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Review: LG G4

We check out LG’s newest smartphone and find that the Rs 45,000 phone has great hardware but its software needs improvement.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

For the last two-three years, LG has been one of those Android players that are slowly but steadily climbing the market ladder thanks to their improved offering. It started with the Optimus G, then came along the G2 and G3, has now culminated with the G4.

The looks. We go the Korean LG G4 (F500L) unit for review, which is different from the Indian SIM unit one. The phone follows a similar design language as the G3. With the volume rocker and Power/Lock key placed at the back, the phone carries no keys or slots on sides. It comes in plastic and leather options. The back has a nice vertical double lined stitching across the body center, which seems quite unique for a smartphone today.

The keys are more tactile and require a little getting used to. You can remove the rear cover to access the SIM slot, microSD card slot and 3,000 mAh battery unit. On the front, the phone has slightly different, less shiny chin with the LG logo. Just above the screen is the LED notification, sensors and 8 MP front-facing camera. The top has the secondary mic and small infrared port; while the bottom houses the 3.5mm headset jack and primary mic.

Apart from the curved top and bottom curvature, the phone is noticeably curved, that and less pointy edges make the G4 more comfortable to carry around. While the 5.5-inch (quad HD screen) still makes it a big phone, thinner bezels and less slippery plastic ensure it grips well.

Screen. The device sports a 5.5-inch (2560 x 1440) LCD with something called quantum dot technology. The screen is covered with Gorilla Glass on top and is quite prone to smudges and fingerprints. The screen has much better colour reproduction, brighter and just generally nicer to look at than the G3. It is also more usable under direct sunlight.

Camera. LG has been quite vocal about the G4’s 16 MP (f/1.8) camera with enhanced OIS. Here are a few sample images.

You can quickly launch the camera by double-tapping the volume down button. The camera is fast to focus. The camera app itself is okay. As for camera performance, the G4 generally performs really well. Photos are detailed, have a lot of saturated colours, and even in low-light, the camera’s wide aperture sensor doesn’t disappoint.

Battery. Coming to the battery life, the G4 carries a 3,000 mAh battery unit. I hardly got a day’s usage from the device. With brightness level set at 30%, two Email Accounts in sync, a bit of HD videos on YouTube, a lot of Web browsing and Twitter, the phone couldn’t last 24 hours on a single full charge. It supports QuickCharge 2.0 and takes around two hours to charge from zero to full.

Network reception. Bluetooth 4.1, WiFi, NFC, 3G and USB OTG didn’t cause a problem, and while Delhi has just got its first 4G LTE service (Airtel), I am yet to get my hands on a 4G SIM card here, so I couldn’t really test the phone’s 4G capability. In-ear call quality and mic perform like a flagship device should and so did overall network reception, which didn’t require any troubleshooting.

Software and performance. The device is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset (hexa-core processor – 1.8 GHz dual core + 1.4 GHz quad-core, Adreno 418 GPU) along with 3 GB of RAM. The phone runs on Android 5.1 with LG’s new UX 4.0 on top. The G3 had its share of problems when it came to performance and software design.

Does the G4 do any better on those points? Yes and no. While the device’s general performance seems much better, the software look and design have a lot to improve on. Scrolling Settings, navigating the OS work well, but there’s still occasional stutter a few times in a day. LG’s icon, general UX design has still require a lot of work. The whole design is inconsistent just doesn’t feel like something from a company in smartphone business for this long.

While LG says a lot has been done to refine their skin, it doesn’t seem so on the ground. Home screens now have Smart Bulletin on the left-most screen that provide one-stop center for your fitness, calendar schedule, and something called Smart Settings. Through Smart Settings, you can configure your phone to open certain apps or perform tasks based on your location. For example, programme it to switch on WiFi when you are at home, or open an app when you plug in your earphones. The user gets about 22 GB of storage space, which is of course expandable up to 2 TB using a microSD card.

The G4 is one of the best smartphones out there for when it comes to hardware — fantastic camera, great screen, unique design. While the software leaves a lot to be desired, it’s not that big an issue for some considering the phone holds quite well in general day-to-day usage.

