Samsung Galaxy S5: Carrying On The Proud Galaxy Tradition

The past few weeks have been absolutely amazing for all of us in the tech community. HTC released the One M8, Microsoft BUILD and also Samsung's very own Galaxy S5 and also the Gear Fit.

So here is our review on the Samsung Galaxy S5.

What's New:

The looks of the S5 is exceedingly like the hybrid of the S4 and the Note 3. The specs definitely place it in the high end phone department.
At a quick glance the phone has a bigger screen (which we will talk about) and also what seems to be much more distinct bezels.
The button orientation is also changed.

The S5 compares like a toy in comparision to the amazingly built HTC One M8.
Its is also made water ressistant (not water proof) and dust proof.
The back feels like the leather backing of the Samsung Galaxy S5, which kind of a dimple finish which I'm not that big of a fan, it also lacks the leatcher stiching of the Note 3.
The S5 also features a finger print scanner just like the iPhone 5S.

The Display:

The super AMOLED 5.1 inch screen has a resolution of 1920x1080, and looks absolutely gorgeous with perfect image and color replication. It has a pixel density of 432 ppi.

The Internals:

The Phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset, with a Quad Core Krait 400 CPU which is clocked in at 2.5 GHz.
The Adreno 330 GPU handles all the graphics and games thrown at it with ease.

A suprising move by Samsung is that they have decieded to include a heart rate monitor. Yes a heart rate monitor, so now you can place your finger on the back of the phone and you can get your heart rate via the Samsung Health app.
The 2 GB RAM handles all the multi tasking as expeccted by any Samsung flagship.

The Camera:

The camera is a slightly bumped up 16 mega-pixel camera, which takes amazing pictures standing on par with the Note 3.
The flash on the back shares its place with the already mentioned heart rate monitor.
Samsung claims that the phone has the fastest autofocus time at 0.6 seconds. The burst mode is also amazingly impressive with the capacity to take around 30-50 shots in 3 seconds.

The camera software is also loaded with a whole lot of perks and softwares updates previously seen on other Samsung phones, along with the ability to shoot 4K video and dual photo mode.

The Operating System And Interface:

Android 4.4.2 running on the S5 is skinned with TouchWIZ.
The TouchWIZ skin makes it laggy at times that it makes you doubt wheter a 5.1 inch super powered chipset is running it or not.

The Samsung Magazine UI is powered by Flipboard is poor in comparision to the BlinkFeed running on the HTC One M8.
Sansung Health app is  a full fledged apo that tells you everything from the number of steps you covered to what you must be eating to watch your calorie intake. It also works in close association with the heart rate monitor.

Battery, Pricing, Colors:

The 2800 mAh, removable-replaceable battery gets the phone through a complete day or maybe 2 with normal usage. And just in case you forget to charge your phone, there is crazy Ultra Battery saver mode that converts your phone to a pretty basic but survivable mode.

The S5 is available for $199 on contract on just about every network provider out there and around $650-$700 off contract for the unlocked version.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is available in Black, White and an ugly Blue backed, black bezeled variant.

Conclusion:

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is definitely a top of the line high end phone. But its not what I; or many of us expected from Samsung.

Sure there is microscopically bigger screen, a 16 mega-pixel screen, but there is nothing that makes us jump on it and buy it regardless the $700 price range. It lacks the WOW factor that the Note 3 or the HTC One M8 had.

So thats our review on the Samsung Galaxy S5.

Stay tuned for the reviews on the Samsung Galaxy Fit, Microsoft Phone 8.1 and much more.

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Sarthak J Shetty

Editor In Chief

HTC One M8: The Term Beast Redefined

HTC has been dormant for quite a while. After the success of the One M7 it has been quitely rolling out small products that have not caught the limelight as much as the M7.
Thats gone now for sure with the release of the M8.

HTC One M8: What's New:

First of all the appearence is excedingly like the M7 while you have a quick glance. But on a closer inspection you can see that the new brushed aluminium body is curved at the lateral corners, make it feel more present in your hand, but at the same time makes you feel that the phone will slip at any moment.

The Display:

The display is a Full HD 5.0 inch panel with a resolution of 1920x1080 with a pixel density of 441 ppi.

It may not be the best screen on paper, but its a sure treat for the eyes, with the right amount of image saturation and the best viewing angles that you can find right now in the market.

The Internals:

The CPU running this beast of a phone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801. Its a Quad-Core Krait 400 Chipset clocked in at around 2.3GHz.

The Adreno 330 GPU is top of the line and ahandles all the graphics beautifully rendering colors with the right saturation.
The 2 GB RAM doesn't rival the Note 3 on paper but handles multi-tasking just as good.

The Camera:

The camera is the biggest upgrade the M8 has over the M7 .
There are two camera apertures placed one atop the other.
The main camera has a 4 Ultra-Pixel sensor, simillar to that on the M7. Its good but  HTC could've (Should've) improved on this bit as it would have made a huge update over the M7.

