Category: Review

REVIEWS – All tech reviews by iGyaan.in

HTC 10 Review
[section label=”Initial Thoughts”]

HTC has been struggling with their phones, for the past few years. Post the success of the HTC One M7 , the HTC One M8 and especially the One M9 failed to impress the world. In India HTC, last year launched the HTC One M9+ instead of the One M9. While this was done to attract more buyers, most swayed away to the other realm of competition especially because Samsung had launched the S6 and S6 Edge and Apple’s iPhone 6s was just around the corner.

While many were skeptical if HTC could make a comeback, the HTC 10 is the ultimate comeback king. This year HTC did not hold back on specifications, which has been an issue for the company in the past. HTC not only loaded the HTC 10 with the best hardware but also made it work really well. So should you be choosing the HTC 10 in your next Flagship purchase, there is more reason than ever, let’s discuss more in our review.

[section label=”Build Quality and Design”]

Build & Design

The build of the HTC 10, almost goes back in line with the HTC One M7, a single shell of Aluminum that s used to carve out space for fitting the innards of the phone. The HTC 10 is one beautiful smartphone, it exudes a premium look and is possibly the best-looking metal jacket smartphone out there.

With the design, HTC kept it simple, big bold chamfers on the back not only give it an excellent and unique look but an excellent fit in the palms of your hand whether you have big or tiny hands. The decision to go with the 5.2-inch display as opposed to a 5.5-inch display is welcome and people will find that they not only get a punchier display but also a comfortably sized smartphone.

The front gets Gorilla Glass 4, which gives the phone additional frontal protection. It also keeps the phone safe from scratches on the front. The metal construction is solid and despite several drops the phone is unscathed.

The HTC 10 misses out on waterproofing, which was a big plus on the Galaxy S7 this year. The HTC 10 only has an IP53 rating meaning, it will only survive basic splashes of water.

[section label=”Hardware”]

Hardware

This phone is loaded with the best of everything on the market right now. The HTC 10 gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 with the Adreno 530 GPU, 4GB of RAM and a storage choice of 32 or 64 GB along with expandability up to a massive 2TB when cards are available.

The rear gets improved 12 MP cameras, that HTC dubs “Ultrapixel 2″ and the front gets a 5 MP snapper. The HTC 10 is available in two colors the Carbon Grey and the Topaz Gold.

[section label=”Performance”]

Performance

Thanks to a cleaner HTC Sense UI and removal of duplicate apps, HTC has not only made the user experience more simplistic but has also removed redundancy in the day to day use of the phone, hence making the experience a more interesting one. The HTC 10 shows no sign of slow down despite several days of strict usage.

For heavy users, they will find that its a breeze switching between apps and playing high graphic intensity games. The phone scores excellent points on benchmarks and easily crosses the 110,000 mark on apps like Antutu Benchmark and scores 4747 on the Geekebench Multicore test putting it right on top of the comparison chart. The HTC 10 scores significantly better than the Galaxy S7 and the LG G5.

Owners will find themselves not being concerned with the usage of the phone, as it simply performs, so worrying about lag is a non-issue.

Multimedia and Display

HTC 10 uses a new combination of speakers, a mid-range that sits next to the earpiece and a low range which sits next to the charging port. HTC calls this the BoomSound Hi-Fi edition. While we still prefer the original Boomsound layout, with two big speakers blasting loud music directly at our face, this is a more refined upgrade to that. A more fuller sound with a more accurate representation of what you are listening to.

Audio is still loud, and great while watching a video or playing games. The HTC 10 also has a built-in DAC, which converts high-end digital audio to an analog signal. This significantly improves the audio quality of your files and now you can listen to high-res audio from the 3.5 mm headphone jack of the smartphone. Once you plug in your headphones, you’ll be asked to set up a personal audio profile which will enable you to listen for tones with each ear, allowing each user to setup headphones and tones specific to their ears and headphones. The HTC 10 supports multiple profiles for different headphones.

The display is bright, and vivid, and has an excellent color representation and wide viewing angles. The HTC 10 has a Super LCD 5 display running at Quad HD resolution. The color is much more refined than that of Samsung Galaxy S7’s Super AMOLED panel which tends to over saturate colors to make the screens look better than life. If you do prefer a more vibrant setup, the settings panel will allow you to switch your color modes.

The HTC 10 is also the first Android phone that supports Apple’s Airplay streaming, not only is this a welcome feature, it is the easiest and the best way to stream music if you have an Airplay device or an Airplay multiroom audio setup.

[section label=”Software and UI”]

Software & UI

Here is where HTC excelled with the HTC 10. The company had already been reducing the influence of Sense on Android as a UI layer. With the new Sense 8, HTC has gone into minimal interference while elevating the customer experience. The base of everything still remains Android, Android 6.0.1 this time around and HTC does still have things like the Blinkfeed interface which sits to the left of the main screen. Blinkfeed also should suggest some restaurants and Cafe’s where it is supported.

You can still change the size of the app drawer and you can still personalize the HTC 10 with custom themes, colors, and wallpapers. HTC’s apps are very limited but work really well , including the camera application, and the ZOE editor.

The phone dialer gets the usual HTC flavor with swipeable tabs, and the messaging app gets the stock Android treatment. The User interface is simple and flowy and easy to navigate through and HTC seems to have found the right mix with the HTC 10.

[section label=”Camera”]

Cameras

The main camera on the HTC 10 is a 12 MP shooter, and while the Galaxy S7 gets a lot of praise for the camera, the HTC 10 hold up a fantastic arena of its own. While HTC’s cameras in the past have failed to impress, that is certainly not the case this time around.

The f/1.8 is only 0.1 behind the f/1.7 on the Samsung Galaxy S7’s 12 MP camera. There is another difference here, while the HTC 10 has a Ultrapixel sensor which means that the pixels are 1.55 micron in size, those on the Galaxy S7 are only 1.4 micron in size. A larger pixel means more detail per pixel and more light passing through.

The camera is a breeze to operate, just like most of the UI, the experience of the camera is excellent. Low light performance is exceptional and the camera is quick to snap the moment. Laser autofocus with Phase detection comes into play and most of your snaps will end up being in focus right where you need them to be.

Both the front and main cameras support optical image stabilization, so whether you are capturing selfies on a trampoline or just 4k video from the main camera, the stabilization is not only apparent it is great.

Pictures are sharp and well saturated and have little noise in extremely dark environments. The contrast on the images is good, and the HTC 10 allows full manual control for those interested. You also have the ability to save RAW image files to tweak later on.

[section label=”Phone and Battery”]

Phone and Battery

The HTC 10 has full support for 4G LTE networks in India and you will get a solid sound on your calls as you would expect from an HTC device. Network switching is slow compared to others, so if you find yourself turning 4G off often, the dial times may take a while. Audio noise cancellation is superb and the HTC 10 outperforms most with respect to audio quality on phone calls.

The Quick Charge 3.0 on the 3000 mAh battery of the HTC 10 has been around way before “Dash Charge” from the OnePlus/ Oppo team. The protocol allows for the phone to achieve over 80% charge in less than an hour, easily attaining 60% or more in 30 minutes. This will not only change around how you charge the phone but how much less you care about charging the phone. While the LG G5 holds on to this feature, the Galaxy S7 ships without Quick Charge 3.0 and retains an older charge system.

The battery when fully charged will easily last you a day with a lot of online usage and camera. We traveled with the HTC 10 and seldom found ourselves looking for charge points even into late night hours.

