tech2touch

Author: Aniruddh

  • Asus ROG Phone 3 Review- Pros and Cons

    Asus ROG Phone 3 is designed primarily for gaming enthusiasts. It is not a slim and light weight phone. Considering this if you think it is not for mainstream consumers, then there is surprise. It offers a lot for the price even if you are not a gamer. Here is my Asus ROG Phone 3 review as a normal user and not as a gamer.

    This gaming smartphone is available in two variants. The one with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage which is available at a price tag of ₹46, 999 and 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage which is available for ₹49,990. Here are some of the pros and cons of Asus ROG Phone 3.

    Asus ROG Phone 3 Merits and Demerits

    Asus ROG Phone 3 Pros

    Gorgeous 144Hz AMOLED Display

    It comes with 6.59 inch AMOLED HDR10+ certified display panel which is claimed to be capable of reproducing over 1 billion colours, with a 1000 nit peak brightness and 113 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage and Delta-E average of >1 percent. The screen refresh rate can go upto 144Hz and has 270 Hz touch sampling rate and 25ms touch latency.

    It is a treat to watch movies or browse on the display panel. Touch feels smooth and responsive. Colors are punchy and outdoor visibility is excellent. This is one of the best display panel I have ever used in a smartphone so far.

    Performance beast

    The Asus ROG Phone 3 comes packed with Snapdragon 865 Plus SoC with 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM. It has integrated Adreno 650 graphics and dedicated logic for AI, image processing, video encoding, and security. It uses extremely fast UFS 3.1 storage.

    It offers one of the fastest and smooth experience. I have not faced any lagging and stuttering issue in my usage. The apps opens quickly and multitasking is a breeze. The great hardware is well supported by the UI. There no bloatwares and it offers close to vanilla android experience.

    Impressive battery life

    6000 mAh battery on Asus ROG Phone 3 is exceptional. With casual gaming it easily lasts around 2 days. The another aspect I liked on the phone is the battery care options Asus has incorporated on this device. The retail box has a fast charger with HYPERCHARGE standard. Users can use Slow charging mode in the battery menu to increase the longevity of the battery. Opting this will cap the charging at 10W and lowers the charging temperature by 34%. There is a option called Sleep Well. If you choose this option, then even if you leave the phone plugged in overnight, the phone will only tops off the final few percentages of trickle charge just before you wake up by selecting the end time by alarm, do not disturb , Airplane mode and turning off the charging LED indicator. It also supports passthrough power.

    Benchmark setting Stereo speakers

    The Asus ROG Phone 3 comes with pair of huge front-facing stereo speakers, each powered by its own NXP TFA9874 amplifier. Now it has 7 magnet design. It offers one of the best stereo effects on a smartphone for gaming as well as for media consumption.

    Good Call quality and signal reception

    The call quality and signal reception is good. Even the calls on speaker phone is exceptionally good. It has 4 different mics in different places of the phone and noise cancellation is good.

    Solid camera performance

    The camera performance is good in general. Except very low light situations, photos and videos came out well in both indoor and outdoor conditions. The video quality with EIS is very crisp and smooth in the day time.

    Asus ROG Phone 3 Cons

    No phone is perfect. ROG Phone 3 is also no exception to it. Here are some of the demerits or disadvantages of Asus ROG Phone 3.

    • No 3.5mm headphone jack. The box has USB C to 3.5mm audio jack adapter.
    • No IP rating for water or dust resistance.
    • Bulky and heavy.
    • Lacks wireless charging.
    • No optical image stabilisation.

    Asus ROG Phone 3 Verdict

    With price tag of less than 50k, Asus ROG Phone 3 offers great value for the money. If you are looking for slim, lightweight and stylish phone then this is not the phone for you. But if your preference is performance, battery life, audio and video experience with good call quality, then even if you are not a gamer and budget is around 50k, it is worth considering it.

  • Airtel Platinum Postpaid Review- Is it really worth?

