Realme 6, Realme 6 Pro: Specification, Price, Release Date

Realme 6, Realme 6 Pro: Specification, Price, Release Date

     Announced on March 5, 2020, the Realme 6 features a Helio90T Mediatek SoC, supported by 4, 6 or 8 GB of RAM, and 64 or 128 GB of storage, expandable by microSD.

     It has 4 photosensors on the back, the main one having a 64-megapixel resolution. It has a 4200 mAh battery and a 30 W fast charge.

     The Realme 6 wants to be a new champion of price/quality ratio and walk on Xiaomi's busy flowerbeds.

Realme 6 design

     Efficient. We can't spend hours describing the beauty of Realme 6 because the praise would ring hollow quickly enough.

     The phone simply relies on efficiency and, in broad outline, it's quite successful. Let's face it: you won't be dealing with a compact smartphone with its 162.1 x 74.8 x 8.9 mm dimensions. It's not the lightest either, weighing 191 grams.

     It's not unpleasant to hold, far from it, but you have to admit that the very slight difference in height between the slab and the edges creates a little discomfort under the finger.

     It is quite easily forgotten, but it is worth noting. The most important thing to remember is that the width of the telephone is considerable.

     Holding the Realme 6 in front of you, you will see a phone marked with a bubble large enough at the top left of the screen to shelter the photosensor from selfies.

     The black outline around the display area is well marked, especially around the thick chin.

     On the back, the plastic surface doesn't really look like glass. It does, however, offer reflections from the center downwards and spread over the entire surface. At least this is the case with our white model.

     Vertical and long, the quadruple photo module is quite imposing and stands out a little bit. The result is a wobbly smartphone when laid flat. Not too much, but still.

     Finally, the fingerprint reader is positioned on the right side, at a good thumb height for a right-handed person, but also for a left-handed person's index finger. At the bottom, the USB-C socket is next to the jack socket.

Realme 6 offers a fairly good display quality 90 HZ

     The Realme 6's LCD screen has a diagonal of 6.5 inches with a Full HD+ definition of 2400 x 1080 pixels. Above all, it has the special feature of being able to achieve a refresh rate of 90 Hz.

     In other words, by activating the appropriate option in the settings, you can make the panel display 90 frames per second to enjoy increased fluidity. It's quite pleasant.

     For the rest, the Realme 6 offers a fairly good display quality. With the CalMAN software and our probe, a maximum brightness of 441 cd/m² is measured, which makes it possible to distinguish what is displayed in a large number of cases.

     Be careful, however, under strong sunlight or in a very bright environment, you will most likely have to squint your eyes to see everything on your screen.

     The contrast of 1381:1 is rather satisfactory, but we can observe that the slab tends to draw a little too much towards the blue.

     This observation is confirmed by our probe which displays a temperature of 7174 K when we aim at 6500 K instead. A gauge in the screen options allows you to correct the shot a little.

     In addition, the slab is not necessarily ultra faithful to reality with an average Delta E of 4.94 on the DCI-P3. We would like this figure to be closer to 3 for more faithful colors, but the Realme 6 is not disappointing either.

     Alas, one will regret a rather limited capacity to display a great variety of colors. Indeed, Realme 6 covers 126% of the sRGB color space while we are more and more used to seeing this number at higher levels. For the DCI-P3 space, which is even wider, the coverage is 84%.

Realme UI home interface based on Android 10

     The phone takes advantage of the Realme UI home interface based on Android 10. 

    Overall, we see a better overall consistency between the interface elements. For example, all the options in the shortcuts panel are displayed in blue when activated, which was not the case before.

     We have a dark mode - extremely dark - which is no longer simply offered as an experimental function in the Realme Lab menu.

     It is indeed an option to be found in the display settings or via a tile in the shortcut panel.

     Overall, the interface offers a plethora of customizations where you can choose between two gestures navigation systems or arrange the button bar as you see fit, make a thumb-down slide on the home screen bring down the notifications pane, set up a sidebar with shortcuts of your choice, or choose whether or not to opt for an application drawer.

     We won't dwell on the intelligent assistant for long. It simply consists of an additional screen on the home screen that provides quick access to certain functions and displays the number of steps taken.


     It's nice to note that the Realme 6 is certified by the L1 security level of the Widevine DRM. This means that you will be able to enjoy HD quality on SVoD platforms such as Netflix or Disney+.

