ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 Review: The battery and performance you need

ASUS has launched its latest phone, Zenfone Max Pro M1 a couple of months ago. The Max Pro M1 is one of the most talked about phone from the company in recent times, thanks to its advanced processor, design aesthetics and battery prowess. The specification sheet of the device puts it into a pool of some  of the most valued smartphones in market, but does it live up to the expectations let's find out.

Specifications and Price: 

ASUS ZenFone Max Pro (M1) is available in two variants namely 3GB / 32GB for Rs.10,999 and the 4GB / 64GB for Rs. 12,999 exclusively on Flipkart. 

Under the hood the device runs on Snapdragon 636 (one of the latest and fastest processors from Qualcomm) with Adreno 509 GPU. The device comes with two variants 3 GB/32 GB and 4 GB/64 GB. 

The device comes with a dual camera setup at rear featuring a 13 MP sensor with f/2.2 wide aperture and 5 MP camera for depth sensing which enables bookeh effect feature of the phone. On the front the phone sports a 8 MP camera at front for selfies. Both the cameras are supported by flash lights. 

The phone comes with a finger print sensor at back, 5000 mAh strong battery, and usual connectivity options. The device comes with a dedicated slot for SD card, along with slots for two nano SIM cards.

On the display part, the Zenfone Max Pro M1 comes with 5.99 inch FHD+ display (1080 x 2160) , the screen comes with 18:9 aspect ratio (no notch here). 

Build and Design:

The Zenfone Max Pro M1 comes with unibody metallic body, on the front almost all the space is covered by the display, thanks to narrow bezels. The curved edges makes it easier to hold in hand and make a grip, however the metallic device feels little slippery when using via one hand. A phone cover should fix the issue for those who think they are prone to drop their phones. 

The left edge of the phone hosts the slot for SIMs and memory card, while the power button and volume rockers are placed on the right edge of the phone. The feedback from physical buttons is good and we didn't faced any issue using the same.

Top edge just hosts a noise cancellation mic, while the bottom edge is home to 3.5 mm jack, a mic, USB charging slot and speaker grill placed left to right. 

Turning the device towards to it rear, and you will spot the dual rear cameras placed vertically (The camera glass has Dual Camera written over it, in case you have not observed that already) just at the top left corner with a round flash light just below the camera setup.  The finger print is placed just above the center of the device. ASUS branding is engraved on the back in grey color, which is hard to notice sometimes.

Overall we are happy with the build quality of the phone, especially with the fact that ASUS has managed to put a 5000 mAh battery in these dimensions and keeping the weight in check (though it feels a bit heavy than other devices, but that can be managed and doesn't feel difference when used the device for 3-4 days). 

Camera:

Camera has been the USP of ASUS Zenfones , Zenfone Max Pro M1 doesn't disappoint here, the autofocus is quick, there is no notice able shutter lag, the colors are vivid in bright light and photos have details even in low lights. The bookeh mode is fine, but user cannot play with focus areas after the shot is taken.

The camera app comes with a lot of filters and modes such as Auto, candle light, beach, snow, flowers etc. There is beautify option as well in built.

Below are few samples taken from the phone for you to judge. (Click on pictures to enlarge)

Performance:

We divide performance into three parts, the tasking ability, the software and the battery. As far as tasking ability goes, the device doesn't give much reasons to complain except the fact that the finger print sensor was found to be bit slow than what we have seen in other devices and sometimes the extra smooth touch display would not recognize the touch. The touch issue was not very prominent but yes in our 4-5 days of usage we observed this more than a couple of times. 

On software side, ASUS has really done a good job to ditch its Zen UI and provide users with stock Android. The device runs on Android Oreo and is expected to receive updates for Android P. The multitasking is good, multimedia consumption experience is excellent. The gaming experience as well is good. 

Now comes the favorite part and USP of the device the phone manages to give you a proper 2 days backup on normal usage. Average users can expect at least 1.5 days backup without needing to plug in the charger. Battery fall down graph was also pretty stead in our usage, except for the times when we used the device for gaming (Asphalt 8). 

Verdict:

If I am looking for a device in 10 to 13K price range, I would go for Zenfone Max Pro M1 for its Battery, performance, camera and stock android experience. Which means I am willing to accept the slow finger print sensor (in hope of an update which could fix it) and intermittent display issue we encountered for the otherwise balanced device.

