Category: Videos

#LetsTalkShop with LG’s Amit Gujral

LG has put them selves on the map in the past couple of years. Taken as a company known for “cheap” products, LG has managed to quickly change their public image and their product lineup to match their image.

Amit Gujral, who has spent well over a decade and a half with the company, heads the marketing for the Mobile division of LG and sits out of the large and lavish Greater Noida HQ which also doubles up as a factory for home appliances.

The LG G3 is being pushed by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan as an “Endorser”, Amit Gujral claims the campaign is simply to push a “legend by a legend”. The company is not interested in playing a catch up game, and wants to go beyond the thinking of its competition.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Amit Gujral” author_title=”Marketing Head – LG Mobile India”]

We don’t want to play catch up!

[/quote]

LG is also working on a tablet that they will launch shortly, said Amit coyly. Giving us another opportunity to sit with him to discuss details. The company has understood that there is very little need between a large phone and a tablet for consumption of content.

Amit claims that Social Media availability for a brand is a must, and the trend in the market is more “we” than “me”. LG is available for the consumers on Social Media and is arming up operations to be available in a better fashion.

Software is key and mostly all our phones are running KitKat, from mid to High segment , said Amit. Going forward LG will continue supporting updates for products.

Watch the full video below for the juicy bits.

August 4, 2014

Xiaomi Mi Power Banks Review

They were promised and here they are, the latest offering from the ferocious Chinese brand Xiaomi. The company has brought out their two Mi power banks in India which will make other power bank manufacturers really restless. With massive capacity and modest pricing, the devices, might indeed sell like hot cakes in the world of juice thirsty smartphone batteries.

The device comes with a rubber case and charging cable.

Now these devices look sure look impressive. This is what you get when you take inspiration from Apple products. The soap bar sized Mi power banks are quite the convenience to have. We tested out the 10400mAh version for you, and it is available in a 5200 mAh variant. The Mi power bank has a textured anodized aluminum casing that covers the entire battery and has a smooth metallic finish and fits in your hand. It is claimed to be water and corrosion resistant. The surface is a bit slippery but that can be easily addressed by using the rubber case provided with it.

Though it’s a slight bit heavy, about 250 grams, but with its massive capacity, the owners won’t mind lugging around some extra weight. The LED indicators for battery level especially stand out against the unadorned surface.

The LED indicators stand out on the device. — The LED battery level indicators stand out on the device.

The company claims that the Mi power bank is capable of charging the MI3 for about 2.5 times, an iPhone for 4.5 times and an iPad 1.5 times to full capacity which is quite impressive. With these power banks, you can worry free throughout your weekend trip.

The Mi power banks have been designed by the famous Texas instruments. Xiaomi claims that their technology was developed with safety and efficiency in mind. The power banks use chipsets to stabilizes the discharge voltage and make the device safer, durable and efficient. The devices are said to be 93% charging conversion rate for each device, which lets it charge different devices at their output levels.

Its massive capacity can handle all your charging needs for the weekend

Xiaomi has done extensive testing before bringing the portable chargers to the consumers. The USB port on the Mi power banks have been tested for 1500 removal cycles, and the MicroUSB port have faced 5000 removal cycles. Apart from these tests, the Mi power banks were tested for extreme temperature conditions; 70 degrees, 96 hours for high temperatures, -40 degrees, 96 hours for lower temperatures. These might make them for comfortable use all around India. Though we will not advocate you testing these parameters without proper scientific guidance, this is to prevent you from blowing your face off.

Coming to the issue of the moolah. How much does a chipset based Mi power banks cost? Here’s for your eyebrows to do some work- the 10400 mAh comes at a price of Rs. 999/- and the 5200 mAh comes at 799/-. Yes, that’s how it is, and No we did not miss an extra figure or a zero in the middle. At this price, the whole Xiaomi Mi3 disappearing act will be reenacted with these power banks.

Get it, it sure has got some style points.

Overall we charged a couple of our devices to full charge, and we had two LED’s still asking for more devices to juice up. The only concern with these is the absence of a second USB port which would have let us use its massive capacity to charge two devices at once. We will keep a vigilant eye on the device for now and keep you updated if the power bank fails to perform as it is advised. For now, go ahead and get in line for the Xiaomi Mi power banks.

