Bluk
is a puzzle game made by Kerala-based one-man studio Pixelape Games.
The core of the game is simple. You play as a block in a world of
towers. Your goal is to hop across from one tower to the next, until you
clear the stage.
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review. Show all posts
Creative Sound Blaster Roar 2 Review: For the bass lovers
Top Features
*Brilliant bass
*Good design
*Incredible battery life
*Good design
*Incredible battery life
Bluetooth speakers
are no longer just about a convenient music listening experience.
Brainwavz BLU-200 earphones review: Great sound output, average design
*Tangle free wire
*Good sound output
*Bluetooth connectivity
*Good sound output
*Bluetooth connectivity
Brainwavz Audio recently launched its BLU-200 wireless Bluetooth
earphones in India. The earphones sport an aluminium unibody design and
come with a 60mAh battery. According to the manufacturer, BLU-200
earphones have an operating range of 30 feet or 10 metres.
Priced at Rs 3,499, the earphones definitely seem good in terms of specs and overall appeal. We used them for a few days to find out more, and here are our observations.
Priced at Rs 3,499, the earphones definitely seem good in terms of specs and overall appeal. We used them for a few days to find out more, and here are our observations.
Moto X Force review: A flagship, only when it comes to performance
Top Features
* Excellent build quality
* Very rugged
* Top notch performance
* Very rugged
* Top notch performance
We've seen some phenomenal flagships in the last couple of years from leading smartphone companies and Moto X Force is Motorola's
answer to the them, in a certain way. This is the third phone in
Motorola's X series after the Moto X Play and Moto X Style. This was
touted by Motorola to be the first phone with a shatterproof screen. We
tried out the smartphone that is priced at 49,999 and see if it is worth
the price. This is our review of the Moto X Force.
LeEco Le 1S: Premium looks in a budget
Top Features
* Premium built
* Sharp display
* Decent battery backup
* Sharp display
* Decent battery backup
Chinese brand LeEco entered the Indian market with two smartphones in different price categories - LeEco Le Max and
LeEco Le 1S.While the Le Max smartphone was an impressive performer, it
is now time to evaluate its affordable sibling. The company claims to
have already sold 70,000 units of this smartphones in two seconds. We review the LeEco 1S smartphone to find out if it is worth the hype or not.
Apple iPhone 6S Review(Exclusive)
Top Features
- Improved camera
- 3D Touch, Live Photos are interesting features
- Smooth performance
- 3D Touch, Live Photos are interesting features
- Smooth performance
With
the iPhone 6S, Apple is trying hard to change the perception that its
new flagship is merely an iterative update to its predecessor. So much
that its tagline for its new iPhones is 'the only thing that's changed
is everything.' The phone brings some brand-new features such as 3D
Touch and takes one of the biggest leaps in terms of camera hardware. We
try to find out if the iPhone 6S is the best smartphone money can
buy...
Looks just like the iPhone 6
The iPhone 6S looks exactly like the iPhone 6. It's slightly thicker and heavier but you won't really notice it. However, Apple's played the colour card and introduced a new rose gold variant, which is essentially a light shade of pink with a gold tint, for people who really want to tell the world it's the new iPhone.
It also sports the same metal and glass build with rounded edges and curved front glass panel but Apple claims to have used stronger materials including 7000 Series aluminium for the body and the strongest cover glass used on any smartphone in the world. It's probably a confidence building measure after the company was embroiled in the 'bendgate' controversy with its iPhone 6 Plus buckling to external pressure and bending as evident from the large number of videos that appeared on the internet. Of course, we never bend other phones to check if they deform and treated the iPhone 6S the same way.
We think iPhone 6S is still the perfect phone if you're looking for a device that's optimized for one-hand use. If you like the iPhone 6 design, there's nothing that's going to prevent you from appreciating the 6S' form. The phone even supports the same cases.
WATCH: Apple iPhone 6S unboxing
Same old display
iPhone 6S retains the iPhone 6's 4.7-inch display that sports 750x1334p resolution packing in 336 pixels per inch. While you're unlikely to notice any pixilation or distortion unless you look really closely, we still feel Apple could have used a full-HD display. The display is perfectly readable under sunlight and has wide viewing angles thanks to dual-domain pixels. Colour reproduction is also good along with deep enough black levels. The screen also boasts of a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating to prevent smudging.
The new display also integrates sensors that can recognize different levels of force for the new 3D Touch feature (more on that later).
Unique software features - 3D Touch & Live Photos
iPhone 6S comes with iOS 9, the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system. Interestingly, some features of the OS are limited to the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus - 3D Touch and Live Photos.
3D Touch is a new way of interacting with the phone's touch screen and is an enhanced version of Force Touch which was first seen in the Apple Watch. Just like you pinch the screen to zoom in or double tap to zoom out on most phones, with 3D Touch you press the screen forcefully for previewing content and even harder for viewing it. Apple calls the two touch levels peek and pop. The feature has been implemented in most built-in apps including Photos, Phone, Messages, Camera and Mail, and in third party apps like Facebook, Instagram, Zomato and Paytm. Apple has also put a new taptic engine that offers haptic feedback (a subtle vibration) when you peek or pop.
There are a few major applications of 3D Touch on iPhone 6S - for instance you can preview emails, messages or pictures with the peek gesture and open them with a pop. You can firmly swipe from the left edge to go the multitasking view and don't need to double tap on the Home button. You can also use the software keyboard as a trackpad to navigate around a document by a forcefully tapping on the keyboard. The Notes app is also able to distinguish between force touch and normal touch and lets you switch to a darker drawing mode when you choose the former.
One interesting application is home screen quick actions that let you go to a particular section of the app without opening it. This means you can force tap on the camera app shortcut to go directly to the selfie mode or post a tweet quickly by going directly on this screen. More third party apps are integrating this feature but we feel it could have been made more useful by eliminating the need to go inside the app. For instance force tapping on Facebook and selecting the Update status message could bring a small box that lets us update the status or force tapping on Music could show playback controls.
Live Photos
Another fun feature is Live Photos. Think of having the option of shooting a 3-second animated GIF with sound each time you shoot a still. So you can see your kid in action each time you play the photo. Yes, the camera covers some action even before you hit the shutter button. Live Photos play when you tap hard on the screen. You can also set Live Photos as your wallpaper and play them by force tapping on the screen.
You can share Live Photos using iMessage, iCloud Photo Sharing, or AirDrop, as well as other Apple devices, including Apple Watch. Shared elsewhere, Live Photo is sent as a still photo, or if you decide to edit it. Apple says it will be coming out soon with new API for Live Photos, so that developers can add app-to-app sharing of Live Photos too. So it's just a matter of time before you can share Live Photos on Facebook and WhatsApp.
We found playing with Live Photos fun and they make for livelier and creative wallpapers. While a number of phones including the Lumias and HTC One devices have been offering a similar feature, Apple's implementation has made it easy to discover and use.