(Pictures courtesy Manik Kakra)

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Why use fitness-tracking watches?

Fitness and technology merge seamlessly with sport watches that give real time details of heart rate, speed and performance specs.
by Reyna Mathur

Fitness is a rapidly growing industry all over the world, and it is crossing paths with other industries as well. This is especially true of the technology industry, which is churning out fitness-based gadgets, apps and even games almost by the week.

India is a lucrative market for these apps and devices – as per industry estimates, the country’s fitness industry is growing at a steady 20 per cent annually, and interest in technology that aids the fitness-conscious Indian’s efforts are more than welcome.

Fitness gadgetsTracking this interest, several foreign companies such as TomTom and Samsung have already launched or announced future launches of GPS sport watches that track the user’s daily fitness regimen, in India. Not only are the watches great to look at and easy to use, users say they more than serve their purpose as well.

What’s the deal?

Says Ashish Chittarmani, a Goregaon resident who regularly cycles to work and works out every evening, “I gave up going to the gym many months ago, because I found that I enjoyed outdoor running and cycling more. However, I wondered how to track my progress when I exercised outdoors, because one can only measure one’s steps or note the fluctuations in weight.” For people like Ashish, these fitness sport watches go a long way in helping them pace their workouts and monitor daily progress.

Adds Dr Rehan Billimoria, cardiologist who specialises in post-operative exercise, “I recommend these fitness apps and sport watches to my patients who are looking to exercise – many of them for the first time – after some degree of cardiac trouble. They are apprehensive about over-exerting themselves, and not everyone likes to employ a personal trainer. I find it easier to ask them to get these fitness watches because just one device lets them know how fast or slow they are going, where they need to relax or step up – all of this without constantly having to call me for advice.”

He adds that the fitness-friendly technology has wider implications in helping persons of age and disability exercise better, especially without the help of assistants. “A colleague of mind helped trained a wheelchair-bound young girl in Gujarat to do hydro-aerobic workouts as part of her physiotherapy. People like her can monitor their own progress with these fitness watches. Today she doesn’t need a trainer shouting instructions at her, and she is doing well in her sessions.”

What users find useful

The biggest benefit of using such a gadget is that people can set their own fitness goals and monitor themselves without the need for a trainer. Many runners find that having such a watch strapped to their wrist is a better motivator than having a trainer constantly give you pep talks.

But what users find very useful is the real-time feature of all these gadgets. “When one is training for a marathon or a cyclothon, one needs to know individual time, how many kilometres covered, with a corresponding detail of physical changes such as calories burnt, heart rate at peak activity level, etc,” says Prashant Pawar, a gymnasium trainer. “I advise my clients to use fitness apps even inside the gym while doing free hand exercise or spot jogging. Knowing immediately how much your body can take is crucial in understanding which workout works best,” he adds, admitting that he even takes tips from these apps to help his clients better.

For those who are quite technologically-savvy, it is a plus to know that the sports watches launched by major players also sync seamlessly with popular fitness platforms for more in-depth results. “I like to set goals for myself every week, which I break down into smaller daily goals,” Ashish explains. “For example, I set a target for a certain number of calories to be burnt in a 10-minute swim. If I’m ‘going blind’ with my regime (i.e. without a device to measure performance), I might under-perform or go overboard hoping to burn more calories. Having a smart sports watch helps at such times.”

(Pictures courtesy thehealthpunch.com, www.news.com.au. Images are used for representational purpose only)

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Review: Nubia Z9 Mini

We take a look at Chinese company ZTE’s new phone and find a great camera and just about passable features.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

ZTE is a Chinese company that’s into 3G dongles and smartphones, but like a few other brands (Micromax has YU), ZTE too, is now out with a separate sub-brand that caters mainly to online retailers. The Nubia Z9 mini, available exclusively on Amazon, is a mid-range Android 5.0 smartphone that the company says is more than any other smartphone launched in this price category. But is this claim really true?

