Tag: performance

5 worst Smartphones that failed to take off from the Launchpad in 2015

It is the time when we leave behind our past, groom our memories, cultivate the best of it and store the most vivid one somewhere in the vast archive of our brain. The good, the bad or the worst, everything that happened there in 2015 was special; not only because we get to learn something from it, but we do know exactly what we have there for us. Nothing in this world can change what has happened in 2015, and what it had to offer, especially in the smartphone industry. From incredible Nexus (6P and 5X) devices, LG G4, Samsung Galaxy S6 (which is somewhere between the line), Apple iPhone 6S (Plus) to Amazon Fire; every one of them contributed in the composition of smartphone’s advancement and disappointments in 2015.

With my belly still full of festive foods, I am here to list down 5 worst smartphones of 2015 that attracted some buzz over the internet but surprisingly failed to actually deliver what they promised.

HTC One M9

HTC One Series (Especially 2013 Lineup) introduced itself as a new hope for the smartphone industry, and an escape from the boring rectangular bar-like design offered by iPhone and Samsung flagships. The HTC One M7 was an immediate hit, praised by millions of users. The trend was passed on to the next iteration of the smartphone (M8), which was another success. However, the company soon witnessed a downfall in their sales chart of HTC One M9 in 2015. So, where they went wrong?

Most of the smartphones of 2015 were widely affected by the bug in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, which was responsible for uncomfortably overheating the devices. It would further throttle the processing power once the temperature rises, and would continue to do so until the temperature would fall down again. Coupled with poor battery performance, surprisingly drastic rear UltraPixel Camera, slow charging, random restarts and other software bugs; HTC One M9 was one of the worst smartphones of 2015.

LG G Flex 2

The Original LG G Flex promised us a curved smartphone with some amazing technology. The year 2013 was one of the most important milestones in Tech history, giving us a glimpse of future tech as we see them today. LG, Samsung and other big names jumped into the experiments to bend the smartphone displays to the extent that we could fold/unfold it like a newspaper; a vision which still seems too far away to be fetched. LG G Flex, however, came up with a curved display, which was unique and new innovation at the time. There’s no surprise that this piece of tech was hugely adapted, and became a topic of buzz.

LG G Flex 2 was supposed to be the most innovative smartphone of the year, with some top notch specifications and technology that deemed as a non-achievable future tech. However, this phone turned out to be just an upgrade from the previous version which was whipped by Snapdragon 810’s performance and heating issues. LG did try to bring some new tech onboard; such as gimmick self-heal back cover, which didn’t work as expected. At the end owners complained that they had to replace the back cover just as they would usually do on other smartphones once its surface has unbearable scratches.

Some even claimed that the lack of removable battery and fingerprint scanner actually made this phone worse than the original.

Blackberry Passport

Blackberry Passport lives with the motto of “Work Wide,” that being said, the smartphone is specially designed with enterprise workflow in the mind. The wide screen surprisingly makes it very easy to read emails, e-books and surf through the internet (especially heavy websites as desktop mode). The high-end specifications that offer great performance, coupled with 3,450 mAh battery that lasts for an entire day, makes it an ideal business companion. However, things get little outside of the comfort zone if you try to use it for another purpose, such as watching videos on the go. It is very subjective opinion, but I hardly believe that we have moved past the physical keyboard adaptation. It was actually very trendy and advantageous over the resistive touch screen keyboards in the past, but capacitive display, SwiftKey gesture, and the bigger screen has left those days into the dust. The fact that this smartphone weighs 194g, which makes it really uncomfortable to operate with a single hand when coupled with the wide display. All these advantages and radical issues make ‘Blackberry Passport’ best and worst blackberry smartphone of 2015 at the same time.

Asus Zenfone 2 Laser (ZE550KL)

Asus Zenfone 2 Laser has some of the worst ‘specification’ and ‘value for money’ ratios than any other smartphone that was released last year. Asus tend to confuse the consumers with their iterative naming style, a trend that has been followed by many top brands, such as Samsung Galaxy series, HTC One Series, Sony Z series, LG G series and so on. There is only one way to eliminate the confusion, i.e. looking up the information about any specific smartphone based on their model number before purchase. We reviewed the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser (ZE550KL) last year, and our first impression concluded with this device sorted out as ‘0’ (zero) value for money.

Amazon Fire

Launched in September 2015, the Amazon Fire was Amazon’s attempt to offer a successive version of their budget tablet lineup. These tablets are highly modified to provide a specific environment for eBook readers, and, in turn, builds an exclusive user base on this idea. The Tablet has mediocre specifications which result in series of performance issues and bugs. It is true that you can’t expect much from an eBook reading device that costs only $50 but, shouldn’t it, at least, iron out minor bugs? The design feels cheap. Performance is slow if many apps are open in the background and when downloading. The display has a low resolution and touchscreen response can be sluggish. Gaming performance for large games is slow and the graphics can experience frame rate drops.

The words got out that there is no way these bugs are worth being included in our already cluttered life, and, as a result, consumers started shifting to next best thing. Amazon got desperate to keep up their annual sales report, which resulted in them to re-launch these tablets with ‘Buy 5 get 1 free’ pack.

The phone is not overpriced, but it certainly is not worth the money.

Did I miss something? List down your own list of 5 worst smartphones of 2015 in comments below.

January 18, 2016

Is the LG G4 worth it? – Review: 6 Months on

Early hands-on videos and expert reviews can be good to get an overall feeling about what a new smartphone, such as the LG G4, would be like in your hands, but you can’t quite get to know what it really would be like to own a device without getting an opinion from somebody who has used it as their daily driver.

I have now used the G4 for most of the year as my daily smartphone and I’d like to share my thoughts on it. So is the LG G4 worth it? Let’s find out. I’ll be focusing on more practical, real-life areas instead of the standard, specs, performance and build quality categories that a normal LG G4 review would focus on.

Useful Utilities

If you’re reading this, it’s likely you’ve already done a bit of research on LG’s latest flagship. I won’t be focusing on the star attributes that a normal LG G4 review may take a look at. I want to share some of my favorite features that make my daily operating more fluid. My first favorite feature of the LG G4 is the Knock On function. With this, I can quickly double tap to see my notifications, see the time and if I’m connected to the internet, even get a quick glimpse at what the weather’s like outside.

Another useful feature allows me to drag down whilst the screen is off to quickly see the time and date as well as the notification bar. Checking the time becomes much less of a chore with this when the phone is on my desk, but I’ve noticed Knock On works better whilst in my hands.

Having the on/off button and volume controls on the back of the LG G4 is also awesome. Having a big screen smartphone can sometimes be a bit frustrating – juggling between the different buttons whilst listening to music is what I often found myself doing with other large screen devices. With the buttons on the back, I don’t have to move my hand whatsoever.

I opted for the brown leather LG G4 and I really like the sleek design and overall quality of it in my hands. My unit also came with a spare plastic back cover – my views on that were not so positive. It felt a little too hard on the edges, making it less of a treat to hold. Definitely opt for the leather if you can. I’d suggest getting the black leather if you’re worried about wear. (More on that below.)

Little Qualms

LG has copied Samsung in a lot of areas, the biggest one for me being LG Health – after coming from a TouchWiz device before it, I must say that LG’s apps are a little lacking. This is especially the case for LG Health – I can’t see my estimated burned calories and the step counter is sometimes a little temperamental. Besides this, I do like LG’s simple yet colorful overlay.

Like mentioned before, the leather backing is nice but it does take scuffs quite easily. I myself have noticed the material degrading at the corners and some have had it much worse. I’d suggest getting the black leather, which is a lot more rugged and withstands use a lot better.

The LG UX may not be the best in town either. I’ve actually settled for the Smart Launcher found in the Google Play store and have been using that for the past two months.

Audio

I’m a bit of an audio head and I do love my music. Fortunately, the LG G4 comes with a pair of excellent earphones. The LG QuadBeat 3 is the name given to the earphones, and a quick glance will show you that they’re a little more premium than standard smartphone earphones.

If you’re really into music, I’d suggest getting some replacement earbud tips because the ones supplied aren’t great. With that being said, the sound quality supplied by the QuadBeat 3’s is pretty intense. It’s sound range may not be as full as you’d like it to be, but it does have a very punchy sound that is often a lot of fun to listen to, especially when listening to some bigger sounds. EDM is a treat, alongside more electronically produced pop music. A lot of hip-hop also sounds wonderful on the QuadBeat 3. I can’t say too much about other genres, as I haven’t really touched these whilst using the QuadBeat 3’s.

Video

Am I a believer in the 2K display on the LG G4? Honestly, yes I am. I’m not sure if it’s the extra resolution or other aspects put into place, but when I watch high-quality movies or TV series on the LG G4, it looks incredible – I’d say the screen quality is better than my BenQ monitor. I really do believe that.

However, the 2K screen isn’t necessary all of the time and even though everything does look crisp, the same could be said on a 1080p smartphone display. You’re also only going to notice high quality when the video file you’re watching is also of a high resolution. The extra pixels also becomes a problem for the next category…

Battery Life

A big complaint with many reviews is that the LG G4’s 2K screen made the battery life on the device less appealing. The phone does come with a 3,000mAh battery as standard so it’s not like you’re not packing big numbers in the battery department. However, I did go from a large external 5,600mAh battery on my S4 to the LG. The battery life is, of course, a lot less, but the incredibly fast charging time made up for it. I’ve never actually ran out of battery on my LG G4 once, although I have come dangerously close. A quick few minutes of charging here and there are all it takes to keep the smartphone running throughout the week.

My overall experience with the battery life has been quite positive. LG’s UX also shuts down a lot of processes after the battery level reaches a pre-arranged number (chosen in the settings menu) to save battery life.

Performance Over Time

This is something I have a bit of an issue with. I’m not sure if it’s the Snapdragon 808 copping out already or if it’s something exclusively with LG. I can’t really compare it to other smartphones because all other 2015 flagships are using at least the 810.

There are two issues with the performance of the LG that I’ve noticed so far. If these issues aren’t occurring then the performance of the LG G4 is silky smooth.

Whilst charging – There is a lot of issues with performance whilst charging on the LG G4, and it’s slowly become more apparent as I’ve used the device more, especially in recent weeks.

Performance Degradation – Yep, I feel like it’s happening. The smartphone is getting slower already, but with that being said it’s still a lot slicker than 2014’s smartphones and it’s response times are a lot faster.

I’d say that performance issues may arise over time if you stick to this device for a long period. If you plan to keep a smartphone for more than a few years you may want to consider something else. With that being said, I’d prefer the occasional stuttering in the 808 to the fiery hot 810. The Exynos 7420 is the clear cut choice for those who care solely on performance.

Camera

I won’t go into the camera specs as there will be a summary down below, but I would like to talk about my experience with the LG G4’s camera. I’ve taken a few photos whilst outside and my general experience has been very positive. I can’t compare it to other flagships, so you’ll have to look elsewhere for a full comparison if camera quality is important to you.

With that being said, I do really like the results that come out of the LG G4’s snapper. I’ve never personally owned a smartphone for so long that provides such great results. The camera app is super slick too. You can access the camera from the lock screen with one quick swipe and navigating the UI has been made as straight forward as possible. Props to LG on this one.

LG G4 Review Summary: What I Like

Useful functions (Knock On, Buttons on back)
Comfortable leather design
A selection of LG UX features (dual window, SMS windows)

LG G4 Review Summary: What I Don’t Like

Wear and tear (both performance and smartphone build quality)
LG’s copycat apps (LG G Health, etc)
LG UX isn’t worth sticking to over other options

LG G4 Specs:

	LG G4	Galaxy S6	HTC One M9	OnePlus Two
SoC	Snapdragon 808	Exynos 7420	Snapdragon 810	Snapdragon 810
RAM	3GB	3GB	3GB	4GB/3GB
AnTuTu	50,330	68,830	56,798	63,719
Display	5.5″ LCD	5.1″ AMOLED	5″ LCD	5.5″ LCD
Resolution	2560×1440	2560×1440	1920×1080	1920 x 1080
Memory	32GB	32/64/128GB	32GB	16/64GB
SD card?	Yes	No	Yes	No
Battery	3,000mAh	2,550mAh	2,840mAh	3,300mAh
Price	$510	$564	$570	$329

So there we have it. Is the LG G4 worth it? If you’re in the market for a new flagship smartphone, there are many, many reasons as to why that’s a big fat yes. You may find yourself leaning towards other brands and manufacturers however. For me though, the LG G4 has been my favorite smartphone I’ve managed to get my hands on this year.

September 7, 2015

[Review] Hp Pavilion 15-n012TX Laptop – 4th Gen Core i5, 4GB Ram, 2GB Nvidia 740M Graphics Card and more

HP released a new series of laptops that comes in between the ultrabooks and Notebooks. The new design is not too slim as an ultrabook, but it doesn’t come any closer to the Notebook when it comes to the thickness. Hardware configuration and build quality seems to be value for money, but are we looking at the best buddy in the category? Lets find out.

Build Quality

When we first grabbed HP Pavilion 15-no12TX (Part No. – F2C09PA) out of the box, we were really amazed to lay our eyes on the slim build of the laptop. It is fairly slim for the mid-range category and certainly isn’t too bulky or thick. The laptop still weighs 2.28 Kg, which is slightly heavier than other laptops in this price range (for eg. – Dell Inspiron 15R 5521 which is 60g lighter), but I guess it isn’t that significant.

The mineral black lid with horizontal brush pattern dominates the plastic case, which doesn’t feel cheap. The laptop is firmly built and features some design improvements over the previous HP pavilion series. The new batch of laptops by HP are sleek and beautiful.

The palm rest area and polycarbonate casing along the display bears the black horizontal brush pattern that we saw on the back panel. I really like how HP pavilion is built and packed with premium casing.

The laptop appears to be a rectangular slab, which feels good to work on. The corners are slightly curved with silver bezel at the sides and it looks sleek and beautiful. You might not feel the difference in the images, but, believe me, it is one of the thinnest mid-range laptops. The nonvisual parts (rear, front and back) of the laptop is plasticky and it feels cheap, but again they did well at the sections where you spend your most of your time.

I know, nobody actually care how their laptop appears at the back, just like the rear of your Brand new Television. — You got to admit that HP has really worked on every aspect of its new Pavilion Series.

DigitFreak Rating: 8/10

Hardware and ports

HP pavilion 15 e012TX (believe me I hate it to call it by alpha-numeric code myself), is packed with 4th Gen core i5 4200U processor, which is clocked at 1.6 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.3 GHz, which is optimized for performance.

It has 1.00 TB SATA Hard disk Drive with max 5400 RPM (could be 7200 RPM). The read-writes speed when we copied/moved the files from one partition to another is really great considering the lower RPM (thanks to the Intel Rapid Storage Technology) — We got average 50MBps for the transfers within HDD.

The laptop sports 4GB DDR3 RAM and 2GB Nvidia 740M graphics card out of the box, which is sufficient to play high end games on your system. It can handle the multitasking pretty well, without stressing your processor for post calculations.

It has HP TrueVision HD webcam for video conferencing or video call with built in mic. The test shots from the webcam was considerably good enough and video output was bright and clear during our test call.

The gadget has an awesome port management, which is distributed at the side (left and right) panels. Everything is squeezed at these two side panels and you won’t find anything on the rear or front side panels.

The Gadget features SuperMulti DVD RW Drive with Dual layer support with 8x Read/Write speed. The DTS Sound+ produces High Quality audio and appears to be loud enough for entertainment purpose. The dual speakers boosts the sound output and provides considerable volume for usual requirements.

It has basic/standard communication ports – Ethernet 10/100/1000 Mbps, Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth v4.0.

It has 1xUSB 2.0 and 2xUSB 3.0, RJ45 LAN, 1xHDMI port, 1xVGA port, Multi-Card slot and 1x Headphone out/Microphone-in Combo Jack.

There are two USB ports on the left panel and one USB port on the right. I felt that there should be one more USB port because if you are using one of the two USB ports on the left, you end up with the other one unusable as there is very dramatically less gap between the ports. But, I guess you can still manage to carry out your work just well with two USB ports at a time.

DigitFreak Rating: 7/10

Keyboard and comfort

The laptop has standard Island keyboard, that you can find in any modern laptop. The chicklet keys are plus feature because it is really helpful for cleaning and maintaining the latoptop’s keys. I am composing this article on this laptop and I never felt any discomfort or noticed any misplaced keyword. The key spacing is perfect for both small fingers and a fat one.

You might find the navigation keys a little awkward because the up and down keys are one single key split into two. If you are a gamers you better stick to the A,W,S,D key system for navigation while playing the game.

This is the keyboard layout you will find in any new HP laptops. The HP Envy series has the same keyboard layout and it is 25% cheaper than them. The keys are well spaced and feel comfortable while typing. The only thing that I wished there should have been being a — backlit keys. If you are like me, who prefer to work at night – then you might wanna consider a better alternative that offers backlit keyboard, Otherwise it should be fine for general usage.

The Multitouch gesture touchpad is real wonder, You can pinch to zoom, scroll pages at the edge, slide page with three fingers and zoom-in ot zoom-out using two fingers. — but, the awesomeness ends at the software tweaks, I find the touchpad in-resposive at some points making, while trying to move the cursor to small distances. If I swipe the touchpad quickly, it would response just fine – but it is not the same when I try to make little movements.

By turning off “palm-Check Enhacned” and decreasing the pointing sensitivity in synaptics touchpad properties, I was able to sort the issues.

DigitFreak Rating: 7/10 (Keyboard) & 6/10 (Touchpad)

Graphics and Display

I am using this laptop since last 8 days and it always felt perfect for general usage. The display is bright enough for both indoors and outdoor usage. HP Pavilion 15-n012TX sports 15.6-inch HD BrightView Backlit Display with 1366×768-pixel resolution. We cannot expect Full HD display for the mid-range segment, but you don’t need to be worried about it, you can carry out your personal affairs pretty well.

It has Intel HD Graphics 4400 for desktop usage and usual software rendering. It is powerful enough to obtain the best output for display while you are not playing games or carrying out heavy graphic hungry tasks.

The display is bright enough to be used under the sunlight and looks good at 10-30% brightness indoors. We didn’t experience and issues with the screen brightness while working on it. Playing games on the big screen is fun and it performed well.

HP bundled 2GB DDR3 dedicated NVIDIA GeForce 740M graphics card for casual gaming needs. You can play almost all current and upcoming modern games without any issues. The only things that I noticed are Laptop heating issue — Laptop gets pretty heated if you play high-end games. I had to use the cooling pad to play Crysis 3 and Need For Speed Rivals at the moderate settings, otherwise you will notice gaming lag due to high core temperature.

I installed additional 4GB RAM to measure the performance of the system while playing the game — it turns out that the system handles games pretty well on extended RAM as well as the default configuration.

You need to manually tweak your on board graphics card and dedicated graphics card because they are initially optimized for a balance between the battery life and performance.

DigitFreak Rating: 7.5/10 (Display) & 8/10 (Graphics)

Software and Features

HP Pavilion 15-n012TX comes bundled with Latest Microsoft Windows 8 Operating system and HP software goodies. The system is stable and OS works perfectly all right with the system configuration. HP default goodies makes sure that all the hardware are aligned properly for best performance.

HP offers automatic system backup and restore points — which means you can restore your laptop to the original state without reformatting your laptop from the scratch. You just need to follow the Windows 8 System Troubleshooting options and you can re-install Windows 8 on your system without any external setup.

It’s also worth noting that this laptop comes without too much bloatware which manufacturers usually fill their machines up with. I uninstalled Norton, a games app & was good to go.

If you are not so intended to use Windows 8 on the laptop, you can switch to Windows 7 or other operating system you prefer. Just make sure you get all the drives and necessary software for the operating system. I installed Windows 7 on the Laptop and searched for all the Drivers on the internet and everything went perfectly smooth.

Windows 8 is not bad either, specially if it is your first personal computer. You will find Windows 8 little more easier to use, but advanced users still prefer windows 7 because they know every bit of it.

DigitFreak Rating: 8/10

Verdict

HP Pavilion 15-n012TX is packed with the best hardware configuration one can have for this price range. The 4th Gen processor consumes less power, which provides good battery backup (up to 5 hours with minimum brightness).

The display is bright enough, 4GB RAM and 2GB dedicated Nvidia Graphics card ensure optimal gaming experience. HP manages Windows 8 with it’s software goodies, which provides smooth transition and makes you like your new laptop even more.

Laptop’s cooling system is very effective — thanks! to the HP Coolsense technology, you won’t notice any heating issues while using it for hours. It get little heated when you play games and you will have to use the cooling pad to play high-end games effectively.

The laptop is good at delivering performance and peace of ming when we talk about multitasking and high end tasks that requires high-end hardware configuration. 1.00 TB Internal Hard Disk read/write speed is a breeze and manages files pretty well.

The material used in laptop’s external body components doesn’t feel cheap and appears to be durable for daily usage. The only drawback we noticed is its touchpad and USB ports being too close to each other. There is no separate Mic-in and Line-out ports and there is no VGA port.

For Rs 45 to 50K, this is the best laptop you can have among any other premium brands. It is a value for money. The only competitor of this Laptop in Home brand is HP Envy 15-J049TX, which costs more than 60K.

Overall Rating: 8/10

In the Box
Sales Package	Laptop, Battery, AC Adapter, User Guide, Manuals and CD
General
Brand	HP
Model Name	Pavilion
Lifestyle	Casual Gaming
Color	Imprint Mineral Black with Horizontal brush pattern
Part Number	F2C09PA
Model ID	15-n012TX
Processor
Processor	Core i5 (4th Generation)
Variant	4200U
Chipset	HM86
Brand	Intel
Clock Speed	1.6 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology Upto 2.6 GHz
Cache	3 MB
Memory
Expandable Memory	Upto 8GB
Memory Slots	2 (Unused Slot – 01)
System Memory	4 GB DDR3
Storage
Hardware Interface	SATA
RPM	5400
HDD capacity	1.00 TB (940 GB Usable)
Optical Disk Drive
Read/Write Speed	8x
Optical Drive	SuperMulti DVD RW Drive with Dual Layer support
Platform
Operating System	Windows 8
System Architecture	64-bit
OS Architecture	64-bit
Display
Screen Size	15.6 inch
Resolution	1366×768 pixel
Screen Type	HD BrightView LED Backlit display
Graphics
Dedicated Graphics Memory Type	DDR 3
Dedicated Graphics Memory Capacity	2 GB
Graphics Processor	NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
Input
Web Camera	HP TrueVision HD Webcam
Pointer Device	Touchpad with multi-touch Gesture support
Keyboard	Island-style Keyboard
Audio
Internal Mic	Dual Layer Digital Microphones
Speakers	Yes
Sound	DTS Sound, HD Audio, Dual Speakers
Communication
Ehternet	01/10/00
Wireless LAN	IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth	v 4.0
Power
Battery Cell	4 cell
Backup	Upto 5 hours with minimum brightness
Ports/Slots
USB port	1x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.0
Mic In	Yes
RJ45 LAN	Yes
HDMI port	Yes, HDMI port with HDCP Support
Multi Card Slot	Yes
Other Ports	1x Headphone Out/ Microphone-in Combo Jack
Security
Lock Port	Kensington Lock Slot
Machine Dimensions
Weight	2.28 Kg
Dimension	385.5 x 258 x 22.6 mm

December 7, 2013

Tag: performance

5 worst Smartphones that failed to take off from the Launchpad in 2015

HTC One M9

LG G Flex 2

Blackberry Passport

Asus Zenfone 2 Laser (ZE550KL)

Amazon Fire