Oppo N3 Smartphone:First Look

China headquartered smart devices maker Oppo has launched N3, its new premium smartphone that features a rotating camera lens and R5, the world's slimmst smartphone.

The Oppo N3 features a 5.5-inch 1080p display. The highlight of the phone is its 16MP motorized rotating camera that can be rotated up to 206 degrees with the tap of a button or touch of a fingerprint sensor located at the back of the phone. The lens has 1/2.3" sensor and pixel size of 1.34 microns.

Powered by a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, 2GB RAM and Adreno 330 GPU, the N3 runs Color OS 2.0 based on Android 4.4 KitKat. The phone has a 3000mAh battery and comes with 32GB storage along with a microSD card slot.

In terms of connectivity options, the phone features 4G LTE (including Indian 4G bands), 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.

The phone features dual-sided Skyline Notification 2.0 embedded at the bottom of the phone for notifications. The phone's fingerprint sensor can be used for unlocking the phone and encrypting apps.

"Oppo's N3 was built and designed with our users in mind. We took what our users loved about the N1 and made it even better," said Sky Li, General Manager of OPPO's overseas mobile phone business. "The N3 is a perfect demonstration of our commitment to design and innovation."

Oppo has also launched the R5, which is the world's slimmest smartphone at 4.85mm.

Powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa core 64bit processor and 2GB RAM, the phone sports a 5.2-inch full-HD AMOLED display. It comes with 16GB internal storage.



The phone sports a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front facing camera. The phone runs Color OS 2.0 and has a 2000mAh battery.

In terms of connectivity options, the phone features 4G LTE (including Indian 4G bands), 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.

The two phones feature Oppo's VOOC charging technology to get a 75% charge in 30 minutes.

The Oppo N3 is priced at $649 while the R5 is priced at $499. India pricing and availability details have not been revealed yet.

Review: FIFA 2015 (For next generation consoles)

ince the days of 8-bit soccer right up to the fancy graphics of today's consoles, soccer games have just focused on players kicking a ball over a grassy green pitch. Sure, the games have introduced weather systems, realistic physics, stadiums, updated rosters etc. There's never been a game that truly captures and recreates the emotion of the sport, the moments that drive goosebumps right up and down your spine. Up until FIFA 2015. A true evolution of the sports game and using all that next generation computational power to drive experiences.

Emotion and Realism

You've seen this a thousand times as the games are aired on the telly, in dozens of sports movies or even sitting down in the stands at a soccer game. The crowd going wild when the a player gets the ball. The elation of not only the crowd but the players themselves on a goal. The slow demotivation or determination of the opposing team, to close the gap. The electric charge and slow chanting of the crowd rising higher and higher to a crescendo giving their team a boost of spirit. All those moments that make you in tune, through time, space and dimension with each and every player on the pitch, every spectator on the grandstand, as embodied into FIFA 2015.

The Emotional Intensity engine in FIFA 2015 emulates this by building in over 600 animations into all of the 22 players on the pitch into an artificial intelligence that senses what's going on throughout the game, and lets players react realistically to the situation. Like missed goals or bad tackles will have players kneel down in disappointment and his team mates generally getting annoyed. Similarly with a comeback goal the players will celebrate in a 10 man pileup celebration. It's all these little things that make FIFA 2015 a truly organic experience.



The physics is like a nice warm blanket on the whole experience. When players run, they don't just accelerate magically. There is a little lag in acceleration as momentum builds up. The same with slowing down, theres a gradual decrease in acceleration followed by a slight stagger and shift as he changes direction. All these subtle things not only add to the realism, but also add one more element you have to take into consideration. When you have the ball you have other players realistically pulling your shirt or shoulder barging. The ball too reacts with closer contacts as it's dribbled across the field and varies depending upon the agility of the player. Giving you tighter control over it. Goalies too have benefitted from all new save animations and a brand new AI so that they're a lot more fluid in their movement. With correct ball deflections.
The pitch over the course of a game gets trampled with players footprints, and sometimes gets muddy if it's raining, as do the players. The crowds in the stands react to the players and the teams selected. On Match Day the crowd is deafening. With authentic stadiums and crowd chants and cheers based on the country. The crowd in FIFA 2015 is now a living force, rather than just using one tacky animation, the crowd jumps and cheers in waves. Even the ball boys on the bench jump and react. The cherry on top is the commentary which not only talks about the game, but also comments on the fans reactions.

Rather than just a static experience, the whole presentation of FIFA 2015 is cinematic. From a camera that keeps the action always in view, without letting players get too small on your HDTV. Like any good match, the camera will focus on teammates celebrating after a goal, or a player falling face first into the grass in an act of disappointment. Letting you know that you're teammates are getting demotivated or if it's the other team, you can revel in their defeat. Everything about FIFA 2015's experience is slick and simple.

While EA Sports has done a fantastic job of capturing the spirit of what makes a soccer game tick. Let's see if they actually got game.

The game

With regards to the game, EA Sports has trimmed all the fat, making it a streamlined experience. It's all about the game. No wading through thousands of menus if you don't want to. It's the same game you've played earlier, except with a new coat of paint and a lot of strategy you can dive right into if you want to.

When playing you have a lot more control over the ball as well as your teammates. When you have the ball, your player moves into a mode allowing tighter control, allowing you to dodge dribble and pass. If you do find yourself blocked or flanked, your teammates react to your situation and position themselves around you so you can pass the ball or if you're getting ready to shoot a goal, they file around to be there to catch the ball in the off chance you miss.



A nice touch to the gameplay is the loading screens, which are small mini games designed for you to practice dribbling, shoot accuracy or dodging. A superb little warmup before a big game.

The player animations are a treat to watch, however there are times where the bugs rears it's ugly head. With so many animations and artificial intelligence code flying around, you will find the odd player stuck in an animation. Also over the course of a game you will find the animation slowly getting a bit jittery, not quite as smooth and seamless.

If you're tired of just setting up matches, you can play through the career mode, follow news on Match Day live. There's a lot of content for soccer fans as you can customise your own ultimate team, set and customise your teams tactics and a lot more out of a staggering roster of teams including the Premiere League teams, stadiums and games.

Visuals
FIFA 2015 on next gen consoles is fantastic, with all the players rendered in unbelievable realism. From Messi to Ronaldo each player looks the part with all their statistics reflecting on how they move on the pitch. The player kits look authentic and exhibit cloth physics when grabbed. On rainy pitches their clothes get wet so do the players hair and during the course of the game they get dirty and mucky. A staggering attention to detail.The stadiums resound with the chants of thousands of fans in unison, and the game is best experienced using a surround sound home theatre system or a good pair of headphones.

Conclusion

FIFA 2015 is truly a taste of what next generation gaming holds for us in the future. With amazing physics, graphics and animations that are there to lend a new element of emotion into the game. A perfect game for soccer fans, sports buffs and anyone in the middle. Highly Recommended.

