ZOTAC GTX 1660 Super AMP detailed review

The competition in the mid-range has further intensified with NVIDIA launching an additional GPUs today in the form of the NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super and another one, the NVIDIA GTX 1650 Super, will be launched later in November. Both cards are for the GTX 16-series (i.e. the one without hardware accelerated ray-tracing but later received support through a driver update) cards with seemingly moderate bumps in performance. Both cards are AIB-only which means you will not be seeing any NVIDIA Founders Edition graphics cards for these. Today's review is courtesy of the ZOTAC GTX 1660 Super AMP Edition card which is going to be retailing for Rs.22,590/- in India.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super Specifications

The specifications of the GTX 1660 Super is pretty much the same as the GTX 1660 with just one key difference, the memory has been bumped up from GDDR5 to GDDR6 bringing with it increased bandwidth that will help with gaming at higher resolutions.

The ZOTAC GTX 1660 Super AMP. going by its name, comes with a factory overclock which puts the boost clock at 1845 MHz which is 60 MHz over the boost frequency of the reference specification.

ZOTAC GTX 1660 Super AMP Edition Graphics Card

Since we have no idea what the reference design looks like, we can't exactly opine on how much of a modification ZOTAC has made to this particular graphics card. However, with AMP Edition cards, ZOTAC does make quite a few changes to the overall design.

The card comes with a backplate that warps around the edges to provide a little extra rigidity. You can see the ZOTAC GAMING logo emblazoned on the top along with the GeForce GTX branding. The card uses an 8-pin power connector despite the reference design only needing 125W which could only mean that the card might pull around 150 W or higher from the PCIe connector. Or it could simply be a design choice to reduce load per cable.

From the bottom you can see the three heatpipes snaking into the finstack which is making contact with the GPU, memory chips and the MOSFETs.

Upon removing the cooler assembly, we can see how much of the card is actually occupied by the PCB. There's a good inch and a half of excess space on the right side which is used to accommodate the cooler assembly. Also, the connector is quite recessed into the top part. We didn't face any issues plugging or unplugging the card despite this deep recess. If you are using custom cables then this might end up looking better since the connector will be hidden from view.

Here we see the cooler assembly in all its glory. Those are two 90 mm fans sitting atop a thick finstack with three heatpipes spreading the heat from the GPU and the VRM.

On the bottom of the cooler assembly, you can see that it has a copper base plate to make contact with the GPU and the heatpipes are spread apart across the heatsink.

Lastly, there's the GPU at the heart of the graphcis card which happens to be an NVIDIA Turing TU116-300-A1 surrounded by eight Micron MT61K256M32JE-14 chips for the VRAM.

Performance

Considering that the specifications of the GTX 1660 Super is the same as the GTX 1660 except for the change in the memory configuration, it'll be interesting to see how it pans out across difference resolutions. We, unfortunately, don't have the numbers for the vanilla GTX 1660, so we can't say how much of a difference there will be with respect to that GPU but we do have a GTX 1650 and a 1660 Ti to compare against. Let's take a look at some gaming benchmarks.

The 1650 is left in the lurch by the new GTX 1660 Super but what's more interesting is to see that the GTX 1660 Super equals the GTX 1660 Ti in most of the benchmarks. The 1660 Ti certainly has a slight advantage of say 3-5 FPS in some titles but that's not enough to justify the price difference. It seems almost as if there's no need to get the 1660 Ti for most of the games that we've tested.

Coolpad Cool 1 detailed review

Remember the LeEco Le 2? The budget smartphone that was slightly faster than the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, had a slightly better camera and just enough battery life to last a day? Well, it’s back, but this time with two cameras at the back, a larger battery and a new name, Coolpad Cool 1.

LeEco acquired the largest stake in Coolpad earlier this year, with its CEO became Coolpad’s Chairman. The Cool 1 is presumably the biggest impact of that, that we’ve seen so far. For the most part, the Cool 1 is the Le 2, with a new camera, and perfect to win back the consumer’s attention at a time when LeEco has reportedly been in turmoil. It’s a big change from Coolpad branded phones that we’ve seen before, though.