Realme 6, Realme 6 Pro with 64-megapixel quad cameras 

     Four photo sensors are featured on the back of the Realme 6 with the following configuration:

* 64-megapixel (f/1.8) main sensor.
* 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle, 119 degrees (f/2.3)
* depth sensor in black and white (f/2.4)

* sensor with 2-megapixel (f/2.4) macro lens, 4 cm focus point

     With the main sensor, it is possible to take beautiful pictures when the right conditions are present. Colors stand out well while images are correctly detailed.

     In some situations, however, it is felt that the dynamics are not perfectly managed and therefore some areas of the shot maybe a little too much in the shadows. Nothing too bad, though.

     The same sensor also allows you to take full-frame 64-megapixel photos to enjoy a higher level of detail. The difference is there, but it's not usually obvious.

     The pictures are indeed larger, but the precision of the lines and sharpness is not at the expected level. So you won't have much interest in using this mode, which results in heavier images.

     At night, the noise in the images is omnipresent, but one will greet all the same the beautiful efforts of the Realme 6 to offer exploitable images with a level of details, certainly much lower than in normal conditions, but still quite correct for this price segment.

     All the more so as, in a good majority of cases, the light sources are relatively well managed. A good point.

     The night mode can be interesting to better illuminate the shaded areas on the shot. However, on the other hand, colors may suffer from a small yellowing during the process as shown below.

The ultra-wide-angle lens offers by definition a wider field of vision. If the effect of distortion is well attenuated with this shooting mode, you can see that it can fall into the trap of overexposure.

     The colors are also more saturated than in the classic mode. Finally, the level of detail drops noticeably - at night it's even very blurry.

MediaTek Helio G90T - 8 GB

     The MediaTek Helio G90T had already proven its great capabilities on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro. On the Realme 6, this SoC, associated with 8 GB of RAM on our test copy, does not fail to maintain this beautiful reputation since it offers very big performances on the phone, especially in-game.

     A part of Fortnite runs extremely well with the graphic details pushed to a high level, 30 frames per second and the 3D resolution set to 100%. It's smooth and seamless. For the price of the Realme 6, it's really a big point of satisfaction.


     Same back to Call of Duty Mobile where you can push the graphics to the max without fear of slowing down your gaming session.

Realme 6 - 4,300 mAh battery

      With a 4,300 mAh battery, the Realme 6 manages to hold up well throughout the day, even when it is used quite actively. It's not the greatest champion in its class.

     With the fairly intense use of mixing games, video viewing, photo sessions, and web browsing, it easily holds up from morning until late at night.


Nevertheless, we could see that Realme 6 runs out slowly, even when taking pictures or videos with it. In-game, it can lose its battery a little faster, but it is still satisfying.

     On a game of Fortnite with all graphics settings set to maximum as well as screen brightness and with the 90 Hz mode, the phone loses about 8% over a 20-minute session. With a more normal set screen, this figure drops to around 5%.

     On a one-hour YouTube video, the phone usually loses 5-6% of its battery, which is very honorable. Realme 6 has proven itself to be quite up to the task in terms of battery life. In addition, the phone comes with a highly efficient 30 W fast charger.

Realme 6  Price and Release Date

     The Realme 6 exists in three versions. Its price starts at 229.90 euros for the model with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. The price goes up to 269.90 euros for the 4/128 GB version and 299.90 euros for the 8/128 GB version.


Start of sales on April 6 

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Huawei P40 Pro: Full phone specifications! the best smartphone without Google?

Huawei P40 Pro: Full phone specifications! the best smartphone without Google?

     Huawei launches the P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro+, its three new premium 5G compatible smartphones.

     A year ago, everything was going well in Huawei. The Chinese brand was breaking record after record, enjoying an excellent surge in popularity and offer, with its P30 range, what the press around the world called "the best camera in a smartphone".

     There seemed to be no stopping Huawei, whose destiny was clearly heading for world number one status.

     A year later, much has changed. Having been blacklisted by the United States in May 2019, Huawei can no longer offer Google services on its smartphones, making many applications incompatible with its new devices.

     By a stroke of bad luck, a pandemic struck the world, preventing the brand from holding its major global reconquest conference originally planned for Paris.

     Instead, its new smartphones, the Huawei P40, had to be presented during a live-stream, which is immediately less sexy.

A sumptuous screen

     This year, Huawei is offering its P range in three models. In addition to the small P40 (with a 6.1-inch uncurved screen), there are the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+, two smartphones with a 6.58-inch OLED screen.