Note: This is a review on next generation FIFA 15 on a PlayStation 4. While the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions are also available, they will lack some of the graphical features



Rating - 4.5/5

Price: Rs 3,999 for PS4, Rs 4,499 on Xbox One

Features - Superb Physics Up to date team rosters Incredible on next generation consoles Very realistic on Next Generation Consoles

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technonews : First Impression:Flipkart Digiflip Pro XT911

 E-commerce giant Flipkart unveiled a range of new Intel-powered Android tablets in the price range of Rs 5,999 and 15,999.  Flipkart Digifl...technonews : First Impression:Flipkart Digiflip Pro XT911:

The Evil Within:Game review:

You cannot use the words 'survival horror' without the Resident Evil series popping to mind. Created by the legendary Shinji Mikami, the Resident Evil series rose to fame and spawned a legion of games like Silent Hill and The Last of Us that had you scrounging and fighting to survive against all odds. Now from the mind of the master of the survival horror genre comes a new game, after a string of bad Resident Evil games. The question is: Does Shinji Mikami san still have the magic to make The Evil Within work?

Story



An investigation into a brutal mass murder at a mental hospital turns into a full fledged nightmare for Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his posse. As a mysterious and massive evil force is unleashed upon the city, forcing tectonic plates to move and bringing up all manner of monsters to roam free. It's up to the good detective to face off against all the horror movie tropes come to life.

The story starts off with a bang, literally, though it never seems to keep up that same pace or even settle into a smooth rhythm and build up of a truly intriguing and horrifying world. What the game does get right is in it's bit parts. Filled to the brim with atmosphere, extremely detailed textures, tight claustrophobic spaces right up to dark open environments all cast beautiful lighting. Each shadow seems like it's hiding a grotesque monster waiting to jump at you.

Unlike most of Shinji Mikami's games, where he creates a memorable cast of characters, you just don't end up really giving two hoots for the good detective and his partners and any other side character. After a point, you just don't care about the story or it's characters, instead every fibre of your being in concentrating on moving from level to level just surviving. 

You have seen the monsters in the game before in plenty of slasher/horror flicks. There's plenty in here to fuel enough nightmare for a few years. Especially the situations the game puts you in with the monsters, literally make you want to bite your nails, except if you leave your controller to do that, it's certain death for you. With The Evil Within, prepare to die — a lot.

Gameplay



Think of The Evil Within as a combination of the best parts of Resident Evil 4 with a lot of Dark Souls thrown in for flavour. Resident Evil 4 was undoubtedly one of the best games to date in this genre, which makes it the perfect framework for The Evil Within as Dark Souls brought to the table a very high difficulty, truly difficult enemies and no dumbing down of elements at all.

The end result is a brutal, unforgiving game that ramps up the survival horror to an almost extreme. Even saving the game and upgrading your character is made painful and slow. Thankfully there is a good checkpoint system, and unlike Dark Souls, when you die you don't lose everything. 

Playing as Detective Sebastian, the game will take you into the deep, dank underbelly of some concrete monster. There are parts with monsters strewn about, and there are those unnerving long empty stretches of dank corridors, where there's nothing, not a threat but a clever play of light around you by the developers. 

When you do encounter a foe, the action is simple, you have a melee attack button or if you do have ammo, you can shoot your guns or bolts. Except that your enemy is a lot smarter than your average video game baddie. Not content with being just cannon fodder, these enemies fight back, and even the lowest level of monsters can kill you with a few swings. Sneaking around is the best strategy. 

Survival is the key here. There are pickups like the green bottles of goo which upgrade your skills and health syringes here and there. Maybe if you're lucky, a couple of bullets. However, most of the time you will have to make your own ammo out of parts you get after dismantling traps, which is a danger on it's own.

You have to sneak and disable traps, and while some just have one button press disarm, there are bombs where you have just one shot at in a mini-game — miss it and it's boom. There are times where we found ourselves roaming through areas with no ammo, no health syringes, just a few matches to light up fallen corpses. All you have are your wits and getting in the perfect sneak attack, without alerting the rest of the horde.

The challenging action and the survival elements really make The Evil Within an enjoyable experience. Though, the game could have used a better camera, which makes running away tricky, as you don't know what's behind you or coming from where. Especially since the sudden jump scare of a monster makes you flounder around even more. By the time you get the camera around, it's already too late. 

With Dark Souls, the controls are responsive, so your deaths are usually skill based. In The Evil Within, you will find yourself dying over and over again because your character, instead of meleeing the monster, suddenly decides to reload. Then you start all over again back at your save, only to retrace your steps and miss all your pickups because unless the camera is in a certain angle the prompt does not come up. Then you die on the bomb mini-game. Tough is tough, but the developers should give some leeway. 

Graphics and sound



The graphics of The Evil Within are nowhere near as that of The Last of Us; this game takes a more cinematic approach to horror. Using its graphics in tandem with clever cutting techniques and blurring, sudden sepia toning to scare the heebie jeebies out of you. What we appreciated the most is the way the light sourcing works. Somehow the game feels like every horror movie you have ever dreaded to watch, all rolled up into one big scary package. Be warned, there are scenes of extreme graphic horror. The game does not shy away from dismemberment or disembowelment or anything in between. 

In the sound department, The Evil Within, takes everything that goes bump in the night to a whole new level. You will hear distant screams and howls of some monster you don't ever want to have the pleasure of meeting. You will hear the rustling grass around you, the creaking of doors, shuffling of footsteps, all too near. In tandem with the shadows, you will sometimes jump at nothing when your eyes thought they just saw or when your ears thought they just heard. The way sound and graphics coalesce together to create an experience, letting your imaginations run wild is an amazing feat that the developers have accomplished.

Conclusion
If you aren't at all afraid of taking up a challenge and love getting scared out of your pants, you will love every moment of The Evil Within, confusing story and all. A gorefest, scarefest, splatterfest, whatever you may call it, this game is like all your favourite horror movies on one interactive experience. It is a tough and frustrating game at times and quite expensive too. Recommended if you love Resident Evil and relish in survival horrors.

Price
Rs 4,299 for PS4 and Xbox One
​Rs 2,999 PC
Rs 3,999 for PS3
​Rs 3,949 for Xbox 360

BlackBerry Passport review

Build & design In the sea of glass slabs, the BlackBerry Passport certainly has a distinct identity. You can love it or hate it, but you simply can't ignore it.

It's as 'businessy' as a BlackBerry device can get, but the super-wide screen and the short keyboard surely make it look awkward. People's reactions upon seeing the phone ranged from "it looks like a larger than life calculator," to "what is this, a phone?" to "look at that miniature laptop!"



BlackBerry decided to name the phone Passport as it essentially sports the same dimensions as an American passport at 128x90.3x9.3mm.

Weighing 196gram, the phone is anything but lightweight. The dimensions-to-weight ratio is not bad though the upper half of the phone seems to be more hefty.

Passport has a stainless steel frame that makes it a sturdy device. Unlike other BlackBerry devices, the back panel is not completely removable, but this also makes the device less clumsy. A small removable strip at the back hides the nano sim-card and microSD card slots. Removing the strip is pretty simple thanks to a small opening at the top edge.

The back sports a smooth matte finish and the metal accents give the phone a premium feel. It also sports the BlackBerry logo and a slightly protruding strip that houses the camera lens and the LED flash.

The right edge features two distinct volume keys with the mute switch placed in between, in line with BlackBerry's traditional button placement. The 3.5mm headset act is at the top edge while the micro-USB charging port sits at the bottom.

The front of the device sports a 4.5-inch square-shaped, IPS display. The rest of the front panel comprises of the three-row, capacitive touch-enabled QWERTY keyboard.



Overall, the BlackBerry Passport breaks the mould when it comes to design, evoking mixed responses. We felt that even though the phone is built like a tank, it heavily loses marks in the ergonomics department. It feels odd holding the phone to your ear mainly because of its increased width. It's also a phone designed for use with two hands and not just one. It just about fits in your shirt pocket, but sticks out if you're carrying it in your jeans pocket. Different isn't always better.

