Google Nexus 5 Review

The Nexus 4 took Google to a new level in the mobile handset category. A great, slim, high performance device that sold for a mid-level price, it was also sold as is, that is, under no contract from a carrier. The phone was an international super hit. As with every great thing these days, the launch of its successor was awaited with baited breath. Now that we have the phone in our hands, let’s see if it lives up to the expectations.  

Sleek Design:

The phone is quite sleek. Its looks are a bit understated; it’s looks nothing more than a slim well designed phone. Our test handset, which was the black coloured device, enhanced this feel with its all black tone. The phone has a uni body construction and is made of polycarbonate. The SIM card slot and power button are to the right of the phone while the volume rocker is to the left. It all makes for a phone whose basic functionality is quite high. It's surprisingly light, at only 130 grams and 8.6 millimetres thick. Overall, this phone just feels great to hold in the hand. 

The Awesome Screen:

Google increased the size of the screen from 4.7 inches to 4.95 inches. It also uses Gorilla Glass 3 which gives ample protection against scratches and fingerprint smudges. The screen is a Full HD 1080p one. Clarity and picture density is amazing on the screen. With a high pixel density of 445 ppi, we’d expect nothing less. It’s great for reading text, playing games or watching a movie.

Camera:

These days, a high quality camera on a smartphone is pretty much a requirement. The 8 MP camera on the Nexus 5 takes quite decent photos when used with the auto settings. However, once you get a big deeper into the camera and adjust settings such as exposure and contrast diligently, the camera performs well. Low light performance isn't exactly poor, but again you need to manually tweak a few things to get the best out of it. 

As far as videos go, Full HD 1080p videos look great. Again, low light performance isn't the greatest, but it’s acceptable. We do genuinely hope that the next camera software update that’s expected to roll out will fix this because the camera is quite frankly the weakest link in this fantastic phone.  

Android 4.4 KitKat:

There isn’t a world of difference between KitKat and previous Android version. KitKat really is a solid improvement over earlier versions of the software, and the Nexus 5 shows it off quite well. Things like Messaging are now integrated with Hangouts that combine all of your messaging and chat under ine single hood. You can also now search keywords from within the phone dialer, which is a bit like having Google Maps business info integrated perfectly into the app. Also, the dialer has been completely redesigned. Icons and other symbols seem starker, cleaner, and larger and personally, we like it!

Processor and Performance:

Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.26GHz, 2GB of RAM and an Adreno 330 GPU, the Nexus 5 is like a supercar in world of phones. The device is astonishingly fast and games such Asphalt 8: Airborne which usually eat the processor run smoothly. Multi-tasking is an ease and we were astounded that the phone handled anything we threw at it with considerable ease. The phone comes with LTE and NFC and while LTE isn’t operational in India, NFC works like a charm.

Battery Life:

One complain about the Nexus 4 was that battery life wasn't that great. Google has bumped up the battery to 2300 mAH. However, battery life was rather inconsistent. We had varied battery life ranging from an entire day to a measly few hours. The screen takes up a huge chunk of the battery life and using it optimally is a great way to prolong battery life. 

Verdict:

Overall, the Nexus 5 lives up to its expectations. Combining a great UI with some smartly designed features, the phone performs and exceeds expectations in many areas. KitKat looks fantastic too and the display is one of the best we've seen. The only downside was the less than stellar camera and rather inconsistent battery life. Apart from that, it’s one of the best phones money can buy. 

Summary:

The Nexus 5 was one of the highly awaited phone launches of the year. After using it, we can see why. Intelligent design, a great display and a brand new version of Android make it one classy device.  

Samsung Galaxy Express: Redefining mid range phone category

Samsung, presently rubbing shoulders with Apple, be it the sales or the lawsuits, is not leaving any stoned unturned to be a frontrunner in the race. The rollout of Samsung Galaxy Express once again throws light on the fact that the brand intends to cater to all kinds of individuals from all strata of the society. What we all expect the Samsung Galaxy Express to be is a scaled down version of the Samsung Galaxy SIII and it does live up to the expectations. What keeps it ahead of the cookie- cutters is the fact that it runs on the Android latest Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 and 4GLTE.

Design:

A glimpse of the Galaxy Express will give out the impression that it is a replica of Galaxy SIII with respect to its appearance especially its rectangular shape and curved corners. Available in black, it comes with a capacitive back and menu button and a 4.5-inch display and weighs 4.8 ounces. While the right hand size fits in buttons like sleep/power button and the Micro-USB port, the left hand size houses volume rocker wherein the headphone jack measures 3.5mm. The built quality is also excellent irrespective of the fact that it is made of plastic.

