Author: Aniruddh

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review-Pros and Cons
Lenovo ZUK Z1 is priced at Rs.13,999 and available exclusively via Amazon India. It packs good hardware and runs on CyanogenOS. The other key features of the device are 13MP camera with IOS, fingerprint scanner and 4100 mAh battery. Here is our Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review with pros and cons.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 is a dual sim smartphone and accepts 2 nano sim cards. It measures 155.7 x 77.3 x 8.9 mm and weighs 175 grams. The device is available in white and space grey colours in India.

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ZUK Z1 sports 5.5 inch full HD IPS LCD screen with pixel density of 401 ppi. The brightness of the device can notch upto 450 nits. Overall display panel offers good viewing angles and colour reproduction. The white looks bright and the black levels are deep too. CyanogenOS provides a setting called LiveDisplay which allows you to optimise the colour tone of the screen based on the time of day.

ZUK Z1 is powered by 32-bit quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, clocked at 2.5GHz with 3GB RAM and Adreno 330 GPU. Though it is a dated SOC, it is capable. In regular usage or gaming, we have not faced any lagging issue. The games like Asphalt 8, Nova 3, Dead trigger etc played smoothly. The CyanogenOS does good job in RAM management. Hence, even multi tasking is not an issue in the device.

The Lenovo ZUK Z1 comes with 13-megapixel primary camera built on Sony’s IMX 214 sensor with dual tone LED flash and Optical image stabilisation. There is 8MP front facing camera. Both cameras are equipped to record video at upto 1080p resolution. The primary camera can record 60 fps video recording. ZUK Z1 camera does take great pictures in well lit conditions. The taken images are sharp and detailed. The colour tones are accurate. In low light, noise creeps in but it is in acceptable range in this budget segment.

ZUK Z1 houses 4100 mAh battery. Battery gave around 5 to 5 and hours of screen on time. In our regular usage, battery lasted more than 1 and half days. With supplied charger, it takes close to 2 hours for fully charging. The connectivity options of the device includes 4G on both sims, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS and dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review summary: ZUK Z1 is a capable smartphone at affordable price. It rates well in performance, camera and battery segment. Even call quality and fingerprint accuracy is decent. However, the downside of the ZUK Z1 includes dated Android OS, lack of IR blaster and expandable storage.

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Review -Advantages and Disadvantages

Pros of ZUK Z1
- Good build quality.
- Good performance.
- Decent camera.
- Good battery life.
Cons of ZUK Z1
- No expandable storage.
- No Android 6.0 out of the box.
- Dated SoC.
- No IR blaster.
June 7, 2016
Meizu M3 Note Review- Pros and Cons
Meizu has recently launched its new budget Android smartphone in Indian market- M3 Note. With good specification list it also features impressive design and build quality. Priced at Rs.9,999, it is available exclusively Amazon.in via falsh sales. In this, we will have a quick Meizu M3 Note review based on its pros and cons.

Meizu M3 Note is the first device to sport all metal design from the M series smartphones of Meizu. From the initial impression, it looks like it is inspired by the iPhone 6 design. It has all metal rear cover with curved edges which gives good in hand experience. Antenna cutouts are covered in plastic with chromium finish. Overall in terms of design and build quality, M3 Note is very impressive. It measures 153.6×75.5×8.2mm and weighs 163 grams.

Meizu M3 Note has 5.5 inch full HD display of 1080×1920 pixels resolution with 2.5D curved glass design. It has Dinorex T2X-1 scratch/shock resistant glass protection. The viewing angles, colour reproduction and brightness are good. As screen is reflective, the sunlight legibility is average. One more good thing about the display panel is it hardly catches fingerprint smudges.

Meizu M3 Note features 13MP primary camera with Dual LED flash. It does take overall good images in good lighting conditions. The low light performance is just average. There is also a 5MP front facing camera, which takes decent selfies.

Meizu M3 Note is powered by 1.8GHz MediaTek Helio P10 processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Unfortunately, we have received Chinese variant of Meizu M3 Note Review unit which has only 2GB of RAM. Also as it was a Chinese variant, we didn’t had Google play store access. Hence we were not able to do any gaming tests. The regular performance was good. It runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with Flyme OS. The physical home button which also works as fingerprint scanner. It is responsive. But at times, it misses to recognise.

Meizu M3 Note houses 4100 mAh battery and includes connectivity options like 4G, LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC. The battery lasted for more than a day and half without any gaming.

Meizu M3 Note Review: Based on the time spent with the device, here are the quick summary of this review. It rates high on design and build quality, decent battery life and decent camera. Coming to downsides, Fingerprint responsiveness is not good. Also camera performance on low light is just average.

