from when he had to have his ID photo taken. "His name is Uchiha Obito. Pronounced KIA in the Third Ninja War after a cave-in. In actuality, he was abducted by Uchiha Madara, implanted with the genetic material of the First to repair the damage from the cave-in, and groomed to take on Madara's mission. Part of this mission was apparently to attack the village using his Sharingan to control Kyūbi about three-and-a-half years ago."

Tenko sighed. "I suppose it's a little hard to swallow, but so is a young boy with the ability to see the future, so I'm willing to believe you. Why did you want us to know this?"

I lazily bobbed my head. "First, there's the fact that, even if you have the best intentions, the two of you lost a loved one in the Obito attack, so it might've been hard for you to fully put aside the feelings from that if you believed that the thing responsible for that was sitting under your roof inside the boy you adopted. And that would be bad. Second, I plan on eventually getting Naruto-chan and Kurama-chan to make friends with each other, so you two thinking Kurama-chan is a mindless beast might interfere with that." Ai raised her hand. "Kurama's the Kyūbi and yes we are friends," I answered. "Third, you two really should know all the facts."

"Thanks for that, then, kid," Ai said. "Is there anything else we should know?"

I grumbled. "I was gonna tell you two about Jiraiya, but someone," I looked at Hiruzen, "already told you."

"How did you..." Tenko started to say, but then trailed off. "Right, future vision. I'm starting to realize that 'getting to know each other' wasn't the only reason Hyūga-san had for wanting to get some drinks with us after this." I smiled at the compliment.

"Where is young Tenten, anyway?" Hiruzen asked. "I figured she was waiting outside, but if you're going out for drinks..."

"I love shadow clones," Ai said blissfully. "They're just... so useful."

He nodded. "I agree. If I'm not mistaken, I'm getting done twice the amount of paperwork that I used to, and I'm not even in my office."

"Though, should we be drinking after learning such sensitive information?" Tenko asked. "I love you, Ai, but you can't really hold your alcohol very well."

Ai blushed. "N-no I don't! You can't hold your alcohol very well!"

I looked into the future a bit, hiss-chuckled at Ai's drunken shenanigans, and said, "Ai-san should be fine, though you should keep your guard up just in case. I believe we're done here, you two should go unless you have anything else to ask or declare." As I expected, they didn't, and so summarily left, thanking the two of us as they did. I slouched into the sofa some more and tossed Hiruzen a scroll. "Suna agreed to let me take a crack at Gaara, right? And about the issue of payment, tell the Kazekage that I'm doing it half out of the kindness of my heart and half to hone my skills with fuinjutsu, so I'm fine if he can't pay me too much relative to the skill level of the job." 

I shrugged. "Though I would like it if he had any scrolls on jutsu, preferably Wind Release, that he'd be willing to give me." He opened the scroll and made to say something, but I cut him off by saying, "You've probably noticed by now, but I screen any meeting where we discuss sensitive information beforehand. Might need to take a nap tomorrow, even though I slept last night."

"Did you already find a seal to fix Gaara?" Hiruzen asked incredulously as he stared at the scroll.

"Nein," I sighed. "As great as that would've been, we both know that I need more information on his seal to even attempt anything more than a temporary countermeasure. That's just something I whipped up a few weeks ago with Kurama-chan's help to deal with the situation for now."

"You really like preparing for everything, don't you?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Just the things that I can think of. Besides, I doubt I'll hear you complaining when I know what to do if Danzō challenges you to a dance-off with the winner becoming Hokage, will I?"

He gave me a flat look. "Kouki-kun, did you get into my secret stash of brownies? Because you really shouldn't eat those."

I blinked. "No I did not. Just going to pretend you never said that."

"If anyone asks, it's for my back."

"Just make sure it doesn't interfere with your work," I advised. "The solution to that problem," I said like he hadn't said anything hinting at drug use, "is to just laugh him out of the office because the Hokage is not chosen based solely on one's ability to get down and boogie, but at the same time make sure that you could theoretically beat him in a dance-off. And try to engineer events so that, if Danzō has his... modifications... at the time of the dance-off, those modifications get unveiled in public and in front of a captive audience, thus casting suspicion onto his character."

He grunted. "A sensible answer to a nonsensical problem. What about the current problem of Gaara, by the way?"

I nodded and slipped into Serious Mode (yes, I have one of those), and then actually did sit up like a proper young lady. "Write this down. That scroll contains instructions to make and an example of the Inner Demon Calming Seal, a one-use seal of my and Kurama's invention that forcibly suppresses red chakra in any being with red chakra that is not a Bijū - i.e. me or a jinchuriki - by way of using some of their own red chakra as fuel to cause the rest to return to the chakra coils. Tell the Kazekage to have at least three copies of it made and ready at all times, preferably more. One copy will be given to Gaara himself, who will be instructed to use it at any time when he feels like Shukaku might be trying to rise up while he's awake. The other two are to be given to shinobi of appropriate skill who are to follow Gaara around in shifts and intervene if they feel Gaara is having a problem but can't deal with it himself for whatever reason.

“Any seals that have been used will enter a state where they cannot be used again but give diagnostic information on Gaara at the time of usage, so they are to be sent to me with time used for analysis. Note that the way the seals are set up, an error in writing will most likely cause one of three problems. The first two are that it will not suppress the chakra, which is the reason why there are to be three, and complete failure in the data recording. These two are hopefully trivial matters, though there might be some inconvenience. 

“The third is to be taken more seriously, however. Should the mechanism that regulates the reaction fail, unfortunately, the seal will continue to siphon some of Shukaku's red chakra even after it's been suppressed, as evidenced by the red glow persisting after Gaara's back to normal. It isn't nearly enough to put Gaara in danger of dying by all of Shukaku's chakra being extracted, but it will create a miniature Bijū Dama should it reach critical mass. Before this happens, the seal must be removed from Gaara and sent at least ten meters from him, which will cause the seal to stop and the built-up chakra to disperse. Send the scroll and those instructions as soon as possible with further instructions to gather any and all information on Gaara's seal plus any information on Gaara himself that they think might be relevant, like medical records and chakra composition, as well as any questions and statements they might have." He looked at me incredulously, and then I slouched back down, sighed, and said, "The annoying thing about Serious Mode is that I can only do it for so long..."

Hiruzen sighed, closed his eyes, and said, "That seems about right. Are you leaving soon?" This was answered when he opened his eyes and saw a note in my place with the word "yup" on it. "How did he do that?" the Hokage muttered.

kukukuku~

The couple met another couple in front of the... I guess it was a bar? Anyway, Ai told Tenko that she saw Hiashi and someone who she guessed was probably his wife. "Hey, Hyūga-san!" Ai said as she walked up to him. She elbowed him and said, "Is that your wife? She's hot!"

Hyūga Hizashi looked over at his wife with puzzlement. "Do we know her?" he mouthed at aunt Hikaru.

"No," she mouthed back, shaking her head slightly.

At this exact moment, the real Hiashi and Hikari showed up. "Ah, good," Hiashi said. "I see you two have met." Ai slowly looked at Hizashi, then at Hiashi, then back to Hizashi.

"I haven't even touched the alcohol and I'm already seeing double," Ai groused. "What the heck?"

Tenko chuckled and planted a kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. "I think that those two might be his brother and sister-in-law, sweetie. Hiashi-san said that they would be here too."

Ai glared at Father. "You could have warned us that they're your clones," she complained.

"Identical twins and he did," Tenko reminded her.

Father chuckled. "Ai-san and Tenko-san, this is my darling wife Hikari," he gave her a small kiss, "and you seem to have already acquainted yourself with my brother Hizashi and his wife, Hikaru." He pointed at them. "Shall we enter, then?" They entered and were escorted to a private room by the staff.

"What, exactly, is with the private rooms?" Tenko asked as they sat down and ordered some drinks.

"This establishment is often used for meetings between clans as a sort of neutral ground," Father explained. "The owner takes the privacy of the clients who make use of the private rooms very seriously. They're soundproofed, the staff regularly check for any kind of bugs, they knock before coming in, and there are even seals placed on the rooms that make them unseeable by chakra-sensing or even the Byakugan."

"Actually, what about the Shōraigan?" Hikaru asked. As soon as she did, there was a knock on the door. When the staff member was let in, he said that a young boy had given him a note to get to his aunt, Hikaru. After the guy left, everyone else looked at aunt Hikaru. She opened the note and read, "What do you think? -Love Kouki."

There was some awkward silence followed by Tenko clearing her throat. "So when are our drinks arriving, do you think?"

"Probably about now," Hizashi guessed. There was another knock on the door. "I swear I didn't plan that," he quickly added.

"Kouki-kun has had an impact on you, hasn't he?" Tenko asked.

Mother sighed. "He's not bad or anything, if that's what you're implying, but it's that he seems to like to play around with people and show off with his future vision and other unique powers, which can be... not exactly annoying, but... odd... at times." She then actually managed to almost look into my eyes and say, "And I'm not just saying that because you may or may not be watching, Kouki-kun."

Heh. I could show more of their conversation, but this chapter's probably getting long enough and that was about all that I wanted to show anyway. So to sum it all up, Ai got really drunk and kept hitting on Tenko. Ah, young love.

kukukuku~

"Demon Infusion?" I offered, playing around the puppet and some red chakra. "Maybe if I make the yin chakra and yang chakra separately?" I thought.

Kurama gave a thoughtful hum. "It sounds good, but why does it need to sound demonic?"

I shrugged. "I've heard of Bijū referred to as demons before, and giving myself a demonic motif just sounds cool."

"I suppose that that's as good a reason as any when dealing with you," he sighed. There was a bright flash from the window, illuminating the dark, dusky sky, and a crash of thunder followed a moment later. "Eeep!" Kurama... shrieked? That felt weird to say... So he... shrieked... and jumped into my arms.

I looked down at him flatly. "You do realize I'm working, right?"

He scoffed haughtily and turned his head away. "I was just... startled, is all."

I looked out the window, specifically at the heavily pouring rain. "You do realize that it's been overcast the whole day, right? And now it's pouring buckets."

"Shut up," he said as he jumped out of my arms and onto my desk.

"I can't do that, but I can change the subject," I offered. Kurama muttered something that could have been a "fine." "So do you think that I could get Six Paths Sage Mode if I got some chakra from all nine Bijū?"

He stared at me for a few moments. "Maybe? You do realize that the problem with this theory is that you need to get the chakra of all nine for this to work, yes?"

I shrugged. "True, but at the same time, I have yours and I'm going to get some of Shukaku's when I go over to Suna, so I'm almost one third of the way there already!"

He flicked his tail. "Perhaps you should think of an easier jutsu to obtain?"

I sighed. "You're probably right." I thought for a moment, then snapped my fingers. "Do you think I could make a Gudō Dama if I were to get all five chakra natures in red chakra?" I asked.

This took him a bit of thought as I fiddled with the puppet some more. "I... don't know. Maybe. If you count Shukaku's magnet release that you're hoping to obtain, you then have fire release and wind release from me and earth release and wind release from him. Assuming your theory works, you'll need water release from Isobu, Kokuō, Saiken, or Gyūki and lightning release from Chōmei or Gyūki."

I nodded. "It seems that I'll have to engineer events so that I meet B if I don't want to wait like thirteen years for when I know Fū is going to finally be out of Taki."

"That does seem like the most efficient way to find out, doesn't it?" He then somehow gave off the aura of a Cheshire cat smile despite having his face permanently stuck in a regular cat smile. "Too bad there's still so much animosity between Konoha and Kumo, huh?"

I gave a smile. An evil smile. "Oh, I know. I plan on using it." Okay, so I didn't really have any plans, but I have an image to keep up, y'know? Anyway, lightning struck at that moment, as if on cue. Yet again, Kurama shrieked and jumped into my arms. "You're sending mixed messages, you know? Do you want to stay in my arms or not?"

"Shut. It."

I smiled. "It's okay if you don't like lightning. I imagine that you used to get hit all the time, with how big you are..."

He grunted. "Guess that's one perk of being so fucking tiny..." I blinked. Oops. Probably shouldn't have pressed that particular button...

I was frantically thinking of which random topic to use to distract him with when the door suddenly burst open. "Nii-san!" Hinata tackle-hugged me.

