Choetech mini wireless charging pad – Review

Qi wireless charging has become more of a convenience for us as a higher volume of smartphones support it. The reason for their convenience is because you don’t have to stumble around at night or even during the day trying to find a cable and making sure that it is inserted the right way. With wireless charging it is effortless as you just place your device on the QI enabled pad and it begins charging.

In the box:
Wireless charging pad
3ft USB to micro-USB cable
quick start guide

Specs:
Input: 5V/2V (MAX)
Output: 5V/1V (MAX)
Charging distance: 0-5mm
Dimensions: 3.3 x 3.3 x 0.7 inches
Weight: 64g

After testing and using this Qi wireless charger as my ‘daily driver charging unit,’ I have to say that I was pleased with the results. Before I got this wireless charger I previously owned the official wireless charger by Google for the nexus 5. It was pretty cool at the time but now that I have upgraded to the nexus 6, it has a bigger batter which supports turbo charging and the official wireless charger doesn’t cut it anymore. As I am used to the quick charge of the nexus 6 I knew that having a wireless charger would be slower.

But I was surprised at the speed at which this wireless charger charged my phone. Of course it wasn’t as fast as Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 but from my experience it was faster than my old wireless charger. As I only have one device as my daily driver at the moment, it is convenient for me to place my wireless charger on my bed side table.

The build quality it is rather nice compared to my other wireless charger that i had, as my first initial impressions of the wireless charger was that it has very beautiful build quality as the bottom half of the Qi enabled charger is made from aluminum. It has a rubber ring around the bottom to stop it from moving around too much when placed on surface. The top half of the wireless charger is made from plastic and also has a rubber ring on top which doubles as a cup holder as well, and it helps to make sure that the device does not slip.

On the surface of the wireless charger there is a small ambient light sensor, and also a ‘skyline’ notification LED which turns on when you place your device on it so that you know your device is charging. This is a nice feature as my old wireless charger did not have an LED indicator to let me know when my device was charging. Also as the wireless charger has an ambient light sensor, it would turn off after 30 seconds or so if it was in a dark room. This is handy when sleeping as you are not distracted by a light when sleeping.

One thing that I didn’t like about this product is that it was a single coil, this means that you have to make sure that you place the phone in the correct position to that the coil on the phone and the wireless charger are aligned. It would have been nice to have three coils instead of one. However I have to say when I did place my nexus 6 on the charger, 70% of the time it started charging the first time I placed it onto the charging pad. Other than that the product works great and I would recommend you checking this product out.

At this time of this post it only costs .99. Purchase link

Choetech mini dual USB car charger – Review

Choetech is known for their wide range of smartphone accessories. Here I have the new mini dual USB car charger in for review. Not all car chargers are the same and the Choetech mini car charger is one to stand out from the crowd.

Specs:
Auto Detected Charging Port: 5V/2.4A Max
Quick Charge & Auto Detected Charging Port: 5V 2.1A/ 9V 2A/ 12V 1.5A
Dimensions:1.1 x 2.5 x 1.5 inches
Weight:20g

The packaging was nice as most companies are going for the recyclable packaging, with the cardboard box and cover sleeve. In the box was the mini dual USB car charging device and they also included a flat style 2ft USB to micro USB cable which is always a bonus when it comes to mobile accessories like battery packs and chargers. My initial impression of the products was that it was very small in fact it is smaller than my old USB car charger which had a coiled micro USB cable build in.

As for design and hardware, it has a smooth glossy black plastic body (it comes it white as well). Even though you won’t be taking this in and out of the car, it isn’t much of a fingerprint magnet which is a good thing, as I really can’t stand fingerprints! The best thing about this product is its size, as it is smaller than most of the other car chargers on the market and is lightweight and portable. This means that you can easily fit it into your pocket, and or transfer it from one car to the other on the fly with no hassle.

