Product Review - @SonyXperiaZA XA1 Ultra #Android #Smartphone #XperiaXA1Ultra

Hi Friends, 

Sony recently launched the second versions of the hit series of smartphones enhancing their capabilities and in some places changing the whole design of the smartphone as compared to the last year's version of the phone. I loved the Sony Xperia XA Ultra smartphone last year and there are a lot of images I shared on my instagram channel using the smartphone. 

This year I got the review unit for 2 weeks and it came in dashing Gold color which looks amazingly beautiful. I totally fell in love with the same and it was heart breaking to let it go back to the PR company. But anyhow, here are some of the features of the smartphone which I really liked and loved. I thing I observed is that all smartphones from Sony in this range has USB Type-C but still has a headphone jack intact.

I feel I am attracted to the devices which have 6 inch display screens and XA1 Ultra has Full HD (1080p) display which acquires the whole property of the smartphone. The six inches of screen covers edge to edge and only top and bottom portions have some metal on this Sony's marvel design.

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This really looks wonderful when you are playing HD games or watching some Youtube video's at 720p or 1080p resolutions as this also includes  the Sony's trademark image enhance technology. The best part is that this smartphone is only 8.1mm thick and display is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 2.5D. The text and images both looks great and sharp.

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Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra is equipped with 23MP rear camera with Hybrid Autofocus, Steadyshot and 5X Clear Image Zoom. I loved the Exmor RS mobile image sensor on this device as it had the capability of ISO to go upto 6400 which can help in low light photos. Talk about the front camera and you will be swooshed to the floor as it takes amazing selfies with its 16MP OIS enabled (Optical Image Stabilizer) and a smart selfie flash is added in the front too instead of screen going white to glow. As in all Sony Smartphones, this one also has a dedicated camera button to open the app in an instance and comes with all the extra apps that you can find in any of the Sony Xperia smartphone like AR effect, Creative effect, Sound Photo, Timeshift burst and Panorama as pre-installed.

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Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra is powered with MediaTek Helio P20 Octa Core 64bit (Quad Core 2.3GHz + Quad Core 1.6GHz) processor and 4GB RAM and internal memory on the review unit was 32GB which can be expanded upto 256GB using microSD card. This smartphone has 2700mAh battery which seems small on paper but it performs for a day's operation and can be quick charged using Qnovo Adaptive Charging technology powered by MediaTek Pump Express Plus 2.0.

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In the end, this smartphone weights only 188 grams and is a single SIM phone which takes Nano-SIM to connect you to 2G, 3G and 4G networks. The out of the box smartphone runs on Android v7.0 Nougat and offers amazing features. As in all Sony products, they are known for their audio and video capabilities, this one too doesn't need any introduction. I truly loved this one and here are some of the images I took with this smartphone. The smartphone is retailing at around ZAR 7000 and can be bought during the Black Friday sale if you are looking for a smartphone in that price range.

Selfie using front 16MP with flash ON

At one point of time way back in 2010-11 in London I used to have so many Sony products (from earphones to headphones, ebook reader to iPod dock, CD player to cassette player, mobile phone to Noise cancellation headphones) around me but currently I am not using even a single one. All of those were bought by me in London or gifted to me by my brother back then.

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to blog, share and influence about your products and services on all my Social Media channels #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra !

Product Review - @LGSouthAfrica G4 Beat @LGMobileSA Android #Smartphone

Hi Guys,

LG Electronics have been the front runners in the mobile phone industry along with their South Korean counterpart Samsung. Going on facts which will soon be true or must be true that both of these must be having more than 40-45% shares in the World's Home Appliances and Smartphones industry. They are not as aggressive as Samsung is with their marketing campaigns but they have some great smartphones with top of the edge technology to separate them from other brands. I totally fell in love with the back buttons on LG G2 and the trend continued till LG G4. LG G5 was also launched with its revolutionary modular battery design where they had to go away with rear buttons design. 

I got LG G4 Beat unit to review for two weeks and share my experience with the world. It happened since I went to the launch event of LG G4 and the PR company wanted me to review this particular model. Not as powerful as LG G4, G4 Beat still beats your heart at much cheaper price tag. 

The first thing that caught my attention was the removable covers in black and brown leather and metallic textures. Once installed on the unit, they really gives a different touch and feel to the handset which can go depending on your mood and setting. I simply loved the black leather cover. The smartphone weights only 140 grams. The phone takes micro SIM which can have network capability to LTE Cat4, HSPA+, EDGE and GPRS.

LG G4 Beat is equipped with 8MP rear camera with manual mode and also fast laser auto focus so that you never miss a moment. LG G4 Beat has 5MP selfie camera is equipped with gesture controls to take multiple selfies in succession. The smartphone has 1.5 GB RAM and 8GB ROM but that can be expended using micro-SD card upto 32GB.