Camera: Good, but not great
The phone uses two Sony IMX258 Exmor RS sensors. Of these, one is the main camera which captures colour photos and the other shoots the same image in monochrome. The camera software then combines the images from both these 13MP sensors to create one image. 

The theory remains the same as the Huawei P9 or Honor 8. The two sensors capture more light, monochrome images capture more details, and together these images are theoretically meant to be better.

On the Cool 1, images turn out to be really good, but don’t go expecting the P9’s quality. In fact, the Nubia Z11 Mini takes better photos than this one. While details are good, there is some visible noise even in pictures taken during the day. 

Colours are a tad warm, which would please many, but the shutter lag and processing time are lower than ideal. The phone takes a little longer than its peers to click pictures and tries to mask the same with fancy animations. Noise levels increase under low light and the software tries to balance it out with softer focus. Images are usable, but you will end up with poor images from time to time.

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The dual-camera setup also lets the phone shoot bokeh, which comes really handy while taking portrait shots. Most of the background blur is done via software, though. The background blur can look nice, but don’t go expecting pro level bokehs, or in fact, even iPhone level bokehs. Details are often better without the bokeh mode, than with it. 

Build and Design: Cut, Copy and Paste
The Coolpad Cool 1 looks exactly like the LeEco Le 2. From the materials used to the chamfered edges, everything is reminiscent of the Le 2. Needless to say, if you liked the Le 2, there’s no questioning this design either. Even with its 5.5-inch display and a slighter thicker profile, the Coolpad Cool 1 is as comfortable to hold as the Le 2. The slightly chamfered edges help with the ergonomics of the device and don’t dig into to your palms, after prolonged use.

However, unlike the Le 2, the Cool 1 does feature a headphone jack in addition to the USB Type-C port. There are two speaker grilles at the bottom of the phone, out of which only one houses the speaker. Simply put, it’s a mono speaker.

Overall, it’s a well built smartphone, even if it looks the same as most budget devices today.

Display and UI: Same as the Le 2
If you have used a LeEco Le 2 or read our review of the device, then you can skip this section as there is nothing new or noteworthy to talk about.

The Cool 1 has 1920 x 1080p display. It has four different display modes: LeEco, Vivid, Natural and Soft, and is set in LeEco mode out of the box. The colour saturation is quite good and icons and text look sharp. That, combined with reasonably deep blacks, bright whites and overall neutral hue, makes this is a really good display to watch video content on. 

The overall touch response is fluid, but the Cool 1 is prone to fingerprints. The downside is its brightness, which at 486 lux is much less than competing phones. This combined with the reflective display means that it is not easily visible under direct sunlight. 

On the UI front, there is a huge difference between the UI of previous Coolpad devices and the Cool 1 and we believe it is for the better. Where CoolUI was boring, with those rounded icons, LeEco’s EUI is better. It feels much more refined. 

EUI also does not feature a drop down quick toggle, instead you need to press the multitasking button for a combined recents menu and toggles. It gets the job done, but will take some time getting used to. A noticeable departure is in the fact that none of LeEco’s apps (LeVidi, LeLive etc) are present on this phone. So, the company doesn’t seem to be extending its content plans to Coolpad phones, at least for now.

However, LeEco’s content plans are available in China to anyone, and we expect that in India eventually.

Performance: Still the best in under 15K

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 just glides over daily tasks such as browsing, video streaming, social networking, WhatsApp, etc. Further, there an extra gig of RAM on this one, which is always welcome. There’s no noticeable difference, though. The phone handles gaming with equal ease and ran all the games, including Asphalt 8, Marvels: Contest of Champions and Galaxy Wars. It is not as smooth as or snappy as the Lenovo Z2 Plus, but there’s very little to complain about.

It is also efficient in terms of the heat generated. The Cool 1 reached 37 degrees on gaming for 10 minutes, while 10 minutes of 4K video recording returned temperatures of 39 degree celsius. That’s quite acceptable, but not ideal. Don’t be surprised if it tends to heat up a little during the summers.