One of the best features of the mini charger is having dual USB ports instead of the one, this can be handy when traveling. In addition to this, when charging my phone it has a dedicated port for quick charging as only my Nexus 6 supports it. But also when it comes to charging my dad’s, sisters or moms phone, I like the fact that it has this ‘Auto Detect’ feature this means that the car charger will automatically detect the type of charge (voltage/power) that goes into your device(s) which are plugged in. This is very important because it helps to prevent overheating and overcharging that could potentially damage your device.

The USB cable which comes in the box is a flat cable which means that it doesn’t get tangled easily, saying that it is shorter than a standard 3ft cable so this helps with it being tangle free. As there is nothing more annoying than tangled cables. When you are done using it you can easily stow it away safely as it takes up very little space. Overall, you can’t go wrong with this charger. Not only is it small so it is basically hidden, it also blends into central units in most cars. If you have a smartphone and you have trouble keeping it alive throughout the day, I would definitely recommend this product.

At the time of this post it is only .99 on Amazon. Product Link

Cyanogenmod 12.1 Rom For Lenovo A7000 Review.

Download & Video Link : Cyanogenmod 12.1 Rom For Lenovo A7000 Review.

All the Reviews - Post Your Review of the Huawei Watch

Ok, in order to keep all the reviews in one place, I have created this thread.

My review of the Huawei Watch went live this morning - http://gavinsgadgets.com/2015/09/21/...tch-my-review/

If you have any questions please ask, and I will happily try and answer them. Also, I have personally owned and own many smart watches and wearables , so could also try and answer comparison type questions.

Review Book Cover Tab S2 8"

Hello here is my Samsung Cover book for my SM-T710 and it's beautiful

OnePlus 2 Case Review Thread!! Post all your case reviews here!!

Official Smoke Case
by OnePlus


Official Flip Case
by OnePlus


Official Clear Case
by OnePlus


InvisiCase
by Orzly


ExecArmour
by Orzly


Wallet Case
by Orzly


FlexiCase
by Orzly


FlexiSlim
by Orzly


FlexiCase Blue
by Orzly

Elephone P8000 XDA Review

Hey folks,

I write for the XDA Portal and had the opportunity to review this device. I went in with low expectations considering the price tag of the device, but came out genuinely impressed, specifically with the battery life.

http://www.xda-developers.com/elepho...eep-expecting/
If you have any feedback or things I overlooked or factual corrections in the review, you can let me know here and I'll try to bring it to light/fix it. Thanks!

Hoping our XDA Review brings some more developers for this device as it certainly has potential.

Download and Review exchange for paid apps

Hello. I am from Russia and I can buy and rate your apps/games if you download and rate my:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...FlippyGeometry

If you intrested - send me e-mail on kto_to2003@mail.ru

XPERIA Z1 Compact official Android 5.1.1 review (and FTF)

So i just update XPERIA Z1 Compact to Android 5.1.1 Lollipop today and here is something about it

- phone is still very fast and stable
- new launcher with rotating and you can choose size of icons
- Linkedin integration to calendar
- much better sound setting
- new quick settings
- i will soon test Antutu and Stagefright

For now, i can recommended the update. There are just some FTF live on the net, i always prefer RU version, so if anybody want it, here is link to my site, where is it publish.

download - http://xperiafirmware.com/8-firmware...-compact-d5503

PS: i know, that there is another thread about 5.1.1, but it is very old and many pages about nothing... So here something clean with live reviews and impressions...

NEW Review of Kmashi Quick Charge 2.0 car charger (adaptive fast charging)

This is a review of Kmashi Quick Charge 2.0 car charger (Qualcomm certified), (.89 with coupon code)

I recently received this USB car charger and I immediately put it to the test. I have had multiple car chargers that hardly supply enough power for my phone to charge while also running the GPS and streaming music. I have a Samsung S3 phone so its older and the battery is two years old so it really needs a good charger to be able to work properly. I first plugged in the charger into the car auxiliary power port and I was happy to feel the snug fit letting me know that the charger won't easily get accidentally removed. The included USB to micro USB cable also fit nicely in the charger and my phone and did not wiggle around like my last cable. My phone was at 85% and I was streaming music along with running my GPS for around a 25 minute car ride. At the end of the drive my phone was at 97% which I considered to be real good. With my last charger sometimes my battery wouldn't increase the charge at all as it was draining it faster then the charger could replenish. The cable was a perfect length to go from my center console port to my cell phone mount on the dashboard. The only recommendation I would add a second USB port so that two devices can be charged simultaneously. I have been given this product as a sample in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Some good advice from a C5 Ultra User and a mini review....