Meizu M3 Note Review- Advantages and Disadvantages

Pros of Meizu M3 Note
- Impressive design and build quality.
- Fingerprint smudges free display panel.
- Decent battery life.
- Affordable price tag.
- Good call quality and signal reception.
Cons of Meizu M3 Note
- Fingerprint scanner accuracy is not good.
- Flyme OS takes time to learn.
- Single button navigation is bit tricky.
Meizu M3 Note FAQ and Tips

What types of SIM card M3 Note accepts?

It has hybrid sim card slot. Hence, you can use 2 nano sim cards or 1 nano sim card with microSD card.

How to take screenshot on Meizu M3 Note?

For taking screenshot on M3 note, you need to press and hold volume down and power button simultaneously. The screenshot will be captured. The taken screenshot will be saved in the gallery folder.

Video guide on Meizu M3 Note screenshot capture method

Does Meizu M3 Note has any gesture controls?

Yes. It has some gesture controls such as double tap to unlock the device, swipe horizontally to switch tracks etc.
June 5, 2016
Moto G4 Plus Review- Pros and Cons
Moto G is one of the most popular smartphone in India. Moto G4 Plus is the latest iteration of Moto G smartphone. So the expectation from this device is also very high. Let us have a quick look into whether it is a worthy upgrade to its predecessor in this quick Moto G4 Plus review.

Moto G4 Plus comes with noticeable design change. The back is more flatter compared to previous Moto G smartphones. It has plastic back with textured pattern and silver metal frame on the side with round edges. It has slimmer form factor compared to Moto G3. However, the signature curved back is missing in this device. Also water and dust resistant features omitted in the new 4th gen Moto G which is surprising.

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Moto G4 Plus sports 5.5 inch full HD display screen. It offers good sunlight legibility and viewing angles. Only con with the display is it is prone to fingerprint smudges. Though it has Corning Gorilla glass, in my limited time with the device, screen got few minor scratches. Hence it is highly advisable to use screen guard.

Our Moto G4 Plus review unit was powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 617 SoC, which is an octa-core chip running at 1.5GHz coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The phone will also be available in 2GB of RAM with 16GB of internal storage. The connectivity features includes 4G LTE (Category 4), Bluetooth 4.1 Low Energy, dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS, GLONASS, USB-OTG, and FM radio. There is a finger print scanner as well. The device runs on stock Android Marshmallow out of the box. The performance of Moto G4 plus was good in our review period. The gaming performance too decent. However, we have noticed that with extended gaming, device tends to heat up a bit.

Moto G4 Plus excels in camera segment. It has 16MP primary camera with laser auto focus and PDAF. The camera performance was excellent in outdoor and in low light conditions for the price segment. There is a 5MP front facing camera as well. The Moto G4 Plus comes with 3000mAh battery with fast charging.

Moto G4 Plus Review Summary: It is good mid range budget smartphone with decent specification. It offers good camera performance, decent display panel and good performance with stock android. Main cons of Moto G4 Plus are lack of compass sensor and NFC and heating issues. Overall it is a good phone but not a worthy upgrade over Moto G3.

Moto G4 Plus Review based on advantages and Disadvantages

Moto G4 Plus Pros
- Good display screen.
- Decent battery life.
- Stock Android experience.
- Improved camera performance.
Cons of Moto G4 Plus
- No Compass sensor and NFC.
- Limited functionality of fingerprint scanner: It can be used only for unlocking the device and nothing else.
- No physical LED notification light.
- Lacks water and dust resistance which its predecessor had.
- Display is prone to fingerprint smudges and attracts scratches.
May 31, 2016
Asus Zenfone 3 Variants and Features
Asus at its Zenvolution event on Monday at the Humble House Taipei, unveiled third generation Zenfone series smartphones. The newly launched devices are Asus ZenFone 3, ZenFone 3 Deluxe, and ZenFone 3 Ultra. Here is the quick summary of newly launched smartphone features and specifications.

Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe

This is the flagship model of Zenfone 3 series smartphones. Asus claims that, it is the world’s first full metal smartphone with invisible antenna design. It sports strong and light aluminum alloy unibody design.

Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe sports 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with full HD( 1080×1920 pixel) resolution. It is powered by Snapdragon 820 SoC with 6B of RAM and Adreno 530 GPU. It has 64GB of inbuilt storage and support for microSD card upto 256GB. The connectivity features of the device includes WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, Cat 6 LTE, and USB 3.0 Type-C connector.

Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe(ZS570KL) houses 23MP rear primary camera which features Sony IMX318 sensor, f/2.0 aperture lens, and 4-axis optical image stabilization. It also has 3-axis electronic image stabilization for steady 4K UHD videos. This smartphone will be available in Grey, Silver, and Pink colour options.

Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe(ZS570KL) packs 3000 mAh battery which supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. There is a fingerprint scanner which is placed in the rear side of the smartphone. Zenfone 3 Deluxe price starts from $499. Asus Zenfone Deluxe Price in India is INR 49,999.

Key specification of Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe
- All metal aluminum unibody design.
- 5.7 inch Full HD Super AMOLED display screen.
- Snapdragon 820 SoC with Adreno 530 GPU.
- 6GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage.
- Support for microSD card upto 256GB.
- 23MP primary camera which features Sony IMX318 sensor.
- 4K video recording with 3 axis electronic image stabilisation.
- 3000 mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick charge 3.0 support.
Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra

Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra features 6.8 inch full HD(1920×1080 pixels) IPS display screen. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of built in storage. It supports microSD card upto 128GB. Like Zenfone 3 Deluxe, it also features 23-megapixel rear camera with Sony IMX318 sensor. The connectivity features of Zenfone 3 ultra includes WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, Cat 6 LTE, and USB 3.0 Type-C connector. The device will be available in Grey, Silver, and Pink colour options. It houses 4600 mAh battery with Quick Charge technology. Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra price starts from $479(Approximately Rs.32,200).

Key Specifications of Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra
- 6.8 inch full HD(1920×1080 pixels) IPS display screen.
- Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.
- 23 MP primary camera with Sony IMX318 sensor.
- 4600 mAh battery with Quick Charge technology.
Asus Zenfone 3

This is the base model of 3rd generation Zenfone smartphones. The Zenfone 3 sports 5.5-inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) Super IPS LCD display. It has Corning Gorilla glass 3 on the front and back. The Zenfone 3 is powered by Snapdragon 625 Soc. There will be two variants. One is with 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage and another one which has 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. It houses 16MP rear camera with Sony IMX298 sensor. Zenfone 3 comes with 3000 mAh battery. The connectivity features of the device are Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, Cat 6 LTE, and USB 2.0 Type-C connector.

Key Specifications of Asus Zenfone 3
- 5.5-inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) Super IPS LCD display.
- Snapdragon 625 Soc with 3GB/4GB RAM.
- 32GB/64GB internal storage.
- 16MP primary camera with Sony IMX298 sensor.
- 3000 mAh battery.
- Fingerprint scanner.
- Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, Cat 6 LTE, and USB 2.0 Type-C connector.
May 31, 2016
Asus R510JX Review-Pros and Cons
Asus R510JX is an entry level gaming laptop running on Windows 10 out of the box. Like all other ROG series gaming laptops, this too features Black and red theme design. The price of Asus R510JX in India is Rs.69,990.

The Asus R510JX is powered by Intel Core i7-4720HQ quad-core processor clocked at 2.6GHz with turbo frequency reaching 3.6GHz. Our review unit had 8GB of RAM with 2GB Nvidia GTX 950M graphics. It comes with 1TB of hard disc and has full sized keyboard as well.

Connectivity features of Asus R510JX includes single USB 2.0 port, two USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI port, one D-Sub port, one LAN port and an SD card slot. This gaming laptop also has optical drive and Wifi 802.11n. The dimension of the Asus R510JX are 380 x 251 x 31.7 mm and weighs 2.45kg.

Asus R510JX sports 15.6 inch Full HD LED Backlit slim Anti glare display screen. Overall display panel quality is good. However, it would have been great if it had better viewing angles. The speaker output is decent but bit on lower side when it comes to loudness.

Overall performance of this Asus gaming laptop for the price is good. We were able to play most of the modern games such as Call of duty without any issues. While playing extended gaming, laptop becomes little warm. Thanks to Ice Cool technology which keeps palm rest temperature under control.

Asus R510JX Review: Priced at Rs.69,990, Asus R510JX is an good performing laptop. It has nice build quality and offers good performance. 1TB of hard disc storage capacity comes very handy to install multiple high end games.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Asus R510JX

Pros of Asus R510JX
- Good build quality.
- Good performance.
- Full HD display screen.
- 1TB of hard disc space.
- Comparatively low price tag.
Cons of Asus R510JX
- Display viewing angles are just average.
- Battery life could have been better.
- Glossy body attracts smudges.
Asus R510JX Specification
- Display: 15.6″ FHD LED Backlit Slim Anti Glare Display.
- Resolution: 1920x1080pixels.
- Weight: 2.45 Kg.
- Battery: 4 cell.
- Dimensions: 380 x 251 x 31.7 mm.
- Processor: 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 (4th Gen) processor.
- RAM: 8 GB DRAM DDR3 4G.
- Hard Drive: 1TB.
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M (N16P-GT).
- Graphics memory: 2GB.
- Operating System: Windows 10.
May 30, 2016