Motorola Moto G - GUITHING review!

Image Courtesy: Google Images

                                                                 

The American telecommunication major, Motorola has finally launched the much awaited feature mid-range Moto G in India.

The device was launched exclusively on a leading online store in India. The 16GB model of Moto G went out of stock within 15 minutes after its release. Moto G's launch is certainly going to affect the popular local mid-range phones of brands like Micromax, Karbonn & Lava. 

Display and Design:

Image Courtesy: Google Images

                                    

Motorola Moto G has got soft finish matte on the back and has innumerable interchangeable colorful cases. It features 4.5-inch HD (1280x720p) screen with a pixel density of 329 ppi (pixel per inch), best among the smartphones in mid-range segment.

Processor, RAM and Storage:

Moto G powers a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor. Motorola's phone houses a processor made from the industry leader Qualcomm. In terms of storage, Motorola loses points as it fails to plant a microSD card slot in the Moto G limiting its memory capacity.

It is also packed with 1GB RAM.

Camera:

Motorola Moto G, ships with 5.0-megapixel camera and according to few hands on reviews, it is one of the best camera among the smartphones in its class.

Mobile Operating System:

It is to be noted that the Motorola's Moto G is running on the latest Jelly Bean version 4.3 and is also slated to receive the new v4.4.2 KitKat in few days time.

Price:

In India, Moto G (8GB) is priced at Rs. 12,499, whereas 16GB is available for Rs. 13,999.

Pros: affordable, immediate availability of KitKat update

Cons: no microSD card slots

Here's an Unboxing Video for our readers.

Google Nexus 5 - Review

Google's new platform showcase device which has been manufactured by LG. It's also the first time that Google has launched its flagship device in the Indian market just weeks after its international launch. The pricing of the phone and the promise of priority software updates makes it an irresistible proposition. So, how does it perform in real world conditions? We put it to test and find out in our review.

Build/ Design

Image Credit - Google Images

The Nexus 5 sports a very understated look and there's nothing really striking in the phone's design that will shout for your attention. The phone is made of plastic and doesn't feel very premium.

However, when you place the phone in your hand, you'll feel that it's very pleasant to hold thanks to the soft touch matte finish. Also, despite its large 4.95-inch screen, we didn't face any issues operating it with one hand. This is also due to the phone being quite lightweight at 130 grams.

The Nexus 5's edges are less curved and its corners less rounded compared to other phones, including the Nexus 4. The phone is available in Black and White color variants.

The 4.95-inch full-HD display dominates the front of the Nexus 5, and there are no hardware buttons. A round LED notification light is placed below the display, while the sensor array and the front camera sits above it.

The right edge of the Nexus 5 features the Power/ Screen lock and the Micro-SIM card tray, and the left edge features the volume rocker key. All the keys are made of ceramic and offer decent tactile feedback.

The 3.5-mm headset jack sits at the top edge of the Nexus 5, while the Micro-USB port and speaker grill sits at the bottom edge.

As we mentioned, the back of the Nexus 5 sports a matte soft touch finish giving it a good grip. It is a bit susceptible to smudges, though. The rear features an 8-megapixel ring shaped camera lens and the LED flash, apart from LG and Nexus branding.

Display

Image Credit - Google Images

The Nexus 5 comes with an IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and pixel density of 445 ppi. The display comes with Corning's Gorilla Glass 3 protection making it resistant to scratches. 

In our use, we found the Nexus 5's screen to be very bright, with text and images looking crisp and sharp. Colours looked vivid and not over saturated like they look on AMOLED display though blacks don't look very deep.

The screen delivers great viewing angles, though it was a little reflective. Sunlight legibility was good though the screen brightness levels could be better.

Overall, the Nexus 5's display is one of the best in its class.

Software/ User Interface

Image Credit - Google Images

The Nexus 5 is the first smartphone to ship with Android 4.4 KitKat, the latest release of the operating system. As with all Nexus devices, the phone includes the stock build of the operating system, without any additional UI skinning.

Android 4.4 KitKat on the Nexus 5 features a number of visual changes including a new launcher, making the interface even more minimalistic. It sports flatter design elements, muted colours in status icons, transparency, and smoother transition animations.