The 2nd camera acts as a depth determiner in order to provide better pictures depth wise and also provides an added functionallity simillar to that of a Lytro, which means that you can focus images after they have been captured.
The front camera features a 5 Mega-Pixel sensor, (which functions sometimes BETTER than the back facing shooter).

Storage:

The M8 has an internal storage capacity of 10 GB which can be expanded to upto 128 GB via micro-SD, which again was one of the much required update over last years M7.

Operating System And Software:

The One runs on Google's latest Android KitKat 4.4.2.. Skinning it is Android Sense 6, it appears somewhat bulky but less that last years versions of Sense 5.
HTC Zoe, Blinkfeed feature on it just the same.

The new M8 has been infused with several Motion detecting controls, all of which have been given the name HTC Motion Launch.
Now you can mute your phone,ringer with just a flip.
You can pick up a call just by lifting the phone. Also now the phone judges whether or not it is outside or in your pocket or bag and automatically adjusts the ringer volume.

Colors, Battery, Accessories And Pricing:

The phone is available in three colors, Gun Metal Grey, Glacial Silver and Stealth Black.
The M8 has also been announced with an awesome touch-sensitive Dot Case, stay tuned for its review too.

The 2600 mAh battery provides 20 hours of battery life on paper and 420 hours or so on standby.
The HTC One M8 is avaiable for around $700 dollars in the US.

So thats our review on the HTC One M8.

Stay tuned for the review on Windows Phone 8.1, Samsung Gear Fit and also on the Samsung Galaxy S5.

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Sarthak J Shetty
Editor In Chief

 

Android KitKat 4.4-Next Billion Users For Android?

Android 4.4 "KitKat"-Revamping Android For The Better:

At midnight, Google released the much anticipated LG Nexus 5. Which is all good. It was released with a ton of new features, and among the new features one of them was, of course the equally anticipated and rumored Android 4.4 KitKat.

We were given a sneakpeak of Android 4.4 KitKat when Google put up a promotional video for it on video ,which incidentally also gave the world the first glimpse of the Nexus 5.

The Changes:

The main changes that you can notice the moment you unlock your phone are the changes done to the status bar and the system buttons on the bottom of the screen. You can easily notice that the status bar is transparent now instead of it being completely opaque. The system buttons also lie on a transparent background. It really gives the entire interface a clean finish.

Another phenomenal change is that the Touchless Control which we saw the first time we saw on the Moto X has been integrated into Android 4.4. But, it is currently available only in the Nexus 5. This function can be toggled by saying "Ok Google".

The dialer has also undergone a massive change. The change is that, if you receive a call from an unknown number, Google will basically act as a phonebook and automatically look-up the number on Google Maps and it will provide you the name associated with that number and will also provide you an image of that business. the new dialer app also organizes your contacts on the basis of who you have contacted the most.

The Tweaks:

The major tweak that Android 4.4 undergone is that, now Hangouts has been integrated with your SMS app which provides a more centralized system for all your messages.
Emoji have become very popular among the younger generation, so obviously Google has provided the option to insert Emoji into your texts just about anywhere.
You can also print documents on your phone via an HP ePrint Printer without any wires, provided the printer that your using is connected to Google Cloud Print.
Another tweak can easily be noticed if you are playing music. The artwork of the song which you are playing will appear in the background of your lockscreen.
From now on, if you are reading a book/magazine or playing a game Android will portray that on the entire screen without any system buttons or your status bar; and you can get back your status bar and your system buttons by taping on the screen.
This used to be quite a hindrance since in the older versions of Android you had to shut down the app you were using to check your notifications.

The System Changes:

The root system has also undergone a couple of changes.
Google has stated on the official KitKat page that they have provided new Ultra-Fast Wi-Fi connectivity which provides better Data Transfer.

Android 4.4 KitKat will also provide lower end smartphones a feature which resembles NFC but is not exactly NFC. This will open several new options pertaining to NFC to plenty of lower end smartphones.
Other changes in connectivity include support for Bluetooth MAP.
Support for the recently launched ChromeCast is also a new addition.

Compatibility:

Google has stated that Android 4.4 KitKat will support all phones running Android provided that they have a minimum RAM of 512 MB.

However Google has stated that the Nexus S and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will not receive the 4.4 update which kind of removes the "Nexus" part from the devices.

The Verdict:

Android 4.4 KitKat will definitely provide Android with those next 1 billion users that it is aiming for, provided that manufacturers get the compatibility clause right and manage to successfully provide lower end smartphones the same experience that one would get on higher end devices.

 Google should also make sure that the 4.4 update will be put out in time.
All in all we think that this is a really neat, clean and refreshing new look given to Android and it will be a good thing for Google if it manages to play the cards right.

So that's our review on the newly revealed Android 4.4 KitKat.
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You can head over to the official page for Android 4.4 KitKat by clicking here.

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(Video From MKBHD)

Sarthak J Shetty
Editor In Chief

Nexus 5-It's Finally Here

LG Nexus 5-The Most Anticipated Phone Of 2013:

Yes, waiting till midnight in anticipation for the new LG Nexus 5 has finally paid off. My mouth literally began to froth when that mail stating that the new Nexus had been launched appeared on my Notification shade. Google announced the device and is already flying off shelves. So lets take a look at the device.