Update:

ASUS has listened to the user's feedback and rolled out a new update on 14th June, 2018. This update resolves the slow finger print sensor issue. The response time for unlocking the device via fingerprint has certainly improved along with camera performance especially on depth shots. 

Read More

Mobiistar XQ Dual Review: Decent Selfie Camera, but is that enough?

Mobiistar is a Vietnamese smartphone company which recently announced its entry into Indian smartphone market with two budget devices. The CQ and XQ Dual, priced at Rs 4,999/- and Rs 7,999/- respectively. The later one is more talked about as it is placed with the likes of Honor 7C, ASUS Zenfone Max Pro or Honor 9 lite among the budget devices. No doubt XQ Dual has the price tag of least amount among all these phones, but does it really fits in with the competition lets find out.

Specifications:

The device's USP is its dual selfie camera which inspires the Dual in the name of the phone. The dual camera set at front includes a 13 MP and 8 MP 120 degree wide angle camera. The phone sports 5.5 inch Full HD IPS display with screen resolution of 1920x1080. Under the hood device runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Octa-core chipset, supported by 3 GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage which can be further expanded upto 128 GB via micro SD Card. The device comes with 3000 mAh battery.

Build and Design:

The XQ Dual is a well built device with unibody metal design which makes it one of the durable phones physically. However, the design has nothing new and its similar to what we see on other phones in this price range.

On the front the device sports two selfie cameras at top left of the device, ear piece in top left and proximity sensor and a selfie flash light at top right. Below that most of the front is dominated by 5.5 inch full HD screen. The bezels are pretty thin, but don't expect bezel less experience. On bottom of the device there are three physical capacitive buttons which are unfortunately the buttons are not backlit.

The volume rockers are on the left edge of the phone while the SIM tray and power button sits on the right edge of the device. On top edge we have a 3.5 mm audio jack and noise cancellation mic, while on the bottom edge of the phone you've got micro USB slot and speaker grill.

Turn the device towards its back and you will find the rear 13 MP camera which is very slightly protruding from the surface along with that there is a flash light just placed to the side of the camera.  Slightly above the middle of the rear we have a finger print sensor and mobiistar branding on the device. While bottom of the rear is plain with IMEI information sticker.

Camera:

Camera of this device is most talked about feature by the brand, in fact the company states the motivation behind this device is to bring best of the camera features for budget segment. The camera doesn't disappoint here, specially the front ones.

On the front we have 8 MP f/2.2 + 13 MP f/2.0  cameras, the dual camera set up is utilized for selfie and groupfies. i.e. 8 MP sensor comes into picture when you need a greater field of view, the 120 degree wide angle increases the area swept by the camera thus making it suitable for taking selfies in larger groups as well. In bright light conditions the camera works pretty good and most of the time we were satisfied with the results, however like other smartphones in this category the images carry the extra noise, front camera flash comes handy but it doesn't help that much.

As far as the rear camera is concerned the device comes with a 13 MP rear sensor which does its job well in day light and well lit conditions. The camera actually is the only strength of the device. When compared to the other devices in this price range the camera actually surprises us given that we were not impressed by other aspects of the device. However in low light conditions we had to live with noise and graininess in the images.

Below are few samples to judge for yourself.

Software:

The device runs on Android 7.1.2 and there is no word on the upgrade to Android P or even to Android O. The device does a good job with stock android and having just a couple of apps pre-installed other than usual Google apps. Another small customization which we liked were ability to action on items from notification drawer itself, specially user able to delete unwanted sms right from the notification area, given the sheer number of marketing SMS we get now a days.

The best thing done to the device on OS part is that not much is interfered with it and stock Android experience is by far the most simple and usable. As it is rightly said, speak only when you can better the silence.

Performance and battery:

The device runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 octa core chipset, which is outdated and misplaced for the segment , the brand intends to cater to. The phone's finger print sensor works almost every time without any noticeable lag, however opening simple apps like gallery, camera etc can be a sluggish operation on the device. The phone does ok with the day to day job, but this is not the winner of a phone in performance area. Apart of intermittent lag, the device fails miserably on power management. The phone comes with a 3000 mAh battery but was not able to hold the fort till end of the day, where we didn't used it for gaming. To give you some perspective, I use my Honor 6x with bluetooth on for full day, still it never goes down below 40% on average usage. 

Verdict:

If you have read the review from start then its a no brainer that the device caters only to those who are concerned about the images predominantly selfies in low budget. The performance users will be disappointed with the device. The device would have been a good seller if it was available offline in tier 2, 3 cities. As the 1000Rs lesser price than other competitors could have been the deal maker for many offline smartphone buyers.