Other iOS 9 features
iPhone 6S runs Apple's iOS 9 that introduces some new features and upgrades to system apps. The biggest update that iOS 9 brings to the iPhone is 'intelligence,' part of which is the Proactive Assistant that offers contextual information based on your email, calendar and usage pattern.
For instance, if you have a meeting scheduled in your calendar, it will remind you before time and even offer an update on traffic conditions. It adds events to the Calendar from emails and suggests actions when you connect an accessory.
Another feature is enhanced search and a better Siri (Apple's voice assistant) experience. Siri also offers search suggestions including nearby places, frequently used apps and people and local news. It's also able to search inside third-party apps, do math and conversions and display sports scores and weather forecasts. A lot of these features are unavailable in India as Apple doesn't offer directions on maps and information related to places of interest so we couldn't really use them. Deep linking or the ability to display content from apps does work to some extent. For example, searching a restaurant will display its Zomato listing if you've browsed through it in the past.
A new low-power mode reduces or turn off non-essential tasks such as visual effects and automatic downloads. The phone also won't check for new mail or update content for apps in the background as often in that mode. We found that this mode does stretch the battery at the cost of being up to date with notifications.
Visually, there's not much change but the app previews in multitasking view now appear as stacked cards, allowing you to flip through them.
Overall, iOS 9 is more about fine tuning iOS 8 and making the experience more stable. Sadly, you'll still need to rely on Google's third party apps for key features including maps and navigation, in India. Even Spotlight Suggestions and enhanced search are not available in the region.
We all know Apple was never too obsessed with megapixels but the iPhone 6S is a major upgrade after many years, progressing to a 12MP sensor on the back and a 5MP selfie camera.
Does it lead to any improvement? Well, compared to photos shot with the iPhone 6 which features an 8MP camera, pictures taken with the 6S are brighter, colours are more vivid and you'll even notice some more detail. However, it's not a huge leap as the iPhone 6 camera is already one of the best in business. Compared to other smartphones, we'll still say that Samsung's new Note phone and S6 edge+ give tough competition but the iPhone's USP is its consistency. You can just take the phone out and shoot without bothering to tinker with any settings.
Sadly, the iPhone 6S doesn't feature Optical Image Stabilisation which is only in the Plus variant. This could have made low light shots even better and reduced shake in videos.
A big addition to the iPhone 6S is support for 4K recording - the ability to shoot video in resolution four times higher than full-HD. Remember that these videos do look better than full-HD but take up more space on the phone. Also, only a few screens support 4K playback at this point in time. You're better off using full-HD if it's for personal use and you don't have a 4K device.
The iPhone 6S also uses the phone's screen as a front flash for selfies shot in low light conditions. Again, this is not the first time we're seeing this feature but selfies shot in the dark do look natural and consistently lit up when you use this feature.
Great performance
Most iPhone users don't upgrade phones for better processors or RAM alone, but Apple claims the new A9 processor that powers iPhone 6S is almost 90% faster than the iPhone 6 in graphics rendering and 75% in overall use.
We noticed minor differences in app launch times and while switching between apps. According to reports, the new iPhone comes with 2GB RAM, which is double the system memory of last year's models. We did notice some minor difference in multitasking capabilities - apps running in the background launch faster when you fire them up and Safari doesn't refresh as frequently.
Games such as Infinity Blade III and Asphalt 8 run smoothly without any stutter or lag whatsoever and showcase the graphics prowess of the iPhone 6S.
The Touch ID fingerprint sensor is twice as fast. So, you can unlock your phone and get to the home screen faster if you use this feature.
The phone has an upgraded Wi-Fi and cellular antenna and we did notice that it loads pages faster compared to the iPhone 6 on the same network connection. It works with Airtel's 4G network without any issues and delivers decent speeds.
Apple claims the talk-time and standby time of iPhone 6S remain the same. And that is despite the new A9 processor and 4K video recording capability. In our use, we got about 12-12 hours of standby with 6 to 7 hours of usage. Our usage included checking our Twitter account every now and then, clicking some pictures, receiving emails on three accounts and making calls for at least two hours. If you play video for longer periods, the battery depletes even faster. There's not much difference in the battery backup if you compare the phone to the iPhone 6 and that's not really a good thing.
So should you take the leap of faith?
On the surface, the major features the iPhone 6S offers is 3D Touch and Live Photos but it does come with remarkable improvements in build quality, a faster processor and fingerprint scanner, upgraded camera and better connectivity. At a starting price of Rs 62,000 for 16GB, the iPhone 6S is anything but affordable so it's certainly not for everyone.
For iPhone 6 users, it's not a major upgrade. But if you find the new features like 3D Touch interesting and have a lot of cash to shell out, then we'd say nothing should hold you back.
However, if you're looking to buy your first (or second) iPhone and want to save some cash, we feel the iPhone 6 is the perfect device offering a great window to Apple's software ecosystem and some useful features that you'll need. The same also holds true if you are looking to cross over from the Android world.
Is the iPhone 6S the best smartphone available at the moment? In our opinion, the iPhone 6S offers a great smartphone experience and the key here is consistency and stability. Having said that we'd never buy the 16GB version especially with Live Photos that take up double the storage space and 4K videos. So the next best thing is the 64GB version that costs Rs 72,000. This price is outrageously high especially when rivals like Samsung's Galaxy S6, Google's Nexus 6P and Sony's Xperia Z5 deliver a premium experience at a much lower price. And it's not just about hardware specifications; Android has reached a point where it's not just a highly customizable OS meant only for power users.
Looks just like the iPhone 6
The iPhone 6S looks exactly like the iPhone 6. It's slightly thicker and heavier but you won't really notice it. However, Apple's played the colour card and introduced a new rose gold variant, which is essentially a light shade of pink with a gold tint, for people who really want to tell the world it's the new iPhone.
It also sports the same metal and glass build with rounded edges and curved front glass panel but Apple claims to have used stronger materials including 7000 Series aluminium for the body and the strongest cover glass used on any smartphone in the world. It's probably a confidence building measure after the company was embroiled in the 'bendgate' controversy with its iPhone 6 Plus buckling to external pressure and bending as evident from the large number of videos that appeared on the internet. Of course, we never bend other phones to check if they deform and treated the iPhone 6S the same way.
We think iPhone 6S is still the perfect phone if you're looking for a device that's optimized for one-hand use. If you like the iPhone 6 design, there's nothing that's going to prevent you from appreciating the 6S' form. The phone even supports the same cases.
WATCH: Apple iPhone 6S unboxing
Same old display
iPhone 6S retains the iPhone 6's 4.7-inch display that sports 750x1334p resolution packing in 336 pixels per inch. While you're unlikely to notice any pixilation or distortion unless you look really closely, we still feel Apple could have used a full-HD display. The display is perfectly readable under sunlight and has wide viewing angles thanks to dual-domain pixels. Colour reproduction is also good along with deep enough black levels. The screen also boasts of a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating to prevent smudging.
