Xiaomi Redmi 1S Review

Chinese Apple: Hard to Ignore

My Ratings: 4/5

Xioami fascinated me from the first day they launched their phones in India although I am not big fan of Chinese manufacturers. The fascination may be because of the value or the specifications they were delivering at such a reasonable price.  I tried purchasing Mi3 but could not get my hand over it so I tried my luck with Redmi 1S once it was launched.

Build and design

The phone looks like a mix of Lumia(back) and Xperia(front). The front panel features 4.7-inch IPS display and 1.6MP front-facing camera. It has a removable back cover with matte finish. Lucky that opening back cover is not as tricky as Lumia’s.  The phone features an 8MP camera with LED flash .

Nokia Lumia 625 Review

Overpriced Lumia

My ratings 2.5/5
 

This is my third review on a Lumia phone- after 800 and 520. The experience was worst in Lumia 800, best in Lumia 520 and just ok in Lumia 625. So let us talk about the Lumia 625.

The phone has typical Lumia design with smooth curves on the edges, Corning Gorilla Glass 2 screen and polycarbonate panel at the back. All the corners and edges are rounded off, and the shell is marginally convex, so it rests nicely in the palm.

All the physical keys- volume rocker, power button/lock key, and camera are on right side.  The buttons are in plastic and in the same color as that of the phone’s rear shell - unlike the black keys of Lumia 520 & 620. There are no keys or ports at the left side of the phone. The Micro-USB port and microphone are located at the bottom, while 3.5mm headphone jack is on the top of the phone.

Sony Xperia Sola Review

Simple & Smart

My Ratings: 3/5


I have used almost all the major brands of mobile phones except Sony. Finally I have got a chance to use it. I gifted Sony Xperia Sola to my brother and am using it vigorously to know the positives and negatives of this phone.

In the quest

I explored extensively for a right phone to gift it to my brother. There were few basic requirements before I started the search.
1. Android phone; the version was not of much concern.
2. Minimum 5MP camera (secondary camera was needed but not of primary concern).
3. Impressive screen resolution.
4. Preferably single-SIM support.
5. Amazing looks and design.
6. Minimum 3.5inch screen.
7. Pricing should be in in the range of 15-20k.

I was surprised to find out that there were not many mobiles matching these specifications . I choose Sony just because I want to try out something new and Sony is always a preferable brand for music playback.

Samsung Galaxy Chat Review

 Best Touch-n-Type ANDROID Phone

 My ratings: 3.5/5

Recently I have purchased Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos (GYPD) and the main reason for choosing that phone was its dual SIM feature. Samsung has launched a new mobile in place of that, with better features but single SIM. I got a chance to use newly launched Samsung Galaxy Chat for few days and I am sharing my experience here.

Samsung Galaxy Chat is unique mobile for its feature and price range. There is no Android ICS enabled mobile with touch and type feature at this price.

This phone has 3-inch display with a resolution of 240x320 pixels, and comes with a physical QWERTY keypad . It is equipped with Android ICS (4.0) that is upgradable to Jelly Bean (Android 4.1); 850 MHz processor with 512MB of RAM . It is powered with 1200mAh battery and available in black and white colours.

Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos review

Basic ANDROID for basic users

(This review got First Prize of Rs.10,000 in 'Mouthshut.com Review contest'  Click here for details )

My ratings: 3/5

I am back with another review of a gadget I possessed recently.  Till now I have used Java, Symbian, iOS, BADA, Windows and thus I was eagerly waiting to acquire an Android phone. I want to solve many purposes with this phone, so I started my quest for a dual-SIM Android phone with QWERTY keypad . There were not many options in reputed brands so I finally zeroed upon Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos.

Basic Specifications

GPRS, Edge, GPS, 3G connectivity
Android 2.3 OS
800 MHz processor, 512 MB RAM; 150 MB internal memory
2.6-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen (320 x 240 pixels)
3.2MP rear camera, VGA front camera
Touch and type, Dual SIM functionality
1350 mAh battery

Apple iPhone 4S Review

iPhone: Need, Luxury or Show-off???

My Ratings: 3/5

Many of you know that I am a gadget freak and love to possess one and all. I have written reviews of many mobiles but this one is special as it is the costliest mobile I had ever possessed. I was (still am) proud owner of Nokia N8 but many Apple lovers had asked me to try iPhone so it became a desire for me. Finally I decided to fulfill this desire of mine and purchases Apple iPhone 4S. As you all know that earlier days of acquiring anything are the most exploring days so I am sharing my views on this costliest mobile. I am not mentioning specifications or performances of this mobile (you can read that on many places), I am just discussing my own personal views.