I lightly chuckled as I closed the door with chakra threads. To keep up with the ruse that I was Hinata's bodyguard, my bedroom was placed close to hers, which was probably why she came to me. "You don't like lightning either, do you Hina-chan?" She shook her head slightly and buried her face deeper into my shoulder. "Don't worry, Kurama's afraid of it too." I idly remembered a funny video my dad showed me one day from this one movie called... Ted, I think it was. "Hey, you two could be thunder buddies!" I backed out of Hinata's hug and deposited Kurama in her hands. He glared at me for a moment before another flash of lightning caused the two to flinch into each other. "Well, I think our parents are done now and none of them brought an umbrella, so I'll be going now." I left, taking the umbrella that I'd bought some time ago with me.

kukukuku~

I decided that I rather like the rain, assuming I have an umbrella, at least. Having waterproof boots and not open-toed shoes probably helped a bit too. It felt calming seeing all of the water falling, plus with how high the water was I could practice water-walking! Speaking of practicing jutsu, I was also using puppetry jutsu on my little puppet to manipulate it into screwing around with a ball of my red chakra for me. I'd managed to make it luminesce even as I tried to prime it for the jutsu I was actually trying to make, which I was using like a lantern. "I probably need to put in the yin first..." I muttered as I got closer to their chakra signatures. I rounded a corner and saw all four of them standing under a awning. "Father, Mother, Uncle, Aunt," I greeted as they stared at me. "It's been cloudy all day, I didn't need my eyes to know it'd rain. At least one of you should have brought an umbrella."

"Thank you for coming to get us, Kouki-kun," Mother said. "But I don't think your umbrella will fit the five of us." I grinned, made a half ram seal and handed the umbrella to Father.

"Channel some chakra into it," I told him. I could tell he did what I asked when seals flared up on the umbrella and a chakra shield extended enough to fit everyone comfortably. "Rather simple change in chakra form seals," I explained. "The final version's gonna have more options than just that." We started walking home under the cover of my umbrella. While the others were talking, I continued to mess with the puppet. After a while, something... clicked and I was finally able to combine the yin and yang without it canceling out and becoming normal red chakra. The red chakra was absorbed into the puppet, so I let the strings dissipate and dropped it onto my palm. Despite it being an inanimate object, it landed on its feet and stayed standing. With a mental command from me, the puppet started punching the air, but stopped after a bit and shrugged at me. I sighed.

"What's wrong, Kouki-kun?" aunt Hikaru asked.

"I just finished a jutsu I was working on, but to actually use it in battle, I'd need a lot more chakra than I have at the moment," I muttered.

She smiled. "I'm sure you'll be able to use it eventually."

I sighed. "Yeah, but..." I had a flash of inspiration and actually had to check that I hadn't accidentally activated my eyes from the sudden mental rush. I grinned. "Nyahahaha~ NYEEHAHAHAHAHA!~" Lightning crashed during my maniacal laugh, which was just great.

"That's probably not a good sign," uncle Hizashi noted.

kukukuku~

Kurama woke up feeling rather refreshed, so much so that he wasn't really that annoyed by the little girl snuggling up to him and trapping him. Stupid tiny toy body with almost no strength... The first thing he saw upon waking was an office chair pointed away from him. "You know... you two are lucky I didn't need to sleep tonight, or I would've had you leave my room," my voice said from the other side of the chair.

"What do you want, Kouki?" Kurama asked.

I turned my chair around, revealing me stroking the puppet on my lap like it was a cat. What? My actual cat-shaped thing was occupied at the moment. "What do you know about..." Pause for dramatic effect... "Natural energy?"

"U-um, Kurama-san?" Hinata asked as she sat up. "Should I be worried about that?"

"Knowing Kouki, probably."

kukukuku~

A/N: So this was a longer chapter than normal. I probably should've cut the bar scene, seeing how I cut pretty much all of it already, but I just thought that that first joke was so funny.

And I know that none of the Bijū actually used lightning release, but then why would bringing them all together grant Obito, Madara, and Naruto the ability to use something made from all five chakra natures?

[appliancesreviews]

Smartphone digital image processing

Back in 2005, the Nokia N90 with swivel screen clamshell design ushered in an era of competition between digital cameras and smartphones.

In those days, most experts characterized the 2-megapixel camera of this smartphone with such epithets as fantastic, unprecedented, gorgeous, etc. Of course, today the picture quality of Nokia N90 evoke other emotions. Probably professional photographers smiled condescendingly, looking at this picture with a low resolution, a minimum dynamic range and a very high noise level even in bright sunshine.

Indeed, the black silhouette of a tree without gradations of shadows and the indistinguishable car number could hardly excite them in terms of possible competition. But after a few years the situation has changed radically. The sales schedule very convincingly illustrates this situation.

Of course, the market for expensive DSLR cameras has specific features. Unlike phones, they perfectly serve their owners for 10 years or more. In addition, new models provide an extremely small increase in quality, further limiting the motivation for replacement. But, of course, cameraphones have become one of the main reasons of the stagnation in this segment. In fact, today only semi-professional and professional DSLR cameras continue to maintain their market position.

A modern cameraphone vs a professional camera for $ 7500?

Recently, the popular Matti Haapoja photographer presented a side-by-side comparison of the picture quality taken with the iPhone 11 Pro and the expensive Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, costing $ 7,500.

Probably, an experienced photographer with sharp vision will be able to correctly determine that the A-picture on the left belong to the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II. But given the difference in price ($ 1,000 vs $ 7,500), in weight (6.63 ounces (188 grams) vs 1.5 kg) and dimensions, this advantage looks very doubtful. No less convincing comparison of the iPhone 11 Pro vs. The Canon 7D Mk II in portrait mode was introduced on YouTube by Computer Clan.

Of course, many people ask a very obvious question: how does a relatively inexpensive smartphone with miniature optics ensure the quality of an expensive professional DSLR camera.

Sensor Dimensions + AI algorithms

Of course, the sizes of modern matrices in smartphone cameras and their specs are radically different from prototypes. For example, Samsung introduced the unprecedented 108-megapixel ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor, which is already used in the Samsung Galaxy S20 5G, Xiaomi Mi Note 10 and Mi 10 Pro.

Video demonstrates this innovative sensor. But, of course, this example is an exception to the rule. Usually, the size of the sensors in DSLR cameras is about 20-30 times larger compared to phones.

However, smartphones provide excellent quality even at night in low ambient light.

However, this reality is consistent with the general trend in the consumer electronics segment. In fact, the device’s platform has ceased to be a major factor in image quality. Today, the lens and sensor provide only the first part of the task, collecting image data and transforming them into electrical impulses. Digital image processing algorithms do the second part of the job. Probably, the contribution of these components can be expressed in percent and numbers. But the growing influence of the processing algorithms is beyond doubt. Of course, they require tremendous performance processor, which solves these tasks. But the latest 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+, HiSilicon Kirin 990, Exynos 9611, etc cope with them very effectively. Moreover, the performance of even mid-range SoC is excessive in many cases. In fact, a modern smartphone collects an image from individual pixels, calculating and adjusting the value of each of them. In addition, AI of phone actively uses pixel interpolation, generating them if necessary.

AI algorithms

Some algorithms well illustrate the capabilities of modern smartphones. Probably, many saw photos with the popular bokeh effect.

The corresponding algorithm in phone works as follows. First, the camera must separate the objects in the frame to snap them to the foreground and background. But for this, the algorithm must estimate the distances to each object in the frame. Two cameras, for example, on the back of the phone, use the traditional principle of determining depth. In this case, each of the two cameras takes one picture. Accordingly, the angle of shots will be slightly different.

Then the images are superimposed on each other, visualizing the displacement of objects in the frame.

This method uses the parallax effect. As known, parallax is a change in the apparent position of the object relative to the distant background, depending on the viewing angle. For small angles, the distance to the object is equal to the ratio of the distance between the view points (centers of cameras lenses) to the displacement angle (d = l / α). But parallax does not work for selfies due to the lack of a second camera. In this case, the camera can use semantic segmentation, dividing the photo into two layers with pixels of the main object and background. Then the algorithm will defocus the background layer, providing a bokeh effect. Unlike a DSLR camera, it does not provide a smooth change in the depth of field. But this quality is more than enough for a selfie.

HDR and auto semantic segmentation

Of course, these are not the most difficult tasks. High-quality bokeh effect with a single main camera requires more sophisticated technologies, but better illustrates the possibilities of digital image processing. Firstly, the camera forms an image with a high dynamic range (HDR), providing high detail in dark and light parts of the frame. For this, the smartphone takes a series of shots, selects the best fragments from each and forms one picture of the highest quality.

This technology is very similar to the creation of Frankenstein, but from the best legs and arms. Further, the camera begins to use machine learning and neural networks. It automatically detects all objects in the foreground and background using semantic segmentation. For this purpose, the neural network uses a huge database. For example, to identify people, it uses various photos with their images in various poses, clothes, with different hairstyles, etc. As a result, the neural network will create something like this silhouette with a cup in his hands.

Next, the camera will defocus the black area, providing a bokeh effect.

PDAF with Dual Pixel technology

Further quality improvement requires the formation of a depth map for smooth blurring the background. To solve this problem, the camera uses PDAF (Phase Detection Autofocus) with Dual Pixel technology. Simplified, it works as follows. Each pixel of the sensor includes two independent photodiodes.

In turn, a tiny lens is placed above each pixel, which divides the light flux into two parts.

As a result, one photodiode receives the light flux from the left half of the lens, and the other from the right. In fact, this technology provides a parallax effect, allowing the algorithm to calculate the stereo effect and build a depth map. As a result, even one smartphone camera provides a bokeh effect with smooth change in the depth of field.

Conclusion

Of course, image processing algorithms for creating bokeh effect make up only a small part of the capabilities of modern smartphones. But they well illustrate the pronounced trend of rapid development of the AI-technologies in this segment. As a result, this causes a philosophical discussion about naturalness, realism, etc. Probably, many will prefer imperfect realism instead of the splendor of an artificial colorful image. In fact, something similar happens on television with Filmmaker Mode. As known, Tom Cruise urged viewers to abandon some playback optimizations in TVs to preserve the original intent of the filmarkers, including the directors, cameramans, etc. In fact, TV in this mode will play movies with the original color reproduction, aspect ratio and frame rate. Today LG, Panasonic and Vizio, already supported the creation of this mode, implementing its support in their models. In any case, photographers with professional DSLR cameras will continue to delight fans of large colorful photographs without the intervention of AI technologies. But the segment of budget and mid-budget cameras is hopelessly losing to smartphones. Read the full article

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/20-iconic-smartphones-of-the-decade-past/

20 Iconic Smartphones of the Decade Past

Smartphones have become a vital part of life for most of us. We spend most of our day with a smartphone — even more than what we devote to our loved ones. But what makes them important for us? Is it the mobility that we get from them? Or is it the smartness that they provide to us while on-the-move? Well, answers to such questions depend on how you use the smartphones. But one thing is quite clear that smartphones have evolved a lot from what we had in the past. They’ve got new designs, vivid display panels, multiple cameras, and more powerful processors than workstations of yesterday. But which were the best smartphones of the decade past?

Apple, BlackBerry, Samsung, HTC, and Nokia were the initial smartphone companies that set some benchmarks for young contenders such as OnePlus, Vivo, and Xiaomi. Chipmakers largely including Qualcomm and MediaTek have also helped the market grow faster than ever predicted with processors supporting newer tasks and enhanced performance experiences. Both Apple and Google have also significantly improved their respective mobile operating systems, iOS and Android, which are running on all smartphones nowadays.

Having said that, there were some smartphones that tickled the public’s fancy and set the trend in the market. We here cover all those iconic smartphones that have made history in the last 10 years and influenced the market to keep up the pace. Here are the best mobile phones of the decade past.

Apple iPhone 4

Apple back in June 2010 brought the iPhone 4 as its distinctly designed smartphone over the previous iPhone models. The iPhone 4 had a glass-sandwich design along with a metal frame that was copied by a large number of smartphone companies, including some Indian vendors such as Lava and Karbonn. The fourth-generation iPhone model also offered a slim waistline and an optimised software experience along with a list of apps and iOS 4. However, Apple faced the infamous “Antennagate” issue thanks to the glitch in designing the antenna gap. The company did try to fix it by offering bumpers and overhauling the antenna structure on the iPhone 4s.