Read More

Doctor Insta App Review: Gets doctor teleported to you instantly

I got my first Android phone in 2010, back then Nokia was still the boss and 3.2 MP camera was something to boast on a phone's rear. My first Android was a Samsung Galaxy Ace which not only had a 5 MP rear camera but also a VGA camera on the front. I was more than happy with the phone but couldn't actually found a use case for the front camera. Fast forward to today the technology has changed a lot, the devices are more smarter, than ever. The tech we see on phones today has a lot new use cases to be applied on in day to day life, no I am not talking about taking tons of selfies and uploading them to social media, but more meaningful things which are supposed to be done to make use of these technological advances.

I was recently introduced to an app called Doctor Insta, which fits the vision of being more meaningful and helpful towards the society using the some of the tech stack we discussed above. As the name suggests Doctor Insta is your go to app to get a doctor instantly. I had this conversations with one of the team members that I have to be sick to review it because there is no other way to find out how would it go in real time and I was heard by higher authorities I guess. I got my chance to actually use the app before writing a word about it.

User Experience:

The look and feel of UI is pretty smooth, it has all the details without being too fancy. When you fire the app you can select from one of the below options.

In one tap you have the doctor's appointment ready, I tried the app in night at 9:50 PM , I was given option for 10:00 , 10:15 and 10:30 PM appointment. 

Once selected your appointment time you will be prompted for payment which is 400 Rs + 40 Rs internet handling charges. 

The app has a list of symptoms preloaded for each category which you can select prior to your appointment so that doctor can also understand the issue easily and faster. 

At the said time, you have the option to call, video call or text the doctor. I used a phone call and it went well.

Within minutes I had the prescription with me in my visit history. 

Verdict:

I liked how easy it is to get in touch with a doctor from wherever you are, I mean in your hometown or with your family doctor (if you have one) it can be in reach, but at times when you need someone right away to consult Doctor Insta is the best alternative. The pricing is also as good for now, when compared to the OPD fees of most of the doctors.

My suggestion - Its a must have in your phone. :)

Download:

Google Play

AppStore

Read More

ASUS Zenfone Zoom S Review

ASUS Zenfone series phones are spread across the spectrum of smarphone scores. Few of the initial devices were breakthrough in their respective segment (Zenfone5, Zenfone2, Zenfone 4.5 etc) , some of the devices didn't worked out for the brand (ASUS Zenfone Selfie, ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie pro). 

In 3 years, ASUS has worked a lot in terms of the device's design language, features, bloat wares etc. ASUS Zenfone Zoom  was result of these efforts that brought 3X zoom in a phone. The device was a bit bulky and lacked in few aspects. ASUS Zenfone Zoom S overcomes most of these hiccups but is it still good enough to compete with other flagships? Let's find out.

Build and Design:

ASUS Zenfone Zoom S is comes with a metallic unibody as is the norm now a days for mid-range and premium smartphones. The device sports a 5.5 inch display and is rounded from the edges which makes it quite ergonomic to hold the edges, however it feels slippery from the back as is the case with most of the metallic back phones. 

Volume rockers and power button are placed on right edge of the phone which works as expected and placed well within reach when phone is held in one hand. 

On top there is nothing but a noise cancellation mic, while on the bottom the device sports speaker grill, USB Type C slot, and 3.5 mm audio jack. On the left edge there is a hybrid SIM tray. 

Turning the phone towards back , Finger print sensor is placed on the back as most of other phones from the company, sensor was fast and accurate during our usage. Dual cameras sit on the top left of the phone supported by dual LED flash lights. Towards the bottom ASUS branding can be seen engraved center aligned to the horizontal width.

Bottom Edge

Rear View

Camera:

As the name suggests ASUS Zenfone Zoom S camera comes with optical zoom capability (2.3X), there are many implementations of dual camera setup which includes RGB+Monochrome, Depth+Auto, ASUS has implemented secondary camera for zoom which adds 2.3x zoom. Both rear cameras are 12MP cameras. The primary camera comes with SONY IMX362 sensor with f/1.7 aperture. The camera also comes with 4-axis OIS, dual pixel autofocus.

Camera no doubt is the highlight of the phone, Auto mode works well for most of  the situations, the images captured are crisp and clear. Phone works well in low light, optical zoom upto 2.3x works fine which can be further zoomed upto 12x digitally however zooming in digitally doesn't work really well. Secondary camera enables you to take portrait shots as well. Below are few of the shots taken by the phone.