Battery: Better than last time
You also get a larger battery this time. Powering the device is a 4060mAh battery and the battery life is much better. I left home with 100% battery each morning, and returned at around 10.30pm, with about 30% battery left. That’s a solid 12 hours worth of battery life, and should satisfy most users.
In fact, the phone runs for 6 hours and 22 minutes on the PCMark battery test, which is better than most budget phones. In its price range, the Coolpad Cool 1 is beaten only by the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, in terms of battery life.

Bottomline
Good metal build, delightful display, best in class performance, commendable battery life and camera, the Coolpad Cool 1 checks all the important features. It is a complete package, and one that can be easily recommended. It has a better camera than the Le 2, making it an even better smartphone. At Rs. 13,999, it’s among the best smartphones to buy in the sub-15k budget right now.

Micromax Canvas Doodle 2 A240 detailed review

Micromax has made quite a name for itself with the launch of smartphones in a variety of price ranges. The budget smartphone maker has launched a series of successful devices such as the Canvas 2 A110, Canvas HD, and the recently launched Canvas 4. Now Micromax looks to take on the mid range large-screened smartphone market with the launch of the Canvas Doodle 2. The device has a large 5.7-inch display and shows off an impressive build. Is it worth the price of admission?

At a glance
The Canvas Doodle 2 has an aluminum build and you don’t have access to the battery or expandable storage. The display of the phablet is large at 5.7-inches and has a 1280x720 pixel resolution. It has 16GB built-in storage of which 13GB is available to the user. The rear of the phablet has a 12MP camera and the front has a 5MP shooter for video calling. The Doodle 2 has the MediaTek MT6589 chipset with the CPU clocked at 1.2GHz. You have Android 4.2 Jelly Bean straight out of the box.

Here is a quick look to see how the Canvas Doodle 2 compares to competing devices (including the Xolo Q1000S, WickedLeak Wammy Titan II, Lemon A4 and the Xolo Play T1000)

Design
You can be forgiven for thinking that this is a premium device thanks to the build the Canvas Doodle 2 has. The front is the same as any other Micromax smartphone with the standard three capacitive buttons housed below the display. The rear of the smartphone is a different story. Essentially, it’s divided into three parts - the top which houses the 12MP camera, the bottom which can be removed to access the SIM card slots and the middle which has an aluminum finish to it making it look really sturdy. You don’t have access to the battery of the phablet.

The rear has a matte finish to it and I really liked it. The rest of the port and button placement is fairly standard – power button on the right, volume rocker on the left, microUSB port at the bottom and the headphones jack up top.

The Doodle 2 also comes with a stylus but you won’t be using that for very long as there is no place on the phablet to house it.

Overall, Micromax has given the Canvas Doodle 2 A240 an impressive build quality. The device isn’t light at 220 grams nor is it the slimmest at 8.9mm in thickness but the package on offer is very attractive.

UI and preloaded apps
The Canvas Doodle 2 runs on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean. The interface is stock Android for the most part with a few Micromax specific UI elements and apps thrown into the mix.

The Canvas Doodle 2’s Micromax specific preloaded apps includes Games Hub, M!Doodle, M!Live, M!Unlock, M!Secure and Mi!Zone.

M!Secure helps you backup your contacts, scans your phone for viruses and gives you warnings every time  you download an app.

As the name suggests, the Game Hub gives you access to games such as Barfi, Bubble shooter, Catch a Mouse and more.

M!Live gives you access to local Indian content such as ringtones, wallpapers and more. The M!Unlock app gives access to the blow or shake to unlock feature, one that was introduced with the Canvas 4.

Overall, the UI is stock Android, which I liked, and the preloaded apps add local content to the smartphone, something Micromax has introduced on all its Android smartphones. There is no bloatware on the phone and that is a good thing.

Performance
Coming to the performance of the Canvas Doodle 2, here is a quick look to see how it performs when compared to other smartphones in its price range.

