Spinach Chaat @ThavaIndian Restaurant @MontecasinoZA #Jozi #SA

Hi Friends, 

Spinach Chaat is one of the snacks which is only introduced in the menu at Thava Restaurant at Montecasino, Johannesburg, South Africa. The first time I saw the same on the menu, I ordered it immediately and now whenever I go to the restaurant I generally order 2 plates for the family. 

Spinach Chaat at Thava Restaurant, Montecasino, Johannesburg, South Africa

Chaat in general terms is made by the Chutneys - be it mint or tamarind to add to the flavor and the sensation on the tongue. If their chutneys are not great, chaat won't be worthy of any mention wheresoever. Not only this chaat is healthy but yummy too. I am sure you won't stop at one plate ever. 

Spinach or Paalak Chaat - Homemade

My family during lockdown tried to create the Spinach or Paalak Chaat at home and this is the version we could come up with. It was tasty but I didn't eat as much I could eat at the restaurant. It's all about the chutneys and the masala they add at the restaurant. If the same is not perfect, you don't want to spend your money on at the restaurant. 

What is your favorite amongst the two? The first photo is taken using Fujifilm X-T100 mirrorless camera and the second one at home using Samsung Note 8 mobile camera by Aashish Rai

Namaste!!!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts. Namaste!

#TheLifesWayReviews HUNDRED Season 1 @DisneyPlusHS #HotstarSpecials #Comedy

Hi Friends, 

I have been staying away from all the web series for quite sometime but then since the past many days I have been watching a lot of them and in a single sitting I am watching them from start to finish. After watching some of the many hit and miss web series I came across HUNDRED on the HOTSTAR Specials with a great cast including Lara Dutta and Rinku Rajguru (Sairat movie fame) in comedy and drama to the fullest. This is the first time they are coming together and also Lara is making a comeback using this platform since we last saw her in Welcome to New York movie in 2018. At the start of the year, I thought that I will only watch the web series once the same becomes a hit rather than investing my time to watch them all. This one I didn't check for the popularity and IMDB ratings etc as I was tired of watching horror, thriller, and crime-based web series and was looking for some comedy time. 

The story is linked amazingly well and how the character played by Lara and Rinku joins together to achieve what they have never achieved before. Lara Dutta plays an ACP in Mumbai Police and given low profile jobs despite her sharp mind, honesty and capabilities. Rinku plays a next-door girl Netra Patil who lives for her family day in day out and always does as per their wishes to make everyone happy. Once she comes to know that she has only 100 days to live, she meets the ACP Saumya Shukla and she gets inspiration from her to do whatever is on her wishlist. Together they help each other catch big criminals as Rinku transforms into various roles as ACP's Police informer along with changing her personal life on the go.

The first season shows various great police action stories as the characters are introduced from police department as well as Netra's family members and boyfriend. Each character has something unique through which lives of Netra and Saumya are getting impacted everyday and how they challenge the world in their unique ways is the storyline you need to watch through the 8 episodes in the Season 1 of this web series available on Disney+ Hotstar OTT platform. The series start great as the characters are introduced in the first episode and then the chase to catch various criminals begins in other episodes and the last episode gives you a great ending waiting for another Season to see what happens next. 

In all the seasons you will have something to laugh about and the acting of both Lara and Rinku are amazing as they imbibe the characteristics of their characters very well. Karan Wahi who plays as DJ Maddy as also one of the informers working for Saumya with Haryanvi accent which doesn't suit his personality but he tries his best. Parmeet Sethi has played a good role as Saumya's boss and gives her a hard time at the job. Sudhanshu Pandey has played Saumya's husband role and friend of Parmeet Sethi. Rohini Hattangadi also plays Saumya's mother-in-law role to bring some comedy but there is nothing great for her to do as she comes on the screen for only 15 minutes in total. The best character is played by Rinku's boyfriend who is eccentric in his own way and brings a lot of fun whenever he is on screen. Rinku's love interest is played by Rajeev Siddhartha who has played many roles in various web series and TV serials too. Makarand Deshpande makes a comeback in this series as Rajeev's business partner and sees a future for Rinku in his company. 

