Author: Bharat Nagpal

Flame On ! Micromax Canvas Knight A350 Review
Micromax has changed the perception of the company yet again with the new Micromax Canvas Knight, But does this new smartphone keep up to the expectations of the people. Lets find out.

Overview

The Canvas Knight is a brilliant attempt from the company at providing a premium experience. The phone uses good quality materials and has an impressive new chipset. The pricing seems right and the battery life is great* (read below), the phone is the company’s new flagship and holds that position well among its competition.

Build Quality, Design and Hardware

A metal shell with glass on both sides, we have seen this design repeat several times, but it is actually impressive coming from an Indian manufacturer at this price. The front and back are solid toughened glass and should withstand a fall or two, we would however recommend the use of a case (there is one included in the box).

The side bezels and frame are of brushed aluminum with excellent finish and quality. The buttons of the Micromax Canvas Knight are also robust and tactile in feel.

The phone looks good to look at and has a heavy reassuring built, definitely a refined canvas, but its not there yet. The company’s major reluctance in designing their own handsets is still unclear. Micromax time and again choses to buy designs from OEMs and not to make their own handsets. A plastered bad logo at the back shows distasteful branding, even though its a far cry from the usual we have seen in the past.

Another thing to mention is the quality of in box accessories is definitely higher than in the past. the company has improved with their accessories and inclusions, we do however wish for better earphones in the future.

In box Goodies

Hardware wise Micromax has pulled out all the stops, well at least on paper. The Micromax Canvas Knight has a true Octacore Mediatek 6592T chipset, the “T” stands for turbo. The CPU runs on 8 cores at 2.0 GHz and is paired with a Mali 450MP4. RAM is kept at 2 GB and internal storage is a good 32 GB out of the box.

Cameras include a mix of 16 MP shooter at the back along with an 8 MP front facing selfie cam, both capable of 1920 x 1080p video capture. The phone accepts two micro sim cards and has a 2350 mAh battery.

Multimedia

The display on the handset plays a major role, it is a good quality display with vivid colors and bright outdoor visibility. You also get acceptable levels of viewing angles without a lot of shadows at extreme corners. The levels of black are deep, however there is some aliasing noticed on the display from time to time.

Content consumption is better enjoyed with a set of good quality headphones, thanks to the lack of a good on board speaker. The sound from the speaker is tinny and not even comparable to the previous canvas flagship.

Streaming is good, and the Canvas Knight A350 can handle unto 4k video playback, with the right codecs and software, however what really matters is the smooth playback of a full HD video and the phone does that with ease.

Camera

Both the cameras on the Canvas Knight are disappointing with washed out images and lack of detail. We have seen the company deliver great cameras in the past, however this time around the sensor and lens combination is simply torrid.

Video is actually better than the pictures that this camera can click , video captured has better color and less washout. A camera stabilizer inbuilt would help the likes of me with shaky hands, however the software helps a little.

Camera UI

Camera Settings

Camera Modes

Special Modes

Video Settings

Third party apps improve the camera experience a little bit, however it seems like poor choice of camera hardware is mainly the cause of this.

Performance and Gaming

While the phone can handle all tasks, it seems that the software has not been stabilized or tweaked to take the full advantage of the hardware. You see considerable crashes and lag throughout usage and heavy apps end up quitting on you, especially graphic intensive games.

Daily performance is good if you don’t want this to be a power driver, personally we feel the software needs a lot of work. Games run on this without a problem, almost all games that are compatible with the chipset will work aside from the quitting mentioned above.

The phone heats up considerably during usage, so much so that it might be the reason that apps quit. The phone becomes unmanageably hot and uncomfortable to handle. This causes severe effects to the battery, of the 3 handsets we tested two had this problem. Micromax claims problematic handsets will be replaced, and they should be.

Phone and Battery

The Micromax Canvas Knight accepts 2 micro Sim cards on either side of the bezel. The handset is 3G network capable globally with one sim card handling 3G data. On this phone both SIM cards can accept calls and run simultaneously.

Network performance was generally good, we did see some outage from time to time but a good cause for that could be the network. Overall good network performance and phone call capability. Audio on the incoming and outgoing side remains crisp with the noise canceling doing most of the magic for the outgoing voice.

Battery life, when not being affected by the over heating battery drain mentioned above, will last a whole day with a good amount of use. approximately 5-6 hours on 3G calling mixed with a few hours on Social Networks and some music playback. So the battery gets a good thumbs up, when not being burned out.