The looks. The Nubia Z9 mini (NX511J) follows a rather premium design and feel. As soon as you hold it, you will notice its double glass back and front (both are prone to smudges) as well as metallic rim across its sides, and if you don’t spot that rear-cover slot, you may conclude the cover doesn’t come off. The front has three backlit capacitive touch keys — you can change what function other two buttons perform (Menu/Options or Back), the circular Home button is more prominent and doubles up as LED notification.

Above the 5-inch full HD screen, you have an 8 MP front-facing camera, speaker grille and sensors. On the back, the 16 MP camera as a Red outline, LED flash, Nubia logo in horizontal all over a nice dotted pattern from the phone’s black colour. Removing the back cover reveals the microSD card and non-accessible 2,900 mAh battery unit. The right side has volume rockers and Power/ Lock key (both are tactile), and the left side only has SIM card tray (two nano SIM card slots). At the bottom, there’s the chrome-outlined microUSB port, loudspeaker jack and primary mic; while the top has 3.5mm headset and secondary mic.

The screen. The phone’s 5-inch full HD LCD has good bright colours. It can handle HD content, but struggles with its viewing angles. For general photo viewing and Web browsing, it is just as good a screen as any in this price range.

Camera. The phone boasts a 16 MP (f/2.0) camera, and here are a few sample images.

The camera is the best thing about this phone. The rear camera takes detailed shots with good contrast levels. In daylight, photos came out saturated, while low-light, too, wasn’t bad. There’s a Pro mode that lets you play around with camera settings among other modes like Field of Depth and HDR. This is surely one of the best phone cameras available under Rs 18,000 today.

Audio. The loudspeaker at the bottom isn’t great. It performs well for pop music, but is extremely inadequate for rock, something that I haven’t seen on phones for a while. In-ear voice quality, though, is on par and so is network reception. The only connectivity issue I found was that the phone just won’t switch off location (GPS). It will keep showing you the GPS icon in the status bar even when you have manually switch it off.

Battery. The phone struggled to last 20 hours on a full charge. With brightness at around 25 per cent, two Email Accounts in sync, a lot of Twitter and some YouTube videos, this phone’s 2,900 mAh battery is not meant for a full day’s use in case of heavy usage.

Software and performance. The phone is equipped with a Snapdragon 615 SoC (1.5 GHz quad-core + 1.1 GHz quad-core processor, Adreno 405 GPU) along with 2 GB of RAM. The device runs on Android 5.0.2 with Nubia 2.8 UI on top. In terms of general performance, I found the phone to be initially pretty responsive. But once you have a few apps opened and Webpages on browser, it starts to slow down a little. It worked fine for baisc apps but does get a little hot when playing games.

Nubia UI follows no separate app launcher pattern, and is mostly made of Red and White gradients. Apart from a few grammatical errors in the OS and weird-looking pop-up box for Shut down and battery low message, Nubia UI seems aesthetically nice. Nubia UI has similar customization options as most other Android OEMs today and nothing much that stands out or is worth mentioning here. However, the company could certainly try and fix bugs like clearing Recent Apps list doesn’t work from the clear button in horizontal list or from the toggle button. The user gets about 11 GB of storage space, which can of course be further expanded using a microSD card.

Thus, the Nubia Z9 Mini is a mixed bag. It has a great camera, good screen, standout design for this price range, but average battery life and passable software. It really depends what your priority is — camera, looks and screen, but if not, you may prefer looking somewhere else.

(Picture courtesy www.gizchina.com)

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Review: Teewe 2

We test the recently released and improved streaming dongle Teewe 2 and come away pleased with its performance and features.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

More and more people these days want their TV to be a bit more than just an idiot box. We have had smart TVs in the market for a couple of years now, but haven’t seen anything that provides any extra utility. This is where the likes of Teewe and Chromecast come in. Teewe, an Indian startup (MangoMan), came out with its first streaming stick last year; got good reviews, and is now out with the new Teewe 2, apparently better since they have listened to a lot of customer feedback.

