Gionee Elife E5 Unboxing and First Impressions

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The trend in today’s Indian market is cheap Android Smartphones. Many companies like Micromax and Karbonn have successfully built huge businesses over this specific concept, however there are always compromises to be made. Most devices that land in the Indian market are re branded low cost Smartphones from across the border in China. Shenzen is a hub of countless number of companies that are mainly contract manufacturers and often end up offering really low cost, and thereby low quality phones. But some of them really stand out, like Meizu, Xiaomi, Oppo and the new entrant in our list of impressive Chinese companies – Gionee. The Elife E5 has inspired us to think beyond and acknowledge the fact that excellent phone makers exist, irrespective of the market they are from.

We unboxed the Elife E5, one of the company’s recent releases in the Elife range, and found it really nice. Here is a video of us talking about the box contents and the device itself, go past the break for our complete impressions.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIzid_VK8bs&feature=youtu.be&a

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Nokia Lumia 925 Unboxing and First Impressions

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“Too fat and heavy” some shouted, and Nokia listened. The Nokia Lumia 925 fixes the two biggest complaints of then prospective Lumia 920 buyers, its thickness and weight. While the 925 does have some more features(or lack thereof) for differentiation, it was mostly like a hotfix patch for the Lumia 920. We had checked out the device earlier at the launch event in London. It looked a lot different and shied away from the colourful Lumia legacy with a more conservative look with Nokia having brought back aluminium into its fold again. But personally, not having had a personal hands on experience with the Lumia 925(unlike Varun) made me skeptical of the design, until now. Yes, the ritualistic unboxing shattered some pre-conceived notions of mine. We have thus documented the box contents and my initial impressions of the device in this video, watch –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS4HJHri7b0

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Blackberry Q10 hands on first impressions

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Launched way back in January after a lukewarm reception for the Waterloo company’s new Blackberry 10 operating system, the Q10’s main aim is to bring the QWERTY keyboard that the company helped popularize, back in vogue, in a touchscreen dominated world. The device was launched after the full touch flagship, the Blackberry Z10, signaling the company’s move to a complete touch experience at its fore, but to keep the fans happy, the Q10 had to release eventually. And yes, it has finally landed in India, with a hefty price tag of Rs. 44,999. It marched into our labs the same day, and here are our first impressions of the device.

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First Nokia Lumia Windows Phone Impressions From A February 2011 Believer

Warning: this post is subjective, the most subjective you will ever find. I am writing it for the many readers who understand that and who still want to hear my opinion regardless of whether or not they agree. If you want to bash, build conspiracy theories, point your finger and say that I’m a Nokia hater or a Nokia lover, I’ll save you the trouble and tell you beforehand that you won’t change my mind and that I am both: I love them so much I ended up hating them two years ago. Otherwise, read on.


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Nokia N8, The Initial List Of Fourteen Wins And Fails

The N8 (or Nate as I’m growing used to call it) is here. It’s been released, it’s shipping, and people all around the world are receiving their units. Finally, after too long a wait, I have an N8 in my hands, for a proper test and review. Following my “The N8 is Perfect, There, I said it” assertion, there really is very little I can say to top it up. Or can I?

The N8 landed in my hands 2 days ago, and while I still maintain that it IS the perfect handset for the photography and multimedia buffs, I had mentioned that it doesn’t target me, and I’m not particularly thrown towards buying one. So, over the last 48 hours, I’ve gone from awe to oh to ouch and back to awe several times with the N8 in my hands. Here is the compiled initial list of N8 wins and fails, in my book.

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