Author: Aniruddh

Asus GL552JX Laptop Review – Pros and Cons
Asus GL552JX is the recently launched gaming laptop from Asus’s Republic of Gamers(ROG) series. With this, Asus has tried to provide good performing gaming laptop within the price of 1lakh. The price of Asus GL552JX in India is Rs. 81990. However, you can get it for Rs.79,990 in online portals like Flipkart, Amazon etc.

Asus GL552JX comes with eye catching design and good build quality. The black and red combination which we have seen on other ROG series laptop continues here as well. The chassis is made from good quality plastic and it feels solid. The rubberized coating over the lid along with a metallic strip in the middle with an illuminated Republic of Gamers logo looks very nice.

Asus GL552JX has 15.6 inch full HD IPS display screen with matte-black finish that eliminates glare for stunning visuals without distraction. The viewing angles are great and colors look vivid. As it has matte screen, it has very minimalist reflections which makes this laptop comfortable to use in different lighting condition.

Asus GL552JX comes with visually striking keyboard. It has black and red theme here as well. You can change the intensity of the backlight or completely switch off. The keys are well placed and there is a dedicated numeric pad as well. The keys decent travel makes them comfortable for typing and gaming. Overall the keyboard experience in this laptop is excellent.

Asus GL552JX has decently large track pad. The button response is good and you will get all the usual gestures of Windows 10. Coming to ports, GL552JX offers three USB ports out of which two are USB 3.0, one HDMI output, Gigabit LAN, VGA, headphones and microphone ports, and a Kensington lock. There is also a DVD writer and an SD card slot.

Asus GL552JX is powered by 2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-4750HQ with a Turbo frequency of 3.2GHz and HyperThreading. It has 8GB of 8GB DDR3 RAM running at 1600MHz. There is dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M with 4GB DDR3 VRAM graphic card. For storage, out of the box, we get 1TB 2.5-inch hard disk running at 7200rpm from HGST. There is also a M.2 (2280) SSD slot with SATA3 interface if you would like add additional SSD.

Asus GL552JX ships wth 64 bit Windows 10 Home with some other useful pre installed softwares. Asus bundles some of its own software such as AudioWizard for tweaking the sound profiles for gaming, movies, etc. GameFirst III which also ships with its gaming motherboards, prioritises game data traffic to reduce lag during online gameplay. You also get a one month trial of Microsoft Office 365, 25GB of Dropbox space for six months, and a year’s subscription to McAfee LiveSafe.

Upgradation of RAM or hard disc on GL552JX is very easy. By sliding off upgrade panel, you can add bigger hard drive, M.2 SSD or more memory. There is a one empty RAM channel which you can use to add additional upto 8GB of RAM. This laptop cooling system is very good. Even when using for long times, palm rest and bottom part of the laptop remained cool. Coming to performance, general performance is snappy. High end games in highest setting struggles a bit. However, in medium settings, it played most of the games without any issues.

Advantages of Disadvantages of Asus GL552JX

Pros of Asus GL552JX
- Stylish design and good build quality.
- Excellent display screen.
- Easy to upgrade option.
- Good snappy performance.
- Good keyboard.
Cons of Asus GL552JX
- Average Sound output through built in speakers.
- Touch pad could have been better.
- Mediocre Battery life.
February 29, 2016
Gionee S6 Cons And Pros Review
Gionee recently launched S6 smartphone in India with a price tag of Rs.19,999. Key features of the device are 5.5 inch HD AMOLED screen, full metal unibody design and support for VoLTE.

Gionee S6 has aesthetically pleasing design with the unibody aluminium build. With rounde edge it feels comfortable to hold. The gold variant of the smartphone looks more attractive. Talking about the downside, it very much matches the design and build quality as that of much cheaper phones such as LeEco Le 1s.

Gionee S6 sports 5.5 inch 720 HD AMOLED display with pixel density of around 267 ppi. It has good screen to body ratio of 73.6%. The screen has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The screen is sharp and vibrant. The viewing angles are also great. Colours look little oversaturated and unfortunately, there is no option to tweak the colours for more natural look. For the price of around 20k, only 720p resolution for 5.5 inch display is a disappointment.