The first change that you'll notice is the transparent status and navigation key bars at the top and bottom, making the Nexus 5's screen look bigger and brighter. The Android 4.4 KitKat lock screen also features a small camera button, which helps in opening the camera app via the lock screen widget directly from the lock screen.

With Android 4.4 KitKat, you can now have as many home screens as you want by simply dragging an icon or placing a widget on a new one. After enabling Google Now, Google's smart assistant that fetches information and offers updates based on your data and usage behaviour, you'll see that the left most home screen would be Google Now pane with information cards and a search bar. The screen can also be invoked by swiping up the screen from the Home button. The Google search bar with the voice search icon is present on all home screens and cannot be removed.

Interestingly, you can also initiate voice search from the Nexus 5 when it's in the unlocked state by simply saying, 'Ok Google.' The option is only available when you choose US English as the default language option in the Google Now app's settings, though. With this change, Google search is integrated deeply with the phone.

The status bar icons and and UI elements in the notifications tray have been stripped off the blue colour in Android 4.4 KitKat, and now sport a muted white-grey shade.

The launcher has been revamped with icons looking bigger than their Jelly Bean avatars and dots are used to indicate the pagination in the home screen and app launcher, similar to iOS.

When you launch the KitKat app launcher or go back to the home screen, you'll notice a smooth fly away animation.

The app launcher now only features app icons and gets rid of widgets. Due to the larger icons, you'll see a 4x5 grid instead of a 5x5 grid.

Long pressing on the home screen brings up the menu to change the Wallpapers, Widgets and Google Now settings. The choice of default still wallpapers, live wallpaper and custom wallpapers are now available under a single menu.

The KitKat notifications tray features notifications that can be expanded by using two finger pull. It also features buttons for clearing all notifications and for displaying toggles for Brightness, Settings, Wi-Fi, Network, Battery, Aeroplane Mode, Bluetooth, Location settings and Alarm clock.

Android 4.4 KitKat also includes an immerse mode that hides the status and navigation bars offering a full screen experience in apps. Apps like Google Play Books already support this mode and developers can choose to enable it for their apps. The OS also allows developers to display semi-transparent navigation and status bars. We've not seen any apps that take advantage of this feature, however.

Android 4.4 also includes a revamped Phone app that now automatically prioritizes your contacts based on the people you talk to the most. When you first launch the app, you'll see a screen that displays a search bar, a place where most frequently called contacts and favorites are displayed and shortcuts to launch all contacts, the dialling pad, call history and settings.

You can also search for nearby places and businesses, contacts, or people in their Google Apps domain directly from the search bar. 

If you receive a call from a phone number that is not saved in your contacts, the Android 4.4 KitKat-based Nexus 5 will look for matches from businesses with a local listing on Google Maps. 

We felt that the new Phone app could be a little overwhelming for some as it's not very intuitive when it comes to describing what the shortcut keys do. However, the search feature packs in an online phone directory in the app. It will even fetch numbers for users who've registered their phone numbers with Google.  The number identification feature also works for incoming calls eliminating the need for apps like Trucaller.

Google has also combined its chat service and the Messaging (SMS) app into one app, Hangouts. The app lets you chat with your friends who use the Hangouts (erstwhile Google Talk) service and send messages to contacts. For people who don't actively use Google's instant messaging service or Google+, there's no value add that the unified app offers. It could also confuse these users if they've got unkempt Google+ profiles as it lists Google contacts on top when you want to compose a new message.

The Nexus 5 also includes the new Photos app that allows you to view and edit local and Google+ images. The new Photos app features deeper integration with Google+ and can be used to enable tagging in photos. The old Gallery app is still included in the app, though.

The Email app has also received an overhaul with KitKat, and the app displays the pictures of contacts for emails. Navigation has been made similar to the Gmail app and it also offers the swipe to delete gesture.

Google also includes its other apps including Drive, Keep, Play Games, Play Movies, Play Movies, Play Books, Play Newsstand and Quick office for creating and editing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The new OS also supports printing through Google Cloud Print plugin or apps made by printer manufacturers.

