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.
The Worlds Most Customizable Phone Is (Finally) Here:
If you have been a prolonged reader of the blog you will remember the Rumor Mill Post we had posted on the Moto X a while back, which you can find here. Now its finally here and as it turns out the rumors are true, and the truth has turned out to be even better.
Yes, we know that it has been quite a while since the Moto X has released but we recently got our hands on it for review purposes.
At first glance an ordinary person may think that it is normal phone. But the key selling point of the Moto X is that it is highly customizable. You can choose between a variety of back panels from a dimple finish to a matte finish which are further available in a spectrum of colors.
The from panel is available in two classic colors-Black and White. The color of the accents can also be chosen.
Whats even more fascinating is that Motorola is offering 3 different types of cases to compliment your own, personal Moto X which is also available in several colors ! (heights Of customization).
Motorola has also partnered with SOL which makes amazing headphones, which lets you purchase headphones of different colors to compliment your phone. Wow! More so you can also choose the color of your charger even though its black and white.
The phone can be customized online at the Moto Maker.
Even though this phone is meant for customization it packs some pretty decent specs for a smartphone.
Display:
The display is pretty good we might say. But what really enriches the viewing experience is the fact that those bezels on either side of the screen are so thin. Just as predicated in the rumors.
The phone features a 4.7 inch screen with has a resolution of 720x1280 with a pixel density of 312 ppi.
Camera:
The Camera on board the Moto X features a 10 mega-pixel sensor which takes pretty decent shots and likewise for videos.
The secondary camera on the front has a 2 mega-pixel sensor.
Internal Specs And Operating System:
The Moto X features Qualcomm's Snapdragon MSM8960Pro chipset which features a Dual-Core 1.7 GHz Krait processor.
The Graphics unit featured onboard is an Adreno 320.
The RAM onboard amounts to 2 GB which is pretty decent.
The device features Android 4.2.2 Jelly-Bean out of the box. The user interface is basically gives the user a Nexus experience other than a few changes which can be noticed as in the camera app and a couple of other areas because at the end of the day this is Google's And Motorola's phone.
Storage And Connectivity:
The phone is available in two variants that is 16 and 32 GB.
The major features that distinguish it from LG's Nexus 4 is the customization (No Doubt) and the fact that the Moto X features LTE connectivity.
Other then that the specs are pretty much identical.
Pricing And Assembly:
The Moto X is retailing for about $199 on-contract which is pretty expensive since the Nexus 4 is retailing for about $199 off-contract in the Play Store.
At the end of the day the experience onboard the Moto X is flawless. But as we know the main feature that distinguishes itself from its competitors is the degree customization available.
The reason why we included the heading assembly is because this phone is entirely assembled in the US which is kind of a big deal considering that nearly 90% of modern day phones are manufactured and assembled overseas.
So that's our review on Motorola's Moto X.
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PhoneBloks And Project Ara The Next Step In Smartphone Revolution:
A few months ago a YouTube video called PhoneBloks went viral. The basic concept of PhoneBlocks was the idea of modular smartphones. Modular smartphones means that you can customize each and every part of your phone. And the main theme of such an idea was the fact that there would be no such thing as "outdated" with such phones. For example if you are a more of a Cloud storage guy you can replace your onboard storage with a bigger battery. Say you need a bigger battery you can replace your camera with it. And as the times change you can change the parts. Like, if an onboard Augmented Reality sensor comes into play you can add that part by replacing your gyroscope and like wise.
The Idea:
So now Motorola aka Google has introduced a similar concept under the name of "Project Ara". At the roots it is not much different from the concept of PhoneBloks. In fact it is the exact same thing.
It basically proposes that you can possess a smartphone whose each and every component can be changed to suit your needs.