The new display also integrates sensors that can recognize different levels of force for the new 3D Touch feature (more on that later).
Unique software features - 3D Touch & Live Photos
iPhone 6S comes with iOS 9, the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system. Interestingly, some features of the OS are limited to the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus - 3D Touch and Live Photos.
3D Touch is a new way of interacting with the phone's touch screen and is an enhanced version of Force Touch which was first seen in the Apple Watch. Just like you pinch the screen to zoom in or double tap to zoom out on most phones, with 3D Touch you press the screen forcefully for previewing content and even harder for viewing it. Apple calls the two touch levels peek and pop. The feature has been implemented in most built-in apps including Photos, Phone, Messages, Camera and Mail, and in third party apps like Facebook, Instagram, Zomato and Paytm. Apple has also put a new taptic engine that offers haptic feedback (a subtle vibration) when you peek or pop.
There are a few major applications of 3D Touch on iPhone 6S - for instance you can preview emails, messages or pictures with the peek gesture and open them with a pop. You can firmly swipe from the left edge to go the multitasking view and don't need to double tap on the Home button. You can also use the software keyboard as a trackpad to navigate around a document by a forcefully tapping on the keyboard. The Notes app is also able to distinguish between force touch and normal touch and lets you switch to a darker drawing mode when you choose the former.
One interesting application is home screen quick actions that let you go to a particular section of the app without opening it. This means you can force tap on the camera app shortcut to go directly to the selfie mode or post a tweet quickly by going directly on this screen. More third party apps are integrating this feature but we feel it could have been made more useful by eliminating the need to go inside the app. For instance force tapping on Facebook and selecting the Update status message could bring a small box that lets us update the status or force tapping on Music could show playback controls.
Live Photos
Another fun feature is Live Photos. Think of having the option of shooting a 3-second animated GIF with sound each time you shoot a still. So you can see your kid in action each time you play the photo. Yes, the camera covers some action even before you hit the shutter button. Live Photos play when you tap hard on the screen. You can also set Live Photos as your wallpaper and play them by force tapping on the screen.
You can share Live Photos using iMessage, iCloud Photo Sharing, or AirDrop, as well as other Apple devices, including Apple Watch. Shared elsewhere, Live Photo is sent as a still photo, or if you decide to edit it. Apple says it will be coming out soon with new API for Live Photos, so that developers can add app-to-app sharing of Live Photos too. So it's just a matter of time before you can share Live Photos on Facebook and WhatsApp.
We found playing with Live Photos fun and they make for livelier and creative wallpapers. While a number of phones including the Lumias and HTC One devices have been offering a similar feature, Apple's implementation has made it easy to discover and use.
Other iOS 9 features
iPhone 6S runs Apple's iOS 9 that introduces some new features and upgrades to system apps. The biggest update that iOS 9 brings to the iPhone is 'intelligence,' part of which is the Proactive Assistant that offers contextual information based on your email, calendar and usage pattern.
For instance, if you have a meeting scheduled in your calendar, it will remind you before time and even offer an update on traffic conditions. It adds events to the Calendar from emails and suggests actions when you connect an accessory.
Another feature is enhanced search and a better Siri (Apple's voice assistant) experience. Siri also offers search suggestions including nearby places, frequently used apps and people and local news. It's also able to search inside third-party apps, do math and conversions and display sports scores and weather forecasts. A lot of these features are unavailable in India as Apple doesn't offer directions on maps and information related to places of interest so we couldn't really use them. Deep linking or the ability to display content from apps does work to some extent. For example, searching a restaurant will display its Zomato listing if you've browsed through it in the past.
A new low-power mode reduces or turn off non-essential tasks such as visual effects and automatic downloads. The phone also won't check for new mail or update content for apps in the background as often in that mode. We found that this mode does stretch the battery at the cost of being up to date with notifications.
Visually, there's not much change but the app previews in multitasking view now appear as stacked cards, allowing you to flip through them.
Overall, iOS 9 is more about fine tuning iOS 8 and making the experience more stable. Sadly, you'll still need to rely on Google's third party apps for key features including maps and navigation, in India. Even Spotlight Suggestions and enhanced search are not available in the region.
We all know Apple was never too obsessed with megapixels but the iPhone 6S is a major upgrade after many years, progressing to a 12MP sensor on the back and a 5MP selfie camera.
Does it lead to any improvement? Well, compared to photos shot with the iPhone 6 which features an 8MP camera, pictures taken with the 6S are brighter, colours are more vivid and you'll even notice some more detail. However, it's not a huge leap as the iPhone 6 camera is already one of the best in business. Compared to other smartphones, we'll still say that Samsung's new Note phone and S6 edge+ give tough competition but the iPhone's USP is its consistency. You can just take the phone out and shoot without bothering to tinker with any settings.
Sadly, the iPhone 6S doesn't feature Optical Image Stabilisation which is only in the Plus variant. This could have made low light shots even better and reduced shake in videos.
A big addition to the iPhone 6S is support for 4K recording - the ability to shoot video in resolution four times higher than full-HD. Remember that these videos do look better than full-HD but take up more space on the phone. Also, only a few screens support 4K playback at this point in time. You're better off using full-HD if it's for personal use and you don't have a 4K device.
The iPhone 6S also uses the phone's screen as a front flash for selfies shot in low light conditions. Again, this is not the first time we're seeing this feature but selfies shot in the dark do look natural and consistently lit up when you use this feature.
Great performance
Most iPhone users don't upgrade phones for better processors or RAM alone, but Apple claims the new A9 processor that powers iPhone 6S is almost 90% faster than the iPhone 6 in graphics rendering and 75% in overall use.
We noticed minor differences in app launch times and while switching between apps. According to reports, the new iPhone comes with 2GB RAM, which is double the system memory of last year's models. We did notice some minor difference in multitasking capabilities - apps running in the background launch faster when you fire them up and Safari doesn't refresh as frequently.
Games such as Infinity Blade III and Asphalt 8 run smoothly without any stutter or lag whatsoever and showcase the graphics prowess of the iPhone 6S.
The Touch ID fingerprint sensor is twice as fast. So, you can unlock your phone and get to the home screen faster if you use this feature.
The phone has an upgraded Wi-Fi and cellular antenna and we did notice that it loads pages faster compared to the iPhone 6 on the same network connection. It works with Airtel's 4G network without any issues and delivers decent speeds.
Apple claims the talk-time and standby time of iPhone 6S remain the same. And that is despite the new A9 processor and 4K video recording capability. In our use, we got about 12-12 hours of standby with 6 to 7 hours of usage. Our usage included checking our Twitter account every now and then, clicking some pictures, receiving emails on three accounts and making calls for at least two hours. If you play video for longer periods, the battery depletes even faster. There's not much difference in the battery backup if you compare the phone to the iPhone 6 and that's not really a good thing.