What is it? Teewe 2 is a streaming dongle. It allows you to mirror or throw something that you’re watching on your phone or PC or have it stored right on your TV’s bigger screen. In the box, you get an HDMI cable, a relatively longer USB cable, power adapter, the stick itself and a setup manual. The stick is a little bigger in size than a usual thumb drive, but a bit smaller than the original Teewe.

The looks. It is all-black, made out of plastic, with the HDMI port right at the top and microUSB port on one side. Its internal hardware comprises a 1.6 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex A9 based processor, quad-core GPU, 1 GB of RAM and 4 GB of storage space (not accessible). It is essentially based on Android 4.2’s development tree and the company provides firmware updates in the background.

Teewe_2Setting up the device. It supports Windows (requires Java installed), Mac OS X, Linux (JVM), iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and even has a plugin Chrome along with a Web app. Insert it in your TV’s HDMI port, put the smaller microUSB side into the Teewe 2 dongle and its charging USB side either into a power socket (through the power adapter) or your TV’s USB port.

While most TVs will provide for power through a USB port, if yours doesn’t, you would have to make use of the long microUSB cable extending it to power socket. As soon as you switch your TV’s HDMI mode and fire up the app on your device, the dongle will search for the device while connecting to a WiFi network. Keep in mind, both your device and dongle need to be on the same network.

What’s good. I tried the device on Chrome and an Android smartphone, and found the app to be pretty decent. The Android app shows you content from YouTube (you can search further), local content on your phone like images, videos, and audio files. Using the Chrome plugin, you can either play some video or audio content from a Webpage or mirror a tab, so whatever is playing on that tab exactly mirrors on your TV. For movies stored on your PC, you can even have subtitles streamed and synced with any movie playing on your TV, but this feature is only available on Windows for now.

Performance. The stick streamed up to 720p at 60FPS for me. The Android app allows you to select from HD or SD, though you cannot do it while playing a video and have to select it from the app’s main page once. Streaming worked smoothly and I rarely found a stutter. If you’re streaming from, say, YouTube, its loading and playing time obviously depends on your Internet connection. If you’re playing local files, the dongle uses FTP, and it worked well for me, whether high quality images, audio files or a video. I couldn’t get the Teewe 2 stick to do full HD 1080p, though. For now, it doesn’t mirror your entire phone or PC, but the company is working on it. Buyers also get 60 GB of additional broadband data if they’re using an Airtel connection, and two months of free EROS service via the Teewe 2 apps.

The verdict. All in all, I think the Tewee 2 does its job really well. It is mainly for streaming content from the Web or local and has no fancy, useless features that would make it perform poorly. My only concern is with the ChromeCast 2 launching quite soon, but if you aren’t bothered to wait, and are looking for a good option to make a better use of your HD TV, the Teewe 2 could well be a good buy for you under Rs 2,400.

Would you try this device? Tell us in the comments section below.

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Review: ASUS ZenFone 2

Priced at Rs 24,000, the phone has some great features and some minor quibbles, but is a good device overall.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

ASUS has been slowly and steadily climbing up the smartphone ladder in the Indian market. The tech company got rave reviews with the original ZenFone. Continuing the trend after the ZenFone 5 and 6 is now the ZenFone 2 that has a lot of things going for it – 4 GB RAM, 5.5-inch full HD screen, 3,000 mAh battery, among others. Let’s find out if this Intel-powered device can hold its own in its price segment.

The looks. The ASUS ZenFone 2’s (ZE551ML) unique design is not massively different from the Zenfone, but is sufficiently different. The phone has volume rockers (similar to those on LG G3 and now the G4) on the back right next to the camera sensor and dual tone LED flash; other than the loudspeaker and ASUS, Intel and ZenFone logo complete the rear. The back has a nice brushed (almost faux aluminum) plastic material.

The phone’s back has a noticeable curve and with the smooth dual shade plastic sides and curved edges, it is comfortable to hold and carry. Having said that, its sheer size, bezel and weight (about 170 grams) will be a bit too much for some. On the front, the phone has a nice brushed aluminium chin just below the three capacitive touch keys — Back, Home and recent Apps key.

