14 Days To www.TheLifesWay.com 5th Birthday Celebrations #5YearsofTheLifesWay #27Dec2017 #Nokia #HTC #CameraSmartphone

Hi Friends,

--1400 POST--

My Journey with photography started way back when I was only 5-6 years old with Pentax film camera. Then it migrated to Kodak film camera and was limited as the film was costly to buy and process and 1 film only used to do 36 photos max. It was only with the invention of the digital camera, you could click thousands of images and print only the limited ones. And with the introduction of a camera in mobile phones, it further took turns as the prints were only limited and social media sharing took its place. 

My first smartphone camera was Nokia 7650 which my brother bought from Singapore and gifted me. It was an awesome phone and took good pictures. I used it for a while and it was stolen from my Jacket's pocket in my cousin's marriage ceremony. I really felt lost and bad as then I had to wait for more than a year or so before switching back to a camera phone. 

Second camera phone was Motorola ROKR E1 with which I took thousands of pictures using its 0.3MP camera and continued from Feb 2006 till the time I gave it for change of ear speaker and the guy took away certain parts and phone could not be repaired ever in 2007 as the chipset was burnt etc etc. The phone had amazing dancing lights on the sides and used to blink whenever you get a call. I got my job placement notification only from the lights as the phone was in silent mode and went to interview at 1030pm just because of Motorola Rokr E1 flashing lights. So grateful to Motorola for making this device and my brother for buying me this one from Singapore.

My biggest camera came when 3.2MP was launched by Nokia in N73 Music Edition smartphone which was gifted to me by my brother-in-law before my marriage in 2008. I really loved it and used it until 2010 when I migrated to the first android phone with full touch screen and keyboard in Google G1 made by HTC. There must be thousands of photographs I have taken using Nokia N73 as I passed the phone to my wife before going to London. Google G1 was the smartphone where I initiated my twitter handle @araijain long back when Twitter came into the picture and now today my tweet count on the channel has reached around 175k.

In London, I was using Google G1 and when I came back to India, my brother again gifter me Google Nexus One which I still have my backup phone for emails. It doesn't work that fast but it can receive calls and send SMS. This one worked till 2013 when it's power on-off button met its lifetime and I could not switch it ON which I took care using an app on android play store. I have won hundreds of Twitter contests on this smartphone and think of the quality of this smartphone -  the battery is still fine and phone still works great. What an amazing technology by HTC on Google Nexus One.

As I was planning to come to Johannesburg in 2013, I was in love with Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and HTC ONE M7 and I had a choice to buy either. I decided to go with HTC ONE M7 because of its Beats Audio setup and when I used my BOSE earphones on both of them, the difference was clear and I decided to go with HTC M7 and again thousands of my twitter, facebook photos are taken by this smartphone. The battery bloated within a year and I raised a complaint here in Johannesburg within repair center and they gave me a brand new HTC ONE M7 on the second day without any charges. I felt great with the services and fell in love with HTC all over again.

HTC South Africa came in contact with me via my blog and gifted me their review device HTC ONE M8 on my birthday on 22 July 2015 which is still my primary smartphone in 2018 but I am only using the same to do tweets and facebook etc and not to take photos as much as I used to do earlier as the smartphone has gone very very slow and 8GB-16GB smartphone are total waste in this new digital and online world.

So, in the end, my camera smartphone journey is totally based on Nokia and HTC smartphones till date and most of the photographs you see on my Instagram pages are using Review units if mentioned and if not mentioned then it will be using the Panasonic FZ5 or Nikon DSLR from my previous post and rest all are using HTC M7 and M8 smartphones. Looking forward to getting the best in the range smartphone now in 2018!

13 Days                                                                                                                             15 Days

Cheers!!!

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@Lenovo_Africa Grows In #Smartphone Market Despite Industry Decline #Quarter Results

Hi Guys,

Lenovo Group (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) announced results for its first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2016. Quarterly revenue was US$10.1 billion, a six percent decrease year-over-year (or four percent decrease in constant currency). Quarter-to-quarter, this represented a 10 percent increase. First quarter pre-tax income increased 297 percent year-over-year to US$206 million. Net income increased 64 percent year-over-year to US$173 million. Lenovo’s first quarter financial performance occurred during a period when the core markets saw either slow growth or year-over-year industry declines: PCs were down 4.1 percent and tablet shipments fell 11.1 percent, while server industry shipments were essentially flat with smartphone markets growing 0.7 percent. At the same time, the RMB continued its depreciation, capping overall growth potential during the quarter. 

“Although the macro-economy and our industries remain challenging, causing a decline in our revenue, we significantly improved our profit year-on-year through innovative products and strong execution. Our PC business delivered strong profits and our smartphone business stabilized compared to last quarter,” said Yuanqing Yang, Chairman and CEO of Lenovo. “Going forward, in PCs we will focus on high growth segments and leverage industry consolidation to resume growth. In smartphones, we will leverage innovative, differentiated products and continue to shift to higher price bands to drive growth and turn around this business. In data centers, we will continue to expand in hyperconverged technology, and improve profitability in the hyperscale business.”