Display:

Samsung Galaxy Express boasts of its  4.5 inch super AMOLED plus Capacitive Touch screen with a resolution of 480X800 pixel. The colours appear vibrant , icons look sharp and the display is bright  enough to be used across.

Features:

Powered by a 1.5GHz dual core processor, it ensures high speed streaming and download with the speed of AT & T and 4G LTE network. The Express runs on the latest version of Bluetooth v4.0 and supports Wi-Fi Direct, HSPA+, USB 2.0, MHL and NFC and comes with a number of pre- loaded apps including Gmail, Local maps with navigation, messenger, Magazine, books, TV, search, YouTube and Google Talk. Apart from that , the task manager apps comprise of Code Scanner that reads UPC, QR, Data Matrix bar codes, Family Map, Cloud storage and Data Mapping app and my At& T, etc.

The 5.0 auto- focus  camera with the Flash option,  a 1.3 MG front camera and an LED on the back, is the icing on the cake. The four shooting modes include 14 scene modes, five white balances, a timer, ISO  and metering  options, geo tagging, a timer, compositional lines and any array of other features, enabling you to experiment to the fullest and awaken the photographer in you.Thanks to the 2000mAh battery, the phone  offers 14 hours of talk time and 312 hours as a stand by mode.

Conclusion: 

Samsung Galaxy Express is pretty impressive taking into consideration its cost and the AT& T factor. While all its features and working seem predictive, the Jelly Bean updated device would be a great pick for the value driven users. Also Samsung currently has not released any official communication on launch of this phone for India, even possibility of eagerly anticipated Galaxy S3 mini launch prospects looks bleak. It would definitely help Samsung to release a non 4G version of Galaxy Express phone for India above their recently launched "Rex" feature phone range. 

This review is penned by experts @ Reliance Digital.

HTC Sensation XL: Does it still pack a punch?

HTC Sensation XL became a sensation with 4.7 inch display and beats audio technology, it has a sleek design with a vivid and vibrant appeal in a 9.9 mm slim phone body that comes with 16 GB Storage. A single core 1.5 GHz may feel outdated however it may be worth considering as an option amongst a slew of mid range android handsets flooding the markets currently.

Music at its best

Audiophiles will go gung- ho about this HTC Sensation with it roping in Beats Audio and it’s in- box customized Beats Headset promising the best sound quality you would have heard. The custom – made headset comes as the icing on the cake wherein the voice seems clearer and the bass, deeper and richer. 

Overall multimedia experience is enriching as the handset is equipped with SRS surround sound as well.

Camera and Video performance

Snapping photos with the 8 mega pixel camera on Sensation XL is swift and produces excellent images, pictures captured look vivid and sharp. As compared to Sensation XE it is able to reduce some level of noise in the images however does not eliminate them completely which is a difficult ask on a mobile camera with small sensors.

The HD camera on phone shoots videos at a resolution of 720p@30fps which is a decent config.

Performance and Battery life

HTC Sensation XL has an added advantage with 768 MB ram combined with 1.5 GHz processor gives you a commendable performance in terms of multitasking on phone, watching HD videos etc.  which is not the case with most mid range android phones that come with 512 MB ram.

This phone provides a smooth experience while using menus, transferring files, switching between apps and browsing is fast enough on HTC Sensation XL. With mixed use of multimedia, browsing with 3G, playing games and calling the battery should last for a day and even with heavy usage battery should last around 6 hours approx. 

Lack of memory slot does hurt overall value offered on this phone, however if you can do with the 16 GB memory and prefer using a sleek and an Android phone with good design without a powerhouse phone to suit your daily smartphone usage requirement, HTC Sensation XL may well fit the bill.

Information Source: Reliance Digital Stores

Turn your Android device into a full Gaming console

Check out this comprehensive video feature that details how you can convert your Android device into a full gaming console and enjoy the experience on your LCD/LED TV. I appreciate Android OS for such features that allow freedom of fiddling with the OS rather than the restricted environment in which Apple OS functions.

Android Tips:Manage your Android Battery

A common gripe of Android mobile users is poor battery life on which a lot has being written about and starting as Android novice user I managed to find some workarounds to improve my phone's battery back up effectively over the last year, I would like to share these tips which may help you as well.

Moving from Nokia N8 to Galaxy S2 and then Galaxy Note, my enthusiasm of migrating to Android was bogged down by battery issues, I gradually got along with this fact assuming maybe Android phones are supposed to last only with 1 day battery back up max. Read lot of posts on battery saving tips, tried almost all of them and downloaded many battery saving apps, task killers etc from Google Play store, eventually it did not help much and as a heavy 3G and Wi-Fi user I started thinking that I may have to just stop bothering about the battery issues.