UI and Conclusion

Apart from the fact that we get Android 4.2.2 with a pseudo-false promise for an update soon, we feel the Ui needs real work. Micromax seems to be slacking in making a handset that they can call their own and this old approach does not seem to work for us anymore. The company needs to bounce back and fix it reputation by bringing phones that not only look good on paper but work too. A more refined user experience will go a long way.

Dialer

Notification Panel

App Drawer

Quick Toggles

Messaging and Keyboard

Software Info

The fact that their flagship smartphone is a mini hell in the pocket is worrisome, the phone heats up often and to high temperatures. This causes the phone to lose battery power and how.

The end resultant is not acceptable, not as a flagship!

While the trend seems positive around the Micromax Canvas Knight A350, and we couldn’t agree more with the phone in terms of what it sets out to do. Design is a huge leap forward and so is the build and choice of materials, but the end resultant is not acceptable, not as a flagship.

A lot of patches are required for the software and something that will fix this overheating issue and quick. The Micromax Canvas Knight A350 is a good move from the company, but seems like a hasty handset, one that lacks finesse and with more stable and choicer options in the market like the Moto X, the Moto G, Gionee S5.5 and the likes of Sony and market leader Samsung in this price bracket. We recommend you give this one a pass until all of the above can be fixed by the company.

Final Review Video Soon .

[tw-column width=”one-half”]

GOOD THINGS
- Good design
- Brilliant build
- Brushed aluminium shell
- Premium looks
- True octacore
- Priced right
[/tw-column]

[tw-column width=”one-half” position=”last”]

BAD THINGS
- Heats up
- Camera is poor
- Battery drain issues
[/tw-column]
April 14, 2014
Android was not a Touchscreen platform in the Pre Apple Era

New documents filed in the never ending Apple vs Samsung battle have revealed that Google’s plans for Android back in 2006 involved physical keys for control and no touchscreen input support.

Google vice president of Android, Hiroshi Lockheimer, walked the jury through early development of Android and said engineers actually tried to make software that was very different from Apple’s iOS mobile operating system. He emphasised that the company liked to have its own identity and ideas, adding that it was very passionate about what it was doing, and it was important that it had its own ideas.

According to the file “the product [Android] was designed with the presence of discrete physical buttons as an assumption. However, there is nothing fundamental in the product’s architecture that prevents the support of touchscreen in the future.”

A lot of differentiating factors also came into light, including removable storage, third-party application support, widgets, notifications and all those Google services. The design of the 2006 Android beta build lacked touchscreen and required cursors and physical keys, this was changed to a “Touchscreen Required” minimum, in 2007 post the launch of the first Apple iPhone.

Read the full filed document below:

April 14, 2014
HTC Working on a Plastic One M8, Coming May 2014

While India is yet to see the official release of the new HTC One M8, the company is reportedly working on a plastic version of the smartphone.

This phone, that seems to go agains the company policy of high quality builds, will be considerably cheaper as not only will it save on material costs, but also machining costs and time which is associated with the manufacture of the current One M8.

Plastic here could be a reference for a polycarbonate design, which HTC is know to have used successfully in their One X and WP8 phones in the past.

Critics argue that HTC’s move to create a plastic version of the HTC One M8 could turn to be a great one only if executed correctly. The physical design of the metal build variant of the HTC One M8 is its biggest asset, so the question is whether consumers will be willing to take the cheaper version with probable downgrade of specs.

HTC Butterfly S

HTC is also reportedly working on a new HTC Butterfly, which will carry the same specifications as the HTC One but with a 13 MP camera.

If HTC launches a Plastic M8, would you consider buying it?

April 14, 2014
Samsung Sees Underwhelming Sales of the Galaxy S5 in India Drops Price to Rs. 50,500

Update : The Price appears to have further dropped to Rs. 49,000 as of April 14th 2014, just 3 days post launch.

Yesterday Samsung launched the Galaxy S5 into the Indian market on retail sale for a price of Rs. 51500. After seeing more than disappointing sales, the execs at the Korean company’s India office have authorized distributers and dealers to offer discounts and deals to users.

One of the south Delhi distributors said that Samsung issued notices last night to their chain ; asking them to be a lot more aggressive in selling the Galaxy S5.

Samsung has usually seen excellent response from the Indian market for their smartphones, however this time around the company may have hit up on its worst nightmare.

