Tech2 Touch

Category: Reviews

Reviews on smartphones, gadgets and other useful applications. The reviews and summarised by splitting the features into pros and cons.

  • Asus Zenbook 3 Review-Pros and Cons

    Zenbook 3 is a top tier 12.5 inch ultra book from Asus. It is the thinnest and lightest Intel Core i-powered laptop available today. Inspite of being a ultra portable laptop it packs some impressive  spec sheet. Here is our review on Asus ZenBook 3 UX390UA based on pros and cons.

    Asus Zenbook 3 Review

    Asus Zenbook 3 weighs only about 910 grams and is only 11.9 thick at its thickest side. The aerospace-grade aluminum alloy in its construction makes it sturdy and keeps the weight light. The minimalistic Asus branding on top with concentric circles around it and golden colored lining in the side edges gives a premium look and feel to this ultrabook. Though it is thin and lightweight, there was very little flex felt in hood or keyboard dock.  Zenbook 3 is available in 3 colours namely Rose Gold, Royal Blue and Quarts Gray. Our test unit had royal blue colour.

    Zenbook UX390UAK sports 12.5 inch IPS display screen with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. The screen has Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. The viewing angles, brightness, colour accuracy were decent. As it has Glossy screen, outdoor visibility is not great. Lack of touch screen and comparatively lower brightness level is demerits of this display screen.

    There is a 6 row keyboard with metallic keys. Keys have travel of around 0.8mm. It takes bit of time to get used to it. Typing experience is quite good on this ultrabook. Asus Zenbook 3 comes with trackpad which has layer of glass on top. There is a fingerprint scanner for Windows Hello Login.

    Our review unit of Asus Zenbook 3 is powered by Intel Core i7 7500U with 16GB of RAM. Performance of the ultrabook was good even with tasks such as Video editing, photoshop etc. While intensive applications are running, the ultrabook tends to heat up a bit. Also system fan continuously runs most of the time which produces little bit of noise.

    Asus Zenbook 3 Review-Pros and Cons

    Asus Zenbook 3 Pros-  5 Reasons to buy

    • Stylish and compact design and build.
    • Excellent performance.
    • Good display panel.
    • Good battery life.
    • Excellent trackpad.

    Asus Zenbook 3 Cons-  Reasons not to buy

    • Limited ports.
    • Does not have touch screen variant.
    • System fan noise.

  • Moto M Review- Pros and Cons

    Moto M is the first smartphone from Moto series with all metal unibody design. It comes in 2 variants. One with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage and second one has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.  Here is the Moto M review based on the pros and cons.

    Moto M Review

    The first thing you notice on Moto M is its design and build quality. The all metal unibody design with slightly curved back gives premium feel to the device.  It has a body to screen ratio of 73 percent, thanks to the thin bezels.

    Moto M sports 5.5 inch 1080p IPS LCD screen with pixel density of around 401 ppi. Quality of the display panel used on this device is excellent. The viewing angles, colour saturation and sunlight legibility are good. The touch response also impressive.

    Moto M is powered by 2.2GHz Octa Core Mediatek Helio P15 SoC with Mali T860 MP2 GPU. The unit which we have used for this review has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. It is a dual sim smartphone which has hybrid sim card slot. This means that, you can either use one sim card and a microSD or 2 sim cards.

    Performance of Moto M is decent. We have not faced any laginess while using the device for basic day to day tasks. However, gaming performance was just average. There was visible stuttering while playing high end games. Also, some of the trade mark features of Motorola smartphones such as Moto display and Moto action etc are missing.

    Moto M comes with 16MP primary camera with LED flash and 8MP secondary camera. The primary camera takes decent pictures in well lit conditions. However in low light and indoor lighting condition, camera performance is just average. The 8MP front facing camera performance was good compared to Moto G4 Plus.

    Moto M houses 3050 mAh Li-Polymer battery which lasted one full day in our review period. Charging time to fully charge the device was around one and half hours.

    Moto M Review- Pros and Cons

    Moto M Pros

    • Good design and build quality.
    • Excellent display panel.
    • Decent battery life.
    • Features all the basic sensors like compass, gyroscope, auto brightness sensor etc.
    • Front facing camera performance is decent.
    • LED notification light.