Overall, KitKat on the Nexus 5 is an improvement when it comes to the overall experience of using the phone, though there's till some scope for improvement, especially in apps like Hangouts. The status icons are also inferior at offering feedback compared to the ones seen in previous versions of the OS.

Camera

Image Credit - Google Images

Image Credit - Google Images

The Nexus 5 sports an 8-megapixel rear camera with Optical Image Stabilization, and a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera. The phone features the stock Android 4.4 Camera app with 4 default shooting modes - Still, Video, Panorama and Photo sphere (360-degree).

In the Still mode the app features settings for turning on HDR+, tinkering with Exposure, turning the LED flash on or off, switching between the front and back lenses and revealing more settings that include Geotagging toggle, Countdown timer, changing the picture size, White balance and the scene mode (Night, Action, Sunset, and Party). 

Similarly, in the Video mode, you can change video quality settings (1080p, 720p or 480p), Time lapse, Exposure settings and Flash. We have to say that we're no fans of the nested arc shaped settings toggles and find the app a bit unintuitive. 

Putting the camera of the Nexus 5 to test, we observed that images taken outdoors during daylight came out a tad brighter. 

However, there are a number of issues with the phone's camera that we encountered in our use. We observed that auto-focus is not consistent, and focusing manually takes time resulting in images being different from what we desired. We also observed that there was a slight lag between the time we fired the shutter and when the phone captured the image. 

Comparing images with the ones taken with an iPhone 5 in the same settings revealed that the white balance on the Nexus 5 camera (in the default mode) is skewed towards the warmer end of the spectrum. Low-light shots were also not up to the mark and had noise.

The camera does a good job for shooting videos and supports 1080p video capture.

The 1.3-megapixel front shooter does a decent job for video calling and taking self clicks. It supports 720p video capture.

Overall, the Nexus 5's camera is underwhelming at best. We hope Google pushes out a software update to fix the focus issues and shutter lag.

Performance/ Battery Life

Image Credit - Google Images

The Nexus 5 comes with top of the line hardware (at this point in time), as it is powered by a quad-core 2.26GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with 2GB of RAM, and an Adreno 330 chip for processing graphics. Our review unit had 32GB of built-in storage (a 16GB variant is also available), out of which 26.7GB is available to the user. The phone doesn't offer a microSD card slot for expandable storage. 

The overall experience of navigation through the Nexus 5's interface was extremely impressive, thanks to all the power under the phone's hood and the UI being devoid of unnecessary bells and whistles such as transition effects. 

We did not experience any lag at all while launching apps, playing games, scrolling web pages or switching between apps on the Nexus 5. 

The gaming experience on the Nexus 5 was pretty good with games like Temple Run 2, Subway Surfers, Shadow Gun: Dead Zone and Asphalt 7 running without encountering any issues.

We were able to run a number of video formats except for full-HD MOV and AVI through the native video player on the Nexus 5. We also experienced some issues with audio while playing an MKV format video. This was easily fixed by downloading a third-party video player. The phone then plays full-HD videos without any issues. 

Notably, the Nexus 5 doesn't include FM radio functionality.

Call quality was good on the Nexus 5, and we were able to receive cellular signals even in low signal areas. 

The Nexus 5 comes with a 2300mAh battery, it lasts just about a day with medium usage, including 1-1.5 hours of phone calls, two e-mail accounts with push notifications, playing some music, clicking a few pictures, Twitter notifications and WhatsApp chats. 

It's worth pointing out that we had mostly used 3G data with intermittent use of Wi-Fi and had put the phone's screen brightness at the highest level. Altering these settings might help in running the phone for a longer duration, depending on your usage pattern. 

The Nexus 5 also includes NFC capabilities, and we were able to transfer and receive files through Android Beam, which combines Bluetooth and NFC for sharing data. The phone also allows you to transfer files to other devices through Wi-Fi without being on the same Wi-Fi network. 

