Author: Dhruv Bhutani

Your friendly neighborhood techie. Currently using a Pixel 2 XL. Catch him on Twitter (@DhruvBhutani) / Facebook .

Mi Community : A Closer Look At Xiaomi’s Secret Sauce

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Every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of persons working together. – Paul Ryan

Modern day marketing has fast become all about fostering a community of ardent fans. Fans who give feedback, fans who spread the word and fans who simply stand by the brand. No brand has evangelized this more than Xiaomi. The Chinese stalwart was amongst the first to embrace the benefits of having fervent followers and was so successful with the model that it is now being replicated ad nauseum. As the company crosses over 1,00,000 followers on the recently launched Mi Community in India, we had a chat with Jai Mani, Product Lead, to know more about it.

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Moto G4 Review

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The one that started it all. The trend of providing a value proposition at an extremely enticing price point is back. The Moto G, now in its 4th avataar, is here to shake things up again but is it still as big a deal as it used to be? More so, now that the company has split the handset into multiple tiers, what makes more sense for the consumers? We find out in our review. Continue reading “Moto G4 Review”

Gallery: OnePlus 3 Soft Gold Version

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Alongside the launch of the OnePlus 3 in Graphite, the company has also been showing off the soft gold variant on occasion. At a recent session we got to check out the phone in all its golden glory. Here’s a quick gallery to give you a glimpse at the new variant.

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Samsung Galaxy J2 (2016) Review

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Oh look, Consumers have access to yet another device in the oh-so crowded sub Rs. 10,000 segment. Yes, we’re talking about the new kid on the block, the Samsung J2 (2016). Samsung has taken a step away from competing on specs and this time it is focusing on offering interesting new usability tweaks that could potentially be a big deal for a lot of users. Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy J2 (2016) Review”

Ringing Bells Elegant Hands On

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Alongside the Freedom 251, Ringing Bells is all set to launch a couple more smartphones. The Ringing Bells Elegant is one of two new Android powered smartphones announced. We spent some time with the phone at the launch event and here’s what we thought. Continue reading “Ringing Bells Elegant Hands On”

Ringing Bells Freedom 251 Hands On

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As Ringing Bells, the company behind the controversial Freedom 251 smartphone gets ready to launch some new products, we finally got a chance to get some hands on time with the Freedom 251 handset that is all set to begin deliveries. Here’s what we thought of what is being termed as the most affordable smartphone around.  Continue reading “Ringing Bells Freedom 251 Hands On”

A History of Glass: Behind The Scenes At Corning’s R&D Facility

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A chilly breeze greets us as we stand outside the headquarters for what is arguably one of the largest glass manufacturers in the world. Corning® Gorilla® Glass helps protect our smartphones and is perhaps the de-facto standard in cover glass. We arrived in the town of Corning and were about to get unprecedented access into what goes behind making Gorilla® Glass.

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Xiaomi Mi Max Review : The Big Show

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There’s a new phone in town and it is absolutely huge! Yes, it is pretty well endowed technologically but seriously, it really is very big. Following the launch of the Redmi Note 3 and the Mi 5, Xiaomi is all set to bring the Mi Max to India. A beast of a device that packs a 6.44 inch display into its slim frame, Mi Max is a very curious phone that almost edges into the small tablet territory. We’ve been testing it out over the last few days and here’s what we think about it.  Continue reading “Xiaomi Mi Max Review : The Big Show”

LeEco Le 2 Review: A New Challenger Appears

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Rising up fast and strong, LeEco erstwhile known as LeTV is quickly becoming a brand to reckon with. Well known in their home market of China for being a huge player in the content industry, the company has been pretty successful with their phones so far. With the 2nd generation of devices, we’re seeing LeEco trying to emulate its content first model in India as well. Moreover the company is pushing the envelope forward with some very interesting design choices. Want to read more about the Le 2? Carry on for the full review. Continue reading “LeEco Le 2 Review: A New Challenger Appears”

Hands on with the Hyve Mobility Buzz and Storm

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At an event in New Delhi, we witnessed the launch of a new brand called Hyve Mobility. As part of its initial offering, the company plans to introduce two devices that sit within the highly lucrative sub 15,000 rupee price segment. Called the Hyve Buzz and Storm, the phones promise a lot to the price conscious buyer. We spent a bit of time with both and here’s what we thought of the phones. Continue reading “Hands on with the Hyve Mobility Buzz and Storm”

HTC 10 Review: One For The Old Times

HTC 10 Review -4If you’ve used a smartphone anytime in the last ten years, there’s a good chance that you’ve used an HTC. After cutting their teeth on Windows Mobile and being amongst the launch partners for Android, HTC really has seen it all. Technology trends high and low, devices that have reached halo status while others than haven’t. From the launch of the One series with the drop-dead gorgeous M7 and successors that were comparatively hit or miss, HTC hasn’t needed a hands-down success as much as it does now. It’s a changing smartphone scenario and the Chinese are eating the industry stalwarts for breakfast. With that in mind, we decided to put the new HTC 10 through its paces. Continue reading “HTC 10 Review: One For The Old Times”

Yu Yunicorn Review

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A lot has been written about Micromax, Yu and it’s ilk to document their rise to success in a market that has seen industry stalwarts die out. Launched as an aspirational brand that caters to the technology savvy demographic, Yu has seen a massive uptake. The company has dabbled in everything from playing the pricing game to courting the popular Cyanogen Mod Android ROM as it’s operating system of choice. With the Yu Yunicorn, the fledgling brand is launching a full-frontal assault on the competition across price segments. But does it hit the right notes? We find out in our review. Continue reading “Yu Yunicorn Review”

Nextbit Robin Review

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Chances are that you’ve already heard about the Nextbit Robin. A phone that solves a singular problem, the problem of running out of storage, most often when you need it the most. In doing so though, Nextbit has succeeded in making a rather good smartphone too. Here’s the FoneArena review of the Nextbit Robin where we talk about what really makes the handset tick. Continue reading “Nextbit Robin Review”

OPPO F1 Plus Review

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Chinese brand OPPO has always produced hardware that punches above its weight. When we reviewed the OPPO  F1 sometime back, we observed that it was an above average device which had a good balance of performance and hardware quality with design sensibilities thrown in for good measure. Enter the OPPO F1 Plus. Bigger, better and with a bit of a focus on its camera capabilities. We’ve put the device through our review cycle and here’s what we think about it. Continue reading “OPPO F1 Plus Review”