So should you take the leap of faith?
On the surface, the major features the iPhone 6S offers is 3D Touch and Live Photos but it does come with remarkable improvements in build quality, a faster processor and fingerprint scanner, upgraded camera and better connectivity. At a starting price of Rs 62,000 for 16GB, the iPhone 6S is anything but affordable so it's certainly not for everyone.
For iPhone 6 users, it's not a major upgrade. But if you find the new features like 3D Touch interesting and have a lot of cash to shell out, then we'd say nothing should hold you back.
However, if you're looking to buy your first (or second) iPhone and want to save some cash, we feel the iPhone 6 is the perfect device offering a great window to Apple's software ecosystem and some useful features that you'll need. The same also holds true if you are looking to cross over from the Android world.
Is the iPhone 6S the best smartphone available at the moment? In our opinion, the iPhone 6S offers a great smartphone experience and the key here is consistency and stability. Having said that we'd never buy the 16GB version especially with Live Photos that take up double the storage space and 4K videos. So the next best thing is the 64GB version that costs Rs 72,000. This price is outrageously high especially when rivals like Samsung's Galaxy S6, Google's Nexus 6P and Sony's Xperia Z5 deliver a premium experience at a much lower price. And it's not just about hardware specifications; Android has reached a point where it's not just a highly customizable OS meant only for power users.
Vivo X5Pro review
Top Features
- Good build quality
- Exquisite design
- Vivid display
- Exquisite design
- Vivid display
The
X5 Pro is Vivo's flagship offering in the India. The relatively unknown
brand has been trying to make inroads into the crowded smartphone
market in the country but we feel its pricing strategy and positioning
have been counterproductive. With the X5 Pro, Vivo tries to focus on
aesthetics and good build quality at a time when there's a rat race
among device makers for outdoing each other in the hardware
specifications department. At a price of Rs 27,980, is the Vivo X5Pro a
worthy contender? We try to find out in our review....
Premium design
In terms of looks, we have no qualms in saying that the Vivo X5Pro is quite a stunner. While the designers are clearly inspired by Apple's and Sony's design philosophy, the execution has been good with the build quality exuding a premium feel through the use of metal and glass. The phone sports a stainless steel and aluminium alloy frame with curved edges and chamfers. The company says the phone's body is made through nano-molding and laser-welding technology and is designed in a way so as to minimize wear and tear. With just 6.44mm thickness, the phone looks very sleek.
The front and back panels feature 2.5D curved glass with a glossy white coloured finish and Corning Gorilla Glass protection. The Super AMOLED display has a sapphire-coloured crystal coating as per Vivo for better clarity. The curved glass does feel nice to touch and look at.
The right edge houses metal keys for volume control and power and offer good tactile feedback. The sim-card tray is also placed at the same side while the 3.5mm headset jack is placed at the top edge. The micro-USB port is at the bottom between two grilles. Only one of the two grilles work as the speaker. The phone has a unibody design and the back is not removable. You'll see a camera lens encircled by a metal ring and an LED flash at the back along with some Vivo branding.
Overall, the Vivo X5Pro is one of the best looking Android phones we've seen lately although the design is not very original. It's optimised for one-hand use and can easily slip into your trouser pockets.
Vibrant display
Vivo X5Pro sports a 5.2-inch full-HD (1080x1920p) Super AMOLED display that offers vivid colours, excellent brightness levels and wide viewing angles. Text and images look crisp and sharp albeit with slightly oversaturated colours because of the AMOLED panel. You'll not face any problems while reading the screen or taking photos under sunlight. Touch response was also flawless.
Inconsistent software
Vivo X5Pro comes with Funtouch OS which is a heavily customised build of Android 5.0 Lollipop. It adds custom apps, app icons, menus and transition effects to give it a distinct flavour.
Just like Xiaomi's MIUI and Gionee's Amigo skins, the UI is devoid of an app drawer and app icons and widgets are spread across the home screens. The unified home screen-app launcher style may come across as user-friendly to people who have not used an Android phone before. But it will take some time to get used to if you have already been using an Android smartphone. You can of course download and install an alternate launcher.
The phone's software takes some inspiration from iOS and features a Control Center-like pull-up menu that includes controls settings toggles and the app switcher. We feel the solution is a bit unintuitive as there's no visual cue to direct users to the menu. Also, the app switcher doesn't preview currently running apps unlike stock Android.
The software also offers a one-hand use mode and employs the use of gestures to turn it on. We've spotted these features mostly on large screen phones and we're not sure if users will find these handy on a 5.2-inch device but it's a good option. There's also a Multitask window option that lets you use access the widgetized versions of Video, Music, Notes and Inbox apps along with other open apps. Some native apps offer extended functionality - for instance the Phone app also comes with call recording feature.
Overall, while the software offers advanced functionality and additional features, it's not very intuitive and misses out on things like lockscreen widgets.
Average camera
Vivo X5Pro features a 13MP rear camera with f2.0 aperture and an 8MP front-facing camera with f2.4 aperture. The Camera app is standard and offers features such as HDR, Night and Bokeh mode but there's no option to tinker with attributes such as ISO, contrast and white balance.
The camera takes decent photos in daylight but struggles to capture light without flash in low-light and dark conditions. Even daylight photos missed out on detail at times.
Also, we had issues while trying to focus while taking macro photos. The front camera is just about average and can be used for selfies for social sharing.
Shot with the front camera
It can shoot full-HD video and the quality of videos was good. Overall, the camera is not one of the strengths of the Vivo
X5Pro.
Decent performance
Vivo X5Pro is powered by a 1.5GHz 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor and 2GB RAM. The smartphone offers 16GB of internal storage and can support microSD cards through the hybrid dual-sim+memory card tray.
We found the phone to be very responsive and there was no lag or stutter during casual use. Thanks to 2GB of RAM, we didn't struggle with opening multiple apps or browser tabs in the background. We did observe that the phone has a tendency to slightly heat up after playing games for more than 10-15 minutes.
We played games like Leo's Fortune and Asphalt 8 and found minor frame drops with the latter.
We were able to play videos of popular file formats without any hiccups. The sound output through the phone's speaker outlet was loud and clear.
Call quality and network reception were pretty decent. The phone also offers 4G LTE connectivity in addition to the regular suit of connectivity options and FM Radio. We used it on Airtel's 4G network and did not face any problems.
The phone has a 2450mAh battery and lasts about a day with moderate use if you put the brightness at the highest level and use 4G data.
Verdict
At Rs 27,980, the Vivo X5Pro is an over-priced mid-range smartphone. It has a good camera, offers decent performance and scores high in the looks department, however, rivals with similar hardware are available at half the price. While we acknowledge that the build quality and design of the phone is far superior compared to that of the Xiaomi Mi 4i, ZTE Nubia Z9 mini, and Asus Zenfone 2 Selfie, performance wise it does not offer a better experience. So you're essentially paying a premium for the good looks and that's how the company has positioned the phone.