Right above the screen, other than the ASUS logo (second one) you have LED notification light, ear-speaker and 5 MP front-facing camera. The microUSB port and primary mic are placed right at the bottom. Plus, those slim volume keys are not the most tactile ones, but you will get used to them. The Power/Lock key is at the top along with the 3.5mm headset jack and secondary mic. The Power button placed, at the top right, located in the middle, is also hard to press.

Asus ZenFone 2Display. The phone features a 5.5-inch full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS LCD. On paper, it is on par with most other smartphones in this price category today. The screen looks sharp and, while it is not the most pixel-dense display, does a good job for most tasks. I thought the phone performed well with videos and images. You can change the screen’s colour calibration using the inbuilt colour temperature app.

Battery. The phone has a 3,000 mAh battery unit. On most occasions it lasted me over 20 hours on a single charge (with a little over three hours of screen on-time). The usage included one SIM card inserted, two Email Accounts on sync, about half an hour or HD YouTube videos and music playback each. The phone takes a little under two hours to get fully charged from zero using the bundled charger. The battery is a solid point for the ZenFone 2; it hardly drained more than usual.

Audio. The loudspeaker on the back (designed to look longer than the speaker actually) isn’t very punchy for videos and games output and you would often have to use your hand to cup the speaker and get better sound. I didn’t any bundled headsets, so I can’t about in-ear sound. Call quality and in-ear sound were on par, and there were no problems with voice or sound during calls. One SIM card slot has 3G and 4G LTE supports, while the other has just 2G. Basics like WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and network data didn’t require any troubleshooting.

Camera. The ZenFone 2 boasts a 13 MP rear camera with dual tone LED flash. Here are a few sample images.

The camera can take detailed, sharp photos, especially in broad daylight. The camera app has loads of options, in particular HDR and Depth mode work well and can be pretty useful at times. In low-light, the camera gives noisy photos and you may want to opt for low resolution photos. Having said that, it usually gave bright coloured shots better than most smartphones in this price range. There’s also a software feature called Super Resolution that lets you take 50 MP photos – by combining four shots and stitching them together.

Software and performance. The ZenFone 2 comes with an Intel Z3580 chipset (2.3 GHz quad-core processor, PowerVR G6430 GPU) and whopping 4 GB of RAM, which is surely one of the USPs of the phone. It runs on Android 5.0 with ASUS’s own ZenUI on top. The phone feels a lot smoother and snappier to work on than its predecessor. There are not too many Intel-powered Android phones, but this one certainly does its job without lagging.

ASUS has loaded plenty of options in every nook and corner of the OS. With a dedicated themes center, you can now choose the overall look of the phone – from wallpaper, lock screen, scrolling effect, option to change how your Menu launcher shows app icons or arranges them, to even changing icons from one of the icon packs from the Play Store, yep. Contacts app allows you to select certain contacts under the tab VIP, for whom you may contact frequently or just want to view separate from the rest. There are dozens of ASUS apps pre-loaded as well as annoying third-party apps, which you can uninstall. There is a dedicated ASUS support app you can use to chat and get help from the company’s customer support, so that you don’t have to wait holding calls.

ASUS has done a really good job with the ZenFone 2. With a good camera and screen, feature-heavy and relatively smooth OS, decent battery life and innovative design, the phone seems to be up there with other heavyweights when it comes to phones under Rs 24,000.

(Pictures courtesy Manik Kakra)

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Review: Coolpad’s Dazen X7

The new Chinese smartphone is a good buy at its price, but needs to sort out a few software niggles.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

We recently reviewed the Coolpad Dazen 1, which is the company’s sub Rs 7k smartphone, just a few days back and now we take a look at Coolpad’s flagship device, the Dazen X7. The Dazen X7, priced a little under Rs 18,000, comes as a direct competitor to the popular Xiaomi Mi4 and Lenovo Vibe X2. This price segment is already full of a lot of good options, so how good is the Dazen X7?