Gionee S6 is powered by 1.3GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 Mediatek MT6753 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. It has 32GB of internal storage along with support for microSD card upto 128GB. It is a dual sim smartphone. It supports Dual-SIM 4G with VoLTE. However, if you want to use microSD card, then you cannot use 2nd sim as it has hybrid slim slot. Gionee S6 runs on Amigo 3.1 skin on top of Android 5.1 Lollipop. The performance of the device is good. Multi tasking and transition effects are lag free as there’s around 1.5GB of free RAM available all the time. However, at times for launching the apps, it took some time. Gaming performance is decent. It managed to play most of the games without any issues. The device gets bit warm during extending gaming or video playback. The call quality was excellant and signal reception was decent. Addition of VoLTE is a welcome move which makes the device more future proof.

Connectivitry features of Gionee S6 are 4G LTE on Band40 as well as VoLTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB OTG, FM radio and Wi-Fi Direct. The device houses non user removable 3150mAh battery. In regular days of usage, it lasted for more than a complete day. The device comes with 10W charger which manages to charge the battery pretty quickly. In 30 minutes it was able to charge 30 percent from zero.

Gionee S6 house 13MP primary camera with LED flash and 5MP front facing camera. The primary camera captures images with good details in daylight. Landscapes and macro are sharp and well detailed. The camera auto focus works nicely. It was able to focus the object quickly. The low light performance on the camera is disappointing considering the price segment it belongs to. The front facing camera able to take decent selfies.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Gionee S6

Pros of Gionee S6
- Full metal unibody design.
- VoLTE support.
- Good battery life.
- Decent performance.
- Good camera performance in well lit conditions.
Cons of Gionee S6
- Low resolution screen for 5.5 inch display.
- No fingerprint scanner or NFC.
- Average camera performance in low light condition.
- Colors looks bit oversaturated.
- Bit overpriced.
February 28, 2016
Xiaomi Mi 4S Features Price and Specification
Xiaomi has unveiled a new midrange android smartphone called Mi4S. The device will go on sale from 1st March. The price of Xiaomi Mi4S is CNY1699(Approximately Rs.18,000). It will be available in Black, Gold, Purple, and White colour variants.

Xiaomi Mi4S comes with front and rear glass panels with metal frame for premium look and feel. The device is powered by 2.5GHz hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 paired with Adreno 418 GPU and 3GB of RAM. It comes with 64GB of internal storage and support for microSD card upto 128GB. Mi4s is a dual sim phone and runs on MIUI 7 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Xiaomi Mi4S sports 5 inch full HD IPS display screen which offers approximately 441ppi pixel density. The connectivity features of the device are 4G LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth, GPS, and packs USB Type-C. One of the most teased feature of this device is its fingerprint scanner. This is the first phone from Xiaomi to features fingerprint scanner. It also has Infrared sensor.

Xiaomi Mi4S houses 13-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flash and PDAF. For selfie lovers, there is a 5 Mega pixel front facing camera. This handset has 3260mAh non-removable battery and supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 technology. It also supports VoLTE supports.

Advantages of Xiaomi Mi4S over Mi 4
- 64 bit Faster processor: (64 bit hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 vs 32 bit quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor in Mi4)
- Fingerprint scanner.
- Bigger battery with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 technology. (3260mAh vs 3080 mAh).
- MicroSD card support.
- Android 6.0 based MIUI 7 out of the box.
At the time of writing this, there is no update on the release date of Mi4S in India. This device will be of the tough competitor for the other midrange smartphones in this price segment.
February 25, 2016
OPPO’s Super-Fast 15-Minute Flash Charge and World’s First SmartSensor Image Stabilization Tech Unveiled

The current smartphones are becoming smarter and smarter. However, there is one area which bothers most. That is battery life. What if there is a option to fully charge the battery in just 15 minutes? Answer is OPPO’s Super VOOC Flash Charge technology.

In the ongoing Mobile World Congress 2016, oppo unveiled Super VOOC Flash Charge technology which is said to fully charge 2500 mAh battery in just 15 minutes. According to company Super VOOC Flash Charge uses 5V low-voltage pulse-charge algorithm which ensures low-temperature charge that’s safe for the battery and dynamically regulating the current to charge the phone in the shortest time possible. This technology works when all-new algorithm pairs with a customizedsuper battery, a new adapter, cable, connector made using premium, military-grade materials.Super VOOC Flash Charge supports Micro USB or type-C interfaces, in line with the global standard.