Release year- 2010

Samsung Galaxy S

In 2010, when Apple was flourishing with huge domination in the smartphone market, Samsung brought the Galaxy S as its flagship phone to closely compete against the iPhone. The Samsung Galaxy S, which precisely debuted in March 2010, ticked all the boxes that the market set for a top-notch smartphone. It had a Super AMOLED display, Samsung Exynos (Hummingbird) SoC, and as much as 16GB of onboard storage to take on the iPhone. Samsung also provided a Corning Gorilla Glass protection that later became usual for all mid-range and premium smartphones. The Galaxy S ran Android 2.1 Eclair out-of-the-box along with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI on top.

Release year- 2010

Nokia 808 PureView

Nokia, much before the era of its brand licensee HMD Global — exactly in February 2012, unveiled the Nokia 808 PureView as its masterpiece. The phone didn’t include a lightning fast processor or desktop-sized RAM, but what it had was a 41-megapixel camera sensor that had used an interpolation technique to pack five distinct pixels into one. It set the benchmark for today’s smartphones that have cameras with a megapixel count of 48, 64, or 108 — thanks to similar pixel binning techniques. The Nokia 808 PureView also had a Xenon flash instead of merely including an LED flash model. However, it ran Nokia Belle that was based on Symbian OS 10.1 over Android.

Release year- 2012

Google Nexus 4

Google tied up with LG to launch the Nexus 4 in October 2012. The smartphone offered flagship-like specifications at a mid-range price point. It also provided stock Android 4.2 Jelly Bean along with guaranteed updates for some time. The Google Nexus 4 also include wireless charging support and features such as active noise cancellation and a polarised glass with a 3D pattern finish. All those highlights made the Nexus 4 a compelling Android smartphone against the competition.

Release year- 2012

HTC One

HTC One was unveiled back in February 2013 to counter the likes of the Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III. The smartphone that debuted with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean had an aluminium unibody construction that made it an eye-catching option against its competitors. Also, HTC offered stereo front-mounted speakers that were equipped with BoomSound technology. The curved back design of the HTC One aided ergonomics and provided a good grip in the hand. There were also white polycarbonate bands to give room to the integrated antennas. Overall, the design of the HTC One made it a trendsetter, and its aesthetics were clearly featured later on models such as the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T. Apple also offered a similar antenna design on the iPhone 6.

Release year- 2013

Xiaomi Mi 3

Xiaomi Mi 3 debuted in September 2013. It was designed initially for China, but the phone reached markets including India that helped make the Beijing-based company a household name. The Mi 3 offered top-of-the-line specifications of its time that included a 5-inch full-HD display and a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC — all at an affordable price. It also had an attractive design that was made through a unibody shell that became an example for newer smartphones by not just Xiaomi but also many of its competitors. The smartphone also had Android 4.4.2 KitKat at the time of its launch along with MIUI.

Release year- 2013

LG G Flex

LG G Flex had a flexible display and battery along with a self-healing coating at the back that all made it to our list of iconic smartphones of the decade past. Launched in October 2013, the LG G Flex had a curved P-OLED display that was equipped along with the flexible lithium polymer battery to provide a curved design. The smartphone ran Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with LG’s Optimus UI that brought features such as Dual Window and QSlide to distinguished the experience.

Release year- 2013

Moto G

Motorola back in November 2013 launched the Moto G as its budget smartphone targeted at emerging markets. The smartphone helped Motorola gained huge popularity in growing markets including India and Brazil years after its comeback following a split into two separate entities — with Motorola Mobility serving the consumer market and Motorola Solutions deliver enterprise offerings. The Moto G had a simple and sober design that appealed to the masses. Similarly, the stock Android experience that was initially based on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean provided fair enough convenience. The affordable price of the Moto G also made it amongst the early smartphones to kick off the budget wars in the market.

Release year- 2013

OnePlus One

OnePlus, the Shenzhen-based company that is amongst the top-five premium smartphone brands in markets such as India, started its journey in the smartphone world with the OnePlus One back in April 2014. Titled as the “Flagship Killer”, the phone had Android 4.4 KitKat-based CyanogenMod (CM11S). It was one of the highly acclaimed smartphones among app developers — thanks to the openness provided by CyanogenMod to customise the experience. The OnePlus One also brought the trend of limited availability through its invite-only system. It was later transformed into flash sales that companies such as Xiaomi adopted to create enough hype of their new offerings.

Release year- 2014

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge was launched in March 2015 with a dual-edge curved display. It made the trend of using curved glass panels that we saw not only on some of the recent Galaxy Note-series models but also on phones such as the BlackBerry Priv and OnePlus 7 Pro. The Galaxy S6 Edge featured a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display with a Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. The handset also had a heart-rate sensor and wireless charging support. It ran Android 5.0.2 Lollipop.

Release year- March 2015

BlackBerry Priv

After facing many ups and downs, BlackBerry brought the BlackBerry Priv as its pure Android smartphone in September 2015. The smartphone also retained the company’s legacy of offering a physical QWERTY keyboard — but in a slide-out design. The keyboard made it a promising option for professionals and business users. Running on Android 5.1.1, the BlackBerry Priv offered a full-fledged Android experience along with Android for Work support of enterprise users. The device also had a curved-edge display. Since it wasn’t based on BlackBerry 10 OS aka BB10, the Priv didn’t have a gesture controls. Instead, the phone had on-screen navigation keys.

Release year- 2015

Lenovo Phab 2 Pro

Lenovo tied up with Google and unveiled the Phab 2 Pro in June 2016 as the world’s first smartphone based on Project Tango platform, which was aimed augmented reality (AR) computing to mobile devices. The smartphone had a unique camera setup that offered motion tracking, depth perception, and area learning. In addition to its AR features, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro had Dolby Audio 5.1 Capture technology for recording 3D surround sound experiences. The smartphone also had a large, 6.4-inch QHD IPS display and came with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.

Release year- 2016

Xiaomi Mi MIX

A large number of smartphone vendors the days claim to offer a full-screen experience. But if we need to find out the trailblazer of that segment, it is none other than the Xiaomi Mi MIX. The smartphone was launched back in October 2016 as a concept phone along with Android 6.0 Marshmallow. But shortly after its initial preview, it went on sale in China. The near bezel-less display of the Mi MIX was its USP, though it also had a piezoelectric acoustic earpiece speaker as well as an ultrasonic proximity sensor as the two key highlights. The selfie camera of the Mi MIX was also claimed to be 50 percent smaller in size over the conventional sensors and was placed at the bottom right corner of the phone to give enough space for the display.

Release year- 2016

Apple iPhone X

In September 2017, Apple revamped its iPhone family by unveiling the iPhone X. The new iPhone model, which was the tenth anniversary iPhone, was completely different in looks and design from what we saw earlier. With a display notch, it housed facial recognition sensors, bringing the tech to the mainstream and introducing Face ID as an upgrade to the existing fingerprint recognition technology that the Cupertino company called Touch ID. Also, the iPhone X — originally based on iOS 11 — was amongst the first successful smartphones with a completely button-less front panel. Apple also provided a vertically-placed dual camera setup that made a trend in itself.

Release year- 2017

Razer Phone

Razer, the company that’s popular for developing gaming peripherals, launched the Razer Phone back in November 2017. The smartphone, which was the predecessor to the Razer Phone 2, had IGZO IPS display panel with 120Hz refresh rate to deliver immersive gaming experiences. There was also a wide colour gamut to impress mobile gamers. The Razer Phone had a dual front-firing speakers along with THX-certified amplifiers and Dolby Atmos integration to deliver a surround sound experience. The phone came with Android 7.1.1 Nougat at the time of its launch. It all-in-all set a benchmark for gaming phones.

Release year- 2017

Vivo X20 Plus UD

Vivo launched the X20 Plus UD in January 2018 as the world’s first smartphone to carry an under-display fingerprint sensor. It included the Synaptics-made under-display fingerprint sensor that was touted to detect a fingerprint in few milliseconds. The presence of the under-display fingerprint sensor, which later became the new normal among Chinese smartphones and widely called in-display fingerprint sensor, replaced the requirement of having a physical fingerprint sensor. The Vivo X20 Plus UD that was based on Android 7.1 Nougat also came with a matte back panel that just had the dual rear camera setup along with an LED flash.

Release year- 2018

Huawei P20 Pro

Huawei unveiled the P20 Pro in March 2018 as the world’s first smartphone with a triple rear camera setup. The Huawei P20 Pro had a camera setup that included an 8-megapixel sensor with 3x optical zoom thanks to a Leica telephoto lens and a 40-megapixel RGB sensor. The third sensor was placed next to the dual camera setup that had 20-megapixel resolution. It was a monochrome sensor — meant to enhance sharpness. Further, the P20 Pro included 4D Predictive Focus and six-axis image stabilisation. The smartphone was launched with Android 8.1 Oreo.

Release year- 2018

Vivo Nex

Vivo Nex was unveiled in June 2018 as the world’s first smartphone with a pop-up selfie camera. The company used an elevating mechanism that was later adopted by its homegrown competitors such as Huawei and Xiaomi. The Vivo Nex also included Vivo’s Screen SoundCasting technology that replaced the earpiece from the front side and provides a nearly bezel-less display. Further, the smartphone had the in-display fingerprint sensor that was different from the sensor available on the Vivo X20 UD. The smartphone came with Android 8.1 Oreo.

Release year- 2018

Samsung Galaxy A8s

Samsung launched the Galaxy A8s in December 2018 as the world’s first smartphone with a hole-punch display panel. The South Korean company called the panel the Infinity-O Display that reached various newer Galaxy-series models, including the Galaxy S10e and Galaxy Note 10 family. The Samsung Galaxy A8s based on Android 9 Pie also had a triple rear camera setup and an aluminium frame. Nevertheless, the hole-punch display was the USP of the Galaxy A8s that set the stage of many other similar-looking smartphones.

Release year- 2018

Samsung Galaxy Fold

Samsung Galaxy Fold is arguably the world’s first foldable smartphone for the masses. Launched in February this year, the phone comes with a flexible display that measures 7.3 inches and can deliver a tablet-like experience. There is also a secondary display that comes into force once the handset is folded. Although Samsung saw some criticism over the flimsy design of the Galaxy Fold, it made some improvements and fixed the initial design flaws to make the smartphone ready for the global markets. The Galaxy Fold runs Android 9 Pie so far, though it is likely to receive an update to Android 10 sometime next year.

Release year- 2019

The Best Smartphones of 2019 – Gadgets 360’s Highest Scoring Reviews

Best Phones of 2019: The Budget Smartphones We Loved This Year

[appinsta]

Best of IFA 2018: Android Authority’s favorite products from the show

IFA 2018 isn’t officially over for a few more days, but all the biggest announcements are now official. While perhaps not as exciting for the mobile industry as MWC, IFA still saw several new devices from Huawei, Sony, LG, Motorola, and others. There were also plenty of audio related announcements, new Chromebooks, and tons of smart speakers. Just to name a few.

The big question is what we were most impressed by. While there were a lot of great announcements, we had just five awards to officially give, and it wasn’t an easy decision. Here are Android Authority’s best of IFA 2018 awards.

Sony Xperia XZ2

Sony launches a new member to its Xperia line nearly every IFA, and this year is no different. The Sony Xperia XZ3 may not be a revolutionary device but it was easily the most interesting phone announced at IFA – at least that’s going to be commercially available anytime soon.

Read more

Sony Xperia XZ3 hands-on: Keeping up with the times

If you can’t keep up with Sony’s releases, you’re not alone. The Japanese manufacturer is known for the rapid cadence at which it launches new smartphone iterations, and we’ve come to expect a (slightly) revamped …

The Xperia XZ3 packs in a Snapdragon 845 with 4GB RAM and 64 GB storage. But the real star is the 6-inch LCD display, which makes the move to OLED – a first for Sony. The Sony Xperia XZ3 also rocks Android Pie out of the gate, instead of sticking us with Oreo.

Huawei Kirin 980

Huawei’s Hi-Silicon Kirin chips have come a long way in the last few years, but the Huawei Kirin 980 is easily the most impressive yet.

Read more

Kirin 980 SoC announced with double the AI capabilities

At IFA 2018, Richard Yu lifted the lid on Huawei's next-generation smartphone processor — the HiSilicon Kirin 980. It's the first processor announcement based on a 7nm process — TSMC's to be precise (as expected) — …

The Kirin 980 is packed full of “firsts”. The chip is the first processor based on the 7nm processor and the first to utilize Arm’s Cortex-A76 cores, along with four lower power Cortex-A55 cores. This also means the Kirin 980 the first chip announcement that uses the Mali-G76 GPU, which offers up a 46 percent improvement to graphics processing power and a massive 178 percent improvement in power efficiency over the Kirin 970’s Mali-G72 MP12. Lastly, the Kirin 980 is the first chip to utilize a Category 21 LTE modem, allowing for up to 1.4Gbps download and 200Mbps theoretical upload speeds.