Tech Specs:

Model	NDY-02-AD
Battery Type	Lithium-ion rechargeable cell
Power Source	DC 5V
Input Voltage	DC 5.1V
Input Current	2.0A (TYP)
Output Current	2.1A(TYP)
Rated capacity	3.6V/10400mAh(TYP)
Charging time	5.5 hrs with 5V/2A plug and standard cable12 hrs with 5V/1A plug and standard cable
Size	90.57721.6mm
Load detection	Auto-detect the plug-in and plug-out of devices
Safety	Input OVP, OCP, Output OCP OVP, short protectioncell protection including OVP OCP, thermal protection during charge and discharge stage
Out of power protection	Awake once plugged to the charger
Charging temperature	0°C-45°C (TYP)
Discharging temperature	Initial – 10°C~+50°C(TYP)Continous -20°C~+60°C(TYP)
Weight	250g

July 31, 2014

Xiaomi Mi3 Review : Get it Now!
The era of saying, “that’s a Chinese phone” in a negative manner may have finally ended, and that will be purely thanks to the fact that a lot of Chinese manufacturers are ready to put that norm to rest.

With Gionee taking the market horses by the reins last year, Xiaomi is the latest player and is ready to play in the heated battle zone with the right approach for India.

OVERVIEW

India is the most price sensitive market in the world, one of the largest markets for Mobile Phone users, even those who switch handsets frequently. The country is flooded with manufacturers and brands trying to reach a level of excitement in the mobile space. With the Xiaomi Mi3, the Chinese manufacturer hit the right note with Indian buyers, by simply launching the product. There was a huge demand for a good budget phone; However Xiaomi dissolved their overheads by launching the product at a marvellous price of Rs 13999/- for the 16 GB variant.

The stocks are very limited, and only those who preregister can buy the phone. Every few days the phone will go on sale on shopping website Flipkart, making it excruciatingly difficult to own one right now. What makes it more painful is the long list of dealers who have multiple accounts on Flipkart, waiting to snatch this phone, just so that they can sell for a markup.

Is the handset really worth all that worship? Let’s find out.

BUILD QUALITY AND HARDWARE

Let’s say this, finding a phone this well made, for this price, is practically impossible. The Xiaomi Mi3 is encased in a solid brushed aluminium shell and laden with Gorilla Glass 3 in the front. Possibly one of the only phones with a reinforced micro USB port, the Xiaomi Mi3 has held no bars in design and build quality.

The rigid frame also gives it fantastic looks and the rounded sides and edges relate to the fit in the hand, and it all feels great. Each time you pickup the Mi3 the first words out of your mind would be “No way this costs only Rs. 13999?.

Hardware wise, the Xiaomi Mi3 is pretty top notch, unlike its latest version; the Mi4, the Mi3 carries a Snapdragon 800 chipset with quad cores clocked at 2.3 GHz, a full HD 1920 x 1080p IPS LCD display made by Sharp or LG, 2 GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a whopping 3050 mAh battery. Apart from that you get the Adreno 330 GPU and Bluetooth 4.0 LE along with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac.

Just putting the parts together will cost you more than a phone. However someone at Xiaomi has the right contacts with suppliers.

ANDROID AND MIUI

The Xiaomi Mi3 in India comes preloaded with Android 4.4.2 out the box, which is skinned with MiUi, a very iOS like skin which does not contain an application drawer. The UI is fast and snappy and offers a lot of customisations including themes which can be downloaded from the Mi Store. The Mi3 will give full access to the Play Store and allow for launcher downloads as well as launcher replacement if so be the case.

The UI is snappy and not laggy at all, the phone has good multitasking capabilities and will blaze through the live applications, despite few software glitches, that may often cause slowdowns and crashes.

PERFORMANCE AND GAMING

The phone is a beast for the price range. It does not break any records as per say, but is truly top notch in its price bracket, in fact pretty much compares to phones in double the price bracket. The phone runs through mostly all our tests and scores good results in our benchmark tests.

Test

Score

Quadrant Benchmark 20376

Antutu Benchmark 30537

Nenamark 60.0 FPS

As far as gaming is concerned, the Mi3 can handle anything that is thrown at it, basically, any game that exists on Android will run on the Mi3, which is mostly thanks to the heart of the handset being a Snapdragon 800 – one of the most stable chipsets when it comes to apps and software.

We gamed on the Mi3 extensively and found it to be seamless and smooth, although the 16 GB runs out, and it runs out fast. You would be better waiting for the 64 GB variant if gaming is your bit because space is tight.