Enjoy this web series of about 5 hours 6 minutes for 8 episodes without your common sense, expectations, and judgments and enjoy the acting of Lara and Rinku and roller coaster ride in their lives. Rating 3.0/5

Namaste!!!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts. Namaste!

Top 5 Things to Expect From the #HUAWEIP40Lite @HuaweiZA

Hi Friends,

On 18 May 2020, Huawei’s flagship lite device – the HUAWEI P40 lite – will be launching in South Africa. This is the first device in the HUAWEI P40 series to be available in the country, and there’s good reason its launch has received such hype. The HUAWEI P40 lite combines powerful performance with exceptional entertainment experiences, and is geared towards users who want a device that delivers both time after time.

If you are that kind of smartphone user, then you’ll be interested to read this list of the top five things you can expect from the HUAWEI P40 lite.

1. Higher performance, lower power consumption

A Kirin 810 chipset, which is manufactured with the world’s leading 7nm process, powers the HUAWEI P40 lite. This chipset offers lower power consumption, and delivers excellent performance and power efficiency. It also integrates advanced functionality to help drive the rapid graphics processing required by mobile games. The HUAWEI P40 lite packs a 4200mAh battery, which is enhanced by 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge support for longer battery life and faster charging.

2. A DSLR-quality photography experience

The HUAWEI P40 lite’s quad camera features a 48MP main lens, an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens, a 2MP macro lens and a 2MP bokeh lens. The result is a marvel: a camera capable of capturing wider, closer and clearer shots under almost any circumstances. The device’s new multi-frame composition technology intelligently combines multiple shots to create one optimised photograph, and its Super Night Mode 2.0 helps in low-lighting situations.

3. Gaming that is fluid and seamless

A superior gaming experience is one of the major differentiators of the HUAWEI P40 lite. The device makes use of the latest GPU Turbo technology to break the bottlenecks that hold back the GPU, CPU and EMUI. By enabling the software to work better with the hardware, the device’s processing efficiency is improved and, as a result, so is your gaming experience. The HUAWEI P40 lite supports many popular games, which it can run smoothly in high definition.

4. A better, sleeker and more visually focused design

The HUAWEI P40 lite’s 6.4-inch screen has a screen-to-body ratio of 90.6% and makes use of the HUAWEI Punch FullView Display to deliver crisp, vibrant colours. The four lenses of its exceptional camera demonstrate both design expertise and engineering muscle, and its side-mounted fingerprint power button allows you to lock and unlock it with ease. The HUAWEI P40 lite is available in Sakura Pink, Crush Green and Midnight Black.

5. An improved operating system

The HUAWEI P40 lite features Huawei’s latest operating system, the newly upgraded EMUI10. This upgrade offers cleaner aesthetics, including improved readability and fresh new colours, and a smarter and more intuitive user experience. Through EMUI10, the HUAWEI P40 lite also supports MeeTime, Huawei’s video calling feature, which delivers vastly improved image quality with lower Internet data usage.

Of course, the list of this smartphone’s impressive features is a lot longer than this, but the above should help to whet your HUAWEI P40 lite appetite. This Android device is the second phone with Huawei’s HMS ecosystem to be launched in SA and comes with the HUAWEI AppGallery, Huawei’s app store, which has a suite of local and global apps. Most of SA’s popular apps are accessible on the HUAWEI P40 lite.

The HUAWEI P40 lite will be available later this month from www.huaweistore.co.za and all mobile operators.

Sawubona!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts. Namaste!

A Memoir - This Month Last Year - Apr 2019 #2000thPost www.thelifesway.com #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra

Hi Friends,

It gives me great pleasure to announce that this is going to be the 2000th blog post on www.thelifesway.com since it started more than 7 years back on 27 Dec 2012. Between all the 2000 posts there has been some analysis I did and came up with several kinds of things which I can announce in this post. 

