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Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) and Galaxy A5 (2016) First Impressions

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 4

Samsung, at its Southwest Asia Forum 2016 in Kuala Lumpur, announced details of its new Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 2016 edition smartphones for the Indian market. The handsets were first unveiled last year in China, though the company had not disclosed anything about the availability of the two refreshed models outside China at that time.
The Galaxy A series was first launched in late 2014, and now the South Korean giant claims that it has contributed to increase in its worldwide 4G market share, along with the J-series. According to Samsung, its share in 4G devices increased from 25.9 percent in December 2014 to 60.6 percent in December 2015. The company however declined to share exact numbers.
We spent some time with both the new Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 2016 edition smartphones at the launch event and here are our first impressions.
At the press briefing in Kuala Lumpur, Samsung stressed that the new generation Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 are designed using glass and metal. This was evident..

Smartlink Digitab SS1078W - [year] Review

Smartlink Digitab SS1078W – 2026 Review

November 30, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

Smartlink might not be a well-known brand in the tablet market, but the company has been around for quite a long time. Formerly the Indian avatar of D-Link, Smartlink became an independent company in 2008 and has since then dealt in products ranging from networking infrastructure to motherboards, with multiple brands including Digilink (now sold to Schneider Electric), Digisol, Digicare, and Digilite.
Now, it has also branched out into the consumer tablet market with a range called – what else – Digitab. Three products have been launched, with features and specifications tailored for the Indian market. Two of these are 7-inch tablets, while the most expensive one has a 10.1-inch screen.
We have the unintuitively named Digitab SS1078W, the largest of the three, in for review today. Let's see if Smartlink has what it takes to compete with existing local and international companies.
Look and feel
First impressions are important, and unfortunately the SS1078W did nothing to impress u..

Lenovo Vibe P1 2026 Review

April 17, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

Earlier this year, Lenovo began merging its Mobile Business Group with its subsidiary Motorola Mobility, and stated that future smartphones would be designed, developed and manufactured by the Motorola division. This led to speculation that Lenovo could be on the verge of killing some of its own smartphone models , including the Vibe range.
However, the company soon clarified that it doesn't intend to kill the Vibe brand and will continue to market both separately. This will come as good news for fans of Lenovo's Vibe range of smartphones, which has recently produced some quality products such as the Lenovo Vibe S1 (Review | Pictures) and the Lenovo Vibe Shot (Review | Pictures).
(Also see: Killing the Vibe Range Won't Help Lenovo or Motorola)

The company's latest devices are the Vibe P1 and P1m, both of which feature massive batteries and promise longer runtime than similarly priced competitors. On our test bench today is the Lenovo Vibe P1, which offers all the u..

Review: Acer ICONIA A500: The Honeycomb Debutant

March 3, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Introduction
Until the arrival of Honeycomb, most tablets were playing catch-up with Apple's all conquering iPad and it's smartphone OSs. Now, in its second generation, the iPad 2 is likely to face some serious competition from the likes of Motorola, Acer, Samsung, HTC, Dell and other manufacturers who are embracing Google's tablet specific Honeycomb OS.
One such might be the Acer ICONIA A500, the first Honeycomb tablet to hit India. Can it take a bite out of the big Apple?
Hardware
The 10-inch A500 seems extremely thick at 13.3 mm versus the sub-10mm frame of the iPad 2. It is interesting to note that the original iPad was 13.4 mm thick. So the competition is still trying to emulate the original iPad even the next version has set new benchmarks for sheer form factor.
Quite naturally, when compared to the iPad 2, the device is bulky and feels heavy. It is quite a challenge to use while reading books. You will also find yourself setting the device down very often, because..

Asus ZenFone Zoom 2026 Review

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 5

Innovation tends to reach a saturation point after a while, which bogs down pretty much ever facet of technology. What do you do when those eureka moments start drying up and you find yourself looking for something new to wow your audience with? Putting a fresh spin on old technology seems like one way to go about it. Smartphone cameras with optical zoom have been around ever since Nokia launched the N90, way back when. This didn't exactly catch on since no one likes carrying a bulky camera in their pockets, which is what these phones essentially were.
Samsung has toyed with this idea a bit, with its last attempt being the Galaxy K Zoom over two years ago. The 10X optical zoom was the highlight of this phone but it was still more of a digital camera than a smartphone.
Asus has never known to shy away from experimenting with hybrid devices and its latest incarnation is the ZenFone Zoom. This is its attempt at a smartphone with optical zoom and thankfully, it hasn't compromi..

Nikon Coolpix L830 Review: Swivel and Zoom

May 23, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Nikon recently updated its Coolpix range of cameras including the Life (L) series. At the high end of the L series is the Nikon Coolpix L830 which is an update to the Coolpix L820. This is a bridge camera with a 34x optical zoom lens, which is slightly lower than Sony DSC-H300's 35x optical zoom.
While the Coolpix L830 seems to have a lot going for it, we find out if this camera has the actual chops to capture great images.
Design
Truly bridging the gap between DSLRs and compact digital cameras, the Coolpix L830 is a super-zoom digital camera trapped in a DSLR frame, only much smaller. While it is available in plain black as well as red, the plum colour variant which we got for review is very striking. The body is made entirely of plastic with a glossy coat of paint on top, but it does feel sturdy. On the whole, for the amount it costs, the camera looks premium.
The most striking feature of the camera is the variangle LCD monitor which can be tilted and lowered to an angle of a..