The Xiaomi Mi3 is excellent in day to day use and offers excellent performance, whether its running apps or multitasking, you will not be disappointed.

MULTIMEDIA AND CAMERA

The Xiaomi Mi3 has a beautiful display with excellent viewing angles and a full HD resolution. Xiaomi has gone as far as calling it a “retina” display, because the panels are made either by LG or Sharp, both of which supply to Apple for the iPhone.

The display is big and bright, and you will enjoy consuming media on this phone, the audio is excellent out of the 3.5mm jack, and you will be happy with the overall experience. The onboard speaker is not overly loud, but can be adequate, of course, which could be different for different folks, we would have liked a better speaker though.

The camera is the best in class, with a 5 element lens and f2.2 aperture, the 13 MP shots are right on the money. The colours are accurate, and images are perfectly sharp. Low-light performance is excellent, and video is good. The front camera is good for 2
MP shots which will more than suffice for the selfie nerd in you.

PHONE AND BATTERY LIFE

Phone networks are strong, and network performance is good where we tested (Delhi/NCR and Mumbai), the phone supports 3G networks mostly globally and without issues in India. There is no 4G/LTE and expecting it would be inappropriate.

Battery life is impressive thanks to a well balanced chipset, which helped us get through almost two days without a recharge on the 3050 mAh battery pack.

Talk Time 6-7 hours

Music 19 hours

Internet 10+ Hours

CONCLUSION

Just a few months ago, Motorola broke the bank in India by launching the Moto G in this price bracket using a similar sale strategy (the Flipkart way). Now Xiaomi seems to have this in their pocket for the Xiaomi Mi3 and possibly for the Mi4 in the near future. There are several complaints, already of handsets with faulty Sim card trays, heating issues and handsets that refuse to boot or get charged.

Around 35-service centres will offer, support and Flipkart has a brilliant reverse pickup for faulty and dead on arrival products. So device and support “should not be” a problem. However, there is no clarity on who is behind the sales, an Indian partner or the company itself? How dedicated are they and how serious do the consider one of the larger mobile markets?

With confirmed news of the new Mi4 coming soon, and OnePlus showing interest in India, the Mi3 may be a miss for some. However for those who need a phone now, it doesn’t get any better than this. If you were considering a last generation Nexus 5, this overthrows that with half the price. Get the drift? Now get the phone!

Buy Now

[tw-column width=”one-half”]

GOOD THINGS
- Excellent Build
- Uber Hardware
- Stunning Looks
- Android 4.4 and MiUi
- Excellent Performer
- Great Battery
[/tw-column]

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

BAD THINGS
- No Official Company to find
- Flipkart only Sales
- Limited Units
- Faulty on Arrival Units
[/tw-column]
July 27, 2014

Hands On with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4

Samsung has constantly held its position in the tablet market, a market where many have come and failed. The company has seemingly changed its perception toward the way they will devices going forward, and the first look comes from the new Tab S series of devices.

One thing that we appreciate a lot is that the Tab S 8.4 is a true little brother of the Tab S 10.5 where both slates have identical specifications from processor to display resolution and even the internal RAM and storage. What differs is the size of the screen and the battery capacity which are both reduced from the 10.5 incher to get the desired size needed for the Tab S 8.4 .

The display is just phenomenal, it’s like taking the display of the Note 3 and blowing it up to fit the size and then adding 4 times the pixels. Its bright, extremely vivid and beautifully saturated. It is also a pretty large Super AMOLED display, considering a couple of years back Samsung was dealing with issues manufacturing a 4 inch Super AMOLED panel with Full HD capabilities.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.4 comes with a 8.4 inch 2560 x 1600 pixel display that is simply awe-inspiring. The company is also calling it the highlight of the tablet as the usual features from the previous generation tend to follow suit.

The back panel on the Tab S 8.4 is also a “Smarter and Larger” version of what we saw on the Galaxy S5, even though it looks much more classier and cleaner on the tablets and especially so on the Tab S 8.4 in the titanium copper colour.

