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When the perfect comes, the good has to give way. The Gionee S6s is an ingenious craft of perfection. It comes with a back Fingerprint Shutter for capturing Selfies and a Front flash for perfect Selfies even in imperfect lighting conditions. The specifications at a glance There’s a secret inside this box, let’s unwrap it
The post Gionee S6s: A New Way to Selfie appeared first on Nigeria Technology Guide.
Mediatek has now announced two Helio X20 series SoC as a part of their lineup for 2017. Dubbed the Mediatek Helio X23 and X27, the top of the line processors from the Chinese chipmaker aims to replace their predecessors Helio X20 and X25.
Despite the fact that their arch-rival Qualcomm made some vast improvement in their product lineup in 2016, Mediatek scraped through with slightly lesser powered SoC simply due to their tie up with leading Chinese smartphone OEMs. It would be just to state that the success of brands like Meizu, Oppo, Vivo, Huawei has, in turn, helped Mediatek ship the highest number of SoCs this year, at least that’s what a report from China reveals. Nonetheless, the Helio X20 series chip from Mediatek was quite underpowered as compared to the mid-range Snapdragon 650 range. That said, the Chinese chipmaker is ready to make amends, and hence comes the Helio X23 and X27.
Mediatek however, hasn’t played around much with the core architecture of the new SoCs. Instead, they have simply clocked up the Helio X20 and X25 chip to produce a more powerful SoC. The Mediatek Helio X23 and X27 retain the same Mediatek Tri-Cluster™ architecture (2 x ARM Cortex A72 + 4 x ARM Cortex A53 + 4 x ARM Cortex A53) and Mediatek’s trademark CorePilot technology. The chipmaker has clocked up the Cortex A72 cores inside the Helio X27 to 2.6GHz. The Cortex A53 cores of the same have also received a minor speed boost to be clocked at 1.6Ghz. Apart from that the graphics unit inside the Helio X27 is more powerful than its predecessor thanks an ARM Mali GPU clocked at 875Mhz.
With these modifications in place, MediaTek believes that their chips for next year are about 20% more powerful and boasts of increased web browsing and app launch speeds. The Mediatek Helio X23, on the contrary, comes with just one change – the Cortex A72 cores are now clocked at 2.3GHz. That aside, not much has changed on the inside. It’s worth noting that both these chip support dual camera photography thanks to the MediaTek Image image signal processing solution on the inside. The ISP promises improved image clarity, saturation, exposure control, portrait performance and large aperture. Apart from that the newly introduced chips pack MiraVision™ EnergySmart Screen power-saving technology, which effectively modifies the smart display parameters based on the on-screen content and ambient lighting of up to 25% reduction in display power consumption.
While MediaTek’s latest lineup indeed promises a lot on paper, it would be interesting to see how it performs in real life test after it’s induced in the market next year. That said, it wouldn’t be just to expect a huge performance boost from these chips, as they are just higher clocked versions of its predecessor. As of now, it seems that Qualcomm’s mid-range range Snapdragon SoCs may edge the Mediatek Helio X23 and X27 when both chips are commercially launched next year.
© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2016. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |
The post Mediatek Announces Helio X23 and Helio X27 Deca Core Chips With Dual Rear Camera Support appeared first on Technology Personalized.
It’s no secret that the smartwatch maker, Pebble has been trying to bring itself out of the troubled waters. Pebble rose to fame after its Kickstarter projects raked in record pledges and have been an all time Kickstarter favorite. Latest reports from The Information point at the possibility that Pebble will be acquired by Fitbit for a “small amount.” In all likelihood, the deal might put the Pebble brand to rest and will give Fitbit access to all its assets including IP and software.
Pebble announced their upgrade for the watches in October but the trouble started brewing last year when the company was finding it difficult to stay afloat with debt funding, loans, traditional investor cash and probably other liabilities. Consequently, Pebble had to let go of 25 percent staff in March despite raising $28 million earlier this year in the form of debt and venture funding.