You can easily get across 24 hours with the HTC 10 and then charge for 1 Hour and 15/20 minutes to get a full charge.
- Talk Time : 6 Hours
- Standby : 3 Days
- Online : 5 Hours
- Video Loop Test 50% Bright : 11 Hours
- Video Loop Test 100% Bright : 8 Hours
[section label=”Conclusion”]

Conclusion

The HTC 10 stands in a time frame much after the competition had already proven to be flagship defining . The HTC 10, however, redeems the top spot by simply undoing everything HTC did wrong and re-doing everything they did right. The HTC 10 ticks all the right checkboxes and in the right way. The company has not held back on their promise of building a quality product that will not let you down over time. The HTC 10 not only looks good on paper it looks even better in your hand, outperforming everything in its path with a certain poise.
June 15, 2016
Micromax Canvas 6 Review

The Micromax Canvas 6 has all the makings of a good, maybe even a great handset, great build and great specs. However, it lacks in basic OS operations and the software makes it fall way down in category. watch our video review.

May 19, 2016
Moto G4 Plus Review

The Moto G4 plus is the first handset under the Lenovo ownership, and while the company may claim to not interfere in the Moto brand language, a lot of clear changes appear in design and outlook of Moto as a brand and the new Moto G4 Plus.

 

]

May 19, 2016

Lenovo Vibe X3 Review

Lenovo has had great success in the past few years, especially with mobile phones. The Lenovo Vibe X3, while not the newest is a strong contender in the space, offering a lot of features in the under 20k bracket.

Overview

Showing off a strong design, with excellent build and optics. The Vibe X3 may be a camera first handset, one that Lenovo needed, especially to make a mark in the existing population.

Build Quality and Design

You will see a significant influence of Motorola in the design and aesthetic of the handset which now reflects a lot of metal and a prominent curved back (much like the Moto X)

The Front houses front facing speakers, a 5.5 inch Full HD display and a top glass which is much larger than the screen itself. The glass is Gorilla Glass 3, providing much-needed scratch resistance to the mix.

Hardware

Lenovo stuffed the Vibe X3 with a good set of hardware, 32GB of storage along with 3 GB of RAM. An impressive 21MP shooter with excellent low light performance, along with a 3500mAh battery.

Specs	Lenovo Vibe X3
Display	5.5 inches Full HD Display
Resolution	1920 x 1080 Gorilla Glass 3
Dimensions	154 x 76.5 x 9.3 mm
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 SoC
GPU	Adreno 418
RAM	3GB
Storage	32GB flash storage
Rear Camera	21 MP, f/2.0, 27mm, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED
Front Camera	8 MP
Expandability	128GB via microSD
Battery	Li-Po 3500 mAh
Connectivity	4G+, Wi-Fi 802.11ad, VoLTE, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth v4.1, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC, VoLTE
OS	Android 5.1.1 Lolipop
Price	<br />

Performance

Don’t hope to win any benchmarks with the Vibe X3, the overall stability, and usability of the OS is applaudable. The phone will manage to be your daily driver without requiring optimization for a very long time.

Games work well, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 holds well in the area, downloading large games is not a problem, as 32 GB of onboard storage and an expandability up to 128GB have you covered with that.

Camera

The rear camera is a gem at this price point, equipped with an impressive low light capable camera, you will almost always be impressed with the images. The f/2.0 lens also helps considerably with the depth of field and subjects do tend to pop out with, especially if you are in close range.

The contrast and color of the phone’s camera are on point, and you will be thoroughly impressed with the result. You also have the ability to capture 4k video using the rear camera.

The front camera is brilliant for selfies, close up shots are always in focus, and the 8MP of resolution will help you get all the detail you need for the mugshot.

Multimedia and Display

With impressive audio and sound hardware, you will find yourself consuming media without any issues on the Lenovo Vibe X3. The forward facing speaker makes for loud and clear sound, without easily getting muffled with your fingers. Since the device can easily play 4k video, you can watch high-resolution videos with high-quality sound, even though the display is only 1080p. The Audio chipset in the Vibe X3 gives you a signal to noise ratio of 120dB which is mighty impressive.

This is one of the first handsets to offer Dolby Atmos built in allowing you to enjoy content that provides the capability. The Vibe X3 also works well with the Ant VR headset from Lenovo enabling you to experience their theatremax technology. Which makes watching movies at home as good as going to a cinema.

The display is 1080p resolution 5.5-inch display that has excellent viewing angles and color reproduction, it works well outdoors and indoors, in extremely bright conditions. The IPS panel is capable of delivering quick refreshes, so you will find yourself enjoying the deep blacks and vivid colors.

Phone Call and Battery

The Lenovo Vibe X3, offers up two sim card slots, or One SIM and One microSD slot, thanks to the hybrid SIM tray. The phone will offer up 4G networks in areas where available. Although, we found the 4G network on this handset to be slightly weak.

Mostly suffering network reception and dropping down to a 3G or a 2G band, possibly to maintain voice quality. Audio for calls is excellent thanks to 3 mic noise cancellation and a very loud earpiece.

The battery-life on the 3500mAh battery equipped Lenovo Vibe X3 is also impressive, giving you a good day’s use. You will find yourself being able to keep the screen on upwards of 6 hours on any given day.

Talk Time: 6 Hours
Internet: 8 Hours
Video: 6 Hours
Music: 18 Hours.

Conclusion

The phone offers up good specs, excellent build quality and great security with a conveniently placed fingerprint scanner. However, the price of Rs. 19,999 puts it in the slightly high price bracket, however if you compare it to the likes of handsets from the other brands like Motorola, Samsung, and even Sony, you will find yourself getting a great deal. This means you get good performance, reliable specs, and a worthy brand name.

However, if devices like the Redmi Note 3 shine your fancy, this handset may seem extra pricey, you also will find the One Plus X available now at a much dearer price.

April 4, 2016

Mi 20000 mAh PowerBank Review

Xiaomi Mi 20000 mAh power bank will be launched for a price of Rs. 1699 . The big battery backup on the go Weighs only 338 gms and offers Dual 2.1A USB outputs.

March 27, 2016

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Review

With a lot of silence, expectations go down, and that is just about what the Chinese company “Xiaomi” needed to get their head back into the game. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 was launched in India with a lot of fanfare by a CEO resembling nothing less than a movie star riding in on the Ninebot hoverboard announced last year.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is a sequel to the popular Redmi Note series and does just about justice to the name of the product line and the company that is known for low-cost smartphones. Launched at a price of Rs. 9999 for the 2G RAM and 16 GB Storage variant and 11,999 for the 3GB RAM and 32 GB Storage option, the smartphone will be sold exclusively on the company’s website and e-commerce retailer Amazon till it becomes more readily available in offline channels.
Redmi Note 3 on Amazon

So should you be getting in line for the Redmi Note 3, or is it all the Hype all over again, for a mediocre product? Let’s Find out.

Overview

The Redmi Note 3 has all the makings of a powerful budget smartphone. An all metal build, excellent specs, improved battery, good cameras and a new processor which impresses on benchmarks. The company continues its per-registration flash sale model which come 2016 seems unwanted. The phone impresses on many fronts and may turn out to the be the current choice of the masses just as the original Redmi Note did.

Build Quality and Design

With an all-metal build, the Chinese origin smartphone has outdone its previous visions. Anodised and sandblasted aluminum make up for most of its outer covering along with a protection glass which has not been named.

