Vivo V29e Review: Slim on size, not on your pocket

So the Vivo V29e, in a nutshell, is overpriced. Yes, it comes with Vivo’s premium design language with the curved glass and everything, and we get a very good camera setup with great battery. However, the underwhelming performance puts all of that on the side, since no matter how good the camera or design could be, offering a Snapdragon 695 at a sub-₹30,000 price isn’t justified at all and makes the Vivo V29e really difficult to recommend. 

It wasn’t very long ago, I was writing the review for the Vivo V27 Pro and wondered how often does the brand update its V-series devices, since it hadn’t been long since I reviewed the predecessor, the Vivo V25 Pro. Now, as I write the review for the first smartphone in the Vivo V29 series, I am sure that this is not an yearly update and is more of an 8-month upgrade from the brand. Yes, the successor to the Vivo V27 Pro is still a couple of months away, but that will also make for a nice 7-8 months update cycle for Vivo’s popular mid-range devices.

The Vivo V29e is the youngest of the lot. This is the device that will sit at the bottom of the lineup, below the Vivo V29 and the Vivo V29 Pro, both of which are expected to arrive in October this year. Now, while it sits at the bottom of the pyramid, the Vivo V29e also targets the mid-range segment between the ₹25,000 to ₹30,000 price band. But apart from the premium look and feel, does the smartphone justify this price? Let’s find out:

Vivo V29e Review: Design

The Vivo V29e is a beautiful phone. It looks premium, it feels nice and light in the hands, it is slim. We get a curved front and back, with this sort of dual-tone back where we also get a glossy patterned stripe running through the left side of the back panel. The smartphone is also super lightweight and very slim, making it super handy and very easy to hold and use with one hand.

This time around, there is no camera module. Instead, the rear cameras protrude out of the back panel of the back panel, with the LED flash placed on the right of the camera cutouts. We also get Vivo’s branding for the camera features on the gloss patterned stripe on the back panel of the smartphone. Up front, things are familiar. There is a hole-punch curved display with the camera cutout in the middle of the screen.

Overall, it is a slightly new implementation to a familiar design that we have come to know the Vivo V-series smartphones to be in the last couple of years. We get the familiar curved back and front, along with a super slim and light profile with a hint of change with the back panel and the new camera implementation.

Vivo V29e Review: Display

The display on the Vivo V29e is a 6.78-inch 10-bit curved AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and an FHD+ resolution (1260x2800p) with support for HDR10+. The display is good. The first time you set eyes on this display, it is a pleasant and smooth experience. It is nicely sharp and detailed, and the colour representation is also pretty good.

The smartphone’s display has three colour profiles - Standard, Bright, and Pro. Here, the Pro is the one that is the most colour accurate (sRGB), while the other two, standard and bright are towards the saturated side, with the Standard profile being the DCI-P3 profile, and the Bright one being the saturated colour tone that is only there to make the display appear more vibrant.

I tested the colour accuracy on the most colour accurate “Pro” colour profile on the Vivo V29e, and the smartphone passed with flying colours! In the sRGB colour checker analysis, the Vivo V29e showed an average DeltaE of 2.4, which means that the Vivo V29e’s display represents colours very close to their original. For any display, an average DeltaE of under 3 is considered very good.

In the grayscale test, the Vivo V29e followed Gamma 2.4 quite evenly, but smartphone displays are more tuned towards Gamma 2.2, since Gamma 2.4 is more tuned towards viewing content in darker spaces. Apart from that, the Vivo V29e showed a good RGB balance during the grayscale test.

Coming to brightness, the Vivo V29e has quite a bright panel on offer. The smartphone showed a maximum luminance of 842 when I tested the brightness using a Lux Meter. Now, the numbers are pretty good, but the sunlight visibility of the Vivo V29e isn’t very good. At times, it felt like the smartphone is lacking that vibrancy that makes it stand out in the brightest of environments.

Overall, it is a very good display. It is accurate, it is responsive, and it is vibrant in the colour profiles meant to make the display stand out. The sunlight visibility isn’t the best we have seen, but that isn’t a deal breaker. What could be one though, is that the Vivo V29e doesn’t support HDR content on YouTube.