Auto Mode

Night Mode

Auto Mode

HDR Mode

Artificial Light (Auto Mode)

Artificial Light (Auto Mode)

 Display and UI:

5.5 inch AMOLED display is good and bright, which can be viewed from different angles and in sunlight as well. There is a blue light filter as well which can be activated when you are reading at night. 

On the UI part, ASUS has done a good job in removing the infamous bloat-wares from the device and there are fewer applications pre-installed on the phone. The phone is running on ASUS Zen UI based on Android 7.0 Nougat. There are still few apps which can irritate the users as there is no option to un-install them however these can be disabled. 

Performance:

The phone runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset which is proven in many flagship devices, the processor is supported by 4 GB of RAM. We didn't faced any issues while using the phone in terms of performance. The phone is quite responsive when multitasking or putting it through resource intensive tasks. In our usage the device didn't get heated while playing light games for more than 15 minutes however in resource intensive games as NFS, Injustice 2 etc the temperature rises a bit. Good thing is it doesn't become unbearable while playing.

Bottom line:

The ASUS Zenfone Zoom S is priced at 25,999/- as of now on Flipkart. The camera of the device is quite impressive along with performance and battery backup. However when looked at its massive 5000 mAH battery, it seems like its a feat to put a battery of that size into a slim device. Overall the device is one of the best Zenfones from the company.

Having said that if you are looking for a decent device with focus on Camera, recently launched Honor View 10 looks more promising with price of 4K more than ASUS Zenfone Zoom S.

Read More

Asus Zenfone 4 selfie Pro review: Stylish selfie expert or overpriced player in the race?

Asus has launched a plethora of devices under Zenfone 4 series this year and one of such devices is the Zenfone 4 Selfie  Pro. As the name suggests this device has its USP in the selfie camera or should we call cameras as the device comes with dual selfie camera. The Zenfone 4 Pro selfie is priced at Rs 23,999/- . So does the device justify the price tag or its an overpriced player in arena of 'Selfie Experts' ? Let's find out.

Specifications at a glance:

The zenfone Selfie pro is powered by time tested Octa-core Snapdragon 625 with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. The Zenfone 4 Selfie pro comes with 5.5 inch Full HD AMOLED display which has brightness of 500nits and clor gamut that's greater than 100% of NTSC color space as claimed by company. The display is crisp and can handle any type of content with ease. Even in outdoors on bright sunny day the display is readable and bright enough. The Zenfone 4 Selfie pro comes with a 76.7% body to screen ratio, however competitors in similar price segment are coming up with full view display now.

The phone comes with a finger print sensor on the front which is claimed to unlock phone in 0.2 seconds. We can say that finger print sensor is fast and accurate and we didn't faced any issues while using the device.  Zenfone 4 Selfie pro comes with 3000 mAh strong battery with Fast charging support. The charger supplied with device has a rating of 10W (5V/2A) rating. 

On camera department the Rear camera is a 16MP Sony IMX351 Sensor, which supports 4K video recording and comes with ASUS own SuperPixel Engine. On Front there are are two cameras for selfie , the first one features Sony IMX362 dual pixel image sensor that is said to be equivalent of 24 MP resolution camera. The 24 MP DuoPixel camera technology uses the information captured by the sensor to intelligently create one 24 MP photo. The second sensor is used to widen your frame area, i.e. it expands your view to upto 120 degrees which is best suited for group selfies.

Design:

The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is a sleek and stylish device which feels premium when held in hand. The device sports a rectangular metal unibody design with rounded corners. On the front of the device 2.5 D corning gorilla glass protects the 5.5 inch display. On top of the display there are two selfie cameras to the right of the ear piece and array of sensors to the left of ear piece. On the left edge of the device there is a SIM tray slot which can be ejected using the pin. The SIM tray can hold 2 Nano SIM cards and a micro SD card (upto 2 TB is supported). On the right side of the device you get volume rockers on the top and power button just above the middle of the edge.

Bottom of the device houses speaker grill, micro USB slot, mic and 3.5 mm audio jack. On the top edge there is just another mic (probably noise cancellation one). Turning the device on back, Antenna lines are visible on the top and bottom of the back panel. The Rear camera is sitting in middle horizontally and towards the top vertically with a flash light placed just the left of the Camera unit. In the middle of the back ASUS branding is visible.