 

From the above benchmarks it is clear that the Canvas Doodle 2 is an average performer. It hasn’t scored the best but it isn’t the worst either. We have seen devices such as the Lemon A4 that runs on the old MT6589 chipset and has a 1080p 5-inch display along with 1GB of RAM. With its hardware, the Lemon required more power to render on a Full HD display, hence the lower scores. On the other hand we have the Canvas 4 with a 5-inch 720p display with the MT6589 chipset. It scores almost at par with the Canvas Doodle 2. The Xolo Q1000S on the other hand has a 5-inch 720p display and is powered by the MT6589T chipset. It has more power under the hood and hence the best benchmark scores of the list.

Moving on, the display of the Canvas Doodle 2, at full brightness is quite vibrant. The 5.7-inch display has a pixel density of 258ppi, which isn’t great, but it isn’t bad by any standards. We saw the standard array of videos on the device ranging from MKV to MP4 and AVI. The videos were plagued with the same problem that we have with the MediaTek chipset. You have the MKV files where only the video runs and the audio isn’t recognized. Surprisingly, the native video player crashed when we ran AVI files on it and that’s a bummer.

The native video player is the same that we have seen on the Canvas 4. You can swipe up and down on the left to control the brightness and do the same on the right for the volume. You can also watch the videos in a small window on the display letting you use other apps while watching the video. Just like the Canvas 4, the canvas Doodle also boasts of the “Smart Pause” feature, which is that the video playing will pause once you look away. On the Canvas 4 this worked very well for me during the testing process. On the Doodle 2 however, it seems buggy. There were times when watching a video, it paused randomly. There were also times when I looked away and it took a second too long to pause making the feature feel rather gimmicky.

Sticking with the display, watching videos on it wasn’t as great a treat as I it was on other devices such as the Lemon A4, WickedLeak Wammy Passion Z Plus and the Canvas 4. The size of the display is good but the videos look a bit washed out.

Another problem I faced with the performance was that if I had too many apps running in the background, some of them heavy games, the device would crash randomly and wouldn’t perform well until I rebooted it. For the most part however, there was no lag when navigating the device.

The experience of interacting with the display feels good. The keyboard is stock Android and there is enough display real estate for you to have a comfortable typing experience.

Games such as Angry Birds, Temple Run 2 and more ran quite well with heavy games such as Dead trigger stuttering at times. Real Racing 3, as always, refused to run.

The camera on the rear of the Canvas Doodle 2 is 13MP and its performance can be described as average at best. In well-lit conditions, especially outdoors, the camera performed well. In low-lit situations, there was a lot of noise and loss of detail.

In terms of its battery life, the Canvas Doodle 2 is average. In our continuous video playback test, the device lasted for five hours. With average use you will be able to get through one day of use.  

Bottom Line
The overall build of the Canvas Doodle 2 is good and I am impressed with the aluminum back. In its performance however the device falls short. You will lose the stylus, as there is no way to keep it with the phone. There aren’t any apps out there that exploit it as we have seen on the Galaxy Note series of devices from Samsung. If you want a large screen device for browsing the web, playing games and reading, you can consider this device. If pure performance is what you are looking for, then there are other devices out there for you to consider.

Coolpad Note 3 detailed review

Smartphone technology is getting better everyday, and with it, top tier hardware from yesteryear phones is now becoming available in budget phones. This has made a significant change on how these budget smartphones perform. Though they still lack the proper firepower to go head-on against flagship devices, they won't let you down if everyday tasks are the primary concern. To quantify, in today's sub-10K smartphone bracket, an octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 13MP camera have become somewhat standard.

While there are many contenders in the sub-10K category with more or less the same specs and performance, we belive that there is room for improvement. This brings us to the Coolpad Note 3. The third phone in six months from the Chinese manufacturer brings a couple of new aspects to the table in the sub-10k price bracket – a fingerprint sensor and 3GB of RAM. Will this be enough to make it a recommendable phone?