The 980 also continues Huawei’s dedication to AI, implementing a dual NPU setup. This can provide even more than a doubling of performance in some use cases, according to Huawei.

Lenovo Yoga Chromebook

At IFA 2018 we saw several OEMs introduce more premium Chromebook experiences, including Dell, Acer, and Lenovo. One stood out above the rest, the Lenovo Yoga Chromebook.

Read more

Lenovo Yoga Chromebook: finally something premium with a bigger screen

Premium Chromebooks seem to be a bit of a trend at IFA 2018. First we saw the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1. Now it’s Lenovo’s turn with the new Yoga Chromebook. Dell and Lenovo’s latest Chromebooks have …

The latest Chromebook from Lenovo packs in solid specs, an optional 4K display, and a premium all-aluminum design. It also happens to be one of the largest Chromebooks ever introduced, thanks to the 15.6-inch display. Despite the large display, it’s still a sleek device and has the iconic 180-degree rotating hinge you’d expect from a Yoga device.

Up until now, large Chromebook fans have had very limited options, and the few that have packed bigger displays have typically been underpowered. It’s nice to see that Lenovo understands not all customers have the same wants and needs. Hopefully, this kickstarts a trend of giving consumers more Chromebook size options in the future.

Qualcomm AptX Adaptive codec

With the headphone jack absent from many of this year’s high profile smartphone releases, audio enthusiasts are becoming increasingly reliant on Bluetooth audio. Its problems are well detailed, with poor quality audio and connection drops often the most cited. Qualcomm’s new aptX Adaptive codec aims to solve these issues, thanks to its dynamic quality scaling feature that adapts based on your radio environment and audio content.

Read more

aptX Adaptive takes Bluetooth audio up another level

A more in-depth article originally appeared on our sister site, SoundGuys.com At IFA in Berlin, Qualcomm unveiled its latest Bluetooth audio codec for smartphones and headphones: aptX Adaptive. This isn't the 24-bit/96kHz codec from Qualcomm that some …

The codec supports CD quality through to 24-bit audio in an even smaller bandwidth size, ensuring connection stability and top notch audio quality. In addition, aptX Adaptive’s greatly reduced latency makes it the only Bluetooth solution suitable for gaming on the go. Ideally, Bluetooth audio should possess the best features of a wired connection and aptX Adaptive comes the closest yet to making that a reality.

Google’s Wear OS

At MWC we gave Android One an award, now it’s Wear OS’ turn. This might seem a bit of an odd move. I mean, it’s a UI change for a smartwatch, how great can it be? Try it first, then we’ll talk. When Android Wear first hit the scene, it was far from the most polished experience. With the rebranded Wear OS 2, Google took a positive step in the right direction. Now Google’s making more changes, for the better.

First, Wear OS is no longer tethered to yearly releases, with monthly gradual updates part of the new plan. Second, Wear OS now gets much better notifications that make it faster and easier to see what you need. There’s also improved Google Assistant functionality and a much revamped Google Fit experience.

Read more

Hands-on with the huge Wear OS redesign (Updated with video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC1N-FnlLYw Android Wear became Wear OS earlier this year, but not much has changed with the wearable operating system since the rebrand. But over the next few months, Google will roll out a Wear OS redesign …

None of these features might sound ground-breaking on their own, but it now feels like Wear OS is forging its own path forward instead of merely playing catch up to competitors like the Apple Watch. This shift in direction is very noticeable when you try out the new UI and we’re excited to see how the platform evolves going forward.

That’s it for Android Authority’s best of IFA 2018 awards! What was your favorite product from the show? Do you think anything else deserved an award? Be sure to tell us your thoughts in the comments.

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[techprolonged]

Right now when there is a lot of smartphone brands, trying their best to settle in the market, there comes another. Realme has entered in the Pakistani market and it has officially announced its entry with the initial two smartphones – Realme 2 Pro and Realme C1.

Even though the company will sell Realme 2 Pro as a “flagship” for young people in the country, it remains a mid-range smartphone which is retailed at PKR 46,999. The phone will be available exclusively from Daraz and you can buy this phone in first hours for PKR 43,999 – check pricing and availability for more detail.

If you have gone through the unboxing session of Realme 2 Pro, then you would know that this price is higher than the Indian market. But that’s because the company has a manufacturing plant in India, hence they don’t charge import duties on these smartphones. Here in Pakistan we know that other brands have also increased the prices of their existing and newly released devices. Some have also delayed the release of their high-end phones only for one reason which is the rupee value in addition to added taxes and import duties.

We’ll see how does this phone stand by its price tag in a detailed review here. The Realme 2 Pro which is available in three colors – Blue Ocean, Black Sea, Ice Lake, reached us in a black uniform.

Let’s get started a quick look at the specifications and features of the Realme 2 Pro.

Quick Features and Specifications

Realme 2 Pro SoC Chip: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE CPU: 8 Kryo 260 cores, 4x 1.96GHz + 4x 1.84GHz GPU: Adreno 512 GPU Memory 4GB RAM + 64GB Storage 6GB RAM + 64GB Storage 8GB RAM + 128GB Storage (Available in Pakistan) microSD card dedicated slot (up to 256GB) OS / Software Android 8.1 Oreo / ColorOS 5.2 Display 6.3-inch IPS LCD (In-Cell) 2340×1080 Full HD+ resolution, 19.5:9, Pixel density: 409 ppi Screen-to-body ratio: ~91% Gorilla Glass 3 Rear Camera 16MP, 1/2.8″ PDAF, 1.12µm pixel size, f/1.7 lens aperture 2MP depth sensor LED flash Front Camera 16MP, f/2.0 Battery 3500 mAh – 5V/2A (No Fast Charging) Size/Weight 156.7 x 74.0 x 8.5 mm /174 grams Sensors Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Ambient light, M-Sensor, Compass Fingerprint sensor Connectivity WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Dual-band 2.5GHz/5GHz WiFi Tethering, WiFi Direct, Personal Hotspot Bluetooth: 5.0, GPS/AGPS, USB 2.0 micro USB Color Options Blue Ocean, Black Sea, Ice Lake

A separate unboxing session with first impressions of Realme 2 Pro was already, you might want to check that but here’s the list of things which you get with the retail package.

Realme 2 Pro Box Contents

The device – Realme 2 Pro

Travel charger – 5V+2A

USB cable for Connectivity/Charging

SIM eject tool

User guide

Add-on TPU back cover

Add-on TPU protective film (pre-applied)

Build and Design

Realme 2 Pro has plastic back panel but beautifully crafted like glass with slightly curved edges. The mid-frame is also plastic and joins right between the screen frame and the back panel. Our first impressions with the Realme 2 Pro were good regarding the design and it maintains in our full review.

We liked the Realme 2 Pro with its glass-like back panel, though it’s is plastic, it proved to be less prone to scratches during our use. Sure we used it like a primary phone just like many of you would do with care. Though we didn’t use it with back cover for testing purposes, we still would recommend using a safety case with it.

After all it is plastic and there are always more chances to get scratches than a glass. However plastic has its own benefits, it doesn’t break like a glass or won’t dent like a metal, because plastic is always a good shock absorber.

Realme said they created the back panel with 15-layer laminated technology that, being less scuffy, is more appealing to look. It shines with the moves. The 174 grams weight doesn’t really feel much in hands. The grip is quite comfortable as the back panel is not slippery as normally a glass like that would be.

The back panels is clean from any kind of product labeling but only a branding “realme” is down there. That’s not bad, you may like things plain and simple. There is dual-camera module on the top-left corner alongside an LED flash. Else you get there is the fingerprint sensor.

Components and Ports

Realme 2 Pro follows the recent trend of hosting everything at the bottom side. Micro USB port along with the speaker grill, 3.5mm audio jack is also down there as well as the mouthpiece (primary mic).

The top side of the phone only hosts a secondary mic for noise cancellation and stereo recording.

The power button stays on the right side for easy reach to your thumb while the the volume buttons are moved to the left side of the phone.

The SIM slot is also present on the left side which serves for two SIM cards and a separate microSD card.

Front and Display

We have seen a variety of sizes of the cutouts on top of the displays from various manufacturers. Only Samsung remained out of this bandwagon and personally I liked them stayed out of it. Until recently they came up with in-display punch hole, which is yet to experience. The more I saw those smaller and wider notches, the more I hated them. I liked the way how Huawei used the software to offer users if they want to hide this thing.

If there is any notch that I must have to like, is this dewdrop – referred as water-drop by OPPO and Halo by Vivo. The Realme 2 Pro has as front with “dewdrop design”. This smaller notch hosts single camera unit with an earpiece between the glass and the frame edges.

The bezels are one of the minimals we have seen. Even Huawei’s has given thinner bezels around its phones recently. Like any other Android smartphone, the bottom chin still makes its room in Realme 2 Pro.

The full front profile features a 6.3-inch display with aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The full HD+ display resolution 2340 x 1080 pixels serves with the pixel density of around 409 ppi. Realme says it has 91% screen-to-body ratio.

Realme 2 Pro packs with an IPS LCD panel with in-cell technology. It’s quite brighter than many other IPS displays. It’s sharp and crisp with its resolution and outdoor visibility is also impressive.

As I told that I liked the way how Huawei offered to hide the notch with a software based black top bar. Realme also also offers similar thing but as flexible as it could have been. The similar option is only available to limited apps that you can go through settings and set your preference.

Settings > Display & Brightness > App Display in Full-Screen > Notch Area Display Control

Realme refers this as “switching off the notch area display”. That is, when some app’s content is blocked by the notch, you can turn off the whole Notch Area Display for that certain app. Still this feature won’t work in many apps but only a few, however you can try that with any app in the list.

Realme 2 Pro – ColorOS 5.2 – Notch Area Display Control

Now that we have talked about software user interface, let’s start with it thoroughly and see how much did we like it and how much not.

Software and User Interface

Realme 2 Pro runs Android 8.1 Oreo operating system out-of-the-box. Having its family relation with OPPO, this phone or any other Realme phone comes with OPPO’s ColorOS. Realme 2 Pro takes the layer ColorOS version 5.2. You will find it hard to tell if you are using a Realme smartphone or an OPPO instead.

Talking about the user interface, then the ColorOS is pretty well rooted into the system. You won’t feel anything like stock Android user experience. In fact, Samsung’s Experience does have some elements from the stock.

The starter is just same as you are familiar – the phone starts with a lock screen, unlock to go to home screens, the folders, and multitask view and so on. There is no app drawer as you would know if you had experienced the OPPO smartphones. I have no issues with having or not having an app drawer.

Realme 2 Pro, ColorOS 5.2 – Lock screen, home screen, folder view, recent apps view

While the splitscreen can be initiated with a long-tap on recent apps button on navigation keys, it can also be triggered from within the recent apps view by dragging down an app snapshot.

Realme 2 Pro, ColorOS 5.2 – Recent apps view, split screen, notification panel, shortcuts & toggles

Then again the top bar brings the more familiar notification layer with a set of shortcuts and quick toggles that you can rearrange. The brightness slider is also present and the layer keeps the two step expansion.

ColorOS didn’t even use Google Now (or Google Assistant) on the far left home screen. Instead it has its own Smart Assistant. The Smart Assistant would let you stack things up like, some one-tap quick functions, current location weather, display steps, quick photos, events and favorite contacts.

Realme 2 Pro, ColorOS 5.2 – Smart Assistant on Home screen (far left).

The default navigation obviously comes with the standard Android keys – recent apps, home, and back keys. The system also offers you to switch to gesture based navigation, dubbed as “Swipe-up Gesture Navigation”. This includes the same navigation from iPhone X and we have seen it in Huawei’s EMUI too. Swipe-up on the left or right bars to go back, swipe-up on the middle bar to go to homescreen, or swipe-up and hold on the middle bar to view the recent apps.

To even match and exactly go like the iPhone X way, you can choose to “Hide Gesture Guide Bar”. It includes three more ways of gestures – simple gesture, back on the right, and back on the left.