Design wise the phone follows the legacy of Xiaomi, the front is flat with no buttons, and the fingerprint sensor is placed at the back, identical in size and just below the camera module, giving the whole design a sense of completion. The form factor of the smartphone is great and thanks to the rounded back edges it fits ever so nicely in the hand. The speaker sits at the back, a not so prime position for sound. However, a small wedge on the back of the smartphone allows for the phone to sit slightly higher on the table, allowing sound to escape, albeit still not perfectly but better than if it were laying flat on the table.

Hardware

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has all the makings of a Rs. 10000 smartphone. A new Snapdragon 650 chipset, 2/3 GB RAM options, expandable storage via MicroSD and a good set of cameras with wide lenses and an f2.0 aperture.

Specs	Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
Display	5.5 inches Full HD Display
Resolution	1920 x 1080
Dimensions	150 x 76 x 8.7 mm
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 SoC
GPU	Adreno 510
RAM	2GB / 3GB LPDDR4
Storage	16GB / 32GB flash storage
Rear Camera	16 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED
Front Camera	5 MP, f/2.0, 1080p
Expandability	128GB via microSD
Battery	4050mAh
Connectivity	4G+, Wi-Fi 802.11ad, VoLTE, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth v4.1, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC, VoLTE
OS	Android 5.1.1 Lolipop with MIUI 7
Price	<br /> <br />

Display and Multimedia

Thanks to the new chipset and price drop in tech, the 1920 x1080p display is great and lag free. You also get a good enough chipset to run all your multimedia, which looks great on this display. The display has good viewing angles and a great outdoor visibility thanks to various display modes.

You will also get a reading mode which sort of, like Apple’s “Time Shift” mode, kills the blue in your screen to help you read better.

Video playback is buttery smooth, and the speaker does a decent enough job. However, external audio devices will do you better as with most smartphones.

Camera

The camera on the Redmi Note 3 is brilliant for the class of smartphone, and you will get an excellent depth of field and great bokeh. The camera focuses quickly and has great light detection. You will also get decent low light pictures thanks to the wide aperture on the lens of the camera.

The front camera is perfect for pictures, and you will almost always get good results. The video, on the other hand, is not all that great, the lack of any stabilization will make the video shaky. Also, the phone’s camera app does not natively record 4k video even though the likes of the LeEco 1s do. There are workarounds if you want 4k video. But, they are not recommended for the chipset.

Performance

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, offers excellent performance in its class of smartphones. With Antutu crossing 70k easily on benchmark scores the device keeps its own in this highly competitive price bracket.

The overall UI is fast and responsive and offers a good day to day usage scenario. Multitasking works great and app optimization, as well as RAM optimization, works well on the Redmi Note 3.

Gaming is good too, with most games working flawlessly on the 3GB variant, which is recommended if you intend to do gaming a lot.

The fingerprint scanner which sits right under the camera is extremely fast and quick to unlock the device. The scanner rarely ever fails and will almost always get an unlock or help you click a picture. The MiUi software also allows you to encrypt folders using the rear fingerprint scanner, which can come in handy for those “A” rated apps and of course sensitive information.

Phone and Battery

With support for two SIM cards, the Redmi Note 3 offers LTE across India, on both the cards, while you can also pop in a MicroSD card in case you choose to do that.

The phone call capability is good, and overall network performance is at par within the category. You will also get good audio during calls whether incoming or outgoing.

Battery life is longer than expected, with a massive 4050 mAh battery you will get true to work one day of use without any compromises. Despite the battery being large, the chipset is designed to handle battery management well.

Talk Time: 6 Hours

Wireless Usage: 8 Hours

Music: 19 Hours

Gaming and Video: 10 Hours

Conclusion

Xiaomi is back with a vengeance. The company wants to earn back the goodwill of the market and no better device than the Redmi Note 3 to do that. At the launch the company promised timely updates and the Mi 5 launch in April, making the Mi fans jump up with joy.

As far as the phone is concerned, the Redmi Note 3 has excellent advantages over the competition, especially the LeEco Le1s. However, it also has drawbacks. The community that Xiaomi offers is unparalleled and large, and the overall support that you will get is appreciable. With both handsets offering their clout, it will come down to long term use and software support frequency to help decide the primary winner. However with the way things are going the Redmi Note 3 seems to be coming out on top.

March 27, 2016

Samsung Galaxy A5 and A7 2016 Review – Steer Clear

Earlier this month, Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy A5 and A7 devices at the Samsung Forum. The mid-range devices come with updated specifications and features including OIS and a fingerprint sensor. The 5.2-inch A5 is priced at Rs 29,400 while the 5.5-inch A7 come with a price tag of Rs 33, 400.

The updated A-series take the S6 glass and metal design language forward this year and introduces them in the Galaxy A7 and A5. The A7 sports a 5.5-inch AMOLED FHD screen with 1920 x 1080p resolution and a 1.6 GHz octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage and 3,300mAh Fast Charging battery.

On the camera front, the A7 features a 13MP primary camera with f/1.9 aperture and OIS. The front camera also features a f/1.9 aperture.

The A5 upgrades to 5.2-inch AMOLED FHD screen with 1080p resolution. 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, octa-core processor and bumps the battery to 2,900mAh as well. A5 packs a 13MP primary camera with OIS and a 5MP front camera.

The highlight of the devices is its new design language that borrows the glass and metal combination seen in last year’s Galaxy S6 flagship. The devices look and feel premium and great in the hand. Both the devices also come with fast charging capabilities, and you’ll get around 3-4 hours in 15 minutes if charge.

The UI of the devices is quick and snappy with little bloatware. All stock Samsung features are available including Flipboard and there’s isn’t anything new to be found here. The only downside here is the pricing of the devices which is now close to the Galaxy S6 flagship, especially the A7. This may lose a lot of potential buyers as those willing to shell out the amount would rather go with the S6 rather than the A7 given a faster processor, fantastic camera and other flagship specs in the former.

Specification	Galaxy A7	Galaxy A5
Display	5.5? FHD Super AMOLED	5.2? FHD Super AMOLED
Processor	1.6GHz Octa-Core Processor	1.6GHz Octa-Core Processor
RAM	3GB	2GB
Front Camera	5.0MP(f1.9)	5.0MP(f1.9)
Rear Camera	13MP(f1.9) AF with LED Flash	13MP (f1.9) AF with LED Flash
Storage	16GB	16GB
Expandability	128GB	128GB
Battery	3,300 mAh, Fast Charging	2,900 mAh, Fast charging
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth® v 4.1, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC (UICC, eSE)	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth® v 4.1, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC (UICC, eSE)
Operating System	Android 5.1 (Lollipop)	Android 5.1 (Lollipop)
Price	Rs. 33,400	Rs. 29,400

February 20, 2016

Huawei Honor Holly 2 Plus Review

Huawei’s sub-brand, Honor, unveiled the Holly 2 Plus in India recently. This smartphone is the successor to the Chinese company’s Holly from 2014 and comes to Indian markets along with its elder sibling, the Honor 5X.

The Holly 2 Plus will go head to head in a clustered market segment against handsets like the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser, Micromax Canvas Nitro 4G, Samsung Galaxy On5, and the Lenovo Vibe P1m, which are aggressively fighting for supremacy in sub Rs 10,000 segment of the market. Huawei, to its credit, has come to the battlefield with a phone which at least on paper looks like a strong contender. So without further ado, let’s find out how it does in our detailed review.

Overview

Honor Holly 2 Plus will start retail at Rs 8,499 starting 15th February, and it comes equipped with premium styling for the price.This is your average run of the mill device and accordingly comes with a respectable 2GB of RAM and a quad-core processor at its heart for day to day use. What sets the phone apart, is its 4000mAh battery, an aspect where its predecessor failed miserably. The battery coupled with its premium for the price looks puts in a compelling argument for the Holly 2 Plus.

