Samsung Gear Fit Review

Samsung recently released its new Samsung Gear Fit, an upgrade from last year's Samsung Gear Smartwatch. The company hopes that it will appeal to not only new customers but also people who own fitness gears from other companies like Fit Bit, and persuade them into switching over their peroducts.

So here is our review on the Samsung Gear Fit.

The Design:

The Fit features Samsung's cutting edge "Youm" screen technology, which means that the screen is bent and curved, making it more comfortable to wear. The actual watch head is kind of thick and its back panel also features a heart rate monitor, like that on the Samsung Galaxy S5.
The screen is also quite thin resembling a Nike Fuel Band.

The rubber strap on board is compfortable, even while you are sweating and doesn't make your skin itch. The strap is also interchable in case you decide to try a new color.
There are contacts on the back panel, beside the heart rate monitor which latch on to the provided USB cable which lets you review your workout on your desktop or PC.

The Interface:

The interface is a bit quirky, the default screen orientation is horizontal, making it uncomfortable to view the actual screen of the Fit; however there is a setting that lets you orient the display vertically. But that means that your texts, Twitter feet etcetra are a lot more condensed.
The Samsung Health app featured on the the Fit is not that great either. The pedometer is not calibrated correctly, which means that you are awarded a lot more steps than you have achieved.

Also the heart monitor doesn't deliver the right results corresponding to your actual activity.
It also acts as a virtual coach, tracking your fitness, setting up challenges, and also awarding you while completing those challenges.
It also monitors your sleep.
But the Fit is not good at what it intends to do. You have to order it to track your steps or to monitor your workout, or even check on your sleep. You even have to tell it that you are about to sleep, and well that you have woken up

The Display:

The Fit's 1.84 inch curved display is vibrant, bright and good to look at, especially in broad daylight (where you should hopefully be exercising).

The Super AMOLED curved display serves its purpose, but thedimensions are not upto the mark, producing awkward and bad viewing angles.

Compatibility:

The Geat Fit only works which a select few Samsung phones. It requires the Gear manager, an app that is compatible with only a few phones.
It works hand in hand with the S Health app, which debuted last year on the S4, but it still feels like a an app out of Kick Starter.
The app is not as good as those offered by Jawbone or Fit Bit.

The Experience:

The Fit's awkward screen dimensions doesn't let you view full lenght texts, emails or even notifications.
It just lets you clear the notifications from your phone, giving you no ability to reply or even view the whole of the message.
There are just a hand full of standard one liner templates that let you reply to messages. The messages also require constant scrolling, which is a pain.

The battery lasts upto 2 or 3 days (if you're lucky) and charging it using the charging adapter is really a challenge in itself.
If you need to view the time you have to physically tap the side-button or raise the watch to a set angle or height. The responsiveness is just not there. It takes half a second for the Fit to realize that you have to view the time.

Pricing And Conclusion:

The Fit is priced at $199, which is a good price but makes you wonder if whether you really are getting what you are paying for.
Sure the screen is good and the strap is comfortable, but at the core it fails to complete the purpose for which it was made; tracking your day to day fitness.

So thats our review on the Samsung Gear Fit.

Stay tuned for the review on Cortana and the whole of the Windows Phone 8.1 platform.

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Sarthak J Shetty
Editor In Chief

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

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1-The Super Speced Tablet

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition-The Beast Of A Tablet:

The Note series from Samsung has been highly successful since its introduction with the Note 1 all the way through to the Note 3.

Samsung has also started the Note 10.1 series which include high performing tablets, mainly to rival Apple's iPad. The Note 10.1 2014 is no exception to this clause.
So here is the review of the New Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1.

Display:

As the name suggests the Note 10.1 features a 10.1 inch scree.
The display is Full HD with a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels with an average pixel density of 299 ppi.

The screen's have been greatly emphasized upon by Samsung and it always strives to make them such that hey always stand out. The Note 10.1's screen is no exception. It provides brilliant eye popping colors which seem to be hard to find in most tablets on the market.