Keyboard
BlackBerry is known for its hardware keyboards and it is, in fact, the main reason why some users have been loyal to the brand. Make no mistake, the Passport's keyboard is no traditional BlackBerry QWERTY. You'll be disappointed if you're expecting a keyboard similar to the one found on the company's Bold and even Q10 devices. It won't be wrong to call it a semi-hardware keyboard.

Passport sports a three-row, capacitive touch-enabled QWERTY keyboard. There are no assigned number keys or shift buttons. Instead, symbols and numbers appear on the display when you're in the text entry mode.

The keyboard takes some getting used to but in our opinion it's not as good as other BlackBerry keyboards. We were not able to type as fast as we're able to do on a touchscreen keyboard or on other BlackBerry keyboards especially when it also involves the use of numbers and symbols. In the middle of typing something on the keyboard, you need to reach out to the screen and press the shift key to enable the numeric keypad and tap, thus breaking the flow. It's hard to get used to switching between typing and tapping even after using the device for a week.

Also, typing on the keyboard is strictly a two-handed affair. We found the keyboard to be a little cramped especially due to the awkward shape and placement of the space key. The keyboard does retain the clickety feel of BlackBerry keyboards and tactile feedback was decent.

The good thing about the keyboard is that it is touch sensitive and can be used as a trackpad to scroll across lists and webpages without touching the display. It can also be used to track the cursor during text entry and select text, but that again involves long tapping on the shift key.


Interestingly, taking a cue from its soft keyboard, the touch keyboard gets split into three portions each representing the three word suggestions on the screen; swiping your finger across that portion selects the corresponding word. We're still not sure if the touch feature aids in enhancing usability.

The software that powers the phone learns from your typing habits and offers relevant suggestions, which is a good thing.

Overall, we feel the keyboard on the phone does not offer a better experience compared to the Bold series phones and the Q10. Even the soft keyboard on the Z10 and Z30 is better. We miss the number pad and shift key that make the BlackBerry keyboards a delight to use.

Display
BlackBerry Passport sports a 4.5-inch square-shaped, IPS display (1440x1440p resolution, 453PPI). The display is wider than the one on the Apple iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and this makes it nearly impossible to use the phone with one hand.

The pixel-dense display is very bright and offers vivid colours.

Text and graphics look good and make the phone ideal for reading and working on documents. However, the 1:1 screen ratio is not that great when it comes to playing video clips. You'll see black bands above and below the video. Viewing angles were wide and touch sensitivity was good.

Overall, the wide display is great for reading and editing presentations, documents and spread sheets, and even for specialized applications like examining X-Rays or other medical reports. It's not good for watching video though.

Software
Passport runs BlackBerry OS 10.3, the latest version of the BlackBerry 10 operating system.

The new iteration of the OS comes with some cosmetic changes as well as functional improvements.

The basic structure remains the same. The UI is essentially divided into the hub, active pane and app panel. The hub stores all sorts of messages and notifications; the active pane shows the last accessed apps (up to eight in number) in widgetized format, offering information for a glance; and the app list features icons for all installed apps.

In BlackBerry OS 10.3, the apps icons are no longer surrounded by borders and shadows and are flatter compared to older iterations. As a result, you get an extra row and an additional column in the app list pane. There's no limit to the number of apps you put inside a single folder.

The active pane screen does not disappear if you dismiss all apps and instead displays a wallpaper. It can display up to eight apps but the size of the frames are not uniform. The pull-down quick settings menu can now be invoked inside apps by using two fingers.



The OS features the Priority Hub that highlights important interactions in one place. The hub has also got minor improvements including a prominent contextual action button. For instance, the button lets you compose a message in the hub, but the same button changes to 'reply' when you're reading a mail.

It also supports downloading all attachments at once, deleting original text of an email (while replying), and arranging sent messages into folders. The Hub also features instant actions buttons to perform actions on messages without opening them. For instance, you can delete or archive email messages once you've seen them without the need to open them (or long press) again.

The native apps, including the phone and camera apps, have also been tweaked visually.

A major feature of OS 10.3 is the BlackBerry Assistant, a virtual assistant similar to Siri and performing the same functions. It can be summoned by pressing the mute key (the key placed between the volume buttons), by launching it through the apps pane, or by typing randomly on the Passport's keyboard while being in the home screen.

It can set remainders and alarms, post messages on social networks, open apps, play music, make calls, check the weather, send and search email and answer questions through the Wolfram Alpha database, among others. In our usage, we found that voice recognition was really good and accurate, but it takes time to perform actions. It doesn't offer contextual information like Google Now.



The phone comes preloaded with the Amazon Appstore to find and install Android apps.

You can also download APK (Android app installation) files from the web or install other third party Android app stores such as 1Mobile Market to install Android apps. Android apps that make use of Google services don't work. Also, push notifications don't work unless the Android app is running as an active frame.

The BlackBerry 10 operating system relies on swipe gestures and doesn't come with online or hardware keys for navigation. You minimise or exit apps by swiping up from the bottom and access additional settings by swiping down from top.

Swiping up from any screen gives you a peek into your notifications and swiping up and immediately swiping to the right takes you to the BlackBerry Hub.

Similarly unlocking the screen is through a swipe up gesture. The phone offers a tutorial app in addition to making users aware of these gestures at the time of setting up the phone.

The Passport's big screen complements the software and makes the experience fluid. Having said that, it does have a learning curve, especially if you're used to Android, Windows Phone or iOS devices that come with dedicated Home buttons.

We liked the interface, especially the hub which makes managing multiple email and messaging accounts very easy. You can add all your social networking accounts including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Foursquare to the hub.

Interestingly, there is no dedicated app for email. There's an app shortcut for Text messages that takes you to the hub. BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp can run as stand-alone apps and even through the hub.

BlackBerry has also introduced Blend, a software tool available for PCs, Macs, iPad and Android devices that lets you access your BlackBerry phone if both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network. We used the tool on a Mac and an iPad mini and found it to be really useful. It's like BlackBerry Bridge which was limited to BlackBerry's PlayBook tablet, but also offers alerts for phone calls. You can reply to and send texts, BBM messages and emails through the other device and copy files across them via the Dashboard.

The Passport also offers gesture based advanced interactions that uses sensors of the device to detect actions and perform tasks. It supports gestures such as lift to wake, flip to mute, and flip to save power. These modes worked as promised.

Overall, the BlackBerry OS is focused on communication and messaging and outperforms other platforms in this department. However, it falls short when it comes to good quality third party native apps.


How videos look on the Passport (left) | Some apps don't work

BlackBerry claims that the Passport offers better productivity; it does come with Docs To Go office suite and Evernote, but these apps are available on all mobile platforms. Maps are not so good when compared with Google and Here maps, though support for directions is now included.

We also found some bugs in the software. At times, the hub was inaccessible and the issue was resolved only when we restarted the phone. The keyboard backlight also refused to turn on at times (even in the dark) and only a reboot fixed the issue.

Camera
BlackBerry Passport sports a 13MP rear camera with optical image stabilization (OIS), 5-element f2.0 lens, Back Side Illumination, LED flash and support for 1080p HD video recording at 60fps. It also sports a 2MP fixed-focus front-facing camera that supports 720p video capture.