There is also a Smart Sidebar which, if turned on, remains on the edge of the screen (either side left or right). You swipe-in from that sidebar on the edge to reveal a floating window containing a quick apps and tools to launch.

As told the ColorOS comes with everything custom, it includes its own Photos and Videos apps and a File Manager too. I liked the built-in ftp based remote file manager that you can access via web browser or the file explorer on your computer.

The Phone Manager is also a good thing to have to keep the system optimized from time to time. It scans the file system and memory and offers you with a set of options to optimize by cleaning it from junk, cache and and uninstall residuals.

App locker is also available right into the system.

For better and uninterrupted gaming experience, you have a Game Space. It allows you to choose which games you want to play at what performance level and which to play uninterrupted from notifications.

Overall the software is good to play with, but it would be better if it had its own feel with “Realme” brand. You can’t just tell while looking through the user interface if you are not using an OPPO smartphone. If you are an OPPO user then it’s just like your home.

Realme 2 Pro does have a fingerprint sensor on its back which is really fast and provide a good experience with accurate recognition. In addition the phone also support face unlock which is equally and impressively fast.

System Performance

Realme 2 Pro is one of the lot having equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 system-on-chip. The device rightly justified with the hardware and the software as the experience was fluent throughout the usage. The chip features an octa-core Kryo 260 processor with four high performance cores clocked at 1.95GHz and the other four are clocked at 1.84GHz.

The phone features the Adreno 512 GPU along with the whopping 8GB of RAM. Higher the display resolution, higher GPU would struggle. Thanks to these high performance processing unit that performed nicely at 1080p display.

Gaming was just up to the mark with other similar hardware, including the Kirin 710 of Huawei’s Nova 3i or Y9 2019, Helio P60 of Vivo V11 or  OPPO F7, or the exact Snapdragon 660 of Vivo V11 Pro. If you are a numbers nerd, then why not take a look at the benchmark scores below.

Realme 2 Pro just around the similar performing devices on AnTuTu. Coming just below Y9 and V11, the Realme 2 Pro did what it was supposed to.

Same was the case with single core test on Geekbench. Realme 2 Pro is standing side by its peers from the same class.

Again the Realme 2 Pro did pretty well to catch with others in multi-core performance test in Geekbench.

Interestingly, Realme 2 Pro showed its real face in the graphics phase sitting tightly with the Kirin 710 in GFX Manhattan 3.1 test.

Strange but good for Realme 2 Pro that the Slingshot Extreme brought the Realme 2 Pro on top of them all. Don’t bother about the order it’s a mistake at sorting, you just red the numbers.

If you are wondering, then Realme 2 Pro is the top tier smartphone from the brand. The company chose the right processor for this phone. The Aredno 512 is really a tough guy among other GPUs as we can see from above numbers.

Realme 2 Pro is good for all kind operations as well as gaming. ColorOs seems to be optimised well with the hardware and gives buttery performance constantly. We hardly noticed any lagging or jerking, not that we remember of.

Performance wise, it’s a good performer in its class and you should be fine with it. Just add your favourite game to the Game Space and you got a boost on top of already nice performance, by giving up some power juice. Talking about power? so now is the right time for battery performance.

Battery Performance

Not up to the mark with battery power houses, but still the Realme 2 Pro has a impressive battery timing. The phone packs with only a 3500 mAh battery – the entry-level Realme C1 sports a 4230 mAh battery.

A little bad thing is that phone doesn’t support fast charging but the bundled 10W charger pulls up the battery power from 0 to 30% in 30 minutes. Well it goes just like that with 1% charge per 1 minute up to 50% in 50 minutes. A full charge would take up to 2 hours.

Camera

Realme 2 Pro features a dual camera setup on its back with a 16-megapixel main unit paired with a secondary 2-megapixel depth sensor. The second camera is mainly for portrait mode that simulates blurred background, aka bokeh effect in close up shots.

The 16MP main camera is the main shooter for almost every occasion. Inside, there is Sony’s IMX398 CMOS sensor that employs 1.12µm sized pixels. The sensor features phase-detect autofocus. Outside, there is a bright and large f/1.7 aperture lens and an LED flash.

Camera UI

The camera user interface in ColorOS is as simple as there is no settings section in it. However, for a few camera options, you have to go to phone’s settings app Settings > System Apps > Camera and change a few things including volume button function, show/hide grid, enable/disable shutter sound or add watermark. But two things could be important to you – video encoding, that you can choose from “efficient” or “best compatibility”, and the Flip selfie.

The user interface offers a set of modes including photo and video modes. There is also some fancy features like time-lapse, panorama and the portrait mode for close shots with blurred background.

There is also an expert mode which allows you to override camera settings to take shots as you like. Unlike many, the expert mode doesn’t provide a preset white balance options but a slider to move through kelvin values from 2000K to 8000K which is indeed a good thing. EV ranges from -2 to +2. ISO spans from 22 to 3200. Shutter speed can be set as slower as 16 seconds and there is also an option to do manual focus on a slider.

Image Quality

Coming over to the image quality, Realme 2 Pro impressed us with its capability to attain nice image detail. Colors were true to real life as well as contras was also good. Noise handling was little above average. The camera struggled only a little to manage dynamic rang however the HDR mode is also present in the UI to help resolve this issue in many cases.

Realme 2 Pro performed nicely outdoors in good light but unfortunately the photos won’t be very appealing to your eyes due to the foggy weather. But those vivid colors are not something to evaluate the camera. There are other things like image detail, noise handling, contrast dynamic range etc. One thing is that the Realme 2 Pro handled the skin tones really well.

You can look at the image detail by clicking on the photo and zoom it in.

Outdoor samples

As told, the images are not that cool for less vibrant colors due to the foggy weather. But the Realme 2 Pro handled them very nicely and didn’t loose the detail whether it’s a tall bricked minaret or the trees and foliage.

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ِIndoor / Low light samples

In low light condition, the phone seems to be delivering some noise but still it handled the colors and detail very well. It’s quite impressive.

[slickr-flickr search=”sets” set=”72157705297034745″]

HDR Mode

While you can’t see the blue sky very well – as I mentioned it was a foggy weather, you can still observe how the Realme 2 Pro handled the overlit background in HDR mode. It did good to pop out the subject very well with detail.

[slickr-flickr search=”sets” set=”72157705297034735″]

Portrait Mode

Portrait mode does a pretty good job with identifying and defocusing the background from the foreground subject. No matter if it’s a a still life object or a human subject, it will lock the focus on it and will provide real time blurred background that turns out to be really pleasing in photographs.

On the other hand the skin tones are really impressive on my niece’s face. Click the photo to open big and then click again to zoom into 100% view. You will see that how the Realme 2 Pro didn’t waste this shot with a crappy colors or shaky image.

[slickr-flickr search=”sets” set=”72157677255228668″]

Front Camera

The Realme 2 Pro also features a 16MP front camera for selfies with a nice f/2.0 aperture lens. Like mostly, the front camera comes with a fixed-focus lens.

With front camera, you can take selfies, record videos and also do time-lapse and panorama. There is also a sticker mode that pastes facial objects on your face. The beauty mode comes with 1 to 6 level scale with an additional “AI” that chooses the best beauty level for your face. While in Photo mode, you can turn on portrait mode.

Front camera has only a limited set of features There is a beauty mode, complete with an automatic “AI” setting, to play around with as well. And a pretty extensive animated sticker collection.

The selfies in bright light came out with impressive detail, nice colors and skin tones while the low-light ones seems less detailed. The last two photos will tell who a beauty mode is different from a real shot.

[slickr-flickr search=”sets” set=”72157677255228678″]

Video Recording

As long as the resolution is concerned, the Realme 2 Pro can record up to 4K/2160p resolution at 30fps. However the electronic image stabilization (EIS) is available for 1080p and 720p recordings. 4K videos do not support any stabilization it’s only usable with less movement.

1080p/30fps Video Footage with EIS

[iframe width=”853″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/3y1LhAeKwyA?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0″ frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen=”yes”]

[Panning] 4K/30fps NO Stabilization

[iframe width=”853″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/JL5DtuH-wc0?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0″ frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen=”yes”]

[Panning] 1080p/30fps EIS

[iframe width=”853″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/V-N1bJEbb5g?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0″ frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen=”yes”]

[Walking Stairs] 1080p/30fps EIS

[iframe width=”853″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/ozwU4-_cTR8?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0″ frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen=”yes”]

[Drive] 1080p/30fps EIS

[iframe width=”853″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/xPfD_05IBac?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0″ frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen=”yes”]

Conclusion and The Verdict

Our overall impression with the Realme 2 Pro was quite positive. Take it for the design, fullview display with thin bezels, the performance, and the camera output.

It’s good that Realme didn’t start with its initial portfolio of devices in Pakistan. Starting with Realme 2 Pro is the right step in the market. You can find the devices with similar performance in the market for around similar price tag. There are cheaper ones too but Realme 2 Pro has something to attract – the 8 Gigs of RAM and a stunning 128GB of internal storage.

We liked the phone even in its plastic build but believe that with this price tag, companies have offered metal and glass finish. We have seen Huawei Nova 3i and Honor 8X in similar price and even similar hardware performance but they have dual-glass and metal build. Also the camera performance was comparable.

One thing they don’t have is 8GB of RAM; and indeed the Realme 2 Pro’s battery is more impressive. In my opinion, Realme could have used 4G of RAM with 128GB storage and sell the phone under around 40k to actually give a hard time to the brands like Huawei and Honor. In fact, Realme could have brought the 4GB or 6GB variant with 64GB storage in Pakistan, like in India, with even less price tag.

But again you will find others too with plastic build in this price. Look at the Samsung’s Galaxy J8, which has a plastic body and way lower performing hardware specs. So the most important factor is your preference, that you would go for a phone with 8GB of RAM – and of course a better battery performance, or you will buy a metal/glass build.

Overall it’s a healthy pack of performance – the phone runs with a sturdy mid-range performer, the Snapdragon 660. On top of that the 8 GB RAM is going to support you in the long run. Camera is also good in most aspects – well almost all situations.

From here, we’ll leave it to you, good luck. Just have a quick look through a stock of Realme 2 Pro photos down below. Like always, you can ask anything about the phone in comments below. We’ll bring the right answer for you. Do follow us on our social channels (Facebook, Twitter) to keep up to date, or signup to our newsletter to have instant email notifications.

Realme 2 Pro Full Review - Everything Covered, Design, Performance, Camera Right now when there is a lot of smartphone brands, trying their best to settle in the market, there comes another.

[gta-5-cheats]

HTC Desire 12+ Review

New Post has been published on http://secondcovers.com/htc-desire-12-review/

HTC Desire 12+ Review

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HTC was one of the first to enter the smartphone race, but this Taiwanese company has not had it easy over the years. Recently, part of the company – including some of its top engineers – was acquired by Google to work on its Pixel smartphones. Even after this transition, we are seeing good devices such as the HTC U11+ (Review). HTC has now launched a mid-range smartphone called the Desire 12+ in India, priced at Rs. 19,790. It follows the ongoing trend of 18:9 displays and has dual rear cameras. Does it have the overall performance to justify its price tag? We find out.

  HTC Desire 12+ design

Take a look at the Desire 12+ and you know it’s an HTC smartphone, since it carries the family look. The design is simple and in line with what you would expect from most smartphones nowadays. HTC says that it has an acrylic glass back surface, but it feels quite plasticky to the touch. This is a little surprising since many phones in this price range use more premium materials such as glass and metal. The back does pick up smudges easily and you will need to wipe it often to keep it clean. During our review period, we also saw it picking up fine scratches. 

The Desire 12+ sports a 6-inch display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, making the phone tall and narrow. It has a metallic earpiece, selfie camera, and notification LED above the display. The phone isn’t too thick and is comfortable to hold in the hand. It weighs 157g and is 8.4mm in thickness. The buttons are positioned on the right, but higher than where we would like them. HTC has two colour options for the Desire 12+ in India: Warm Silver and Cool Black. We got the Cool Black version for review, and it looks more blue than black depending on the light.

  This phone has a dual camera setup at the back, placed horizontally, along with a single-LED flash and a fingerprint sensor. The Desire 12+ has a Micro-USB port at the bottom along with a 3.5mm headphone socket and a loudspeaker. The left side of the phone has the SIM tray which has dual Nano-SIM slots and a dedicated microSD card slot.