According to people, the biggest reason for the general disappointment with the flagship device, is that Samsung has launched the Galaxy S5 with the Exynos chipset and not the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 in India.

Samsung has been following this policy in the Indian market since the time of the Galaxy S2, after initial sales of the dual core Galaxy S2 a special India edition was launched which actually had a single core processor vs the Dual Core offered in the Global variant at the time. The performance of the Galaxy S5 handsets on these separate chipsets differ in many ways. The Exynos based version also lacks several features including LTE but now includes 4k Video capture, which was missing from the Indian version of the Galaxy Note 3.

While the price has been fluctuating since last night, the Galaxy S5 is available from a price bracket of Rs. 50,000 – 51,000 depending on the mood of the seller. If you were considering buying this phone, we expect huge drops in price in the coming weeks so holding out may actually not be such a bad idea.

Do you think that Samsung should further reduce the price of the Galaxy S5? Or feel that they should launch the Snapdragon 801 variant ? Let us know below or tweet us @iGyaan and include @SamsungMobileIn ! We will ensure that Samsung gets the message.

Our review of the Galaxy S5 will be up shorty ! Stay Tuned.

April 12, 2014
The Samsung Galaxy S5 goes on Sale in 125 Countries

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is finally here, in a total of 125 countries to be precise. However, despite being one of the most anticipated phones the Galaxy S5 has many a users to please.

The Samsung Flagship is boasting quite a bunch of new unique changes, including the all new water resistant body, a heart rate sensor and an “improved” 16 MP camera.

However in markets like India, Samsung has chosen to launch the handset with a newer Exynos Chipset as opposed to the Snapdragon 801 chipset for Markets like the US. The new Galaxy S5 is also slightly thicker in feel and a lot more plasticky in looks. The bezels feel cheap and have a torrid feel.

Samsung has also launched and made available to buy the trio of smart watches : Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit.

Gear 2 Neo

Gear Fit

Gear 2

Pricing seems a bit high, as the Samsung Galaxy S5 is available at a Best buy price of Rs. 51,500/-. Galaxy Gear 2 is priced at Rs. 21,900/- and both Galaxy Gear 2 Neo and Galaxy Gear Fit are priced at Rs. 15,900/- each. These devices are now available across India through Samsung’s retail stores and e-commerce website.

Check out our Hands on Video below and stay tuned for a Unboxing coming up.

April 11, 2014
5 Things you should know about the HTC One M8

HTC’s recently launched the new One aka M8, which could possibly be the sole reason that the company struck a profit this quarter. Despite its instant availability and fanfare around the launch, here are a few things that you really must know about the HTC One M8. (Especially if you didn’t already know them)

1. Build Quality :

Carving a phone structure out of a single block of metal is now really old news, and especially after Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPad, this process was repeated time and again. The HTC One M8 takes the candy bar form factor to the next level. The M8 has been punched out of a single sheet of metal alloy, that not only covers the back of the phone, but also curves around to the front. Anyone who has worked with metal would know what a difficult process this is, even with todays available technology.

2. Hardware

Last year, when HTC launched the HTC One, they decided to stick it with an underpowered chipset, the Snapdragon 600, even though a better and more powerful snapdragon 800 was available. This time around however, HTC has thrown in the best of the lot, the Snapdragon 801 which puts it right up there with the competition.

3. Camera

Even though it feels under-rated the M8 has possibly the most advanced camera on a Smartphone today. Sure you have the Lumia 1020 and the Xperia Z series phones with their high MP camera shots. The HTC One M8 takes the focus selection to another level al together. It’s excellent in low light and even though their software is relatively amateur the use of the hardware in the future may do wonders. The fact that the company has opened the dual camera API to developers means that the hardware may be put to excellent use in third party apps.

4. New Sense

Although Sense 6.0 looks like a minor change on Sense 5.0 its a whole new world in there, the UI functionality has been improved, nifty shortcuts and good looking icons make a world of a difference. Quick launches from the lock screen make it really usable and exciting. Overall HTC has managed to give an exciting new look to something which used looked really bland to us, make it fast, responsive and more functional.

5. Awesome First Party Accessories

HTC did it with the HTC One Max when they launched the extended battery case, they basically proved to us that they can make excellent accessories for their own devices. They have done it again with the HTC One M8 and the Dot View case. This case itself deserves an award for how simple and noble the idea behind it is. it gives protection and functionality to the phone. thanks to the touch sensitive design it gives you the ability to use the phone with the cover still on. Simply Genius!