The Company’s gross profit for the first fiscal quarter decreased 7 percent year-over-year to US$1.5 billion, with gross margin at 15.3 percent. Operating PTI for the quarter increased 97 percent year-over-year to US$281 million. Basic earnings per share for the first fiscal quarter was 1.57 US cents, or 12.19 HK cents. Net debt as of June 30, 2016, totaled US$1.2 billion.

Business Group Overview
In the PC and Smart Device Business Group, or PCSD, which includes PCs and tablets, Lenovo’s quarterly sales were US$7 billion, down seven percent year-over-year. Pre-tax income was US$370 million, an increase of 2.4 percent year-over-year. Pre-tax income margin was strong at 5.3 percent, improving 0.5 points year-over-year, aided by good margins in China and increased profitability of the Latin America and Brazil PC businesses. Lenovo remained #1 worldwide for the 13th consecutive quarter with 21.1 percent market share, with gains in every geography except EMEA. It shipped 13.2 million PCs in the quarter, a 2.3 percent decline, which represented a 1.8 point premium to the overall market, which saw a 4.1 percent decline. The tablet business was profitable with a double-digit growth premium to market. Lenovo continues to make steady progress towards its goal of achieving 30 percent worldwide PC market share.

In the Mobile Business Group, or MBG, which includes products from Motorola and Lenovo-branded mobile phones, Lenovo quarterly sales were US$1.7 billion, down 6 percent year-over-year, but nearly flat in constant currency. MBG’s total pre-tax loss was US$206 million, with a pre-tax profit margin of negative 12.1 percent. The transition to higher priced products drove pre-tax profit margin up 2.9 points year-over-year.

In mainstream price bands, MBG is streamlining costs and expenses, while at the high end it is focusing on innovation. Overall, the group is strengthening its cohesiveness and building a more consistent culture within its global team. With the enhanced product portfolio that includes Moto Z and Moto Mods and further expanding channels in China, the Mobile business is making steady progress.

In the Data Center Business Group, or DCG, which includes servers, storage, software and services sold under both the Lenovo ThinkServer and the System x brands, sales were US$1.1 billion, up 1 percent. DCG's reported PTI – which included non-cash, M&A-related accounting charges – was negative US$64 million with a pre-tax profit margin of negative 5.9 percent. DCG continues to face stiff challenges in mature markets, but it strengthened its #1 market share position in China, increasing revenue 14 percent year-over-year, driven by growth in the hyperscale business. DCG’s global accounts sales group, which services Fortune 500 clients, saw a 45 percent year-over-year increase in revenue, driven by a significant increase in customers who had not previously purchased from Lenovo.

DCG will deploy strategic investments in sales force capabilities, marketing, channel programs and portfolio partners to drive future growth opportunities, while improving its financial footing with better cost competitiveness and an increased attach rate of storage, networking, services and options.

Geographic Overview
In China, consolidated sales in the first fiscal quarter, declined 9.8 percent year-over-year to US$2.9 billion, accounting for 28.4 percent of the Company’s worldwide sales. Pre-tax profit margins were flat at 4.8 percent amidst softening PC demand. The mobile business is successfully shifting the portfolio to higher price bands and improving user experiences, while the successful launch of the ZUK Z2 model received good initial market feedback. China data center revenues grew at 14 percent year-over-year – a premium to the market – supported by growth from hyperscale and contributions from the new partnership approach.

In the Asia Pacific region, Lenovo achieved sales of US$1.7 billion, or 16.7 percent of Lenovo’s worldwide sales, while pre-tax profit margins were down 1.2 points to 1 percent, mainly due to contraction in the Japan PC market and the impact of currency fluctuation. The Asia Pacific business saw continued PC market share gains, up 0.4 points to reach 16.4 percent. The mobile business outgrew the market in key countries, including India and Indonesia, while the data center group continues to work on improving profitability. New leadership and business management systems in the data center business delivered stable revenues.

Lenovo in Europe, Middle East & Africa had consolidated sales in the first quarter of US$2.5 billion, a year-over-year decline of 7.3 percent driven by a mix of operational and macroeconomic challenges. EMEA accounted for 24.5 percent of Lenovo’s total worldwide sales. Pre-tax profit margin was negative 2 percent, a decrease of 3.5 points year-over-year. In PCs, the Company took action to improve channel inventory to address challenging conditions and return to future growth. Mobile saw traction over the previous quarter as a result of new products coming to market. The data center business remained challenging with a year-over-year revenue and margin decline.

In the Americas, Lenovo saw consolidated sales decline 6.6 percent year-over-year to approximately US$3 billion in the first quarter, driven by the product transition in the mobile business. This represented 30.4 percent of Lenovo’s total worldwide sales. PC market share was up 1.4 points year-over-year to 14.4 percent, driven by strong growth in North America and improvement in Latin America, especially Brazil. Mobile shipments declined in North America due to product transition, but stabilized in Latin America. The data center business worked on building the right sales model, while strong competition put pressure on the business.
* see IDC data 2Q 2016

Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a $45 billion global Fortune 500 company and a leader in providing innovative consumer, commercial, and enterprise technology. Our portfolio of high-quality, secure products and services covers PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode YOGA brands), workstations, servers, storage, smart TVs and a family of mobile products like smartphones (including the Motorola brand), tablets and apps. Join on LinkedIn, follow on Facebook or Twitter (@Lenovo) or visit at www.lenovo.com.

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