Build Quality and Design

The Honor Holly 2 Plus is built impressively for the price. The phone to its credit looks and feels more premium than its price would suggest. Coming in at 9.7mm, it’s not exactly sleek and slender, and when compared to its predecessor it does feel a bit fat which to be fair rather looks good on the phone’s body.

The phone has simplistic construction and features flat edges. The construction comprises of what looks to be high-quality plastic which has been given special attention for a metallic finish. The phone has been adorned by a metallic rim which runs around the sides of the phone adding a dash of class to the phone.

At the top of the phone sits a 3.5mm jack, and on the right lie the volume rocker and power button. A stylish looking speaker grille along with a micro USB port are placed at the bottom of the phone. The sound output and clarity from the phone’s stereo speaker grille is also above average.

Coming to the front, and we find a nice 720p display dominating the front of the phone which owing to the IPS tech produces decent colors and does well when being looked at from unfavorable angles. Text looks crisp on it, but the display could have been a bit brighter, and as such colors look a bit washed out when the phone is looked at under direct sunlight.

Another issue with the phone’s display is that it’s easily prone to fingerprint smudges which reveal themselves to be a menace while using the Honor Holly 2 Plus under the sun. The phone also does not come with any kind of scratch protection glass which seems like a bad choice on the manufacturers part.

Adding greatly to the aesthetics of the phone is a removable back cover with a cut out for the camera and the LED Flash. The back of the phone is probably one of the strong points when it comes to the looks of the Holly 2 Plus. The back cover which is made completely out of plastic features a subtle texture which not only helps in maintaining a steady grip while holding the phone but is also pleasing for the eyes to look at.

Hardware

Honor will launch the Holly 2 Plus in what will be a single 16GB storage variant expandable up to 128GB with the use of a microSD card. The phone has 5-inch 720×1280 display capable of producing 296 ppi. Underneath the hood, it is powered by a Mediatek MT6735P running four Cortex- A53 cores clocked at 1.3Ghz and a Mali T720MP2 GPU, paired with 2GB of RAM.

Providing juice to this beast is a massive 4,000 mAh battery that can also double up to charge other power hungry devices in need. This smartphone also comes with Smart Power 3.0 and quick charge capability.

Specs	Honor Holly 2 Plus
Display	5-inch HD IPS display
Resolution	1280 X 720 (401ppi)
Processor	1.3GHz quad-core Mediatek MT6735P Cortex-A53
GPU	Mali T720MP2 GPU
RAM	2GB
Storage	16GB
Rear Camera	13MP
Front Camera	5MP
Battery	4,000 mAh
Connectivity	Dual Sim 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, and MicroUSB
OS	Android 5.1 with EMUI on top
Price	Rs 8,499

Performance

The phone with its 1.3GHz quad-core Mediatek MT6735P processor coupled with 2GB RAM performs buttery smooth at most times. Swiping between pages, browsing and even multitasking to an extent is handled quite impressively by the phone. To its credit, no heating issues were observed during our interaction with the phone.

The phone responds efficiently to the users day-to-day productivity and multimedia requirements. The Honor Holly 2 Plus does not come with too much bloatware on board. Ram optimization by Huawei is good as the user on an average gets around 1.2GB RAM to play with.

Honr Holly 2 Plus is no powerhouse in terms of under the hood specs, and as such no miracles should be expected of it. The phone did not do anything out of the ordinary in its benchmark and scored a below average 32119 on Antutu.

Honor Holly 2 Plus clocked a score of 2195 on Vellamo chrome benchmark test which again was a bit underwhelming when compared to other budget offerings out there in the market. Single Core performance of the handset though was relatively better, scoring 1067, while the Multicore stress test score of 1454 also failed to impress.

Honor Holly 2 Plus with its 720p display is an average performer when it comes to gaming. We tried GPU intensive Asphalt 8, and the arcade game, Shadow Fight 2 and the results were nothing great. The latter ran flawlessly owing to its light weight, but Asphalt 8 did have its instances of stuttering.

Camera

Huawei has bumped up the camera on the Holly 2 Plus from the 2014 model, and the handset now gets a 13-megapixel unit with an f/2.0 aperture on the back to play around with. It also comes with a single led flash to help it with low light pictures. The front of the phone comes with a 5-megapixel shooter for clicking selfies.

Both cameras produce good looking pictures. The beefier, 13-megapixel unit clicks good images in bright surroundings, but low light images left us asking for more. The front-facing camera was good, if not great in our interaction with it.

The phone comes equipped with features such as Geo-tagging, touch to focus, face detection, panorama, HDR, and is also capable of recording 1080p videos at 30 fps with software stabilization.

Multimedia and Display

The Phone’s display features a HD IPS panel running the show, which produces accurate color reproduction, and has good viewing angles, but to its disadvantage the colors don’t pop the way they would on a crisp AMOLED display, leaving images and videos looking washed out when viewed under bright light.

Huawei has also chosen to not equip the display with any protective shield such as the Gorilla Glass and hence the display is prone to damage easily. Another negative of the display is that its outer glass is a fingerprint magnet which we did not appreciate.

The phone lacks a physical home button, and as such the Honor Holly 2 Plus carries capacatative button on the display itself.

On the multimedia front, the phone’s mono speaker which divulges sound through a stereo speaker grille at the bottom does not disappoint. The audio output is loud with good clarity. If you use the phone with a decent pair of headphones the Holly 2 Plus will produce good results for audiophiles.

Software and UI

The Huawei Honor Holly 2 Plus comes with Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box with a custom EMUI 3.1 Lite skin which with all that it offers is quite different from the functionality of stock Android. It took us time learning our way around the nifty little tricks that this custom skin provides, but once we got used to it, the usage experience was quite convenient.

The phone comes preinstalled with good features embedded in the UI such as multiple power saving modes like the ultra power saver, and protected apps. The latter is a space where you can according to your needs tell the phone to keep certain apps awake while the phone’s display is off. This particular feature goes a long way in conserving battery on the phone.

The EMUI 3.1 Lite also enables users to use the phone as a power bank by toggling on a simple option housed in the settings page.

Phone Networks and Battery

The Honor Holly 2 Plus supports LTE, along with 3G and GSM baseband.. It also supports CDMA baseband for users who want to enjoy the advantages of both. Honor Holly 2 Plus is a Dual-SIM phone and you can use either GSM or CDMA . Both of these networks will support 4G capabilities. Network reception was good and we faced no issues from the phone’s end. Using the phone for calls was better than expected. The phone did maintain decent signal strength at most times on both SIM card slots that this handset offers. Other connectivity options on the phone include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, and MicroUSB support.

Battery life on this phone is average despite the massive 4000mAh pack that it comes equipped with. In our interactions with the phone, we easily got 5-6 hours of talk time which to be fair is not that great considering the beefed up battery it comes with.

Music playback forced the phone to give up in about 10 hours time while video playback on a loop saw the phone asking for a charger in about 7 hours. Internet usage drained the battery in 6.5 hours total. Not impressive numbers we say. Honor Holly 2 Plus for all its battery might does not do enough for our liking.

But on the bright side, the phone comes equipped with quick charge capabilities, and Smart power 3.0 which as the company claims on 10% charge will enable the phone to go for around 20 hours but]in reality should give you around 4-5 hours which however is pretty good.

Function	Time
Talk Time	5-6 Hours
Music	10 Hours
Internet on LTE	7 Hours
Internet on WiFi	6.5 Hours

Conclusion

Huawei has jumped into the sub Rs 10,000 segment with a decent offering. The Honor Holly 2 Plus has its vices, but having said that, these vices are to be expected at the price point that the Chinese company will be selling the phone for in the country.