Ok so i've had my C5 Ultra for a few days now here in the UK and have had a few ups and downs but i've solved the problems I had with the phone.

I'm coming from the Z3 which I had an original sandisk 128gb micro SD card in. (Bear in mind I have tried several different Micro SD cards and I always buy original good ones)

Problems I had:

1. With the Z3 taking pictures was very quick whilst having the default storage to Micro SD card, DO NOT set the camera storage to micro SD on the C5 Ultra it takes 5 times longer to write to the micro SD card than the internal memory, so if you want to take photos in quick succession then don't save to the external memory.

2. Again an external micro SD card problem.....I have lots of apps and games, games especially taking up loads of space. I thought id be clever and install some big games and use lollipops feature of transferring them to the external memory to gain some space. This will slow the entire system down. DONT DO IT TRUST ME, pick your favourite apps and be done with!!

3. I have a Sony Smartwatch 3 and paired it with the phone and installed the Lifelog app. Currently (10th September) this app will slow your C5 Ultra down, it may not be optimised for Mediatek processors yet. Id wait for the app to be updated before you use/download it. Use the Google Fit app which works fine and can be left on even in stamina mode.

4. Don't expect the battery to be as good as a Sony Xperia Z3, its close and you will be happy with the C Ultras battery life but don't expect flagship battery life. (this may change as the battery on my C5 Ultra has not been run in plus I've been using this phone constantly!! Also the phone is on 5.0 lollipop and not 5.1.1 so the memory leak bug is probably there.) The good news is the battery life is better than the Z Ultra!

5. The phones 3g/4g signal is pretty weak, I thought the Z3 was bad but this is worse, hopefully in the next firmware update this will be resolved.

The good:

Being a heavy phone user and my previous phones being : Xperia Z, Z Ultra, Z2, Galaxy note 2, 3, 4, Nexus 6 and Xperia Z3 I can honestly say now that I have solved the phones problems, this is the best phone I have owned, its the perfect size and price for me. The Screen is gorgeous, both cameras are great, the in call speaker is better than the Z3. I got the official dock as well and love the portrait orientation. As you can see the Phone completes the rest of my Sony setup (Yep my whole house is a Sony Shop LOL!)!! Anyway, enjoy and if your after a phablet sized sony phone then this is the one to have. Thanks.

Beelink X2 TV Box Review

A cheap but decent TV Box. The Beelink X2

[REVIEW] Xiaomi Redmi Note 2

Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi (one of main players currently) has just presented an update for his Redmi Note model, with a few novelties and the goal of being one of most popular smartphones for the season.

Packaging and design

The box is “iPhone-like” in paperboard color, something I've liked since it looks a little bit more Eco-friendly, and at the same time it's simple and elegant.

In the box we find the terminal properly wrapped, a charger (with US plug, not the European one), a good quality USB cable, the warranty and instructions both in Chinese.
As usual lately, no signs of the earphones, we'll have to get used :-/

The design of this Redmi Note 2 is very simple and clean, on the front we have the secondary camera on the top, then the 5,5” FullHD screen with just the 3 touch buttons typical from Android.
On the right side we have the volume and lock buttons, both seem made in good quality
Looking at the bottom, the micro-USB plug and the microphone. We have the jack 3.5 plug for the (non included) earphones and the secondary microphone for noise cancellation on the top.
So we have a completely free left side, something very common nowadays, due to the big size of the devices, the buttons are grouped in just one of the sides.

Once we flip it, the main 13Mpx camera (we have no information about who is manufacturing it), the LED (not dual) flash and the speaker on the bottom with the XIAOMI logo.