Limitations

No user profiles- Choosing a profile as per your situation are a basic function of any mobile. Everyone used to have lot many combinations of ringtones, volumes, vibrations etc. but iPhone doesn’t give you the liberty for all that. There is only two options- Loud & Silent.

Nokia X1-01 Review

 DUAL-SIM PHONE WITH NOKIA'S RELIABILITY

Star Ratings: 4/5


I am writing review on a mobile after a long time. I came across this mobile during my last visit to my hometown. My younger brother was using this mobile (Nokia X1-01) and I got interested in it mainly because of two features- dual-SIM and loudspeaker. So am just trying to share my views on it.

Specifications 

Dual-SIM connectivity (dual-standby)

1.8" 65K-color 128x160 TFT display

Symbian S30 UI

Samsung Corby TXT B3210

AM LOVING IT

My ratings- 3/5

This is my fourth review on a mobile phone after Nokia N8, Motorola EX115 & Samsung E2370. I purchased this mobile phone in August’2010 at Rs 5100. It is almost 9 months since then and I am fully satisfied by its performance. So it’s right time to share my experience with you all.

Unboxing

It has never been my category while writing review for mobile phone. But I have felt a different experience while unboxing Samsung Corby TXT, so it is worth mentioning. The phone comes in a white colored box and unlike all other phone’s boxes; its height is more then length and breadth (horizontal looking). The box is full of youthness in it with lots of flashy pictures and texts. When you open it you will get a normal box like other mobile phones’ but with totally different color- ORANGE and it is plain with nothing written on it. Rest of the things is same as others.
Inside the box:

Mobile phone with battery An extra back cover Mini USB cable Battery charger White colored headphone 1GB memory card

Exterior

The phone is wide looking due to its full QWERTY keyboard & its overall casing size measures 11.2cm tall by 5.96cm wide by 1.29cm thick & weighs 94 grams. This phone has got unique form factor and has attractive and distinctive looks.

The phone is available in Black skin color but you can change its battery cover with different colors of fashion jackets. Two jackets are provided with the phone- yellow and black.

On the face of the handset there is a 2.2 inches TFT, 256K colors screen. On the top, there is a 3.5 mm audio jack and micro USB port. On the left, there is volume control key and on the right side there is a dedicated camera key. On the back Samsung B3210 Corby TXT sports a 2-mega-pixel camera with video recording capabilities and a loudspeaker.

The volume control key and camera key is yellow in color and perfectly matches with the yellow jacket. I personally like the central (select) key on the keyboard. It is three colored: black inside, and then yellow ring and finally a metallic ring. There are dedicated keys on keyboard for writing messages and music player.

Keypad

The keypad of Samsung Corby TXT is the USP. Compared to other phones’, the keypad of this phone is small and cramped, but you can easily be accustomed to it and then you will not notice any difference or problems in typing. The space bar is comparatively smaller in size.

If you are genuinely big-fingered, you think before choosing the Corby TXT, but for the younger generation, the keyboard is certainly sufficient.

Music

The Samsung B3210 Corby TXT supports an integrated music player, which supports popular music formats including MP3 & WMA formats. You can transfer new music to the mobile phone via the connectivity options available or download new music from the Web.

There are few good and unique things I noticed in this phone, like auto off of music. You can automatically off the music after 30 mins, 1hour or 2 hour. There are eight sound effects you can chose while listening music.

The major flaw that I noticed is that there is no search option provided in the ‘All Tracks’ list. Means, if you want to listen a song that starts with ‘P’, you have to scroll down to P to reach there. That is very cumbersome if you have large collection of music like mine (I have more then 2000 songs!!!). Though you can search music by artist, album or genres.

The headphone supplied with the phone is very attractive and is white in color. I don’t understand why other manufacturers are not in favor of white headphones. It looks really attractive and distinctive and will surely give a different experience to the user. From a distance the headphone of Corby TXT looks like the headphones provided with Apple products. The sound quality over headphone is very loud and clear. Also, the sound quality is awesome from the loudspeaker.

The FM radio provided is a simple affair and works fine and even lets you record directly off the radio – although the resulting .m4a files don’t show up in the media player.

