BSTechReviews

Netflix vs Amazon Prime

2018-02-18T09:17:00.002-08:00

So Netflix launched in India back in 2016 where they had big plans to capture a large number of subscriber. Netflix for people who do not know is an Online Movie Streaming Platform which lets you select from a large database of Movies in Standard Definition, High Definition as well as newly introduced Ultra High Definition. Amazon Prime Video also launched along with Netflix back in the year 2016, which is not far back. Amazon Prime Video does not have such an exhaustive database as Netflix but it does the job to provide quality entertainment at a very low cost.

Image Credits: TechRadar

CONTENT
Netflix and Prime Video has a very large database of movies. But the major distribution of content is done by Netflix in terms of volume. At-least in India Netflix seems to have a larger choice of movies as compared to Amazon. I did a lot of search for some movies that I could find on Netflix and not on Prime.

However the way licensing and distribution works is a bit different. Just like brands may choose a particular platform to exclusively market their products. In the similar way, Prime Video has a lot of exclusive content that is only available on its platform. Similarly Netflix has its own set of programmes that are co-produced, produced and distributed by Netflix itself and these would mostly be TV Programs and Seasons. For a person who likes watching a lot of serials, programs with seasons, Netflix is the right choice for you. They have a good collection of movies as well.

Prime Video might not offer so much in terms of the content relating to TV Serials or Episodes.

PRICING

Image Credits: MediaNama

Amazon Prime Video is free for users who are Amazon Prime Members on their e-commerce website which just costs Rs. 500/- per year which is way cheaper than Netflix. But the pricing is likely to change in the near future.

WHERE TO WATCH?
You can watch movies on either of these apps or the web platform available on the App Store and Play Store. The app is absolutely free to download but the subscription costs money through in-app purchases.

Prime Video is also available through the Amazon Fire Stick device , which is similar to Google Chromecast.

Netflix - Android , iOS, Web.
Amazon Prime Video - Android , iOS, Web.

iPhone X Stopping Production?

2018-01-25T00:44:00.001-08:00

This is some hot news that is coming in from Ming Chi Kuo from his first report that iPhone X models will be stopped from production. Is that really true? Lets get into the depths of this to analyse things out here.

Image Credits: wccftech

The iPhone X was launched last year about in September 2017 and had a hype that was never before seen. The only reason we can see that the iPhone X models productions could be stopped is that Apple would definitely be launching edge to edge phones and tablets this year and then would have to sell the X at discounted prices which they prefer to stop production than sell at lower prices.

Later on Ming Chi Kuo made a followup on his statement as reported by MacRumours.

" iPhone X would hurt product brand value & lineup of 2H18 new models if it continues to sell at a lower price after 2H18 new models launch: Lowering iPhone X's price after the 2H18 new models launch would be a negative to product brand value given 3D sensing and OLED display are features of the new high-price model. Additionally, to sell iPhone X at a lower price may have a negative impact on shipments of the new 6.1" LCD iPhone in 2H18. Thus, we estimate iPhone X will reach end-of-life (EOL) around the middle of 2018. "

Ming Chi Kuo. Image Credits: Cultofmac

This proves the fact that definitely its not a confirmed news but just a prediction. Moreover people are more likely to use a bigger display edge to edge rather than using a smaller display since more and more big resolution displays are coming to the market.

There is expected to be 3 new models of iPhones that are to come in 2018, namely the iPhone X 2nd Generation with 5.8 inch display, the 6.1 Inch iPhone X with Face ID, and the biggest 6.5 inch 2nd Generation iPhone X Plus. But considering these lineups the X Plus will be mostly going above 1,00,000 figure in India. Let us know your views on this.

Image Credits: Mac Rumours

iPhone X: Best of Apple!

2018-01-25T00:25:00.001-08:00

The iPhone X had been my most awaited device since September 2017, and I had my doubts on whether to go for it. Unlike regularly that I jump straight at upgrading my iPhone every year on launch, this year I decided to sit back for about 3 months and weigh my choices on whether I should upgrade to the 8 or 8 Plus or the X.

Eventually the decision came down just 2 weeks back to go in for the Apple iPhone X. It truly is the best iPhone I have used till date. One main reason and the most striking difference that you will notice is the screen and the Super HD high Resolution display that makes images and videos pop out of the phone. At first I was finding difficulties using it because of the "Missing Home Button" and everything just works with Gestures. Once I got the hang of things now I don't seem to like using other iPhones.

The iPhone X comes with a 5.8 Inch Super Retina OLED Display - 2436x1125-pixel resolution at 458 ppi, a 1million: 1 contrast ratio. that melts completely around the corners except that it has a small little chin right on top in order to accommodate the front facing camera. Coming to the front facing camera, it features a 7 MP True Depth camera with an F 2.2 aperture and a front flash,Wide colour capture for photos and Live Photos, Auto HDR, Backside illumination sensor, Body and face detection, Auto image stabilisation, Burst mode, Exposure control, Timer mode. The best part about the front facing camera I love was FACE ID. It just never fails at any lighting condition and completely unreal. Anyways if the FACE ID is unable to detect your face you can always use the PIN. The device can register only 1 FACE ID, unlike the Touch ID which could register multiple finger prints. Advantage over the other iPhone models is that the X supports for Animoji, which is Apple's technology of animated emoticons using your facial expressions that you make.

The whole device is completely glass except that you get stainless steel sides and it follows all across the sides of the device. The device also has vertical cameras instead of horizontal I guess this was done deliberately to focus on AR applications as well as Portrait Camera mode which is popular on the iPhones. The rear facing camera is 12-megapixel wide-angle and telephoto lens with Wide-angle: ƒ/1.8 aperture and Telephoto: ƒ/2.4 aperture, Optical zoom & digital zoom up to 10x.

The iPhone X video capability is far beyond what other phones can offer and the most surreal part about it was the Slow motion video support for 1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps. You really need to use it to experience how good this is.

Just like its other siblings the iPhone X offers wireless charging and fast charging as well but as expected Apple does not ship either the wireless charge nor the fast charging adapter. You can buy fast charging adapters through Amazon or other website. It will cost at least 6,000 INR for a 30 W fast charger. You can go for after market charges at less than 50% the rate but then you suffer battery life over a period of time.

