XOLO Era 4X 2GB Unboxing and First Impressions

XOLO made a comeback recently to announce two new devices in New Delhi, targeting the budget segment of the smartphone market. The XOLO Era 4X which has an HD+ display and a front facing flash, along with some AI bokeh features, starts at Rs. 4,444 for the 1 GB RAM variant while the 2 GB RAM variant comes with an additional Face unlock feature. I had went hands on with it at the event and now the 2 GB RAM variant has arrived for testing and here are my first impressions.

Additional reading – What XOLO’s comeback tells us about Indian manufacturers

Continue reading “XOLO Era 4X 2GB Unboxing and First Impressions”

One of the fastest wireless chargers is now available on Amazon for Rs. 3,999

One of the world’s fastest wireless chargers, is now available for purchase on Amazon.in for INR 3,999. Huawei announced this along with the Mate 20 Pro, which is one of the flagships that supports the company’s self-developed Supercharge technology. It’s a fast charger, but wireless and that’s what makes this one unique. It’s available exclusively on Amazon.

Continue reading “One of the fastest wireless chargers is now available on Amazon for Rs. 3,999”

What XOLO’s comeback tells us about Indian manufacturers

Where are the Indian smartphone manufacturers these days? Where have they gone? This question has been on my mind for a while. Brands like Micromax and Yu, Lava and XOLO have largely disappeared from the scene this past year or two. Our market is inundated with devices from Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Huawei, Taiwanese brands like ASUS and even Vietnamese brands like Mobiistar. Sure, there is an exception in Smartron, but largely, the Indian brands were nowhere to be seen in 2018.

When XOLO invited me to their event, conveniently titled “A new era” where they launched two new devices, I was pleasantly surprised. Before checking the devices out, I had a quick chat with Sunil Raina from XOLO and I’d like to share what I thought about XOLO’s comeback and what it tells us about Indian manufacturers.

Continue reading “What XOLO’s comeback tells us about Indian manufacturers”

OBSBOT Tail is the world’s first Auto-Director AI camera – Here’s why I’m excited!

Most of the video content I watch these days are people recording themselves. This is something I have been noticing for a while now. Seriously, if I go through my watch history, it’s mostly about technology, sometimes comedy, sometimes music and a lot of vlogs. The common thread? Most, if not all of these videos are people recording themselves in interesting ways. Popular YouTubers star in their own videos, and it doesn’t stop there, they edit and direct their own videos as well! That’s why they are called YouTubers and not actors, editors or directors. Majority of the content I consume is created this way and this is why I’m excited about this new camera that debuted at CES – the OBSBOT Tail. Continue reading “OBSBOT Tail is the world’s first Auto-Director AI camera – Here’s why I’m excited!”

Honor View20 Unboxing and First Impressions

Huawei is one of the few companies in the world apart from Apple and Samsung to have their phone’s system on chips made in-house. This means a lot of things but most importantly, the research and development to do something new requires lesser time compared to the competition. The result of this advantage is that the Honor View 20 carries a lot of world’s-first, but soon common-2019 features. Launching globally on the 22nd of January and in India on the 29th, the View 20 not only aims to be 2019’s first 2019-phone but also be the most valuable mid range flagship. Continue reading “Honor View20 Unboxing and First Impressions”

Xiaomi Mi Soundbar First Impressions

It’s been a long time coming and it’s finally here. A solution to crappy built-in speakers on any kind of TV. With 8 distinct speaker units, the Mi Soundbar offers the much-needed high quality audio experience for your living room. It looks good, feels good and is both powerful and rich when it comes to producing sounds. At a price of Rs. 4,999, it might be one of the best value for money sound bars available in the market, so what is it like?

Continue reading “Xiaomi Mi Soundbar First Impressions”

Xiaomi Mi LED TV 4X PRO 55 First Impressions

It’s almost an year since Xiaomi launched its first set of Mi TVs in India and one can say they’ve had a good run, if not great. While there was only one 4K Mi TV at launch, the rest of 2018 saw Mi TVs hitting different price points with full HD and HD ready panels starting at a really low price of Rs. 14,999. This definitely helped push more sales but the flagship Mi TV, which launched at Rs. 39,999, a stunning price at that time, became Rs. 49,999 when it got upgraded to the Mi TV Pro. This kind of removed the advantage Xiaomi had over other brands, purely in terms of pricing and competitiveness. Continue reading “Xiaomi Mi LED TV 4X PRO 55 First Impressions”

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ Review

s6-edge-plus-review-17

Conforming to market demands almost exclusively created by the Samsung Note series, Apple created two devices with two different screen sizes. So Samsung went ahead and released 4 devices with two different screen sizes and that’s mainly because of the success of the Galaxy S6 edge. It’s clear that the design is popular and rightly so, because it is still one of the best looking phones out there. For Samsung, it’d have been obvious to offer choice in screen sizes with the exact same form, so we have the S6 edge Plus, which was released alongside the Note 5. It’s bigger, but is it better? Let’s find out.

Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ Review”

Sony Xperia Z5 Compact Hands On Impressions

sony_xperia_z5_compact_1

Compact phones won’t need to compromise on features or specifications. This is what Sony believes and it shows, with their “compact” series of devices that launch alongside the Z series flagships. The Z1, Z3 and now the Z5 have “compact” versions that cater to the people who still want smaller screens despite the entire market moving in a different direction. We went hands on with the Sony Xperia Z5 compact at their IFA booth in Berlin, and this is what we think –

Continue reading “Sony Xperia Z5 Compact Hands On Impressions”

Hands on with ASUS’s massive 26,800 mAH power bank

asus_26800_mah_battery_pack_1

Power banks are the rage these days. With smartphone batteries getting progressively worse, the capacities have exponentially increased, but we’d have never thought it would come to this, a monstrous 26,800 mAH battery packfrom ASUS that looks like a tower and has enough power to charge a laptop. The Taiwanese manufacturer had engineering samples for show at their lounge in Berlin, we went hands on –

Continue reading “Hands on with ASUS’s massive 26,800 mAH power bank”

Lenovo Vibe P1 Hands On Impressions

Lenovo Vibe P1 _fonearena-10

The Lenovo Vibe P1 is all about power. Announced at the Chinese manufacturer’s pre-IFA press event in Berlin, the Vibe packs a massive 5,000 mAH battery and even if it runs out, you have a handy physical button to enable power saving, like in many flagship phones. Not only that, it has a fingerprint sensor, a full HD screen and overall good value for the price it comes at (279$). We went hands on –

Continue reading “Lenovo Vibe P1 Hands On Impressions”

Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro Hands On

Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro_fonearena-08

The Yoga tablets from Lenovo have been around for a while and are well known for their twisty positions and use cases, but they never tried to be best at what tablets are mostly used for, video. Lenovo wants to change that with the Yoga Tab 3 Pro which aims to be the best multi media tablet from the company. We went hands on with it and its 70″ screen equivalent 50 Lumens pico projector, and here’s what we found –

Continue reading “Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro Hands On”

Lenovo Vibe S1 Dual Selfie Hands On Impressions

Lenovo Vibe S1_fonearena-09

At the pre-IFA press event, Lenovo announced the Vibe S1 along with a few other mobile devices. The most striking thing about the Vibe S1 is its dual selfie cameras. We might have seen this technology before, in rear facing cameras, but using it on the front adds an interesting twist to the selfie, thanks to depth data. This might be the norm when depth cameras are used for accurate facial recognition, but for now, the Vibe S1 shoots selfies with depth data leading to interesting effects, captured here in our hands on video –

Continue reading “Lenovo Vibe S1 Dual Selfie Hands On Impressions”

Samsung Gear S2 Hands On Impressions

samsung_galaxy_gear_s2_classic_1

Two years back, at a similar event in Berlin, Samsung announced its first smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear along with other smartphones and tablets. Fast forward two years, we have an event dedicated to its latest smartwatch, the Gear S2, which was teased at the Note 5 event in New York. Announced a couple of days back, the first circular smart wearable from Samsung brings not only a completely circular UI, but also a circular UX, with a rotating bezel. We think it’s quite an interesting take on properly utilizing a smartwatch’s miniscule screen real estate. Naturally, we went hands on with it and here are our impressions –

Continue reading “Samsung Gear S2 Hands On Impressions”

Motorola Moto 360 2nd Gen Hands On Impressions

moto_360_2015_2

The Moto 360 from Motorola has finally gotten an upgrade and it was just launched at the pre-IFA event by Motorola’s parent company in Berlin. The 2nd gen Moto 360 might look exactly the same as its predecessor but it brings changes in the form of choices and customization. There are two different dial sizes, a women’s edition, a sports edition and a bigger battery for the one with the larger dial. More about the new 360 in this video –

Continue reading “Motorola Moto 360 2nd Gen Hands On Impressions”