• 31.85% of the posts are self-written including product reviews, launch events, contest entries, book reviews, movie reviews, apps reviews and other reviews like Photowalks, etc. 
• 1363 posts didn't get me anything much and some are only done to keep the PR relationships and to please the brands without getting any benefits in return
• For Huawei, I published 95 press releases and 17 self-written posts which totals 112 posts
• For Samsung, I published 90 press releases and 15 self-written posts which totals 105 posts
• For Indiblogger, I published 44 press releases and 39 self-written posts totaling 83 posts
• For Montecasino, I published 83 posts all of them were press releases
• For Acer, I published 64 press releases and 3 self-written posts totaling 67 posts
• For Disney, the count is 64 press releases
• For Sony Electronics, 42 press releases, and 10 self-written posts
• For Silverstar Casino, 48 press releases
• For Sterkinekor, 38 press releases
• For rAge Expo, 36 press releases
• For ZEE TV, 27 press releases and 1 self-written post
• For LG Electronics, 23 press releases, and 1 self-written post
• For Microsoft, 20 press releases and 3 self-written posts
• For BluBlood, 21 press releases
• For Uber, 20 press release
• For Lenovo, 20 press releases
• For Logitech, 19 press releases and 1 self-written post

In the near future of 2020, I want to increase self-written content to reach at least 50% because that will improve my writing abilities if done on a daily basis. 

Aashish Rai at Apple iStore in The Dubai Mall, Dubai 

Last year April 2019, I was watching a lot of Netflix and all the 4 posts I did were for the Netflix original series only. 

1. #TheLifesWayReviews - Selection Day - Season 1 @NetflixSA TV Series #Cricket #Drama - https://www.thelifesway.com/2019/04/thelifeswayreviews-selection-day-season.html - This is a really nice drama around the family where the father takes some outrageous steps to get his sons into the game of cricket. 

2. #TheLifesWayReviews - Beyond All Boundaries @NetflixSA TV Series @TheCricketFilm #CricketWorldCup2011 - https://www.thelifesway.com/2019/04/thelifeswayreviews-beyond-all.html - It's a documentary which showcases the life of 3 people attached by a single string of Cricket and how it helps them to fulfill their dreams? 

3. #TheLifesWayReviews - Delhi Crime @NetflixSA TV Series #Crime #Drama - https://www.thelifesway.com/2019/04/thelifeswayreviews-delhi-crime.html - Delhi Crime is based on the 2012 Nirbhaya Delhi case whose criminals were hanged till death this year in March 2020. 

4. #TheLifesWayReviews - Cricket Fever: Mumbai Indians @mipaltan @NetflixSA TV Series - https://www.thelifesway.com/2019/04/thelifeswayreviews-cricket-fevermumbai.html - It was great to know the inner details about the IPL and how Mumbai Indians prepared for all the IPL matches and the series every year. 

This year in 2020, I have revived the series of my Photo posts and continuously posting some new content on a daily basis and I hope that you are going to love them. Follow me on my new Instagram travel-related handle - TheLifesWay

Namaste!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts. Namaste!

#TheLifesWayReviews @Xiaomi Mi Band 2 #SmartBand @TheGearbest #HealthyLiving

Hi Friends, 

As mentioned in my earlier post about the Xiaomi products, they are not only innovative but also value for money. It goes for all the products, I have seen or used till date. The product which people fell in love with was the first Mi Band which gave a possibility to measure your steps at the cheapest price linked to your smartphone via an app and then when the second Mi Band 2 came with Heart Rate monitoring, it was an instant hit. I remember not getting it on Amazon.in when I tried to order for the same. It was always out of stock and same is the case with the new version of the device called Mi Band 3.