Image Credits: Apple Website.

The only sad part about all of this was the 92,430 INR that I paid. It does hurt, because considering the trend of users upgrading phones every year people do not want to keep spending 1000 USD every year just for a phone upgrade when their old phone just sells for less than 50% of the current price. You can get 2 variants of the iPhone X - Silver and Space Gray at 64 GB and 256 GB Storage variants. They would cost about Rs. 92,430/- and Rs. 1,05,720 /- respectively. They are sold via Flipkart, Amazon, JIO, Airtel and other retailers.

iPhone X Available starting TODAY!

2017-11-02T22:30:00.004-07:00

The long awaited iPhone X or the iPhone "10" is finally hitting the shelves today. Pre-Orders have turned into "Coming Soon" on Flipkart and Amazon, and this had happened last night. However, from the looks of it , there could be shortage of stock of this model, so its best that you either had Pre-ordered it from the start, or you can get your hands on it maybe by picking it from Abroad, or through a local iStore.

Image Credits: Apple Website and IBN live

Just to give you a gist of the iPhone X. The iPhone X is the 3rd variant in the line up of iPhones this year and it features a bezel-less design with more than 80% of Screen to Body Ration, thats one of the best in any kind of smartphone so far. It also sports the Apple A11 Bionic chip that destroyed benchmark results of the other devices on the market.

In addition to the above the iPhone X features the unique "Animoji" which uses your Facial Expressions to render motion on the device through animated Emoji's. This is the first by any smartphone company so far, and is primarily due to the Face ID based iPhone X. The iPhone X also does not have any home button, so if you want to use it, it has to be done using Gesture Controls only. The Dual-Cameras on the iPhone X is arranged vertically instead of horizontally. It seems that it is so as to accommodate internal space for the Dual OIS arrangement as well as it shows emphasis on their focus on "Portrait Photography". All Camera lovers are in for a treat with the "Portrait Lighting" which will feature with both the rear and the front cameras.

Image Credits: Apple Website

You also get the water resistance and glass back as the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus on the iPhone X, however in addition to this the side casing of the iPhone X is encompassed in a Metal frame giving it that premium look. The most stunning part of the iPhone X is the display , which they call the "Super Retina Display" that has a 1 Million : 1 contrast ration which is the best in any smartphone. It means that you get a very wide dynamic range of colours to view on the iPhone.

Image Credits: Apple Website

The iPhone X is available in 2 colours only - Space Gray and the Silver colour and each of them available in 64GB and 256GB variants ONLY. The 64GB variant costs about Rs. 89,000/- and the 256GB variant costs about Rs. 1,02,000/-.

Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL!

2017-10-30T00:14:00.002-07:00

We saw the Pixel and Pixel XL last year that marked Google's entry into the Flagship Smartphone market. They even bought the HTC mobile business this year as well. However, following lot of criticism last year with the Pixel's simplistic design, the software on the Pixel won the hearts of many. This year the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL was launched right about this month.

Image Credits: Forbes

The Pixel 2 and 2 XL have noticeable differences from the last year's models as well as they differ in terms of design and specs within each other. So the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL themselves have a revamped design and specs. The first thing that you will notice on the new Pixel 2 as compared to last year's Pixel is that the glass portion that covered the fingerprint scanner has now moved above the fingerprint scanner and gives it a different look and feel. The camera sensors also look quite bigger as compared to the last years variants.

Image Credits: Android Authority

You can also notice an "Orange" coloured power toggle switch this time, and NO "Headphone Jack". The Pixel 2 also follows the same bezel-less design as the S8, S8 Plus and the Note 8. In fact, it has a really refreshing look from last year's design.

Now coming to the differences between the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL. The most striking difference is the screen size. The Pixel 2 comes with a 5.0 Inch OLED 1920 x 1080 Resolution, with a 16:9 Aspect Ratio, whereas the pixel 2 XL comes with a 6.0 Inch 2880 x 1440 P-OLED display with an 18:9 Aspect Ratio. Essentially the difference in the displays of OLED is that glass substrate is used to sandwich the LED whereas in P-OLED , Polythene Plastic substrates are used instead of Glass. So basically P-OLED displays can be used as flexible displays and are thinner and less expensive than regular OLED displays, which is a good thing. But noticeable disadvantages for P-OLED displays are that plastic can be easily scratched and the quality of Plastic on displays is lower as compared to OLED.

One major change between the 2 devices is the battery, the Pixel 2 has a 2,700 mAh battery like last year, whereas the Pixel 2 XL has a massive 3,520 mAh battery. Both the devices come with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, which is an Octa-Core processor , with 4GB of RAM. Surprisingly Google ditched higher RAM variant as the Pixel did not seem to lag even on the last year models. It will be available in 64 GB and 128 GB variants. The camera on the Google Pixel 2 has been bumped up as well, and scores the highest on DXO mark at 98, which beats the iPhone the the Note 8. I have to admit that the Pixel camera is just too good. The Pixel 2 camera is also capable of adding AR(Augmented Reality) tags to photos as well as you can use the Google Camera Lens to detect places by just pointing the camera to the object. This is similar to Bixby on Samsung.

One major improvement on the Pixel 2 is that AOD(Always on Display) which is quite popular on many Samsung phones. But in the Pixel 2 , you can play songs from the AOD without having to unlock the device and use Google Assistant as well.

The Google Pixel 2 also features IP67 water resistant which means it can survive fresh water upto 1 m for about 30 mins. Now finally that was really needed! One cool feature is the "Active Edge" , that lets you bring up the Google Assistant by pinching the sides of the device . It is similar to the HTC Edge Sense UI.

Image Credits: Android Central

The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will be available in a couple of variants namely Just Black, Clearly White and Muted Blue variants. Google has some really cool offers on Flipkart, if you want to grab them. They have an exchange offer on select phone models upto Rs. 5,000 , Guaranteed buyback after 1 year 50% of the device price. Sennheiser headphones worth Rs. 11,990/- at Rs. 1!. But honestly speaking if you are looking at a good buyback after one year, and plan to upgrade then its worth it, else without the buyback, there are no buyers for Pixel phones at-least in India. If it was not for the buyback value or the market price, I would say the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL is one of the best Android Phones on the market right now.

