Tag Archives: first impression

Android, Editorial, Mobile, Reviews

First 24 Hours with The Samsung Galaxy S21 – It has the Makings of a True Flagship

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With reviews dropping for the Galaxy S21 series today, we thought it would be better to take you through some of the first the impressions we got from the Samsung Galaxy S21 when we first started using it instead. We will, naturally, have a full review with an in-depth breakdown for you to get into the nitty gritty details of the phone.

The first thought that came into my mind when I held the Galaxy S21 is, “It’s back”. The latest iteration of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S series finally brings back the qualities that made the Samsung Galaxy S series stand out. Aside from the colour, the phone’s design gives you the impression that Samsung spent its time thinking up the S21.

It a subtle but loud design choice – a metallic accent on a glasstic body. After years of dealing with glass front and backs, the new approach is the breath of fresh air and new life that the series needed. While it may seem like a downgrade going from glass to glasstic, the Galaxy S21 still feels premium and is so much easier to hold in hand. The subtle curves of the back make the phone more palmable and easy to manoeuvre in one hand. It’s also just hefty enough.

The FHD+ AMOLED 2X display brings a pretty brilliant display. We say brilliant not to praise the display but to highlight that this display is plenty bright. Even under direct 11am sunlight, the screen was still legible. We haven’t really noticed the difference with adaptive refresh rate just yet – but rest assured, it’ll be one of the main points in our in-depth review.

Aside from the visuals, it really feels like Samsung took the time to think out this flagship and deliver an experience that is well rounded. The speakers are loud! Even watching Instagram videos on the Galaxy S21 can be risky business (especially if you’re on a video call!). Even at 30% volume, the phone was audible about 3 to 5 meters away. It’s a pretty good indication of the media experience you’ll be getting from the device.

That said, the first 24 hours is usually about the batter and the setup for us. The battery on the Galaxy S21 is actually pretty small – considering the size of the other devices in the series. However, while size does matter, the Galaxy S21 is still able to impress with its battery life. After charging it up to 100%, the battery lasted a good 40 hours before it needed to be charged. The 40 hours included the setup process and the downloading of apps needed on the device. After which, it was swiftly put to a barrage of gaming, YouTube, Instagram and TIDAL. This bodes really well for battery life on the S21 moving forward.

The setup process is pretty straight forward. Samsung asks you to sign in to your Google account and you Samsung account. You can restore your device from either service. Of course, if you’re jumping or upgrading from another Samsung device, you get everything – including your home screen layout transferred over. Something that not many other manufacturers are doing. That said, we didn’t setup the S21 with a back up instead we opted to set it up from scratch. It took us roughly 30 minutes to get all our apps downloaded and all the relevant emails synced. The time from the start of the setup excluding setting up email accounts on a new app and downloading apps was about 10 minutes. Not too bad considering not many of us would like to baby the phone while it updates.

You’ll have to wait when it comes to the camera. We’re definitely excited to see what Samsung has in store there. However, barring that, the Galaxy S21 is definitely hitting the right notes when it comes to a flagship. It seems to be somewhat of a return to form for the Galaxy S series.

Hands On, Mobile, Video

First Impressions on the OPPO Find X2

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No, not the OPPO Find X2 Pro. This is the regular OPPO Find X2. This is the new OPPO flagship device.

The OPPO Find X2 series is a flagship two years in waiting. It was a successor to OPPO’s most powerful and most expensive device at its launch. Which also means that it needs to be as powerful and just as expensive.

It packs s Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC which, incidentally makes it the most powerful smartphone OPPO ever made. It is also sold at MYR 3,999 onward and goes all the way to MYR 4,599 (OPPO Find X2 Pro). It is the most expensive, or most premium OPPO smartphone ever launched. Those two boxes are ticked then.

However, it does not deliver the same ‘wow’ factor as the original OPPO Find X. Instead of having a crazy motorised pop-up mechanism that everyone grew to love in the Find X, the OPPO Find X2 is now just a plain candy bar smartphone that resembles a HUAWEI P30, I dare say. Still, it does not mean that it is not a handsome device, it is still pretty with the Ocean finish.

There is one thing that blew our minds though. It is the O1 Ultra Vision display that caught our attention. It is a QHD+ display, plenty for a 6.70inch display. It is also refreshing at a rate of 120Hz with 240Hz sampling rate. What does that mean? It means ultra-smooth and snappy experience of a smartphone. Get this as well, it refreshes at 120Hz while pushing QHD+ in resolution. It is not scaled down in anyway.

In fact, the O1 Vision engine scales regular 30fps videos up to 120fps just to take advantage of the display. That makes everything looks better on screen. We did not notice any image distortions or flickers as well while watching things like YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Video Prime. While the differences are subtle, the experience difference is quite drastic; especially if you can put another flagship side by side and compare.

We had a little bit of concerns with the battery because of the high refresh rate and resolution. The combination of that still allows the 4,200 mAh battery to last a complete workday with more to give though. If not, we can break out the SuperVOOC charger and charge it within 38 minutes. We have not tried that, we should.

The OPPO Find X2 is now available in across Malaysia for MYR 3,999. It is available in two colour options – Aurora and Black. Both colour options feature different build materials, we suggest getting the black just because of its ceramic finish. Of course, more information on their website.