Project Ara Meets PhoneBloks:
Now the difference between this idea and the concept of PhoneBloks is that Project Ara is an idea propagated by a major manufacturer whereas the former is just an idea proposed by a YouTuber by the name of Dave Hakkens. And his idea has been well received by over 370 million people. Within 24 hours of him posting the video the entire Tech community went bezerk. Everyone was talking about it.
But yesterday, Motorola at a press event stated that it too was working on a similar Modular Smartphone idea for over an idea.
And ever since Dave and Motorola have created a partnership in an attempt to make Project Ara a reality.
You can check out the entire Motorola Blog post on Project Ara here.
So that's our thoughts on Project Ara and PhoneBloks.
You can check out MKBHD's video on PhoneBloks here.
You can also check out his impressions on Project Ara here.
You can also check out the next step in PhoneBloks here.
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Yes, it has been a long time since iOS 7 has released but we decided to give you a more in-depth review by thoroughly reviewing the Mobile Operating System.
Even though iOS 7 does look better, it can be clearly observed that it still carries the traits of the first version iOS with a few tweaks here and there and a few animations.
New Tweaks:
Firstly the lock-screen has been given a new avatar, with no trace of the sliding bar that we were so used to.
Instead there is a plain and simple screen with a live wallpaper in the background which looks strikingly similar to the live wallpapers found in the Nexus devices.
We still have to slide the screen to unlock the device but we are given a much more clean interface with an opaque floating display for the time. Another surprising feature of the lock-screen which looks to be "borrowed" from Android is the fact that you can swipe to the right to get something like the lock-screen widgets which was first introduced in Android 4.2.
On unlocking the device the icons appear on the screen with an animation that was previously not observed.
The animation give the viewer an effect that the icons are arriving from beyond the screen.
Icons:
Speaking of the icons, this is area where iOS has undergone most of its "Glossy-Makeup". The icons appear more colorful and animated adding a palette of color to the otherwise dull homescreens of iOS.
The homescreens are also sensitive to movement and you can experience this by moving the device which will also cause the icons to move in the same fashion, giving the icons, and indirectly the homescreen a 3D dimension.
Control Center:
Apart from this a striking feature of the homescreens is a small tab on the bottom of the screen which if you swipe up gives you access to one of the newly introduced features of iOS 7 which is Control Center.
It is very similar to the notification shade found in almost every version of Android right from the sta
rt.
It gives you access to various functions and also the toggles for the various settings such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Flashlight etc.
App Interface:
The stock apps are also give a certain revamp. The main apps which have undergone this change is mainly the calender app, the weather app and the calculator to name a few.
The weather app really awed us and clearly distinguished itself from the other apps. The animations and the sheer thought that has gone into making the new version of the app has can be clearly seen. The moment you press weather icon, depending on the weather of the region you are, the animation will be shown accordingly.
In the press event, they gave the example of a region and the animations awed us and it looked like the sequences were taken straight from a J.K Rowling book. It also makes us recall the animations which were seen in the initial versions of Sense which is HTC's skin atop Android.
The calender and the calculator app have clean, simple and white interface's which makes it that much more easier to use.
Notification Shade And The Little Things:
The notification shade is also made cleaner from the chunky and untidy notification shade which made its entry in iOS 6.0.
Apple has also paid attention to the little things such as the signal "bar" which is replaced with 5 circles which indicate, well the signal strength.
Another striking point to be noted is the fact that the Spotlight feature that used to feature to the left of the main homescreens can no longer be seen.
All in all we believe that iOS 7 has brought some new features to the table and might continue to impress the general population but it still carries the same interface that was seen right from its first version. The floating icons fixed in the grid of the homescreens and the Slide To Unlock Lockscreen. It still gives us a reminiscent of the idea of iOS and its simple intuitive interface.
So that's our review on iOS 7, which also happ
ens to be our first operating system review. Stay tuned for the review on the Mavericks OS.
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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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We were so used to those dull white, gray and black shades from Apple that we never even expected much on the color grounds from it. But imagine our surprise when leaks of a new, cheaper iPhone made its way from Apple's HQ to the Internet. And the Colors ! They looked like typical candy store colors hence the "C" in the name.