The Passport's camera also offers Panorama, time shift and burst modes in addition to HDR mode. You can choose between 1:1 square, 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio for photos.

Pictures shot in daylight looked great with good amount of detail, accurate contrast and exposure, although colours were a little oversaturated. Even low-light photos were good though there was some noise.



HDR photos were like hit and miss and also had a bit of noise. At times, we noticed a minor lag while launching the camera app.

The phone can shoot 1080p video and recording quality was satisfactory. The front camera takes good quality selfies.

Performance
BlackBerry Passport is powered by a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor (MSM8974-AA), Adreno 330 GPU (450MHz) and 3GB RAM. With all the power under the hood, we expected the phone to run smoothly and it did not disappoint.

In our use, we did not encounter any lag or stutter while navigating through the hub, recent app and launcher panels, and while opening and browsing websites. Android apps also run fine though not as smoothly as the native BlackBerry 10 apps.

Since the apps are running over a special runtime, performance is not at par with native BlackBerry 10 apps. Android apps, including Shazam and TuneIn Radio, take time to load and switching between them is also not very smooth. Instagram did not work and returned an 'incompatible device' error.

However, we were able to play casual games like Temple Run 2 without any hiccups.

BlackBerry-optimized games like Asphalt 8 and Beach Buggy Blitz were not supported at the time of writing this review.

The phone comes with 32GB internal storage (with about only 24.5GB usable) and a removable microSD memory card slot that supports cards up to 128GB.

Passport has a 3,450mAh integrated non-removable battery and the company claims it offers backup of 30 hours of mixed use. In our use, the phone lasted us a full day (13-14 hours) with high usage, full brightness and 3G turned on. You'll be able to get more out of the battery if your usage is on the lower side.



We were able to play most video (including full-HD ones) and audio files on the phone without any hiccups. The phone offers good call quality and signal reception. It was also able to lock to GPS without any hiccups.

The external speaker on the phone offers loud stereo sound output through speakers placed at the bottom edge and the sound quality was one of the best we've experienced.

Verdict
The BlackBerry Passport is the most powerful phone the company has ever made. The phone boasts of solid build quality, an excellent display and a decent camera in addition to industry leading communication and security features.

However, it's not without flaws. The keyboard takes a lot of time to get used to and still doesn't offer a fluid and fast typing experience. The phone is too wide for comfort and feels awkward to use. At Rs 49,990, we feel the phone is overpriced, especially taking into consideration other options available in the market.



BlackBerry's own Q10 and Z30 are great phones if you're looking for a premium communication tool. The Q10 costs less than half the price of the Passport and offers a better typing experience. The Z30, at about Rs 30,000, offers high-end specifications and better multimedia playback.

If you don't need a BlackBerry phone for work, you can also consider other flagship smartphones including the HTC One (M8), Samsung Galaxy S5 and even the iPhone 6. These also offer a richer ecosystem of apps and services, including support for Microsoft Office. The Samsung Note 3 is also a great big-screen option with the added benefit of an intelligent S-Pen stylus if you're only looking at big screen devices.



BlackBerry says it targets 'power professionals' or high net-worth individuals who won't mind spending extra for productivity features. We feel that unless you're upgrading from a BlackBerry phone, or your work requires you to use a BlackBerry, there's really no reason to switch to a Passport from an Android device or iPhone.

Croma XT1177 tablet review: Good for casual use

Build, design and display
A rather plain looking slate, the Croma XT1177 tablet sports a rectangular design with rounded corners and flat edges. Made from plastic, the tablet is not very lightweight and attaching the keyboard cover makes it more hefty. Still, it is more portable than a budget Windows laptop.

Between the wide, glossy black bezel, you'll find the 10.1-inch IPS display, at the front. There's a capacitive Home key with the Windows logo below the display and a camera lens above it.

The 1280x800p IPS display is pretty good even though it's not very bright and vivid. Croma ships the tablet with a screen guard that makes it even more dull. We recommend removing it before using the tablet. It offers wide viewing angles, which makes it better than a number of entry- and mid-level laptop displays. The display panel's touch sensitivity was also good.



Holding the device in landscape mode, you'd be able to locate the 3.5mm headphone jack, a mini-HDMI port, a microSD card slot, a charging connector slot, a micro-USB port and a flap that hides a placeholder for an internet connectivity device (Croma is not selling the device at the moment).

The top edge has thin, plastic keys for volume control and power. Unfortunately, these keys offer poor tactile feedback and feel very flimsy. There's a magnetic connector for the keyboard at the bottom edge while the right edge is free of buttons and ports.



The slightly curved back sports a soft matte finish and is crowded with branding stickers for Croma, Datamini, Intel and Windows. These stickers look cheap and are likely to come off after a few months of use. The back is also prone to smudges. Two speaker outlets are also located at the back in addition to the camera.

The Keyboard case
The keyboard case is the USP of the Croma XT1177 tablet as it converts it into a 2-in-1, productivity-centred device. The case looks like any other folio cover with a suede finish outside, a keyboard at one side and hard material with folds at strategic places on the other. The folds can be shaped into a stand to use the tablet like a laptop on a solid, hard surface. It's not as simple as the iPad Smart Cover but once you know how to bend it, you'll be able to use it without hiccups.



The island style keyboard sits on a plastic panel and features extra function keys for Windows 8 charms and volume control. The same panel also houses a trackpad. We found the keys to be really cramped and while the tactile feedback was not as good as a real laptop keypad, it was better than some portable, Bluetooth keyboards available in the market. Having said that, it's only good as long as you use it for a few hours. We feel ergonomics could have been taken care of in a better manner. You'll have sore hands if you use it the entire day.



We found the trackpad to be responsive and sensitive to the slightest of touch. It also supports two finger scrolling gesture but that did not work flawlessly all the time. The keyboard case does add to the functionality even though it increases the weight of the tablet considerably.

Software
The tablet comes with a 32-bit Windows 8.1 with Bing version of the OS. The latest version of the OS features power and search buttons, ability to pin Modern UI apps to the taskbar, and boot directly to Desktop, among others.

It also offers a better desktop experience and streamlines Modern/ Windows 8 apps with desktop apps. Croma doesn't preload any third party apps so the tablet is free of bloatware. Our unit was loaded with the trial version of Microsoft Office but the retail version will come with an year's subscription of the Office suit.

Performance
Croma XT1177 is powered by a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Processor Z3735D quad-core processor (Bay Trail), integrated Intel HD graphics and 2GB RAM. In terms of performance, the tablet is good for moderate use and for web browsing, casual games and multimedia, and for apps like office suites, and simple imaging editors, among others. If you open too many tabs and multitask between many apps, it becomes a little sluggish. Graphics-intensive 3D games don't run smoothly.

Having said that, the device runs Modern UI apps and games without any problems.

The tablet comes with a 7900mAh battery and offers a good backup. In our tests, it lasted about 7-8 hours while using Microsoft Word, a picture editor, a music streaming service and playing some YouTube videos, keeping the screen at full brightness. In our video loop test, it lasted about 4.5 hours.

While we don't endorse benchmarks, the Croma XT1177 scored 986 in PCMark8 (Home conventional) and 1326 in PCMark 8 (Work 2.0 conventional) tests, and 291 in Novabench. It scored 865 in Cloudgate 1.1 and 9673 in Icestorm 1.2 tests of 3DMark.