Camera:

The frond camera works well in normal mode where there is enough light. The images are sharp and colors are natural. Sometimes images are overexposed when you are using front camera in sunlight. The low light performance is mediocre and images become bit noisy or blurry. 

There is a portrait mode as well in front camera which works pretty well. In group selfie mode the secondary 5 MP camera comes into the play and increases your view area. In view finder one can observe that switching to group selfie mode the edges resembles that of fish eye mode. The selfie camera is also capable of shooting 4K videos which will be useful for Vloggers specially. 

The back 16 MP camera does its job as expected and doesn't disappoint. The images from rear camera are detailed and clear in bright lit areas however in low light the images are grainy and not something we were hoping for with this camera. The images loose detail as soon as the light source is diminished. The autofocus of the camera works fine and quickly locks the focus on object in frame. The image processing is quite good and images are rendered in real time without any noticeable lag.

Below are few samples from the camera.

Low Light (Rear Camera)

Artificial Light (Rear Camera)

Day light (Rear Camera)

Group Selfie Mode (front camera)

Normal Mode (Front Camera)

OS and Apps:

The Zenfone 4 Selfie pro runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat with its own ZenUI 4.0 skin on the top. Thankfully Asus has listened to our pleas and this device is as neat as you would want in terms of applications. The only app on board are the required minimal set of apps to get started without any bloatware. The UI experience is fluidic and smooth. We didn't noticed any lag while opening multiple apps. In settings we have an Asus customized settings option where in you can enable twin apps feature for accessing two accounts on apps like Facebook and Instagram.

Final Verdict:

This selfie expert has great build quality and hardware strength. The phone has got most of the things on the right side. We are happy that Asus has not compromised on the hardware or quality in this device. The camera features are in line with the competition, however the competitors are offering features like full view display at lower or similar price. If you are looking for a decent camera phone with smooth UI experience then you can opt for this phone. For other uses there are still options in market at lower price. 

Read More

EPSON L380 printer review: Ideal for home and small businesses

Epson has launched its ink tank series printers quite a while ago with promise to have cost effective printing solutions with ease and low maintenance. Epson L380 is one of the series and we got a chance to review this device. This printer is priced at INR 12,089/- , but whether this device does justice to its pricing and the expectations set by it? Let's find out.

Design:

In first look you will find that L380 looks similar to other multi functional printers where in you have a lid atop which can be raised to do the scanning or copying work. The device can work on at most A4 size paper and weighs around 4.4 Kg. On the right side of the device you will see the extension attached which is the inktank, separate ink box helps in easier access and visibility of ink levels.

Epson L380

The input for printing is taken from back side of the printer and printed copies are produced to the front side. To collect your A4 size papers you can draw the tray from bottom to extend it to give support to the output paper. On the front of the device you will see Epson branding below which there are 4 functional buttons which are Power, Black and White copy, Color Copy and inklevel/warning indicator , last button can also be used to cancel current operation. While middle two buttons can be pressed simultaneously to scan and save document as pdf.

The device offers connectivity via USB cable and there is no wireless connectivity option given. Overall the printer looks sturdy and reasonably built. Our only concern was the side attachment for color box which is prone to get detach when not handled carefully while lifting the printer.

Performance:

We had interesting encounter with the device, we started testing the copy feature and found color reproduction was not good when doing color copies. We contacted Epson representatives and they sent an engineer to look into the issue. It turned out that the issue was just with the nozzles not being cleaned and could be easily cleaned by sending a simple command from computer. We installed the device drivers from web and did the steps as suggested. Once we had printed a test page everything was working like charm. The prints were coming as close to real and copies were identical to the original.

The printing speed for Black and white prints is good for text which is around 11 pages per minute however for colored text prints the speed drops to around 5 pages per minute as expected. For printing colored images of A4 size the printer takes around 1 minute. The images printed on glossy paper were of high quality and we were happy with the prints we got from device.

Company claims to print 7500 colored copies (text) and 4500 black and white copies with single set of refill. The ink levels before and after our testing kind of support the same.

Verdict:

The device is extremely easy to use and maintain. The prints are cost effective as promised in ink tank series printers. The colors are evenly distributed and one can obtain high quality images from the printer without having to worry much about the cost.  Though, the device lacks wifi (at this price point its unfair to expect though), the inktank attachment could be better fixed.

Keeping above points in mind we can easily recommend this device for home use and small businesses. However for very heavy daily usage its not recommended.