The Vivo X5Pro faces touch competition from rivals like the OnePlus 2, Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe and Huawei Honor 6 Plus that boast of better hardware and it's hard to recommend it over these phones.
Premium design
In terms of looks, we have no qualms in saying that the Vivo X5Pro is quite a stunner. While the designers are clearly inspired by Apple's and Sony's design philosophy, the execution has been good with the build quality exuding a premium feel through the use of metal and glass. The phone sports a stainless steel and aluminium alloy frame with curved edges and chamfers. The company says the phone's body is made through nano-molding and laser-welding technology and is designed in a way so as to minimize wear and tear. With just 6.44mm thickness, the phone looks very sleek.
The front and back panels feature 2.5D curved glass with a glossy white coloured finish and Corning Gorilla Glass protection. The Super AMOLED display has a sapphire-coloured crystal coating as per Vivo for better clarity. The curved glass does feel nice to touch and look at.
The right edge houses metal keys for volume control and power and offer good tactile feedback. The sim-card tray is also placed at the same side while the 3.5mm headset jack is placed at the top edge. The micro-USB port is at the bottom between two grilles. Only one of the two grilles work as the speaker. The phone has a unibody design and the back is not removable. You'll see a camera lens encircled by a metal ring and an LED flash at the back along with some Vivo branding.
Overall, the Vivo X5Pro is one of the best looking Android phones we've seen lately although the design is not very original. It's optimised for one-hand use and can easily slip into your trouser pockets.
Vibrant display
Vivo X5Pro sports a 5.2-inch full-HD (1080x1920p) Super AMOLED display that offers vivid colours, excellent brightness levels and wide viewing angles. Text and images look crisp and sharp albeit with slightly oversaturated colours because of the AMOLED panel. You'll not face any problems while reading the screen or taking photos under sunlight. Touch response was also flawless.
Inconsistent software
Vivo X5Pro comes with Funtouch OS which is a heavily customised build of Android 5.0 Lollipop. It adds custom apps, app icons, menus and transition effects to give it a distinct flavour.
Just like Xiaomi's MIUI and Gionee's Amigo skins, the UI is devoid of an app drawer and app icons and widgets are spread across the home screens. The unified home screen-app launcher style may come across as user-friendly to people who have not used an Android phone before. But it will take some time to get used to if you have already been using an Android smartphone. You can of course download and install an alternate launcher.
The phone's software takes some inspiration from iOS and features a Control Center-like pull-up menu that includes controls settings toggles and the app switcher. We feel the solution is a bit unintuitive as there's no visual cue to direct users to the menu. Also, the app switcher doesn't preview currently running apps unlike stock Android.
The software also offers a one-hand use mode and employs the use of gestures to turn it on. We've spotted these features mostly on large screen phones and we're not sure if users will find these handy on a 5.2-inch device but it's a good option. There's also a Multitask window option that lets you use access the widgetized versions of Video, Music, Notes and Inbox apps along with other open apps. Some native apps offer extended functionality - for instance the Phone app also comes with call recording feature.
Overall, while the software offers advanced functionality and additional features, it's not very intuitive and misses out on things like lockscreen widgets.
Average camera
Vivo X5Pro features a 13MP rear camera with f2.0 aperture and an 8MP front-facing camera with f2.4 aperture. The Camera app is standard and offers features such as HDR, Night and Bokeh mode but there's no option to tinker with attributes such as ISO, contrast and white balance.
The camera takes decent photos in daylight but struggles to capture light without flash in low-light and dark conditions. Even daylight photos missed out on detail at times.
Also, we had issues while trying to focus while taking macro photos. The front camera is just about average and can be used for selfies for social sharing.
Shot with the front camera
It can shoot full-HD video and the quality of videos was good. Overall, the camera is not one of the strengths of the Vivo
X5Pro.
Decent performance
Vivo X5Pro is powered by a 1.5GHz 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor and 2GB RAM. The smartphone offers 16GB of internal storage and can support microSD cards through the hybrid dual-sim+memory card tray.
We found the phone to be very responsive and there was no lag or stutter during casual use. Thanks to 2GB of RAM, we didn't struggle with opening multiple apps or browser tabs in the background. We did observe that the phone has a tendency to slightly heat up after playing games for more than 10-15 minutes.
We played games like Leo's Fortune and Asphalt 8 and found minor frame drops with the latter.
We were able to play videos of popular file formats without any hiccups. The sound output through the phone's speaker outlet was loud and clear.
Call quality and network reception were pretty decent. The phone also offers 4G LTE connectivity in addition to the regular suit of connectivity options and FM Radio. We used it on Airtel's 4G network and did not face any problems.
The phone has a 2450mAh battery and lasts about a day with moderate use if you put the brightness at the highest level and use 4G data.
Verdict
At Rs 27,980, the Vivo X5Pro is an over-priced mid-range smartphone. It has a good camera, offers decent performance and scores high in the looks department, however, rivals with similar hardware are available at half the price. While we acknowledge that the build quality and design of the phone is far superior compared to that of the Xiaomi Mi 4i, ZTE Nubia Z9 mini, and Asus Zenfone 2 Selfie, performance wise it does not offer a better experience. So you're essentially paying a premium for the good looks and that's how the company has positioned the phone.
The Vivo X5Pro faces touch competition from rivals like the OnePlus 2, Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe and Huawei Honor 6 Plus that boast of better hardware and it's hard to recommend it over these phones.
Sony Xperia C4 review: A simple upgrade
Top Features
- Good display
- Decent build quality
- Expandable storage
- Decent build quality
- Expandable storage
The Sony Xperia C4 is the company's new selfie-focused
smartphone. Successor to the Xperia C3, the smartphone features an
upgraded full-HD display and is powered by an octa-core MediaTek
processor.The internal storage capacity and RAM has also been bumped up
compared to the C3. The major highlight of the phone though is still its
5MP wide-angled front camera targeting the selfie-crazy. We used the
phone for a few weeks to see where it stands in the increasingly
competitive mid-range segment...
Trusted OmniBalance design
Sony Xperia C4 doesn't look very different from other members of the Sony Xperia family and follows the same OmniBalance design language. However, it's not very angular and features rounded corners and edges. It has a slightly curved back that sports a soft matte finish and feels good to hold. Since it's a mid-range device, Sony has predominantly used plastic in the construction of the phone. You also see the bumper corners seen in theXperia Z+.
The Xperia C4 doesn't feel too big or heavy despite its 5.5-inch display because of the excellent screen to body ratio. While not exactly made for one hand use, Sony has tried its best to make it less unwieldy thanks to the positioning of the hardware buttons and software features. The plastic volume rocker is located at the right edge with the typical Sony watch crown-shaped, metallic power button.
The same edge also houses a flap that hides two slots for nano sim cards and one slot for a microSD card. Sony has got rid of the plastic sim card tray and you can now simply plug in the sim cards. The other edge features the micro-USB port, which is slightly unconventional. The 3.5mm headset jack sits at the top edge.