LG G4 Beat has Qualcomm MSM8939 1.5GHz Octa Core processor along with 2300 mAh battery which runs on Android Lollipop (5.1) operating system. The screen size is 5.2 inch full HD display with True IPS display and In-Cell Touch Technology which means that touch sensors are integrated into the display.

Along with that there are many more features which has been incorporated into the smartphone like the state-of-the-art, infrared-sensitive color spectrum sensor which analyzes and measures all of the visible light within a scene before a short is snapped, ensuring that an image’s colors appear natural and vivid even in dim conditions. There are multiple other applications like Glance View, Knock code, Q Slide and Q Memo+.

In  the end this is the last smartphone from LG which has buttons in the rear of the smartphone and I really liked the same. 8MP camera is enough as it gives you power to control the camera with manual mode. The smartphone is going at around ZAR3-4k but still a wonderful device to have.


Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to blog, share and influence about your products and services on all my Social Media channels #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra !

Product Review - @Vodacom Smart Prime 7 and Smart Turbo 7 #Android #Smartphone

Hi Friends, 

Vodacom launched a series of their own branded smartphones for the mass market in South Africa. The price range is good enough for those who really needs an android smartphone and looking for a budget feature rich phones. I had the opportunity to go their office for the media launch and was given these 2 models to review for 8-12 weeks. The models given to me was Prime 7 and Turbo 7. I didn't wanted to take them on my first instance as those were the bottom models and I didn't wanted to waste my time reviewing them. But to maintain the relationship with the brand, I took them home and used them for a while. Here are the pointers for these Value for money smartphones:

Vodacom Smart Prime 7

Vodacom Prime 7 is a smartphone for Selfies enthusiast as the same has a 5MP front camera and rear camera is 8MP which takes ok photographs but don't expect much from this auto-focus camera. I don't think the camera has OIS (Optical Image Stabalizer) but at the price range the product itself has many features which other brands are not able to provide. It has internal RAM of 1GB which is sufficient but not enough but atleast better than many other smartphones coming at 512MB. 

Display is 5 inch gives bright colors on its High definition screen powered by Qualcomm MSM8909 Snapdragon 210 processor which is Quad-core 1.3 GHZ. This smartphone runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system. The smartphone is available in 2 colors and internally provides 8GB storage and expandable using the microSD card.  The smartphone has cellular data LTE, HSPA+ enabled with Battery Li-Ion 2540 mAh battery which provides enough power for a single day. 

Vodacom Smart Turbo 7

 Vodacom's Turbo 7 is equipped with 5inch FWVGA display (480x854) which is driven by a Quad Core processor with 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of ROM. The smartphone is expandable upto 32 GB using the micro-SD card slot. Available in Silver and Dary Grey colors, the maximum retail price of handset is around ZAR 999. The smartphone has 5MP rear camera with flash and front camera is only 2 MP. Powered by Android 6.0 marshmallow operating system, there won't be any updates on these value for money smartphones. They look good at the price range and does most of the daily tasks. The Vodacom's Turbo 7 has a battery capacity of 2000mAh which is enough for half a day usage at ful capacity. The smartphone weights only 168 grams and has sturdy design which will last long. 

In the end, Vodacom always has some or the other schemes running to sell their branded products and you can visit any of the Vodacom shops or the Vodacom World in Midrand, Johannesburg for a walk through to check out all the models the brand has in its store. May be you might like something which will bring you fun.

 

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to blog, share and influence about your products and services on all my Social Media channels #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra !

Product Review - Bang & Olufsen H3 ANC #Earphones @BangOlufsenSA

Hi Friends, 

Bang and Olufsen needs no introduction as their products are unique audio products each worthy of drooling over before you start using them. H3 is another one of their marvellous product designed by Jakob Wagner and this time it has an Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) unit attached to these small wired earphones. 

The ANC unit is attached next to the 3.5mm jack as then it can stay connected to you phone and can be left hanging or inside your pockets. But it's an odd looking circular device with a micro USB charging port and an On-Off button on the body. I didn't like the circular unit as it only has Bang and Olufsen branding. If it has some clip to attach the same to pockets or if there was something like where wires can be tangled, it would have served a better purpose because now the center of gravity of the earphones due to this unit's weight is not proper. 

Let's come to the unit itself, which is crafted using extremely light weight metal which feels good quality and robust to use. There are 29 air vents drilled into the housing of Beoplay H3 ANC to provide amazing acoustics. This was the first time I was using ANC in these kinds of earphones and though they are internally noise isolated because of the memory foam based eartips, you feel a little bit later that the noise cancellation has kicked in already when someone comes to talk to you. Noise cancellation is not as effective as in the over ear models or on ear models from the same brand or any other brands in the market.

