USB

Strontium Nitro Plus On-The-Go USB 3.0 and Micro SDHC UHS-1 With OTG Card Reader Review

Strontium Nitro Plus On-The-Go USB 3.0 and Micro SDHC UHS-1 With OTG Card Reader Review

February 11, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Strontium seems to have jumped into mobile storage in a big way. After our encounter with the Nitro iDrive for iOS, the company brought our attention to a couple of products aimed at Android devices which support USB On-The-Go. We've seen flash drives with Micro-USB connectors before, but we haven't seen an external card reader.
An increasing number of Android smartphones do not allow storage expansion, and some older ones don't support high-capacity microSD cards. Putting new data onto a card and sharing large files with others is sometimes a pain, requiring you to take your phone apart and pull out its battery or plug your phone into a PC.
USB-OTG can come in handy in some of those situations. While a flash drive sticking out of your phone is no substitute for a tiny microSD card, it can be really handy. You can store large files such as movies that you don't need immediate access to all the time, without filling up your phone's limited storage space. You ca..

SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Review: Useful but Expensive

SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive Review: Useful but Expensive

May 11, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

The lack of expandable storage has always been a thorn in the side of iPhone and iPad users, while microSD cards and even USB-OTG drives are standard features of the Android landscape. Buyers balk at the massive margins Apple charges to step up from the lowest storage option on each of its devices, but often wind up feeling remorse a year or so down the line when they have to start deleting photos, cutting back on apps and carrying less music.
SanDisk is one few companies trying to help users get around this problem. The iXpand Flash Drive does two major things: it helps you carry more data around than your iOS device(s) can store, and it helps you copy files to and from PCs and iOS devices without going through iTunes. Note that it does not magically add more storage to an iPhone or iPad itself – so you can't think of it as an iOS equivalent of a USB pen drive. More on how that works below.
Look and feel
The SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive is fairly bulky; much larger than the simila..

Acer Iconia W4 [year]

Acer Iconia W4 2024

July 25, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

Windows 8 has an identity problem. The Modern UI, with its big, bright tiles and touch-friendly apps still isn't useful for anything more than the occasional game. Microsoft's most recent updates seem to have been designed to make life easier for non-touch laptop and desktop users, making the traditional Windows desktop more prominent and consigning the Start Screen to the background.
We like Windows 8.1 on desktops and laptops, and like many users, we have adjusted to the lack of a Start menu. Once we're in the desktop, there's almost no need to ever deal with the Modern UI, but we don't mind dipping into it occasionally. On most laptops and hybrid ultrabooks, we often forget that the screens are touch-capable, and frankly, that isn't a problem at all.
Perhaps that's why Windows-powered tablets have all but disappeared from the market. Sure, we've got plenty of ultrabooks and hybrids with keyboards that either detach or fold away – but pure tabl..

Nikon Coolpix P330 [year] review

Nikon Coolpix P330 2024 review

August 4, 2018 Richard Gomez 0

Nikon Coolpix P330 is a new point and shoot from Nikon that gives you a 5x optical zoom, a 24 to 120 mm wide-angle zoom lens, with a maximum aperture of f/1.8. It is targeted at a consumer who is looking at more control on the camera than a basic point-and-shoot, without the bulk associated with a DSLR. Does the Coolpix P330 deliver on this count? Let's find out.
In the box
Nikon Coolpix P330 camera
Nikon EN-EL-12 Lithium Ion Battery
Charger with unpolarised NEMA plug
Convertor to use with Indian sockets
USB cable
RCA to USB/AV out cable
Lanyard (Handstrap)
CD With reference manual
CD With Nikon View NX2 software
Warranty cards and manuals
Though the camera is capable of recording full-HD video, and also has an HDMI port, Nikon does not include an HDMI Cable, and gives a RCA Cable. This felt a bit odd.
Build/ Design
The moment you take it out of the box, the first thing that you notice about the Nikon Coolpix P300 is the boxy sharp feel. When you hold it in your hands, the grip is..

Lytro Camera [year] Review

Lytro Camera 2024 Review

February 13, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

When cameras went from analog to digital, it was one of those once-in-a-generation shifts, like going from black-and-white film to Kodachrome. But whether you're using a 35-millimeter or a point-and-shoot, the steps you take to shoot a picture have remained the same: you focus on something, then push a button to record the image.
But what if you could take a picture and refocus it after you had taken it? What if, just by clicking around a photo on your computer screen, you could choose which part of the image should be clear and which part should be blurry?
You can with a new camera called Lytro, and it's astonishing. With a Lytro, you take a picture as you would with any camera, but the digital file it creates can be refocused after the fact.
Inside the Lytro: An example of how the Lytro works can be found here.Inside the Lytro: An example of how the Lytro works can be found here.
This is fairly mind-blowing. Imagine a wedding photo with the bride in the foreground and the w..