     A special feature is that the OLED display is curved on all four sides of the smartphone, which is a first.

     This gives the impression of only holding a screen in your hand, although, we'd rather warn you, it's much less impressive in reality than in photos. Still, this new design is quite sublime.

     Importantly, the screen curvature of the P40 Pro is less pronounced than on the Mate 30 Pro. The latter left no room for physical buttons, which is not the case here. The P40 Pro retains volume and power buttons.

     Another new feature, which for the moment only concerns the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+, is that Huawei now offers a 90 Hz refresh rate on its mobile screens. We would have preferred 120 Hz, as on the Galaxy S20, but we'll make do with that.

     We notice from the very first minutes again in fluidity at the level of navigation, which is pleasant.

     On the other hand, it's hard to understand why the Chinese brand chose to insert such a wide punch in the upper left corner of its mobiles. The latter, which contains a front camera (32 Mpix) and a depth sensor, takes up far too much space. A single small camera would have done the trick.

A new, extremely attractive color

     Finally, it's impossible to mention the design of the P40 without saluting the new colors invented by Huawei.

     The color "frosted grey" on the back of our test products is particularly successful. Thanks to the matt glass coating, the back does not catch fingerprints.

     The way the back reflects the light as if we were looking at a cloud, is also to be commended. In all objectivity, it is one of the most beautiful colors of recent years.

     The camera module of smartphones, housed in a rectangle that creates a slight protrusion at the top left, is better integrated into the device than that of other smartphones (Samsung's Galaxy S20 Ultra comes to mind).

     The Huawei P40 Pro+ has a ceramic back. It is clearly intended for those who love more luxurious products.

Kirin 990 5G and ultra-fast charging

     The Huawei P40 belongs to the high-end smartphone category.

     All three are 5G compatible and use Huawei's powerful Kirin 990 processor in its new 5G version with even finer engraving (7 nm EUV). A boosted version of the Kirin 990 that was already found in the Mate 30 Pro. 8 GB of RAM is included.

     Like the P30s, the P40s have a fingerprint sensor under the screen. The latter offers a 30% larger surface area and, according to Huawei, is also faster.

     Our initial tests still find it sometimes inaccurate, even though there is nothing catastrophic about it. The P40s are also the brand's first Wi-Fi 6-compatible smartphones, and Huawei is now moving into eSIM.

     Like Apple, Google or Samsung, the Chinese company offers to set up a virtual package without going to its operator (although the latter must offer such a service). It is still possible to insert two Nano SIMs or a Nano-SIM and an NM card to extend storage.

     The Huawei P40 has a 3800 mAh battery, the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ have a 4200 mAh battery.

     This seems a little bit right for a high-end 5G smartphone, but the Chinese brand has already proven in the past its excellence in optimizing energy consumption. So let's trust them.

     Finally, the Huawei P40 Pro can handle the ultra-fast 40W charge, while the classic model only needs 22.5W. Only the Pro and Pro+ models are compatible with wireless charging, up to 27W.

Huawei P40 Pro cameras 

     The Huawei P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ do not have the same camera modules. To make it easier for you to read this article, here's what each of these smartphones offers in terms of camera equipment.

     Let's start with the small Huawei P40. It's a triple camera module that can be found on the back of the smartphone.

     The main sensor, which is a record size (1/1.28", compared to 1/1.33" at Samsung), offers a definition of 50 Mpix (with a lens that opens at f/1.9).

     It uses SuperSpectrum technology, like the P30 Pro. This means that the color filters placed between the lens and the photosensor are RYYB (red, yellow, yellow, blue) and not RGB (red green blue).

     This allows more light to enter the sensor, which improves the quality of night shots. The P40 also features a telephoto lens with a 3x zoom, an 80mm equivalent, which opens at f/2.4 (8MP sensor) and an ultra-wide-angle module that opens at f/2.2, attached to a 16MP sensor.

     The Huawei P40 Pro improves on last year's recipe. It is equipped with the same 50 Mpix sensor as the classic P40 but has three other modules.

     Among them is the same ultra-wide-angle lens as the Mate 30 Pro, with a 40 Mpix sensor attached.

     This extra-large (1/1.54-inch) sensor is also used for video recording functions and offers super slow motion at 7,680 frames per second.

     We'll have the opportunity to test its capabilities further in the near future. There is also a ToF radar dedicated to a depth of field measurement.