The ANC unit can provide around 20hrs of playtime with its rechargeable battery capacity of 350mAh. The device can be fully charged in around 2.5 to 3 hours. You can switch On and Off using a small button on the side of the attachment. The overall weight of the earphones is 40 grams and cord length is 1.35m. The cable also has a remote to control the music and receive the calls etc which works better with iOS devices. The inbuilt microphone is good enough to talk and works on Micro-electrical mechanical system (MEMS) as called by Bang and Olufsen.

The sound quality is unmatched and gives you amazing details in all kinds of music genres. The speakers inside the earplugs is electro-dymanic 10.8mm drivers. The frequency range of the product is 20 to 160000 Hz and is available in Gunmetal Grey color. The packaging also includes a carry case along with a flight adapter and silicon ear tips.

Overall, I would say it's a nice ANC earphones but if you are running short on budget, you can always buy the normal H3 earphones. Some of the Bang and Olufsen products are on Sale at Mall of Africa showroom at the moment. Check out the same and this review was done on a review device which was taken back after 2 weeks. 

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to blog, share and influence about your products and services on all my Social Media channels #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra !

Product Review - @SamsungSA Level Over Ear #Bluetooth #Headphones @SamsungMobileSA

Hi Friends, 

Samsung Electronics is one of my favourite brands and why not - I have been the winner of their first-ever Blogger's Challenge in South Africa. I have been asking them to send me one of the Level Over-Ear headphones but it was only some time back I got to test the same as they were in-between PR company changes. Samsung is not made to do small things, they always Aim and Achieve Big Things. 

As I simply love headphones and earphones and I attract a lot of them in my life for example if I win some contest - the prize will be headphones, If I attend some event the goodies bag will have headphones or earphones etc. So my whole life revolves around Earphones and Headphones. But now I really want to have a smartphone as my need and desire on my 5th year anniversary of The Life's Way.

Samsung Level Over Headsets are Bluetooth (3.0) and NFC enabled which covers your ears comfortably and can be worn for many hours without any discomfort which has been made possible due to the soft and supple polyurethane cushioning on both headsets. The Level-Over Headphone has ergonomic features and a sleek, minimalist design which not only makes it good to look at but beauty when you wear the same on your ears. Not only this, once you switch ON the ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) you are in your own world as it totally cancels the exterior noise and you can focus on the task at hand.

The Samsung Level Over also gives the option to work wirelessly (Bluetooth range is up to 10 m) and with wire when you forget to charge the unit or due to extreme travel you could not. Music will never stop on this headset and with NFC you can just connect it to any smartphone with just a TAP. The headset comes with a carry case and cable with 3 buttons remote controller and MIC. The headset Li-Ion battery is charged using the micro-USB cable supplied in the package. The battery provides with playtime of 15h (Bluetooth Mode with ANC), 30h (Bluetooth Mode without ANC), 25h (Wired Mode with ANC), Unlimited Listening Time (Wired Mode without ANC).

Samsung Level Over weighs around 350 grams and comes with a 1.2 M cable with a 3.5mm headphone jack to plug into your devices. Samsung has also introduced several little features into the device such as a Volume monitor which cautions users to reduce the volume in case you are exploding the headphones at full volume for a long period of time. Also, when you are calling someone from a noisy environment, voices can still be clearly heard. While you are listening to music, you can enable the message alerts and scheduling reminders to be heard on the Level Over as notifications.

The next best feature is the smart touch panel on the side of the headset to control the play, pause, song movement and volume up and down buttons along with call receiving and call rejection. This takes time to get adjusted to in case you are using touch kind of headphones for the first time. The smart touch panel works with S-voice or may be Bixby now if you are connected to a Samsung smartphone only.

In the end, let's talk about the feature we all buy headphones is for its sound quality. Powered by a 50mm driver unit with high-quality neodymium magnets this Samsung Level Over produces an amazingly strong and realistic sound. I really loved listening to some of the Bollywood tunes as well as my favourite singer Taylor Swift. Samsung's Sound Alive equalizer gives more customized features in case you are using Samsung smartphone. The impedance of headsets is 41 Ohms and 50mm speakers are fitted with Bio-Cellurose Diaphragm. The sound is balanced with not too much of bass but you can control that with Sound alive to make it as you like it. I generally like the Classic equalizer setting or on the Voice mode.

In the end, this model is now out of the market (launched in 2014) but as I have received it later in it's life (August 2016), I just wanted to finish using those images I have taken of the headset. The new model is already launched by Samsung as Level Pro, go check out the same and I know you won't be disappointed with the quality.

Cheers!!!

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