The tablet sports a 2MP rear camera and a 2MP front camera for video chats. The rear camera takes poor quality photos which at best can be used for casual, social sharing. The front camera is good for video chats.



The speakers are pretty loud and the sound output was good in terms of clarity though it lacked bass. We feel that the empty slot for the 3G connectivity hardware accessory would confuse consumers. Also, you'll need to carry another charger with you as the tablet does not support charging via micro-USB.

Croma has included a micro-USB to USB adapter so you can connect any USB device including a wired mouse or storage accessory with the device.

The tablet has 32GB internal storage out of which 28.6GB is available to the user. You can use a microSD card of up to 32GB capacity though.

Overall, the tablet doesn't boast of high-end performance but is well-suited for day-to-day tasks.

Verdict

Croma XT1177 is a decent Windows tablet that also offers the benefits of a convertible to a limited extent. You can't really use it as a laptop if the surface is not hard enough. Also, the keyboard is fit for only casual use.

Windows 8 still doesn't offer a great touch experience and the desktop mode is a pain to use without a tracking device and keyboard. The bundled keyboard addresses that concern to some level. At a price of Rs 21,990, the device essentially serves the same purpose that netbooks did a few years ago, albeit with the convenience of the tablet form factor when you're just consuming content.



If you're mainly looking for a tablet for content consumption and apps, we'd recommend the iPad (Mini if your budget is low and iPad with Retina display if you can spend a few thousand rupees more). You can even buy a keyboard case or a Bluetooth keyboard and use it for work. It even runs Microsoft Office!

Dont Buy Ipad Mini 3 ,Ipad Mini 2 is Just as Good

Apple's iPad event was all about the new iPad Air 2. In fact, iPad mini 3 — the new mini tablet by Apple — was apportioned just a couple of minutes in the presentation on Thursday. Apple merely announced that the new iPad mini 3 will have Touch ID fingerprint sensor and gold colour option — and for good reason, because otherwise it is the same as iPad mini 2. Exactly the same!

Both iPad mini 3 and iPad mini 2, which was earlier called iPad mini with Retina display, have a 7.9-inch screen with 2048x1536p resolution. According to Apple's website, iPad mini 3 doesn't have the anti-glare, laminated display as well, thus making its screen exactly the same as its predecessor's.


Apple hasn't even given iPad mini 3 a processor upgrade, so the new iPad mini and its predecessor run on the same 64-bit A7 processor and feature the same M7 motion coprocessor.

The iPhone maker does not disclose how much RAM it puts in its gadgets, but considering that the processor did not get updated, the RAM too is likely to remain the same at 1GB for both models.

Both tablets run on iOS 8 operating system. Both are 7.5mm thick. Both have the 5MP rear camera as well as 1.2MP front camera, with exactly the same software and image processing features. Connectivity suites of the two mini tablets are also the same.



So where's the real difference? It's in the price tag.

As can be expected, iPad mini 2 got a price cut last night with the launch of the new smaller iPad. The 16GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 2 now costs Rs 21,900; this model was launched at Rs 28,900 last year. iPad mini 2 also comes in three other variants — 32GB Wi-Fi, 16GB Wi-Fi + cellular, and 32GB Wi-Fi + cellular — but Apple's press statement did not disclose the price of these models.

Going by pricing patterns followed by Apple earlier, the remaining iPad mini 2 models will be priced approximately Rs 7,000 lesser than their launch price. Going with this assumption, iPad mini 2 (32GB) will cost Rs 28,900; the 16 and 32GB Wi-Fi + cellular models of iPad mini 2 should carry the price tags of Rs 30,900 and Rs 37,900, respectively.



Compared to this, iPad mini 3 16B Wi-Fi model's price tag of Rs 28,900 seems a little steep considering it only adds new colour option and fingerprint sensor. The addition of Touch ID fingerprint sensor is actually the only relevant option here as it offers convenience in not only unlocking the iPad, but also in buying stuff online.

Touch ID-based mobile payments at retail stores (powered by Apple Pay) will not come to India anytime soon as the iPhone maker would need to have tie-ups with banks as well as retail chains in the country, besides regulatory clearance. And there is no word of that happening at present.

With Touch ID, iPad mini 3 buyers will also be able to buy apps, books, movies, songs from App Store and iTunes Store by just swiping their thumb over the Home button.

Whether this convenience is worth an extra Rs 7,000 is a personal choice, but in a price-conscious market like India, this kind of money matters a lot.

Considering that iPad mini 2 is the same as iPad mini 3 sans the Touch ID sensor and gold colour but costs a lot less, it is easily better than the new mini tablet in Apple's portfolio.

iPad mini 2 is also a lot better than the first-generation iPad mini, which has a relatively low-resolution display and slower processor, but costs only about Rs 4,000 less across variants.

Compared to Android tablets too, iPad mini 2 seems like a much better choice. The 32GB Wi-Fi Google Nexus 7 can be purchased in India for approximately Rs 18,000. It runs on Android 4.4 (upgradeable to Android 5.0) and has 7-inch Full HD screen, thus giving it the same pixel density as iPad mini 3. It is a pretty good competitor on the hardware front and even beats the Apple when it comes to storage, but when it comes to the app ecosystem, iPad mini 2 is the winner.



Apple says its App Store has 675,000 apps custom-made for iPads, giving a smooth user experience that is designed only for its tablets. Android tablets, on the other hand, have always had to suffer apps that are just stretched versions of smartphone apps, thus hampering the user experience (at least in some apps).

Another popular Android tablet in this segment is Samsung Galaxy Tab4 7.0, which has a lower-resolution screen compared to iPad mini 2, but offers expandable storage (up to 64GB) and Wi-Fi + 3G at Rs 18,000. However, it does not compare to iPad mini 2 when it comes to the hardware as well as ecosystem.

And that makes iPad mini 2 at Rs 21,900 a much better buy than any other tablet in the market right now.

Apple Ipad Air 2:Six New Features

Thinner body

Apple has shaved a few milimetres off the original iPad Air's thickness and achieved an 18% thinner body for iPad Air 2. The model is just 6.1mm thick and weighs 437grams, making it the sleekest tablet in the market right now.

Laminated, anti-glare screen

Though its screen size and resolution remain the same as that of its predecessor, iPad Air 2 one major upgrade is in the display department. The screen is thinner this time around as Apple has fused three layers (touch sensor, LCD panel and cover glass) into one fully-laminated layer, which results in vibrant colours and greater contrast.Apple has also added an anti-glare coating on the screen of iPad Air 2 and claims that it reduces glare by 56%, thus making it the least reflective tablet in the world.

40% faster processor

Apple says that iPad Air 2's A8X processor, which is based on 64-bit chipset architecture, delivers better performance than its predecessor without sacrificing the battery life. The chip processes applications 40% faster and renders graphics 2.5 times faster, but still ensures average battery life of 10 hours.

Touch ID fingerprint sensor

Touch ID fingerprint sensor, which was restricted to iPhones so far, finally makes its way to Apple's tablet lineup with iPad Air 2. It can be used to not only unlock the tablet, but also to authorize passwords within apps and purchase/download content via iTunes, iBooks and App Store. As it works with the new Apple Pay technology, it can be used to make online payments via a swipe of the finger.

8MP camera

iPad Air 3 is the only tablet in Apple's portfolio to sport an 8MP rear camera. The camera can record 1080p, time-lapse and slow-motion videos, capture 43MP panorama photos and, finally, also offer Burst mode.The front camera of iPad Air 2 has a larger aperture compared to its predecessor at f/2.2, thus letting in 81% more light for better video calls even under low-light conditions.