Read More

ASUS Zenfone Live Review: Only suitable for frequent live broadcasters on social media

ASUS has been doing well with its Zenfone Series in market especially after the launch of Zenfone 2 Series with multiple models to cater (confuse as well) different needs of different type of customers. With Zenfone 3 the company has definitely upped its ante with doing away with the bulky plastic body and larger size phones to slim and beautiful metallic phones, though charged a bit higher the series still made a break through change in product design language and sturdiness. Apart from these phones ASUS has time to time also tried to cash on different features or requirements which are already popular or are required by the smartphone users. ASUS Zenfone Selfie, Zenfone Deluxe, Zenfone Max series phones are good examples for such criteria. These devices had performed good in market as well. A couple of months ago ASUS had launched another such 'required' phone named ASUS Zenfone Live , as the name suggests this phone is specially launched keeping in mind the increasing trend of broadcasting live videos on social media among the users. So is this the phone we really need or it is just another marketing gimmick? Let's find out.

ASUS Zenfone Live

Build and Design:

The first thing you notice when you pick the phone is that the phone is very light in weight at just 120 grams, second the phone is comfortable to hold and gives a good grip along the curved edges, though the color treatment makes it feel like a metallic body phone but it is actually plastic.On the front side there is 2.5D glass on top of the display which is generic across almost all models from ASUS, there are three capacitive navigation buttons on bottom which are back, home and multi tasking from left to right. On the top however you will notice a front camera along with LED flash apart from ALS and proximity sensor.

On the back the camera is on top left corner supported by an LED flash light. The ASUS branding goes in the center of the phone. On the right edge of the phone you will find volume rockers and power button. The feedback from all the buttons is tactile and we didn't faced any issue in our 2 weeks usage. On the left edge of the device you will see a SIM tray, on the top there is a headphone jack and bottom houses the speakers and micro USB port.

Specs and Features:

On the specifications part we are bit disappointed as at this price point you will get far superior hardware specification devices from other brands. The phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad core processor clocked at 1.4 GHz and Adreno 305 GPU. The device comes with 2 GB RAM and has 16 GB internal storage on board which can be further expanded via micro SD card if you don't use the hybrid second SIM slot.

On camera side, the front camera has a 5 MP resolution accompanied by an LED flash for clear selfies in low light , rear camera is of 13 MP resolution with LED Flash. The display is  5 inch IPS LCD with a resolution of 1280x720 pixel.

For connectivity the device offers 4G LTE, GPS, FM Radio, Wifi, Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 2.0.

On the software front the device runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 with familiar ZenUI skin on top. One of the constant feedback ASUS keeps receiving is number of pre-installed apps which can not be un installed by user that amounts to a lot of bloatware in your phone. This can be a turnoff for people who like to see their phone clean of any non-used apps. The ZenUI however provides lots of customization options such as wallpapers, themes, icons, locking apps etc. 

There is a dedicated app named BeautyLive pre-installed on the phone which is basically a live beautify app. This app can help you post live videos on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. The app also helps in reducing background noise so that the sound experience is better than what we see in regular live videos.

The camera of the phones are rather mediocre in performance, the rear camera shoots good images in bright settings however in low light it struggles to capture the details required from the shots. The camera app comes with familiar modes such as Auto, HDR, panorama, night mode, high resolution mode etc. The front camera is somewhat satisfactory and the beautification features (can be controlled on a scale of 1-10) enhances the overall image by fine tuning the skin tone and facial features.

Verdict:

ASUS Zenfone Live seems to have a single objective to help users broadcast themselves live on social media when it comes to 'smart phone' features. The hardware from processor to battery doesn't really stand in line with the price (INR 9.999/-) for two reasons first the hardware is not the latest and second competition is offering way too much for this price point. Having said that the phone can be a good buy for those who post a lot of live videos on Instagram or Facebook like Fashion bloggers or bloggers who do a lot of self-videos on YouTube.

Read More

Gionee A1 Review: Should you buy a ticket to 'Selfiestan'?

Gionee announced the Gionee A1 at MWC with a super camera and super battery tagline. The company was quick to roll out the product in Indian market after the announcement as the device was officially launched Gionee A1 on 23rd March, 2017. The phone was launched with a grand event and its own 'Selfiestan' song launch featuring Alia Bhatt. The phone as the campaign suggests focus on the Selfie camera along with a super battery. So as a buyer should you dare to buy tickets to land in Selfiestan? Let's find out.