Display:

Oh My God! The Nexus 5 has an amazing display which is right up with the display's of other high end devices. It features a 4.95 inch screen with a 1920x1080 resolution with a pixel density of 445 ppi (Wow, just Wow). The screen is Full HD. It looks amazing on video. The screen is protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 3. The screen is one of the biggest upgrades from last year's Nexus phone, and it will be one of this year's biggest selling points.

Internal Specs:

Every year, people don't expect a "Nexus" device to have high-end specs especially considering their price point at around $299-$349 but this year all of that has changed, not only with the Nexus 7 but with the Nexus 5. The chipset on-board is Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 800, which features a 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Krait CPU. The chip responsible for rendering graphics is an Adreno 330. The RAM on-board amounts to 2 GB. With these specs this phone is a flagship and it is undoubtedly one of THE best phones of 2013-2014 (alongside most leaked and most anticipated).

Operating System:

Android KitKat 4.4 (stay tuned for the review) goes official with the Nexus 5 being the first device to feature it. It includes hundreds of new updates, including Touch-less control, Ultra fast Wi-Fi and also a neat feature which acts as a Pseudo-NFC function which lets devices lacking NFC mimic NFC even though its not exactly NFC.

It also includes several incremental upgrades regarding the appearance of the homescreens mainly the status bar has been made cleaner since it is transparent and also the system button's background has been made fully transparent and also the blog post on KitKat has also stated that there is change in the font.

Battery:

The battery onboard is Non-Removable with a capacity of 2300 mAh. The battery is a Li-Po. It offers 17 hours of talk time and 300 hours of standby.

Camera:

The primary camera on the back features an 8 mega-pixel sensor with Optical Image Stabilization which is an interesting add-on considering that this device has a really low price point considering its specifications. The secondary camera on front has a 1.3 MP sensor to capture selfies all day.
It can also shoot 1080p video.

Connectivity:

The biggest leap from last years Nexus 4 in terms of connectivity is the fact that this year's Nexus features a 4G LTE band. The Wi-Fi also has a special feature and Google has stated that it will provide Ultra-Fast connectivity. It is also enabled with wireless charging capabilities without the need of an external case or receiver. It also has Bluetooth 4.0 LE.
It also features the SlimPort technology which acts as a receiver for a mini HDMI cable.

Accessories:

Yes, it is Google's "resolution" this year that it will sell certified accessories made by Google itself to ensure that it is a perfect fit for your device. There are 2 types of cases available for the Nexus 5. One is a bumper type case and the other, is a flip case which covers the Nexus 5 entirely. The bumper case is available in white, yellow, red and black.

Price And Color:

The Nexus 5 is retailing for about $349 for the 16 GB model off contract and goes all the way upto $399 for the 32 GB model. As of enough the 16 GB model is already sold out, whereas the 32 GB model is shipping from the warehouse after 3 or more weeks.
The Nexus 5 is available in 2 colors that is black and white and is available as of right know from the Google Play Store and you can purchase it from here.

You can check out more information about Nexus 5 here.
You can check out more information of Android KitKat here.

So that's our review on the LG Nexus 5, stay tuned for the hands-on video of the Nexus 5 and also for the review on Android 4.4 KitKat.
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(Video 1 From The Verge)

Sathak J Shetty
Editor In Chief

Nexus 5-In The Rumor Mill Again

LG Nexus 5-Most Anticipated Device Of 2013 ?

The Nexus 5 has got to be this years most highly anticipated and the most leaked phone. Everyday my News Feed is filled with more and more leaks. Even my YouTube subscriptions are posting about the Nexus 5.

It all began when a promotional video for Android KitKat was posted by Google on YouTube. The video basically showed us the giant Android character resembling the popular chocolate treat being posted in Google's Head-Quarters at Mountain View, California. But if the video is looked at more carefully we can see an individual holding a phone with the "Nexus" branding imprinted horizontally, which we already have seen previously in the Nexus 7.


Immediately after this was noticed the Tech Community went nuts and screenshots of this moment began popping up everywhere on the Internet.
This device was leaked to the extent that it even briefly appeared in Google's Play Store. And of course it was taken down some time later.
After a few hours this video was taken down from YouTube by Google (obviously).
After the initial sighting of the mystery device, many renders were posted by a variety of websites. And soon later even leaks of the Nexus 5 emerged oddly enough, clearly confirming that a new Nexus was in the making, and yes it will be made by LG who were also responsible for making last years highly successful Nexus 4.

The release of this device was further concretized by the fact that several different types of cases made specifically for the Nexus 5 have already made their way to several web-sites.

So that's our thoughts on the yet be released LG Nexus 5.
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You can also check out a lot more news about the Nexus 5 by heading over to TechnoBuffalo's page on it which you can get to by clicking here.

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(Video From MKBHD)

Sarthak J Shetty
Editor In Chief