Gold colour option

For the first time, Apple is providing the gold colour option in an iPad. Just like iPhone 5S, 6 and 6 Plus, the iPad Air 2 has a pale gold hue. Other colour options for iPad Air 3 are silver and space gray.

 

 

 

 

 

Videcon Infinium Graphite SmartPhone

Videocon Mobile Phones today launched a smartphone, Infinium Graphite, with gesture control feature at a price of Rs 10,499.

The intelligent sense feature facilitates function like 'auto answer' to answer calls in proximity to ears, 'auto switch speaker' feature that automatically switches from speaker to earpiece on proximity to ear, 'reversal silence' feature that silences the device when flipped along with an entire suite of 'touch gesture awake' features.

The Android KitKat based smartphone with 4.7-inch display has 1GB RAM and 16 GB inbuilt memory. The phone has 1.3 GHz quad core processor and come with 1800mAh li-polymer battery. With pre-defined gestures like making C, M and O on the lock screen takes user directly to the dial screen, music player and camera, respectively, Videocon Mobile Phones said in a statement.

A user can also set up to 4 gestures of his own, it added. The phone has 8 megapixel auto-focus camera withExmortm BSI Sensor and 5 MP front camera that can click up to 88degree wide angle shot, the statement said.

Google Announces Andriod Lollipop,Nexux 6 SmartPhone and Nexus 9 Tablet

Google on Wednesday ramped up its mobile arsenal, upgrading its Nexus line with a new tablet and smartphone, and unveiling its revamped Android software, to be dubbed "Lollipop."

The US tech giant also announced the launch of a streaming media player for music, movies and videos, which can also allow users to play games via the Android TV device.

"Lollipop" or Android 5.0, the upgraded operating system for mobile, "is designed to be flexible, to work on all your devices and to be customized for you the way you see fit," said Google vice-president Sundar Pichai, who heads the Android operations.

With the new operating system, according to the Android Website, "The songs, photos, apps, and even recent searches from one of your Android devices can be immediately enjoyed across all of your Android devices."

The new devices give Google and its Android partners a broader portfolio to compete against Apple, which launched two upgraded large-screen iPhones last month and is expected to unveil new iPads on Thursday.

The Nexus 6 smartphone becomes the newest and largest of the Google-branded handsets, and is produced by Motorola, which Google bought in 2012 and is in the process of selling to China's Lenovo.



This aluminum frame device has a six-inch high resolution screen and a 13-megapixel camera.

"The large screen is complemented by dual front-facing stereo speakers that deliver high-fidelity sound, making it as great for movies and gaming as it is for doing work," Google said in a statement.

"It also comes with a Turbo Charger, so you can get up to six hours of use with only 15 minutes of charge."

On the tablet front, Google partnered with Taiwan-based HTC for the 8.9-inch Nexus 9.

The brushed-metal tablet "is small enough to easily carry around in one hand, yet big enough to work on," Google said.

"And since more and more people want to have the same simple experience they have on their tablets when they have to do real work, we designed a keyboard folio that magnetically attaches to the Nexus 9, folds into two different angles and rests securely on your lap like a laptop."

Google did not disclose pricing for the devices, but said they would be available for pre-order later this month.

The media player will deliver video apps to a television screen for consumers looking to supplement or go without cable or satellite.

Some of the apps included on the player are Netflix, Hulu Plus, the Food Network, Pandora and Huffington Post.

OnePlus One Review

Build & design
The OnePlus One falls in phablet territory measuring 152.9x75.9mm with 8.9mm thickness. The phone looks sleek and despite weighing 162gram, it doesn't feel very bulky thanks to the optimum weight to dimension ratio. To be honest, it does remind us of the Oppo Find 7 except that the One is made largely from high-quality polycarbonate materials.

It is also slightly curved at the back, enhancing ergonomics and giving it a good grip. Clean lines and subtle curves dominate the minimalist design philosophy of the phone.



The 64GB international variant of the OnePlus One comes with a sandstone grey back. The finish is very unique and feels like soft sand paper or a harsher form of suede. This premium finish makes the back of the phone resistant to smudges and even grime stains are less apparent. It also helps prevent accidental slips as the surface offers a good grip. The panel is removable and can be opened although it is a little complicated to remove it. The battery is, however, sealed. OnePlus had planned to introduce StyleSwap covers for the One, but had to cancel those as only a small number of covers could pass the quality tests. It had also said that removal of back covers was tricky and could potentially even damage the battery.

The rear also features a small metal strip that houses a slightly recessed camera lens (to prevent it from scratches) and the dual-LED flash. The OnePlus logo at the back is the only visible piece of branding along with the Cyanogen logo and certifications.

The front of the phone features a chrome rim and a slightly raised, glass display panel that looks completely black until one turns the screen on. The glass panel sports a 5.5-inch screen with three capacitive navigation keys at the bottom and the front camera lens and an LED notification lamp at the top.

The right edge features the power/screen lock button while the volume rocker is placed at the left edge along with the sim card tray. The keys (made from plastic) are thin and sharp, and pretty responsive, offering decent tactile feedback. They're not exactly placed at a mid-point but the position makes the keys easily accessible despite the phone's large form factor.



The 3.5mm headset jack is located at the top edge while the micro—USB port is placed at the bottom edge along with two speaker outlets.

Overall, it can't be denied that the OnePlus One is a large phone well-suited for people with big hands and you may need to use both your hands at certain times. Having said that, the materials used and the phone's design give it an edge over other similar phablets when it comes to ergonomics.

Display
The OnePlus One sports a 5.5-inch 1080p full-HD JDI IPS screen with LTPS technology for higher pixel density and sharper picture. The display offers good brightness levels and vivid colours, although blacks could have been deeper.

Viewing angles were excellent and text and graphics appeared crisp and sharp. Sunlight legibility was also among the best.

The display is protected by a Gorilla Glass 3 panel and offers good touch sensitivity. The screen responds even with wet hands or gloves on.

The phone offers adaptive backlighting to vary brightness levels as per ambient light, sunlight enhancement to increase legibility, and colour enhancement controls. Turning on the colour enhancement setting makes colours a little over saturated.

The phone also supports double-tap to unlock gesture that worked flawlessly during our use.



Software
The international variant of OnePlus One comes with CyanogenMod 11S, a custom aftermarket version of Android developed by Cyanogen. CyanogenMod is known for its customisability, enhanced performance and additional features. The look and feel is very close to stock Android barring a few UI elements, although customization is possible via themes.

The default Hexo CyanogenMod theme features the usual lock screen, home screen and app launcher navigation structure. Long tapping on an empty space on the home screen launches a pull-up settings menu that lets you customize the home screen, app drawer and app icons. You can choose the scrolling effect, app shortcuts sorting mode, and icon size among other settings, and customize it. You can also hide app icons in case you don't want someone to see the apps you're using.

The software offers a high level of customization and lets you tweak the lock screen, status bar and notifications panel as per your liking. You can choose to enable direct access to the quick settings panel by pulling the right edge.



There's a dual-view notification tray with the first panel featuring notifications and a quick access ribbon with toggles for select settings and the second one offering the quick settings panel. It also offers pop-up notifications.

