June 2017 |

Amazon Kindle Fire HDX review 2023

June 5, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

In the fleeting moments I had with Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet, I noticed one major thing: It lost a lot of weight. The engineers at Amazon managed to slim down their flagship tablet in every dimension.
(Also see: Refreshed Amazon Kindle Fire HD tablet unveiled at lower price)
The new Kindle Fire HDX is lighter by 23 percent for the smaller model and 34 percent for the full-sized one. The slimmer profile is made possible by a new, lighter magnesium alloy body, a touch screen with fewer layers than before and a frame that is about one-quarter narrower all around the edge of the screen.
Add to that the company's claim that the processor is three times as fast as last year's Kindle Fire HD, and Amazon.com Inc. seems to have an attractive holiday gift option on its hands.
In my hands, at an event for reporters Tuesday, the weight reduction is noticeable. I own a year-old 7-inch Kindle Fire HD and find it chunky. Trying to read a book on it with one hand is like doing so ..

Lava Etab Xtron+ review 2023

June 11, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

Lava launched its first Android 4.1 Jelly Bean-powered tablet, the Etab Xtron, earlier this year. The company has now added a rear camera, an HDMI port and updated the OS to Android 4.2, and launched the Etab Xtron+, the successor to the first Etab Xtron tablet. We try to find out if the budget tablet delivers value for your hard earned money.
Build
The Lava Etab Xtron+ comes with the same design and build as that of the Etab Xtron, exuding a feeling of durability. The 7-inch tablet looks compact, yet sturdy. The front of the tablet features a 7-inch screen, which is surrounded by a large bezel. You'll also spot a VGA resolution front-shooter right in the middle.
The back of the tablet is made of polycarbonate but has been given a brushed aluminium finish. The frame extends to the front, and adds to the design of the tablet. A microSD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack sits at the top edge at the right side while the speaker grill is located towards the left. There are no ports ..

Acer Iconia W3 – 2023 review

June 16, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

With Windows 8, Microsoft turned its focus to touchscreen devices as the new operating system featured swipe gestures and charms that could be best experienced on touch-enabled devices. While we've been seeing ultrabooks, hybrids and 10-inch tablets running Windows 8, it was not ported to a device with a smaller form factor, until now. This is primarily because the OS has been majorly seen as a platform focusing on 'productivity' (Microsoft is also to be partially blamed for that), and not on content consumption. The other reason being that anything less than 10-inch would make the experience of using legacy apps cumbersome and OEMs wanted to market their devices as a PC substitute.
The Acer W3 changes all that, becoming the first 8-inch (8.1-inch to be precise) tablet to run Windows 8 and not Windows RT, which Microsoft created specially keeping tablets into consideration. The 8-inch form factor is really good when it comes to using a tablet for consuming content – read..

Halo 5: Guardians Review 2023

June 16, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

No game is as synonymous with the Xbox brand like Halo. If Gears of War led to a wave of third-person cover shooters, then Halo: Combat Evolved showed everyone how a first person shooter (FPS) can work on consoles, and Halo was the reason you absolutely had to buy an Xbox back in 2001.
Fast forward to 2015 and Microsoft's third console, the Xbox One, has gotten its first original Halo game – Halo 5: Guardians. The Xbox One has had its fair share of solid exclusive games such as Sunset Overdrive and Forza Horizon 2, but it hasn't had that one must-have title that will convinced everyone to give Microsoft's newest black box a try. Many people have been looking towards Halo 5 to see if this game is the system seller that Microsoft wants for the Xbox One.
(Also see: As Microsoft's Xbox One Turns 1 in India, Is It a Good Time to Buy?)
If quality is any indication, Halo 5 is going to do for the Xbox One what Halo: Combat Evolved did for the first Xbox – make people buy..

Kobo Arc 2023 review

June 30, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

Canadian e-reader maker, Kobo, recently launched three of its e-readers (it calls them eReaders), and a 7-inch Android tablet, in the Indian market.
Tablets made by e-book reader companies are essentially multimedia capable devices made to please users who're looking to invest in e-books but don't want an e-ink display and want their device to do much more.
Kobo's Android tablet is called the Kobo Arc and competes with the likes of the Kindle Fire HD. As with the Kindle Fire tablet, Kobo's Arc tablet is deeply integrated with Kobo's 'eBooks'
ecosystem, which is also one of the USPs of the tablets. However, it also features the Google Play Store and Google's natives app, that are missing from Amazon's Kindle offering.
So, in a way it also competes with other 7-inch Android tablets like the Nexus 7 and Galaxy Tab 3. We try to find out if Kobo's been able to strike a balance between an e-reading device and a full-featured Android tablet,..