Since it's a unibody design, the back is non-removable. You'll see a camera lens, LED flash, a speaker grille and some Sony and Xperia branding at the back. The front panel features the large full-HD display, the camera lens and a front flash. The phone is well built and exudes a feeling of durability though the design is not very new.
Full-HD display
The Xperia C4 sports a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1280p) IPS display, mobile BRAVIA Engine and has a super Vivid mode that enhances the colour brightness and saturation of photos and videos on the phone screen. We found the display to be bright and vivid and viewing angles were sufficiently wide. Colours looked accurate and graphics appeared sharp and crisp.
It's slightly reflective so sunlight legibility wasn't that great. Touch response was great but it's not clear if the screen comes with Gorilla Glass protection. Overall, its an upgrade from the Xperia C3's 720p display.
Balanced software experience In terms of software experience, the Xperia C4 comes with Android 5.0 (Lollipop) out of the box with Sony's own UI and apps for music, videos and gallery. Sony's UI skin is not very heavy and doesn't hog on system resources. The experience of navigating across the UI was smooth but not as swift as it is on high-end devices such as the Xperia Z3+.
The phone also has some content marketplace apps and a What's New apps, which show curated content (such as apps, music, games) that users can buy. We feel that Sony has stuffed the phone with a lot of bloatware including third party apps like Line, Kobo, AVG antivirus. Thankfully, most of these apps can be removed.
The UI elements, including the notifications tray, app launcher and settings menu have been skinned but also borrow elements from the new Android 5.0 UI. System apps feature Material Design with a blue theme being omnipresent. The transition effects visible during launching and minimizing apps are also pleasant to look at. The app-switcher is also borrowed from Android 5.0 Lollipop but features the launcher for small apps which can float on top of other running apps.
The phone ships with some small apps,including a browser, timer, calculator and screen grabber. One can download additional small apps from the Play Store, or even turn a widget into a small app. Sony has also included software optimizations for one hand use including the ability to position certain UI elements on the left or right side of the display.
At the cost of repeating ourselves, we have to say that Sony's UI skin looks less intrusive and is well-balanced.
Front camera is not extraordinary
The Sony Xperia C4 sports a a 13MP autofocus rear camera with LED flash and 5MP front camera with Exmor R sensor and front flash.
The camera app offers a large number of settings in addition to Sony's Superior Auto mode that chooses the optimal settings as per the ambient light. You also get different scene options and the ability to switch the resolution of the pictures. Scene modes also include night mode and backlight correction HDR, among others.
The other modes that the app offers include Style portrait, Multi-camera, Sweep Panorama, AR Effect, Creative effect, and Face in picture Effect. There's no time shift video mode. The Multi-camera mode lets you hook other Xperia devices (phones or tablets) or a Sony Wi-Fi/NFC camera and record the same scene with multiple cameras.
While the front camera takes good quality selfies in day light, we found it to be a little underwhelming for indoor selfies in artificial light. The latter missed out on detail and looked slightly grainy. Of course the real hero is the front flash which does a good job of filling light when you're snapping a selfie in a dimly lit club. The camera has a wide-angled lens so you ca fit in more people in selfies.
The rear camera takes good quality pictures in most conditions including in low-light. We did find the Superior Auto mode a little inconsistent; it has a tendency to produce saturated colours. HDR mode photos had better contrast.
Decent performer
Sony Xperia C4 is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core (Cortex-A53) MediaTek MT6752 processor coupled with 2GB RAM. The phone comes with 16GB internal storage expandable up to 128GB via microSD card or by using a USB On-the-Go drive (or adapter plus USB drive).
While we did not notice any major lag while navigating through the phone's menu, launching apps and switching between them, the experience is not as smooth as it is on high-end devices and even some competing mid-range ones. Having said that, you may not really notice it while performing everyday tasks.
We were able to play games like subway Temple Run 2, Leo's Fortune without encountering lag or freezes or heating issues but we did notice some minor frame drops while playing Asphalt 8.
We were able to play most popular video and audio file formats on the phone.
The phone supports NFC, Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS connectivity options an has an FM radio tuner.
It offers excellent call quality and signal reception and we did not encounter problems while making calls even in areas where cell signal is relatively weaker. The phone was able to lock to GPS without any hiccups. We also used 4G data on Airtel's Delhi network and were able to get a good signal with 25Mbps+ speeds.
The sound output through the phone's speaker grille was loud and clear but sound gets muffled when the phone lies on its back.
The phone is backed by a 2600mAh battery and will last you a full day even if you put the screen brightness at the highest level and use a mix of 4G and Wi-Fi. The phone lasted us more than 14-15 hours with 2.5 hours of screen-on time.
You'll be able to make about 2-3 hours of phone calls, play some casual games and browse the web in this time period. The phone can play video continuously for 6 hours.
You can boost the battery backup by using Sony's Stamina mode that shuts down battery-draining apps and data transfer when the screen is turned off and starts them again when it is turned on.
Final Verdict
Sony Xperia C4 is a good upgrade to the C3 and a well-rounded device that offers a full-HD screen, good rear camera and balanced software experience. However, at Rs 29,490, we feel it's a bit expensive compared to other offerings available in the market (you can buy it at a discounted price online though). Also, the enhanced selfie camera, which is the highlight feature of the phone, is not as uncommon as it used to be in the past and the results were not extraordinary.
Of course you pay the premium for the brand but you can also look at mid-range options from established ones such as the Samsung Galaxy A7 and HTC Desire Eye. The Gionee Elife S7 and Huawei Honor 6 Plus are better specd and offer great performance. The OnePlus 2 is certainly the best option among mid-range phones but the invite system and limited production make it very difficult to acquire one.
Trusted OmniBalance design
Sony Xperia C4 doesn't look very different from other members of the Sony Xperia family and follows the same OmniBalance design language. However, it's not very angular and features rounded corners and edges. It has a slightly curved back that sports a soft matte finish and feels good to hold. Since it's a mid-range device, Sony has predominantly used plastic in the construction of the phone. You also see the bumper corners seen in theXperia Z+.
The Xperia C4 doesn't feel too big or heavy despite its 5.5-inch display because of the excellent screen to body ratio. While not exactly made for one hand use, Sony has tried its best to make it less unwieldy thanks to the positioning of the hardware buttons and software features. The plastic volume rocker is located at the right edge with the typical Sony watch crown-shaped, metallic power button.
The same edge also houses a flap that hides two slots for nano sim cards and one slot for a microSD card. Sony has got rid of the plastic sim card tray and you can now simply plug in the sim cards. The other edge features the micro-USB port, which is slightly unconventional. The 3.5mm headset jack sits at the top edge.