SmartSensor Image Stabilization: The first ever sensor-based, pixel-level optical image stabilizer

In the event, Oppo also unveiled a new image stabilization technology called SmartSensor Image Stabilization which company claims first ever sensor-based, pixel-level optical image stabilizer.

There are two types of optical image stabilization. One is lens-based and another one sensor-based. Due to size limitations of smartphone, all previous technologies are based on lens based stabilization. However, MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) manages to bring sensor based stabilization to smartphones. Oppo claims that SmartSensor is the first-ever sensor-based solution for smartphones, as well as the smallest optical image stabilizer of any kind in the world!.

The newly showcased Oppo’s SmartSensor technology addresses of the major flaws of lens based method- not reducing shake during roll. According to press release, SmartSensor provides image stabilization on three axes, pitch, yaw and the all-important roll. Making split-second adjustments with its comb-shaped monocrystalline silicon MEMS, SmartSensor achieves full three-axis image stabilization in a mere 15 milliseconds.

Oppo’s Smartsensor is power efficient as well. According company SmartSensor uses a voltage-driven sensor, reducing power consumption to as low as 10 milliwatts, 50 times less than the power consumption of lens-based solutions.

Lens-based systems, with their increased power consumption, can quickly heat up the module, affecting image quality, especially during extended photo shoots. But the low power consumption of the fine-tuned MEMS keeps temperatures low and preserves image quality even in long shooting sessions.Meanwhile, whereas lens-based image stabilizers generally have a precion of between 3 and 5 μm, SmartSensor remains precise to a vibration of just 0.3μm. The size of a pixel is usually larger than 1 μm, meaning that SmartSensor is the world’s first pixel-level image stabilize.

With SmartSensor, OPPO smartphones become like pocket-sized SLR cameras, able to capture life’s beautiful moments in breathtaking detail. Even when lighting conditions aren’t ideal, such as at a party or concert, SmartSensor ensures clear and bright images by allowing a longer exposure time.

At MWC, OPPO also announced a growing emphasis on its “Camera Phone” strategy. Under the new strategy, OPPO plans to strengthen a well-deserved association between OPPO and great photography. Through continued refinement of its photography platform as well as new innovations like SmartSensor, OPPO aims to bring users technology that will allow them to better record their lives and share their experiences, so they can capture every moment as it really is: sharp, vivid and bright.

February 23, 2016
Sony Bags three prestigious International Business Awards at Asia Excellence Awards 2015

New Delhi, 23rd February, 2016 – Sony India, one of the most recognized consumer electronics brand has been recognized with prestigious International Business Awards at the recently concluded, Asia Excellence Awards 2015. Sony was conferred with a Gold Stevie Award in the Online Marketing Campaign of the Year category, and a Silver Stevie Award in the Brand Experience of the Year – Consumer category.

The awards were presented beating out significant competition in the categories for ‘Project Paladin – The Rise of Alpha Imaging’ Campaign. The campaign was designed to achieve brand loyalty towards Sony Alpha DSLT cameras, thereby reiterating Sony’s strategic interest towards interchangeable lens camera market. A seamless online platform for customers to discover, share and learn visual storytelling was created called – The Sony Alpha community.

In addition to this, Sony Alpha Community a unique platform that encourages photography enthusiasts to share and discover amazing photos with like-minded people was awarded the Microsite of the Year 2015in the highly contested Asia Pacific Excellence Awards.

Commenting upon the win, Tadahisa Baba, Head, Marketing, Sony India commented “We are honoured by Asia Excellence Awards acknowledgement of Sony’s unique and innovative campaigns stimulating the consumer community. It has been an overall effort in achieving this goal and promoting the art of photography.”

About Sony India Pvt. Ltd.
Sony India is one of the most recognized consumer electronics brand in the country, with a reputation for new age technology, digital concepts and excellent after sales service. In India, Sony has its footprint across all major towns and cities in the country through a distribution network comprising of over 20,000 dealers and distributors, more than 300 exclusive Sony outlets and 25 branch locations. Sony India also has a strong service presence across the country with 365 service outlets. Manned by customer friendly and informed sales persons, Sony’s exclusive stores ‘Sony Center’ are fast becoming the most visible face of the company in India. A distinctive feature of Sony’s service is its highly motivated and well-trained staff that provides the kind of attentive and sensitive service that is rare today.
To learn more, please visit: http://www.sony.co.in.

February 23, 2016