GearBest was able to send me the Mi Band 2 fast enough but the custom took some time to clear in South Africa but finally the band reached me within a week and I started using the same immediately. It's definitely one of the online stores which can give competition to the likes of Alibaba, Amazon, takealot.com, Flipkart and many others around the world. The device packaging consists of a silicone band, a charger base and the main unit itself. The main unit can be easily clipped into the silicon band after charged from the charging base. The charging base is USB and can be inserted into your laptop or any of the smartphone chargers.

The main features of the Smartband are Bluetooth 4.0 which help to connect to the smartphone apps immediately and pushes the data collected to the app. The OLED 0.46 inch touch screen displays time, distance, calories, and heart rate with a single gentle touch on the circular button.

Heart Rate monitoring now is far more advanced with accurate measurements which can be tracked to check the kind of exercises routine you can follow. Also, the Mi Band 2 measures your sleep and also gives you the notification if you have been sitting on your desk for long without any movement. It helps you to relax your body and also complete your daily goal of 7000 steps.

The overall weight of the device is less than 20 grams and you won't even fell the Smartband to be on your wrists. The device is powered with Li-Polymer battery capacity of 70mAh which will last you for at least 5 days and with notifications switched ON it will be around 3 days. The company claims a standby time of 20 days. The device can be charged fully in around 3 hours.

The biggest problem I faced with Silicon bands in Fitbit is that they start itching on my hand wrist after a while. This was not the case with this one but over time, you might face some itching. 

Buy the device from here. Currently, my 10 years old daughter is really enjoying this smart band and soon I am sure she will want to have a colored screen smartwatch and by that time Xiaomi will definitely bring something new to the market! Till that time...

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to collaborate on your products, events, and services. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra!

#TheLifesWayReviews @Xiaomi Mi Home iHealth Thermometer @TheGearbest

Hi Friends, 

Now always you come across stuff you fall in love with but with Xiaomi you will be wondering what this company is made of? Their products are innovative and make your life easy overall. I am not talking about their smartphones but the general home appliances and other gadgets they produce. 

The product I fell in love with was Mi Home iHealth Thermometer to measure your body temperature. It's as easy as just pointing the little device in front of your head and it measures the same almost instantly. If the distance between the head and the device is around 3cm and its switched ON, it will measure your body temperature. 

The best part is that children will not be afraid if you measure them this way using a non-contact infrared thermometer. With the ages-old Mercury thermometer, there is always a risk of breaking and mercury spilling on the ground etc. And also with new Digital thermometers, you need to insert the same in between their armpits or mouth which is very difficult with the kids.

With Xiaomi Mi Home iHealth Thermometer, all your worries are gone! It will measure in Celsius as per your setting and will last you longer as it runs on 2 AAA batteries. The interface is very easy to use as there is only a single button to control the device. The device comes with 2 batteries in the package for using as soon as you receive the same. Pressing the center button once will switch ON the unit and bringing it closer to your head at around 3cm away will pick up your body temperature within a second which is way too faster than many other thermometers. When I checked it against the thermometer in the hospitals, the temperature showcased by this device was 0.5-degree Celsius more in all the cases. Here it's being reproduced for your reference purposes -

To change the measurement unit: 
1) Turn off the device
2) Press and hold the only button on the device until both the C° and F° start blinking
3) Let go of the button, and press it one of two times until only the desired unit starts blinking
4) Press and hold the button once more until the unit stops blinking.
After that, the device will turn off. When you turn it on again, the selected unit will be displayed.

The other problem you will face in the package is the user manual is written in Chinese language but worry not these days all smartphones come with an onscreen translator which can help you read the manual in whatever language you want to. The price of the device is around USD 27-30 and can be easily ordered online. You can buy the same at one of the biggest online shops of GearBest and it will ship the product to you at the nominal charges across the world. I really fell in love with the choice of products they have and will continue to shop from them.

I really was wishing to fall sick so as to test the device when I received the same and was amazed at the wonderful sleek design of thermometer in the white color. Go check your temperature out! 