HTC Desire 12+ specifications, software, and features

The HTC Desire 12+ is a bit of a disappointment when you look at the spec sheet. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC clocked at 1.8GHz. This is the same octa-core processor found in the Xiaomi Redmi 5 (Review) which costs half as much as this phone. We would have liked a Snapdragon 600-series processor at this price level. The 6-inch HD+ display on the Desire 12+ is also surprising considering that most phones even at lower prices offer full-HD+. Viewing angles are decent on the phone and it gets bright enough to be viewable under sunlight. HTC gives you the option to tweak the colour temperature of the display.

There is 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, of which you get 23GB for your data. You can expand storage by using the microSD card slot, and this phone can handle cards of up to 2TB. The dual camera setup on the back consists of a 13-megapixel primary sensor with PDAF and an f/2.2 aperture, along with a 2-megapixel depth sensor. There is an 8-megapixel selfie camera with a selfie light as well. Powering the phone is a 2965mAh battery, and you get a standard 5V, 1.5A charger in the box.

  Connectivity options on the HTC Desire 12+ include Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS, and GLONASS. It is a dual-SIM device with support for 4G and VoLTE, but we found that either SIM can use 4G at a time but the other one will be restricted to 2G and 3G only.

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In terms of software, the Desire 12+ runs on HTC’s Sense UI on top of Android 8.0 Oreo. Swipe right from the home screen and you are greeted by BlinkFeed, which displays the latest news based on the sources you choose. You can also add social media sources such as Facebook and Twitter to see your feeds directly in BlinkFeed. The UI isn’t drastically different from stock Android.

A lot of third-party apps are preinstalled on the phone, including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, News Republic, and TouchPal. We couldn’t uninstall all of this bloatware from our review unit. You can customise the look of your phone using the Themes app. HTC’s Sense Companion provides custom reminders and suggestions based on your device usage and location. If it has a new suggestion, it also shows a floating icon for you to tap and interact with it. During our review, it did not offer any meaningful suggestions, but it might learn your usage patters over a longer period.

HTC Desire 12+ performance, cameras, and battery life

The Snapdragon 450 performs decently in the HTC Desire 12+. While navigation was smooth, we did have to deal with longer load times in a few apps. If your usage is limited to calls and using WhatsApp, you might not be bothered, but if you play games, the loading times can get a little annoying. While Clash Royale ran without any issues, we did see some stuttering and choppy frames while playing Hitman Sniper. We also observed slightly heavier battery drain while playing 3D games.

We ran our standard set of benchmarks to see how the HTC Desire 12+ fares against other devices in its price band. In AnTuTu, it managed to clock 70,680 points, similar to what the Moto G6 (Review) and Samsung Galaxy A6+ (Review) scored. Both are also powered by the same processor. We got 759 and 3,704 points in the single-core and multi-core tests in Geekbench 4 respectively. The phone managed 33fps in GFXBench T-Rex, and 809 in 3DMark Slingshot.

The camera app on the HTC Desire 12+ is basic and fairly easy to use. It has quick toggles for mode selection, beautification, filters, and Bokeh mode. We did not like the two-step process to change flash settings, and would have preferred a quick toggle instead. The Desire 12+ is quick to focus and adjust exposure based on available lighting. It has a Ubifocus mode which takes five shots at one time, giving you the option to refocus afterwards. You also get HDR, Portrait, Sports, Landscape, and other modes to choose from.

Photos taken with the Desire 12+ were average at best. You will need to enable HDR manually since it lacks auto detection. In daylight, we found that the camera was quick to focus and got the exposure right most of the time, but we noticed a loss in detail zooming in to the image. The Bokeh mode is easy to enable and has good edge detection. We encountered a bug which caused the phone to not save photos shot in this mode, but a quick restart fixed it for us. Macros are decent, but it isn’t easy to get the phone to lock focus when you want it to. We also tried shooting in Flower mode and found that autofocus refused to work.

Tap to see full-sized HTC Desire 12+ camera samples

  Low-light camera performance isn’t great either. Again, shots look decent on the phone’s screen, but zooming in reveals a loss in details. Photos taken with a light source at a distance appeared quite grainy. The Desire 12+ has a selfie flash which is helpful in low light. Selfies are good enough to be shared on messaging apps, but they aren’t as good as ones taken by the likes of Xiaomi Redmi Y2 (Review).

Video recording maxes out at 1080p for both the front and the rear cameras. There is continuous autofocus but it isn’t as quick as some of other phones we’ve tested recently. EIS is supported but we did not see any significant difference in clips recorded with it enabled.

In our HD video loop test, the phone went on for 9 hours and 43 minutes, which is below our expectations. With light usage, like WhatsApp and a Gmail account set up on the phone while we used it through the day, we found that it could last till the next morning. The supplied charger is rated at 7.5W and needs close to two hours to charge the device to 100 percent.

Verdict HTC’s Desire 12+ is the latest smartphone offering from the company in the mid-range segment, but we feel that its asking price is too high for what it offers. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC is available in significantly cheaper phones such as the Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Oppo A71 (2018). The HD+ display is disappointing. If you are in the market for a smartphone with a budget of around Rs 20,000, you might want to choose between the Redmi Note 5 Pro (Review), the Moto X4 (Review), and the Oppo F7 (Review) instead.

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[infotainmentplus-blog]

OnePlus 6 launch: How to watch live stream and what to expect @evleaks In just a few hours, the OnePlus 6 will finally be official. After months of leaks, hints, controversy, and even more leaks, the latest flagship phone from the Chinese OEM that’s determined to “Never Settle” will break cover at an event in London on May 16. While many of the device’s features and specs have already been confirmed by OnePlus’ hierarchy, the launch will finally give us a proper look at the highly-anticipated OnePlus 5T successor and bring us key details regarding price and availability. Before we get into where you can watch the OnePlus 6 launch event live, here’s a quick rundown of what to expect from the OnePlus 6. What to expect from the OnePlus 6 We’ve been sifting through all of the wild speculation surrounding the OnePlus 6 for months here at Android Authority. For an in-depth rundown of the most reputable reports in our rumor round-up. What’s certain at this point is that the OnePlus 6 will be yet another powerhouse device packing a top-end Snapdragon 845 SoC, a whole load of RAM, and an upgraded rear dual-camera. Editor's Pick OnePlus 6 render video reveals what the device probably looks like CompareRaja CompareRaja and leaker @OnLeaks have released a CAD render video revealing what all sides of the OnePlus 6 may look like. We saw the first real-life photo of the upcoming handset only earlier … Instead, the biggest changes this time around lie in the design department. OnePlus has already confirmed its latest phone will feature a glass design, making it the first OnePlus device to feature a glass back since the OnePlus X. The biggest talking point, however, is the company’s decision to adopt the notch. The cutout instantly proved to be a highly divisive topic among the OnePlus faithful, but with native notch support in Android P on the way, it seems like OnePlus is fully on board with the latest design trend. The final big question mark is the phone’s price. OnePlus has been slowly raising the price of its flagships with every release, and the OnePlus 6 could be the first to launch above the $500 mark. How to watch the OnePlus 6 global launch The OnePlus 6 global launch will be streamed live via the link below. We’ve also embedded the live stream video for your viewing pleasure. WATCH THE ONEPLUS 6 GLOBAL LAUNCH EVENT The OnePlus 6 will be launched in London on May 16 at 5PM UK time. Here’s when to tune in, depending on your location around the world: San Francisco: 9AM Chicago: 11AM New York: 12PM London: 5PM Berlin: 6PM Moscow: 7PM Mumbai: 9:30PM Beijing: 12AM Sydney: 2AM We will be covering the OnePlus 6 global launch event as it unfolds, so stay tuned for our OnePlus 6 coverage. In the meantime, let us know what you want to see from the new OnePlus 6! , via Android Authority http://bit.ly/2wQUbPk

[techprolonged]

the  crowded smartphone market today has a lot of brands, mostly are the Chinese, out there. But Huawei is one of the top global brands and has good stand in multiple markets with most of the price ranges – entry level, budget, lower/upper mid-range, high-end and premium. With that lot in the market customers always struggle to decide which one they really should buy. Huawei has just tried to attract those customers with its Nova 3i smartphone.

The company’s Huawei P20 Pro was the most recent premium smartphone from the company where the next Mate 20 is ready to be unveiled next month. Among the premium smartphone fight, Huawei recently launched its Nova 3 smartphone series. Nova 3i and the Nova 3 cover mid-range and upper midrange (or say lower high-end) markets. Nova 3i costs PKR 39,999/- (or USD 320) in Pakistan and the Nova 3 costs PKR 59,999/- (or USD 480).

Considering the fact that most consumers would be spending on their low-budgets, reviewing the cheaper model Nova 3i would be best at this time. So if you are reading this just before your next purchase, just wait a bit more and you’ll know that if you want or do not want to add Nova 3i into your next purchase list in this price range. So just forget about Nova 3 for now as this review will be all about Huawei Nova 3i.

Huawei Nova 3i – Black review unit – KA/TechProlonged

If you have never bought or even heard of Huawei Nova series, it’s not uncommon. While the series did exist before, but the company never promoted it like the way they did this year. In fact, Huawei Pakistan thrown a full fledged launch event to introduce the duo of the smartphones in the country.

The Nova series has been targeting the mid-range for a few year, so do the Nova 3i. However the new Nova 3i is in no way similar to what Huawei has brought before in the series. Bringing better camera and better chipsets with this series is an impressive step by the company, but the design and esthetics is the key element of Nova 3i that makes it stand out in its class.

Huawei launched the Nova 3i in three colors – the Black, Pearl White, and Iris Purple. You can look at the official render of the smartphone in those three colors.

Huawei Nova 3i – Official Render Colors – /Huawei

Before we go into detail, you should have a quick look through the key features of Huawei Nova 3i.

Quick Features and Specifications

Huawei Nova 3i SoC Chip: Kirin 710 CPU: Octa-core (4x Cortex-A73 + 4x Cortex-A53) GPU: Mali-G51 MP4 Memory RAM 4GB Storage: 128GB OS / Software Android 8.1 / EMUI 8.2 Display 6.3-inch 2340 x 1080 Full HD, 19.5:9, ~409 ppi Rear Camera Dual 16MP + 2MP Front Camera Dual 24MP + 2MP Battery 3340mAh Size/Weight 158 x 75.2 x 7.5 mm /169 grams Sensors Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Ambient light, Compass Fingerprint Connectivity Wi-Fi: 2.5GHz (802.11 b/g/n)

When launched in July, the Nova 3i was the first phone that featured company’s latest mid-range chip, Kirin 710. The processor has impressed many being shipped in a midrange smartphone and can be compared with Snapdragon 660 for its day to day performance. Do not count the graphics performance for comparison and wait for it as it comes below.

PROS CONS

Stunning Design with Dual Glass

Impressive display

Powerful battery timing

Nice camera

Adequate gaming

No USB Type C

No Fast Charging

No Video Stabilizer

Let’s move on and see what you will get if you tend to buy the Huawei Nova 3i. A separate unboxing session of Nova 3i was already done last week, you can check that if you want but here’s the list of things which will come in the retail package.

Nova 3i Box Contents

The device – Huawei Nova 3i

Connectivity/Charging cable

Travel charger – 5V+2A

SIM eject tool

User guide

Add-on silicon back cover

Add-on screen protector

Build and Design

As we have noted in our earlier recent experiences with Huawei flagship devices, Huawei has literally chosen the dual-glass design for its devices. In fact, it didn’t stick to company’s premium devices, as the Nova 3i now also comes packed in the dual back/front glass.

There’s been no question over Huawei’s build quality and the company has maintained it for years. I can say the same for the Nova 3i even when it’s all glass, it’s smooth and as premium as on a flagship. That back-glass design on a mid-range smartphone does take the aesthetics on par in this price range. Well

Nova 3i has 2.5D curved glass fully covering the whole front and back while the body is packed with the metal frame inside. Hence it’s a tripped down variant of the Nova 3, it’s overall the same design. You can’t quickly recognise both by their design. However the Nova 3 has slightly more curved back glass, is a bit slimmer, and weighs 3 grams less. So you’ll have a little more bulky phone in your hands as Nova 3i that weighs 169 grams.

Looks like, Huawei is also moving the branding and labels to the side of the phone as they did on Huawei P20 Pro and then P20 lite. There is no logo design with leaves but only the written “HUAWEI” logo in bold on the left side of the back. Besides there are same label, make and mode.