The phone also offers lock screen gesture shortcuts like double-tap to unlock, draw a circle to activate camera, and draw the letter 'v' to activate the flashlight, among others. You can also choose between on-screen navigation buttons and hardware navigation buttons, and programme hardware buttons to perform different actions. For instance, you can make the Home button the call answer key or make the volume rocker keys wake up the device.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and the phone offers customization at every level.

The phone also used to support voice wake-up, a feature similar to the Moto X that allowed users to wake up the phone from sleep through a 'Hey Snapdragon' voice command but it has been disabled as the voice recognition was not up to the mark. You can still use the 'Ok Google' command even when the phone's locked to invoke Google Now.

CyanogenMod also offers advanced privacy and security features including Privacy Guard through which you can prevent apps from accessing your personal data. There's also support for secure messaging through WhisperPush encrypted SMS.However, these messages are supported between devices running Cyanogen and devices that are TextSecure compatible. The Phone app also allows you to block and blacklist phone numbers.



CyanogenMod also offers a Themes Showcase apps that lets users browse through, download and apply themes. Themes change the complete look and feel of the phone including the UI style, navigation bars, icons, fonts, boot animation and sounds. The app is a little cumbersome to use with no search feature and most of the themes are paid. It redirects you to the Play Store to purchase themes.

The other native apps include a File Manager, a Gallery app, Sound recorder and a Screencast app. The Gallery app automatically organizes local and cloud-stored photos arranging them by time (Moments), occasion (Albums) and type (Media). The phone also includes all Google apps.

Camera
OnePlus One sports a 13MP rear camera with F2.0 aperture and Sony image sensor with a dual-LED flash and a 5MP front camera.

The highlight of the rear camera is its ability to record 4K video, support for RAW files (in DNG format) and slow-motion (1080p at 60fps) videos. It also offers a time lapse video shooting mode.


The OnePlus One comes with the CyanogenMod Camera app that offers granular settings for controls including size, quality, shutter speed, focus duration, focus mode, and ISO, among others. Vertical swipes change the scene mode while horizontal swipes lets you browse pictures and videos shot with the phone. The app offers Panorama, Burst and HDR modes.

The quality of images captured outdoors, in daylight was excellent with good level of detail, accurate colour reproduction, little noise and good contrast.



Low-light shots also came out well, though these had some noise, especially under 100% zoom. But the details were good as it doesn't overprocess images. OnePlus One features a dual-LED flash that is one of the best we've seen and does a great job of filling up light.

The 4K video mode lets you record Ultra HD videos. We found that the quality of videos captured was excellent and featured good detail and accurate colour reproduction.



The front camera captures good quality selfies and the Beauty mode really enhances them. It's also good for voice chats.

Performance
OnePlus One is powered by a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor, Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB RAM, making it one of the most powerful phones available in the market today. The phone comes with 64GB internal storage. There's no memory card slo,t but we feel 64GB should fulfil the needs of most users.

Thanks to all the power under the hood, we did not notice any stutter or lag while launching and switching between apps, editing photos, browsing the web, clicking pictures, watching high definition videos or playing graphics-heavy games.


In terms of synthetic benchmarks, it scored 22,401 in Quadrant Standard, 45,460 in AnTuTu, 2301 in Geekbench 3 (Multi-core) and 62.5 in NenaMark 2. The benchmark scores are comparable to that of HTC One (M8) and Sony Xperia Z3, and better than Oppo Find 7. We don't endorse benchmark tests and do not ​recommend a phone based solely on benchmarks as real world performance is different at times.

We were able to play videos of popular file formats without any hiccups.

Without doubt, OnePlus One offers one of the best smartphone experiences comparable to high-end flagships.

The sound output through the phone's two speaker outlets was loud. However, the sound quality was not great and lacked bass. The speakers do not offer stereo sound output.

OnePlus One does not come with headphones, but sound output through third party headphones was pretty good. The phone's software features AudioFX app that offers equaliser presets for the phone's speaker, headset, Bluetooth output and Wireless output. It also offers a custom equalizer setting and additional settings for Bass boost, Surround sound and reverb.

Thanks to the phone's three microphones, call quality was very good, allowing loud and clear conversations on both sides. The same cannot be said about the voice loudness levels delivered by the phone's earpiece. The loudness levels were very low and it was hard to hear the caller in noisy situations. We're not sure if this can be fixed with a software update.



The phone works well even in weak signal areas and we did not face any network-related issue. It comes with GPS and A-GPS for navigation and maps and was easily able to lock a signal. It has NFC connectivity as well.

OnePlus One comes with a 3100mAh battery and the results were mixed, especially if you turn on full brightness and keep 3G data on.

With moderate to high usage, including about one to two hours of making calls, playing games, clicking some pictures, listening to music and browsing the web, the phone will last you a full working day (8 to 10 hours with 2-3 hours screen on time) even if you put the screen brightness at the maximum level and keep 3G turned on.

If you switch to auto brightness the backup goes up considerably delivering 15-16 hours with 3-4 hours screen on time.

Gaming
We played games like Temple Run 2, Riptide GP2 and Asphalt 8 (with Visual Quality set to High and Engine at 100%) without encountering any frame drops or freezes on OnePlus One.

Verdict
If it is priced under Rs 25,000 by the company, it is difficult not to recommend OnePlus One. It is not just a performance powerhorse with hardware specifications rivalling phones that cost upwards of Rs 40,000, but also a very well-rounded offering with equal emphasis on ergonomics and form factor. It doesn't boast of an all-metal chassis or water and dust resistant shell, but OnePlus One is certainly a well-made phone.

But is it worthy of being called a flagship killer? That's debatable because flagship phones come with a lot of additional bells and whistles which may or may not be very useful in everyday use. For instance, Samsung Galaxy Alpha or S5 feature a heart rate sensor that could have a flaunt value of a few weeks. The S5's water-resistant body however, is something that we'd want all handset makers to implement in their flagships.


For most smartphone users, OnePlus One should tick all the checkboxes part of their wish-list. If you don't want to spend on gimmicky features you're not likely to use after the initial honeymoon period, we don't see how spending more than Rs 30,000 on an Android smartphone makes sense.

OnePlus has also assured that after-sales support will be one of its biggest priorities even before it launches the phone in India. Unlike other markets, the company is in the process of setting up a network of physical service centres in the country.

It is most likely that OnePlus will sell the phone exclusively through an online retailer and we just hope that it is able to meet demand with sufficient number of units in its inventory.

If you don't want to wait or bet your money on a new entrant, Google's Nexus 5 is still a good option although the Nexus 6 is also expected to arrive soon with rumours suggesting that it would have a much bigger display. Xiaomi's Mi4 will also come to India by end of the year, sporting similar hardware specifications and a similar price.

If you can spend a few thousand rupees more, the second-generation Moto X is also a great option.

Jolla SmartPhone Review

Build & design
The Jolla phone takes design cues from the Nokia N9 with its almost rectangular shape, partially rounded edges and sharp corners. The phone is not particularly big, however, it is a little thick, partly because of its smart back cover. In fact, you could even mistake it for two different slim phones stacked on top of each other if you look at it from the sides.



More so because the front panel's edges are rounded at the left and ride sides while the back panel's edges are flat. It's the opposite at the top and bottom edges. The phone is essentially made from premium quality plastics and feels good to hold. Some people may have an issue with the sharp corners but we did not find them to be intimidating.