One Max Battery Case

Unboxing and Hands On

April 9, 2014
Hands On: Gionee ELife S5.5 Slimmest phone in the World

The Slimmest Phone in the world moniker goes to the Gionee E Life S5.5, but it does impress us in other domains as well.

Gionee held a mega event in India and launched the slimmest phone in the world. The company launched a smartphone that is only 5.5 mm thick or should we say 5.5 mm thin. The Gionee Elife S 5.5 was globally launched at MWC 2014 where the company showed off a pre build version of the device. The final version meant for India will be available for purchase starting April 27th for a price of Rs 22900 .

First Impressions

The Elife S 5.5 does not only seem to aim to be the slimmest phone by any means necessary, it actually impresses in many other domains. The handset is superbly well built with a great mix of metal and glass, with the later taking care of the front and back of the handset.

[quote text_size=”small”]5.5 mm is about as slim as we can take[/quote]

Honestly 5.5 mm is about as slim as we can take, any slimmer and a smartphone will become uncomfortable. The ELife S 5.5 despite its metal and glass appearance manages to not be very sharp at the edges. The S 5.5 has rounded off edges at the back to give it a more tapered design making it more easily handle able and pocketable.

Hardware on the Elife S5.5 is on the up side as well, with a true octacore Mediatek chipset clocked sat 1.7 GHz, no its not the turbo version seen on the Micromax Canvas Knight, but it is the same chipset sans turbo of course. You also get 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB Storage, with a 13.0MP AF +5.0MP camera combination both with wide angle lenses and 1080 p video capture.

Gionee has come leaps and bounds in terms of the user interface, the new Amigo 2.0 is not only faster and more responsive it also looks a lot better and has interesting elements which were earlier missing from the UI. The new themes and colors option along with smoother transitions and good looking animations make the S 5.5 slim smartphone look and behave the part of being a smooth operator (pun intended)

The battery life also seems to have come really far on the new S 5.5 with the handset doing much more with less drainage. One thing the unit lacks is LTE capability, however our country mostly lacks that too so can’t really complain.

The handset turns out to be a beautiful mix of design, looks and capability for an impressive price, however only extended testing will reveal the true outcome.

[quote text_size=”small”]Beautiful mix of design, looks and capability for an impressive price[/quote]

Stay tuned for our hands on video.

April 5, 2014
Sony steals the 2nd place spot from Apple in India

Sony India has overtaken Apple in their sales for smartphones in India becoming the second largest mobile phone shipper in 2014. This aggressive movement has been rewarded to Sony thanks to the company’s focus largely on the Rs 10,000-20,000 smartphone space, backed by Rs 300-crore marketing spend.

The number one spot was retained by Korean smartphone giant Samsung with 43% market value share. Sony took second place with 9.1% value share in the Indian smartphone market in the October-December quarter of 2013 against Apple’s 7% share.

This decline in Apple’s sales has been thanks to the company’s decision to withdraw sales of their largest selling unit the iPhone 4, and hence the disappearance of Apple from the under Rs. 20,000 price bracket. Apple did relaunch the iPhone 4 specially for the Indian market but failed to gather any response from the market who were hoping for a cut on the price of the iPhone 4s.

Sony Executives claim :

While this loss of sales prompted Apple to relaunch iPhone 4 once again in India in January, sales have not picked up since it is not at all spending on marketing or offering any buyback offer and even the initial euphoria around iPhone 5S has sobered down,

Kenichiro Hibi, managing director at Sony India, said the company’s smartphone business has attained similar revenues as its flagship television business in the fiscal ended March 31.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Kenichiro Hibi, ” author_title=”Managing Director at Sony India”]The smartphone business doubled in last one year which led to 20% growth in overall sales in 2013-14. We expect to grow at a similar pace this fiscal as well to touch Rs 12,000 crore sales[/quote]

While this may be considered a big loss for Apple, the company has seen decline of sale during the months that lead up to the launch of their next flagship.

April 4, 2014
Nokia X Dual Sim Hands On

Nokia’s First Android Handset Targets the Budget Audience with Dual Sim Capabilities

Nokia launched the Nokia X (aka Normandy) earlier this year at Mobile World Congress 2014. The handset was a first of a kind for a company which basically started off by purely thrashing Android as an OS and now embracing it in their products.