The same side hosts the dual-camera module on the top corner and prints the camera labels below in the same direction as logo. It reads “DUAL LENS” – “1:2.2/26 ASPH” means at least one (or both) camera of the two has a fixed f/2.2 lens aperture and focal length of 26mm (equivalent to 35mm focal length). Below the camera module you can see an LED flash.

That’s also something you can easily tell the difference visually from the Nova 3 for a different dual-camera setup and it reads different camera labels with “AI CAMERA” instead.

Right there on the back there is a fingerprint scanner – it’s as fast as it always been on a Huawei smartphone.

Other Components

Other common components include the micro USB port on the bottom of of the phone along with the speaker grill. The mouthpiece (or the primary mic) is there as well as 3.5mm audio jack is also placed on the bottom.

The top side of the phone only hosts a secondary mic for noise cancellation and stereo recording.

On the right side of the phone, there are the power button and the volume rocker. The hybrid SIM slot is available on the left side of the phone. Nova 3i also has dual-SIM support but when used with a microSD card, only one SIM can be used.

Now there you can spot the front display as well. The top portion of the display has a notched cut-out that hosts another couple of front-camera, the sensors and the earpiece. This notch is a bit wider than we have seen on Huawei P20 series but not as much wider as it is on the iPhone X.

Related: iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR

Front and Display

There’s a catch, OPPO and Vivo has gone even further down reducing the size of the notch in their recent smartphones. OPPO F9 got a new “V” shaped notched housing only a front camera while the earpiece comes between the front-glass and the frame. Likewise the the Vivo V11 and V11 Pro come with a new “U” shaped cut-out that we saw the very first time last year in Essential Phone. However, Huawei chose a wider space probably to host two cameras for selfies.

The bezels around the phone are not as thin as they were on P20 Pro either with a little prominent chin below the screen. The full front profile carries a 6.3-inch display with aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The display resolution 2340 x 1080 pixels serves with the pixel density of around 409 ppi and 82.1% screen-to-body ratio.

Thanks to the slimmer bezels and the almost half the bezel on top, the same sized phone can bring you a larger screen. Hence, the handling remains comfortable without extra bulk on the phone and without oversized for one-handed operations.

The large display is sure impressive right away when you first turn on the phone. Thanks again to Huawei that they actually felt a need to ship the phones with oleophobic coating out-of-the-box. It indeed makes the display clear from fingerprint smudges and it makes the touch experience smooth.

The display is sharp and crisp with its resolution, however the bad thing is the notch is always noticeable even when the screen is off. Huawei used TFT IPS LCD on Nova 3i which might be the problem as I have seen Vivo V9 which used IPS in-cell display and had impressively deep blacks. Huawei could have used AMOLED in its expensive model however it also featured the same IPS panel.

However this factor only noticeable when the phone is off or the screen is turned off. If the screen is on or it’s showing anything bright, you won’t feel the notch if hidden by software settings. Yes, just like P20 series, you can go to settings and hide the notch by darkening the shoulders around it.

There are scenarios when the phone software will cover the top area when any incompatible app is running on the front. That’s due to the non-standard aspect ratio which is turning out to be the most recent trend.

The IPS display on Nova 3i is also not bad at all – it’s really bright indoors and nicely visible outdoors. While overall bright user interface helps in outdoors but some dark interfaces doesn’t impress due to lower contrast ratio.

Software and UI

Huawei Nova 3i runs Android 8.1 Oreo operating system with the proprietary EMUI 8.2 software layer on top. Huawei’s software shipment approach is like most vendors which depends on the device model.

Huawei jumped from the version 5 to 8 for its EMUI skin with the launch of Mate 10 last year. You might already know about that as has been P20 series already shipped with the EMUI 8.1 version. In fact Nova 3i comes with an upgrade 8.2 and has some extra features specially in its native camera app.

Even though the Nova 3i runs a newer version, it lacks on some features which we have seen in the flagship P20 Pro. The feature set is more like the P20 lite as that’s obvious difference between a premium and a mid-range device.

I literally missed the dark interface in Nova 3i, it used to turn the whole white theme into black in Huawei P20 Pro. Thought it would be nice to have on an IPS display.

Software based Notch Handler

It’s good that this software based top bezel aligns with the notch’s bottom edge and more importantly it matches the physical chin bezel below the screen. Even better is that the software bezel on top keeps all the information that would show up alongside the notch as statuses and other notification icons.

Lock, Unlock and Home Screen

First of all, the lock screen comes first after you have setup your phone, with the same Magazine style by default as always. You can change the categories to load wallpapers from, in this specific style. Just in case if you didn’t know, this style loads a new wallpaper every time you press power button to wake up the phone. Some quick options are also present on the lock screen.

The home screen can be configured as always to have different layout of icons. Folders and context menu is there that you can initiate by tap and holding an icon – you can still drag the icon that way by ignoring the menu and continue with dragging.

App Drawer

Default home screen style is just old without the app drawer but you can turn it on by going through Settings > Display > Home screen style > Drawer. Huawei must move this option to the home screen customize settings, it will be more quick and easy that way.

Variety of Navigation Styles

In addition to common three-key navigation that you have seen in above screenshots – recent apps, home, and back keys, Nova 3i has two more navigation options. Single-key navigation, and navigation dock.

Navigation Dock. When enabled, a dock is appeared floating on the screen which you can simply tap, tap & hold, hold & stretch and drag to respectively navigate to back, home, recent tasks view or move the dock itself.

Security & Privacy

Fingerprint and Face Unlock are the two basic security features in Nova 3i. There is indeed no objection over fingerprint scanner as it’s as fast as always Huawei has made it. Face Unlock, on the other hand, was also impressively fast beyond my expectations.

PrivateSpace

In addition to various security and privacy features like App Lock, user profiles, Huawei has added a new PrivateSpace which I guess is more useful than user profiles. Unlike user profiles you don’t need to choose the user first to switch to. Instead, you can just turn it on with your main profile and set a different PIN code to unlock into this space right from your own main profile’s lock screen. In fact you can set a different finger to go into this space without any other input on the lock screen. It’s a perfect option to apply on a case when you need to give out your phone temporarily to anyone for a while, you can put your finger (that you have set for PrivateSpace) on the scanner and it will be unlocked into that space. You can even share that PIN code with them as it’s totally a separate space and won’t show anything from your main profile.

Phone Manager

The phone manager is still there and it’s an important part of Huawei smartphones, I appreciate that as most of the things it would handle from management of memory to the privacy features. Phone manager app include everything from permissions, mobile data control, memory cleaner and management, Avast virus scanner is built-in, app locker and then a shortcut to battery options.

Game Suite

Huawei Nova 3i comes with the Game Suite, it allows users to add certain games in a list that will provide the users with uninterrupted gaming experience. In addition the system will optimize the settings for better performance in selected games. This may also consume more power and you may experience heat up.

Smart Screen Resolution

Nova 3i has a native resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels which is also default resolution. The system allows you to set the resolution down to 1560 x 720 pixels which will consume low power. In addition, there is  a Smart resolution option; when turned on, the system will automatically adjust the screen resolution when needed. Specially when the battery is low.

Other Features

There some more features such as HiTouch. A certain gesture of touch – holding two fingers, will identify a product on screen and will search online using Amazon Assistant.

There display related settings which are pretty much useful for many. “Eye comfort” allows you to set the screen light from cold to warmer tint. I usually use it at about 25% on the provided scale.

“Color mode and temperature” can separately be adjusted if you are not using the Eye comfort feature. This will allow you to set on-screen colors to be vivid or normal. Additionally you can the color temperature on the color palette.

System Performance

As noted above, the Nova 3i is the first smartphone to feature Kirin 710 – company’s latest mid-range system-on-chip. Replacing Kirin 659, the new 710 is supposed to power upcoming mid-range smartphones from Huawei. With respect to specifications, the Kirin 710 is supposed to outperform the predecessor about doubles the time, even in graphics. Kirin 710 also competes the Snapdragon 660 at some extent but stays a bit behind the Adreno GPU.

That’s all according to the things on paper. However the Nova 3i, with that processor, impressed with its performance in almost everything we threw at it. Day to day performance was quite impressive without any kind of lag. Everything was smooth and responsive without any objection.

I know most of you would be reading this part only to know about gaming. Considering a mid-range smartphone, it did really good. What else would you test it for when PUBG Mobile will be enough to read the system optimization and provide you with the set of graphics configuration. The game automatically configured on the second level of graphics “balanced” and frame rate at “medium”. This default configuration gave me the wonderfully lagless experience. The game also allowed me to go 1-level up in configuration but the experience was doomed.. That For the price, it does the job.

Other games like Asphalt 9, Asphalt Xtreme, Need for Speed Nitro, Mortal Kombat X, Modern Combat 5 should all be good to play on Nova 3i. You can always use the Nova 3i’s Game Suite to boost your gaming experience.

The Nova 3i also supposed to be running with GPU Turbo update, so this should really enhanced your experience as well.

This part also can not be completed without benchmark scores, so check below how does the Nova 3i stand among the competition.

  Battery Performance

Nova 3i has impressed me after months with its superb battery timing. It seems that new Kirin 710’s 10nm manufacturing process is doing its job.

Nova 3i packs a 3340mAh battery which should be enough for many with day to day tasks like phone calls, text, social interaction, streaming video and music, etc. Actually that will easily give over a day backup.

Excessive camera usage may take some battery juice but it’s better than most we have tested recently. GPS navigation is also a key battery drainer, but Nova 3i seems to have it managed well. Last but not least, gaming is something that will take most of the battery juice but I am talking about some graphically vigour titles.

Camera – Photos and Videos

Huawei Nova 3i features four cameras – tow on the front and two on the back. Just like the company first did with Huawei Mate 10 lite last year. The dual rear cameras features a 16MP primary sensor with a 2MP secondary sensor for depth mapping. It helps producing bokeh effect in portrait mode or aperture mode.

The camera user interface is completely overhauled as we saw in the P20 Pro, however it indeed lacks on some features. But Nova 3i comes with a new set of features in camera app – AR Lens. It offers you to use QMoji, Facial effects, Backgrounds and 3D objects.

The UI is exactly similar to P20 Pro’s. Nova 3i also offers you to shoot in Pro-mode, however a specific “Night” mode offers you to straight out of the box option to take shots in darkest environment. The mode can work impressively when hand-held if you try to keep yourself steady. It takes a 5 sec exposure at lowest possible ISO sensitivity according to the scene. You can choose your own exposure time and ISO as well in this mode.

Huawei Nova 3i features company’s AI algorithm that is “driven by learning over 100 million images.” As per the claims, it can “recognize 22 categories of 500+ scenes and provides optimized settings instantly.” Unlike the P20 Pro that gave you the option in settings to turn on the “Master AI” option to take this affect, Nova 3i brings the option directly on top of the viewfinder. You can see the first screenshot above.

Camera Performance

The most important part is always the camera performance and image quality. The Nova 3i camera managed to work nicely to produce true and vibrant colors. The camera brings the right amount of sharpness in bright light and the dynamic range is also good. The camera did well gaining right detail.

Huawei seems to have improved much in software side for camera and it has shown really good results in Nova 3i. Noise is handled impressively in dark areas, in addition to enhancing sharpness and colors.

Unfortunately, the Nova 3i disappointed in low light conditions where the images are less sharp with less fine detail. However, the camera managed to reproduce the accurate colors.

Nova 3i Normal Mode Auto

Nova 3i Normal Mode Auto

Nova 3i Normal Mode Auto

Nova 3i Normal Mode Auto

Nova 3i Normal Mode Auto

Normal vs AI Mode

Normal Shot

AI Enabled

Normal Shot

AI Enabled

Normal Shot

AI Enabled

Normal Shot

AI Enabled

Normal Shot

AI Enabled

Normal Shot

AI Enabled

Normal Shot

AI Enabled

Normal Shot

AI Enabled

Portrait Mode

Portrait Mode

Normal Mode

Portrait Mode

Normal Mode

Portrait Mode

Normal Mode

Portrait Mode

Front Camera

The Nova 3i features a dual-camera on the front as well – 24MP primary sensor with f/2.0 lens aperture and a 2MP secondary sensor for depth mapping. Like rear, the front camera also has a support of system’s AI features and the beauty mode is way better than before. However, I don’t like to take selfies in beauty mode, it’s good to use a bit of it on the scale.