Vivo V29e Review: Performance

Coming to performance, this is the biggest chink in Vivo’s V-series’ armour. Year after year, the Vivo V-series smartphones have praised with their premium look and feel, but the performance is something Vivo only recently fixed with the V27 Pro. The Vivo V29e, sadly, doesn’t take that trend forward. 

For a Rs 27,000 pricetag, the Vivo V29e only offers a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695, making it probably the second-most expensive smartphone to come with the Snapdragon 695 chip. This budget chipset from Qualcomm is usually seen in smartphones around the Rs 20,000 range. 

As usual, I ran a bunch of benchmarks, and my first brush with just how low the price-to-performance ratio is, was when the smartphone wasn’t able to run AnTuTu and I had to download AnTuTu Lite in order for the benchmark to run on the Vivo V29e. It is a bit of a shame for a Rs 27,000 smartphone to not be able to run one of the most common benchmarks. The score, as expected, wasn’t the best in its segment. The Vivo V29e scored 453,640 points in AnTuTu, which is about half of what some of the competing devices were able to put out.

On other benchmarks also, the Vivo V29e lagged way behind competition, putting out a single core score of 910 points in Geekbench Single Core test and a score of 2170 points in the Geekbench Multi-Core score. Here is a comparison of how the smartphone fares against some of its closest competitors in terms of price:

Apart from the benchmark scores, I also found the Vivo V29e slightly underpowered while using the smartphone for high performance tasks. While playing games for prolonged sessions, for example, I experience frame drops quite a few times. The smartphone also heated up quite a bit while gaming or using the camera. Further, the software, as usual, did not make the experience any better. The Vivo FunTouch OS as usual, has a bunch of bloatware and there are a bit too many permissions and pop-ups while doing just about anything for the first time on the Vivo V29e.

Vivo V29e review: Battery

Now, while the performance may not be up to the mark, but the battery backup on the Vivo V29e is brilliant. The smartphone comes with a 5,000mAh battery with support for 44W fast charging. The 5,000mAh battery unit gives the Vivo V29e enough juice for the smartphone to last more than 1.5 days easily, even with heavy usage.

I tested the battery quite extensively. The smartphone only lost 4 percent of its battery while playing Call of Duty Mobile on the highest-possible settings for 15 minutes. In one hour of GPS navigation, the Vivo V29e lost only 6 percent battery, which is great. In our video loop test, the smartphone lasted a brilliant 1220 minutes which is more than 20 hours! That is brilliant battery life. The 44W fast charger, on the other hand, feels slightly slow as it took about an hour to charge from 0-100 percent. 

Vivo V29e: Camera

Coming to camera performance, this is an area where Vivo has established itself as one of the best in the game. The Vivo V29e aims to take that forward and offer a brilliant camera experience in the sub-Rs 30,000 segment. Now, has the smartphone been able to achieve that? I’m not very sure. We get a dual rear camera setup with a 64-megapixel primary shooter, and an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens.

The images out of this dual camera setup are good. Almost always, we get a sharp and detailed image on the smartphone, which is good in dynamic range. However, the images lack a certain vibrancy that people look for in smartphone photos.

The portraits on the Vivo V29e are very good. This is where we see Vivo’s expertise in the camera department come forth. The details on the subject remain intact, with brilliant edge detection and very good background blur. Good stuff.

In low light, the camera struggles at times and the images lack details or are hazy in certain scenarios. Around the lights also, we see some halo effect, but that is not the case all the time.

Vivo V29e: Verdict

So the Vivo V29e, in a nutshell, is overpriced. Yes, it comes with Vivo’s premium design language with the curved glass and everything, and we get a very good camera setup with great battery. However, the underwhelming performance puts all of that on the side, since no matter how good the camera or design could be, offering a Snapdragon 695 at a sub-₹30,000 price isn’t justified at all and makes the Vivo V29e really difficult to recommend. 

Yes, we may not get as premium a design as this, but there are smartphones that offer a good enough camera along with brilliant performance and a better display in this range. So yeah, the Vivo V29e isn’t the best phone for this budget, but if you want something that looks good and has a brilliant battery with spare money lying around, you can take a look at the Vivo V29e.