MSI Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition Review [year]

MSI Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition Review 2024

December 27, 2017 Richard Gomez 0

There are some motherboards that will be installed inside desktop PCs and then pretty much never see the light of day again. These bare-basic boards will be touched only by factory workers and then sealed off inside their boxes; rarely seen even for cleaning. Then there's the enthusiast breed of motherboards, which are designed to be showed off at every opportunity. They have flashy lights, colourful accents, and of course elaborate heatsinks. They need to stand out in a very commoditised but intensely competitive market.
MSI has done all of that and developed a few new bells and whistles with its Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition model. This is the company's new statement piece, and it's very effective. It's also packed to the gills with high-end features in pretty much every subsystem: audio, memory, storage, expansion, and overclocking. Let's dive in.
Design, layout and features
The Xpower Z170A looks phenomenal. If you're building inside a high-end ..

iBall Slide i7218 [year]

iBall Slide i7218 2024

July 30, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

iBall had launched a tablet device in September 2011 and now the company has launched a revamped version of its Slide with i7218. The newer version of the device runs on Android 2.3 though the user interface is similar to Honeycomb.
The i7218 is cheaper than its predecessor, as it comes with the price tag of Rs. 11,999 and will be competing with the likes of Reliance Tab 3G. When switched on, the device greets you with “Get ready to enjoy the ride”, so let's try and find out how is the ride of the new iBall Slide i7218.
Hardware/ Design
In terms of design, the 7-inch tablet is made primarily of plastic and has a metal-based side casing. Unlike the previous model's box like design, this one has a curved and lighter body. At the back is a 2.0 MP camera, with the speakers. The front has a VGA camera on the top and three capacitive touch control buttons on the right.
On the right side, is a Micro-USB port, a mini HDMI port, a USB port, 3.5 mm headphone jack and an external slot ..

Review: Beetel Magiq [year]

Review: Beetel Magiq 2024

June 21, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

With the pricey iPad still at top spot, tablets have yet to acquire the kind of mass market appeal that the mobile phone does in India. This seems to be possible only if companies manage to break the Rs. 10000 price barrier. After Reliance broke ground with a Rs 13,000 tablet, Beetel has boldly gone where no tablet-maker has been before with a tablet that costs Rs. 9999. But is it worth buying or are you better off saving up for the iPad?
Packaging and content:
The packaging of the device reminded us of our first Beetel landline phone – a slightly jazzed up yet simple box. The box houses the tablet along with the battery, one USB data cable, charger and user manual.
Hardware and styling:
For a 7-inch tablet that costs Rs. 9999, expectations aren't very high. At the very least, we'd like a responsive, averagely built but well performing Android device, like the Reliance tab.
The device is really heavy and the build quality feels good. The trade-off is its weight and the width..

Videocon 40-inch Liquid Luminous Full-HD TV (KV40FH11CAH) Review

Videocon 40-inch Liquid Luminous Full-HD TV (KV40FH11CAH) Review

July 5, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

Videocon is one of the oldest electronics conglomerates in India, and a trusted name when it comes to appliances. The company also now has significant presence in other industries, such as mobile phones, telecommunications, direct-to-home television services and large-format retail. But if there's one thing the company is known for above all else, it is televisions.
Videocon's latest innovation in the field of televisions is a home-grown LED-LCD based television technology that it calls 'Liquid Luminous'. The range is claimed to reproduce 95 percent of the colours that the human eye is capable of perceiving, compared to the 72 percent that most conventional TV panels reproduce. Today, we're reviewing the Rs. 39,790 40-inch (KV40FH11CAH) model. Does this technology result in a better picture and improved performance? We find out in our review.
Design
The Videocon Liquid Luminous TV isn't the kind of television set that you're likely to give a second gl..

Swans M10 [year]

Swans M10 2024

February 23, 2016 Richard Gomez 0

A small but growing company, Swans enjoys a fair amount of recognition and success in audio enthusiast circles. The company is based in California, but has its production base in China and develops a wide range of speakers and home audio products. One of its most popular products is the Swans M10 2.1 speaker system.
Made up of two satellite speakers and a subwoofer, the Rs. 7,499 M10 is meant to be used anywhere at home but is ideal on a desktop, handling your computer's audio. This is a popular model the world over for its price-to-performance ratio, and we're keen to try it out. Read all there is to know about the Swans M10 system in our review.
Design and specifications
The Swans M10 package consists of two satellite speakers with 20mm dome tweeters and 3-inch woofers, with a frequency response range of 140-20,000Hz. The combined amplifier and subwoofer has a 5-inch woofer unit with a frequency response range of 42-5,000Hz. The front of the unit has only a volume knob, whi..

Acer C720P [year]

Acer C720P 2024

June 14, 2015 Richard Gomez 5

Acer C720P – The Chromebook matches between AN iPad or golem capsule and a full-fledged laptop computer laptop. whereas roughly as moveable as a capsule, […]