Internal Specs:

The chipset running the 10.1 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, featuring a Quad-Core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 CPU in the LTE model and a Quad Core 1.9 GHz Cortex A15 and a Quad-Core  GHz Cortex A7 CPU for the 3G model.

The Adreno 330 GPU handles the graphics.
The 3 GB RAM onboard is more than sufficient for handling any kind of processes or multi-tasking.
The Note 10.1 also features an IR blaster, which gives you the ability to control your TV.

Operating System And Connectivity:

The Note 10.1 features Samsung's TouchWiz skin which is built on top of Android 4.3 "JellyBean".
Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP on the Note 10.1 allows you to connect with Samsung's Galaxy Gear.
Wi-Fi and 3G bands are also present.
4G LTE is available in select markets depending on the country in which you live.

Built Quality:

The Note 10.1 appears to have a premium built, but its still Samsung and as a result most of the device is made of plastic but it is still feels like a premium tablet when you hold it in your hands.

There is a metal band that runs throughout the body on the sides.
The back has a similar finish as the Note 3 which looks like stitched leather but it too is plastic.

Camera:

The primary camera on the back has an 8 mega-pixel sensor which auto-focusing.
Its a camera on a tablet, but it is a bit disappointing that it lacks Optical Image Stabilization in such a heavy speced device.

he secondary camera on the front has a 2 mega-pixel sensor which can facilitate video calling.
Both the camera can shoot 1080p video @ 30 frames-per-second but the primary camera on the LTE model can shoot 1080p camera at 60 frames-per-second.

Memory:

The device is available in 16, 32 and 64 GB on basis of memory. The memory can be expanded upto 64 GB with the help of a microSD card.

Battery, Color and Price:

The Non-Removable Li-Polymer battery has a capacity of 8220 mAh.
It provides 2230 hours of standby time, which is pretty decent. But we have to test and review the device to give the actual hours that it will provide on standby.

Its available on White and Black. Pink is not an option in the 10.1 which was available in the Note 3.
The Note 10.1 is retailing for about $547.99 for the 16 GB white model from Amazon, and you can purchase it from here.

Conclusion:

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is an amazing device which performs like a beast. The specs are amazing on paper and in usage.
Its main competitor in the tech community is obviously Nokia's Lumia 2520 and the Apple iPad Air, both of which are equally speced and powerful.
However we think that Samsung should have paid more attention to the built quality of the 10.1, especially when the price goes upto $600.

You can check out the review on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 here.
You can check out the review on the Nokia Lumia 2520 here.
You can check out the review on the Apple iPad Air here.

So that's our review on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition.
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Sarthak J Shetty
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LG G2-Watchout Note 3

Note 3 finally has a competitor-Introducing the LG G2:

Lets admit that LG until recent times was in pretty bad shape. Then came along the partnership with Google which brought one of the best Android phones in the history of Android. And now LG is in full swing and we now have one beautiful looking phone, the G2.

Looks And Body:

We decided to deviate from the normal format beginning with the display because this phone just looks amazing. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this phone looks and feels in your hands.
First of all "Dat Bezel". Its amazing how LG has made the bezel so thin which makes the phone looks really beautiful, just aesthetically pleasing. The bag also has some new features mainly (and LG is endorsing this feature a lot)  the two buttons with a button in between , which functions as a volume toggle and at the same time i believe that it lets you scroll between pages and your index

finger just naturally positions itself on these two buttons that it makes you feel why they never introduced it earlier.
You can also separately purchase a case for it which has a square cut-out in it which provides its own functionality.

Display:

The display is beautiful. Stunning. Eye Candy. Colorful. And this screen wonderfully compliments the color scheme of LG's new skin. Even though the skin looks chunky its colors are beautiful expressed through this 5.2 inch 1080x1920 screen with a pixel density of 424 ppi (yes it is a 5.2 inch screen with 424 ppi).
It is also protected with Corning's Gorilla Glass 3 for additional protection cause this phone looks really delicate if not fragile.

Internal Specs:

The specs inside this beast absolutely smashes benchmarks. Especially due to the fact that it has Qualcomm's newest and best chipset the Snapdragon 800 which is a Quad-Core processor clocked at around 2.2 GHz and the CPU is specifically a Krait 400.
The GPU running the graphics is the Adreno 330.