Build and Design:

As it has become a standard now a days, Gionee A1 as well comes with a metallic back and glass front. On the back you can spot antenna lines running on top and bottom of the phone. The 13 MP rear camera is placed right in the middle on the top and dual tone LED flash light sits just below it. However, the most confusing part of the phone is the Brand Logo itself which is placed perfectly in a circle, just below the LED Flash light. Why we say its the most confusing one as this is not the finger print sensor of the device despite of its look and perfect position for the same. While the finger print sensor is placed on Home button in front similar to what we see in Samsung phones. The phone branding comes just above the bottom antenna line and looks elegant.

Gionee A1 - BackSide

Turning the phone to its front side and you will the the glass covering all of it. On the top there is a front flash light and proximity sensor on the left of the ear-piece while the 16 MP camera is placed on the right of the ear-piece. Below that you have 5.5 inch Amoled display which sports a very thin bezel. On the bottom of the display we have a physical 'Home' button with finger print sensor on it. There are two capacitive touch buttons on either side of the Home button, the left one for multi tasking and right for back operations.

Gionee A1 (front side) - click to enlarge

We have a sim tray on the left side of the phone, while the right edge sports a Volume rocker and power button. On the top edge we have a 3.5 mm audio jack while on the bottom edge we have a micro usb slot for data transfer and charging and speaker grill on either sides.

Gionee A1 Bottom Edge 

Overall the phone looks great in hands, with a sturdy built and common yet beautiful design. The phone does feel a bit heavy at 180+ grams when compared to other prominent smartphones in this segment.

Specifications and Features: 

The Gionee A1 runs on a MediaTek Helio P10 MT6755 octa-core processor and Mali-T860M2 GPU coupled with 4 GB of RAM. The phone comes with 64 GB storage on board which can be further expanded upto 128 GB via micro SD card provided you cannot use second sim in that case as the SIM tray is a hybrid one. We have a front flash light for selfies which is a new trend now a days. Finger print sensor is placed in the front on the home button itself. 

The 5.5 inch AMOLED display provides a screen resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, The primary camera at rear is of 13MP and is supported by a dual tone LED flash light, however more weightage is given to the 'Selfie' Camera which comes with a 16 MP sensor and is supported by a Flash light too for selfies.

The phone runs on Amigo 4.0 custom UI based on Android Nougat, the device supports 4G LTE with VoLTE. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n , FM, micro USB with OTG support and 3.5 mm audio jack. 

The phone supports Gestures such as draw 'O' on the lock screen and camera app is launched which can be customized in a number of ways. The phone seems to have taken a lot of inspiration from the iPhones as we see with the icons and the toggle switches which are not present in the Notification drawer instead you need to pull it from the bottom of the screen as we see in iPhones. 

The Finger print sensor does it job well but the oval design of the Home button makes it loose some flexibility on the angles from which it can be unlocked and we personally would have preferred the sensor on the back right where the logo is placed.

The sharp AMOLED display is a plus of this device, which offers a clear picture quality with high saturation levels, the sharpness is as we would have wanted it on a Full HD display. It was able to play full HD movies we threw at it and the over all visual experience was a treat to eyes. Readability under sunlight is another plus. 

Performance:

Running on Mediatek Helio P10 with 4 GB RAM, the Gionee A1 lives up to the expectations and delivers a quality performance in day to day tasks. Switching between apps is quite smooth and we didn't notice any lag while switching between apps. The phone also doesn't heats up in regular use, normally I had calls ranging from 3 to 8 minutes in a day and didn't noticed sudden rise in temperature. However, playing resource intensive games such as Asphalt 8: Airborne for more than 10 minutes, the phone starts heating up due to which you could be forced to leave in another 10 minutes of game. 

The call quality from the device is crisp and clear, the super battery claim lives up as the phone easily lasted for a day and half on a single charge with more than average usage (including several game sessions, YouTube playback, voice calls and internet browsing). The phone also supports quick charging which comes in handy when you have to put in more juice in your phone in less time.

Camera:

The 16 MP front camera is the one touted to be a 'Super Selfie' camera with LED flash, On the rear there is a 13 MP camera with dual LED flash and f/2.0 aperture which is same as the front camera. 

The front cameras have evolved a lot in last 3 years and Gionee A1 camera does its job well in most conditions, the front soft flash helps in low lit conditions and various filters and beautify features makes it fun and satisfying to capture a selfie. 