SPECIFICATIONS	GALAXY TAB S 10.5-INCH	GALAXY TAB S 8.4-INCH
BATTERY CAPACITY:	7,900(mAh)	4900(mAh)
DISPLAY	10.5-inch Super AMOLED display Resolution:2560 x 1600 pixels	8.4-inch Super AMOLED display Resolution: 2560 x 1600 pixels
CAMERA	Rear camera: 8-megapixel Flash: LED Front camera: 2-megapixel	Rear camera: 8-megapixel Flash: LED Front camera: 2-megapixel
RAM	3GB	3GB
PROCESSOR	Octa-Core Exynos 5 (A15 1.9 GHz & A7 1.3 GHz)	Octa-Core Exynos 5 (A15 1.9 GHz & A7 1.3 GHz)
INTERNAL STORAGE	16GB/32GB expanded up to 128GB	16GB/32GB expanded up to 128GB
SOFTWARE	Android 4.4 Kitkat	Android 4.4 Kitkat

July 12, 2014

Exclusive : Hands On with Gionee’s S5.5 KitKat Update

Gionee will be pushing out Android KitKat Update version 4.4.2 with the new Amigo UI to some devices in the coming days (as told to us by Arvind Vohra in our LetsTalkShop ).

The first two devices to get the said update are the CTRL V5 and Gionee Elife S5.5, while most owners of the V5 should already be getting update notifications, owners of the Elife S5.5 will soon get a notification for the proposed update.

We went hands on with the Elife S5.5’s Android 4.4 KitKat Update, and we can tell you, it is one major improvement. Apart from being a major overhaul in frameworks the new upgrade is at least twice as responsive and 50% lighter on the resources.

Here is a ChangeLog for the devices:

For the Gionee Elife Slim S5.5 and Gionee Ctrl V5

1. Android KitKat Update

2. New Desktop layout

3. Removed the World Cricket Champion and Real Football game

4. Added Du Speed Booster

5. Updated Amigo Paper with a brand New UI

6. Updated Game Zone with a New UI

7. Updated GioneeXender

8. Updated UC Browser

9.Updated NQ Mobile Security

10. Updated Kingsoft WPS

11. Removed Settings Shortcut from Notification Panel

12.Theme and Wallpaper will be reset to Default after System Update, but Data will not be Lost.

While you wait for the final KitKat update which should be a big download 800-900 MB in size, other devices including the Elife E7 and possible previous versions are also set to get Android KitKat in the coming weeks. As mentioned above, we did an update and the data remains safe, while some of the settings get reset, including the wallpaper, which you can reselect.

Stay Tuned for more updates.

July 2, 2014
Micromax Canvas Gold A300 Review
Micromax has recently transitioned into a newer dimension of phones, from bulky and dated phones running older versions of Android, the trend is now to get shapely, sleek devices with Android KitKat out of the box. The current flagship, aka the Micromax Canvas Gold A300, is a testament of that, and while the Canvas Knight was burning our desires (quite literally), the Golden boy here may have turned our mood around. Let’s see how it holds up.

Overview

[pullquote_left]The oddly questionable gold colour is far from that of the iPhone 5s[/pullquote_left]

The Canvas Gold A300 is yet another flagship Canvas phone from the company that promises a roundup of interesting elements. A good set of specifications, great build quality, design and good optics, giving it a big thumbs up on the premium look and feel. Even though most have called it a replica of the iPhone 5s in a bigger version, the oddly questionable gold colour is far from that of the iPhone 5s.

Hardware and Build

Running the Canvas Gold A300 is an Octa-Core Mediatek 6592T chipset clocked at 2.0 GHz tied up with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of Storage. 25GB of the 32 GB is available to dump your media, games and files. The rear camera is a 16MP shooter with a 5MP front camera which does an impressive job with selfies (see camera section)

The front has an impressive and vivid 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080p display this is surprisingly visible outdoors and has good viewing angles. The phone has dual SIM capabilities and can run data on 3g on both cards. The Sim slots comprise of a full size SIM slot and a micro SIM slot on either side of the device.

The phone is manufactured out of a “single billet” of aluminium alloy with slots for antennas in plastic on the rear of the device. The phone is readily available in two variants, a Gold+White and the Gold+Black, the only difference being the plastic inserts and the colour of the bezel.

Apart from the exceptionally golden – gold colour the phone has a pretty good design, and the metal is nicely finished to give a great feel in the hand. The beveled edges of the phone quite replicate the iPhone look, seen specifically iPhone 4 and up. The flat lay-on-the table design will be appreciated by owners quite a lot, although a fatter lip for the front would have given a strong protection to the screen albeit taking away a bit of the slim profile of the smartphone.