     Of course, the Huawei P40 Pro also features an exceptional periscopic zoom, just like its predecessor.

     Attached to a 12 Mpix sensor, it offers 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom, and 50x digital zoom.

     The main difference from last year is that Huawei has decided to equip its super-telephoto lens with the same SuperSpectrum technology as its main sensor.

     The promise: to allow you to take night shots from far away without any degradation in quality.

     Our first tests are quite disappointing, there are big problems with white balance management (hopefully Huawei will fix them in a future software update).

     On the other hand, let's salute the smartphone's foolproof optical stabilization. On one hand, even at 50x zoom, the image is not degraded by any shaking. Like Samsung with its Galaxy S20 Ultra, Huawei hits hard.

     Finally, with its Penta camera module, the Huawei P40 Pro+ is the most impressive mobile phone ever announced by the brand.

     The smartphone shares with the P40 Pro it's 50 Mpix main sensors, 40 Mpix ultra-wide-angle and ToF sensor but differs in terms of zoom.

     In fact, it has two. In addition to a telephoto lens with a 3x zoom (like the classic P40), this camera comes with the first periscope with... 10x optical zoom.

     Attached to an 8 Mpix sensor (also SuperSpectrum), this one can go up to 100x digital.

     The most mocking people will say that Samsung does the same with its S20 Ultra but let's remind them that Korean's mobile phone only has a 4x optical zoom. Chances are that Huawei's phone is much better.

     There are also a few new features common to all three smartphones, such as new algorithms for portrait mode (which improves skin color accuracy) and a glare removal system. A new mode similar to Apple's Live Photo also allows you to record a short video before and after taking a picture to keep more memories.

Software, always the Huawei's ball and chain

     As incredible as these Huawei P40s are, remember that these smartphones are deprived of Google services. This poses huge problems to the use.

     For example, in the first configuration, it is impossible to recover many applications from your old smartphone.

     All Google, Facebook, Uber, etc. apps are grayed out... If you want to get them back yourself, by downloading their APK, you will then discover that they don't all work.

     Citymapper, Uber, YouTube, Yuka, PathéGaumont, to name but a few, don't boot on the Chinese giant's new devices (they use Google APIs, which are absent from this smartphone).

     Instead, Huawei recommends that you go through your browser and opt for their web versions. It works, but do you really want a smartphone that's incompatible with a bunch of popular applications?

     In the long term, Huawei is banking on its HMS (Huawei Mobile Services) to fill the gap. Many apps reach its AppGallery app store every day, even if, let's face it, it is still very empty today.

     Next to the Play Store, it looks really pale (especially since there are some very strange interface bugs, like texts written in Chinese.

     New for 2020, when the AppGallery doesn't have the application you're looking for, it can redirect you to its publisher's site or third-party platforms.

     However, this solution has one important negative point: your applications won't be updated by themselves.

     Instead, we recommend that you opt for third-party stores such as the Aurora Store, even if, once again, nothing tells you that an application will work once it is installed.

     Getting a Huawei smartphone these days is a bit of a lottery. Fortunately, the brand promises many improvements in the course of 2020, including a notification system to alert you when APK updates the installed applications when they become available.

     Another novelty introduced with the P40s is that Huawei replaces Google's search engine with Qwant's search engine.

     The brand is also launching its video calling service MeeTime (a competitor to FaceTime and Google Duo) and Huawei Music, its competitor to Spotify (with three months free and then a subscription at 9.99 euros per month).

Huawei p40 pro price

     As it stands, we find it difficult to recommend the P40 range. Marketed respectively at 799 euros, 1099 euros and probably more than 1300 euros for the top of the range if it arrives in France, the Huawei P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ still encounter major software problems and are not intended for all audiences.

Can Huawei make it?

Huawei has assured us that a VIP hotline for customers of these devices will answer all their questions about installing applications.

     We still find this difficult to manage in the long term. Moreover, according to our information, Google would now remotely block the clandestine installation of its services on Huawei devices... Can we create the best smartphone in the world without Google?

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When Web marketing and Web Hosting Become Inseparable

When Web marketing and Web Hosting Become Inseparable

     Web marketing is a discipline that encompasses all the marketing techniques used to make known and optimize the visibility of one's company.

     It, therefore, borrows from traditional marketing methods, except that they were designed for the web.

     As a result, the levers used are the modern digital and technological tools available on the Internet, such as social networks or e-mailing for example.