InFocus M680 2026 Review

January 6, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

InFocus has been a player in India for less than a year now, but it has been releasing a steady stream of new models, most of which we have received well. The US-based company, which specialises in projectors and office communication equipment, is working with Chinese electronics giant Foxconn to put its name on a line of smartphones aimed at emerging markets. Through this relationship, InFocus is trying to carve out a space for itself, and it seems as though the periodic flash sales it holds are receiving quite a lot of attention.
It can't be easy to compete in the Indian smartphone market, where a disruptive new device comes along nearly every other week. Still, InFocus appears to be gunning for the budget segment with a combination of low prices and premium features. Let's see if the new M680 can take on existing low-cost champions and leave a good impression.
Look and feel
We liked looking at the InFocus M680 from pretty much every angle except head-on. The front face is ..

Honor 7 Review [year]: The Metallic Powerhouse

Honor 7 Review 2026: The Metallic Powerhouse

February 23, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Although Honor is a Huawei-owned brand, its devices usually lack any mention of this, instead pitching the smartphones independently. The Honor brand allows the company to compete in the crowded budget market, and offer high-quality, well-specified devices at affordable prices without affecting the 'premium' brand image that Huawei has built for itself in China and the world over.
That is exactly what the new Honor 7 brings to the table. It's packed to the brim with features, and has top-spec hardware. With a specifications sheet that could put most flagship devices to shame, the Honor 7 hopes to win over a lot of high-value buyers with its Rs. 22,999 price tag. We go into the details in our review.
Look and feel
With a 5.2-inch full-HD IPS-LCD screen, the Honor 7 sits in the flagship smartphone sweet spot for displays. It's bright, detailed and suitably large, without breaching the 5.5-inch mark that is arguably considered to be the point where a phone becomes a ph..

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS Review 2026

February 8, 2016 Richard Gomez 5

Home | Cameras | Cameras Reviews Canon PowerShot SX60 HS Review: Big Zoom, Average Performance by Ershad Kaleebullah , 14 February 2015 For those who don't want to deal with the learning curve generally associated with DSLR cameras, a high-end compact makes the most sense. While these cameras cannot actually capture DSLR-quality images, they pack in a ton of features for a price that is more pocket-friendly.
Some of these cameras have SLR-like designs and amazing zooming capabilities. We have with us the Canon PowerShot SX60 HS, which is the world's first compact camera with a 65x optical zoom lens. Canon also adds the latest Digic 6 processor into the mix. Let's find out if the SX60 HS can wow us with its image quality.
Design and screen
Thanks to the really long optical zoom lens, the Canon PowerShot SX60 HS feels heavier and chunkier than most other super-zoom cameras in the market today, including its predecessor the SX50 HS. It has dimensions of 127.6×92.6×14.3mm ..

Nikon Coolpix AW120 [year] Review: Travelling Tough

Nikon Coolpix AW120 2026 Review: Travelling Tough

November 15, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

If recent industry reports are to be believed, the market for point-and-shoot digital cameras is dwindling year-on-year. This isn't surprising giving the increasing popularity of smartphones, especially ones with more-than-capable cameras. The need of the hour for digital camera manufacturers is to come up with products that can do things smartphones can't, in terms of both, features and image quality.
Some manufacturers have tried to stand apart with rugged or a waterproof cameras which cater to people who enjoy travelling or are into extreme sports. Nikon, an industry veteran, has the Coolpix AW series of point-and-shoot cameras servicing this demographic. Apart from being waterproof, these cameras are also shockproof and could very well be great travel companions.
Nikon unveiled 16 new cameras in its 2014 Spring Series, one of which was the Coolpix AW120 – an upgrade to the AW110. The new model is almost identical to its predecessor except for a slight increase in heft, hi..

Gionee Marathon M5 Plus 2026

January 4, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

No matter how big the battery on any smartphone, it degrades over time. If your smartphone lasts a whole day on a single charge when it's fresh out of its box, then one year later its battery life will be significantly less. The Gionee Marathon M5 Plus, which the company unveiled at a special event in Dongguan, China this week, tries to solve this problem. Gionee claims that the smartphone's battery will retain 90 percent of its capacity after 600 charging cycles, which translates to roughly two years of use.
This explains why the Gionee Marathon M5 Plus has a slightly lower capacity 5020mAh battery, when compared to the 6020mAh battery if the Gionee Marathon M5 (Review | Pictures). The “Plus” moniker has more to do with its larger screen and longer-lasting battery, according to Gionee. In a world where an Android smartphone with a humongous 10000mAh battery isn't impossible, the Marathon series' battery capacity doesn't seem excessive.
The biggest challenge fo..

Intex Aqua Ace Review: Specifications Aren’t Everything

February 23, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Just a short while after reviewing the Intex Aqua Trend (Review | Pictures), we have another model from the same company in our hands for review. The Aqua Trend underwhelmed us, especially considering how many strong alternatives are available at or even below the same price. Intex is well known for selling low-cost products, especially PC peripherals. However, a lot of companies have managed to drive prices down in the smartphone industry without compromising on features or materials, and so Intex's classic formula might not do it any good here.
Today, we have a slightly more premium model, the Intex Aqua Ace, in for review. Priced at Rs. 12,999, this phone will find itself going up against some very polished, premium products. We're hoping Intex can impress us and show that it's able to compete in a market very different to the one it has thrived in so far.
Look and feel
Immediately upon opening its box, we're struck by how derivative the design of the Intex Aqua..