Category - Mobile

What is Xiaomi?

Well, if you have up to date with tech news you want miss this name recently. Xiaomi is a privately owned Chinese electronics company originated in Beijing, China 2010. It is the 3rd largest smartphone distributor in the world and designs smartphones, develops apps, and make consumer electronics. In 2014, it listed no.3 in the most innovative company according to Fast Company magazine.  MIT Technology Review as no. 30 out of 50 smartest companies and no. 35 in the Most Innovative Companies compiled by  The Boston Consulting Group in 2014. On its 5th birthday, 2015, Xiaomi managed to break the world record for “most mobile phones sold on a single online platform in 24 hours”, by selling 2,112,010 handsets through its direct-to-customer website Mi.com. Interesting isn’t it? 😀

What is MIUI?

Did you know that most smartphone companies have their own UI (User Interface) within Android OS? For example, Samsung has TouchWiz, HTC has Sense, OnePlus currently has two OS: CyanogenMod 12 and OxygenOS, ect. These are all Android Systems but with unique features. MIUI is the Xiaomi’s unique Android OS. Since it is Android, you don’t have to worry about all the synchronization facilities. What MIUI gives you additionally is cool features with customization. Furthermore, it has its own cloud storage like iCloud or Google Drive, with a storage of 5GB free of charge. Finally, it comes with its own security system to protect your smartphone from threats.

OK! So what’s it for me?

Xiaomi provides cost effective  ~ hi-tech smartphones, smartphone accessories, and electronic items. It is highly popular in China and continues to grow their popularity throughout the world. Xiaomi’s concept is highly likely to Apple’s therefore, competitiveness will provide more quality and more wider range of consumer products to mingle with. If you are looking forward to be a part of a giant company, I think this will be a good opportunity to explore by taking a one simple step.

~ Happy Exploring!

Back in 2012 Samsung overtook “Nokia” the mobile leader for 14 years. And Samsung announced best profits in that year too. Since 2008 Samsung has allocated a lot of money for mobile research and development. From that year they have gained mobile share, quarter by quarter and year by year till 2012.  Yep,  since 2012 to the present year Samsung is not doing well. For that there are so many reasons behind it. Some say their Android Touchwiz is too complicated and laggy, so much bloatware, (so much replica phones it’s my personal thought) etc etc. But I think Samsung has understood the consumer needs and problems and recently they have promised they will remove every unwanted software and that they will polish the OS for better user experience.

Few days back Samsung has announced their flagship Android phone Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge at Mobile World Congress. It’s a totally redesigned phone, Samsung has finally got rid of manufacturing most of the mobile parts from plastic and they have started manufacturing with glass and the metal. So here is the spec walk through for both Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge just scroll down to see.

Samsung galaxy S6 features a 5.1 inch Super AMOLED screen with 2560 X 1440 (577PPI) resolution. According to Gsmarena it has little over 70% screen to body ratio, only 7mm in thickness, Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides which protects the phone from scratching, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB internal storage ( no SD card slot this time), 3GB RAM for better multitasking, comes with latest Android OS Lollipop 5.02, 16 Megapixel rear camera and 5 Megapixel front camera and 2550mAh battery.

As you can see those specs are really up-to date and can fight against other vendors, but let me talk about the SoC which powered the S6 and S6 Edge. This is the place where Samsung is way ahead when comparing to others. Since the release of the Galaxy S2, Galaxy devices are powered by Samsung’s own SoC called Exynos. Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are powered by Exynos 7420 which is a octa core processor with big.LITTLE concept, it has 4 X A57 64bit cores at 2.1GHz and 4 X A53 efficient 64bit cores running at 1.5GHz. The important thing about this SoC is that it’s manufactured under 14nm fabrication process. Just for your reference the lower the nm number means it has more processing power and it’s more efficient. For e.g. the world’s leading SoC manufacturer’s Snapdragon 810 64bit SoC is fabricated under 20nm process. As you can see, Samsung clearly has the edge for the processing power and efficiently. Another thing I should mention about this SoC are the GPU and RAM. It’s powered by ARM Mali-T760 MP8 ( eight GPU cores running at 772MHz which is a really powerful GPU it can run anything you throw at it) and 1552MHz LPDDR4 RAM.