Image Credits: PhoneArena

Amazon Business Account is here!

2017-10-25T20:46:00.003-07:00

Finally the moment I was waiting for, is here! The Amazon Business account!. We make a lot of purchases for stationary, gifting items etc, through our personal account. Ideally we never realise this all counts towards our incomes being spend, whether its an expensive phone etc.

Image Credits: Amazon.com

But Amazon has now come to our rescue by launching the Amazon Business account, where in you as a customer can now be a corporate customer for Amazon. You can make purchases as a Business Owner. Follow this link to signup.

As you all are aware GST is rolled out into the market and there are people happy mainly for those customers who sell B2C or B2B after purchasing from manufacturers. So basically consider a simple scenario. If you are purchasing an Item A at Rs. 100 from your manufacturer , and you paid 25 Rs. GST to him. You inturn sell it to your customer at 150, which includes your profit. So when you end up paying GST you subtract the Rs. 25 which you paid while buying the material and offset it against your GST say Rs. 50 for example if you were paying. So rather than paying the whole Rs. 50 you pay only Rs. 25.

In case of the scenario above, if you purchase alot online Amazon Business can be of great help, because all invoices will be provided in the name of your company. In order to get benefits though you must have a GST number. When you register on Amazon Business your account gets created , but you need to verify it as below. Take the benefits of GST input credit today!

Disclaimer: The content below has been taken from Amazon Business Marketplace Help.

To register your business, you will be required to enter GSTIN number. We might additionally ask for GST registration certificate. Please ensure that the business name and the business address provided matches with the address given under the business license.

Identification Proof/Proof of Employment

The type of document required for identification proof depends on the type of business entity you select during registration.

Any of the following documents are acceptable if you select the option of proprietor.

Pan card
Aadhar Card
Driver`s License
Voter Id
Passport
Business Card - business name and authorised signatory's name should be present on the business card

In case of partnership firm, private company and public company, any of the following documents are acceptable.

Cancelled cheque with the business name printed on the cheque along with the stamp of business
Business Card - business name and authorised signatory's name should be present on the card
'Proof of Employment' Letter from the company - It should contain the company name and address
Pay slip containing the name of the company

Note:

The account verification process may take a maximum of 3 business days to complete. We will send you a confirmation email after your information has been verified.
If the verification fails or if you upload an invalid business license, you will be sent an email highlighting the error along with a link to rectify it.

iPhone 8: Not a good upgrade, wait for the X instead!

2017-10-25T20:31:00.003-07:00

We are a few days away from the iPhone X going out for sale, and it seems like the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus sales have not picked up much. I happened to visit the Apple Store recently and had a chance to look at the iPhone 8 , and compare it against my existing 6S, there was not much noticeable difference except for the glass back on the iPhone 8.

Image Credits: Business Insider

Its not the outside of the iPhone 8 that has changes but the powerhouse thats inside the device. The iPhone 8 is powered by the A11 BIONIC chip, which has crossed all barriers of performance on benchmarks. This chip is mainly targeted towards Apple's progress on facial recognition and Augmented Reality. Although when we comparing buying a new iPhone every year and waiting for something really cool to come out, we get disappointing year on year that the iPhone's design has become "Stagnant".

Image Credits: wccftech.com

It would have been fair if Apple could have completely ditched the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus and rather launch 3 variants of the X. One would be the 4.7 inch display, 5.8 inch display and a 6.2 inch display. However, it seems that Apple is following the path of making a lot of money purely based on the instinct that they know no matter what they launch , "people will still buy it".

I have been an Apple fan since inception, but this year I was highly disappointed because the iPhone 8 has nothing new in the designs. While Samsung, LG, and other brands have been pushing limits to get the best out of the designs, Apple is working on internal specs that actually in real world makes a lot of difference. Having said all this, I would suggest people to go with the iPhone X or rather wait for the iPhone X. If you were planning on picking up an iPhone 8 Plus say 256GB which would cost about Rs. 86,000 /- you might as well pay a few bucks extra and grab the X. The X is a far more superior phone when it comes to design, and performance.

The iPhone X will be the primary driver of sales for Apple and I am assuming it will also push the sales for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. This will also put a lot of pressure on the competition to market their phones, because there is nothing like the iPhone X at the moment in the market.

Image Credits: CNET

Image Credits: Business Insider

The iPhone X comes with no Touch ID, rather it comes with Face ID, and the camera both front and rear is absolutely out of this world. In addition to that, the iPhone X a completely bezel-less design. The iPhone X is priced in India at Rs. 89,000/- for the 64 GB variant and Rs. 1,05,000/- for the 256 GB variant. They come in with Silver/Space Gray. You can pick them up from Flipkart / Amazon. Links below.

iPhone X 64 GB - Flipkart , Amazon
iPhone X 256 GB - Flipkart , Amazon

Note 8 Review: 2 Months use!

2017-10-24T01:33:00.003-07:00

Last year I was waiting for the Note 7 to launch but eventually due to battery problems it failed to make a mark. However, after that incident, it was seeming like the Note line up would be permanently stopped. Surprises are always part of what Samsung does when they announced the Note 8 launch this year. I had been sitting in anticipation for the launch and finally got my hands on the Note 8.

Image Credits: Android Authority

DESIGN

The design of the Note 8 is similar , very much SIMILAR to the Samsung Galaxy S8. It has minimum bezels, just about at the top and bottom of the phone. However, there is a square curve design that distinguishes itself from the S8 Plus. When you happen to read about the Note 8 having a 6.3 Inch Super AMOLED Quad-HD screen with an aspect ratio of 18:5:9, you feel like its a massive phone. But just to give you an idea of how big it is, if you have held an iPhone 7 Plus or an 8 Plus its as big as that but the height is marginally big and the width is narrower, which makes it very easy to hold the phone. I had no problems whatsoever.