At Rs 8,499 Huawei gives you a premium looking phone which does not look or feel cheap in any way. It even throws in a mammoth 4000mAh battery into the mix to sweeten the deal for buyers. But what it asks the buyer to compromise on in return are flaws such as a display which when used in bright surroundings looks dull, and is prone to cracks, and scratches, because of there being no protective shield installed on it.

Honor Holly 2 Plus for what it’s worth is a decent offering in isolation, but when compared to the myriad options in the crowded segment that it plans to conquer, its flaws are magnified. Firepower at the hardware end starts to look a bit limited in comparison to other phones such as the Asus Zenfone Max, Zenfone Laser which come equipped with better internals or even the Coolpad Note 3 which brings with it a fingerprint sensor for about the same price as the Honor Holly 2 Plus. Honestly, with a lot of options to choose from, the Holly 2 may not be our first bet. See some other recommended products below.

February 13, 2016

LeEco Le1s Review

The Chinese brand famous for its TV products and content has rebranded itself to reflect its entry into a wider range of businesses like smart cycles, internet-linked electric cars, and smartphones. LeEco has done exceptionally well in China and wants to bring the same magic to the Indian market with its budget handset the Le1s

With its significant branding and marketing, LeEco created quite the hype around the launches of the Le1s and the LeMax early this month. However after two flash sales and a lot of hype, does the Le1s make sense for you? And should you get in line to own one today? Let’s Find out!

Overview

The Le1s is an excellent purchase handset but does have a few let downs. It is possibly right there in the top region for the best handset around the 10k price bracket, and there is a good reason. The company, however, is so new that they launched themselves at the launch of the phone. A new name, a new product and with that a whole lot of new promises of delivering service without suffering to the consumer.

Build Quality and Design

From a build perspective, the Le1s is probably something that truly looks its part. All metal shell is brilliant; it was only a few months ago when an all-metal design was highly coveted. Today it seems to be easily available in the set price bracket. More than that the front glass also gets Gorilla Glass 3 for strength. The sides are polished and chamfered to give it that additional premium look that the phone deserves and gets. The buttons are tactile and also made of metal which gives this phone a re-assuring feel and finish.

The design is very modern and taken from the likes of Samsung flagships and the Apple iPhone. You will see hints of similar design in the handset throughout. it’s a little harder in the hand, and it does not feel nimble or soft. Despite sporting a larger display than the iPhone, the Le1s is slightly shorter and has more display to mass ratio, which seemed to have been a big selling point for the company at launch. The phone is available now in a silver color along with the gold variant you see in the pictures.

Hardware

The Le1s is spec’d out, with a list of hardware on paper that stumps any and many in this price bracket. The phone runs on a MediaTek Helio X10 Turbo clocked at 2.2 GHz on eight cores along with a VR6200 GPU, 3GB RAM with 32GB storage.

Specification	LeEco 1s
Display	5.5-Inch Full HD Bezel-less floating glass display
Resolution	1080 x 1920 pixels (~403 ppi pixel density)
Chipset	2.2 GHz MediaTek X10 Turbo
CPU	Octa-Core Helio X10
GPU	VR 6200
RAM	3GB DDR3
Front Camera	5 MP
Rear Camera	13 MP with F 2.0 aperture
Storage	32 GB ROM
Expandability	NA
Battery	3000 mAh (Embedded)
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 4.2 / NFC / Type-C USB
Operating System	Android OS 5.1 Lolipop with EUI Skin
Price	Rs 10,999

Display and Multimedia

The display on the Le1s is a 5.5 inch LCD with a full HD resolution, which is not such a great deal and now is more of a standard practice. But, what is different is the floating glass nature of the display along with an almost bezel-less design. which not only looks fantastic but also helps reduce wastage on the front of the device.

The display is bright, and the colours are sharp, levels of black are deep. The bezel-less screen makes the display look big although there is a black frame around the screen which sits on the edges – hence making it a bezel, but you won’t be complaining about that when the screen is turned off.

As far as the audio is concerned, the speakers are good enough, and the output from the earphone jack is great. The balance of the sound when listening to music is a little off and can be easily tweaked using an amp application. However, a balanced sound would have been nicer. Especially if you have decent headphones to use the Le1s with.

Camera and Photography

The front camera on the Le1s is a 5 MP snapper; it has a wide angle lens but its nowhere near what you get on Galaxy S6 and sister handsets. The rear camera is a 13 MP shooter, for the tech junkies it includes a ‘Blue Glass Infrared Filter’ along with a wide F2.0 aperture for good low light pictures.

The camera is good in dim light. However, the best part about a phone camera has to be the response of the shutter which is okayish in the Le1s. The color on the images is accurate, and the exposure mostly comes out spot on. You do get some manual controls but nowhere near a pro mode seen on some smartphones. The UI is mostly like the iOS camera UI and you do get some filters. Images tend to be blurry if you are not perfectly stable throughout the image capture process.

The Le1s shoots 4k UHD video which is brilliant for the price it costs. The video is quite smooth and lag free. With video too colours are accurate and frames sharp.

Overall the Le1s has a fantastic set of cameras for the price that the phone is available at. See some samples below.

Performance and UI

The UI on the Le1s is fast and responsive, The use of proprietary user interfaces usually slows down the handsets, but for the LeEco Le1s, this is not the case. The UI remains quite snappy through usage and handles multitasking well. Designed again to look a lot like iOS or MiUi whichever you prefer. No app drawer and simple, minimal elements. The UI Looks clean and is functional, takes a little time getting used to it, though.

The control center at the bottom and notification panel at the top is also very reminiscent of an iOS strategy. However, Android regulars will not appreciate the complex mix it takes to find the settings icon.

The device does not have microSD card expandability, which is a disappointment. Running out of the 32GB internal storage is pretty easy with 4K video and high-resolution images.

Running games on the Le1s is great, the display is a great size, and the performance of the handset is good. The phone automatically switches modes and depending on applications entered a “High-performance mode” when needed. Graphics and animations are excellent and for the price you really cannot ask for more

The mirror-faced fingerprint scanner on the back is fast at unlocking the device. The company promises 99.3% accuracy and .15 seconds flash recognization. So far the response time has been snappy with almost no error in recognition.

Phone Networks and Battery

The network and call quality remained healthy throughout our tests, with little or no call drops. LTE network is not bad and works well on the Le1S with excellent data download speeds.

Call quality complaints arise from poor microphones which do not let the audio pass through properly to the receiver on the other side of the call which means that the Le1s at the moment is not good at its core job, which is making phone calls.

Battery life is good, with the bundled quick charger and USB type C you truly get a fast charge in 15 minutes, leading up to usage for many hours. However, we are not sure if the battery will manage to do this six months from now.

Overall the battery will easily last you a day, but if you are planning to buy this phone, make sure you have spare USB type-c cables. Because if you forget your charger, you won’t easily find folks with a USB type-c charger to spare, not as easily with micro USB at least.

Talk Time: 6 Hours

Internet: 8-10 Hours

Music: 18 hours

Video: 6 Hours.

Conclusion

In a time of day when a lot of handset manufacturers make half promises and fewer delivieries, LeEco seems to want to stand out. Setting up 500+ service centers before launch was an excellent show of force. But how well will this service fall into play, would only be known once the consumers start facing problems. With any new company LeEco deserves a fair chance, and with a product like the Le1s it seems they are off to a great start.