Camera

There is a two mega pixel camera which comes with a variety of photo & video setting to enhance any photos captured or video clips recording. The phone comes with an easy to use dedicated camera-capturing key.

There is option of changing image resolution like all other phones. You can chose any of the five photo effects such as black & white, sepia, green etc. There are few other features- timer, night mode & frames.

There is no auto focus or flash, but you can’t expect that in the price range of 5k.

Features & Applications

The phone comes with 37MB of internal memory expandable to 8GB with a microSD card.

There are seven pre-installed communities in applications- Orkut, Facebook, MySpace, flickr, Photobucket, Picassa, and Friendster. You also have an option of choosing any of the three themes.

This mobile phone supports Bluetooth & USB connectivity. It also supports Edge & GPRS technologies that provide high-speed data transfer rates. The phone is not 3G compatible.

Call quality is awesome. Whenever I talk of call quality, I have in my mind the quality provided by Nokia phones.

The most appealing feature of this phone is that you can change it’s font. You can change font size and even it’s type. There are three (large, medium, small) options for font size and four options for font type. I have not seen this feature even in my highly price N8. I am bored of the old mobile font that is in existence since the time of mobile invention. Corby TXT gave me a feeling of freshness.

The phone has got all the applications as found in other Samsung phones. There is option of downloading java-enabled games from the web.

There is unique bluetooth messenger in this phone. Unique in the sense that I have not seen this feature in other mobiles I am using. But still I don’t think that it is of any use. Who wants a message a person in bluetooth range (within 10 meters)? There is IM like other phones. It shows messages in conversation mode also that makes chatting very comfortable.

The internet connectivity is ok. You can use Samsung default browser or any other browser. It is better to use recently released Opera 6.0 that works fine.

The phone has got 800mAh battery and has life of 390hrs and 7.5hrs for standby and talktime respectively. I am satisfied with the battery life of this phone. You can easily go up to three days with normal usage.

Final Words

There are pros and cons of this mobile like all the mobiles in any range. I have seen many QWERTY phones and I am even using Motorola EX115, but I haven’t seen any phone like Corby TXT in this price range.

It feels rock solid and look like that it is going to last forever. When it is in my hand, it feels that I am holding something worthwhile. In one word, it is hatke mobile with the unique color combination of yellow and black. Even though I have black back cover, but I have never even tried it as I feel that this Y&B combo is best suited with its looks.

Go for it, if you are bored of usual mobile phones. It will surely give you a feeling of freshness. It is highly recommended for youths and persons whose needs from the phones are- calling, messaging and music.

N.B.: My phone got crashed once (just two months after purchasing) and it took around 20 days to get the fault rectified (of course, free of cost) by Samsung service center, as they were not having that particular chip. The problem may have arisen in my phone only, so I didn’t mention it in my review. Discussing it at the end because I want reader of this review to get a clear picture. 

Samsung E2370 Review

MOBILE WITH LONGEST BATTERY LIFE

My Rating- 2.5/5

This is my third review on a mobile. I have still 3 more that are left unreviewed :). And here I go with my latest review:

Due to my official assignments I used to travel a lot. And many times I don’t have options of charging my mobile so I start a quest for a mobile with long battery backup. There were many from China based companies but as I wanted to go with a reputed brand. My search ended with Samsung Guru E2370 Power. It boasts of its excellent battery backup, capable of providing a talk time of 22 hours and standby time of around 2 months.

Features Overview
Samsung Guru Power E2370 is a slim and stylish mobile powered by everlasting battery. It features VGA camera, MP3 Player, FM Radio, Video player, Mobile Prayer, Calendar, World Clock and Converter.

HardwareIt is having a 1.8 inch TFT screen with resolution of 128 x 160 pixels. The handset has got IP54 certification that means it possesses resistivity to water, dust and shocks, but it doesn’t mean that it will work under water. It is not water-proof mobile.
The handset has large convex keys made out of rubber which helps in typing easily and smoothly. It is having dimension of 112 x 49 x 19 mm and weighs 115 grams.
The handset has impressive music quality with dual Speakers present which are capable of handling noisy environment.
The phone’s VGA camera is just for namesake. You cannot expect it to give quality photographs. The camera has photo effects-Blue, Gray, Green, and Negative. It is also having video recording feature.
Although the phone supports GPRS, USB, Bluetooth and WAP connectivity but the connection speed is quite dissatisfying.