    There is a huge hype on the Airtel Platinum Postpaid plans. It is expected to provide Priority 4G network and faster data speeds along with other set of features. I have been using the Airtel postpaid SIM for more than 5 years now. My plan was 399 per month. So upgrade to 499 plan to experience the benefits of Airtel Platinum priority 4G services. Here is my Airtel Platinum postpaid plan review based on my experience.

    My expectations from the Airtel Platinum postpaid plan was better data speeds. In my location, the signal strength is average. With my postpaid sim and prepaid sim was giving an download speed of 3 mbps and upload speed to 700kbps. Called the customer care center and asked about whether it improve the performance. Post confirmation, I have opted for the 499 Airtel platinum postpaid plan.

    Airtel Platinum Postpaid Review

    Claim 1: Free Doorstep delivery of SIM card

    I am using the eSIM. So called the customer care number and requested for the new physical sim card. The answer I got is I have to visit the Airtel store to get the sim card and it is charged Rs.25. When asked about free sim card and doorstep delivery, they replied that, it is applicable only for those who migrate from prepaid and not applicable to existing postpaid customer. I stay near a taluk center called Sullia. The centers which provides physical sim card near me are Mangalore, Mysore or Bangalore. That is around 100KM from my place. The sim card for my postpaid connection is not even available in Madikeri which is the district center of Kodagu. To get a replacement sim card being a Airtel platinum postpaid user, I need to travel at least 200 km(Considering the both side travel).

    The airtel prepaid sim card replacement is available in Sullia which is a taluku center. So a prepaid customer has better service compared to Platinum postpaid user.

    Claim 2: Priority 4G network

    This is the main reason I have opted for the 499 plan. I have placed my prepaid and postpaid sim cards of Airtel in Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra as well as on iPhone 11. Then ran a speed test. The results are as follows.

    As you can infer from the speed test results, there is no advantage of having a platinum postpaid plan over a prepaid plan.

    Claim 3: Priority customer support

    I have raised a complaint regarding the issue of data connectivity on September 9th 2020 through Airtel thanks app. The resolution date provided was 16th September. I repeatedly did a follow up. The answer I am getting is our network engineers are working it to resolve the issue. You will notified on the status. Even today, issue is not resolved.

    Claim 4: Other benefits like free data rollover Amazon prime membership

    I had this benefits on my 399 plan as well. Also as data speed are not reliable watching a live tv is not a good experience. Only the advantage I got is the free Amazon prime membership.

    Airtel Platinum Postpaid Plan review verdict

    The base plan to get Airtel platinum postpaid is Rs.499 plus GST. For that you 75GB of data per month and free incoming and outgoing calls. However, prepaid 599 plan gives you 56 days of validity and 2GB of data per day along with free incoming and outgoing calls. As there is no advantage of platinum plan or postpaid connection, prepaid connection is better value for money.

  • iPhone 11: How to take screenshot without using the Power and Volume down Key iOS 14

    iOS 14 comes with lot of new features. One of the such feature is back tap. The double tap or triple tap can be customised to do many tasks. If you are not comfortable in taking screenshot on iPhone 11 using the hardware keys, you can take advantage of it. So let us explore how to take screenshot on iPhone 11 without using hardware keys.

    How to take screenshot on iPhone 11 without using the hardware keys-iOS14

    This method will work on all the devices running on iOS 14. So here are steps to take screenshot using double tap or triple tap.

    • Go to Settings>>Accessibility >>Touch.
    • Select Back tap.
    • Select Double tap or Triple Tap based on which one you want to assign for screenshot.
    • From the list select screenshot.
    • Now double or triple back tap on your iPhone 11 to take screenshot.
    • You will get the editing options as usual.
    • If you are in safari browser, you will get the full screenshot option as well.

    This is the quick post on how to take screenshot on iPhone 11 without using the hardware keys on iOS 14.