The looks. The Dazen X7 has a glass back and front and metallic sides. The front has a noticeable metal-clad earspeaker grille above the 5.2-inch AMOLED, sensors and an 8 Mp front-facing camera. At the bottom, you have the microUSB port with loudspeaker on the one side and primary mic on the other. The top houses the 3.5mm headset jack and secondary mic. The right side consists of two SIM card slots (nano or microSD card and micro SIM card slot as well the Power/Lock key towards the top; while the left side has the volume rockers, both keys are just a little sharp for my liking, but have decent tactile feedback.

The back has a 13 MP camera with a protruding broad metal cover that might get a bit scratched a bit with usage; then there’s the Coolpad logo near the bottom. The phone is light to hold but it is a bit slippery and sides and glass back mean it may not be very comfortable to hold.

Display. The Coolpad Dazen X7 features a 5.2-inch full HD (1920 x 1200) AMOLED. There are not many companies who use AMOLED and especially not at this price range. The display is pretty nice, actually. While it doesn’t have vibrant colours like a high-end Samsung device would, colours are still quite sharp and bright. It is noticeably less mellow than an LCD, has good viewing angles, full HD videos appear well on it and it does a decent job under sunlight.

Camera. The company has been quite vocal about the camera experience and how well they have tweaked its software for better shots. Here are a few sample images.

As you can see, the phone can take pretty detailed photos. While I wasn’t too impressed with how laggy the camera app can be at times, it does have a lot of options including a Pro mode, which gives you options to choose from various ISO, exposure settings to select from. In daylight, the app performed okay, but when shooting in low-light, it really struggled to keep up. It may struggle with exposure and take a really long time capture shots. To say the camera is among the best would be wrong, but it isn’t bad; it just needs some software tweaking to make it fly in low-light conditions.

Dazen X7Sound. Audio quality fared well. The bottom-facing speaker does a decent job for videos and games, but thanks to its placement, you may shut them with your hand while holding the phone in landscape. You don’t get earphones bundled with the phone.

Battery. Powered by a non-removable 2,700 mAh battery unit, the phone’s battery life seemed just on par with most phones. The company claims they have done some hardware-software optimisation to give 33 per cent extra juice from the phone. It lasted me around 18 hours when used moderately, but went below 14 hours when used heavily. Putting a high-quality all black wallpaper helps a bit considering this is an AMOLED.

Software and performance. The device runs on Android 4.4.2 with CoolUI 6 on top. It’s equipped with a MediaTek 6595 SoC (1.7 GHz octa-core processor, PowerVR Series6 GPU) as well as 2 GB of RAM.

The phone handles most tasks quite well. Going in and out of apps doesn’t lag, videos play without stuttering and scrolling is good. Having said that, at times Settings and the pre-loaded Cool Store (still don’t know why have they bundled it) struggle to provide smooth performance, but it is not so frequent. The phone does heat considerable once you play games for about 20 minutes, or simply put it on charge and the phone’s back heats up in matter of few minutes.

The whole OS is pretty much identical to what we have on the Dazen 1, except for the multi-window feature. If enabled, you get a small arrow on your Homescreen. In pressing, it gives you a list of apps that you can open – two at times – and you can edit this list. I found every app I installed could be put into multi-window. It can be a handy feature for some for sure, but I didn’t find much utility for it. Having said that, it does work fairly well and there wasn’t any performance issues with multi-window switched on under Settings.

You get about 10 GB of available storage space. There are four onscreen keys – Back, Home, Recent apps key, and one key to make the navigation bar disappear. In order to make the navigation bar reappear, you have to swipe up from the bottom of the screen. The phone still runs on dated Android KitKat and the company has said its Lollipop upgrade should be out soon. This is one obvious shortcoming of the phone as of now, had it been updated to Android 5.1 (or even 5.0), it would have given this newcomer a significant lead over quite a few players.

All in all, the Dazen X7 seems like a capable smartphone. It has a great screen, average battery life, good camera and fine design. While the software side could certainly be improved, the hardware department if the phone is decent enough at about Rs 18,000.

(Pictures courtesy Manik Kakra)

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