The back cover of the phone, which Jolla calls 'The other half' is NFC enabled and not only lets you customize the physical appearance of the phone but also changes the phone's theme, wallpaper and other UI elements. The first 90 customers get three such covers, free of charge.



The front of the phone is devoid of any hardware buttons though it does feature a discreet LED notifications light, while the right edge sports the Power and volume rocker key. The plastic keys offer good tactile feedback and are pretty responsive.

The 3.5mm headset jack and the micro-USB port sit at the top and the speaker outlet is placed at the bottom edge. The white back cover on the demo unit had a smooth matte finish. It sports the camera lens and the LED flash. There's very little Jolla branding on the phone.

Removing the back cover reveals micro-sim and microSD card slots and the battery compartment which houses a 2100mAh removable battery.



Overall, the phone is pretty well built, however, compared to other options, it does look boxy and a little out of place in a market that is witnessing the entry of slimmer and sleeker devices.

Display
The front of the phone is dominated by a 4.5-inch qHD(960x450p) display. For a device that costs more than Rs 15,000, we would have expected a 720p display but the panel is not really bad to look at. Text and graphics don't look very sharp but the system app icons and screens don't look pixilated. Having said that, viewing angles were not very wide.

Sunlight legibility was average and shooting pictures on a bright, sunny day is a little difficult. The default system font also doesn't suit the display.

Software

The key highlight of the phone is its Sailfish OS, an open source platform based on MeeGo that also supports Android apps. The navigation is totally gesture based, somewhat like BlackBerry 10.

You unlock the phone via a double tap gesture and navigate across three different screen panels - the lock screen displays the time, notifications and status bars, the second one is the Home screen that presents a live view of running apps and the third one is Launcher that features app shortcuts.

You exit apps by swiping from the left edge towards the right or vice versa, explore additional options and settings by swiping towards the bottom and get notifications by swiping towards the top. Swiping to the left takes you back a step in navigation.

There's also a pulley menu indicated by a glow at the top of the screen. Whenever you see the glowing bar, you can simply swipe down across the screen to see other options and select one of them. Some apps also have this menu at the bottom.

Instead of a pull-down notification tray, Jolla offers an Events view which can be initiated by simply swiping up the screen from the bottom bezel. It displays all notifications including social network feeds. The social feeds screen also lets you post to respective social networks.


Although there's a tutorial that guides you about the basics, we feel there's a learning curve attached to the OS, especially if you're used to an Android, Windows Phone or iOS device. It takes time getting used to the gestures and understanding the design language of the UI. Once you're familiar with it, you'll not have problems navigating around. However, we feel it could have been made simpler. For instance, after locating the app of your choice in the Jolla Store you'll need to pull down and find the install button via the pulley menu when this could have been a one tap process. Shouldn't the UI focus on making things more intuitive and reducing the number of steps to perform an action?

Similarly, the gesture for minimizing apps and going back one step inside native apps is very identical, leading to confusion.

The phone ships with the Jolla store and some preloaded Android apps including Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Snapdeal apps. The Android apps come with a navigation bar with a back button but also support the swipe to exit gesture. It's worth pointing out that major online services don't offer native apps for Jolla.

The phone comes with non-removable native apps for phone, messages, browser, camera, People (contacts), Gallery and settings, and removable apps for calculator, calendar, clock, email, media player, notes, documents (a viewer), and Here maps. All Android apps are also removable.

Just like BlackBerry 10, the native apps become live widgets in the running apps view offering some information, but Android apps display a static frame of the last accessed screen. Simple Android apps and games run smoothly on Jolla and it never feels there's an emulation layer. Having said that, the native apps look really beautiful and integrate the ambience of the UI in a much better manner. We tried a few third party clients for apps like Facebook and Twitter and found them to be really good looking although they lacked full functionality. There were also issues with notifications while using Android apps as they're not integrated with the system.



One of the strengths of Jolla is its integrated Messages app. It reminds you of the Windows Phone messaging app but this one also brings in support for Google Hangouts in addition to Facebook Messenger and XMPP-based services. Messages are received and send instantly and you can see all your communication threads on a single screen.

The Jolla keyboard offers a good typing experience and has a minimalist look. It offers scrollable word suggestions and option to switch the language.

Overall, the Sailfish operating system looks fresh and the gesture-based approach to navigation is interesting albeit a little cumbersome to use at times. Other than the novelty and the founders' promise of not sharing users' personal data, there aren't many reasons to choose the platform over Android and iOS.

Camera
Jolla phone features an 8MP rear camera alongside an LED flash, and a 2MP front-facing camera as well.

The Jolla camera app offers a number of granular settings but misses out on Panorama and HDR modes.



The camera takes good quality pictures in daylight with accurate colour reproduction and good amount of detail. The pictures don't look good on the phone due to the low display resolution but transfer them to a PC and you'll realize that the phone has a very capable rear camera especially for pictures taken in optimal light conditions. Even low-light photos were decent though these pictures were not as rich in terms of detail. There was very little noise.

The rear camera is capable of shooting 1080p video but video quality was average.



The front camera takes good quality selfies.

Performance

Powered by a 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM, the Jolla smartphone comes with 16GB storage expandable via microSD card. 13.7GB storage is available to the end users.

We found navigating across the home screen, launching and switching between apps to be very smooth. Compared to other phones in the same price range, the hardware is modest but we have to say that it is well optimized for the Jolla OS and you don't come across stutter or lag while using native apps. Casual Android games like Cut the Rope and Subway Surfers run smoothly but we were not able to install games such as Riptide GP 2 or Asphalt 8 due to requirement of additional files not available via third-party Android app stores. You'll not be able to install Android apps that integrate a Google service or rely on Google Play for payments. Some Android apps crash frequently.

In terms of call quality and network reception the phone performs well and the other party was able to hear us loud and clear thanks to the good quality microphones.



The phone was able to play HD videos and supports most popular video formats.

The phone comes with GPS and A-GPS for navigation and maps and was easily able to lock a signal. It also comes with NFC connectivity to initiate file transfers to other NFC-enabled phones and receive data from NFC tags.

Coming to battery life, the 2100mAh battery of the phone helps in achieving a respectable backup. With the phone's brightness set to automatic and intermittent use of WiFi and 3G, the phone lasted a full day (9-10 hours) with usage comprising few hours of phone calls, casual gaming, an hour of web browsing and accessing Twitter and Facebook, in addition to clicking a few pictures.

Verdict
At a price of Rs 16,499, the Jolla phone offers an alternative ecosystem to users who maybe tired of Android, iOS or Windows Phone and are open to experiment and try a less evolved, community supported platform. Jolla phone could perhaps be a good secondary smartphone used mainly for messaging. If you're a smartphone enthusiast and have been been waiting to buy this phone, you'll find the price very attractive (the phone sells for 349 euros in Europe).

We'd not recommend the Jolla phone to users who're just switching from a feature phone as it feels like a work in progress. The Sailfish OS has a steep learning curve and doesn't offer a good number of native apps. If you have to rely on Android apps to get work done, we're not sure why you wouldn't use an Android phone that comes with the Google Play Store. You'll get access to all Android apps and better performance.



In the same price range, you can consider Micromax Canvas Knight, Asus ZenFone 6 and HTC Desire 616, if you're open to buying an Android phone. The new Nokia Lumia 730 is also a great option if you don't mind a Windows Phone option.

Jolla has good potential but in its current form it is still far from becoming a viable, mainstream smartphone platform.