When we remove the back cover, we found the removable battery, the slots for the 2 micro-SIM and another one for the microSD expansion card.

This model is available in 5 colors: white, blue, yellow, pink and mint green.

Hardware

The technical specifications are quite good. Just to start, it's equipped with the new X10 octa core from Mediatek, so 64-bits and 2.0Ghz speed. The 2GB of RAM memory put it on the middle of the table, since most of new phones already come with 3GB or 4GB if we talk about flagship devices.
To complete the game, we find a GPU Power VR G6200 that will put all the sauce for videos and games to play smoothly.

Model* Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
SO*MIUI 7 (Android 5.0)
Processor*X10 64bits, octa core @ 2,0Ghz
GPU Power VR G6200
RAM*2GB
Screen*5,5” IPS LCD FullHD 1920x1080,*with*403ppi and 16M colors
Storage*16GB + microSD
Cameras*Main 13Mpx with flash LED; front 5Mpx; video 1080p @ 30 fps
Connectivity*Wi-Fi 2.4GHz b/g/n with Wi-Fi Direct support // BT 4.0*// MicroUSB (High Speed USB)
Dual SIM*GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 Mhz ; 3G WCDMA: 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 Mhz; 4G FDD-LTE: B1(2100MHz) / B3(1800MHz) / B7(2600MHz)
Other*G-sensor, P-Sensor, L-Sensor, Wifi, GPS, OTG< Multi-touch, Dual SIM, Schedule Power on/off, E-compass, Hall IC, Gravity Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Light Sensor, Magnetic Sensor, Gyroscope Sensor
Battery*3060mAh removable
Dimensions*152 x 76 x 8.25 mm
Weight*160gr with the battery
Colors White, blue, yellow, pink, mint green
Price*From 9.99 with current promos


Software and Multimedia

The Redmi Note 2 comes with the almost last version of Android 5.0 (Lollipop), however we won't appreciate it since the customization layer is very “intrusive”. We are talking about the very well known MIUI, which brings a iOS flavor that either you love or you hate normally.
MIUI is probably one of most known Android ROMs and doubtless one of the strengths that helped Xiaomi growth as much and sell their handhelds outside of China.

In this case, the Redmi Note has the v7 of MIUI and as expected it runs very well, fluid and smooth even when playing 2K videos. However, in my opinion is a little bit silly to play 2K videos in a 5,5” screen, even a very good one like this case. It will be very interesting if we are using a remote screen, and we are broadcasting to a big screen, but (and again is just my opinion) with a smartphone, I guess FullHD is already a great resolution.

On the same way, games (like Asphalt 8) run perfectly thanks to both the powerful chip X10 and the GPU Power VR G6200.


Camera

Nowadays it's very common to find 13 Mpx cameras on almost every smartphone. If we compare this one to other Chinese phones, we can say the results are very good.
It's not the main point in this phone, although as said before it achieves quite good results, specially with daylight (very good pictures!). But when the light is reduced, for example taking night pictures there is a lot of noise on the images.

When we move to video recording, FullHD at 30fps offer very good quality.

Battery

The trend is now to go around 3000mAh, and Xiaomi hits that mark in this case.

Of course the duration will depend on how much we use the smartphone and for what. Taking into consideration that on the first days we will be trying everything and the use will be much more exhaustive that the normal one.
However we will reach the end of the day without any difficulty, using data, camera,...


Conclusions

We have on our hands a very good terminal. We can notice it on the finishing and the overall user experience, thanks also to the good integration and performance of MIUI 7.

I don't like to open the box and don't find the earphones, but it becomes the rule now, so I will finally have to get used to that. I know manufacturers try to cut cost wherever they can, and they guess we all have good earphones already... but if you're presenting a device with an impressive screen and powerful enough to play and enjoy the multimedia part, why don't you complete it with a good earphones?
I'm sure this is a problem that we don't have when buying an iPhone or last Galaxy S or LG or any other first brand smartphone, since they have margin enough to pay quality extras.
This model (Redmi Note 2) is on the medium range so we have to consider it like that. If we are looking for a top class (Chinese) device we will have to choose the Xiaomi Mi5 (when available) or Xiaomi Note Pro and there the price will be already above 500€.