The Nokia X has a very basic strategy, it is a cheap android phone with build and promise of Nokia, without the actual support of Google.

The Nokia X runs a Hybrid OS, An Unlicensed Android 4.1.2 alongside Nokia’s own Fastlane UI from the Asha lineup of devices. What that means is, you get the Android experience but you don’t get Google Apps, including the Play Store, Gmail etc. But there are always workarounds considering that the whole UI is essentially built on Android.

Build is impressive, the Nokia X has a sturdy matte finished back, with replaceable panels. Its like a better built version of the Nokia Asha 502/503 lineup almost as good as high end Lumia phones. The back is smooth and fits well in the hand thanks to its polished off round edges. The layout of the buttons and ports is also very identical to the Asha 503 so it looks like a design lift.

On the hardware front the Nokia X is loaded with a Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon S4 Play with a Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A5 CPU. You also get an Adreno 203 GPU all of this is supported by a 1500 mAh battery. On the memory front you have 4 GB Storage and 512 MB RAM along with microSD card expandability up to 32 GB.

The handset runs Nokia X platform 1.0 UI essentially Android 4.1.2, on a 4 inch 480 x 800 px IPS LCD capacitive display with 2 point multitouch. There is no front camera and the main 3.15 MP camera only does 480p video and lacks a LED flash.

Check out our hands on images and the Video Unboxing Up Top. Stay tuned for a final review.

April 4, 2014
Hands on with the new Nokia Lumia 630 running Windows Phone 8.1
Nokia is excited about the new Nokia Lumia 630 and so are we.

Nokia just announced a flurry of devices to go along with Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8.1 update. The new Nokia Lumia 630 is one such device which will be available in India soon within a price bracket that will satisfy many a buyers.

India will be amongst the first countries in the world to get the first ever Windows Phone 8.1 device, when it launches this May for a price that may be well under the Rs. 13000 price bracket.

First Impressions

[quote text_size=”small”]Think Nokia Lumia 520 meets Nokia X and iPhone 5c[/quote]

Think Nokia Lumia 520 meets Nokia X and iPhone 5c this is what the resultant is: A big bright phone with swappable color back panels, a great build quality and impressive OS handling.

Right Side

Bottom

Top

Rear Camera

Running Microsoft’s recently announced Windows Phone 8.1 out of the box we were quite impressed by this device’s performance on the pre-build OS. The handset has been tastefully pastured with matte finish on the back which is flatter on the sides and slightly rounded at the back.

This is also the first Windows Phone handset to ditch the hardware touch keys for on screen buttons, and it may take a while to get used to especially if you are coming from a previous Lumia. You also end up losing a lil bit of the screen real estate.

On Screen Buttons

The Nokia Lumia 630 may as well be an entry level handset if you look at the hardware. The front poses a 4.5-inch IPS ClearBlack display with a 854 x 480 px resolution Corning Gorilla Glass 3 but no front camera, the rear has a 5 Mp camera but lacks any flash or lighting.

2 Sim Cards and 128Gb micro SD Support

It takes in two Micro Sim cards, only the first one handles 3G data while the other holds on to 2G. Smart call forwarding forwards the call from the second sim to the first sim or vice versa if you are on a call so both sim cards are sort of active.

The battery is bigger than previous versions of the Lumia family with an 1850 mAh battery in the back.

RAM may be the one thing that brings down the Lumia 630, with just 512 MB under its hood, the hardware level disappointment will create a major withdrawal. Especially considering that previous “budget” Lumias have been shipping with 1 GB.
- Main camera sensor: 5 MP
- Display size: 4.5”
- Display resolution: FWVGA (854 x 480)
- Processor name: Snapdragon 400
- Battery capacity: 1830mAh
- RAM: 512 MB
- Mass memory: 8 GB
Smart Sim Management

Action Center

Lock Screen

Thanks to Windows Phone 8.1 out of the box, you get smart sim management, various in built sense options including WiFi Sense, Battery Sense and Storage Sense. You will also get the new boxy notification panel dubbed “Action Center” which was long anticipated.

Stay Tuned for our hands on review video followed by a full review.
April 3, 2014
Meet Cortana , Microsoft’s Alternative to Siri

Microsoft has finally shown off its new mobile search assistant, Cortana, its version of Siri and Google Now.