Image Credits: CNET

The Note 8 has a bezel-less design with the Dual - Edge display and you can switch between 720P ,1080P and 4K resolution on the screen, but at a higher resolution it will definitely affect the battery life. This screen if many don't know is popularly known as the INFINITY DISPLAY. The Note 8 has ditched the regular Micro-USB , and gone with the USB-C, fast charging. You also get the upgraded S-Pen. This is my first Note , so I cannot really comment on how much of an improvement the S-Pen is from the previous year.

The device features a 12MP Dual Camera, Dual-OIS, 2x Optical zoom and trust me I found the "Bokeh" effect or rather the Note 8 capable of beating the iPhone's Portrait mode. The pixel clarity is just too good to be true. I will share some pictures below to show you how they really came out.

You get the Bixby button on the left hand side along with the Volume Rockers. I don't really use Bixby so much, maybe because I am not the type of guy who uses AI Assistants. I prefer doing everything through the touch inputs. The S-Pen however has been my favourite feature so far on the phone.

PERFORMANCE

Coming to the performance of the phone, one thing that I love is the Samsung Experience UI. I am not a fan of bloatware, but this makes the whole User Experience stand out on the device. The Note 8 is powered by the Snapdragon 835 processor which is the latest in the line.

The most interesting part of the Note 8 is the Dual Camera which enables users to click great Depth of Field. if you are the types you likes to take a lot of Portrait photo graphs then this is definitely the right one to go for.

The Note 8 is also powered by 6GB of RAM and the RAM management is handled well through the Experience UI. One negative about the phone that I could think of was the OS and Samsung Experience UI takes up more than 15GB of the storage. The device also comes with a Dual-SIM hybrid slot.

BATTERY

This feature is supposedly the most striking factor about the Note 8 , because this feature was what almost let to the destruction of the Brand Value. But this year Samsung has ditched 200 MaH of battery life of the Note 8 as compared to the S8 Plus, to be on the safer side to have it at 3300MaH.

The battery at an average would last about 1.5 days but with heavy usage it would last just above a day. The charging time from 0 to 100 takes about 2 hours roughly on fast charging.

S-PEN

One of the most striking features of the Note 8 I liked was the S-Pen. As being an Apple Fan and having seen the 1st iPhone launch when Steve Jobs was alive, I always thought that a Stylus in a Phone was not something that was not essential, It makes the phone difficult to hold. Plus the form factor of phone cannot be reduced because the Stylus itself takes up bulk of the space. However this years Note 8 has a compact design that houses the S-Pen beside the battery compartment.

Image Credits: CNET

It is a really productive tool , if you prefer doing a lot of editing of photos , storing memos , writing down stuff on a piece of paper or drawings this is the right choice for you.

PRICE ,COLOURS and OFFERS

The Note 8 if you see the MRP on the box it goes to about 75,000 INR however the price at which it is sold on Amazon, and on the Samsung E-Shop website is about 67,900 INR. This includes a FREE WIRELESS CHARGER, 448GB of JIO 4G Data, and HDFC Credit Card users are offered a 4,000 INR cashback on purchases made.

Image Credits: Android Central

In the box, you get the Note 8, a transparent / semi-transparent back case , headphones, USB-C Fast charging brick with USB-C cable, OTG cable for data transfer, S-Pen replacement tips. The phone comes in two colours at the moment - Maple Gold and Midnight Black. I got the Black variant and it looks stunning! If you love big screen phones and want the best that is there right now Note 8 or the S8 / S8 plus are the best. Moreover, Samsung has the best RESALE value in the market just like Apple.

The US variant of the phone has the Coral Blue and a darker Blue shade.

Apple September Event 2017: LTE Watch Series 3, iPhone X , 8 , 8 Plus, Apple TV 4K and lots more

2017-09-11T08:46:00.001-07:00

The moment that most of the consumer industry had been waiting for is just 1 day away, and one of the highly anticipated events ever in history. Apple has been revealing new iPhones every year, so what is so special about this year? Its the iPhone Anniversary year, a decade back from now when the 1st iPhone was revealed by Steve Jobs himself.

Image Credits: Apple website

A lot has changed since then and lots of products have been added to the line up on Apple's consumer shopping US website. This event is going to feature a lot of new products likely to be launched. Just to give you a glimpse of what all is likely to be featured. One of them I am sure you are already aware of the launch of iPhones that happen every year, and most likely they are to be called the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. But just apart from these 2 , there will be a Special Anniversary Edition iPhone that will be launched, and rumoured to be called the iPhone X- A completely bezel-less display with dual-vertical cameras, dual front 3D cameras, waterproof and wireless charging and what not.

Image Credits: Mac Rumours(iPhone 8, X , 8 Plus )

Apart from the above we are likely to see the Apple Watch LTE Series 3 to be launched, which simply in plain terms would be Apple Watch Series 3 with Cellular Calling capabilities using a sim-card slot. But from what I see there could be a regular variant as well as LTE variant to the series -3 , but thats left for tomorrow to see.

Image Credits: Wareables

Along with unveiling the Watch Series 3 and the iPhone models, there will be a new Apple TV 4K version, that will be capable of streaming 4K video and require a 15 Mbps connection to do so. The device will be support HDR10 and Dolby Vision for HDR video streaming.

Image Credits: The Mac Observer

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Launched!

2017-09-11T01:04:00.003-07:00

Xiaomi just unveiled their truly Bezel-less phone that ad-measures about 5.99 inches with just a tiny bezel at the chin of the phone. The aspect ratio on the phone is a stunning 18:9. The Mi Mix 2 has been one of the most awaited phones of 2017. You wont really get a hands on because this phone isn't available just everywhere, but in select places only. At the moment it is in China.

Some of the highlights of the Mi Mix 2 are - a 12% smaller body as compared to the earlier 6.4 inch Original Mi Mix, 2.5% thinner and about 11.5% lighter. The body of the phone is covered with a ceramic coating and the camera ring features 18k gold plating along with the use of 7-series Aluminium body. The phone will also feature the so - called Global LTE smartphone that will support for 6 modes and 43 bands of LTE connectivity.

