Bharadwaj Chandramouli | Fone Arena

TAGG 20000 mAh Power Bank Turbo – travel companion?

I thought these 20,000 mAH powerbanks were usually bigger? Asking because I’m a regular user of the OnePlus power bank, I think it’s really compact and well designed. Sure there are many other 10,000 mAH powerbanks, but I stuck with it because of its design and its material. This is the kind of identity TAGG is trying to create as well, but in its own style. The world of mobile accessories is a tough place, so does the TAGG powerbank stand out?

Continue reading “TAGG 20000 mAh Power Bank Turbo – travel companion?”

Lava Z92 Unboxing and First Impressions

Lava is no stranger to this market, but like sister-brand XOLO they’ve come back after a hiatus with a new device, the Z92 launched just yesterday. At Rs. 9,999, you get a big 6.22 inch full-view experience with a notch, a neat design that’s clean and some decent specs to back it up. But the question is, as always, can the Lava Z92 survive in this heavily competitive market? Here are my first impressions of this device.

Continue reading “Lava Z92 Unboxing and First Impressions”

HONOR View20 Review – Trendiest Value Flagship

There’s a reason why this category exists – the value flagship. It’s because actual flagships have gotten so damn costly. Let’s not straight away blame the brands, as we all know how costly research and development is. But over the years we’ve seen how, as the flagship cycle progresses, there are sweet spots of opportunity where the same brands can bring innovation to the masses. The View20 hits that sweet spot, the perfect coming together of innovation and value, as HONOR begins 2019 with one of the “trendiest” value flagships ever made. It’s going to be hard to compete with this one. Let me explain why.

Continue reading “HONOR View20 Review – Trendiest Value Flagship”

Samsung Galaxy M20 Unboxing and First Impressions

The new M series from Samsung is all about addressing the needs of the Indian market. Our demographic is such that Samsung has decided to launch this series here first, starting with the M10 and the M20. We’d seen the first impressions of the Galaxy M10, now it’s the Galaxy M20’s turn. This device, at a great starting price of Rs. 10,990 (3/32) and Rs. 12,990 (4/64), aims to compete in the most hotly contested smartphone segment in our country. I was lucky enough to test the device just before launch and here are my first impressions.

Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy M20 Unboxing and First Impressions”

Samsung Galaxy M10 Unboxing and First Impressions

Samsung has been teasing the new M series on social media for a while now. It is a global series of devices that is launching first in India, and is specifically “Made for India”. Well the soft launch has happened today and we have two new devices in the market, the Galaxy M10 and the Galaxy M20. These devices are entirely focused on the mid range segment, which is the most hotly contested in India, no doubt. Aimed at “Millennials”, which I think is a code-word for high-demand expectations when it comes to value for money, how well do these devices cater? I’ve been lucky enough to try them before launch. At Rs. 7,990 (2/16) and Rs. 8,990 (3/32), the Galaxy M10 is the cheaper of the two, here are my first impressions.

Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy M10 Unboxing and First Impressions”

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

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

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

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”