Since it's a unibody design, the back is non-removable. You'll see a camera lens, LED flash, a speaker grille and some Sony and Xperia branding at the back. The front panel features the large full-HD display, the camera lens and a front flash. The phone is well built and exudes a feeling of durability though the design is not very new.
Full-HD display
The Xperia C4 sports a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1280p) IPS display, mobile BRAVIA Engine and has a super Vivid mode that enhances the colour brightness and saturation of photos and videos on the phone screen. We found the display to be bright and vivid and viewing angles were sufficiently wide. Colours looked accurate and graphics appeared sharp and crisp.
It's slightly reflective so sunlight legibility wasn't that great. Touch response was great but it's not clear if the screen comes with Gorilla Glass protection. Overall, its an upgrade from the Xperia C3's 720p display.
Balanced software experience In terms of software experience, the Xperia C4 comes with Android 5.0 (Lollipop) out of the box with Sony's own UI and apps for music, videos and gallery. Sony's UI skin is not very heavy and doesn't hog on system resources. The experience of navigating across the UI was smooth but not as swift as it is on high-end devices such as the Xperia Z3+.
The phone also has some content marketplace apps and a What's New apps, which show curated content (such as apps, music, games) that users can buy. We feel that Sony has stuffed the phone with a lot of bloatware including third party apps like Line, Kobo, AVG antivirus. Thankfully, most of these apps can be removed.
The UI elements, including the notifications tray, app launcher and settings menu have been skinned but also borrow elements from the new Android 5.0 UI. System apps feature Material Design with a blue theme being omnipresent. The transition effects visible during launching and minimizing apps are also pleasant to look at. The app-switcher is also borrowed from Android 5.0 Lollipop but features the launcher for small apps which can float on top of other running apps.
The phone ships with some small apps,including a browser, timer, calculator and screen grabber. One can download additional small apps from the Play Store, or even turn a widget into a small app. Sony has also included software optimizations for one hand use including the ability to position certain UI elements on the left or right side of the display.
At the cost of repeating ourselves, we have to say that Sony's UI skin looks less intrusive and is well-balanced.
Front camera is not extraordinary
The Sony Xperia C4 sports a a 13MP autofocus rear camera with LED flash and 5MP front camera with Exmor R sensor and front flash.
The camera app offers a large number of settings in addition to Sony's Superior Auto mode that chooses the optimal settings as per the ambient light. You also get different scene options and the ability to switch the resolution of the pictures. Scene modes also include night mode and backlight correction HDR, among others.
The other modes that the app offers include Style portrait, Multi-camera, Sweep Panorama, AR Effect, Creative effect, and Face in picture Effect. There's no time shift video mode. The Multi-camera mode lets you hook other Xperia devices (phones or tablets) or a Sony Wi-Fi/NFC camera and record the same scene with multiple cameras.
While the front camera takes good quality selfies in day light, we found it to be a little underwhelming for indoor selfies in artificial light. The latter missed out on detail and looked slightly grainy. Of course the real hero is the front flash which does a good job of filling light when you're snapping a selfie in a dimly lit club. The camera has a wide-angled lens so you ca fit in more people in selfies.
The rear camera takes good quality pictures in most conditions including in low-light. We did find the Superior Auto mode a little inconsistent; it has a tendency to produce saturated colours. HDR mode photos had better contrast.
Decent performer
Sony Xperia C4 is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core (Cortex-A53) MediaTek MT6752 processor coupled with 2GB RAM. The phone comes with 16GB internal storage expandable up to 128GB via microSD card or by using a USB On-the-Go drive (or adapter plus USB drive).
While we did not notice any major lag while navigating through the phone's menu, launching apps and switching between them, the experience is not as smooth as it is on high-end devices and even some competing mid-range ones. Having said that, you may not really notice it while performing everyday tasks.
We were able to play games like subway Temple Run 2, Leo's Fortune without encountering lag or freezes or heating issues but we did notice some minor frame drops while playing Asphalt 8.
We were able to play most popular video and audio file formats on the phone.
The phone supports NFC, Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS connectivity options an has an FM radio tuner.
It offers excellent call quality and signal reception and we did not encounter problems while making calls even in areas where cell signal is relatively weaker. The phone was able to lock to GPS without any hiccups. We also used 4G data on Airtel's Delhi network and were able to get a good signal with 25Mbps+ speeds.
The sound output through the phone's speaker grille was loud and clear but sound gets muffled when the phone lies on its back.
The phone is backed by a 2600mAh battery and will last you a full day even if you put the screen brightness at the highest level and use a mix of 4G and Wi-Fi. The phone lasted us more than 14-15 hours with 2.5 hours of screen-on time.
You'll be able to make about 2-3 hours of phone calls, play some casual games and browse the web in this time period. The phone can play video continuously for 6 hours.
You can boost the battery backup by using Sony's Stamina mode that shuts down battery-draining apps and data transfer when the screen is turned off and starts them again when it is turned on.
Final Verdict
Sony Xperia C4 is a good upgrade to the C3 and a well-rounded device that offers a full-HD screen, good rear camera and balanced software experience. However, at Rs 29,490, we feel it's a bit expensive compared to other offerings available in the market (you can buy it at a discounted price online though). Also, the enhanced selfie camera, which is the highlight feature of the phone, is not as uncommon as it used to be in the past and the results were not extraordinary.
Of course you pay the premium for the brand but you can also look at mid-range options from established ones such as the Samsung Galaxy A7 and HTC Desire Eye. The Gionee Elife S7 and Huawei Honor 6 Plus are better specd and offer great performance. The OnePlus 2 is certainly the best option among mid-range phones but the invite system and limited production make it very difficult to acquire one.
DesiDime Deals and Coupons App Review: More Than Just Deals
Available on Android, Windows Phone, and iOS, the app lists all the deals available under various categories. The main page lists the Top and Popular deals, and lets you quickly drill down to see popular deals, or the most recent ones, or sort by discounts or even look for deals with specific sites. The deals you get aren't unique to DesiDime, but the good part of using the system is that you can find lots of different deals easily.
Aside from the Top and Popular deals, the DesiDime app also shows you its exclusive coupons - at the time of writing, there are two deals on TinyOwl, and one on eBay - and includes other features such as Price Comparison, where you can search for the product you want across many different sites, and see the cheapest options, complete with DesiDime's discount coupons. On clicking any coupon, the app gives you information on how the coupon can be used. The process is pretty simple actually - simply click on Get Coupon button, and the discount code is copied on your clipboard and then can be availed either via the website or the app.
The Price Comparison feature is particularly useful. On the main
page, it lists top products that people are searching for, such as the
top five mobile phones, or top five cameras, or top five external HDDs.
Tapping on any of these immediately shows you a buy button, and also
shows you the prices on different websites - if you're not confident
about buying an expensive phone from a site you've not heard about,
you've got the choice of seeing the listing on better known sites right
from the DesiDime app. You can also check out the specifications of
items in this view.Clicking the Buy Now button the app redirects to the mobile browser; it would have been really nice if DesiDime could use it to open apps of the stores instead, especially with many going app-only, but it's probably not feasible.