The rear camera takes great shots in good amount of light however in low light it struggles a bit to reduce the noise and pick up the details. The shutter speed and focus are quick and snaps the image as soon as you click on the shutter button. The rear camera comes with a lot of modes, including panorama, manual, slow motion, card reader, bar code reader and Translator. There are live filters available as well which you can choose while framing your subject. Below are few samples.

Verdict:

As the 'Super Selfie, Super Battery' tagline is justified with the performance of the phone, you have to give it to the design and the display quality to make this phone a desirable one. The specifications are as per the price segment. So if you are a selfie lover and looking for a stylish (not unique though) and sturdy phone, then Gionee A1 should definitely in your wish list.

Gionee is priced at 19,999 Rs, which is a good price when compared to the OPPO F3 Plus, Vivo Selfie focused smartphones. 

Read More

QNAP TS-453 Pro, 4 bay NAS - Features and Specifications

Taiwan based QNAP is known for its product in network attached storage (NAS) market. QNAP TS-453 Pro is among its latest offerings and we got a chance to play around it for a while. The QNAP TS-453 Pro is a multi functional machine with many facets. We will be detailing about its specifications and features in this post.

Build: QNAP TS-453 Pro is a light weight easy to install NAS machine. The machine has 4 bays for attaching HDD which comes with a unique circular lock to lock the Hard Drives in Bays. On the Front, the body has QNAP branding on the top left and at the bottom left there is a Power button to switch the machine on/off, below that you will find a USB 3.0 Port labeled as Copy. This port is used to connect any HD via USB and get the backup done instantly on NAS. The right side of the front is dominated by 4 bays to hold your storage hard drives. On top of Hard Drive bays you can see LEd indicators for Status, USB and LAN. above which on left side there is a small display where important information can be seen.

Any guesses what's this product here? #TechBlogger #NAS..

A photo posted by Rahul Kasana (@kasanarahul) on Feb 1, 2017 at 9:12am PST

On the back side you will see a large Fan for cooling, the power cable slot, On the right side there is a tiny Reset button on top, A HDMI output port (This is great, you can use your NAS as a multimedia player as well) , There are 2 Ports each of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 for data usage and connecting peripherals. At the bottom right you can see 4 GbE ports.

Specifications: 

• HDD Bays: 4 x SATA III – 6Gb/s
• HDD Form Factor: 4 x 3.5″/2.5″
• CPU: Intel Celeron J1900 2.0GHz
• RAM: 2GB or 8GB DDR3L
• Flash Memory 512MB DOM
• External Connectivity:
• 1 x HDMI
• 4 x Gigabit Ethernet
• 2 x USB 2.0
• 3 x USB 3.0
• Cooling: 90mm fan
• Max. Power Consumption: 21W (HDD in stand-by), 33W typical
• Dimensions: 180mm (W) x 177mm (H) x 235mm (D)
• Weight: 3.65 kg

In case you end up using all the space in your all 4 HDDs then you get the option to expand your storage using UX-500P a 5 bay external unit or UX-800P an 8 bay external unit.  

As TS-453 Pro comes with the USB connectivity options, it can be used just as a normal PC by attaching your peripherals ( Monitor via HDMI Port and Keyboard, Mouse via USB connection). When you do that the NAS loads QTS like interface. With QTS 4.2 looks like a modern mobile operating system with intuitive apps like browser and multimedia. When you set up your NAS first time you are asked if you are a business user or Home user. Based on the selection it installs the recommended apps such as multimedia apps for Home setting and other productive applications for Business settings. QTS 4.2 update updates Virtualization center and introduces Container Station with LXC and Docker so its now possible to run different versions of Linux on your NAS.  The NAS is not just another NAS it has lots of functionality associated with itself. TS 453 Pro can be used as a Virtualization server, FTP Server, Backup Server, Surveillance Stations, Printer Server, Web Server, VPN Server, MYSQL Server, RADIUS Server, LDAP Server and Remote access.

The QNAP TS-453 Pro is very easy to install and use even for a layman in NAS. You just need to install the Hard Drives in Bays by screwing them in caddy. Once you install the QTS software then you just leave it to QNAP to do all the work.  

QNAP is known for #DrivingInnovation in its products and QNAP TS-453 is a Taiwan Excellence Award winner, QNAP TS-453 Pro will be on display from 8th to 10th February at Convergence India 2017 Expo. 

So if you want to experience the product first hand for your own use then do plan to attend the Convergence India 2017 Expo between 8-10 February and visit Taiwan Excellence display area to first hand review of the device.

Read More