     One of the least talked about levers, which is however inseparable from web marketing, is web hosting.

     As soon as the digital marketing strategy that is implemented bears fruit, web hosting effectively comes into play in the process of developing the loyalty of prospects.

     Focus on the marketing approaches that allow you to optimize the visibility of your site and in particular the role of web hosting in this process.

LINK BETWEEN WEB MARKETING AND WEB HOSTING

     Web hosting consists of storing the digital data of your website on servers. In the field of web marketing, the choice of the host and the type of hosting is a technical aspect that can be relied on to succeed in your strategy.

IMPACT OF A GOOD HOSTING

          Good hosting guarantees the overall performance of the site. Among other things, it makes site navigation more fluid, minimizes web page loading time, makes it possible to geolocate your site, etc.

     To understand the impact of hosting on the visibility of your web platform, just do the math: the more ergonomic and faster the site is when loading, the more visitors will want to come back to it.

     For their part, search engines will consider that visitors are satisfied with the site and will give it a good place in search results.

     Optimization of the traffic and conversion rate are web marketing objectives that can be achieved through web hosting.

TYPES OF WEB HOSTING

     The advantages of good SEO are numerous, but you still need to choose one that is effective, such as shared hosting on sites like planethoster.com for example, because there is necessarily a type of hosting adapted to your activity and on which you can rely to support your business.

     This will depend on your web traffic, your data security needs and of course your budget. Here are the different types of hosting offers you can choose from:

• Shared hosting: this consists of hosting many websites on a single server. This type of offer is often accessible to all budgets and allows you to delegate the details of server administration to a professional. This offer is perfect for showcase sites or newly launched blogs that are still attracting visitors.

• VPS hosting: allowing you to share a server with other sites while having your own resources, this type of hosting is suitable for sites that already have a lot of traffic.

• Dedicated hosting: this means having your own server. It is, therefore, suitable for sites that receive a significant number of visitors and require significant resources.

• Cloud hosting: this is based on the use of virtual servers, thus allowing you to optimize their availability. It is adapted to companies that need to evolve very quickly and want to have the flexibility to switch to other offers in the medium term.

WEB MARKETING APPROACHES

    

     Web marketing encompasses actions to optimize the traffic and visibility of the website.

     These objectives can only be achieved through 3 fundamental actions: attracting, converting prospects and finally building customer loyalty. At each of these stages, web hosting can have its role to play:

ATTRACTING PROSPECTS

     The attraction is the phase during which you generate and increase traffic to your website.

     To do this, you must first conduct a careful study of your target audience to ensure that your campaign meets their needs and expectations.

     The analysis should not only focus on the offer but also on the competition in order to find out about current practices in the sector and identify the essential points to be improved or on which to draw inspiration.

     The next step will be to implement a campaign on the chosen channel: website, blog, social network, etc.

     And since the website is almost unavoidable, it is essential at this stage to choose the right hosting offer.

     Even if the technical details should not take you over from the start, the fact remains that a correctly chosen hosting package will inevitably have an impact on the referencing of the site and therefore its visibility (in addition to other factors such as design, content, etc.).

CONVERT PROSPECTS INTO CUSTOMERS

     Now that you've succeeded in attracting visitors to your site, you need to get them to do something: order, fill out a shopping cart, answer a questionnaire, etc.

     The purpose of this step is to allow you to retrieve your visitors' data in order to establish a closer relationship with them.

     To do this, techniques such as e-mailing have long proved their worth, since the latter makes it possible to set up more personalized communication with prospects.

     Note that web hosting also comes into play at this stage of your interactions with your prospects.

     Indeed, as soon as the navigation on the site is fluid and intuitive, your visitors will be more inclined to return to your site.

     Such results can only be obtained through quality web hosting.

BUILD CUSTOMER LOYALTY

     By this stage, you will already have effectively converted your prospects, who are now considered customers. And once again, the challenge is to ensure that they are loyal to you and don't go anywhere else!

     In order to achieve this goal, you can use various levers such as social networks for example, which are particularly effective when used properly.

     At this stage, it is also a question of developing promotional offers to reward the loyalty of your customers.

     Some will not hesitate to implement a satisfaction survey to improve their services, while on the technical side, there is every interest in the site's performance.

     Note that the more traffic increases, the more resources your site will require, so if necessary, you will need to upgrade your web hosting offer.