Let’s move on to Galaxy S6 Edge, this flagship device have double side curved display. Samsung has specially designed their TouchWiz Android software to take advantage on those curved edge. I personally love that design, specially with both side curved  and not the single curved Galaxy Note Edge design. I watched the MKBHD’s (Youtube tech gadget reviewer) Galaxy S6 Edge first impression video, and he mentioned that those curved edges are nice and the Lollipop material designed app’s swipe from the cover feature works beautifully. Other than that this phone has really similar features to S6. Same processor, same RAM and the same 16 Megapixel camera. Only the battery is a bit bigger, where the S6 Edge has a 2600mAh capacity battery.

Now we can clearly see Samsung moving in-to big change. They really want to catch back on their mobile market share and they want to fight back with the other big vendors like Apple and  Xiaomi phones.

In this article, I am going to let you know 5 major reasons why I bought OnePlus One. I know it is a new hit to Sri Lanka but some of you even don’t know about the OnePlus. But I have known OnePlus from the beginning and I have used some of their developer ROMs for years and I think I have enough experience to review OnePlus One. Some of the devices I have used are named for your references. (Xperia X8 with – Cyanogen custom ROM, iPhone 3G – Custom ROM, Zigo Eon 5i, Micromax A110 – Custom ROM, Samsung Galaxy S4.)

#1) Long Lasting Battery Life

Main reason for me to buy OnePlus One is the 3100mAh battery. What is it worth if youhave all features and geared up smartphone, if you cannot use it at least for a day? This is the 3rd month I am using OnePlus and I have never wanted to charge my phone twice a day. Never worried about turning on data all the time and surf the web, use google maps, take pictures in high quality whenever I feel taking one, and having my GPS on all the time. This massive battery life gives you the opportunity to enjoy all your loving features in a single charge!

#2) Hardcore Hardware Specs

2.5 Quad Core Qualcomm© Snapdragon™ 801 processor, 3GB RAM, 16GB or 64GB (which I have) Storage, 13MP Rear and 5MP Front Camera, 5.5” 1080P display, slim and sleek design… What else do you need? These amazing hardware specs gives you a glitch less smartphone that you will fall in love within seconds.

#3) Amazing Camera

13MP rear camera gives you the freedom to capture your lovely moments in best quality.The camera comes with 6 physical lenses so that your photos will be really sharp and very detailed. 5MP of front camera will take you to next level of selfie shoot outs. And guess what?You have more than 25 modes collection to choose from. Auto, Night, Sunset, Mono, Flowers,Landscape, and fireworks are some of them.

#4) Software Flexibility

There are many… I may not be able to discuss all in this article but I will promise you to unleash all in a separate article. For now, I will point out 5 major features. 😀 Firstly, OnePlus One comes with Android Kitkat 4.4 and it has their own OS version called, Cyanogen 11S. Most recent and anticipated version of Android Lollipop 5.0 with Oxygen OS has been announced and soon it will be released to the market for free to download.But hey! If you can do some research and find some custom ROMs from XDA Developers, you can enjoy numerous custom ROMs including Lollipop Update. This is why their Never Settle concept is and warranty won’t void for trying out new custom ROMs.Secondly, OnePlus comes with simple preloaded applications. Which means you won’t find much preinstalled apps, sometimes that you get from other phones, that you will never use.Thirdly, you can choose from on screen buttons or capacitive keys. It’s your choice. I think this is a big relief and good concept by OnePlus team allowing the user to handle the phone the way user like, other than the other way around. Fourthly, tap to unlock mode. I prefer this method rather than pressing the power buttons. It is fun and safe way to unlock your smartphone. Finally, the theme collection. Before I bought OnePlus One, I was thinking about LG G3 and Samsung S5. I liked the way they look but I knew I would be looking at the same screen animations, same settings screen, for months and I would be bored. Luckily, OnePlus can change into any beast I like so bought the OnePlus. Massive collection of themes will allow you to have a new look for the phone and change how it looks the way you like. So you won’t get bored looking into the same screen, same animations, over and over again.

#5) Price vs Specs

Yes! Features are good. Specs are good. What good in it if you cannot afford it? Majority of the market with the same specs smartphone would cost more than USD $600. But OnePlus One starts from USD $ 299. Like I said, I was looking at LG G3 and Samsung S5 before I bought OnePlus One. Both smartphones are costly. Yes, they have some additional apps and features than OnePlus, but the question is; are you going to use all those features in day to day life? If not, then why pay more?

These are my personal views and experiences. Your preferences may differ than me. Any how, it is better to know your device before you buy one. I always google, read articles, and get the full knowledge about the product before I buy one. If you don’t have time, ask your friends those who have the product you like. I hope I have helped you to know little bit about OnePlus One. I’m sure your may find more than5 reasons so start exploring! 🙂