In 2015 Citizen had approached Pebble in order to buy the company for $740 million, this deal failed to materialize as CEO Eric Migicovsky refused. However, once again before the launch of Pebble 2 the company was approached by Intel and a deal was pitched for $70-Million, Migicovsky once again refused the deal. According to sources, Fitbit will now pay between $34 to $40 Million which is a staggering devaluation from the earlier $740 Million offered by Citizen.
That said, neither is Fitbit in a comfortable position as the company shares have dropped from the earlier $50 to the $8.40 as listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The plunge in share prices is something that can be attributed to the not so impressive financial results. Some also speculate that Fitbit might have lost quite a lot of market share due to the emergence of Apple Watch as a competitor. The smartwatch sales, in general, have been witnessing a downward trend and according to reports from IDC the Smartwatch market has declined by 51.6% in Q3. The details of the deal between Pebble and FitBit is yet to be confirmed by both the parties.
© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2016. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |
The post Smartwatch Maker Pebble is Reportedly Being Bought by FitBit appeared first on Technology Personalized.
Today, Dell is discounting the 15.6-inch Latitude 15 3000 laptop by a whopping 52% off the sticker price. With a full HD display, a Core i7 CPU, and a six-cell 65WHr battery, this solid machine is a real bargain at just $679.
The post ET deals: Dell Latitude 15 3000 15.6-inch laptop for $679 appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Apple's recent iOS 10.1.1 update appears to be causing problems for a significant number of users, due to a massive unexplained battery life drop and irregular charge reporting.
The post Apple’s iOS 10.1.1 update is causing huge battery life problems for some users appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Netflix is finally offering downloadable videos for offline viewing -- provided you're using either iOS or Android. There's no word of any support on PCs or Windows, including the Windows 10 Universal app.
The post Netflix finally offers offline viewing, video downloads appeared first on ExtremeTech.
The ESA's mission scientists can reproduce the bug that killed the Schiaparelli. Another spacecraft falls victim to the so-called Mars curse.
The post The ESA has figured out what killed the Schiaparelli Mars lander appeared first on ExtremeTech.
This unfolding story of hacks and counter-hacks forecasts the coming, back-and-forth battles over computer security -- in more ways than one.
The post Ransomware shuts down San Fran transit, but the hacker just got hacked appeared first on ExtremeTech.
New data from an ESA satellite shows the Millennium Tower in San Francisco is sinking faster than previously believed. This has significant implications for the safety of the tower and implies a solution is urgently needed.
The post ESA satellite watches San Francisco’s Millennium Tower sinking from space appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Elon Musk wants a "vertically integrated" ecosystem, upon every part of which he can profit. After receiving shareholder approval to sweep SolarCity formally under his umbrella, it's time for the hard part: making it work.
The post Tesla and SolarCity receive approval for $2.6B merger appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Netflix has just snagged its best feature ever, yes the most popular streaming service has now got an offline feature which obviously lets you download shows to watch it later. Netflix has announced this feature and claims that it will cover “many of your favorite streaming series and movies.” The feature is currently limited mostly Netflix originals and thankfully Netflix has segregated the downloadable shows separately, you know just so that you don’t have to skim through every title to figure out if it’s downloadable.
This is indeed huge, Netflix users can now watch downloaded shows while traveling or even when they are stuck in a routine subway commute. The significance of this feature is only more pronounced in a country like India wherein reliable and high-speed internet in public places is yet to be realized. All you need to do to get the feature is to simply update the app from either the Playstore or the Apple Store. The shows can be downloaded in two qualities, Standard and High, the standard takes up less space while the High will obviously gobble up more space. That said, Netflix has not explicitly mentioned the resolutions but again they have never let users toggle with the resolution settings earlier, even whilst streaming.