    Moto M Cons

    • Average performance.
    • Hybrid sim card slot.
    • Lack of Moto Display, Moto Action.
    • Camera performance is average.
    • No laser auto focus.

    These are the some of the pros and cons we found while doing the Moto M Review. Please let us know your thought on this device in the comment section below.

  • Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL Review- Pros and Cons

    Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL is a higher mid range Android smartphone with premium look and decent performance. Though the price looks bit on the higher side, it does manages to get most of the things right. Here is the Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL review based on my last 10 days of usage.

    The biggest change in Zenfone 3 compared to its predecessor is the design and build quality. At a time when market is flooded with all metal unibody design smartphones, a smartphone with 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass both on the front and rear which are held by metal frame gives a refreshing feel. The concentric-circle pattern at the rear which is called “Zen design” makes this device more beautiful. The Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL is available in Shimmer Gold, Moonlight White, Aqua Blue, and Sapphire Black color variants. The one which I bought is Aqua Blue variant.

    Recommended Reading

    How to set custom ringtone in Asus Zenfone 3

    Asus Zenfone 3 FAQ with Tips and tricks

    Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL Review

    Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL sports 16 megapixel primary camera with f/2.0 aperture and 6P Largan lens. This is supported by Dual LED flash,TriTech auto-focus technology, optical image stabilisation (OIS) and electronic image stabilisation (EIS) . TriTech auto-focus technology combines laser, phase detection and continuous autofocus.  The pictures taken using the Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL came out really good in outdoor and indoor conditions. The low light shots were decent but not great for the price. It supports 4K video recording. For 4K video recording, video stabilisation does not works.  For selfie lovers this smartphone features 8MP front facing camera. Below are the some of the images taken using the Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL and video sample.


    Video Sample

    Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL sports 5.2 inch full HD IPS display screen. The display is vibrant and offers rich colours. The viewing angles and sunlight legibility are also good. Using the Spledid app, you have the option to change the colour temperature.

    Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL is powered by octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor  clocked at 2GHz with 3GB RAM and Adreno 506 graphics. It has 32GB of internal storage in which 8GB is system reserved. Out of the box, there are lot of bloatware. Some of the third party apps can be uninstalled. However, Asus Apps cannot be uninstalled.

    5.2 inch variant of Asus Zenfone 3 comes with hybrid sim card slot. You can use either 1 nano sim card and micro sim  card or one sim card with microSD card. It supports upto 2TB of microSD card. I have not used micro SD card throughout my usage in these days as I use both slots for sim cards.  The connectivity features of the device includes 4G, 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac, GPS/A-GPS, and Glonass.

    Coming to performance, I have not faced any lagging or stuttering on regular usage. Gaming performance was also decent. It played games like Asphalt 8, Nova 3, Modern Combat X without any issue. However, it takes a while to open heavy games. The call quality and signal reception was excellant. The output via speakers as well as via headphone is good. The fingerprint scanner is accurate and fast. It recognises even the wet finger and supports 360 degree recognition.

    Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL houses 2650 mAh battery with fast charging. It takes around 1 hour 15 minutes to fully charge the battery. Battery life is decent and managed to cover a complete day with regular usage.

    Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL Review : Advantages and Disadvantages

    Pros of Asus Zenfone 3 ZE520KL

    • Premium Design.
    • Good camera performance in outdoor and artificial lighting conditions.
    • 4K video recording capability.
    • Excellent call quality and signal reception.
    • Fast and Accurate fingerprint scanner.
    • Good display panel.

    Cons of Zenfone 3 ZE520KL

    • No backlit navigation keys.
    • Hybrid sim card slot.
    • Glass back feels bit slippery. Also, there is a huge possibility of breaking of these glass even if you drop it from 3 to 4 feets.
    • Priced little on the higher side.

  • 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

    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.

     

  • 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 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.

    Recommended reading:

    Moto G4 Plus FAQ with Tips and Tricks

    Moto G4 Plus vs Redmi Note 3 Comparison

    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.