The phone is going to be running on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, so yes no 836 for the Mi Mix 2. The display is a Quad HD display with a resolution of 1440x2880 pixels and will come in with 6 GB of RAM. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is expected to be priced at at about Rs. 32,300/- for the 6Gb and 64 GB version and Rs. 35,300/- for the 6GB/128GB version, and finally Rs. 39,200/- for the 6GB/256GB variant. There is also going to be a Special Edition model which will be encased in full Ceramic shell, and expected to be priced at about Rs. 46,000/- which will have 8GB of RAM.

Moto X4 launched: Motorola, whats going on?!

2017-09-04T04:03:00.001-07:00

The all-new Motorola X4 was launched in September 2017 at IFA , Berlin. You will notice that most of the Moto Series of phones have started to look alike. The X4 resembles the G4,G5 and the G5S more or less. There was a time when customers would anxiously be waiting for the best Moto X phones to be out in the market, this is when Motorola was not owned by Lenovo.

Image Credits: Indian Express

It comes in with a 5.2 Inch FULL HD display, that is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 chipset, with 3GB/4GB RAM variants along with 32GB/64GB storage variants. So where does this specification really fit today? The Moto G is more or less as powered as the the X4 , and the Z2 is ahead of this. So why has Motorola/Lenovo launched this line up. It just does not make any sense at all.

Image Credits: Droid Life

The X4 comes in with dual - cameras, one is with a dual autofocus at F 2.0 aperture and the other is a wide angle lens at F2.2 aperture. The latter has a 8MP shooter and the former a 12MP. One cool feature about this phone is that it is water and dust- resistant, IP68 certified and comes in with a 3300 MaH battery that we saw on the Note 8. Battery life, here would be much better than the Note 8 because its not as powerful as the Note 8 is with heavy duty multi-tasking.

I think this is absolutely one of those phones you should not go for, considering the pricing this model will be priced probably a little below the Z2/Z2 play and above the G5/G5S. It makes much more sense to go for the G if your low on budget, and the Z2 if you have more to spend. The X4 for its specifications does not stand out. Its a thumbs down from my side.

Note 8: A Galaxy S8+++?

2017-09-03T08:58:00.001-07:00

The Note 8 was launched last month and after much anticipation for those who purchased Note 7's last year, it kind of went in vain, because instead of working on the expectations that people had and the issues they found on the S8 and the S8+ they tried and delivered something with an extra bigger screen size.

Image Credits: BGR Concept

If you go on and see all tech channels, all they talk about is that the Note 8 is a bigger Samsung S8+. This is no doubt true, because except for that extraordinary S-Pen that Samsung Note series have , the Note 8 is missing some crucial wow features. Apart from just the crucial missing feature, inspite of several comments, feedbacks from people the fingerprint sensor still remains in the same spot where its difficult to reach. I dont know whos idea was that anyway but it was a real bad idea and letting fans down is not something Samsung likes to do everyday.

Image Credits: Phone Arena

The Note 8 comes in with a 6.3 " SUPER AMOLED display with a resolution of 1440x2960 pixels, which in reality looks really stunning. The Note 8 also comes with the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection , and just like its predecessor its build to be more square rather than curved. It comes in with the Snapdragon 835 processor for the US variant and the Exynos 8895 processor for the Indian variant, along with 6 GB of RAM in 3 storage variants of 64GB/128GB/256GB plus additional storage slots.

The Note 8 comes in with Dual SIM slots, but as again this is a hybrid slot just like in the S7 edge and the S8 as well. The Note 8 has a reduced battery size which falls in between the s8 and the s7 edge, at around 3300 MaH. If you see Samsung's website on the Note 8 and all those fancy ads, it focusses on "doing things bigger", but apart from the big screen none of us saw anything big on the Note 8. Nevertheless Note fans will go for it, purely because the Note lineup has always been the best in the line for Samsung.

Let me know your thoughts on what you think the Note 8 is all about.

LG V30 Launched: Audio and Video POWERHOUSE!

2017-08-31T04:53:00.001-07:00

I was pretty excited to see the launch of the new LG V30, and the presentation was great, and was being streamed live through the LG Global Youtube channel. The LG V30 Flagship killer, was launched at IFA Berlin 2017, with some astounding features that make the best of smartphones like Google, iPhone, Samsung's look like nothing, even with comparison to the new releases of these competitors this year.

Image Credits: Engadget

If you happen to go through my earlier article of the LG V30's specs its more or less close to that. Except that we are still unsure of the pricing of the V30, but its likely to be priced more or less in two variants - one for the V30 and one for the V30+, which features additional storage option.

When they revealed the phone it looked absolutely stunning with the 85% screen - to - body ratio coverage. The best part was that LG went with the 6" ,P-OLED panel which will most likely be used on the new iPhone 8, rather than a SUPER-AMOLED, OPTIC-AMOLED or an IPS-LCD display. The back of the phone features dual 16 MP + 16 MP cameras ( one for great portraits and one for capturing wide angle shots). The best part about the phone is the camera which features a unique software mode that has something called the CineShot Video mode, to make videos look absolutely theatrical and cinematic. You can tweak the shutter speed, ISO, exposure including the ability to change bitrate and frame-rate for videos. The files can be exported in CineLog mode which can be easily edited.

Image Credits: Engadget

The LG V30 comes in with the Snapdragon 835 which was announced by Qualcomm themselves at the conference. Apart from that it comes in with the SD Card slot that supports for storage upto 2TB! Now thats hell load of storage you get there apart from the regular 64GB and 128GB storage options.

Coming to the audio on the phone, it features a HiFi Quad DAC and the settings on the Quad DAC are customisable from the phone itself.

One very interesting feature rather, a group of stunning software features were launched at the event as well. V30 will be running Android 7.1.2 along with LG's own UX, which will feature apps over your lock screen itself. You can customise that and activate apps by swiping left and right over the top floating bar on the AOD( Always on Display ). LG also gives users the ability to customise the AOD look and feel.