Netflix is now matching against the rival video services like Amazon and Vudu. Even regional content providers including Hotstar and Eros Now have been offering this feature for quite some time. The Netflix Originals have always been the streaming services forte and thus it makes sense to launch the offline feature first for these shows. Furthermore, the company claims that it will be soon be adding the download option for more shows. The timing couldn’t have been better since this is the time that its rival streaming services including Amazon have just begun ramping up their presence globally.
© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2016. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |
The post Netflix now Lets you Download Movies and Shows Across all Subscription Tiers appeared first on Technology Personalized.
A bad driver in Apple's Boot Camp software can permanently damage the speakers on a new MacBook Pro running Windows 10. Apple has pushed a new driver to Boot Camp, so make certain you've got the latest updates before installing the OS, and update your audio driver if you installed Windows 10 before last week.
The post Apple’s Bootcamp audio driver can permanently damage the speakers on the new MacBook Pro appeared first on ExtremeTech.
When it comes to buying a phone on a limited budget, there are many things that make a difference. Right from the availability to battery performance to build. Since two years now, the budget smartphone category has grown stiff in competition, especially with the Chinese giants selling millions of handsets online, but then what good a phone is if you have a hard time buying it.
Today, we are taking a look at Xiaomi’s popular Redmi 3S vs Lenovo’s Moto E3 Power. Priced almost same, the difference is substantial, and if you have a hard time figuring out, the details will help.
Before we go ahead, and deep dive into the finer details, availability of any device plays a major role. Even though Xiaomi phones have broken records on selling millions of handsets, grabbing one in flash sale is not easy for many. On the other hand, Moto E3 Power is readily available on Flipkart. Having said that, the demand for Redmi 3S has subsided in recent times and credit to Xiaomi for keeping up with the supply too.
Redmi 3S sports a partial metallic build which not only feels solid, but also delivers premium feel. While Moto E3 Power carries the traditional Moto look and feel with rubberised rear which is also prone to oil and dust. So we have a clear winner for this segment.
Redmi 3S comes equipped with a 5-inch HD display and is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 430 SoC clocked at 1.1GHz and paired with a 2GB/3GB RAM. The graphics are handled by an Adreno 505 GPU. On the memory front, the Redmi 3S offers either 16GB/32GB Storage depending on the variant. However, the Hybrid microSD card slot common to both the variants can accommodate up to 128GB.
The Moto E3 Power comes equipped with a 5-inch HD display and draws the power from quad-core MediaTek MT6735P processor clocked at 1GHz and paired with 2GB of RAM. The graphics are handled by ARM Mali-T720 GPU. On the storage front, the device offers 16GB of internal memory along with a dedicated microSD card slot that accommodates up to 32GB. The RAM and the storage both have been considerably bumped up as opposed to its predecessor.
Redmi 3S trumps Moto E3 Power here. Xiaomi phones are known to deliver performance, thanks to tuning between the software and hardware, and Redmi 3S stands by it. This clearly shows up when it comes to gaming. One should note that Moto E3 Power does not support DirectX 11.2.
While both run on Android 6.0, Redmi 3S is now powered by MIUI 8.0 which comes with a plethora of features including Second Space, Dual Apps, Native Fingerprint App Locking, and so on. Those who are looking for more customization and features, Redmi 3S is the way to go. One thing you should know that MIUI is that it’s very aggressive with RAM management and it kills applications from running in the background pretty quickly to increase battery life.
Moto E3 Power has Stock Android on board which comes with vary basic features and minimal customization. It runs smoothly to what I have experienced, but let me get this straight. Moto E3 is not a power house. If you are looking for causal usage on day to day basis, Moto E3 Power lives up to it. Anything beyond? Look away.
Redmi 3S packs in 4100mAh battery which lasts for around 14-15 hours which can vary depending on your usage. If you only end up using few apps, it could be more, but if you are a gamer, it would be less. You get the Idea. Moto E3 Power packs in 3,500mAh user replaceable battery, which gets you around 12 hours on mixed usage. The basic idea is that both the phones can get through your complete day with moderate usage. Technically, Redmi 3S is nose ahead of Moto E3 Power.
Even though the price is almost the same, there is no comparison between both the phones. In my experience, the Redmi 3S is a better of the two here. The Redmi 3S stacks a 13 MP shooter with F/2.0 aperture and phase detection AF with LED flash. It also supports slow motion video capture. Moto E3, on the other hand, houses an 8 MP camera with LED flash which records video at 720P. Both phones also include a 5MP selfie shooter. However, both phones lack Auto HDR mode.
Now let’s talk about the photo quality of both the phones. Moto E3 captures blown out and overexposed pictures and has a yellowish tinge to them. Compared to this, Redmi 3S takes photos which look attractive to the eyes with its boosted colors and saturation levels. Also, HDR comes out nice on Redmi 3S.
When it comes to low light, Moto E3 takes blurry photos more often than not because of a huge amount of light intake, but when done properly, it gets good amount of details. In extremely low light, Redmi 3S does better thanks to its aperture but is still not very impressive.
When taking pictures, Redmi 3S does better autofocusing, but when in low light, both the phones struggle.
There is only a marginal difference between the phones when it comes to pricing, and they both are worth their price. Keeping in mind that both the phones perform decently, you need to consider other factors which we mentioned above.
If you’re someone who’d consider all the details, it’s pretty clear that Redmi 3S is a clear winner, however, the lack of availability adds to the advantage of Moto E3 Power. Which device will you choose?
© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2016. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |
The post Xiaomi Redmi 3S vs Moto E3 Power: Battle of the Budget Stalwarts appeared first on Technology Personalized.
The world of gaming and eSports has exploded over the last few years and it has become a massive industry that attracts fans from all works of life. While consoles such as the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 make up a good chunk of the gaming industry, the so called “Glorious PC Master Race“
The post How to Choose a Good Gaming Laptop appeared first on Nigeria Technology Guide.
As more of our networking moves from wired to WiFi, at the same time as bandwidth demands continue to increase, it may be time to look at providing more effective wireless coverage throughout your home or office.
The post DIY: Extending WiFi throughout your house appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Coolpad has now launched two new budget smartphones, dubbed Note 3S and Mega 3 in India today. While the Coolpad Note 3S is the successor to the company’s Note 3 launched last year, the Mega 3 aims to draw attention of consumers with the inclusion of a third SIM slot. The smartphones will go on sale via Amazon starting December 7.
The Coolpad Note 3S and Mega 3 incidentally shares the same footprint as both the devices share a 5.5-inch HD display upfront. That said, Coolpad has carried forward the same 5.5 inch HD (1280x720p) IPS display from the last gen Note 3 to their recently launched Note 3S. The Chinese firm has however played around with the externals of the Coolpad Note 3S, and has made use of glossy plastic shell in place of the matte plastic polycarbonate shell found in the last generation Note. Under the hood, the Coolpad Note 3S packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor this time around. In fact, it sports a Snapdragon 415 octa core chip with cores clocked at 1.36GHz each. This is clubbed with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. Apart from that there’s room for memory expansion upto 128GB via MicroSD card slot.
Talking of cameras, the Coolpad Note 3S features a 13MP rear camera with LED Flash. This is mated with a 5MP front facing selfie snapper which comes with a f/2.2 aperture. Just below the rear camera module, lies a circular fingerprint sensor which is again encircled by a golden ring. Powering the smartphone is a 2,500mAH battery which according to Coolpad will last you through a day of heavy to moderate usage. Besides, the smartphone is expected to come with Quick Charge support considering the fact it comes with Snapdragon 415 chip inside. That said, Coolpad hasn’t officially revealed the fast charging capabilities of the device. It’s also worth noting that the Coolpad Note 3S comes with support for 4G VoLTE thus you can enjoy all services of Reliance Jio on your smartphone without using any third party apps.
The Coolpad Note 3S runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 with the company’s own Cool UI 8.0 on top. The smartphone will be available only in two color options namely Gold and White at a price of Rs 9,999.
The Coolpad Mega on the other hand is a budget phablet whose claim to fame is the presence of three SIM card slots. Well, that mayn’t be something new in the market as we have seen many a ‘cheap Chinese phones’ in local markets being sold with such feature, however it is one of the first time we are seeing a OEM adapting such features. Powering the Coolpad Mega 3 is a 1.3GHz quad core Mediatek 6737 processor with Mali T720 GPU. Along with that the Mega 3 packs 2GB RAM and 16GB internal memory which can be further expanded to 64GB with help of a MicroSD card slot.
In terms of optics the Coolpad Mega 3 comes with an 8MP f/2.2 rear camera with LED Flash. This is clubbed with an 8MP f/2.2 front camera which promises 80.1-degree wide field of view. The big highlight of the Coolpad Mega 3 however is the presence of triple SIM card slots which apparently come with support for VoLTE. That said, Coolpad hasn’t clearly mentioned whether all three SIMs come with 4G VoLTE support. Nonetheless, the ability of adding three SIM would definitely attract a number of consumers in the budget segment. Apart from that, justifying its ‘Mega’ branding, the Coolpad Mega 3 comes with a large 3,050mAH battery which according to the company can deliver up to 350 hours of standby time.
Just like the Coolpad Note 3S, the Mega 3 runs on a highly skinned version of Android Marshmallow 6.0 with the company’s own Cool UI 8.0 on top. The smartphone will go on sale on Amazon at Rs 6,999 in three color options namely White, Grey and Gold.
© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2016. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |
The post Coolpad Note 3S and Mega 3 Launched in India at Rs 9,999 and Rs 6,999 Respectively appeared first on Technology Personalized.
Earlier this year Asus has launched the Zenfone 3, Zenfone 3 Deluxe and the Zenfone 3 Ultra at the Computex 2016. The Zenfone 3 Deluxe was, in fact, the first phone to be powered by the Snapdragon 821. While Asus had made the Zenfone 3 available after the launch the Indian buyers had to wait for a while for the other two. Today Asus has announced the availability of Zenfone 3 Deluxe (ZS570KL) and the Zenfone 3 Ultra (ZU680KL) in India priced at Rs 62,999 and Rs 49,999 respectively.
Zenfone 3 Deluxe comes equipped with a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED FHD display with Gorilla Glass 4 protective layering and a screen to body ratio of 79%. The Zenfone 3 Deluxe comes in two variants, one powered by a Snapdragon 820 while the other powered by a Snapdragon 821. Both the variants come with 6GB RAM and a 64GB/256GB internal storage with UFS 2.0, On the imaging front the Zenfone 3 Deluxe features a 23-Megapixel primary sensor with sapphire cover, f/2.0, 6-element large lens, Pixelmaster 3.0 Camera app and 4-axis photo OIS. The secondary camera is an 8-Megapixel sensor with 85-degree wide field of view.
The Zenfone 3 Deluxe runs on Android M along with a ZenUI 3.0 layering and is backed by a 3000mAh battery that supports QuickCharge 3.0. Connectivity features on this phone include Wi-Fi 802.11, LTE Cat 13, Bluetooth 4.2, hybrid SIM slot and WiFi repeater capability. On the design front, Asus has managed to wipe out the antenna lines on the exterior and the fingerprint sensor is claimed to be working even with moist fingers. Also, the NXP smart audio amplifier helps in providing clear and high definition sound output.
The highlight of the Zenfone 3 Ultra is ought to be the humongous 6.8-inch FHD display that comes with 4K TV-Grade image processor bundled with Tru2Line+technology. The Zenfone 3 Ultra is powered by Snapdragon 652 and is coupled with 4GB of RAM. On the storage front, the device offers 64GB of onboard storage along with a microSD card slot. The camera setup on the Zenfone 3 Ultra is identical to the Zenfone 3 Deluxe.
The Zenfone 3 Ultra is backed by a 4,600mAh battery that supports QuickCharge and Reverse Charging. Similar to the Zenfone 3 Deluxe the Ultra also comes with various dedicated audio hardware including NXP Smart AMP, DTS headphone output, and bundles ZenEar S earphones. The Zenfone 3 Ultra is priced at Rs 49,999 and retails in Titanium Grey and Glacier Silver and both of these phones come with the sand-blasted back finish.
© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2016. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |
The post Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe and Zenfone 3 Ultra Launched in India at Rs 62,999 and Rs 49,999 Respectively appeared first on Technology Personalized.
Access Bank Plc has refreshed the PayWithCapture app, the innovative payment and banking solution that allows you make payment by scanning a QR code with the camera of your mobile phone. The latest update, the PayWithCapture 5.0 is available for both desktop and mobile devices and offers a number of features that makes it more
The post PayWithCapture 5.0 Payment & Banking Solution Review appeared first on Nigeria Technology Guide.
While on one end, Samsung’s flagship side of things is going quiet for the year, the budget segment is only getting busier. With a range of phones in the On, J and C series, Samsung has been making all possible combinations with the specs to push the phones. And why not, it’s working for them! In the recent IDC reports for smartphones sales in India for 2016, Samsung has a healthy share of around 20%. Following up on the recently launched J7 Prime with just an addition or two on it, Samsung launched the Galaxy On Nxt in their Galaxy line up. This phone does bring some changes which we liked but coming at a price of little more than Rs 18,000, does the Galaxy On Nxt justify itself? And how does it perform as compared to many others out there that come at a much lesser price? Regardless of you being a Samsung fan, read on as you make your purchase decisions as we roll out our full review.
If it is a Samsung Galaxy, it has to look like one! And the Galaxy On Nxt doesn’t stray too far from Samsung’s iconic smartphone design. That home button on the front with a capacitive button on either side for back and recent apps respectively, a power button on the right and volume rockers on the other side, they’re all intact just as expected. The Galaxy On Nxt is a delight as soon you pick it up, fits so well in the hands thanks to the subtle curve on the rear edges, the 2.5D curved screen and one of the most compact 5.5-inch screen phones we’ve seen despite having a home button at the bottom. The blue version we got has a very premium look to it. The phone has dedicated slots for two sims and a microSD slot that can accommodate 256GB of additional memory. Coming at a healthy 168gms and 8mm thickness, the On Nxt is a pleasure to use.
But there are some cutbacks which really hurt the user experience especially at that price – the home button makes a choppy noise and is not as smooth as the ones we find on other Samsung’s phones but does double up as a fingerprint scanner. The capacitive buttons are not backlit which is a bummer and we fail to understand why Samsung would do this. Another gripe is the rather strange positioning of the speaker grille which is not on the back, not on the bottom but bang right next to the power button on the right edge! This is so disadvantageous as it gets encumbered by your hands when using the phone in the landscape mode. Thankfully the sound output is loud and holds its own at max levels too.
The 5.5-inch display is Full HD and packs in 401 pixels per inch. While the viewing angles are great and so is the sunlight visibility, Samsung has skipped the AMOLED screen here to make ways for a TFT screen that is protected by Gorilla Glass. One of the main reasons folks buy Samsung’s midrange phones is the AMOLED screen and this is another puzzle why Samsung skipped it. The TFT screen would mean the colors aren’t as punchy as on the former, but the touch sensitivity is top notch and so is the usability on the 2.5D curved glass.
Popping all the content off that TFT display is a skimmed TouchWiz-flavored Android Marshmallow that comes with most of the features that we have come to see on Samsung’s budget and midrange phones in the recent past. The theme store has tons of well-optimized options that apply themselves all across the phone and our favorite remains the Material Android that turns the look and feel into stock Android. The overall performance of day-to-day tasks is free of any issues and pretty smooth. The multitasking too is handled well. What is surprising to see is that that the Galaxy On Nxt struggles a lot when it comes to gaming. At times even lighter ones such as Subway Surfer has some occasional stutters and heavier ones such as Asphalt 8 have significant lags. And on a day where you’re lucky, they just run very smooth. This is a clear indication that Samsung has not optimized the phone for gaming as the J7 Prime did better on the gaming front and both phones are good on normal day-to-day tasks. There are few gestures that range from the ones for silencing a call to the ones on the S-Bike mode that ensure one’s safety while on the move. The phone also has an S Secure mode that lets you bifurcate your apps and content across two profiles.
All of these activities is powered by Samsung’s homegrown 1.6GHz Octa-Core Exynos 7870 Processor coupled with Mali T830 GPU and 3GB of RAM. With 32GB of inbuilt memory, of which around 20GB is available to the user, the phone can be bumped up by 256GB. Samsung will join the race of providing longer battery life by fitting in a 3300 mAh battery that is non-removable and performs quite well. On days of heavy usage too, it kept the phone alive till the end of the day with some 10% juice left. And on days of lighter usage, it can take you through a day and a half easily. With an adaptive fast charger off the box, the phone takes around 2 hours to charge up fully.
The Galaxy On Nxt comes with a fingerprint scanner that lets you unlock the phone with a touch, though it can be clicked. You can program up to 5 fingerprints. While this touch and start using the phone is really cool to use, the reliability of the sensor itself is below average. At times, it needed 3-5 attempts to get it working and most of the times we could ourselves using the pattern unlocking going irate. This almost reminds us of the performance on the Galaxy S5, Samsung’s first ever implementation of the fingerprint scanner. We hope this is something to do with the software and Samsung can fix it. Their flagship phones and the ones in the A and C series carry some of the best fingerprint scanners out there.
One area where the On Nxt excels is the camera – coming with a 13MP rear shooter with f/1.9 aperture, something that literally no other phone in its category has and price range carry, with an LED Flash. Coming with Samsung’s camera app with a wide range of options from HDR to Panorama, Manual Mode and so on, with a rather simplified interface that is easy to adapt to. What will take some time to adapt to, is clicking the pictures as focusing is a tad slow and the processing too takes that additional second most of the times. Making up for that lag, the output is really good. There is a bit of saturation but its only when you look at it with a keen eye. Very good on the dynamic range and white balance, the camera produces good images almost all the time as the goodness continues with low-light and indoor conditions as well. Of course, there is noise but the sharpness in the pictures ensure you are not disappointed for having a midrange camera on your phone. Videos are good too with nice voice clarity and volumes captured. The front facing 8MP camera with f/1.9 aperture does a great job as well when compared to the phones in this price segment.
Samsung has priced the On Nxt at around Rs 18,000 which is at least Rs 5,000 more than many other phones which come in this category. It brings a little bit of many things but fails to delivery completeness in any of the categories. The build quality is great and has a notification LED but the capacitive buttons are not backlit, the fingerprint scanner isn’t reliable and the speaker position is really bad . The screen has Gorilla Glass protection but is made of TFT that fails to deliver the punch that a typical Samsung’s AMOLED screen does on phones like On8 that is priced lower. The day-to-day performance is good with decent RAM management and good features in the OS but gaming is highly unreliable, even with lighter ones. Call quality and reception are great, has dedicated dual sim and microSD slots but the phone misses out on almost all other sensors including Gyroscope and Auto Brightness which is a bummer. The battery and the camera are the only ones which do well end-to-end in their department. Given all of this, it’s hard and unfair to recommend the Galaxy On Nxt to even a die hard Samsung fan when some bright candidates such as Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 3, LeEco’s Le2, InFocus Epic 1, Coolpad Note 5, Lenovo’s Moto G4 Plus et all are priced much lower, and yet bring much more to the table. Consider all these phones, many of which we’ve reviewed for you before you place your bet on the On Nxt – may your purchase decision keep you happy.
© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2016. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |
The post Samsung Galaxy On Nxt Review: a Confused Offering appeared first on Technology Personalized.
