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iQOO 3 : Worth buying in 2021?

iQOO, for those of you who don’t know, is a subsidiary of Chinese manufacturer Vivo, whose Parent company, in-turn is BBK Electronics. The first smartphone that iQOO launched here in India was the iQOO 3 , which quite surprisingly launched at a good price, considering what it came packed with. It was launched at 37K INR. But in a year’s time, the price’s has dropped significantly. It currently retails at 25K on Flipkart . iQOO 3 Shot on iPhone 5s (Blogger compression killed it -_-)  Having got it on Flipkart, I’ve been using the iQOO 3 for about two weeks now and here’s my review of the same.  Performance The iQOO 3’s got 2020’s flagship SoC, Snapdragon 865 . And just like any other flagship chip, this too performs exceptionally well. Day-to-day tasks are child’s play and graphically intensive tasks too are handled really well. For me, who previously used the Redmi 7, with the Snapdragon 632, this feels so much faster. What betters the experience is the 8 Gigabytes of DDR5 RAM...
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Samsung Unpacked 2021: Wasn’t really packed?!

After a lot of promotions, the Samsung Unpacked event went live on the 14th of January. Samsung launched quite a few of products, some continuing the legacy while some completely new. What are those and is it the same for India? Read ahead to find out!: 

Image Courtesy: NDTV Gadgets 360



First up, Smartphones. Samsung extended the S lineup (Well, this time, the S makes sense), with the S21 series. Here’re the specifications of the new S series Smartphones: 

Galaxy S21: 
This one being the lowest end among the three, has got quite a lot of heft on paper. 
  • Processor: Qualcomm’s latest 5nm Snapdragon 888, which of course has got an inbuilt 5G modem, not only enabling 5G, but also fully harnessing 4G speeds. Just like it’s ancestors, the 888 is expected to provide top-notch performance. But, this surely isn’t going to come with the 888 here in India. It’s most likely to get the highly anticipated and improved (according the Samsung) Exynos 2100, which too has a 5G modem. 
  • Cameras: A Triple-Camera Setup — A 12-Megapixel Primary (With OIS - Optical Image Stabilisation), a 12-Megapixel Ultra-wide and a 64-Megapixel Telephoto Camera. The telephoto camera here can do 1.1x optical and 3x hybrid zoom. Samsung, here hasn’t cut corners and has gone with a really nice choice of cameras. And oh, it’s also got a 10-Megapixel Selfie camera in the form of a punch hole at the centre of the screen
  • Display: Just like all Samsung smartphones, this one too really good panel. It’s Samsung’s very own 6.1 inch AMOLED panel with 1080p x 2040p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and peak brightness of 1300 nits
  • Design and Build: Here’s where Samsung’s cut corners. Though the front has Gorilla Glass Victus, the back of the phone is made of Polycarbonate (Just to make it sound better). This wouldn’t have a massive difference in terms of strength, just the in-hand feel is not quite as good as that of glass. However, the S21’s design is quite striking with the camera bump fading into the aluminium frame. The choice of colours adds on to the striking design here. 
  • Battery: It’s got a 4000 mAh unit, with support for 25W wired and 15W wireless. Another aspect to note here is that it doesn’t come bundled with a charger :) 🍎
  • Pricing: The S21 starts at 69,999 INR (8GB + 128GB)

Galaxy S21+ : 
There aren’t many differences between the S21 and the S21+. The S21+’s got a larger display (6.7 inch), hence a larger body and a higher capacity battery (4800 mAh). Apart from that, the back of the smartphone too has an upgrade, it’s Gorilla Glass instead of Plastic. 
And of course, the price isn’t the same :) 
The S21+ starts at 1 rupee less that 82,000 INR. 

Galaxy S21 Ultra: 
Now is the time to know about the smartphone which’s got no corner’s cut (not literally lol)
I won’t be writing much of some of the specifications, just because some of them are just the same. I hope you’re here only after reading the top. 

  • Processor: The Galaxy S21 Ultra too comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 in the US and the Exynos 2100 in the rest of the world. 
  • Display: Here’s where Samsung’s put everything it’s got. The S21 Ultra has an amazing 6.7 inch AMOLED display with QHD+ resolution (1440p x 3200p), 120Hz refresh rate and 1500 its peak brightness. 
  • Cameras: A Quad-Camera Setup (Surely not the one to rant on): A 108-Megapixel Primary, a 12-Megapixel Ultra-wide angle camera, a 10-Megapixel Periscope Telephoto and another 10-Megapixel Telephoto. Clearly, Samsung’s tried to give a lot of attention towards zooming, here. The periscope telephoto camera is capable of 10x optical zoom and the other telephoto gets 3x optical zoom. The selfie camera too is given quite a lot of importance here. It’s a massive 40-Megapixel one, again in a punch hole. 
  • Design and build: It’s got Gorilla Glass both on the front and the back. The camera bump on this one really huge though, again, fading into the aluminium frame. 
  • Battery: While most brands tend to keep the battery capacity low in order to make it less hefty, Samsung’s gone with a 5000 mAh unit on the S21 Ultra. It too has support for 25W wired and 15W wireless charging. 
  • S-Pen Compatibility: This is something that’s worth a mention. The S21 Ultra’s got support for the S-Pen, but just as a stylus, while missing out on stuff like gestures with the S-Pen. It isn’t embedded in the smartphone itself though, like the ‘Note’ series, but you’ve got to buy another accessory (A case onto which the S-Pen sticks) to have it with the smartphone. 
  • Pricing: With so much to offer, it surely’s got to be pricey. The S21 Ultra starts at 1,05,999 INR (12GB + 256GB). 

Other than smartphones, Samsung also launched 2 other products, namely, the Galaxy Buds Pro and Galaxy Tags. 

The Buds Pro are centred around Active Noise Cancellation, resulting in an immersive listening experience. While quite a few brands compromise on the quality of microphones on Truly Wireless Earphones, Samsung has put it all and claims really good calling experience (3-Mic System)

Image Courtesy: Samsung Global Newsroom



The Galaxy Tags are basically a tracking device hanging on to any of your appliances, goods or devices. In case you’ve misplaced anything with that tag on it, you’d be glad. 
While it sells at $29.99 in the US (which is quite overpriced, according to me), it isn’t sure if it’ll be available in India any time soon. The website too says ‘Not for sale’

Image Courtesy: Samsung India



That was it for the blog. 
Hope you liked it! 
I personally liked the S21 lineup and it’s pricing. Let me know your thoughts on the same in the comments.  
Thanks for reading till the end! :)

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