Image Credits: Engadget

The V30 body is rated as IP68 for Water and Dust resistance. The phone comes in with Gorilla Glass 5 protection along with the Industry standard of USB-C connectivity. Looks like most manufacturers are going to pick up this trend as well. Just not to disappoint you, but its a fact that the V30 now does not have the removable 3300 MaH battery as on the V20, but thats to compensate for Water and Dust Resistance.

So I suggest rather than waiting for the Google Pixel 2, or picking up a Note 8 instead wait for the V30, it is worth every buck and considered one of the most underrated phones in todays market. Let me know your views on this!

YouTube has a new Look and Logo!

2017-08-30T01:04:00.001-07:00

YouTube has had a revamp after a very long time, and this time its a refreshing look to the YouTube Logo and the fonts being used. The design looks to be more of a clean design, rather than the old cluttered UI that was there. We were so used to it, and still love YouTube for the Video Platform that it provides!

Just to give you a short glimpse on how the new look feels like below are some screenshots taken from the iPhone version of YouTube, I am yet to test the new UI on iPad . The android looks more or less the same as the iOS version.

The YouTube website also has a bit of a refreshing look. You can see how it looks modern and clean.

One of the cool features of YouTube is the ability to adapt vertical videos. You can see it in the video below how nicely it adapts to it.

So let me know what do you think of this new look of YouTube in the comments below.

Why is XCode so slow?!!

2017-08-30T00:45:00.001-07:00

So I have been working on iOS Applications for over 3+ years now and have had hands on experience with Objective-C and Swift both. But one thing is for sure, Objective-C wins it hands down when it comes to compatibility and support, and code completion, because since Swift had launched most developers across the world have been experiencing lot of lag in development time due to code completion issues on XCode having swift projects.

Image Credits: Krollontrack

Earlier we had compiler crashes happening, but that is because Swift had been just launched. After that, since the newer Swift versions are launching, I am sure most of your developers are experiencing issues with the development process taking time. Apps take ages to build. compile , execute and even archive for that matter!

Image Credits: MacStories

I happen to see some solutions from various users out there and most of them keep saying to clear the "Derived Data" folder on /Library/Developer/XCode/Derived Data , and the saved application state as well, but nothing works. Don't get so happy, because these are not solutions at all. It may temporarily fix the issue, but its not a 100% solution.

So most developers on iOS, happen to have a bug report section where they file bugs with Apple and they take them up with their Engineers and resolve issues. This particular slow down supposedly happens due to a service called "SourceKit"which is responsible for GIT and Code Completion on XCode and it keeps on restarting and killing the process repeatedly. If you are a user who uses a lot of GIT/Bitbucket/SVN remotes then this is bound to happen. If you dont use remote GIT then this is less likely but will happen. It causes enormous amount of CPU usage , sometimes even 150-200% utilisation.

Image Credits: Git

So don't need to fret, Apple and its team is diligently working on resolving this issue with the XCode team, but how long and when this will be fixed is unknown. Just some quick tips here to make sure things work fine for you.

1. Dont work with remote GITs and commits. If you want to do that, just copy over your project to another location, remove the git related files and work on it. When your done paste the files back to the folder where the remote git project was stored. For ex: if you are working on /documents/github/project -> Create a duplicate of this folder say at /documents/project and via terminal remove any git files. Now when your done finishing tasks on the /document/project files, then copy and paste this folder to the location /documents/github/project and committ the code there. This way you can work smoothly.

2. Second tip is to make sure USE ONLY VARIABLES that are REQUIRED. Do not keep creating tons of unused variables in your code, because each variable occupies memory if not used. It causes lot of load on the Swift Compiler thereby causing the hanging issues.

3. The new swift language totally relies on the "var or let" type , so developers tend to use AnyObject and let swift decide what data type to be assigned. You should use and define the exact data type at most places to avoid too much load on Swift to make decisions and slow down XCode.

4. Avoid using Safari, iCloud Drive when using XCode in the slow condition, this worsens things even more, when app switching. Use Google Chrome instead.

I hope some tips above can save you the frustration of coding iOS applications. iOS apps have the best User Experience so don't give up on it, and keep coding!

LG V30 Launch Date Revealed!

2017-08-28T22:34:00.001-07:00

LG V20 was one of the most underrated smartphones last year, and it released as usual towards the end of the year. It turned out to be a blockbuster with its removable battery, dual camera setup, fantastic battery life. This year they have something even more better in store with a complete Bezel-less design, and people are much awaiting this phone.

Image Credits: S8 vs V30 ( Android PIT)

Going through some Youtuber's review a lot of phones over a couple of months, if you happen to scan through the comments section, the LG G5/G6 and the V20 was all over the place, primarily because it beats all other Android Phones in its category. I was never a fan of LG , until recently I started to understand why the V and G series of LG phones are supposedly powerhouses.

Just to give you a brief up on what all features are coming in the LG V30 - a 6.0 Inch P-OLED capacitative touch screen with a resolution of 1440x2880, it will also come with the latest Snapdragon 835 Octa-Core processor and 6GB of RAM, 64/128GB of storage options with additional card slot upto 256GB, Dual 13 MP cameras with OIS and PDAF, the secondary front-facing camera is 8MP. One of the features that customers could be disappointed about is that this years model could have a non-removable battery to compensate for Waterproofing.

The phone is expected to be unveiled at Germany on 31st August 2017, and is estimated to be priced at around USD 700 and USD 875 respectively. Only the final specifications and price would be confirmed at the LG event.

Why should you upgrade to Android O?

2017-08-24T05:19:00.001-07:00

Android OS has an increasing customer base, and with every new OS launch the customers are always excited to try them out. But for those who love to try the latest Android OS, the Google phones like Pixel, Nexus are the ones that get the latest Android updates. I had started using the Android O beta since day one and have been loving it absolutely.

It has a completely different look and feel as compared to Android Nougat. I felt Nougat was kind of heavy on the phone and the Android O , is just so smooth and easy to navigate and use. The settings/menu options have been grouped so that its easy to get into options. You can also search for stuff within the phone through the search bar thats provided.

If you want to checkout a detailed article on what cool new features are introduced in the Android O, then be sure to check this out! It has all the detail information you need to checkout some cool stuff. The most used feature for me on Android O is the Picture in Picture mode which needs to be enabled on the OS. Its a pretty handy feature if you are the types who likes to multitask around with stuff.