There was a stage where I started losing my Galaxy S2 battery within 8 hour span, even with heavy data usage S2 battery used to last between 10-12 hours, Android OS has many background processes running which constantly use phone memory and battery power. Onscreen widgets help you to keep yourselves constantly connected with news/social networking updates that you like to have on your phone offering easy accessibility, add live wallpapers and plethora of themes and launchers available for Android that offer enough eye candy to pep up your phone home screen.

If you also happen to download lot of apps out of curiosity to try them or for any specific requirement, they contribute further to the list of battery munching apps which would exhaust your phone battery charge at a higher rate, downloading battery saver or task killer apps would not help in the long run. Android apps with poor API (Application programming Interface) settings are major of battery draining issues, here are some basic steps that you can follow with the phone first:


1) Network Settings - Avoid keeping your phone on 3G/Wi-Fi mode while not using data, In my opinion it does not make much difference on voice calls with 3G network and while you are on the move being on the 2G network is your best bet to save battery drain resulting out of poor coverage in many places, try switching your phone to flight mode during night time.

2) Screen Time-Out and Brightness - Maintain 10%-20% screen brightness for regular indoor use, with a screen time out duration of 30 seconds, you can increase brightness while watching movies, games etc.

3) Manage phone profile: You would get basic option in most Android mobiles to manage phone profile settings however it takes lot of manual effort to customize and switch between these phone profiles every time, however there are apps both paid and free to help you manage these settings, let's take a look at few of them.

Notable Apps

1) Setting Profiles (Paid and Free version): If you are looking to manage only your phone's profile settings, this app would be sufficient to offer ample customization options to configure temporary or automatic settings for managing sound, network, wi-fi, bluetooth, backlight or automate specific tasks.

Google Play link

2) Tasker(Paid): Tasker is one stop solution to manage actions and events on your phone beyond the profile setting and would require extensive input from the user which may feel like rocket science to begin with however it's like writing a visual script to manage your phone they way would think of it as a real smartphone.

Google Play Link

3) Onavo Extended (Free): This App helps you compress data usage while using your mobile internet service, which in turn helps you remain within the limits your data plan, What it actually does by compressing media and images goes almost unnoticed in your quality of browsing, you get to see report of how much data you have saved in form of Twitter/Facebook post count, email data usage stats etc.

Google Play Link

4) BetterBatteryStats(Paid): This app is a must have to save on android phone battery that would take some time for users to understand the real cause if your phone is getting discharged quiet quick, from the time you unplug your phone from charging, you can check 3 sections on this app.

a) Partial Wakelocks: Display's a list of service/app that has being running in minutes and seconds and the event count, any abnormally high listing on this report needs attention to that specific service or app that you may not be using very regularly.

b) Kernel Wakelock: Display's list of events again in minutes and seconds along with the count, however if you find any abnormal activity here, you can google the event name and you would find probable solutions on various android forums informing you how to deal with that particular process.

For example: After ICS version of Android was released for Samsung Galaxy Note in India, I noticed two events "fuel_alerted" and "l2_hsic" were preventing my phone by going into a deep sleep state and having a high background run count in my Kernel Wakelock list, Solution that worked for me was to switch the phone on Airplane Mode, switch it off and remove the battery for few seconds and re-start the phone again with Airplane Mode on return to your network profile again, problem solved.

However this takes some searching with Trial and Error to fix battery draining issues that Google is not directly responsible for as phone manufacturers tweak Android OS versions with a taste of their proprietary interface UI (example: Samsung's Touchwiz)

c) Other: When you choose the option other from BetterBatteryStats app, you need to see to it that your phone's awake and screen on ratio should be closer to each other rather than a big percentage gap between both of them which indicates that your phone is sweating it's processing and battery power even when the phone screen is off and you are doing nothing with it, and this is where both Kernel and Partial Wakelock screens would help you find the real culprit.

I would also mention few details around Bloatware that comes with Android mobile phones and differs with each manufacturer. These are apps and related files associated with events that do not cause any harm if you happen to disable or totally uninstall them. Rooted devices have easy fix with Apps that can be downloaded from Google Store that automatically uninstall all these apps from your phone, however if you do not want to risk voiding warranty on your phone with Rooting, ICS now offers option to this the easy way as well.

Go to Settings --> Apps and click on the "All" tab which would show a list of applications and processes that you can disable and here's a link to a guide of apps and processes safe to be stopped or uninstalled mostly common to Samsung Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note.