Display:
The 5c has a 4.0 inch screen with a resolution of about 640x1136 with a decent pixel density of 326 ppi.
Even though the screen doesn't have so good specs it looks pretty darn good with decent color saturation.
Internal Specs:
The 5c has specs which has specs which are pretty comparable to the the specs of the 4s and to a certain extent even pretty similar to the specs of the iPhone 5.
The RAM onboard has a capacity of 1 GB
The chipset onboard is Apple's very own A6, which features a dual-core 1.3 GHz Swift CPU, and PowerVR SGX 543MP3 GPU which offers "meh" performance.
But we know that Apple products don't need killer specs to perform really well, just like all the Windows Phone's.
Camera:
The primary camera features an 8 MP which has a LED flash and also has auto-focusing functionality.
It includes all the standard features like HDR, Panorama etc.
The secondary camera on the front has an 1.2 MP secondary which is decent for a secondary camera.
Memory, Price,Battery and Colors:
On the basis of memory it features two main variants that is 16 and 32 GB. They are also prices accordingly at from $549 all the way upto $649.
"C" stands for color hence, it is available in 6 main colors that is red, yellow, blue, green, black and white.
There is also cases available in the same colors too, which have a kind of dotted appearance.
Conclusion:
Apple is trying to spear-head the low-budget market by pricing this phone a bit less than its flagship which is the 5s. But all in all it is a decent phone, if you are searching for a replacement for your current iPhone but have a low budget you can most definitely go for the iPhone 5c.
So that's our review on the Apple iPhone 5c.
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iPad's have been here for a long time and ever since their release they have been leading the baton in tablet innovation and technology. But the recent models of the iPad where good, but they lacked the luster that the first iPad had, cause lets admit it was PRETTY spectacular. But is the 2013 iPad's here to change all that ?
Lets See.
Display:
Every iPad has had a jaw-dropping, crystal clear display right from the beginning, and this iPad in all its Retina-Display glory is no exception. With a 9.7 inch, 1536x2048 resolution screen with a pixel density maxed out at 264 ppi it is one of the better looking screens's in the market.
It doesn't feature Corning's Gorilla Glass which is a shame, considering that you have to be extra careful because it looks like a pretty delicate gadget.
Internal Specs:
The iPad air features Apple's traditional A7 Chipset featuring a Dual-Core 1.3 GHz Cyclone.
The Graphics on the iPad is powered by PowerVR G6430 which is quad-core GPU for those who are interested. It features an average 1 GB RAM.
But from time to time products like the Lumia and the i devices prove that you don't need paper shredding specs for amazingly smooth and fast interface.
Battery:
What does it take to run a mammoth of a device like this ? Surprisingly not much. Just a 32.4 Wh Non-Removable Li-ion battery.
Operating System:
The iPad Air features the newest version of iOS that is iOS 7.0.2 right out of the box. For a detailed review on iOS 7, please wait for a detailed review.
Memory and Variants:
There are 4 different variants available on the basis of memory which includes 16, 32, 64 and 128 GB.
Among these you also have the option to choose between Wi-Fi as well as 4G LTE. They are also priced accordingly.
Colors and Price:
It is available in two colors that is, Space Gray and silver.
It is retailing for about $499 which is starting price and runs all the way upto $929. Yes it will definitely burn some holes in your pockets, but iPad's are always known for their ridiculous price tags. If you are searching for a cheaper tablets you can check out the Nexus 7 here.
Conclusion:
Almost all Apple products are concentrated at a particular audience the
y do really well in those audience. However Apple is making several attempts to try to appease the lower budget crowds with the introduction of the iPhone 5c and the iPad Mini with Retina-Display. Keep tuned to this space for reviews on the iPhone 5c and the iPad Mini.
So that's our review on the Apple iPad Air
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