Looking into this , I would definitely recommend the Android O primarily for exceptional battery life , which is one of the must on my to-do list for any good smartphone. Let me know what you think about using the latest Android O on your smartphone!

Google Pixel: My favourite Smartphone!

2017-08-24T05:10:00.000-07:00

Its been a year since the launch of the Google Pixel, and one of the first Google branded phones that hit the shelves on the market. There have been several smartphone launches post the Pixel launch, and I also have the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge as well as the iPhone 7 Plus and the One Plus 3T, but for some reason the Google Pixel just takes my heart away completely! 💚

Image Credits: CNET

The whole stock android fluid User Experience in the Pixel is the best part about it. I happen to come across some really good smartphones last year as well as this year, some of them were the LG V20, the LG G6 and the Galaxy S8. The Note 8 this year was the most awaited smartphone but to my dislike the fingerprint reader position is still the same inspite of complaints by several users. In addition to that the Note 8 has an identical display like the S8 and the S8 plus, so why Samsung launch a similar phone within 6 months? I mean even the Note 7 was a big issue with the battery but the phone looked and stood out exceptional as compared to the rest. It was my favourite of last year.

Google Pixel has one major issue in terms of someone like me who fancies smartphone with backup and restore functionality. Its difficult to backup each and every data on the Pixel, like the most important ones like SMS and Google Photos. There seems to be no backup now option that immediately backs it up. It exists for contacts and other stuff . Another major disadvantage of the Pixel is that they do not have an extended warranty facility , at least I inquired about it from Google Support, and they said they don't have extended warranty support, thats sad!

But inspite of the issues above, I still love the Pixel so much, because it gives me an average battery life of 1 and half day on full charge, and very cold phone to hold in the hand. It would rarely heat up unless some apps that aren't compatible mess around. I don't think you can get any more better stock experience than this on a smartphone with fluidity. If you want to wait for the Pixel 2 , you should be then its all about the stock android experience that you will get on either of them so opt for the Pixel instead and also since they are running huge discounts. Its one of the most underrated smartphones today.

One Plus 5 is launched in India!

2017-06-26T23:40:00.000-07:00

The One Plus 5 has been one of the most awaited phones of this year. I guess every year the launch delays a bit from its regular dates, but nevertheless we always get a unique launch along with some great specs. The One Plus 5 has launched in India on the 27th June 2017 with a 6GB Ram variant and a 8GB Ram variant.

Image Source: Gadgets UK

The phone will be available in the Indian market through the One Plus Pop -up stores across a few cities in offline mode and through Amazon India website online as well. The OP5 is priced at Rs. 32,999 /- for the 6GB RAM / 64GB Storage variant and Rs. 37,999 /- for the 8GB RAM / 128GB Storage variant.

They have some cool launch offers going on like you get a flat Rs. 1,500 /- cash back on using SBI Debit and Credit Cards, signing in to the Kindle app gives Rs. 500 credits, Vodafone users get 75GB of data free and 3 months of Vodafone Play . You also get 250 Rs. cash back on Amazon pay balance on using Amazon prime as well as 11 months of accidental damage protection on the phone. Wow, now this is just great!

Coming to the tech specs overhaul on the phone, it now has an improved camera with 20MP + 16MP Dual rear facing shooter, a 5.5 inch FHD display. So no Quad HD here. The biggest improvement that this phone comes is with the Snapdragon 835 processor that just launched at MWC this year. The battery is 3,300 MaH power with Dash Charging technology again.

You get two new and refreshing colours this time, the Midnight Black that was available with the 3T and a new Slate Grey colour. These two new colours look to be refreshing from the brighter colours available last year. We expect a lot of sale for this phone considering the flagship specs and this time it goes a notch up higher.

Nokia 3310 is back with a bang!

2017-06-19T00:04:00.000-07:00

The Nokia 3310 was one of the most iconic launches of this year and many have been desperately waiting for its launch. Most of us are using Smartphones today, so who would want to get back to old times? I think its a question to deliberate upon. Lets find out.

The Nokia 3310 has some aesthetic enhancement as compared to the previous general model. I see a wider area given to the top half of the device, that consists of the screen and navigation keys. It was quite small on the older generation model.

The biggest change I feel was in the way the whole phone feels when you hold it and also use it. The phone really feels solid in the hand, as compared to the older generation model which had a plastic feel to it. Imagine the feel to be like how the Moto G 1st and 2nd Gen felt like.

The buttons also seem well built and usability is good as well. Another noticeable change in the 3310 is dual sim feature and a micro-usb charging slot. Yes you heard it right the charging slot is now micro-USB capable so you can use any other chargers around you. But just make sure the wattage to the port for a charger is correct. I cannot guarantee that a Samsung Fast charger could blow up your phone. That is something not tested out.

As the phone name suggests so is its price, the device is priced at around Rs. 3,300 /- in India, some sellers are selling it at Rs. 3,400/- also. I got mine at that price. Nokia even are offering a replacement for the phone in case of issues. I think if you are a Nokia fan, this is something worth to try out. Let us know.

Moto Z2 Play launches in India

2017-06-15T10:11:00.001-07:00

Last year the Moto Z Play was launched in India along with the Moto Z, the Z play was priced around Rs. 25,000/- whereas the Z was Rs. 35,000/-. The Z Play was a huge success with its all time battery life, and astounding performance. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor became very popular after that it also being used in the G5 as well.

Image Credits: Tech awareness

The Moto Z2 Play comes in with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 processor which is an incremental success to the 625, and coupled with 4GB of RAM, and thats pretty big specs for a budget phone. This processor is an Octa Core processor clocked at 2.2 Ghz.

As most Motorola phones , this also comes with a dedicated Micro SD card slot, along with the regular storage of 64GB. The display is a 5.5 inch Full HD display, which is an OLED display with Gorilla Glass 3 protection.