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New Intel Xeon chips fffer 240-percent more performance per watt but how

Intel has announced two new Xeon processors, Sierra Forest and Granite Rapids, at Hot Chips 2023. These processors are part of an effort to reduce electricity consumption in data centres, which is a significant concern for technology companies. Intel also revealed for the first time, the performance per watt of its upcoming data center chips. The company disclosed that its "Sierra Forest" chip would have 240% better performance per watt than its current generation of data centre chips. 

This announcement is particularly notable given the increasing pressure on technology firms to reduce energy consumption, a key driver for the development of more efficient chips. The push towards energy efficiency is not unique to Intel; Ampere Computing, a startup founded by ex-Intel executives, was the first to market with a chip focused on efficient cloud computing work, and AMD has also announced similar products. This competitive landscape underscores the industry-wide effort to develop solutions that can handle more computing work per chip while consuming less power.

Also read: Infinix InBook X3 Slim offers 12th Gen Intel chip and 65W fast charging at an affordable price

Ronak Singhal, a senior fellow at Intel, highlighted the practical implications of the new chips for data centre operators. He noted that Intel's customers could consolidate older software onto a smaller number of computers inside a data centre, leading to significant power savings and a lower total cost of ownership. "I may have things that are four or five, six years old. I can get power savings by moving something that's currently on five, 10, or 15 different servers into a single new chip," Singhal said. 

"That density drives their total cost of ownership. The higher the density, the fewer systems they need." This insight provides a clear picture of how the new "Sierra Forest" and "Granite Rapids" chips can address specific challenges faced by data centre operators, ultimately contributing to more sustainable and cost-effective operations.

How do Sierra Forest and Granite Rapids Xeon chips offer higher PPW?

Sierra Forest is designed for efficiency and uses Sierra Glen E-cores, while Granite Rapids is designed for performance and uses Redwood Cove P-cores. Intel claims that Sierra Forest will provide better rack density and higher performance per watt of power used compared to its previous generation of Xeon chips. On the other hand, Granite Rapids will offer better performance in mixed artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, partly due to an improvement in memory bandwidth.

Also read: Maximize your gaming potential: Here are the top 13th Gen Intel® Core™ laptops to go beyond performance on gaming!

The new processors have a tile-based architecture, which means they are made up of different components (tiles) that can be combined in various ways to create multiple products. Some input/output (I/O) functions are separated into two HSIO chiplets, while the CPU cores and memory controllers are on dedicated compute chiplets. These components are connected by EMIB (Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge) interconnects.

Granite Rapids is seen as a traditional data center processor, equipped only with P-cores that deliver full performance. In contrast, Sierra Forest consists of chips with only smaller efficiency cores, optimized for power efficiency, area efficiency, and performance density. Both processors support PCIe 5.0/CXL 2.0, have up to 6 UPI links, and include accelerators for compression, cryptography, and data streaming. Each HSIO die also includes power control circuitry that manages the compute chiplets.

Intel plans to release Sierra Forest in the first half of 2024, followed by Granite Rapids. This release will coincide with the launch of AMD's 5th-gen EPYC Turin chips, leading to a high-performance battle between Intel and AMD. AMD's Bergamo, already on the market, has a similar approach to Sierra Forest, using dense Zen 4c cores. Intel also plans to release a second-gen E-core-powered processor, Clearwater Forest, in 2025.

Also read: Intel’s Sandra Rivera on future of AI, data centers and India’s tech moment

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BoAt Smart Ring announced: Price in India, where to buy, and more

The boAt Smart Ring has launched in India and went on sale starting yesterday, that is, August 28th. It will be available on all leading e-com sites, such as Amazon and Flipkart. Priced at Rs 8,999 the boAt Smart Ring comes with the health and fitness features of a smartwatch, and some additional capabilities that might not be seen in smartwatches.

boAt Smart Ring features

The boAt Smart Ring allows for single-hand touch controls. These touch functions include music controls, picture clicking, and app navigation. With music controls, you can use the ring to pause and play music or even go to the next or previous track. 

Also read: Boat Smart Ring specifications tipped: Would you buy a Smarting over Smartwatch?