Quality and performance wise, the front camera also struggles in low-light conditions. Thanks to the screen flash that could help with an improved selfie quality.

Front Camera Low Light

Front Camera Portrait Mode

Normal

Portrait Mode

  Conclusion

Huawei Nova 3i is a competitive piece of hardware in this price range. Everything it does with anything it has, is rightly done. There are, however, some elements which I believe would be good if there were – such as fast charging, USB Type-C. These two features would make the Nova 3i stand of the crowd. But you’ll have to deal with these missing things.

The price tag of PKR 40,000/- gives you a good range of options such as OPPO F9 or Vivo V11, but eventually it all depends on individual’s preference. Nova 3i is good balanced feature-pack smartphone in this price range, plus you get a really premium feel with dual-glass and metal inside. Nova 3i has a good camera performance while the display is just an IPS.

General performance of Nova 3i is also comparable to the ones in the price range. The ones with Snapdragon 660 may give you a bit boosted performance in gaming due to having higher clock-rate. Overall performance, however, is much balanced  between the competition.

Choosing Nova 3i won’t be bad option and will give a value for your money.

Nova 3i Photo Gallery

Huawei Nova 3i Review – The mid-ranger in a premium outfit the  crowded smartphone market today has a lot of brands, mostly are the Chinese, out there. But Huawei is one of the top global brands and has good stand in multiple markets with most of the price ranges - entry level, budget, lower/upper mid-range, high-end and premium.

[gta-5-cheats]

Honor View 10 Review

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Honor View 10 Review

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2017 was the year when most smartphone manufacturers began shifting to 18:9 displays. Honor was one such company, launching one phone after another following this trend. We saw the Honor 9i (Review) and the Honor 7X (Review) being introduced in the sub-Rs. 20,000 segment. The company is now targeting a higher price point with its Honor View 10.

The Honor 8 Pro (Review), its flagship for 2017, managed to shake the market up while competing against the OnePlus 5 (Review). It packed in good hardware and managed to undercut the OnePlus offering on price as well. Now, the Honor View 10 is on the same path, and offerse better hardware to take on the competition. It is powered by Huawei’s latest silicon, the Kirin 970, and has a stronger focus on artificial intelligence with what the company calls a “neural-network processing unit”. Honor claims that the new chip is capable of learning your behaviour patterns, helping you take better photos, and translating multiple languages in real time. So should the View 10 be your smartphone of choice for 2018? We find out.

  Honor View 10 look and feel

The design of the Honor View 10 is in line with the current market trend of taller screens and narrower borders. It sports a big 5.99-inch display with the 18:9 aspect ratio. It has thin borders on the side and comparatively thicker ones on the top and the bottom. The selfie camera and earpiece grill are above the screen, along with an array of sensors, and there’s a fingerprint scanner below it. Honor offers the View 10 in two colours: Navy Blue and Midnight Black. We had a Navy Blue review unit, and it looked somewhat similar to the colour of the Honor 8 Pro. It’s definitely different and eye-catching.

The View 10 sports a metal unibody. Its flat back has antenna bands running along the top and bottom. It has dual cameras and a single-LED flash at the back, similar in design to the setup seen on the Honor 7X. The lenses protrude out of the body causing the phone to rock when kept on a flat surface. They both have metal surrounds which protect them but feel rough.

The sides are curved making the phone comfortable to hold, although the flat metal back can be a little slippery in the hand. Honor has positioned the power and volume buttons on the right, and while the power button is easy to hit, you will need to stretch your thumb to hit the volume up button. The hybrid dual-SIM tray is on the left. The View 10 sports a USB Type-C port at the bottom along with a speaker grille and 3.5mm headphone jack. At the top, the View 10 has a secondary microphone and an IR emitter that can be used to control IR devices.

The Honor View 10 has a 3750mAh battery and supports the company’s own Supercharge standard. Sadly, Honor does not ship the required 5V, 4.5A charger with the phone in India. Instead, you will find a standard charger in the box that isn’t as fast. You get a screen protector pre-applied on the View 10, and a clear case bundled in the box.

Honor View 10 specifications

The View 10 is Honor’s new flagship offering, and like other phones at this price, it is loaded with features. The screen is an IPS panel, measuring 5.99 inches with an FHD+ (1080×2160) resolution. Viewing angles are good and the screen was usable under direct sunlight. We liked the output of the display and the fact that the phone let us adjust the colour temperature. Display modes are also provided, which let you choose between neutral and vivid colour reproduction.

The fingerprint scanner below the display is quick to unlock the phone. Honor also claims that the View 10 is capable of using your face to unlock the smartphone, but this feature is not enabled yet. At the time of our review, the Face Unlock feature could only be used to show notifications on the lock screen. Honor told Gadgets 360 that the full feature will be rolled out via an OTA update.

The Honor View 10 is powered by a Huawei Kirin 970 SoC, which is an octa-core processor, with four cores clocked at 2.36GHz and the other four clocked at 1.8GHz. The Kirin 970 has a dedicated Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU) which is tasked with handling Artificial Intelligence functions. Huawei claims that the dedicated NPU computes AI tasks faster than the CPU, while being more efficient. The Face Unlock feature and the cameras on the Honor 10 use this NPU. Honor ships the View 10 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which is expandable by up to 256GB using a microSD card in the hybrid dual-SIM tray.

The Honor View 10 supports 4G as well as VoLTE connectivity on both SIMs, which means that both cards can access their respective 4G and VoLTE networks. With most current phones, only the SIM in the primary slot can access a VoLTE network, but this doesn’t seem to be the case with the View 10. The phone could register our Jio and Airtel SIMs on their respective networks independently. However, this isn’t the same as being a Dual-SIM Dual-Active phone, because when one network is engaged in a phone call, the other SIM is still unavailable to anyone who tries to reach you. Honor has come up with a call forwarding option that lets you transfer calls to the active number automatically. For data, of course, the phone only lets you select a single network at a time.

The View 10’s dual rear cameras consist of one 16-megapixel RGB sensor and one 20-megapixel monochrome sensor. At the front, there is a 13-megapixel selfie shooter that is also used for the Face Unlock feature. In terms of connectivity, the View 10 supports Bluetooth 4.2, dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC, and USB-OTG. For positioning, it has GPS, APS, GLONASS, and BDS.

Honor View 10 software and features

Like all other Honor phones, this one runs EMUI, Huawei’s UI layer on top of Android. The View 10 runs EMUI 8 with quite a few customizations on top of Android Oreo. There is theme support, letting you change the way the UI looks to suit your preferences. Smart gestures help you interact with the phone, such as flipping it over to mute it and picking it up to the screen.

Knuckle gestures let you double-knock with one finger to take a screenshot, or two fingers to begin screen recording. You can also launch apps by tracing letters on the screen. If you think this sounds complicated, it is. Honor has crammed in a lot of such features, and while the screenshot gesture was useful, the others felt gimmicky. We also found a lot of sub-menus in the Settings app, and it was sometimes hard to get to a specific setting without using the search function.

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Honor offers a one-handed mode which is very useful when handling this big phone. You can also opt to disable the on-screen navigation buttons and instead tap, long press, or swipe the fingerprint scanner to simulate the Back, Home, and Overview button actions respectively. While this is fairly easy, we found it less convenient than a similar implementation on Motorola phones.

For security, Honor offers a Private Space that lets you have a completely different profile secured using a different fingerprint and passcode. File Safe encrypts files on the phone which can then only be decrypted using an alphanumeric passcode or an associated fingerprint, and App Lock lets you restrict access to apps using a fingerprint. While you won’t have to search for multiple apps to do these things if you want them, learning all the features of this phone can be a little overwhelming. You also get dual app functionality called App Twin which lets you run two instances of supported apps.

Honor ships the phone with a few preinstalled apps. Apart from Honor support apps, there are quite a few demo versions of games. To showcase its AI capabilities Honor has also preloaded Microsoft Translator which is not the same as the version available via the Google Play store. While you can chat with other people using text and have it translated on the other end using the regular app, you can also do this with voice on the View 10. It isn’t clear whether this feature is coming to all phones or whether it is exclusive to the View 10 (or other devices with specific capabilities), but we were able to use it with the other party using a Google Pixel 2. It worked fairly well translating between English and Hindi, though context was sometimes missed.  

Honor View 10 performance, cameras, and battery life

Flagships aim to provide the best usage experience, and the Honor View 10 isn’t any different. Huawei’s Kirin 970 processor is quite potent and the 6GB of RAM makes usage quite smooth. Apps launch quickly, and multitasking is easy. The View 10 managed to score 173,982 in AnTuTu, and also scored 1,900 and 6,709 in Geekbench 4’s single-core and multi-core tests respectively. This phone managed to surpass the Google Pixel 2 (Review) while coming within striking distance of the OnePlus 5T. In GFXBench, the phone managed 59fps, and 31,347 points in 3DMark Unlimited.

We played Shadow Fight 3 and Clash Royale, and faced no issues with gameplay. Like most other phones with 18:9 screens, many apps and games don’t use all available space and run at 16:9. Honor gives users the option to scale compatible apps to the new ratio. EMUI’s Game Suite feature claims to boost the phone’s performance when gaming, and also suppresses notifications to prevent interruptions and disables the navigation keys to prevent accidental touches. The speaker on the View 10 is loud but is also very easy to cover when holding the phone in landscape mode.

Battery life on the Honor View 10 is decent thanks to the 3750mAh battery. We managed to run the phone past one day with light to medium use, and it could manage one day when we included some long gaming sessions. In our HD video loop test, the phone lasted 11 hours, 14 minutes before running out of juice. EMUI has battery saving modes that limits background activity, disable automatic syncing, and more. Ultra Power Saving Mode restricts the phone to only calls and messages so that it can run for significantly longer. Just like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Samsung Galaxy S8+, Honor lets you lower the resolution from FHD+ to HD+ which should be beneficial to battery life. It also has a smart setting which automatically switches resolutions based on what you are doing with the phone.

Other than face recognition and the translator app, the cameras are where the Honor View 10 puts its NPU to use. The camera app will seem familiar if you’ve used other Honor devices, but look deeper and you’ll see that there are more options and an AI-powered scene detection mode. The View 10 uses the NPU to try and understand subjects in a frame and then use the best possible settings according to its algorithms. We found the AI-powered auto mode to be accurate and fast enough to set the scene up before we hit the shutter button.

There’s an Artist mode that lets you apply filters before taking shots. Monochrome mode utilises only the 20-megapixel monochrome sensor to take photos, and the AR mode applies effects after detecting faces. There is Pro mode for photos and videos that lets you manually set different parameters of the camera.

Tap to see full-sized Honor View 10 camera samples

Photos taken with the View 10 are good in daylight when the lighting is favourable. Landscapes are good and colour reproduction is fairly accurate. Objects at a distance do lack detail, but macros are far better in comparison. The camera is quick to lock focus and captures details very well. The View 10 does detect specific subjects such as plants and animals rather than just conditions such as low light, and the resulting settings are fine. However, there’s no way to turn this off to gauge how much of a difference it really makes compared to standard scene detection that many other phones offer. In low light, the View 10 managed to surprise us in a few shots. It was able to capture good details and handled noise fairly well. If the light source is far away, the camera is quite aggressive with noise reduction, which results in loss of detail.

Selfies are usable, and can be enhanced using the beautify mode. Most of the time, the portrait mode worked well in blurring backgrounds and making subjects stand out. If there are multiple faces in a frame, the phone attempts to leave all of them unblurred regardless of depth, which looks extremely artificial.

Video recording maxes out at 4K for the rear camera and you do also have the option to shoot at 1080p at 60fps. The front-facing camera maxes out at 1080p but if you want beautification mode enabled on video, the output is restricted to 720p. Also, we couldn’t find any video stabilisation options on the phone so you will need to have a steady hand while recording.

Honor View 10 in pictures

Verdict With the View 10, it is clear that Honor is being extremely aggressive in terms of features and pricing. It packs in the latest silicon from Huawei and the AI buzzwords will grab attention in the market. The hardware is all quite capable and is in line with current flagships from other manufacturers. Honor ships the phone with Android Oreo out of the box which is another plus. Priced at Rs 29,999, the Honor View 10 undercuts the OnePlus 5T (Review) on pricing by quite a bit. If you are on the 18:9 hype train looking for a bargain, the Honor View 10 looks like a strong contender at its price.

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