Image Credit - Google Images

Our Verdict
The Nexus 5 is one of the best Android smartphones that you can buy for under Rs. 30,000. Powered by a Snapdragon 800 processor, and 2GB RAM, the phone ticks all the right boxes in terms of hardware specifications. Since it's a Google experience device, you're always assured of regular software updates (at least for the 18 months promised period).

Priced at : Rs. 28,999 (India - Google Play Store)

Totally Digitized! - By the Reliance Digital Experience!

Image Credit: Google Images

As the name suggests, I am all about technology and Autos. Technology, it not only my interest, its my passion, a driving force and a motivation in my life. I cannot imagine a day in my life without having a dose of my "technological feed".

It is practically impossible to quantify what technology has given us.

Today, at a touch of a button (rather touch of a screen :-P) we transfer money from one end of the world to another, make phone calls, pay bills, book movie tickets, pay tax, read e-books and the list goes on. It is a well accepted fact that our lives before a rough 10 years weren't as simple and aided with technology as it is today.

We have reached times when the capabilities of a handheld device like a mobile phone or a tablet/ipad are brushing shoulders with high end laptops and personal computers. Multi-core processing chips, Retina/Super AMOLED Displays, 3G, LTE were all a dream years back. 

On this note, lets celebrate technology and thank inventors, developers and marketers to bring all this in the hands of the consumer.

Reliance has given us one more reason to celebrate technology...Reliance Digital - Happiness in store.

What better place than this to talk about a "Digital Store".

Lets get started. 

Saturday evening I visited a Reliance Digital store at Times Square, Andheri Kurla Road, Andheri (E) with a friend. as we entered the store, I felt something different. It was not the usual get-in-get-out feeling. As we entered the store, we felt a warm welcoming gesture from the from the personnel and (as metaphoric as it may sound) from the store by itself. 

I met the manager of the store, who in spite in his busy hour, greeted us and asked us to spend as much time as we needed in the store. The executives were helpful too. 

For me, entering an appliance retail store is like a kid entering a toy store. I can never get enough of it. I wanted to scan through each and every department and every appliance displayed in the store. Surprisingly, my friend (who is not so much of a technology person) also seemed quite interested in the gadgets I was showing her. That's when I realized how important hospitality and planning actually is. It actually makes a total "technology virgin" (pardon me those who are) interested in it. The Store's ambience and aura attracted not only my friend but many others. 

Speaking of  the Hospitality, The executives and sales persons were courteous and gentle in their approach. They were good with their words and did put forth their helping hand when the customer seems to be in a dilemma. Every person in the store was aware of all information about the department they were handling. I can say this since I have a bad habit of testing people's knowledge about technology, specially of the people closely associated with it. Not only did they help, but they made suggestions about a better product based on your needs. This depicts that the personnel working there is well trained.

Image Credit: Google Images

The Store has a good collection of appliances viz. Mobile Phones, Computers, Televisions and Audio, Cameras, Home Appliances, Kitchen Appliances, Gaming Devices and Accessories like pen drives, headsets, chargers, batteries etc. You name it, they have it. 

Also to mention that all the devices, gadgets, appliances are very competitively priced. It has different sections for different categories of appliances. With more than 14 stores spread out in Mumbai itself, it is accessible to almost every class of consumer and is definitely a better alternative than other stores.

Not only is this an appliance store, it is a one stop solution to all your home and office needs. With that note, it is apt to say that the overall experience of the store has been extraordinary. I was more than satisfied with the service provided at the store and would surely recommend it to others.

Way to Go "Reliance Digital Store". I did find "Happiness in Store"!

For more information about Reliance Digital Store, Click on the link below:-

http://www.reliancedigital.in/

This post is exclusively written for Indiblogger's "Reliance Digital - Happiness in Store" Experience.

                                       http://www.indiblogger.in/indistuff/4/

Galaxy Nexus available for Rs. 18,000 only in Mumbai

Google has officially announced its new Nexus smartphone, the LG NEXUS 4. Incidentally, the Galaxy Nexus (Manufactured by Samsung) is now up for grabs in India for as low as Rs. 18,000.

Image Credit: Google Images

 

 

 

This cool gadget is available with various retailers in Mumbai like Alfa Mobiles etc. This pricing is for the factory unlocked GSM variant.