Image Credits: Gagdets now

The cameras on the new Z2 play come in with 12MP rear facing shooter, at an aperture of F 1.7, for low light photography. It has 2 nano sim slots and both the sim slots support 4G VOLTE. The battery on this is a non-removable 3000 MaH battery and Im sure you will get the same or better battery performance like the Snapdragon 625 processor. It weighs about 145gms and comes in 1 variant of 64GB and exclusively through Flipkart. The Z2 play is priced decently at about Rs. 27,999 /-. You can get upto Rs. 17,000/- on exchanging this device, extra Rs. 2000/- on exchange and 55% off on mods. Its worth the buy.

Deal: LG G6 for Rs. 38,990!

2017-06-13T20:24:00.002-07:00

LG G6 had been one of the most anticipated phones of the year, and have earned its makers a good reputation with one of its kind bezel-less display. LG G6 had been pitched against the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the S8 Plus.

For those people who are interested to grab an amazing deal for the LG G6, it would be available on Amazon at a discount of 29% off its MRP Rs. 55,000 /- , which now is priced at Rs. 38,990 /- but for Prime Members only. The LG G6 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor that comes with the Google Pixel, which has shown a lot of promise. This is a dual sim phone which comes in with a storage of 64GB expandable upto 2TB of storage.

Image Credits: Phone Arena

The display is a 2K display which is a 5.7 Inch Full Vision Display to give you crystal clear viewing experience. It comes with a 13MP rear facing camera and a bit of a smaller 5MP front facing camera. The cameras are wide angle with a smaller aperture for better low light photography.

The phone has 4GB of RAM and has a decent performance as compared to its predecessors. It also comes in with a 3300 MaH battery which promises to deliver 14 hours of talk time and 136 hours of standby time. The phone is also water and dust resistant (IP68). If you are interested to grab a new high end phone this is a good bet.

Apple Developer Kits / SDK's for iOS Developers!

2017-06-13T00:42:00.004-07:00

With the event at WWDC 2017, Apple made several announcement including some new SDK's being introduced and some new frameworks as well. Among them was the ARKit for building Augmented Reality Apps and Games, CoreML framework to use Machine Learning in apps, SiriKit to extend the usage of regular apps by using Siri and Voice Learning in its applications.

Image Credit: New Atlas

Throughout the event there was a big roar of Machine Learning and it was one of best announcements made. The core focus during the whole speech at WWDC 2017 was Machine Learning and how they have used it in all of its launches including iOS 11, MacOS High Sierra.

To let everyone know and even as mentioned in the older posts, iOS 11 will no longer support 32-bit applications. So basically when you build an application for iOS 11, they have to have a target deployment of at least iOS 11 and above, else it will become 32 bit. However it depends, I have some 32-bit apps installed on my phone, they work fine but some do crash as well.

Image Credits: Apple Site

There are lots of new changes in the Xcode 9 User Interface and functionalities. If you want to know more about this, be sure to check out your Apple Developer Download Section , then click release notes against the Xcode Beta Version.

Image Credits: arstechinia

Homepod : The Future of Home Entertainment!

2017-06-12T02:04:00.001-07:00

In the recent Apple Event, popularly known as WWDC 2017, Apple launched their first smart home system known as the HomePod. Interestingly, this device is scheduled to release in December 2017 but has already given a head-on competition to Google Home and Amazon Echo. It is at an unbeatable yet premium price of $349, almost twice as much of Amazon Echo.

What is HomePod?

In simple words, it is a speaker that allows you to play music, operate home appliances and much more through the command of your voice. Let me show you a video from the WWDC to state my point,

As you can see, the HomePod would look like any other ordinary bluetooth speaker but it would have the effect of a perfect home entertainment system ready for you. You can change the music, command it to change the music even when it is playing music in full volume. Additionally, if you have more than one HomePod in one room, it can automatically detect the other devices and co-ordinate in such a way so as to give you a lifelike effect of music.

The look and feel of Apple HomePod is also quite different from that of Amazon and Google. It has 7 tweeter speakers which create a powerful sound effect from and till where-ever you are!

Whats new in MacOS High Sierra!

2017-06-11T23:43:00.001-07:00

MacOS High Sierra was launched during the WWDC 2017 last week and it promises a ton of high performance computing. Instead of launching a brand new OS , Apple decided to perfect its existing operating system MacOS and gave a "High" to it to make it sound good!

One of the major changes that has taken place in MacOS High Sierra is the File System has now been changed from HFS to AFS which they call it Apple File System, which uses 64-bit Architecture that comes with high level of in-built encryption. You will notice also a new kind of an app on the iOS 11, called the Files app that shows you system files. Just for your knowledge iOS 11 will not allow 32-bit apps to run on its OS anymore. So make sure iOS 11 apps are all 64-bit compatible. Basically this means that you do not build for older iOS versions and older devices.

4K is becoming popular quite the bit and to be line with the competition Apple introduces a new format/standard of Video called HEVC ( High Efficiency Video Coding ) which supports 40% more compression that H.264 format being used earlier.

Metal 2 Framework for gaming has also been introduced which unleashes Graphics Performance to the next level, by adding capabilities like Machine Learning, Virtual Reality and External GPU Support.

MacOS Sierra will focus a lot on Machine Learning as well as Virtual Reality, and there were demonstrations during the Keynote of how AR apps could be built on even smallest of devices like the iPads.

The photo editing tool has been given support for more options and tools to edit and option to edit Live Photos have also been provided. Albums also get better faces. Safari browsing capability has also been enhanced, by giving more respect towards the privacy of users with all their browsing. Even those videos that autoplay will now not autoplay anymore. Its all handled through Safari.

You can now share data directly from iCloud, and Siri is much more expressive than before with better recommendations for Music.

You can now search much better and intensively with spotlight and the same has been replicated with emails. Notes app has also been introduced with a feature in which you can pin notes. Notes also now supports for Tables.

FaceTime has been elevated as well with support for clicking Live Photos and a button has been provided for the same. Both the participants of the FaceTime Videos are notified about the same.

All iMessage, messages are now synced directly to iCloud so that no matter which Mac you use, as long as your signed in to iCloud all your messages from your device are pulled up to your Mac.

I suggest you wait till the beta is out for public, as this is a development version and not advised for daily use. If you would like to signup click here.