As a part of Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8.1 update, Cortana is a new Voice Recognition based personal digital assistant. Named after the AI in the popular XBOX title “Halo” the “personal digital assistant,” has the ability to search the Internet, set up alarms, shift calendar appointments, find restaurants, send messages, place calls and more.

Cortana is quite identical to Siri on an iPhone, tap a button and ask the ui a question, however like Google Now Coranta can also tap into applications and and the phone’s core services to deliver you contextual information.It can offer the weather where you’re located, deliver favorite sports scores, or scan email and provide updates on a flight status or package delivery.

Cortana runs on Bing and has a lot of intriguing features, for example it learns from habits of its users when and how they do their tasks. One unique feature of Cortana is that it can actually push the results of its searches over to other apps. Also like competition, Cortana doesn’t need to learn your voice and tries to interact with you naturally.

Cortana wasn’t the only new aspect of Windows Phone 8.1, which now has a notification drawer called Action Center, which collects text messages, emails, calls and updates from social networks and other apps. It also has quick toggles for things like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi seen on Android and iOS both.

Microsoft Also plans to push this Windows for free for hardware makers to use on phones, tablets with screens under nine inches. This should considerably bring down the costs of hardware running Windows.

April 3, 2014
Nokia announced Lumia 930 with 20 MP Pureview Camera

The Nokia icon was the envy of the global audience, well no more! The new Lumia 930 is essentially the global version of the Nokia Icon and it features a 5-inch full HD display and a 20-megapixel PureView camera with a Zeiss lens. The phone also ships with a Creative Studio app that’ll let you add Instagram-style filters to your snapshots. A 1.2 MP wide-angle camera adorns the front

The Front of the Lumia 930 has a 5-inch, 1080p Full HD display (1920×1080; 441ppi), with Gorilla Glass 3, Super Sensitive Touch and a near 180-degree viewing angle. The handset features Integrated Dolby Surround Sound. Hardware wise a 2.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 32GB of internal storage (7GB free OneDrive cloud storage) and 2GB of RAM finish it up with a 2420 mAh battery.

The handsets will ship with Windows Phone 8.1 out of the box and contain apps like Nokia Camera, Nokia Storyteller, Nokia Creative Studio and Nokia Refocus. A new new Living Images feature will even turn statics pictures in movie styles.

With Windows Phone 8.1 the handset will finally get a notification center and the all new “Cortana” Microsoft’s answer to Siri and Google Now. The Nokia Lumia 930 is roughly priced at US $ 599 and is expected to hit Europe first and then Asian countries starting June.

April 3, 2014

HTC One M8 vs the Galaxy S5 vs the Xperia Z2 vs iPhone 5s

With the HTC One M8 officially announced, the list of flagship devices for many companies is now complete. The HTC One M8 sees only a few changes vs the previous generation and a lot of difference between the two main competition for this year the Galaxy S5 and the Xperia Z2.

The HTC One M8 misses out on few things that the company could have simply added. 4K video recording is one thing that HTC should not have left out on, the other being a fingerprint sensor. The HTC One Max had it and naturally the M8 should have had it as well.

The HTC One M8 also misses out on being a water resistant device like the Z2 and now the S5. check out the full breakup of differences below