Camera:

Camera on this is amazing. It takes amazingly detailed pictures. The sensor is 13 MP. But what makes the photo taking experience not as good as the Note 3 or the S4 is the fact that the camera software isn't all that intuitive. Other than that its all thumbs up from me. It also has Optical Image Stabilization, HDR, and face detection.
The secondary camera features a 2.1 MP sensor.

Connectivity:

It features the regular I/O such as Bluetooth 4.0,Wi-Fi following in the footsteps of the latest Galaxy Devices it too features an Infra Red port.

Colors, Price And Battery:

The phone is available in two main colors, White and Black (classic).
You can buy the phone for about $580 unlocked from Amazon here.

Conclusion:

With LG's new direction the LG G2 is definitely the way to go. With its chart tearing specs it is definitely a phone to be reckoned with.

So that's my review on the LG G2.
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Samsung Galaxy Note 3-Bigger Is Better

Introducing The Big Kid On The Block....

So these two months ought to be written down in the books of tech. The Nexus 7 2013 version, HTC One Max (Review Coming Soon), iPad Air, iPad Mini with Retina Display, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition and now the Samsung Galaxy Gear and now the Galaxy Note 3.

The Note line doesn't need any introduction. What started off with the Note 1 (which was an experiment by Samsung for those of you who did not know) turned into a revolution that started the
entire "phablet" industry hence. With the its highly accomplished Note 1 and Note 2 Samsung gave us along with the Samsung Gear the Note 3.

Display:

If you thought that last years note was the biggest it could get, think again. Samsung has stretched the bounds of screen expansion with a humongous 5.7 inch Full HD Super AMOLED screen.
The pixel density is pretty darn good at nearly 386 ppi. "That's A Lot Of Pixels"-Marques K Brownlee.

Internal Specs:

The chipset has two variants depending on where you live. The two chipsets featuring are Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 or Samsung's very own Exynos Octa 5 5420.
This also happens to be the very first phone on the market with 3 GB onboard RAM.
If you couple these two you will basically get a pair that smash, destroy, and crumble benchmarks.

The graphics unit on the Note 3 is an Adreno 330 or a Mali T628 MP6, again depending on where you live.
It has the regular sensors onboard along with an additional barometer and a thermometer.

Memory:

It is available in three variants based on siz
e that is 16, 32 or 64 Gb which can further be expanded to 64 GB via microSD card.

Connectivity:

Continuing the trend of the latest Galaxy Line-Up the Note 3 also features an InfraRed port which helps you to control your television via your phone/phablet (depending on how big your hands are).
It features Bluetooth 4.0 and exclusively supports the New Samsung Galaxy Gear.

Camera:

The camera on this thing is Mind Blowing!
What Samsung has done is it has taken amazing sensors, great appeture's tec and coupled it with an easy to use, intuitive, amazingly freshening camera software/interface.
It features a 13 MP camera which takes amazing pictures both in broad daylight and at night, which makes it an one of the best (or even the best) smartphone camera around easily smashing the S4, the iPhone 5s (review coming soon), HTC One right out of the ballpark.

Colors And Price:

It is available in the regular Black & White but along with an interesting addition this year that is pink (I kid you not, it is pink).

You can buy the Note 3 from Amazon at $700, off contract for the 32 GB White here.

S-Pen:

We know that no Note series phone can come to end with speaking about its characteristic feature that is of course the S-Pen.
This years Note come with its own bundle of goodies pertaining to the S-Pen.
Including a fancy menu that pops up when you knida hover the S-Pen above the Note's screen
A lot of functionality has been added to the calender and the email apps where you can hover over individual sections to give information about that particular mail or date.

Conclusion:

We think that The Note 3 is already a Runaway Success. There is one or another thing that will definitely stun or "wow" every person.
It can be the 8 core processor "wowing" the geeks, or the amazing camera that will awe the shutterbugs or even the S-Pen which will of great use for people on the go.

So that's my review on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
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Sarthak J Shetty
Editor In Chief