Mi Notebook Air: Xiaomi's first laptop

Xiaomi in the present day is the fifth largest smartphone maker and is known for making high end flagship smartphones for comparatively low price, and now the company has decided to widen it's market by introducing it's first laptop.

Behold: The Mi Notebook Air

Xiaomi is known for notoriously ripping off apple's products and this laptop is no different. Very similar to apple's macbook models,  the mi notebook is sleek and thin (thinner than the macbook) and the specifications look great on paper. The mi notebook comes in two variants : the 12.5 inch version and the 13.3 inch version.

The 12.5" version is 12.9 mm thick and weighs 1.07 kg. It comes with a full HD 1080p display with 176 ppi. The chip running it is the Intel core m3 clocked maximum at 2.2Ghz integrated with Intel HD graphics 515. It has 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage. The 600 Wh battery is claimed to give a 11.5 hrs battery backup. It has 1 USB C port, 1 USB 3.0 port, 1 HDMI port and a 3.5 mm jack.

While the 12.5 inch version certainly catches the eye, it lacks somewhat in the hardware section. The 13.3 inch variant corrects this although it doesn't present ground shattering specs:

• Slim all-metal body
• Full HD screen
• Ultra-narrow borders
• Long battery life — 9.5 hours
• 6-generation Intel Core i5 processor
• NVIDIA 940MX graphics card
• 1GB GDDR5
• 8 GB DDR4 RAM
• 256GB SSD PCIe

( Specs as informed by Xiaomi )

This version is a little heavier (1.28 kg) but presents some impressive specs. Again, visually it looks like a mac but it's what inside that matters. By including a separate graphics card, it should be able to provide for a decent gaming performance, a part that the macbook fails to provide. Also, HDMI port is also a big plus, dolby surround sound and multitouch also present a nice addition. With USB C, interfacing devices also becomes quite easy and instant unlock using the mi wristband is also a handy function.

Some have even dubbed the mi notebook air as the macbook killer which does seem to be a little overstated. However, there are some areas where the mi notebook beats the macbook and overall, the mi notebook is a really good laptop. Running on windows 10, it promises to give a smooth experience with it's on paper specifications. However may it compare to the macbook , the most prominent factor is the price. It gives great bang for buck as the 12.5 inch variant costs $520 and the 13.3 inch variant costs about $750.

So, Xiaomi's first laptop presents itself as a very good lapt....... ah, what the hell...you know what?  It's arguably a macbook with decent gaming capabilities. End of story.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7: Initial Impressions

Samsung announced the launch of the brand new Galaxy Note 7. Samsung has decided to stick with the same design of the galaxy S7 that has worked so well for them in the past. The Galaxy Note 7 is an absolute treat for the eyes with the gorgeous 5.7" quad hd super amoled display and the curved edges giving it super thin bezels. All this is covered with the Gorilla Glass 5  which gives the phone a premium vibe.

 The Note 7 comes with a snapdragon 820 chip, 4 GB of ram, 64 GB of internal storage and MicroSD expansion. There is a 5 MP front facing camera. The back camera is a 12 MP camera with f 1.7 aperture, Optical Image Stabilization, 4K video recording. When it comes to Samsung, the cameras are going to be great, that's a given. Also, the Note 7 is IP 68 water resistant. The Note 7 comes with Android Marshmallow and a  3500 mAh battery. The phone has a USB type-c charging port with fast charging.
Now let's get to the new features. The Note 7 has an iris scanner. What that does is it unlocks the phone WITH YOUR EYES. YES, so if you feel too lazy to draw a pattern or put your finger on a finger print reader, now all you have to do is just look at your phone. But seriously, this is a wonderful feature which you can use to unlock your phone but also to secure the contents in a private area of the phone. The finger print sensor is also obviously present.

Samsung has also made improvements to the s-pen. The tip of the s-pen has got a finer point and the phone now has over 4000 levels of pressure sensitivity resulting in a finer writing experience. Also, a really exciting new function of the s-pen is the ability to create gifs right away. So you can make a gif of any video you are watching then and there.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is packing loads of other new features. This new method of gradually improving the Galaxy S Series and the Note series is really exciting although I was hoping to see some slight tweaks in the design. You just can't go wrong with the Galaxy Note 7.