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Coronavirus: a Russian disinformation campaign would agitate the Web

Coronavirus: a Russian disinformation campaign would agitate the Web

     According to European diplomats, the Kremlin is trying to use the crisis to sow chaos and discord within Europe through rumors and misinformation.

     Are Russian trolls taking advantage of the pandemic to distill their information poison? According to the European Union, the answer is yes.

     According to a report of analysis carried out by its diplomatic staff, and recovered by Reuters, the Russian media would have set in motion a "major disinformation campaign" to aggravate the impact of the coronavirus, generate panic and sow mistrust in Western countries.

     According to the nine-page document, the campaign is spreading false information in English, Spanish, Italian, German and French.

     "The primary objective of the Kremlin's misinformation is to worsen the public health crisis in Western countries (...) in line with the Kremlin's broader strategy of trying to overthrow European societies," the authors wrote.

    They have documented more than 80 cases of misinformation since 22 January.

     This false information has been listed on the EuvsDisinfo.eu website, which is maintained by European diplomats.

     More than a hundred cases are currently listed. Many of the ideas conveyed are conspiratorial: SARS-CoV-2 is said to be a biological weapon of American or British origin, the epidemic was brought to Lithuania by an American soldier, the pharmaceutical industry is exaggerating the crisis to increase drug sales, Italy is exaggerating the crisis to get European subsidies, and so on.

     Other messages - more or less contradictory - seek only to generate fear.

     EUvsDisinfo.eu - Latest news on coronavirus Rumors

     It would soon be the end of the world, Pope Francis would be ill and about to die, the European Union would be unable to manage the crisis, the political institutions would be on the verge of collapse, the political leaders would take advantage of the coronavirus to establish a dictatorship, etc.

     For its part, the Russian government has obviously rejected these accusations outright.

     "The Kremlin's spokesman Dimitri Peskov told Reuters: "These are again unfounded allegations which, in the current situation, are probably the result of an anti-Russian obsession.

     Moreover, not all Western experts fully agree with the European Union's analysis.

     Questioned by Deutsche Welle, Ben Nimmo, a member of the Atlantic Council think-tank, thinks that there is no special campaign led by the Kremlin, but that this is simply the daily work of Russian trolls.

     A normal and natural kind of animosity. Which is not necessarily more reassuring.

Sources: Reuters, Deutsche Welle

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Coronavirus: Prince Charles tested positive for Covid-19, announces British royal family

Coronavirus: Prince Charles tested positive for Covid-19, announces British royal family

     Piscine Wpa / Getty Images

     Prince Charles tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, March 25, 2020.

     The United Kingdom is in shock. In an official statement, the services of Harry and William's father reported that he is "showing mild symptoms" of a new coronavirus.

     The heir to the British crown was unable to pass the virus on to his 93-year-old mother, whom he has not seen since 12 March. Given the incubation period, he was not contagious at that time.

     At 71 years of age, Prince Charles "remains in good health", except for these symptoms, Clarence House assured in a statement relayed by the British media The Guardian.

     "In accordance with government measures and medical advice, the Prince and Duchess are isolating themselves at home in Scotland," the Clarence House statement said.

     Prince Charles arrived at his residence in Birkhall on Sunday. He was tested the next day.

     "It is not possible to know by whom the Prince contracted the virus, due to the high number of engagements he has carried out in the last few weeks," the statement continued.

     The tabloid The Mirror says that Camilla Parker-Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, tested "negative" for the coronavirus.

          Pool New / Reuters

     Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall attend the Commonwealth Reception at Marlborough House in London on March 9.

     Both spouses are confined to the same house but in "separate" apartments in Scotland.

Buckingham Palace declared the Queen herself to be in good health.

     "The Queen last saw the Prince of Wales briefly on the morning of March 12 and is following all appropriate advice concerning her well-being," a statement said.

     At least 8,000 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the UK and 422 people have died.

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iRobot roomba i7+ review

iRobot Roomba i7+ Review

     

     Roomba's latest high-end robot, the iRobot Roomba i7+, does more than just clean floors.

     It also wants to save the user from having to empty the bin regularly. To achieve this, iRobot has equipped its vacuum cleaner with a tank and new emptying technology.

     But is this enough to justify a price three times higher than the Xiaomi and Ecovacs models?

     Finally, there's a bit of innovation in the relatively dull world of vacuum cleaners. For once, it comes from the historic industry leader, iRobot.

     The latest robot vacuum cleaner from the specialist in the genre comes with a bulky base that offers to clean the robot instead of its owner.