Cheers!!!
Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to collaborate on your products, events, and services. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra!

#TheLifesWayReviews @iFrogz Coda #Wireless #Headphones with Mic #Music #Calls

Hi Friends, 

I have always been a fan of earphones and headphones and since I such a big fan, if I win any of the contests online or offline, the prize will always be some kind of headphones. I attract them into my life and have used numerous earphones/headphones from various brands and continues to consume them at my leisure.

iFrogz brand needs some introduction as I did review one of their products when I first came to South Africa after buying it on sale from Game Store in Rosebank, Johannesburg. At that time I have not used any product from the brand and recently in 2018, I used their wireless Impact earphones which I fell in love with because of their audio quality and ease of use. 

Now I will take you through the new Coda Wireless Headphones + Mic which are On-Ear headphones and are available in different colors - Black, Rose Gold and Blue. Coda Range of products from iFrogz is a mid-range earphones and headphones and is generally available from R499 to R699 in South Africa. I received one black pair of headphones from the brand to review.

Looks and Build Quality - 

The first thing that comes to your mind is the good looks of the products when you spend your hard earned money on anything. If shall be comfortable to wear and easy to carry around. The Coda Wireless Headphones has a nice shiny ear-cups which are reflective and marked with iFrogz logo which looks cool. The leather kind of material has comfortable foam cushion padding. Body of the headphones has plastic covered with soft rubber and a complete rubber underneath. In the price range of R499, I have not seen such good quality product even in Skullcandy, Polaroid and Volkano which have some products available in this price range. This headphones will last long but with all the rubbery kind of products, you have to take extreme care as with time, thing starts to peel off from the plastic. Also the rubber layer underneath can easily come out from the edges if not handled well but that can be redone fast by putting it back into its respective socket. Also the ear-cups remains doesn't turn or fold as the headphones remains in one position only. The packaging of the product is simple with the main headphones and a micro-USB cable along with one manual about the headphones in various languages.

Controls and Comfort - 

The iFrogz Coda Wireless Headphones will fit on your head and being an on-ear headphones with sit on your ear lobes. You can easily walk and jog with them and they will stay there. I find them fitting easily into my head but I could not use them for long as my earlobes started to pain after a while because I wear eyeglasses too and the earlobes gets stuck between the metal of eyeglasses and headphones. But they snug easily and provide some kind of noise isolation too. You can still hear outside noise if not on high volume. But the best part you can easily wear them on your neck and increase the volume to enjoy some music from the speakers and it will also ease some pressure off your earlobes.

The controls are on the right earcup with only 3 buttons to preform all the functions from powering On and Off, bluetooth pairing and call command. The other two buttons is to switch track back/forward button, and volume up and down button. Along with that there is also a 3.5mm jack post to connect your headphones with your devices like iPod etc. Then you have a charging port which can be charged with the supplied cable only as the length of the micro-USB is little bit longer than the regular charging cables you must be having from your smartphones. Built-in Mic is right there besides the 3.5mm jack and power on-off button.

Audio Quality - 
Coming to the most important aspect of sound for which all the earphones and headphones are designed, iFrogz Coda Wireless headphones has solid specification with 40mm drivers, resistance 32Ohms, sensitivity 100dB at 1Khz ImW with the frequency range from 20Hz to 20kHz. The built in battery provides around 7hours of non-stop music and a standby time of 3 hours. Charging time to charge the headphones fully is around 2.5 hours.

The audio quality produced by these headsets is more towards bass and 40mm drivers produces dynamic sound. The quality at this price point is one of the best for bass lovers. It's definitely not much like Skullcandy and Beats but works well at low and medium tones.

Overall if you are in the market for a value for money headsets, you can definitely buy them at the MRP else you can wait for some higher priced products to go on sale when they launch their next versions of the series. I have used the images of the products from the website of Zagg - iFrogz.

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate on your products, events, and services. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra!