LG Optimus L7 P705 Review and Specs.

Life just got better when android smartphones hit our shelves and it didn’t fail to amaze us with its seamlessly endless improvements in design, features and functionality it is also the most versatile piece of tech that had hit the market and offers a bevy of choices ensuring each individual has its own unique choice. The LG Optimus L7 personifies an android smartphone’s individuality for it targets a unique group of individuals who had a taste for premium phones but struggles to afford one, yes! the L7 is a premium looking phone with an affordable price tag, but was it worth the purchase? Let’s find out

The Optimus L7 have been around the market for quite some time now, at first glance you’ll think it’s a premium phone with an expensive price tag until it finally reveals itself entirely, then it makes you wonder why can all phones look premium and yet cheap, the L7 is a good example that it can be done, instead of the price having to compromise with design and built quality, however as technology gets cheaper by the year I got a gut feeling that we’re gonna see a lot of these in 2014 and the year that follows.

I have to say that the strongest selling point of the L7 is its premium design, even though it is made entirely of plastic; LG successfully gave the L7 a premium look, a mixture of good engineering and clever design. The screen is made of a scratch resistant glass-like plastic which is one of the best I’ve seen so far in this price range and it’s quite responsive too, what gives the L7 a premium look is the clever shiny black plastic bezel along the sides in which a lot of times had been mistaken for a black metal bezel, a good example of clever designing, and what I truly loved about the L7 is its super slim design along with the boxee shape and minimalistic look, add all that together and you’ll have an affordable premium looking phone by the name of the Optimus L7.

(L7 paired with a Liveview watch)

The optimus L7 is a two year old smartphone so having dated android OS doesn't come as a surprise, the L7 runs android 4.0.3 (ICS) and LG won’t be supporting a jellybean upgrade, as we've learned through the years most android devices can not be upgraded to a newer version of android, given only if you'll flash it with a custom ROM (at your own risk), however LG will be supporting firmware updates for the L7, although I find it difficult and inconvenient to update the L7 because it lacks the ability to make updates over the air, you’ll have to sync it with the LG phone suite that’s installed in your PC. But old or not I haven’t got problems using dated firmware for as long as it can perform my everyday task, that will put me at bay for a while before craving for a newer version, but certainly that won’t be the case for early adopters.

The L7 P705 variant does not come with the NFC feature unlike its European counterpart, it's not much of a loss, though, as NFC is a feature that’s hardly been used in our country (Philippines), though I honestly admit it’s better to have it on board than not have it at all. That aside you’re probably wondering where did LG cut down on price? If you have tried one yourself it’s apparent that LG had compromised a lot with the L7’s hardware, generally the L7 is a slow phone and you can blame it on its somewhat anemic specifications, LG provides a 1ghz Qualcomm single core processor and a measly 512 MB of RAM for the L7, not much muscle there, so gaming, multi tasking and web browsing isn’t the nicest thing to do with this phone, however as an everyday phone that organizes your schedules, e-mails and social networking accounts this isn’t a bad choice.

Though the L7 features a 5MP auto focus camera with LED flash, it’s not something to get excited about, for one, using it in dark areas isn’t the best thing to do with this phone but in areas with lots of sun it tells a different story, the 5 mp camera takes sharp pictures outdoors with print quality materials, my only gripe, though, is the slow shutter speed and the camera app which takes time to launch, you'll loss 4-5 seconds of your precious time over and over just trying to open the app, however, having the geo tag feature on board will somehow make-up for that loss, in addition video chat and selfies is something that ain’t new with the L7, the front VGA camera will make those selfie moments as easy as saying cheese.

(Below are samples taken from the L7's 5Mp camera)

I have to admit, multi-media is one of the best thing that the L7 can do; with its sharp 4.3 inch IPS screen watching movies on the go is an experience that’s second only to high-end phones, the screen also provides good viewing angles which is quite impressive for its price. It goes without saying that one can expect excellent music quality with an android device, true enough, that most adopted it as a portable music player, while the L7 has average to good battery performance, using it as a media player though, will drain your battery a lot faster and may struggle to last a day, although in this day and age most tech users already own a power bank so that erases that problem.

All in all the optimus L7 holds its own, experience-wise I can say that it fares better than most single-core 1ghz android smartphones, but needless to say, with the uprising of affordable dual-core android phones I find it difficult for the L7 to still find a market.

LG OPTIMUS L7 SPECIFICATIONS


NETWORK: GSM/3G

OS: Android 4.0.3(ICS), optimus UI

DISPLAY: Corning's Gorilla glass, 4.3 inch IPS 480x800 at 217ppi

PROCESSOR: Qualcomm MSM7227A chipset, Snapdragon 1Ghz Cortex A5, Adreno 200 GPU

MEMORY: 512 RAM/ 4gb internal storage, expandable micro SD card 32gb max

CAMERA: 5MP autofocus/touch-focus with LED flash, Geo-tag, front VGA

OTHERS: Wifi, bluetooth, A-GPS, Wifi Hotspot, proximity sensor, auto-rotation

BATTERY: 1700 mAh

GE X5 Super Zoom Digital Camera Review

Let’s face it! Point and Shoot digital cameras are slowly loosing its lust and could someday be replaced by the omnipotent smartphone, I mean seriously some smartphones can take pictures as good as a point and shoot camera and some high-end smartphones can even out-paced it, so why bother for a gadget that can easily be replaced by your smartphone, so much so, that portability and the need to carry a phone every step of the way also contributes to that factor, although there are some things that just can’t be replace by a smartphone, not just yet! One being such is the super zoom also known as the bridge type digital cameras --- in this article I’ll be reviewing the GE X5 super zoom camera.

GE may be a common name for household appliances but not so with digital cameras, however their strategy to stick with affordable digital cameras certainly paid-off in the last few years or so. The X5 is a well-built and nicely designed super zoom camera that is made affordable to all levels of society and has average to good overall performance, yes it’s cheap! But there are some issues, so consider yourself warned! In this day and age the phrase “you get what you pay for” still pretty much apply to all types of marketing.

If you have just shifted from a point and shoot camera it might take a bit of a learning curve, however the X5’s interface is properly laid out and buttons are neatly labeled for easy and non-confusing operation, the large dial on top of it help make users navigate from one feature to another with ease, there’s no doubt in my mind that the X5 is one of the most user-friendly super zooms I’ve ever tried, in fact it only took me a couple of minutes or so to get used with most of its basic features.

The X5 is compact and easy to hold with a comfortable rubber grip on the right side which also houses the four AA batteries, apparently it is also the main reason why the X5 is a bit heavy for its size, more than a quarter of its weight is due to the amount of batteries it carries. To most photographers a double-A powered camera is a downer, “so to speak”, but the way I see it it’s more of a benefit than the other way around, in instances where you’re locked in a day tour and your battery dies out you can easily replace it with an alkaline battery that you bought at 7 ‘eleven, more so, using rechargeable AA batteries with higher amperes gives more life that you can squeeze out of it and it’s a lot cheaper too than lithium battery pack with no apparent news about it going obsolete making sure that your X5 will be in use for as long as you want.

The X5’s stellar feature is its 15x optical zoom in which no smartphones of today, be it high-end or not can out match, the smartphone’s compact design apparently holds it back from having this feature, it’s pretty obvious that you can’t pack a large and retractable lens inside its slim design, on the other hand this is where the super zoom or bridge type camera really shines, the X5 can take pictures or subjects without the need to get close to it, the powerful GE aspheric lens with 14.1 megapixel sensor really did a good job zooming-in a far away subject within the 15x optical zoom range, however boosting it with a digital zoom really takes a toll on its performance, the subject gets a bit shaky in fact it’s almost impossible to get a clear shot and get the right angles, most often you’ll end up getting pictures that are out of focus, eventhough the X5 is equipped with stabilization mode it really did struggle to get the job done.

But make no mistakes about it, the X5 is quite a performer, outdoors it takes excellent pictures leaving photographers with expensive DSLR cameras scratching their heads. Pictures are vivid with excellent color reproduction, if you’re skilled enough and know the rudiments of professional photography you might want to use the manual mode to further exploit the full potential of the X5, that said the X5 has all the makings of a DSLR camera and some considers the super zoom or bridge type camera as a great DSLR alternative.

While the X5 takes excellent pictures outdoors and well lighted areas it's kind of the opposite taking photos indoors, in areas with insufficient lighting it may have a hard time focusing and may be frustrating at times especially when taking photos of random subjects, the use of the EVF Electronic View Finder may help to properly set up the subject before pressing the shutter button however, the X5 is significantly slow so taking photos of pets, children and other moving subjects will most likely be a difficult task, it can also record videos but not in HD although it's sharp enough to satisfy most standards. The X5 also features a sharp 2.7 inch LCD panel which gives detailed information when reviewing snap shots and videos, you can also view your shots on a large screen using the AV out feature, unfortunately, the AV cable is not included in the box.

The GE X5 is an affordable camera that does what it's supposed to, it may have traded some of its features and performance for price, nevertheless, it's still a solid performer and that goes without saying, so would I recommend the X5........ definitely yes! price do all the talking most of the time but if you're more than wiling to shell out more cash I suggest you consider other options.

Acer Iconia B1 review

Acer has come up with their own version of a budget android tablet the Iconia B1, nothing stellar on this one but for the price you’ll most certainly get more than what you pay for, over the past months budget jellybean tablets has been selling like pancakes and one might ask how does the Iconia B1 fare from its nearest budget jellybean rivals, well for starters, it’s one of the cheapest and has the Acer logo on it, so revealing it in public won’t be an embarrassing moment, and you’ll also get the full Acer on-line support right out of the box for just only 5,999 pesos.

So what do we get from a 5,999 peso tablet, well performance wise we’re obviously getting a lot from the iconia B1, this is no slouch of a tab and its price belies everything on and in it, performance and built quality is something you’d get on a mid-range tablet and one thing that separates the B1 from the competition is its 16GB storage in which most of its nearest rivals only offer an 8GB variant, though, I’d be grateful if Acer generously gave the B1 a whole gig of RAM, but for the price we really can’t complain!

Aesthetically the iconia B1 is made entirely of plastic but honestly it doesn’t look nor feels cheap at all, the materials used are high grade plastics which surely gave the B1 a notch ahead than most entry-level tablets out there, however, the blue plastic lining along the sides somehow detracts from what is otherwise good design. Acer did gave the iconia B1 a minimalistic look but the same thing cannot be said on its performance, surely the B1 is anything but minimal in terms of performance, usability, and reliability.

The iconia B1 may have a youthful look on it as it generally targets the young users but looks can sometimes be deceiving because under the hood the B1 is as serious as an executive in coat and tie, as this tab is powered by a mediatek chipset with a 1.2 Ghz dual-core processor, power VR GPU and half Gig of RAM, lag is something that’s out of the B1’s menu, well I may be exaggerating on that one, but yes! I can say that its barely there and swiping from one home screen to another is fairly smooth thanks to its responsive touch screen. --- Acer opted for a jellybean 4.1 and an update for a 4.2 is unlikely to happen, at least for the time being, but for a tablet thats more than capable of optimizing 4.1 jellybean for half the price of a nexus 7, one cant complain!


Half a gig of ram is somewhat thin, however the iconia b1 can do some light to moderate multi tasking without serious notable lags, although games that use a lot of memory will seldom crash but for non power users 512 mb of Ram will do just fine --- As a budget tab one might expect a horrid looking screen, true to most entry level tablets but the iconia b1 really stands out from the rest it has a 7 inch (1024x600) screen resolution at 170ppi viewing angles are also wide enough and won't give you too much problem while watching HD movies or playing games, the numbers aren't that impressive but for the price it's definitely eye catching, there's no doubt Acer has done it right this time, and one more thing my jaw dropped when I first learned that it has bluetooth, for a tablet this cheap and a reputation that of Acer's it's a rare catch, nonetheless.

Web browsing and SNS are things that are best done on the iconia b1, you'll be surprised how quick it is to open a web page, scrolling and zooming is also fairly responsive with almost no disappointing lags, uploading photos to Facebook is faster than any budget tab I've tried, it makes me wonder was the B1 made for SNS? considering its a tab designed for the younger audience whom we know are the most active members of Facebook twitter and the likes, well, it could be! --- And what’s significant about this 5,999 peso tablet is that, it gave me a solid 4+ hours of web browsing on a 60% brightness level, not bad especially if you’re only gonna shell out a quarter of the ipad’s price, even more so, the difference between the two (performance wise) is not that far off as their price tags suggests, I mean literally the iconia B1 just exposes how overpriced the ipad is.

Some racist reviewers or ipad worshippers described the iconia B1 as ugly and horrid-looking, because of its thick bezel around the screen, well I say it’s there for a reason, try holding it with one hand in portrait mode and see where your thumbs rest, it’s obvious that Acer opted for comfort rather than good looks, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that having more grip areas around it guarantees less hand strain in the long run.

The iconia B1 is no cheap tablet that can’t play games, surprisingly, this budget tab is pretty much capable in handling the most demanding 3D games; Dead Space, Shadowgun and Mass Effect to name a few, are all running smooth on the iconia B1, however, the battery is in conflict with the B1’s somewhat excellent gaming performance, sadly, it only gave me 2 hours and 53 minutes of Mass Effect, as the saying goes “you can’t have them all” well at least it’s cheap! And it’s still is a win win situation in my opinion.

PROS: Affordable tablet with bluetooth, competitive brand name, good overall performance.

CONS: Only 512MB of RAM, battery drains fast in gaming.


SPECIFICATIONS:

OS: Android 4.1.1 Jellybean

SCREEN: 7' capacitive multi-touch (1024x600) resolution at 170ppi.

PROCESSOR: Mediatek 8317 chipset, 1.2 Ghz dual-core, Power VR GPU.

MEMORY: 512 RAM, 16GB Flash internal storage also available in 8GB.

CAMERA: Front 0.3mp VGA.

OTHERS: GPS, bluetooth, accelerometer, micro SD card slot, 3.5mm audio jack.

Xperia Play Review and Specs.

It’s sad to hear Ericsson’s departure from the Sony bandwagon after Sony bought them out at a whooping 7.5 billion Swedish kroners which then put them in full control, however as sad as it may seem, Sony has plans of a bright future for their smartphones, and one amongst such is the plan to incorporate Playstation mobile to all their smartphones, something Sony is reluctant to do when Ericsson was still on board. The Xperia Play was Sony’s first venture alongside Ericsson to incorporate Playstation on a mobile phone and was in development since 2006, and as early as 2005 rumors about it has flooded the net along with concept photos of a Playstation phone, the wait just ended when Sony announced the release of the Xperia play in 2011.

At first glance the Xperia play looks more like a PSP go especially the slide up design but the control schemes are a bit different from one another, although gamers worldwide would agree that both these devices are not comfortable to play and may strain your hands on hours of gameplay, bad ergonomics and crammed real estate are mostly the reason, the capacitive touch pad is a good idea but sadly it’s not that responsive. What the Xperia play lacks in comfort it will more than make up for its versatility, for one, it’s an android smartphone so it’s not locked on just gaming alone, the Xperia play can do pretty much all things without you having to grind your teeth in dismay, web browsing, facebook and twitter are some of the xperia play's stellar feature, since it's a smartphone it can also do all work related stuff, in which at that time no other gaming device could offer.

Since it runs on android it can play both android games and Playstation games that are being thrown by Sony in the Playstation mobile store, unfortunately there are only few optimized games on google Playstore, though you can still play it using the touch interface as any normal android device would. The 4” inch screen is sharp enough and produces good color saturation which evidently, makes all the games look gorgeous, viewing angles are also OK.

The Xperia play is made of glossy plastics and is susceptible to fingerprints and smudges, the front , the sides, the back, you name it you can stain it, I really hated Sony for creating a device that catches dirt and prints easily, however the Xperia play’s good built quality and over-all good looks can equally make up for it, although some consider the Xperia play as bulky, and here's what I gotta say, yes it is! but only if you think of it as a smartphone but as a handheld console with phone features, one can’t complain.

The xperia play’s controller and button lay-outs are well arranged and looks absolutely fantastic, sadly it’s an ergonomic nightmare, Sony considers good looks rather than comfort on the xperia play and one couldn’t play long enough without suffering hand strains, for long gameplays you're better off with the touch screen, “try it and you’ll thank me.”

The Xperia Play is powered by a Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset with 1Ghz single core Scorpion processor, 512 mb of RAM, Adreno 205 GPU, and runs on android 2.3 gingerbread, Sony didn't bother a 4.0 update for a good reason "hardware limitations", but the snapdragon chipset is no slouch, for a single core processor it performs absolutely phenomenal, lags are barely noticeable and 3D games like Wild Blood plays well on the Xperia Play with full controller support, in some ways the raw processing power of the Xperia play fares better than most entry-level dual core smartphones.

It's kinda ironic to see a Sony device with no proprietary Peripherals, as odd as it may seem the Xperia play uses a micro sd card for memory expansion and a micro USB port for charging and file transfer but sadly it starts and ends with the Xperia play, how I wish Sony consider this to all if not some of their future products, it's highly unlikely but hey! wishing is free.

PROS: Capable gaming machine, good camera, no proprietary ports and media.

CONS: Few optimized games, no game mapping software, uncomfortable to play.

SPECIFICATIONS:


Size: 119 x 62 x 16 mm
Weight: 175 grams
Phone memory: 400 MB
Memory card support: microSD™, up to 32 GB
Memory card included: 8GB microSD™
Operating system: Google™ Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Display: 4" inch TFT, 480x854 pixels, 245ppi, multi-touch
Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon
Processor: 1Ghz Scorpion
RAM: 512MB
GPU: Adreno 205
Camera: 5 megapixel rear with auto focus, LED flash, VGA front
GPS
Accelerometer
Proximity sensor
Light sensor
PSP-like controller with left and right touch pad.

Sony PSVITA Review and specs

The PSVITA is by far the most advance handheld gaming device to date, in terms of graphics it's the closest thing you'll get to a PS3 and Xbox360 in the palm of your hands and the good news! Sony just gave the Vita another price drop -- In the previous years handheld gaming devices has had their worst competing with android, iOS, and 0.99 dollar games, not to mention the versatility of smartphones and tablets, which in turn resulted in poor sales. In retaliation, Sony gave the Vita other features that could cope-up with the demands of the new breed of gamers such as a dedicated web browser, new and innovative control schemes, online video services (Youtube, Netflix), SNS integration (facebook, twitter, Flickr) and the ability to multitask, it seems the strategy works, Sony's handheld to say the least, is slowly crawling out of the pit, with game titles you'll find nowhere but here in the Vita's library.

The front is cluttered with numerous buttons and knobs but it is ergonomically arranged by Sony making the Vita one of the most comfortable handhelds to play with, even till day's end. The right thumb stick is a welcome improvement on the Vita and has set a benchmark in handheld gaming control schemes, with it games are much easier to control, giving gamers a real console like experience on the go, the Vita does support a wide array of control schemes like the rear touch pad, which at first feels awkward to use, and as far as my first experience with it goes it's hard to make precise hits, but as your learning curve improves you'll certainly go back for more, games like Uncharted The Golden Abyss make use of the Vita's all out control schemes.

The Vita sports a quad-core processor (ARM cortex A9), a 512MB of RAM and a dedicated graphic processor, it's not as powerful as the latest android gaming device in terms of hardware specifications but the graphics are leaps and bounds better than any iOS and android games combined. Games does not only look good but also plays good as well, frame rate is at its best and lags are barely there, a feature in which an android device can only dream of, more so, the presence of a physical buttons optimized on each game and the experience of a real gaming console is something that the iOS and android could never fare, it remains a bragging right for owning a Vita.

"It has 5 inch OLED display that will make any gamers salivate" games looks more vibrant than any other handhelds that are currently in the market and will more than make up for the amount of money you spent on the system and even the games itself, most importantly, newbies and core gamers alike will find the UI appealing and easy to navigate, in fact it is one of the best UI I've seen on a device, who ever designed it really deserves a "pat in the back" good job Sony.

Enough of the good stuff! Sony may have pampered us with the Vita's excellent performance but underneath it is Sony's greedy attitude to make more money by simply forcing us to buy their over-priced proprietary media cards, as funny as it sounds the PSVITA doesn't come with a built-in memory, so you'll be forced to buy a Vita card to save your games and downloads, sadly, it doesn't come cheap the 16GB Vita card is almost the same price as that of a budget smartphone's, it's been really a pain in the neck as Sony continuously do this for more than a decade, they could have at least included a 1 gig Vita card in the box for game saves.

The Vita features a front and rear camera for taking photos and videos, but the grainy resolution makes it more like a toy than a serious snapper also used in augmented reality games.

The Vita's game library is still thinly stocked and the presence of must have triple "A" games are just a handful, most of them are just ports and remakes of an old game, however the Vita do have some few tricks up its sleeves "the cross play feature" it allows gamers to play their PS3 games on the Vita, also transfer game saves on both system, but sadly, there are only few games that are compatible with cross play, not to worry though, the PSVITA is still in its infancy stage and needs a little more time to mature, hopefully 2014 will be a good year for the Vita.

PROS: Near PS3 graphics, dual thumbsticks, good ergonomics, SNS integration.

CONS: Proprietary media cards and ports.


SPECIFICATIONS:

CPU: ARM® Cortex™- A9 core (4 core)

GPU: SGX543MP4+

External Dimensions: Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth)
(tentative, excludes largest projection)

Screen: (Touch Screen) 5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colors, OLED Multi touch screen (capacitive type)

Rear Touch Pad, Multi touch pad (capacitive type)

Cameras: Front camera, Rear camera

Sound: Built-in stereo speakers, Built-in microphone

Sensors Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope,three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass

Location: Built-in GPS

Wi-Fi location service support

Keys / Switches
PS button
Power button
Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left)
Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square)
Shoulder buttons (Right/Left)
Right stick, Left stick
START button, SELECT button
Volume buttons (+/-)

Wireless Communications:
802.11b/g/n (n = 1x1)(Wi-Fi)(Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode)
Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR (A2DP/AVRCP/HSP)

Archos Gamepad 2

Archos just recently announced the release of the 2nd gen Gamepad, "the Gamepad 2" with improvements obviously inspired from the flaws and cons of the previous Gamepad, that being said, the latter suffers from bad control schemes like; responsiveness and game mapping problems, also adding insult to injury was the poor battery life and the washed-out screen, but now with the release of the Gamepad 2 all these problems will be nothing more but history, as Archos claims!

The Gamepad 2 has undergone a complete make-over in terms of design, emphatically, in a good way, it's now in matte black and appears more like a dedicated console and a serious contender to the PSvita and even Nvidia's Project Shield, the improvements in the button lay-out are easily noticeable, the once stiff analog thumb stick is now replaced by a more responsive ones with rubbery texture and an in-curved surface for enhanced grip, there are also additional shoulder buttons on both the left and right triggers, the d-pad is also been replaced by a one piece directional pad, that means hitting diagonals are much easier in which the previous gamepad had failed to achieve.

( An integrated Gamezone App Market ensures optimized game support for the Gamepad 2 )

Aside from its improved design and amazing ergonomics, the gamepad 2 had a dramatic change in hardware, think of it as a gamepad on steroids, it now has a quad-core processor 1.6 GHz A9, a quad-core GPU, 2 gig of RAM, and runs android 4.2 jellybean, now even the most graphically intense games will be playable with almost no visible lags, game visuals has also improved because of the gamepad 2's enhanced screen (7"IPS 1280x800 resolution) bluetooth is also been incorporated on the gamepad 2. With all this improvements it's interesting to see how gamers wil react to it, considering the disappointments they had from the previous gamepad.

(The Gamepad 2 comes pre-bundled with optimized Gameloft games, Modern Combat 4 and Asphalt 8)

ARCHOS GAMEPAD 2 SPECIFICATIONS

Included in box • Tablet, charger, USB data cable, documentation
Display • 7’’: 1280 x 800 pixels, IPS,
Application Framework • Android 4.2, "Jelly Bean"
Processor • Quad-core A9 @ 1.6GHz
• Quad-core GPU Mali 400 MP4
Capacity • 8GB* or 16GB* + micro SD (compatible with cards up to 64GB)
RAM • 2GB RAM
Video playback1 • H.264 HD (up to 1080p @30fps)
• MPEG-42 HD (up to 1080p @30fps)
• With the above codecs, the device can play video files with the following extensions: AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, MPG, PS, TS, MKV, FLV
Audio Playback1 • MP3
• WAV (PCM/ADPCM)
• AAC3, AAC+ 5.13
• OGG Vorbis
• FLAC
Photo viewer4 • JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
Subtitles • .srt, .ssa, .smi, .sub formats supported
Cameras • Front webcam
Interfaces • Micro USB 2.0: Mobile Transfer Protocol (MTP)
• USB host via OTG
• microSD (compatible with 64 GB cards formatted to FAT32)
Wireless technologies • Dual band WiFi (2.4GHz & 5GHz)
• Wireless display5
• Bluetooth
Gaming Controls • Two analogue thumb-sticks
• Directional pad
• 6 front facing buttons
• 4 shoulder buttons
Miscellaneous • Built-in stereo speakers
• G-sensor
• Built-in Microphone
• Audio Jack 3.5mm
• HDMI output (Mini HDMI / HDMI cable sold separately)
Power source • Internal: Lithium Polymer battery
• External: Power adapter/charger
Dimensions & weight • 200.5 mm x 154 mm x 9.9 mm (7.9’’ x 6.0’’ x 0.39’’)
• 400g (0.88 pounds)

Alcatel Soleil OT5021E Review and Specs

Alcatel is well-known for its affordable products like smartphones and tablets, however as cheap as they come they are actually on par with other expensive brands in terms of performance and durability, built quality is no push-over either, having said that, Alcatel’s smartphones are mostly underrated once you find a little space in you to try one, you’ll probably know what I’m saying. Alcatel is anything but green in this business in fact they’ve been here for quite some time now and through years of experience they’ve finally set things right with their ONE TOUCH series.

The ONE TOUCH Soleil is Alcatel’s budget dual-core android Smartphone currently running 4.1 jellybean, design-wise there’s a heft of goodness to it, noticeably clear is the good built quality (in relation to its price) and somehow it doesn’t feel cheap whilst in your hands, the curves are also well placed and aims to minimize stress while holding it for long period --- there’s a large space at the bottom of the screen about more than half an inch, apparently it is where the capacitive touch buttons are placed and it kind of spoil the whole design, but once lit a different face emerges, and immediately you'll notice that it doesn’t look too bad after all.

Every phone features eventually falls down to their hardware specifications and the One Touch Soleil is one tough competitor that doesn’t fall short on these qualities especially when we’re dealing with a budget Smartphone. The Soleil boldly features a dual-core processor (MTK6577) coupled with a Power VR GPU (SGX531) and 512mb of RAM. I was dumb-founded to see a budget device performed exceptionally well, lags are barely noticeable in fact I was that close to believe that there was any, but of course no such smartphones are free from lags. That aside, the Soleil is definitely as smooth as butter, just try swiping from one homescreen to the other and you’ll immediately felt Project Butter doing what it’s supposed to, opening and closing apps is also fairly exceptional , all that for a price that’s just arms length away.

Web browsing is a smartphone’s most used feature, if you browse the web a lot and spends most of your time on Facebook than any other thing on earth, then you won’t be lost with the One Touch Soleil, surprisingly, the Soleil is one budget phone that does web browsing on a decent scale whether be it mobile or desktop view you won’t be disappointed, a feature only possible on higher-end dual-core smartphones but rarely on a budget phone, scrolling on a web page is fairly responsive, although you might encounter slight lags while zooming in and out but not on a level that might disappoint you. Furthermore the whole google ecosystem is yours to enjoy and android 4.1 jellybean is made use by the Soleil’s capable hardware, in which other budget jellybean device couldn’t do well.

A Smartphone isn’t just your everyday Personal Data Assistant it is also your handheld gaming device, for some; buying a dual-core smartphone suggests their need for gaming than any other thing a smartphone can offer, the Soleil, however is a capable gaming device, the Power VR is a proven and tested gaming GPU, for those who didn’t know the PSVita and the Sega Dreamcast uses Power VR GPUs each with specific model. The Soleil can be your everyday handheld gaming console, for casual gamers it can run pretty much all your games including Temple Run 1 and 2, For hardcore gamers, well, For starters it can play Dead Trigger and Samurai II with acceptable gameplay and I’m sure enough that other graphic intensive games will be playable.

The Soleil features a 4 inch IPS display 480x800 resolution, it’s not the brightest but it gets the job done, in fact its sharp enough not to strain your eyes when reading small text, the IPS display, meanwhile renders users a wide area of good viewing angles, colors are vibrant and well saturated in which I find it essential for gaming and watching movies, with its 4 inch display the Soleil is definitely one hell of a multimedia device.

I’m not a big fan of smartphone camera but then again this is one feature that the Soleil does exceptionally well, it’s not as sharp as the iphone 5 or the galaxy note 3 but for the price it’s definitely enough to put other expensive smartphones to shame and it doesn’t even have a flash --- Now it all comes down to battery life, honestly I find it a bit short in juice especially if you are a gamer on the go, but with moderate use it will last you a day, however wifi and 3G does drain your battery a lot faster so you might want to turn that off when not in use.

The Alcatel One Touch Soleil is available at Sun Cellular PLAN350 a relatively good offer for a good phone --- these days 350 pesos is just your average everyday gas consumption and if somehow you don’t find this as a good offer, well honestly I don’t know what is.


ALCATEL SOLEIL OT5021E SPECIFICATION:

CPU:

Chipset MTK6577
Android 4.1 jellybean
CPU speed Dual Core 1GHz
Power Vr SGX531

DISPLAY:

4.0 inch IPS WVGA 480 x 800 pixels TFT
16M color display Capacitive screen

CAMERA:

5 Megapixel camera with fix focus
Face / Smile detection Digital Zoom
Video Player: 720p@30fps Video capture: 720p@30fps Video codecs: H263, MPEG4, H264
video streaming
front camera VGA

MEMORY:

Internal Memory 4GB ROM / 512 MB RAM
1.4GB end user memory
MicroSD ( up to 32GB)

CONNECTIVITY:

GSM 850/900/1800/1900
UMTS 850/1900/2100
HSPA (HSDPA/HSUPA)
WIFI b/g/n
bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP

OTHERS:

GPS with AGPS
G-sensor
proximity sensor
light sensor

Lenovo Ideapad S10 Notebook Review

The Lenovo ideapad S10 is one of the best notebook in its time, and yes! It’s an old device, for those of you who already own one you have probably purchased it in 2009 or maybe 2010, it’s not the latest from Lenovo but it’s a piece that’s still worth reviewing. “This review could be of help to second-hand bargain hunters” ----- a need for portability gave me the urge to buy this second-hand S10, also as an alternative for my 15 inch laptop, that way I wouldn’t be relying too much on my tablet for my on the go scenarios, the S10 is not the thinnest notebook around but definitely has the X-factor as far as portability is concerned.

The design isn’t that jaw dropping it’s simple, boxee, and it’s made of a matte finish plastic which makes it slightly more resistant to fingerprints and smudges than its glossy counterparts, the overall built is also solid eventhough a hefty part of it is made of plastics Lenovo securely gave the S10 a robust and durable outer shell, I got mine second-hand and it’s still in pristine condition. The S10 is fully upgradable and is much easier to upgrade than any other netbooks currently on the market, at the bottom part of the S10 lie a panel with only two screws on it and underneath is the slots for your upgrades like storage drive, system RAM and wireless peripherals.

The S10 features a 10.2 inch TFT antiglare WSVGA matte display 1024x600 resolution with integrated camera, the S10 has parted its way from mediocrity for it has one of the best displays in its class, the TFT display on the S10 is vibrant with rich colors and good contrast while the antiglare feature help make the screen easier to read outdoors under bright sunlight and yet it doesn’t ends there as the S10’s display also has the widest area of viewing angles so watching HD movies with friends won’t be a problem.

NOTE: Later versions of the S10 2009 onwards has shifted from matte to glossy screen, slightly smaller at 10.1 inch with 1024x567 resolution.

Performance on the S10 is good enough for my taste, at least; keyboard is one of the best I’ve used so far, it doesn’t feel flimsy and gives more tactile feedback with accurate response, though I find it a bit cramped up and hated the awkwardly placed right shift key. -- The touchpad measures only at 2.3 x 1.5 inches however, the grip friendly surface allow me to make precise movement easily and with its multi-touch functionality you can easily zoom in and out when needed. The S10 also sports a fast 160GB hard drive with a modest 5,400rpm which gives the S10 a speedy performance along with 1 GB of RAM (DDR2) and a 1.6 GHz N270 Intel Atom processor, it’s not by all means impressive by today’s standards but it definitely gets the job done.

Battery performance on the S10 maybe the only thing you may not want on it, the 3 cell Li-ion battery only gave the S10 two and a half hours of life, since a got mine second hand the battery is no longer in its prime condition it only lasted 52 minutes tops, although 6 cell aftermarket battery for the S10 is readily available but I haven’t got plans of buying one anytime soon. Ports on the other hand is impressive on the S10 it has two USB ports a built-in SD card slot/reader, a serial port for secondary monitor/printer and a 3G SIM card slot on the right side but later versions of the S10 had their card slot moved underneath.


SPECIFICATIONS:

• 1.6GHz N270 Intel Atom Processor
• 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz
• Windows XP Home Edition (SP3)
• 10.2" WSVGA AntiGlare TFT with integrated camera 1024x600
• 160GB 5400rpm hard drive
• Intel GMA 950 Integrated Graphics
• Broadcom 11b/g Wi-Fi wireless
• 4-in-1 Media card reader and ExpressCard slot
• 3-Cell Li-ion battery
• Size: 9.8" x 7.2" x 1.2" (including feet)
• Weight: 2.64 lbs (with 3-cell battery

Creative ZEN MP3 player 16 GB review

MP3 players are most certainly not as popular as they where back then in the early millennium where the ipod was the forerunner and starter of the craze, and we probably know the reason why, the once much loved little gadget is slowly but surely being replaced by a much more versatile device, the smartphones and tablets, although up until now the music quality that each and one of these devices give is still very much contested. For the music purist they still prefer the pure breeds and they are the sole reason why MP3 players are still alive and kicking this very day.

The Creative ZEN has slowly etched its way in the world of music and became one of the most sought out brands in the MP3 market, the patented x-fi technology by creative labs has shattered limitations in the portable music technology thus giving way for other competitions to make their own music enhancement technology in which users greatly benefited from. The Creative ZEN 16 gig version that I have does not support the x-fi technology but as far as my experience with it goes it is surely one of the best music players of all time.

The front is crammed with numerous buttons each with corresponding functions it may seem confusing at first and may take some time of getting used to but once you get the hang of it, it will certainly work at your favor, some buttons may require a long press to do a special function like shortcuts and quick homescreen return. As far as design and built quality is concerned, the ZEN doesn't look too flimsy at all even if it' s made of an all out plastic material and it's definitely a good looking device but for sure ipod fanboys will disagree with my opinion big time!

The screen is impressive no doubt 320x240 looks sharp to a screen this size (2.5 inch) and with 16.7 million color support, videos does appear lively on the ZEN all together with excellent audio and 5 hours of video playback it seems the ZEN has it all, however being flawless is far from being reached and there are numerous reasons why; first, dark scenes doesn't appear well, second video format is poorly supported and last but not least converting videos using ZEN media tools takes considerable amount of time and is limited to only one video format WMV and to make the long process longer you still have to convert videos into mpeg format in order to convert it to WMV.

Music sounds great on the ZEN, that goes without saying, even with the absence of x-fi technology audio quality is still crisp and clear, regardless........This credit card sized music player as small as it seem is big on features, the 5 band fully customizable EQ with pre-defined user settings really did spiced up the the whole music experience on the Zen, bass boost and volume restrict are also part of the package. The ZEN however is not a cheap device the 2gig variant is priced at 4+++ pesos while the 16 gig which Im holding right now is within the 8k mark (not updated).

The ZEN's musical prowess out-shined the ipod touch 2nd gen, Ive spent a lot of time trying to compare this two music players, apparently, my verdict always favor the ZEN regardless of the headphone brand I use, the ipod has finally met its match and if you don't believe me you can try it yourself. (good bass is the winning factor for the ZEN)

The ZEN features a user friendly UI in which users can customize it accordingly to what suits them best, music library is also well organized, moreover, you can enjoy all this music for 12 hours non stop as Creative claims. The music library is one of the easiest to navigate, although searching tracks using the navigation key to enter text isn't to everyone's delight, other features includes voice recorder, FM radio, photo viewer, calendar, contact list, SD card expansion slot and the ability to sync with MS outlook.

The Zen is truly a small wonder the pocket friendly size made it a perfect companion for travelers, however it's a bit pricey for an MP3 player but for those who are willing to shell-out their hard-earned cash for good music, then the ZEN is the right choice for you.

PROS: competitive brand name, excellent audio quality, impressive screen, expandable memory.

CONS: limited video format support, no plug and play support.