In the Stores tab, you can browse through the different stores that DesiDime gets its data from; at the time of writing, there are 44 stores in the Featured Stores section, including Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal. All Stores includes a larger selection of sellers - we counted 100 at the time of writing, and this includes some well-known ones such as Amar Chitra Katha, but also many lesser known sellers. Tap on a store and you can see all of its deals, coupons, related forums posts, and reviews. Forums and reviews regarding products are posted by users, and they are a really helpful feature because there are quite a lot of posts so you get a lot of opinions from real users.
Apps like CouponDunia and MyDala also list most of the same deals, but we preferred using DesiDime because of its clutter free interface, and the fact that the forum quickly gives you a lot of information about the different products and sellers out there, so you can get a good deal when shopping online.
You can download DesiDime for iOS, Android or Windows Phone. The app is free to download and to use. We wrote this review based on our experience with the Android version of the app.
Review of Lenovo K3 Note : Truly a Great Phone
A couple of weeks ago the Chinese Tech Titan -Lenovo announced a mid-ranger note that was touted to be the game changer .Dubbed as the Killer Note, the Note k3 became the first to flaunt a FHD display in under 10k price segment. The device packs some nifty features for the price it asks and this caught our attention. So here’s our first 48h review of the Killer Note (Note K3).
Unboxing
Box content
- Lenovo K3 Note
- Screen Guard
- Data Cable
- Travel Adaptor
- Lenovo Warranty book
- Lenovo Quick Start Guide
- Lenovo Service Book
Build Quality
The first thing you notice when you pick up the Note K3 in the hand is, being 150g in weight it feels light, yet it packs a full HD display and also a high capacity battery .The Rear part of the phone features the same feel like the Yureka did. It’s made of polycarbonate and feels smooth although it’s prone to smudges. On the back houses the 13mp shooter with dual LED flash, a mic at the right followed by a small yet powerful speaker featuring Dolby Atmos. At the bottom you will see the Lenovo branding. The panel is user replaceable and houses a 2900mAh battery (which is the slimmest one I’ve seen so far) .It has dual sim capability both being micro.
Another mic at the bottom end of the phone. The phone is 8mm thick.
To the left you find the Volume rocker along with the Power key. The Power button is pretty much at the mid-way of the device thus its easy accessible .The buttons have a metallic finish which you don’t notice unless you look closely. The note is 152.6mm in length.
The right side is left blank.
The top part houses the usb mini port along with the 3.5mm jack. It’s a best placement for the usb mini port as this makes more convenient for us to use the phone while charging (Note the usb cable is less than a meter). The device is 76.2mm in breadth.
To the front lies the 5MP shooter with ear piece on the top and a gigantic LED light. On the bottom the touch capacitive keys are not backlight, it might take a while to get used to it .The screen is 5.5 inch FHD and looks clear and sharp with 401 ppi. However the color output could have been better.
Overall the device feels light and a little cheap. The rear and the front part is no design marvel .The phone looks boring and is not an eye catcher but at 10k no one expects a Full metal phone .
Hardware
Lenovo uses a Mediatek MT6752 Octa core Chipset for the Note. Clocked at 1.7 GHz Cortex A53 the 64 bit SoC is one of the latest powerhouse from mediatek. For the graphics we have the Mali – T760 MP2 clocked at 700 MHz. This chipset enables the phone to support 4G/3G/2G on both the SIM card slot . There is 2GB of RAM which the Vibe UI does tend to eat up quite quickly. Most often there is anywhere between 500MB to 800MB of free memory and you can free up the memory pretty easily with the built-in UI functionality. Note has 16Gb internal storage , it also supports micro SD card up to 32 Gb. Sporting a mediatek the phone didn’t get warm during some heavy performance mode. The phone has a 13 MP rear camera with dual LED and a 5MP front camera. The juice is provide by a 2900mAh battery. The sound output is loud when dolby enhancement is turned on, the speaker volume cuts down to 40% when the speakers gets blocked or when it is placed in bed. Coming to the SAR ratings , the note just manages to cut in it’s value being 1.590 W/kg (Note 1.600 W/Kg Is the standard limit in India)Software
Note K3 runs on the latest Vibe UI 2.5 which is based on android 5.0.2 lollipop. The UI eats a lot of ram like the Xiaomi’s MIUI but unlike the MIUI it’s not a visual treat. Vibe UI feels unfinished and has bugs .We found device lagging quite often. Be it opening new apps or browsing YouTube the Vibe UI made the device lag. Moreover the Lenovo launcher stopped working on a regular basis on one of the two device we had. We were pretty much disappointed by the software side of the phone. On the bright side Lenovo had a minor 17 Mb update already available for download which promised bug fix. We hope Lenovo constantly provides updates to rectify the issue.Some screen shots below will help you understand better.
Camera
Camera failed to impress us , sometimes the 13MP feels disoriented. Then again Vibe UI lags while clicking in low light. The camera UI is not very impressive and lacks a Pro mode. However Daylight images are good compared to Yureka. Coming to the front, the selfie camera is also average with camera UI not failing to lag every time .
Random Snap
HDR ON
HDR OFF
FLASH OFF
FLASH ON
The contrast ratio gets altered resulting in different colors .
Benchmark (Antutu only)
It reaches close to One plus One’s scores which is 47246 and surpasses Mi 4 which marks at 43542.
Battery
The 2900 mAh juice bag gets drained faster by the FHD 5.5 inch display .The Note gave a rough 3.5 ~ 4h of “On Screen time “. Charging it completely took little more than 2h. The phone also features an Ultra power saving mode which turns everything to grey scale and drops net connection to save maximum juice .
Conclusion
You might find a lot of bitter words and disappointments in the review but that’s how it is, The Note is a value for money / Budget offering and like all the devices in its category it has its own share of pros and cons. The camera was on the lower side and the heavy Vibe UI which even made a powerful SoC lag. What we feel is a software update can rectify the bugs and improve the camera performance to some extent. However the display is amazing, FHD is a real treat. The SoC is a quiet powerful, top end games ran smoothly. Moreover the best part was that the device didn’t heat. To our surprise the heating was way below 45 degree Celsius during antutu benchmark. However at the price of Rs 9999 it still offers more than what the competitors does. If you are in the market for a reliable Android 4G smartphone and can manage UI then the Killer K3 Note is probably one of the best phones you can buy right now for under Rs.10,000 and if you travel a lot ,then the K3 note with a Dual SIM 4G is hard not to recommend.Good
- Affordable at Rs 9999
- 4g with Dual sim
- FHD 5.5’ display
- 2900mAh battery
- Android 5.0.2
- Dolby Atmos
- 64 Bit Soc and Octa core
- SD card slot
Bad
- Laggy Camera
- Buggy Vibe UI
- Less Ram Space on boot
- No Gorilla Glass
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