Phone and Networks

The phone is unique in many ways, instead of selection your data network, you can have data on either SIM, which is great. The weird combination of Sim card sizes may work for some people, especially if they don’t want to cut/get micro SIM cards vs. regular sized ones.

The networks are strong and audio in and out of the phone is impressive. The network remains positively active even during tower switches, and we didn’t see a huge problem with dropped calls.

The WiFi seemed a bit low to us, and in our initial tests seemed weak.

Multimedia, Display and Camera

For most media is playable on the Canvas Gold A300, and we found nothing to complain about, the audio could be a little bit louder in our opinion. The music output from the headphones is a lot more impressive when compared to any previous handset, the “flaming knight” included.

As far as the video playback goes, the display does a fantastic job, jitter-free vibrant video playback. The phone is capable enough and will deliver a good experience to most users.

The camera system is a good hardware and software upgrade, and the 16 MP sensor is big enough to give a noise free low light performance. The day shots are noteworthy and brilliantly saturated to give a larger than life photography experience. The camera app is simplistic and new features like 99 shot continuous burst along with tap-hold to track subjects actively will come in handy for video.

Video capture frame rates are slow to display on the screen, in fact when you are capturing video there seems to be a lag in the screen aka the viewfinder. But, we were testing a pre-production software and apparently this has been fixed in the final build. Video is captured at a resolution of 1920 x 1080p at 30fps just like many other handsets in this bracket.

Performance and Gaming

The Canvas Gold A300 is a star performer scoring great results on benchmarks and showing excellent performance in daily use overall. You will be happy multitasking on this handset as it can handle app switching very well and thanks to inbuilt RAM management the phone automatically drives resources to the active application. The apps in the background use the adaptive suspend from Android KitKat.

Thanks to all this software and management goodness, the gaming experience is excellent, with heat at a minimum. The device does heat up from around the camera with extended periods of use, however the minute you are done you will be happy to put the phone in your pocket and move out. Games have a superfluid experience along with excellent touch screen feedback and responsiveness.

Battery Life and Conclusion

The battery on the Canvas Gold A300 lasts a good full day of use, and thanks to KitKat and power management you will not be searching for the charger in a hurry. The bloatware on the Canvas Gold A300 has been brought down to a minimum, and most of the preloaded apps useful, those which are not required can be gotten rid of.

With a software update thanks to FOTA, the device may get Android L (hopefully) and with the company working to fix their service issues the Micromax Canvas Gold seems like a good overall product. With little or no complaints from the hardware and excellent UI including a new keyboard (Swiftkey) pre loaded for use, most will be happy with the device out of the box.

With more options in this price bracket including Gionee Elife S5.5, the Moto X and the Desire 816 it will mostly come down to user requirements.

Review Video

[tw-column width=”one-half”]

GOOD THINGS
- Build Quality is Impressive
- Powerful Hardware
- Great Battery
- KitKat and FOTA Updates
- Cameras are sharp
[/tw-column]

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

BAD THINGS
- Strange Gold Colour
- No Lip around Display
- No Included Case
[/tw-column]
June 30, 2014
#LetsTalkShop : Shubhodip Pal talks Micromax Mobile

An Indian company that a few years ago not spoken of, a brand that most would not associate with, and a manufacturer that was looked down upon, today is one of the most prominent names in the market. It’s never easy when you are talking to the game changers, but the conversation always turns out to be amazing.

This week on #LetsTalkShop a lot is revealed about Micromax. Shobhodip Pal, who is the CMO of Micromax India, delves deep into the problems faced by the company, the relationships within and outside the organisation.

Shubhodip has been with Micromax for 19+ months and has seen, while being instrumental; the company emerge as one of the biggest names in the Indian smartphone and mobile race. One of the busiest men in the organisation Shubhodip always is pepped on energy and throughout the discussion was energised.

According to Shubhodip, Micromax has always and will continue to deliver platforms that they feel the market is ready for. After Android, Micromax felt that the time is right for Windows Phone and once the partnership was announced at the build conference, Micromax was ready to build windows phones and recently delivered the two most important products in the line up.

The company is working on many more products in the lineup of Windows Phone, as this is not a one off for the company, he said.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Shubhodip Pal” author_title=”CMO, Micromax”]

Put it on Record! We will have a 6 inch Windows Phone in the coming months and will many more phones that you will hear about soon.

[/quote]

Micromax has usually ignored Software updates, however; the company is working on rolling out software updates for all their recent phones and promises quick updates going forward thanks to a new software development team that has been assigned.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Shubhodip Pal” author_title=”CMO, Micromax”]

Micromax is working hard to roll out Software updates for most of its models July onwards, with the help of a dedicated team.

[/quote]

The company is also planning to set up software update kiosks across the country, where people can bring in their phones for 30-40 minutes and get an updated phone back. While it seems a little ambitious, Micromax is keen on delivering this and changing the now negative chatter around updates to a positive one.

For reaching as far as he has Shubodip, asks that you remain persistent and are not scared to roll up your sleeves. Are willing to go out of your way to make your organisation shine, and you will grow once you start to believe in the organisation.

The full interview is a must watch so head over to the video for the juicy bits.

June 22, 2014
Hands on with Micromax Canvas Win W121 And W092

Although it is not Micromax’s first foray into Windows domain, its is their first set of Windows Phone 8.1 Smartphones. The two devices 5 inch W121, and 4 inches W092 are both relatively lower end devices, and their prices below the Rs. 10000 bracket.

The Micromax Canvas Win W121 is their 5 inch handset with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 Chipset with 1 GB RAM 8 GB ROM, along with 32 GB storage expansion via MicroSD card. The W121 costs Rs. 9500 and features a much better build than its lower sibling, almost mimicking the “Pleather” seen on the Note 3. On the back of the W121 is an 8MP camera, with a 2 MP front facing camera. Overall the device is an impressive looking unit, when compared to many other phones available in this price bracket.

The OS seems build on the prototype units we saw, and Windows Phone 8.1 comes preloaded with many of the new features of the OS. For most using Windows as a main PC OS will enjoy the continued features that were earlier available on devices like Nokia Lumia.

The Micromax Canvas Win W092 is a lower end variant of the two and costs a significantly low Rs. 6500. The w092 comes with many identical specs when compared to the elder brother, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 Chipset with 1 GB RAM 8GB ROM, along with 32 GB storage. Whats different here is a smaller 4 inch display the 5 MP main camera and a 1500 mAh battery. The secondary camera also comes down to a mere 0.3 MP vs. the 2 MP on the bigger sibling.

Both the Micromax Canvas Win w121 and the W092 are expected to be available early July and we will keep you posted on further news.

June 16, 2014
#LetsTalkShop with HTC India head Faisal Siddiqui

This week in Lets Talk Shop we speak to HTC India country head Faisal Siddiqui. The man has been heading HTC in India for many a years and offers a bit of understanding on how they run shop in India.

The three most important products for HTC this year are the HTC One M8, the HTC Desire 816 and the Desire 210, with the desire 210 being the most unique product from HTC as it is the first HTC phone to have been launched under the Rs. 10,000 price bracket.

Faisal promises that the build quality and HTC lineage follows through even in the Desire 210 while most of the top end features including blink feed, quick OTA updates etc will also be seen in this entry level handset.

The Desire 816 will be getting more colors including a “fuchsia pink” apart from the white, black and orange available presently. He claims that people now like color options when buying smartphones and HTC wants to provide that option.

HTC has always been strong headed about staying away from tablets, and in the past they have remained focused with their smartphones. However, unlike previous meetings, Faisal was keen on not comment on the Tablet agenda for the company , which could mean that HTC may finally be planning tablets or that the new Nexus 8 being made by HTC rumors may be true after all.

HTC is strongly focused on building an experience in India, whether its their concept stores or their service centers. Including basic infrastructure, like Air conditioning, drinking water and a systematic approach HTC feels they can break down the long list of issues that go on with providing service in India.

As far as functioning goes, Faisal does feel that there are some major issues in running shop in India, but getting past them is what makes the challenge interesting.

If you ever want to head/run your own company, Faisal’s advice:

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Faisal Siddiqui” author_title=”HTC India”]

Always hire the right people, if you have the right team, reaching your objective is that much simpler.

[/quote]

June 10, 2014
Top ten predictions for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4

The Galaxy Note 4, successor to the Note 3 which was the bestselling phone from Samsung’s stable, is around the corner. Note 3 was a benchmark on which most of the future premium devices were designed, like the Galaxy Tab pro.

So here we give you a roundup of all the things we know about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 3. (more…)

June 3, 2014
#LetsTalkShop with Arvind Vohra from Gionee

Gionee’s recent arrival into the mobile market has proved the theory that not all “Chinese Goods” are poorly made. A few recent handsets from the company have proved to be quite the segment leaders. The Gionee S5.5 being the slimmest phone in the world and the Gionee E7 with its impressive camera.

We got a chance to sit down with the Country Head of Gionee in India, Mr. Arvind Vohra , and discuss the company, its operations and its future in a market like India.

We started of by discussing why he chose Gionee as a brand and how important it was to him, the answer seemed quite obvious. He believed in the company and its operations and the fact that he knew the global president personally helped.

Arvind claims that service is a key ingredient to providing a hardware, and as a manufacturer if he doesn’t have the right parts then the whole process is flawed.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Arvind Vohra”]

As a Manufacturer, if i don’t have spare parts, then there is something very wrong.

[/quote]

Operating in a market like India has become much more easier than before, and most of the challenges are overcome by doing everything in the manner its supposed to be done. As far as comparing India with any other market , he feels since he hasn’t worked anywhere else therefore he does not have a benchmark.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Arvind Vohra”]

There are no problems in operating in India, things have become much easier. You can register a company in three weeks, and as long as you do everything right you will be in a good place.

[/quote]

He is very keen on “exploiting OTA” updates and claims that most devices will get the OTA update for KitKat in the coming weeks. Which is avery big thing for the market he is operating in. The Elife series phones will be always be OTA supported as long as the hardware allows.

The next lineup of devices will include LTE phones, as Arvind feels that the country is ready to exploit the resource, and if Gionee can provide hardware then they will.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Arvind Vohra”]

We like to exploit the OTA updates, and almost all our devices launched recently will get the OTA KitKat Update. Going forward all our devices will launch with LTE, especially since China is transitioning we feel India will soon be ready.

[/quote]

Arvind sees no point of a tablet and fails to understand why people use them, the day he finds the real use of tablets he will start making them.

Watch the full video below and stay tuned for our next #LetsTalkShop

June 2, 2014

LG Curved OLED TV 55EA9800 Unboxed!

LG’s new Curved OLED TV 55EA9800 is the world’s first curved TV, but it does not just stop there, it also is very flexible and durable. The design of the TV is out of the future, it is very slim, the profile is just exquisite and the curve may as well accentuate the actual viewing experience, but only if you sit dead centre.

Check out the Video above and the detailed specifications below.

LG 55EA9800 Specifications

Display

Screen Size(Inches)	55
Type of Television	OLED

Picture Features

Resolution(Pixels)	1920 x1080
3D Support	Yes
2D-to-3D Converter	Yes
Picture Processor	Triple XD Engine
Number of Selectable Picture Modes	7 Modes (Vivid,Standard,Eco, Cinema,Game, isf Expert1,isf Expert2)

Audio Features

Selectable Sound Modes	6 Modes (Standard, Music, Cinema, Sport, Game, User setting)

Smart TV Features

Facebook	Yes
Twitter	Yes
Web Browser	Yes

Connectivity

HDMI Input	Yes
USB Port	Yes
Composite Input	Yes
Component Input	Yes
Digital Audio Out (Optical/Coaxial)	1 (Optical)
Wifi	Yes
DLNA Support	Yes

Dimensions

Dimensions (W x D x H)(mm)	1227 x 192 x 798.5 mm
Approximate Net Weight(Kgs)	17.2

More Features

Other Features	Smart Energy Saving – Motion Eco Sensor – External Device App Download – Scheduled Recording – External HDD Recording Support – Network File Browser – Media Link – Voice Recognition – 3D Picture Mode – 3D Sound Zooming – Smart Sound Mode – DTS Decoder – Contrast Optimizer – Dynamic Color Enhancer

After Sales Service

Warranty Period	1 Year

April 23, 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
Micromax Canvas Knight A350 Benchmarks Result

Micromax launched Canvas Knight on 5th March 2014, this new smartphone is the latest addition in the vast Canvas series from the company. This new smartphone is the first Octa-core device from the company and is now available at a price of Rs. 19,999.

The Canvas Knight sports a 5 inch display with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels and a pixel density of 443ppi. The device is powered by a 2 Ghz Octa-Core MediaTek MT6592T processor and is equipped with 2 GB of RAM and comes with 32 GB inbuilt storage which is non expandable.

The Canvas Knight offers dual-SIM support, runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and is packed with a 2350 mAh battery. The device is equipped with a 16 MP rear camera with OmniVision CameraChip sensor and M8 Largan Lens,and a secondary 8 MP front facing camera.

Lets check the Benchmarks scores for the Micromax Canvas Knight:

Micromax Canvas Knight Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 Micromax Canvas Turbo

Quadrant Standard 11768 8407 4718

Nenamark 2 57.7 fps 56.4 fps 33.9 fps

AnTuTu 29469 16887 15557

Coming to the benchmarks, we compared the scores side-by-side with the Micromax Canvas Turbo and the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2.

Starting with Quadrant Standard, the Canvas Knight scored 11768, and left behind Canvas Turbo and Grand 2 with scores of 4718 and 8407 respectively. Coming to AnTuTu benchmarks, the Canvas Knight scored 29469, and others scored 16887 and 15557. Next up, we checked the graphics, Nenamark 2 scored 57.7 fps on the Canvas Knight, whereas, it scored 56.4 fps on Grand 2 and 33.9 fps on the Canvas turbo.

March 20, 2014
In Conversation with LG : G Flex, Their Revival, Tablets and Future

LG has been under the radar for a very long time, However, many will agree that 2013 was a good year for LG. After their Association with Google last year for the Nexus 4, LG started to get noticed a lot more in the consumer smartphone scene. We had a chance to visit the LG manufacturing facility in Greater Noida, India, to get a perspective on the current situation of LG smartphones and their future plans.

[pullquote_left] LG hardware is why Google Chose LG for Nexus[/pullquote_left]

Amit Gujral, whose current title puts him as a General Manager at LG Electronics, is also the Marketing head for LG Mobile in India, told us that LG’s hardware is one of the primary reasons Google picked LG for the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 5. The company believes that the success they have faced in 2013 has been purely based on the fact that the LG Optimus G and LG G2 were ground breaking products not only from an LG brand prospective, but also from a Nexus point of view.

LG has also recently announced the LG G Flex, a phone intended for launch in India around Feb 2014 for upwards of Rs. 65000 (US $ 1050). Despite the price, Amit says that the LG G Flex is a “cause for celebration”, stating that wearable and flexible devices are the future.

[pullquote_right] The G Flex is a cause for celebration[/pullquote_right]While Bendable products will be game changers, flexible devices are a step closer in approaching that goal. The most innovative feature is also claimed to be the flexible battery, from LG Chemical, which has truly made a flexible device possible for LG.

LG will also not launch the G Pad 8.3 in India, the company believes that larger smartphones have become a trend. In a market like India, a user prefers a phone call and data capable Smartphone over a non connected large screen tablet.

LG also feels that the technology for making phones truly rugged and truly waterproof is not here yet and it costs a lot at its present capability. “The Indian market is not ready” claims Amit “to understand and pay for this waterproof technology”.

The Self Heal coating from the LG G Flex may make its rounds to the next-gen LG devices as well, with a focus on consumer feedback, Amit expressed simply “If the People want it, we will put it”.

LG plans to eventually bring smartphone manufacture to India, with their two manufacturing plants operational 24 hours a day, and a major chunk of their Smartphone demand from India. LG is also working on something for the safety of women in India, while Amit was not keen to discuss intricate details on their pet project dedicated for the Indian market. An app in all likelihood will be an answer to what it could be.

LG has had a truly successful year in terms of their handsets, with the Optimus G, Optimus G Pro, the LG G2, Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 doing exceptionally well in all markets including India, the G Flex may as well be LG’s next premium grace.

[youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mJ9rIH3W8Y”]

December 20, 2013

Test		Score
Quadrant Benchmark		20376
Antutu Benchmark		30537
Nenamark		60.0 FPS

	Micromax Canvas Knight	Samsung Galaxy Grand 2	Micromax Canvas Turbo
Quadrant Standard	11768	8407	4718
Nenamark 2	57.7 fps	56.4 fps	33.9 fps
AnTuTu	29469	16887	15557

Talk Time	6-7 hours
Music	19 hours
Internet	10+ Hours

Category: Videos

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OVERVIEW

BUILD QUALITY AND HARDWARE

ANDROID AND MIUI

PERFORMANCE AND GAMING

Test

Score

MULTIMEDIA AND CAMERA

PHONE AND BATTERY LIFE

CONCLUSION

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