     It's not quite a revolution, but iRobot has made it the main argument for this i7+ and a differentiating criterion compared to the pack of much cheaper robot vacuums that stick to the basics of the industry's historic leader.

One element more, one constraint less... but at what price!

     The "Clean Base" is, therefore, The novelty of this new robot vacuum cleaner from iRobot.

     The revolutionary technology, which is supposed to justify a higher price than the iPhone 11, consists of a drain pan that receives the crumbs and other dust accumulated by the Roomba i7+ in a special bag (this detail is important, we will come back to this later).

     Concretely, at the end of each passage, the robot goes back to its base to empty its tray into a tank.

     The owner no longer has to worry about systematically cleaning his robot, as the vacuum system takes over from the user.

This feature provides additional comfort. However, it does not completely eliminate the cleaning process, since instead of the robot, the bin has to be emptied less often.

     Above all, the basis of this Roomba i7+ adds a constraint to the use of the robot vacuum cleaner. Indeed, because of its size, it is very difficult to conceal.

     Impossible to hide it under a piece of furniture or in a corner of the living room since it is the size of a small piece of furniture.

     Finally, and this is anything but anecdotal, iRobot recommends using specific bags for its waste collector. If these bags prevent the spread of dust, they impose an additional expense (count 20 euros for three bags).

     According to the manufacturer, one bag would collect the equivalent of 30 full bins of i7.

Roomba i7+ price

     Fortunately, iRobot offers the i7 in a version without its drain base. This does away with the main novelty of the vacuum cleaner, but in return, it saves 300 euros as it is sold for 899 euros. 

The best worker of the year makes noise

     If there is one thing iRobot is uncompromising about, it is the quality of cleaning offered by its robots.

     Indeed, in the face of the offensive of low-cost manufacturers and products such as the Roborock S6 or the Deebot from Ecovacs, the history of the sector is uncompromising on the basics, in this case, its ability to remove dirt whatever the type of floor.

     As such, the i7+ is in the pure tradition of iRobot and maintains the level of quality that its predecessors have demonstrated.

     Small dirt and large piles of dust are quickly swallowed by its rubber extractors, which replace the traditional brushes. On this point, the Roomba offers unquestionable performance.

     Above all, thanks to its high autonomy (a little more than 1h20 according to tests), it is able to cover large surfaces without having to go back and forth to its base.

     On the other hand, when it encounters small obstacles or thick carpets, it doesn't do much better than its rivals. So it's still fairly easy to catch a failure; just leave a cable or slipper lying around and receive a failure notification on your smartphone.

     In the end, like other vacuum cleaners, the i7 won't spare you from prior storage.

     Finally, one of the characteristics of this Roomba i7+ should not be overlooked: its insane noise. Because if the iRobot's high-end robot sucks well, it also makes it heard.

Mapping: fast learning and convincing results

     iRobot was the first vacuum cleaner manufacturer to offer mapping on its machines. It is also, without a doubt, one of the manufacturers that masters it best.

     After a few learning passages, the i7+ was able to perfectly reproduce the space of our test area.

     In addition to the basic scan of each room, Roomba's i7+ also features Roomba's in-house iAdapt technology, which allows it to model and memorizes the location of furniture and other obstacles to optimize its route.

     This is achieved by using a discreet camera discreetly housed on top of the i7+.

     In this, it differs from models that use a laser rangefinder on their hood. This choice is not only more technically advanced, but it also allows Roomba to be finer and allows it to pass under certain sofas, where its competitors would be forced to go around.

     As soon as the mapping is known, the robot is even able to distinguish one part from another and offers its owner to label them in the application.

     This a priori basic functionality actually allows the robot to manage its vacuum cleaner even more by choosing, if necessary, parts to be cleaned first or more often.

     Here again, this is a rather rare feature among robot vacuum cleaners despite its obvious usefulness.

iRobot application: simple but effective

     iRobot has not only improved its robot, but it has also worked on its control tool, understand the application. It has evolved in the right direction and is not only more readable but also easier to use.

     The application not only allows you to control what Roomba is able to do (programming the different passages, the zones to be cleaned or even manually delimiting the rooms) but also to have an overview of what it has already done.

     Indeed, a glance at the maps allows us to visualize the cleaned areas and by extension those that are less accessible to the robot.

     The application also allows us to know the state of the components of its vacuum cleaner and to plan, when necessary, their replacement.

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