The ring can be used as a remote shutter control for the phone it's paired with for some handsfree photos. Coming to app navigation, you can use the boAt Smart ring to swipe or navigate through certain apps. The supported apps haven't yet been mentioned by boAt.

boAt Smart Ring Health features

Of course, other than the above, you also have the boAt Smart Ring's health features. These include heart rate, SpO2 and sleep monitoring. You have temperature checking, steps and calorie measurement, and also several sports modes. All of which are commonly seen in smartwatches.

Also read: Boat reveals Smart Ring wearable device, will it rule the market?

Some more interesting features of the boAt Smart Ring are the emergency calling feature, where you can trigger an SOS call via the ring. It comes in various sizes so that you can get the right size for your finger. It also comes with a proprietary "smart" charger according to the company, and an advertised battery life of 7 days. The associated app, which can be downloaded on the Google Play or Apple store is where you will be able to track all of your stats and controls.

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Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 benchmark details leaked, check all the details here

As the Snapdragon Summit comes closer and is just two months away, we all await the upcoming flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. But ahead of its launch, a leaked benchmark listing has revealed some of its specs. The Snapdragon Summit is just 2 months away and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has become the talk of the town. If rumours are to be believed, the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will be launched earlier than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was launched last year. 

Now, ahead of its launch, we have come across a leaked benchmark listing. This gives us a hint at what to expect from the upcoming chipset that’ll power our smartphones.

Also read: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 appears on AnTuTu, claims to be 30-percent faster

Allegedly, tipster Digital Chat Station took to Weibo to share this leak. The tipster shared a Geekbench 5 score of the RedMagic 9. It scored 5977 in multi-score and 1596 in single-score.

The device which was tested, mentions that its motherboard is the “pineapple" moniker. This is the one that is rumoured to be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It runs on Android 14 and could be one of the first flagship phones to have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Also, the listing revealed that the device had one primary core with 3.19GHz, next to five middle cores at 2.96GHz clock speeds, and two cores featuring 2.27GHz. Hence, according to Digital Chat Station, the chipset could have one Cortex X4, five Cortex-A720, and two Cortex-A520, respectively. In addition to this, it will be equipped by an Adreno 750 GPU.

Also read: Xiaomi 14 series: First smartphones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3? Check more details

The leak by Digital Chat Stating suggests that the device is using just a regular version of the chipset and there could be another version for the same chipset. This was true for this year’s  Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and "Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy" that was used especially for the Galaxy S23 series and other premium smartphones.

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Apple is making major changes to the iPad Pro: Check new features

As the tablet market faces a slump, Apple is planning a much-needed revamp of its iPad Pro, aiming to reinvigorate the market and boost its declining sales. The iPad, once seen as a potential successor to the Mac, has been experiencing a decline in sales, slipping to its lowest levels since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. This decline is not exclusive to Apple though, as others including Samsung and Lenovo are also facing the heat or lack thereof.

However, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the new iPad Pro models are coming and they are expected to give iPad sales a much-needed boost. But they won't be part of the company's big launch event in September, which will focus on the iPhone and Apple Watch. Instead, the new iPad Pro models are expected to debut in spring or early summer. With this major overhaul, Apple aims to breathe new life into the iPad Pro and reinvigorate the tablet market

Also read: This tiny AirPods Pro 2 leather case costs ₹77,000, as much as iPad Pro!

Why Are People Not Buying The Apple iPad?

The absent urgency among consumers to buy or upgrade tablets could be due to a couple of reasons. The recession and the economic downturn across the globe are pretty hard-hitting and the cost of living is higher than ever before. 

Combined with the fact that MacBooks now also use the same chip as the iPads thus essentially offering similar computing performance. All the while, a MacBook remains more versatile and capable than an iPad. Thanks to the full-fledged MacOS which makes the iPadOS look barebones, in terms of features, by comparison.

However, Apple is gearing up to change the narrative with a major overhaul of its iPad Pro. The new models codenamed - J717, J718, J720, and J721 - are set to feature the next-generation M3 chip and OLED displays, making them crisper, brighter, and more colour-accurate. Additionally, a revamped Magic Keyboard will make the iPad Pro more laptop-like, addressing a common complaint about the current version.

This overhaul marks the first major update to the product since 2018, although the current iPad Pro has been upgraded with new chips, cameras, display technology, and sensors in more recent years. The new models will come in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, similar to the existing lineup, but the larger model is currently 12.9 inches.