Device	HTC One (M8)	Samsung Galaxy S5	Sony Xperia Z2	iPhone 5s
OS	Android 4.4.2 KitKat	Android 4.4.2 KitKat	Android 4.4.2 KitKat	iOS 7.1
Display	5.0″ Super LCD3	5.1? Super AMOLED FHD	5.2? IPS LCD Triluminos display	4.0″ Retina Display
Resolution	1920 x 1080px (441 ppi)	1920 x 1080px (431 ppi)	1920 x 1080px (424 ppi)	640 x 1136 pixels (326 ppi)
Height Width Thickness	146.4 mm 70.6 mm 9.4 mm	142.0 mm 72.5 mm 8.1 mm	146.8 mm 73.3 mm 8.2 mm	123.8 mm 58.6 mm 7.6 mm
Weight	160 grams	145 grams	158 grams	112 g
Processor	Snapdragon 801 chipset Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400	Snapdragon 801 chipset Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400	Snapdragon 801 chipset Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400	Apple A7 Dual-core 1.3 GHz Cyclone
GPU	Adreno 330	Adreno 330	Adreno 330	PowerVR G6430
RAM	2GB	2GB	3GB	1 GB RAM DDR3
Storage	16GB/32GB	16/32GB	16GB	16/32/64 GB
microSD card slot	Yes, up to 128GB	Yes, up to 128GB	Yes, up to 64GB	N/A
Primary camera	Dual 4 MP, 2688?1520 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash, automatic simultaneous video and image recording, geo-tagging, face and smile detection, HDR, panorama	16 MP, 5312 x 2988 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection, panorama, HDR; 2160p video recording at 30fps	20.7 MP, 5248×3936 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, image stabliziation, 2160p@30fps, HDR, video stabilization Simultaneous HD video and image recording	8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash 1080p@30fps, 720p@120fps, video stabilization,
Front camera	5 MP 1080p@30fps	2.1 MP 1080p@30fps	2.2MP 1080p@30fps	1.2 MP, 720p@30fps, face detection, FaceTime over Wi-Fi or Cellular
Battery	Li-Po 2600 mAh	Li-Ion 2800 mAh	Li-Ion 3200 mAh	Li-Po 1560 mAh battery
Battery life	Standby: 496 hours 3G talk:20 hours	Standby: 390 hours 3G talk: 21 hours	Standby: 370 hours 3G talk: 17 hours	Standby: 250 hours 3G talk: 10 hours
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot	802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4, 5GHz)Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth	Yes, v4.0 LE with A2DP	Yes, v4.0 LE with A2DP	Yes, v4.0 LE with A2DP, EDR	Yes, v4.0 with A2DP
Network	Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Quad-band UMTS/HSPA LTE support, LTE-Advanced	Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Quad-band UMTS/HSPA LTE support, LTE-Advanced	Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Penta-band UMTS/HSPA LTE support, LTE Advaced	Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Penta-band UMTS/HSPA LTE support, LTE Advaced
NFC	Yes	Yes	Yes	NO
Speakers	Stereo	Mono	Stereo	Mono
Distinctive features	• Dual UltraPixel cameras • Aluminum body design • Front-facing dual speakers	• Fingerprint sensor • Heart Rate monitor • IP67 water and dust resistant	• IP58 certified – dust proof and water resistant over 1 meter and 30 minutes	Touch ID scanner.

March 26, 2014

Hands On With the New HTC One M8

HTC has finally launched the new HTC One M8 for the Global markets, the only phone from the Taiwanese Manufacturer that manages to be available at the time of launch in major markets in the world. India and all South Asia Countries will have to wait to get their hands on this design marvel from the company.

HTC has made just the right amount of changes, and left out some major expectations that users would have had, and the company could have easily added into their mix of hardware. For the first, the display on the HTC One M8 has been left to a 1920 x 1080p display vs a 2k display that could have easily been achieved. The camera does not capture 4k video as many of the recently launched competition, instead it sticks to 1080p video.

HTC has however taken the one thing that was amazing about the HTC One (M7) and made it better on the M8. The all metal design on the HTC One M8 is far superior to that on the M7, its more rounded has a better “cold to touch” feel in the hand and takes in 20% more metal in the design compared to the outgoing model. The M8 uses 90 % metal in the main body vs 70% that we saw in the M7 and we simply cannot complain. HTC has also retained the original BoomsSound design and enhanced it allowing for 25% more space in the sound cavity, therefore, louder sound with deeper audio. A new inbuilt amp also improves the output and ensures that there is no cracking. Heard it and we are impressed.

The camera is what really runs the M8, the dual camera feature is something that at first people will ignore or not notice. This however will change and it will change fast. The camera app and the ease with which you can manipulate the focus points really highlights the effort HTC has put into thinking and executing the camera features. Its the simplest we have used and we think will change the way we share our social pictures especially in the like of Instagram.

The UI has also been cleaned up, it now takes in from the various flaws of Blinkfeed from the HTC Sense 5.0 and basically eliminates them on Sense 6.0. The UI is far more fluid and custom, cleaner and more minimal, yet big and bold at the same time. Simply put this has to be the best first impression we got on a custom UI.

HTC has also stuffed in a good set of hardware, this time going with the flagship chipset the Snapdragon 801 (vs the 600 they chose last year when the 800 was available) storage capacities are also the same at 16 and 32 GB however you get a microSD card slot for upto 128 GB expansion. Enabling app loading directly onto the external storage means that there will be a lesser chance of the phone slowing down with future use.

Stay Tuned for our Hands on Video!

March 25, 2014
HTC Launches the HTC One M8

HTC today at an event held in New York has launched the new HTC One aka the M8, keeping the name the same, the company has made major improvements to design hardware and software.