Are you looking a good smartphone for less than 200€? don't think more, you have to look and consider this one. It's not only because of the specifications on the paper, it's also (or mainly) because step by step the Chinese manufacturers are differentiating among them.
Xiaomi and Meizu have proved (or are proving yet) to be above the other Chinese companies... so if you have similar prices, ask for quality!

PS: if you like this review, just click on "Thanks" ;)

Galaxy Tab S2 4G LTE Unboxing Review with Phone features

Testing out the Galaxy Tab S2 4G LTE version. So far I will be keeping the Tab S2! I wasn't going to upgrade from my Tab S, but after these last two days of using it on the road, it is a premium tablet! Samsung has come a long way from previous builds, not that I didn't like them just has stepped up.
Here is a look at the Galaxy Tab S2 4G LTE, it is a bit long as I was testing out the 4G LTE with Verizon SIM and AT&T. Also some web browsing and overall look.



https://youtu.be/d3MTP96DHf0

Motorola Moto 360 (2014) Smart Watch Review

Motorola Moto 360 (2014) Smart Watch Review


First off, yes you read the title correctly. This is a review of the original 360 and not the brand new one. Why you may ask, well in part because I’ve been meaning to write this for ages and partly because there are simply somethings that you do not pick up on if you have used a device for 2 weeks. Something’s you discover only when you have lived with something for a long time and its only then you discover that there are things, had you been aware of, you may not have bothered getting one. Think of it like a marriage. The first while is all fun and laughter but time can breed contempt. So how well has the 360 held up? Should you snap one up cheap and what lessons have we learnt going forward? Let’s see shall we.


First Impressions: Ahhh casting the mind far back into the depths and it arriving in its round box. Ooh so pretty. Inside the watch itself, round too sitting there, it looks bloody good. They have gone out of their way to make you think that the 360 is a watch, not a smart phone or tiny computer, it’s a watch, round and above all a joy for the eyes to behold and well…………… they pretty much nailed it. The 360 was pretty much the unquestioned pretty one among the first wave of Android Wear devices. It is deserved.


Picking it up and it feels so plush and quality. The strap is real dead cow and feels nice to the touch, the facia with its bare metal glass. So much pretty and quality to the touch. I’m not wild about leather straps, I’d rather metal but it seems that Motorola decided that they couldn’t use standard watch strap fittings. I don’t know if it’s just to be awkward but it’s a bloody annoyance. Something that the new one has corrected so clearly Moto picked up on the feedback. Additionally while the leather strap looks nice it has a traditional buckle mechanism, which is not the most straightforward for taking on and off with regularity. This is going to be an issue going forward.


Specifications: Display 1.56” 320 x 290, 205 ppi, Backlit LCD IPS, Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3, Watch Case Dimensions, 46 mm diameter x 11.5 mm high, Weight 60 g (without strap), Battery 320 mAh Wireless charging with charging dock included, Processor TI OMAP™ 3, Memory 4 GB internal storage with 512 MB RAM, Connectivity Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy, Wi-Fi, Sensors Pedometer (9-axis sensor), Ambient light sensor, Optical heart rate monitor (PPG), Water Resistance IP67

It also comes in 2 colours, black or silver and a few strap combos too. Though they are proprietary watch straps which is just odd. I mean why do it, urgh.

Accessories: It came with a charger with a built in USB cable, grr. It also came with its little charging dock and a normal micro USB cable for it. If you want more things, like more straps or screen covers, as ever hit up eBay. Sad that they didn’t use normal watch strap attachments but for a bit more money you can still get a fair assortment of straps.


Fit/Comfort: Perfectly fine. It’s a watch, granted it’s a little big for a watch but not wildly so. On it went, and that was basically it. I’d have preferred a metal strap but not enough to go to the bother of actually changing the strap myself.