Also read: How to use AirPlay and stream your iPhone, iPad or Mac screen on TV

Despite the challenges faced by the iPad, Apple remains the market leader in tablets, holding 37% of shipments last quarter. While its sales are declining, most rivals are falling even faster, while only Xiaomi grew in the last quarter.

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Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra could have a flat display, as per leaks: Why that could be bad

Samsung usually launches its flagship S-series lineup in the first quarter of the year. However, months before the launch of the highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S24 series, leaks have already begun pouring in. Recently, leaked renders of the Samsung Galaxy S24 ultra surfaced online that detail display specifications and design elements. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra could feature a flat display. This is a huge departure from the curved display on this year’s Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (review). 

Tipster ICE Universe took to microblogging platform X (previously Twitter) to show off a rendered image of the upcoming Galaxy S24 Ultra from the South Korean tech giant. The image shows a centre-aligned selfie camera and a seemingly flat display. You can also see the bezels of the upcoming flagship in the leaked image, which look thicker than its predecessor. The post by ICE Universe also revealed certain display specifications of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Display specifications leaked

As mentioned earlier, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is tipped to come with a flat display and thicker bezels. The post also leaked other alleged display specifications, and given the tipster’s track record of sharing accurate specifications of devices before launch, they could very well be true. 

Exclusive: Galaxy S24 Ultra about 6.8" (actual 6.78") screen, 3120x1440, 19.5:5, peak brightness 2500nit. pic.twitter.com/8I1UtTkyaY

— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) August 28, 2023

The leak says that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will feature a 6.78-inch display with a resolution of 3120 x 1440 pixels. The display is expected to have a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Additionally, the peak brightness levels are expected to go all the way up to 2,500 nits this time around; a notable improvement compared to 1,750 nits on the S23 Ultra. It is possible this is Samsung’s M13 panel that has been rumoured for quite a while now.  

Why the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s flat display could be a bad thing

There’s a certain division between tech enthusiasts when it comes to flat vs. curved displays. Users who side with flat displays like the fact that they reject accidental touches better while curved display lovers opine that they are more comfortable to hold. Another point in favour of curved displays is that the bezels often end up looking narrower since the screen tends to spill over the edge, giving them a more premium look. 

In the render of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, the flat display seems to have noticeably thicker bezels than its predecessor. And if leaked renders of competitors such as the iPhone 15 Ultra and Xiaomi 14 are to be believed, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra looks the most dated with the thickest bezels. So, the company could lose out to these competitors when it comes to design and aesthetics.

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Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro and Pro Plus spotted with 667-inch OLED screen, other cool features

As per previous reports, we heard that Redmi was planning to bring in the successors to its Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G and Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G. And now it seems that there is some truth to these rumours. The Redmi Note 13 Pro and the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ smartphones have been spotted on the TENAA certification website.

In March this year, Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 12 series which included the Redmi Note 12 5G, Note 12 Pro 5G and Note 12 Pro Plus 5G. Now it seems the smartphone-giant is already ready to bring out the Note 13 series too. Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 13 Pro and Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus have been spotted on TENAA’s certification website.

Also read: Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus with 200-MP camera, curved display coming very soon

The spotting ended up revealing some key specs of these two upcoming Xiaomi smartphones. It was tipster DigitalChatStation who shared screen grabs from the TENAA website. This revealed that the upcoming Xiaomi smartphones will come with 5G support. In addition to that, they could sport a 6.67 inch OLED display. The Redmi Note 13 Pro is expected to pack up to 16GB RAM whereas the Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus could pack up to 18GB RAM and storage up to 1TB. According to the listing, both the phones are expected to be available in 4 storage options. 

Speaking of the camera, we can expect a triple camera setup offering a 200-megapixel primary sensor, an 8 megapixel ultra wide lens and a 2 megawatts macro lens. They could even house a 16 megapixel selfie shooter.

Also read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro+ Review: Looks like a winner

On the battery front, the Redmi Note 13 Pro is expected to be powered by a 4,880mAh battery whereas the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ variant could offer a 5,020mAh battery. 

But for now, let’s wait and see when Xiaomi actually releases these phones.

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