Design

The HTC One (m8) features a new wrap around design that vs the previous generation wrap all the way around to the front, giving the new M8 a completely new look and a brilliant new feel. HTC claims that the body of the new HTC One is 90% metal vs the 70% metal seen on the HTC One last year.

HTC has maintained the BoomSound design and claims a better sound from the device, which at first go on the M8 sounds much deeper and louder than the original One. The redesigned speaker chambers provide unto 25% more audio output and the new multi-band amplifier ensures better sound.

Hardware and Specs

The HTC One M8 features the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset with a 2.5 GHz Quad Core Cpu for Asian market and a 2.3GHz Quad Core Cpu for the US market. The Front of the HTC One M8 features a 5inch 1920 x 1080p display which to some will seem like a loss considering many now offer a 2k display, the front is also covered with Gorilla Glass 3. On the inside is 2 GB of RAM and 16/32 GB storage options. You get 50 GB of Google Drive and 128 GB Expandability via microSD.

The Duo camera design features an Ultrapixel camera along with a depth capture camera which is detailed below. The main camera has a BSI sensor, a pixel size of 2.0 um, a sensor size of 1/3”, and an aperture of ƒ/2.0 with a 28mm lens. The Front camera has a 5MP BSI sensor, an aperture of ƒ/2.0 wide angle lens with HDR capability and 1080p Full HD video recording.

The HTC One M8 supports the following 4G/LTE bands :

EMEA: 800/900/1800/2600 MHz

Asia: 700/900/1800/2100/2600 MHz

AT&T: 700/850/AWS/1800/1900/2600 MHz

Sprint: FDD 800/1900 MHz , TDD 2600 MHz

Verizon: 700/AWS/1800/2600 MHz

Tmus: 700/AWS MHz

The battery on the M8 is a 2600 mAh LiPo battery and a new power saving mode promises an additional 30 hours with just 10% battery remaining.

OS and UI

This is what makes the HTC One M8 really special. A lot of focus has been spent in making this device feel like its running a custom OS. The HTC One M8 comes with Android 4.4.2 out of the box, but whats interesting is that the new HTC Sense 6 really makes the device look and feel different.

The HTC Sense 6 is sort of a mix of the previous gen Blinkfeed and a Windows Phone approach to tiles. With larger more rectangular updates in a vertical grid.

HTC has also made many interesting changes to the usability of the OS, from launching apps to tapping to unlock the device (not new) . The new Image Match tool lets you search by image and create an album featuring similar content. The new timeline view allows you to View your photos in Timeline view according to when they were taken.

New Apps from HTC including the new HTC Sense TV have been redesigned to allow more functionality and added features like showing you the social feed of the show you are watching.

The HTC One M8 has also not left out on the Fitness aspect of things thanks to the new pre loaded Fitbit app that uses the hardware within the phone to monitor your fitness. When you go for a run drop the phone and use the fitbit band and then later sync with your phone to get a comprehensive result at the end of the day.

HTC One M8 Duo Camera

The HTC One (M8) camera utilizes a dual lens and sensor configuration coupled with new processing hardware to mimic the stereoscopic vision capabilities of the human eye –two independent lenses allow it to detect and calculate the relative distance of subjects in the image. The imaging system then assigns properties to each individual pixel, which allows them to be re-purposed and reprocessed to maximize image quality.

HTC Claims that the camera can now accurately emulate the look of high-end lenses and dedicated professional camera systems. It enables “pro look” images with finite shallow depth-of-field control and captivating ‘bokeh’ and focus fall-off, which is particularly effective in portraits.

The HTC One M8 also bundles in effects into the camera library with the use of the enhanced camera hardware and the new UI traits of the new Sense 6.0 , the end resultant images can come out quite brilliantly, especially the seasons effect and the diminutional change effect, samples below.

Dimension Plus Effect

Selective Focus

Season Effect

Accessories

HTC is launching the HTC One M8 with a bunch of accessories as well, the most interesting perhaps is the dot view case. The cover has a fun dot matrix display that will give you updates on whats happening on your device like alarms, calendar notifications, messages, emails and missed calls. The funky colorful display will also show the weather information battery status and time.

The HTC One (M8) will be available globally today in Gunmetal Gray, Glacial Silver and will be rolled out in the South Asia region including India in the coming weeks Stay tuned for our hands on followup. Leave any questions below.

March 25, 2014