Screen: AMOLED lovely gorgeous prettiness. The screen is also mostly round, with what’s been dubbed the “flat tire” at the bottom. When the 360 first came out feelings were mixed, some didn’t mind and that thought that it was a good trade-off for having super thin bezels. It’s a shame both perfectly round and thin bezels can’t be had but……. in use you just pick a facia that doesn’t light up the whole screen. Something that isn’t noticeably missing the bottom and then honestly, I didn’t really miss it. Sure when playing with watch faces, perfectly round ones with something obviously missing was the only time it bothered me. Most of the time in use, I didn’t only not mind but I never really even noticed it was there. You just forget that there is anything missing.

However……………… while the “flat tire” thing didn’t bother me what did was the round screen. Does a round screen look pretty, oh god yes it does. Then it’s an AMOLED which just looks sooooooooooooooo pretty it’s just gorgeous, there is just no way around the fact that the 360 is a lovely, super pretty thing. Thing is, there is a reason why we use rectangular monitors and TV’s. A round screen is just stupid. The UI clearly wants things to be square and text especially gets partially cut off at the top and bottom of the screen where it rounds off. It just hammers the functionality and having a Moto 360 and a Sony Smart Watch 3, the Sony is the one I pick up and want to use every day.


UI: Android Wear is Android Wear. It’s in a reasonably rapid state of development still being only a year old. On the whole it’s good, however there is still the screen, rounded and thus missing bits from the top and bottom, issue. The UI is just simply not made with round screens in mind and thus it’s a pain. However the problem is the round face and not the UI in my opinion. Trying not to turn this into an Android Wear review which is a different article entirely. However expect things like swiping in from the upper left to be regularly, mildly frustrating. It’s not terrible but I did get on my nerves.

Features: So the stand out things on the 360, for me, are the round screen, its stunningly good looks, its heart rate sensor and lastly its Qi charging. Now if you are in the know you’ll notice that those are basically the differentiation points between the 360 and the Sony 3.

So that round screen. See above frankly. Pretty but at the price of usability. It really is very pretty but the cost for me is just too high. However if you kept this maybe just for going out of an evening, when pretty really matters then great. It is such a pretty thing.

Heart rate, well it kinda works but it doesn’t seem to continuously monitor so while it is interesting, if you’re a fitness freak why would you be using this device? It would be like wearing dress evening shoes for running. It’ll do the job but it’s clearly the wrong tool for activity.


Qi. Ahhh you know I love Qi charging and I can tell you that every watch should have it. That you slap it down in its little dock, you can instantly see that it’s charging, that any Qi charger works are all boons. It makes charging the thing every night (and you will be charging it every night) not just into a requirement but it turns into a little clock. It lights up with a clock face in the right orientation. Just perfect for living on a bedside table. All Wear watches should have Qi charging.


Build Quality: On the surface, its perfect. The construction quality is exemplary and it’s simply beauteous to behold to both the eye and the fingers. Note that while perfectly built it doesn’t mean you can’t break it. The watch straps and put under pressure can shatter the back screen. While that’s fairly rare it’s a stupid design flaw not a manufacturing issue.


Usability: Take a wild guess what causes a usability issue? Yep that round screen. While it wasn’t as awkward as the Sun S2 with its bevelled edge making it hard to touch things near the edges. The 360 is clean glass right to the edge so you can access it all perfectly. The issue is that the UI is clearly intended for a rectangular screen. So that isn’t really the 360’s fault per say but you get the idea. It doesn’t make anything impossible to do or really much different but a square screen would just be better.


Battery: Well it has a 360mAh battery. The battery is not the issue though, the issue is the screen. That super pretty AMOLED screen you see, needs to be actively transmitting light to be seen. It is an emissive screen and its battery hungry. Then you have the option to have it auto light up with a flick of the wrist or you can have it run in a dim passive mode most of the time so it’s something you can glance at and see. This however is battery destroying. Leaving the screen on and the battery life just plummets like a lead weight. If you make use of the thing or have the dim always lit up feature in use then expect to start charging the thing halfway through your day. I get that the battery itself isn’t the problem, nor can it really grew much physically but that’s not my problem, it’s for Moto engineers to solve. Even if you use it without passively being on still expect the thing to want charged every single night.