Build and Design
When we first unboxed the phone in our offices, there was a unanimous call that it looks very similar to the Micromax Canvas Doodle 4 that we had reviewed earlier. It is safe to say that the design is nothing new. However, the similarities end there. The Note 3 features a 5.5-inch display, and the overall feel of the phone is much better than the Canvas Doodle 4. The matte back with a slight curve offers comfortable grip on the phone, but it still feels big for one-handed usage. Moreover, the three capacitive navigation keys which lie under the display are not backlit, which requires some getting-used-to.

Build quality, however, is somewhat better. Along the edge runs a metal band which looks good, and gives it some sturdiness. There is an aluminum frame inside, which makes the phone feel rigid in hand. There are two physical keys, a power button to the right and a volume rocker to the left, which offer satisfying depression when pressed. The back is removable, but the battery is sealed in, which further adds to its sturdy build. Overall, even though most of the build is plastic, at an asking price of Rs. 8,999, the Coolpad Note 3 offers a reliable build quality.

Display and UI
The 5.5-inch display on the Coolpad Note 3 is good. It offers vibrant, true-to-source colours. It is adequately bright and offers good touch response. However, the visibility degrades to just reflections as soon as you view it in direct light conditions. We should also add that the omission of a full HD display is certainly evident, and the phone could have done much better with it.

On the UI front, we were greeted by Coolpad’s Cool UI, which offers bright and colourful icons. The whole UI is simple to navigate through, and the phone offers a simple, single-tab settings menu – no customisations here, apart from the vibrant colour scheme. The main attraction of the UI experience is the new fingerprint sensor which works like a charm. It is one of the fastest fingerprint scanners we have come across, and in our tests, it turned out to be quite accurate too. We tried to unlock the phone with wet fingers and in different orientations, and it worked perfectly. The fingerprint sensor can also be used to lock individual apps which is quite handy, if you store sensitive information on your phone. However, there is one black spot here, which is the pre-installed keyboard – Xploree. This keyboard keeps on accumulating advert cards on the side, related to whatever you type, and these occasionally pop up like unwanted insurance brokers.

Performance
The MediaTek chip inside provides plenty of grunt to make the phone work. Add to it the 3GB of RAM, and we have a good combo for the price. The phone is quite capable in handling everyday tasks. However, it does stutter if you open a few heavy apps back-to-back, and is rather inconsistent at times. Gaming on the phone is decent, but prolonged gaming does make it lag at times. However, the phone doesn't heat up too much, and remains relatively cooler than the competing YU Yureka Plus, under similar circumstances. Here are the synthetic benchmarks, in comparison to its competitors.

Even though these benchmarks suggest that the phone is a good performer, but considering other phones as Yu Yureka Plus and Meizu M2 Note, the overall performance was not as streamlined as the others.

Battery
What good is a phone, if it cannot offer good battery life? The Coolpad Note 3 offers about a day’s worth. Using the phone as a daily driver, without any gaming, the phone was able to get me through an entire day, without any compromise. However, gaming burns the battery much faster, and an hour of gaming burnt almost 23% of the charge. In our standard battery test where we loop a 1080p video till the battery dies, the phone achived almost 10 hours of playback, which is quite good.

Camera
The 13MP rear camera on the Coolpad Note 3 is not one of the best shooters in this category, but it gets really close. In bright daylight conditions, images rendered decent amount of details, and true-to-source colour reproduction. However, in situations with sharp contrast of lighting, subjects appeared dark in situations with bright backgrounds, leading to overall lack of detail on an image. Images taken in low lighting conditions were good – the noise reducing algorithm keeps noise at minimal, without compromising in details.

Coolpad Note 3

Bottomline
The Coolpad Note 3 has everything that you might need from an entry level smartphone. A decent display, reliable performance and a workable camera. On top of that, this is the first and only phone which offers fingerprint security at this price point. However, Coolpad has left too many rough edges which need to be polished out. It could easily have been the best phone in its category, but loses on making the whole smartphone experience complete. So, if you are paranoid about your privacy and want to buy a phone in the sub-10K range, this is the phone to buy. But, if security is not your priority, the Meizu M2 Note is still the best phone to buy.

Watch Coolpad Note 3 Review Video

Watch Coolpad Note 3 Lite First Impressions Video