It is the previous generation Nexus smartphone which means it will be one of the first devices to get new firmware updates. Yes Jelly Bean! 

 

The specifications of this device are:-

4.65-inches Super AMOLED display

5 megapixel rear camera and a secondary front facing 1.3 megapixel camera

Dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex A9 processor

1GB of RAM.

 

Image Credit: Google Images

Image Credit: Google Images

 

 

While the Galaxy Nexus will run Android 4.0 ICS out of the box the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update will be available as soon after you boot up your device as it has already started rolling out to this smartphone. We have to disclose that the device is not officially available in India and hence you will not receive any warranty for your purchase.

 



Image Credit: Google Images

Image Credit: Google Images

Post your views in case you own a device purchased from India. 

 

 

Which Smartphone to buy within the range of Rs. 20,000/-

Wanna buy a new smartphone? Not sure which one to go for? Well read along, we'll help you find the device that suits your needs and of course, your pocket!

For the sake of simplicity, we have narrowed down to 5 devices:-

1. Sony Xperia Sola (Rs. 18,500/- Approx.)
2. Samsung Galaxy S Duos (Rs. 15,600/- Approx.)
3. Sony Xperia Go ( Rs. 16,600/- Approx.)
4. HTC Desire X (Rs. 17,500/- Approx.)
5. Nokia Lumia 800 (Rs. 17,500 Approx.)

 

This Post will describe all about Sony Xperia Sola. Follow us for further reviews and updates.

 

Sony Xperia Sola (Rs. 18,500/- Approx.)

Credit: Google Images

 

• Description
  Sony has announced Xperia Sola, their new smartphone in the Xperia series. It has 3.7-inch Reality Display and is powered by 1GHz Dual Core Processor. It runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) , upgrade to Android 4.0.

 

Here are the specifications.

• General

• Network
  GSM
• Style
  Bar

Credit: Google Images

 

• Dimensions
  116 x 59 x 9.9 mm
• Weight
  107 g (With Battery)
• Battery Type
  Li-Ion 1320 mAh (built-in) 1265 mAh (Minimum)

Credit: Google Images

 

• Display

• Display Colors
  16M Colors, TFT
• Display Resolution
  854 x 480 Pixels, 3.7"

• Memory

• Memory InBuilt
  8GB (Internal) + 512 MB (RAM)
• Memory Extended
  MicroSD upto 32 GB

• Messaging

• MMS
  Yes
• Email
  Yes
• Push Mail
  No

• Camera

• Camera
  Yes
• Mega Pixels
  5.0 MP, 2592 x 1944 Pixels
• Camera Zoom
  16x Digital Zoom with Auto-focus and LED Flash
• Video Capture
  MP4, 3GPP

• Connectivity

• Ports
  USB Port 2.0
• Infrared
  No
• Bluetooth
  Yes
• A2DP
  No
• Wifi
  Yes
• Internet
  GPRS, EDGE

Credit: Google Images

 

• Entertainment

• Music Player
  MP3, SMF, WAV, OTA, OGG
• FM Radio
  FM Radio with RDS
• Games
  Motion Gaming
• Ring Tones
  Yes
• Loud Speaker
  Yes

• Technology

• 3G
  Yes
• OS
  Android OS v2.3 (Gingerbread)
• Dual Sim
  No
• QWERTY
  Yes

• Network

• Talk Time
  Upto 6 Hours
• Standby Time
  Upto 475 Hours
• GPS
  A-GPS, Google Maps

• Others Features

• Special Features
  3D Sweep Panorama, Face detection and Smile Detection, TrackID Music Recognition, xLOUD Experience, Timescape with Twitter integrated, Facebook inside Xperia 2.0, Sony Entertainment Network (selected markets only), 3D Surround Sound, Clear Bass and Clear Stereo, Accelerated Adobe Flash Video, Google Voice Search, Google Talk with Video Chat, Google Mail.

 

 

 

 

Credit: Google Images

 Review and specifications of Samsung Galaxy S Duos. Coming up next.

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