  • How to take screenshot on Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra

    Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra provides multiple different ways to take a screenshot. Though some of these methods are seen on other Galaxy devices, some are exclusive to Galaxy Note 20. If you want to capture the entire screen or portion of screen in certain shape or a long screenshot, Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a option to do it. In this post, let us explore 4 popular methods to take screenshot on Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and Note 20.

    The different ways to take screenshot on Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra are

    • Using the screenshot button.
    • S Pen to capture screenshot
    • Palm swipe to take screenshot
    • Hardware keys method

    How to take screenshot on Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra or Galaxy Note 20

    Screenshot Button method

    To use this method, you need to add screenshot button to the edge panel. For that,

    • Go to Edge panel.
    • Tap Settings.
    • Add task to edge panel by selecting it.

    To take screenshot,

    • Go to the page you want to take screenshot.
    • Now navigate to Edge panel.
    • Browse between the Edge panels to get Task panel.
    • Tap on the screenshot.
    • Screenshot will be saved.

    S Pen Method

    • Get the S Pen and open the S Pen options.
    • Select Smart Select.
    • From the toolbar, select the shape you want the screenshot.
    • You can save or share the screenshot.

    Palm Swipe to capture screenshot

    • Navigate to the page you want the screenshot.
    • Swipe your palm from left to right or right to left.
    • It will save the screenshot.

    Hardware Keys method

    • Go to the page you want to capture screenshot.
    • Quickly press and release the Volume down and power keys simultaneously.
    • It will save the screenshot.

    Long screenshot or scroll screenshot

    To take scroll screenshot or long screenshot on Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra or Note 20, take screenshot using screenshot button or palm swipe or Hardware keys method. Now you will get screenshot toolbar. Tap on the down arrow key to scroll the page and take screenshot.

    How to access taken screenshot

    Go to Gallery, Albums and then screenshot folder.

    These are some of the ways to take screenshot on Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra or Galaxy Note 20.

  • How to take screenshot on Samsung Galaxy M31s- 3 Ways + Long screenshot

    Galaxy M31s is the successor to the popular Galaxy M31. Though it has incremental upgrades, the user interface and software experience is almost identical. In this post, we will explore on how to take screenshot on Samsung Galaxy M31s using three different ways.

    Long screenshot or Scroll screenshot is a handy feature to grab a screen where you want multiple pages in one screenshot. Luckily, Galaxy M31s supports long screenshot. You can use it to capture long multi page web page, settings page etc.

    How to take screenshot on Samsung Galaxy M31s

    Using the hardware keys to take a screenshot

    • First go to the page you want to capture screenshot.
    • Now press and release Power and Volume down keys together.
    • Screen will flicker and preview will be shown.
    • You will also get screenshot tool bar using which you can directly share the screenshot or edit the screenshot.

    Using the palm swipe gesture to capture a screenshot

    • Navigate to the page you want to grab a screenshot.
    • Swipe your palm on screen from one side to another wherein your palm slightly touches the screen.
    • Screenshot will be captured.

    Assistive Touch Menu method to take screenshot

    For using this method, you need to enable Assistive Touch menu.

    • Go to Settings->Accessibility->interaction and dexterity. Enable Assistant Menu.
    • A small floating icon will appear on the screen. This is called Assistant Menu. 

    To take a screenshot, navigate to the page you want to take screenshot on Galaxy M31s. Now tap on Assistant menu and then screenshot. It will save the screenshot.

    Long screenshot or Scroll screenshot on Samsung Galaxy M31s

    If you want to take scroll screenshot or long screenshot, take screenshot using any of the methods mentioned before. You will get a screenshot tool bar. Now, tap on this down arrow icon. It will take scroll screenshot. If you are not getting this menu, then Go to Settings->Advanced Features. Here select Screenshots and Screen recorder. Enable Screenshot toolbar.

    How to access taken screenshot

    To view the taken screenshots, Go to Gallery. Here Albums then Screenshot folder. You will find all the taken screenshots.