Software
The phone is Java enabled and thus has a capability of thrilling you with Java apps and games. The phone also has a Fake call utility which can be useful while coming out of a meeting or unwanted situations. Some other attractive features of the phone include a mobile tracker; torch light, convertor, calculator, stop watch etc.

Audio, Video and Music The phone supports audio & video playback. The sound quality is very clear and loud. Background music playback is not supported.
The incoming and out-going call quality is pretty sharp. The accessorial support of vibration alert and MP3 ringtones are also available.

Memory The phone has internal 40MB storage memory that is spacious enough to load good sum of data and other useful stuff. It also supports external 2GB micro SD memory card support allowing you to store lots of videos, contacts, messages, songs, images and lots more.
The phone supports 1000 phonebook entries & 1000 SMS.

Battery LifeIt is the USP of this mobile. The mobile is equipped with a powerful and long-lasting Standard Li-ion 2000mAh battery that ensures you the delivery of maximum stand by time upto 1600hrs and talk time upto 22hrs.
But I have checked the battery life and I found that the standby time is around 800hrs which is much less then claimed by Samsung. Still it is a good figure and suffices my requirements.

Games
It has got the exciting collection of pre-loaded games -Sudoku, Jumpboy, Cricket and Carrom. One will never feel bore with this compact box of entertainment plus communicating device. You can also download more interesting java-enabled games over internet.

Pros
1. 22hrs battery talk time
2. Micro SD memory card support
3. Keyboard which makes typing very easy
4. GPRS & EDGE connectivity features
5. Stereo FM radio with RDS & FM recording
6. MP3 player
7. One-touch button LED Torch
8. Robust body with water, dust and shocks resistivity
9. Low-price.

Cons
1. Poor camera quality
2. No USB cable or software CD with the phone
3. Little overweight and bulky
4. Memory card not hot swappable
5. Internet connectivity very slow

Verdict
It is a powerful handset and worth its price. I bought it online from flipkart.com at price of Rs 2850 in an offer and got an additional battery with it. Just imagine the battery power of this phone with two batteries :).
However, it does not have any fancy looks. It looks like an age-old handset but it is an excellent bargain for people who make long journeys.
As per my knowledge, this is the mobile with longest battery backup from a reputed multinational company

Truly speaking, this is a phone mainly designed for those who treat phone only to be a source which helps you to remain connected always.

Motorola EX115 Review

  NICE DUAL-SIM QWERTY PHONE

My Ratings- 3/5


When I decided to buy a dual SIM mobile, the Indian market was flooded with small manufacturers like Micromax, Spice, Karbon, Lava etc. This particular mobile caught my attention, which is a dual SIM QWERTY mobile phone launched by the Telecommunications giant, and is a step ahead with its competitors.

I purchased this mobile in Dec’10, so I think its time to write a review and let all make aware of its pros & cons.
The Motorola EX-115, code-named Starling, has dimensions of 109 x 61 x 12.4 mm and weighs 102.2 gms. It is a well built mobile having solid looks. The back panel is made of rubberized plastic and offers amazing grip. The phone is very slim and has a single port which is used to connect the charger as well as data cable. On the other side, there are attractive looking metal-made volume control keys. At the top is the 3.5mm jack to connect headphones/ earphones.
The mobile screen is 2.3 inch TFT, capable of displaying 256K colors and has a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Two SIM card slots are under the battery, whereas micro-SD card slot is hot-swappable. The phone supports memory card capacity of up to 32 Gb.

NOKIA N8 Review

THE BEST CAMERA PHONE

My Rating- 4/5

I have purchased Nokia N8 just after a week of its release (on 24th October). It is five months since I am using this mobile. I just want to share my views on it.

My Views
  
Hardware: It is no doubt the most ruggedly handsome devices of recent memory. The body is almost Aluminum construction and a typical mixture of curvy sides and sternly straight lines at the top and bottom.The biggest distinguishing feature is it’s protruding camera compartment on the back, which houses the world’s largest image sensor yet seen in a smartphone, a Carl Zeiss lens, a Xenon flash, and a loudspeaker.
The protruding compartment has drawback also. Since the phone spends most of its horizontal time resting on the camera section’s bottom edge, so over the long run that portion of the body will suffer plenty of wear and tear. So I regularly use a cover to protect that portion.
Screen-locking slider is made of plastic. Since it is most used button, it would be better if it was made as rest of the body. The Xenon flash of camera is heavy power drain. The battery is not user replaceable and that can be a cause of concern if we want to have an additional backup battery.