You can check the adjoining screenshot which shows my Note still left with 19% charge after a close to 16 hour usage, on which I pushed my phone usage extensively by using Wi-Fi/3G browsing, playing games for almost 2 hours, making few calls and all this without any battery saver app or task killer. Some times I am able to reach 20 hour mark with reasonable 3G/Wi-Fi, voice calls and no gaming on the phone.

Please leave your comments if you also happen to know additional ways of improving battery life on Android phones, I'll give a try to few of them myself and quote those solutions left by you.

Lamborghini launches Android-powered smartphone and tablet

Lamborghini launches 3 luxury handsets and 1 tablet device, all headed for launch in Russian market. There was a time when we used to see such bling mods for Nokia mobiles, while this one is for Android. Lamborghini TL700 is a phone with gold and crocodile skin casing costing approx $2700, looks like a monster phone by the casing design.


Lamborghini L2800 tablet sports a sapphire crystal display, is not made out of gold casing, thankfully else it would have being one hell of a brick to carry around, estimated to cost around $2200, both the tablet and the phone are running on gingerbread OS version of Android.

What do you think, is Android really worth this bling? read more about this here for details on specs

A cellphone that works for 15 years on Single AA battery

A dual band GSM no frills phone that could be put to multiple use launched at CES 2012 named SpareOne truly lives up to it's name costs $49.99

SpareOne: a cellphone that can run for 15 years -- Engadget

Video:LG Optimus 3D Hands on

Showcased at MWC 2011 Barcelona, take a look at the No Glasses 3D Optimus phone hands on video from LG, smartphones are pushing the envelope with respect to gaming and 3D. I just feel 3D devices are just being pushed down to consumers without much of the genuine 3D content still not available yet, and consumers yet to decide of they want to accept 3D technology as a mainstream tech addition to their digital life.

New Nokia Handsets to watch out

Nokia has woken up to the fact that it cannot keep it's share growing in the Indian Handset market unless it seriously works on offering value for money mobile phones in the 5K - 10K segment, this segment is being currently lead by Samsung, followed by LG and a slew of other Indian Mobile Phone manufacturers who have being aggressively advertising their phones, and the recently ended IPL tournament has given enough visibility to brands like Micromax, Maxx, Lava and others.

Out of the recent announcements made by Nokia on mobile phones in the offing, Nokia X2 (expected to be available by June 2010) and Nokia N8 (To be released in the last quarter of 2010) would be the phones to watch out. Nokia X2 is expected to be priced around 5K range and Nokia N8 in the range of 22K - 26K, lets take a look on why these phones could be important to both consumers and Nokia in the Indian market.


Nokia X2 has a major USP of having a 5 Megapixel camera, and if it does stay close to the 5K range, Nokia will surely have a winner on hand, since the other features of the handset are not revolutionary to be spoken about, current specs as available from the Nokia website are:

• 2.2 inch QVGA display
• Dedicated music keys
• Dual speakers, FM Radio
• Bluetooth 2.1
• 3.5mm headset jack
• Nokia Messaging
• Facebook integration and MicroSD card support
• S40 Operating System

Nokia has a bad reputation with camera quality on phones under 10K range, even the Nokia 5800 Express Music has pathetic 3.2 megapixel camera quality even with Carl Zeiss lens.



The Other phone we are looking at is N8, which can be a potential breakthrough product for Nokia if they get the pricing right for India, lot to write about the phone,

• Nokia ^3 OS, a positive move away from current Symbian OS series, which is getting buggier by the day, further messed up with frequent firmware upgrades that Nokia Symbian phones have to go through.
• 12 Megapixel Camera, with Xenon flash, could be a big plus if delivers
• Dolby Digital Plus, audiophiles like me would be eager to experience the quality of sound it can deliver
• Just 12.9 mm thin with a spaced out 3.5 inch AMOLED display.
• Multiple, personalized home screens.
• Additional graphic processor in the handset would make gaming more fun, takes away the load from handset processor.
• HD video recording.

I did take a look at the handset image quality released by Nokia on their website and i was very impressed with it, this phone is surely on my wish list for future upgrade, both the handsets Nokia X2 and N8 are tuned to deliver a decent social networking experience to the consumers through widgets and apps made available in these phones.

A Mobile phone that Brews Coffee and more

Check out this video below of some phone called the Pomegranate Phone, which could really give mobile biggies like Nokia, SE and Motorola a run for their money, it works as a projector, a coffee brewer and a shaver too? i could not  believe it too, thought this could just be some prototype phone design, however this phone is for real, check the company website here

Spam Menace

Too many spam calls have being invading my phone since last 2 weeks, banks have got active again i think, calls for personal loans and investments have started again, also spam messages of all kinds also are invading my message inbox, i find myself cleaning up these spam messages most of the time from my mailbox and SMS inbox.