The Le1s deserves an expandable store especially since everything on the handset works well including the cameras. The phone also needs a better microphone, and hopefully, LeEco can fix the issue with a quick software patch, the problem, however, seems to be a design flaw. The OTG storage should solve the problem for storage mongers. However, inbuilt access is always better.

With those two cons aside, the Le1s truly has a fantastic set of specs on paper and translated well into the physical product. For the moment, it is possibly the best handset in the price bracket of 10K.

February 12, 2016

Yu Yutopia Review : Too Much Hype

The Yu Yutopia as a handset from the company YU was much awaited, and there is an excellent reason for that. The company tried to create a lot of hype for the product, and everyone had high expectations from the Yutopia.

Does the Yu Yutopia live up to expectations, or does it end up being an expensive handset with too much hype. Let’s find out.

Build Quality and Design

The YU Yutopia is not the prettiest handset out there. In fact out of all the possible purchases that you can make in this price bracket, the YU Yutopia is the least inviting as far as design is concerned.

The design is based on the basic design of their Yuphoria/Yunique handset which is a big let down from an aesthetics point of view. It does have a lot of rounded edges that from an in-hands perspective are really comfortable.

Build Quality otherwise is great, aircraft grade aluminium, which means we get strength while keeping the overall weight of the Yutopia low at 155 grams. The 7.2 mm thickness is also appealing from a build point of view. The phone is pretty slim yet robust and lightweight. The front glass is now a CORNING CONCORE GLASS that is pre-fused with the display made by Sharp, and the capability of Concore is considered the same as Gorilla Glass 3.

The YU Yutopia will handle drops and dings with ease since the phone is metal, it will get dents and may get scratched too, but will not break or shatter easily.

With no removable back, Yu managed to stuff the cards in a ridiculously sized card tray. This tray is inconvenient and impractical, over time you swap memory cards your network SIM card comes out as well.

Hardware

The specs of the Yutopia are the strongest point for the device. The Yutopia beats all in the segment with hardware on paper; you have an SD810 chipset packed in with a 2K QHD display, alongside an amazing 21 MP camera. 32 GIGS of onboard storage and massive 4 GB of RAM.

Specification	YU Yutopia
Display	5.2 -inch Sharp WQHD IPS display, 2K
Resolution	2560×1440 pixels, 567 Ppi
Chipset	64 bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810
CPU	2.0 GHz Octa-core
GPU	Adreno 430
RAM	4 GB
Front Camera	8 MP FF
Rear Camera	21MP AF camera, 4K video recording
Storage	32 GB
Expandability	Using Micro SD card 128 GB
Battery	3,000 mAh battery with 2.0 Quick Charge
Operating System	Android Lollipop 5.1 with Cyanogen OS 12.1
Price	Rs. 24,999

Performance and Gaming

Whatever the specs on paper, Yu may have underclocked the chipset and the hardware quite a lot. Performance is mediocre, to say the least, and benchmarks tend to underwhelming results. Running Cyanogen helps the YUtopia get past day to day activities with ease and the 4GB of RAM is more than ample for the daily process.

However tests and benchmarks speak a different language, and in their language, the Yutopia performs just about average.

Gaming is pretty good, but when compared to devices with a full HD display seems to be a little laggy. The 2k display seems to be causing the slowdown of the processing power, letting the phone get its primary workload performance only at average quality.

YU has kept its temperatures down despite using an SD 810 chipset that only goes to show that an OS feature governs the chipset, hence causing a slowdown in performance.

The great thing about the YU Yutopia running Cyanogen, however, is the fact that once can quickly install a speed governor and overclock the handset. Rooting is fairly easy and is done by a single third party app.

Camera and Multimedia

The 21 MP camera with a Sony sensor is the big highlight of the YUtopia, with images coming out crisp and full of juicy megapixels, no one will complain. The camera is quick to boot and click and focuses easily too.

The app is a simply the Cyanogen camera app with the usual features, including filters and slow mo video. The more you play with it, the more pictures you will click. Close up shots are not that crisp, and the camera does not focus up close.

4k / UHD content will playback easily on the handset. However, it will be downscaled to fit the screen resolution. The speaker is loud and will make you happy with the outcome. Overall the Yutopia serves well as a multimedia and entertainment device, letting down on gameplay graphics and overall performance. Video playback and audio is great.

Phone, Networks and Battery

The network runs smooth and supports all the main Indian bands including those for LTE. 4G was tested on Airtel in New Delhi, and speeds of up to 50Mbps were achieved. With the situation of networks in the country fairly weak, it ‘s hard to point to either the network provider or the manufacturer for network issues. The Yutopia managed to get the same amount of Signal -DB when compared to popular products from the likes of Motorola, Samsung and even on the iPhone.

The lack of separate trays makes the swapping of SIM cards, or memory cards a tedious process, and hopefully, Yu will not repeat the mistake again.

Battery life is better than expected, with the processor governed and the heat under control, the battery life is much better in this case, but since the reports are erratic, it is unclear as to how many people will have a consistent experience.

Talk Time: 6 hours

Internet Browsing: 6-8 hours

Gaming: 4 Hours

Video: 5- 6 Hours

Cyanogen and Other Features

The YU Yutopia features excellent hardware on paper and great software too. A lot of people like Cyanogen, and it works well for YU. The remanufactured build of Android works great and for the tweak hurry nerd is a playground in paradise. There are some issues, and they would warrant the use of stock Android to Cyanogen.

Cyanogen was one of the quickest to jump to the latest version of Android. That is no longer the case, with more than half a year gone by, Cyanogen still rocks 5.1.1 hence YUtopia does the same. While a marshmallow build is, supposedly, “around the corner” the high wait time is no longer fun. Cyanogen has a significant and large support community of which YU users enjoy the spoils.

The UI is fast and responsive, highly customizable and intuitive to the needs of the user. Allowing users to skin various elements of the OS. You can also add and remove tweaks to enhance the OS.

The fingerprint scanner has received many complaints, and it requires the same finger to be scanned from various angles many times to get the issue resolved. It does work but misses the unlock target at times, frustrating the user.

Conclusion

While YU is looking at a lot of firsts with the YUtopia, the phone may not be “all that”. It has fantastic specs, and an excellent build quality, a great OS experience, and a good camera. However, it is priced higher than one would want to spend for a category two phone. Hardware wise the price matches, things like the camera and the display itself warrant the price.

Performance is on the low side, and honestly, the phone is excellent on paper but is not a good looking phone in the hand. While looks may be perceived differently by each user, the general look of the phone is bland, and the design refuses to find a balance between a rough exterior look and a polished premium look.

There are many smartphone options, in the price bracket, that offer an excellent package, but none that give everything that is available in this phone. For the pure hardware enthusiast, this is a gem of a phone. For those looking to flaunt may have to look elsewhere, as the YUtopia is an underdog when it comes to looks.

As far as the price is concerned, the company is expected to launch a slightly cheaper variant of the YUtopia around the 16-17 thousand rupee mark to compete with the likes of the One Plus X, later this year.

The included Marley earphones are a great addon, but are very generic earphones, which sound just “ok”. Price could have been lowered by simply including cheap earphones, or no earphones at all.

January 19, 2016

Moto 360 2nd Gen Review

The original Moto 360 was met with a lot of hype, and quite rightly so as it was the device that kicked off the Android Wear trend. While the first iteration was met with a lot of praise, finding a lot of things to love about it and a few faults as well, the second generation Moto 360 builds on its predecessor and improves where it needed to.

Overview

The Moto 360 2nd Gen was unveiled at IFA Berlin last year and was launched in India early September. The smartwatch comes with new design language and customization options including Moto Maker, which, however, is not available in India yet.

Moto 360 2nd Gen 9 — 42mm (left), 46mm (right)

The Moto 360 2nd Gen starts at a price of Rs 19,999 for the 42 mm variant and Rs 23, 999 for the 46 mm option. The smartwatch is available on Flipkart and Amazon.

Build Quality and Design

Moto 360 1st Gen (Right) Moto 360 2nd Gen (Left) — Moto 360 2nd Gen (Left) Moto 360 1st Gen (Right)

The Moto 360 2nd Gen’s new design language is pretty great. The smooth metallic edge is complemented with thin, refined aluminium bezels. The watch has a firm, strong build and the added nubs give it a better shape and rigidity and gives the device a more watch-like feel to it. The nubs also make changing the straps easier and the lugs are pretty simple to unclasp the band as well. The crown has shifted up a bit to the 2 o’clock position and the top sports the ‘M’ logo.

The Moto 360 2nd Gen is available in three different sizes – a 42 mm male and female version and a male-only 46 mm model. The difference between the male and female version is that the latter attaches itself to a thinner 16 mm strap while the former is compatible with a 20 mm strap only. The 46 mm variant is compatible with a strap that measures up to 22 mm. While the size of the straps differ, the models are all 11.4mm thick, which feels just right without looking too bulky.

Moto 360 2nd Gen 10 — The button moves to the 2 o’clock position

Size isn’t the only point of variation the Moto 360 offers; it comes with a variety of bands to pick from – metal, leather and silicon. However, the silicon version will not be arriving in India any time soon. The smartwatch also comes with gold, rose gold and silver cases and bands. The leather on the 42 mm variant looks elegant on both men and women, while a metallic strap for the 46 mm model looks great on larger wrists.

Display

The 42 mm and 46 mm variants have a 1.37 inch and 1.56 inch LCD display, respectively, and both come with Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The 46 mm version comes with a 360 x 360 pixel resolution and 233ppi, while the 42 mm version has a display resolution of 360 x 325 and 263ppi.

The Moto 360 has received a lot of polarising opinions regarding the display. The popular opinion of it being the first round smartwatch without actually having a fully rounded display stays with the 2nd Gen as well. This is because the screen has a flat-tire like band on the bottom that houses the sensors.

Though many felt the band a little distracting, Motorola has decided to stick with it, and it has come to become something of a defining trait for a Moto smartwatch. After a while with the Moto 360, you tend to grow used to the little band and it really doesn’t feel like an issue. The band also allows Motorola to keep the bezels thin, which is what adds to the look of the device.

The display is quite bright but the LCD screen lacks the vibrancy of an AMOLED display. The light sensor which helps to dim and brighten the screen allows just the right amount of brightness under both light and dark conditions without hurting the eyes. Outdoor visibility is questionable. There’s a ot of glare on the display under sunlight, but you’ll be able to see it just fine when facing the watch directly to yourself.

Hardware and Performance

The Moto 360 Gen 2 is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, an Adreno 305 GPU and comes with a 512 MB of RAM space with a 4GB internal storage on board. Connectivity options include Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The watch also supports a GPS connectivity, however, it only comes with the Sport range (which unfortunately isn’t available in India yet).

One of the concerns people had with the first iteration was that the device came with a slower OMAP 3 chip, but the second generation rocks a quad-core SD400 processor, and needless to say, there are some differences when using the device. The interface on the 2nd Gen is a lot snappier with very little lag.

Specs	Moto 360 2nd Gen
Display	Men and Women 42mm: 1.37-inch 263ppi (360×325) Men 46mm: 1.56-inch 233ppi (360×330) Corning Gorilla Glass 3, backlit LCD
Watch Case Dimensions	Mens: 46mm diameter by 11.4mm high 42mm diameter by 11.4mm highWomens: 42mm diameter by 11.4mm high
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 with 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU (APQ 8026) Adreno 305 with 450MHz GPU
Sensor	Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor, Gyroscope, Vibration/Haptics engine
Memory	4GB internal storage + 512MB RAM
Connectivity	Bluetooth® 4.0 Low Energy Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

Performance of the Moto 360 2nd Gen is pretty smooth, however, it isn’t the smoothest smartwatch out there. The Moto 360 falls just short of the Apple Watch and Samsung’s Gear S2, but given the price of the Moto 360, we can’t be greedy.

Battery life is good too and an improvement over the first Moto 360, but that’s not saying too much. One of the main problems with smartwatches has been the battery, or the lack therof. Luckily, the Wi-Fi feature helps conserve battery life just a little more.

With the Ambient Mode that leaves the display on and dim continuously turned on, the smartwatch lasts a full day. Consequently, with the Ambient Mode turned off, the smartwatch can go on for a day and a half (for the 42mm 300mAh variant) on a single charge. The wireless charging is zippy too, powering up the Moto 360 to about 50% in under an hour.

42mm: 300mAh – Up to 36 hours of use with Ambient Mode off and up to 9 hours with Ambient Mode on (both on basic daily usage)
46mm: 400mAh – Close to 2 days with Ambient Mode off and 11 hours with Ambient Mode on (both on basic daily usage)

Features

The new Moto 360 is compatible with Android devices as well as iOS due to Android Wear’s move into the Apple Store. This gives the Moto 360 an edge over the Apple Watch as the latter is pricier and works only with iOS. The pairing with iOS is pretty seamless and the watch displays your phone’s or tablet’s notification and messages to which you can voice reply. You need only download the Android Wear app on your iOS device and reset your Moto 360 to begin pairing.

The Moto 360 has a unique feature called Live Dial, which allows its users to set dials on their home screens. Other than a bunch of options provided by Motorola, users can also use their own pictures as the watch-face. There are a number of dials available and you can use your paired smartphone or tablet (including iOS) to set the faces for your watch.

The smartwatch also supports the Moto Body software, that keeps a tab on calories burnt and bpm stats with the help of an optical heart rate monitor. It is packed in with a 400 mAh and 300 mAh battery for the 46mm and 42mm versions respectively. Both variants will come with a charging dock station.

Additionally, the watch is rated at IP67 which means it can be soaked in 1 m (3.3 ft) of water for half an hour. With a leather strap, however, we stress caution and would advise keeping the smartwatch away from water at all costs.

Conclusion

The Moto 360 2nd Gen is a great Android Wear device and a starting price of Rs 19,999 keeps it in the affordable range. The fact that it is iOS compatible makes the watch a strong competitor for the pricier Apple Watch. Changing the straps is easier and the display is sharper. However, there are some cheaper smartwatches out there like the Asus Zenwatch 2, which comes with an AMOLED display and Sony Smartwatch 3. But for those who want a smartwatch that looks like a watch, then the Moto 360 2nd Gen is worth spending a few extra bucks on. indeed, it is the most elegant looking rounded smartwatch currently in the market.

The Moto 360 2nd Gen does feel more like a watch this time around with a solid build thanks to the added nubs, and the customization options here are quite extensive. Furthermore, the upgraded processor makes the Moto 360 pretty snappy to work with. There aren’t too many noteworthy apps here but there’s enough to make it smartwatch-worthy. The design is a big win and it is worth considering just for that. Another noteworthy point is that the Wi-Fi option here will help conserve battery life and you won’t have to leave Bluetooth on all day.

January 18, 2016

HTC One A9 Review

HTC is ready for its comeback and to help the Taiwanese company back on the tech map is their brand new One series phone the HTC One A9. This year has seen some major handsets from the company, but with all the backlash in their choice of chipsets in the HTC One M9 plus and pricing of their portfolio along with the sheer delay in launching phones, has left prospective HTC owners with a sour taste. We purposefully waited for HTC to reveal the price before concluding our Review. So that we could include it as a major factor for this review.

Overview

The HTC One A9 does what HTC has been trying to do for a while, make a fantastic all metal phone for a considerably affordable price without letting go of important specifications.

The HTC One A9 is a Snapdeal exclusive in India and has been launched for Rs. 29,999 . You can buy one here : SnapDeal

Build Quality and Hardware

The all metal back and the overall design of the phone is familiar. The HTC One A9 resembles the iPhone 6/6s or vice versa. Whatever be the case the handset looks good and is available in a wide gamut of colours and options for the market however in India it has only been launched in the Gray and silver colours.

The phone is built extremely well and feels excellent in the hand, The rounded edges of the phone mould into your palms and make the hard metal feel smooth and soft to hold. The design is striking and the HTC One A9 is made so most of its pressure areas stay protected.

The bezel is beautifully matched with a curved edge front glass curves, which in itself is a Gorilla Glass 3. It should be noted that, Hardware wise HTC does lose out to the competition. The biggest let down for a consumer is specs on paper, when compared to the high price of Rs. 29,990 the specs do not match up. A Snapdragon 615 chipset is today found in phones that cost under 10K, so is 2 GB of RAM and a 5 inch display.

No one is giving points to HTC for the 2150 mAh battery or a Full HD display. The AMOLED nature of it is well appreciated and so is the brilliant fingerprint scanner that HTC has basically done a fantastic job with. All of this hardware doesn’t matter when it comes to the experience of the HTC One A9 which we will detail below. For those who are specification NERDs your review stops here. Move Along!

Specifications	HTC One A9
Display	5.0 inch AMOLED
Resolution	1080 x 1920 pixels
Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8952 Snapdragon 617
CPU	Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU	Adreno 405
RAM	2GB/3GB
Storage	16GB/32GB expandable up to 200 GB
Rear Camera	13MP 1080p@30fps
Front Camera	4 Ultrapixel Camera 1080p@30fps
Battery	Non-removable Li-Ion 2,150 mAh battery
Operating System	Android Marshmallow
Connectivity	4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot, Bluetooth v 4.1, GPS, NFC
SIM	Nano-SIM
USB	microUSB v2.0
Price	Rs. 29,999

Performance

In all entirety what HTC is trying to do is simple. HTC phones are designed beautifully and work really well. I recently met someone who was still using an HTC One {M7} and was very happy with the handset, still happy with it!, Its almost 2016 for christ’s sake!

The phone comes with Android 6.0 out of the box, one of the not so many in this range that have the ability to say that. HTC has worked really hard into giving an experience that does not leave you disappointed. The company is trying to pull a cheap “Apple”, they want to give you the best experience, they do not want you to worry about “specs” and they want to do it relatively cheaper than Apple.

The problem with that logic is, that most who are non Apple Sheep, prefer to know what horse power is under the hood of their Android powered sedan. In that context, problems and bugs are often blamed on the hardware.

However, this is where HTC scores an epic WIN! From picking up your phone in the morning to keeping it away at night, you literally have no issues, slow downs, or crashes. This is what you are paying for, more than you should, but that is it.

Games work really well, so do day to day tasks. Multitasking is liquid smooth, and so is the intense processing in some of the many camera features bundled with the handset. The HTC One A9 is what you need to be looking at, for basically not worrying about using a smartphone. The temperature is controlled beautifully and the phone does not heat up or become uncomfortable to use.

Camera, Multimedia and Display

The camera combination on the HTC One A9 is a 13 MP main camera and an UltraPixel front camera which is roughly 4 MP with their large 2µm pixel size. The front camera miss autofocus, which honestly is not expected in this price bracket.

The rear camera shines when clicking images, the colours pop the dynamic range is excellent and focus quick. The camera is exceptionally fast and has zero shutter lag, something that HTC has done well in the past. The contrast and colour on the HTC One A9 is their best yet and the images really speak for it. You will find yourself clicking a lot of pictures, and video too, although many in this price segment offer 4k video. With the HTC One A9, you are still stuck at 1920 x 1080p video although with OIS, which offers good stability and sharpness.

The display is a AMOLED display which is appreciated by a lot of people for great colours and deep blacks. The viewing angles may not be as much as an IPS display, but AMOLED displays make for great media consumption.

The HTC One A9 is missing Boomsound speakers and the quality of sound that we are used to from HTC devices. The audio experience from the headphones is excellent and will the throughly enjoyed. Even though HTC no longer embraces Beats audio , some of the tweaks are present in the device and improve the audio experience.

Software and UX

HTC has managed to pull a bunny out of the hat, the Android 6.0 out of the box means many owners will cherish being on the latest OS, which is traditionally not the case with HTC. Apart from the Nexus 9 , most HTC devices are late to the latest Android party, in this case however HTC made an exception.

The UI is HTC Sense and works extremely well between the grid style icons and new blinkfeed. The Camera application is highly improved and quick to open and click pictures with. Nifty UI improvements make navigation quick and easy getting used to. You will still get all HTC personalisation features and easy migrate which will move you from any other phone to the new HTC One A9.

Quick and intuitive the software has been beautifully synced to work with the hardware on the HTC One A9 and it shows in the usage of the handset.

Networks and Battery

The HTC One A9 supports all major LTE Bands in India and works flawlessly on Airtel throughout its covered regions. Network dropped wherever other devices would drop it too. It does do a better job of holding on to the call while in transit.

Battery life is the one major question, while in most cases battery realistically drain out by 8 hours of use, sometimes it was much longer as much as 12 hours of use. The phone tends to last longer when it is not hunting for networks, and whereas this is the case with most phones, the HTC One A9 manages to last considerably longer if you are on Wi-Fi.

Function	Time
Talk Time	4.5 Hours
Music	10 Hours
Internet on LTE	5 Hours
Internet on WiFi	8 Hours

Conclusion

HTC made on hell of a phone with the HTC One A9, to add to possibly the strongest lineup of handsets for any company. But, just like many devices in the past the price does not seem to do it justice. While HTC phones are built to last, and look and feel great, have impressive UIs and software experiences along with hardware that is top notch and engineered to work well with their software. All of which you see on the HTC One A9, but since there is no calculation for experience of using a handset, the price will be truly the biggest letdown of the handset, and the only issue worth considering.

The HTC One A9 offers a user experience which is easy to forget about, because it does not bother you. HTC has finally understood what people want, but do they want it from HTC ? That may be real question. The HTC One A9 paces through the day of a modern consumer who is on the go , a slim and lightweight package, built well and around a smooth user experience, from software to customer service. One of the best phones in this price bracket and truly one worth your hard earned money.

The HTC One A9 is a Snapdeal exclusive in India and has been launched for Rs. 29,999 . You can buy one here : SnapDeal

December 27, 2015

Micromax Canvas 5 Review

A Budget Device that Looks Great and Performs Well

Micromax’s flagship Canvas 5 is a marked improvement from its predecessors, bumping up specs where it needed to most. The newest flagship tries to step out of Canvas 4’s shadow which saw some negativity regarding build quality and camera performance. With impressive design, performance, specs and a smooth UI for a budget device, the Canvas 5 is a solid device in the sub-Rs. 15,000 price range and gives a stiff competition to the Moto G (3rd Gen) and the OnePlus X. The Canvas 5, however, still has issues that will be familiar to long time Micromax users.