Connectivity: So its main method of world communication is via Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy. That’s great, it pairs to your phone, the phone does the thinking and data transmission all over that power sipping Bluetooth connection. You also have the option to use Wi-Fi. You can use it to keep your phone and watch in communication, via Wi-Fi and the internet. You know, for when your phone is out of Bluetooth range yet you still need to be connected to it, if not physically near it. Why you may wonder, I certainly did. The only scenario I can see it popping up is if at work you go to the bathroom, leaving your phone behind but are waiting for some urgent email. You need that notification that it’s come in. It’s a stretch I know, mostly it’s a stupid feature that just further hammers the battery. Of course you can just leave Wi-Fi off which is what I do.


Value: When it launched it was what, £200. So pretty but yeah that battery life. Now with its successor just announced, this will have practically identical functionality and features. Seriously they changed almost nothing, as I see it they have added a smaller one for girls, moved the button up a bit and altered the strap attachment to that of a normal standard watch. Like every other watch on earth. Price though, well this one’s fallen so I saw somewhere selling it for £113. The New one is retailing for US0, that’s £200 and that’s before VAT and the obligatory you’re not an American price hike. So that makes the old one probably less than half the price of the new one. To me that seems like pretty reasonable value in comparison to the new one.


Conclusion: So what have I learned from the Moto 360 (2014.) I’ve learned that pretty only gets you so far. The 360 is pretty, it’s the prettiest Android Wear device I have seen and the old one, to me is still better looking than the new one. I get that while I bitched about the straps being some weird proprietary thing and that it can break the glass back of you put them under pressure but…… damn it’s a good looking device. If you want a Wear watch for going out, to look great in a business meeting to impress someone for whatever reason or situation the old 360 is a damn fine looking machine. Oh and that AMOLED, ooooooh just soooooooooooooooooo much pretty.


However, those good looks have left it compromised. Round screen, they are just awkward and there is a reason we don’t use round screens or round sheets of paper, it’s a pain. That strap, the weird fit attachment. Yeah, so for me that means I’m pretty much not changing the strap. I’d really like one with a clasp rather than a buckle because the battery life is such that you need to take the damn thing off every 20 min to charge it. Granted its little dock is cool but you really need one for the office and one for your bedside. Though in fairness any old Qi charger will do fine. AMOLED, it’s just the wrong tech for a watch. I need always on to glance ta the thing and that while better than lighting up a whole LCD screen it is still too battery heavy.


So should you buy one? Well I’d easily buy this over its successor, its price slash makes it waaaaaaaaay better value and offers practically identical functionality and features. Still you have to want to sacrifice usability to get that super pretty round screen. for me, na I’ll take the Sony but if you want something to visually impress on a budget, the old Moto 360 is pretty (oh so pretty) option that won’t destroy your wallet.

Sony Smart Watch 3 Review

Sony Smart Watch 3 Review

TLDR? Quick version here.

First Impressions: A small plain little box, clear plastic and the rather plain looking watch. It’s all quite an non-fancy affair, simple and nondescript. The watch is just like the box, plain and simple looking. Actually I like it in the flesh more than in photos, the matte black strap with the silver clasp and the black face. Mind you in photos the metal silver one looks considerably more fancy. I’ve seen it said that you should be able to buy the silver strap and transfer the watch face into it. That is something I certainly fancy the idea of.

Specifications: OS Android Wear, Display Resolution 320 x 320, Colors 16 bit, Diagonal Size 1.6", Transflective TFT LCD, Dimensions 36mm x 10mm x 51mm, Weight Watch Module 38g, Sport armband 36g, Battery 420mAh, Processor 1.2 GHz, Quad-core ARM® Cortex™ A7, Water and Dust Resistance IP68, Memory 4GB eMMC with 512 MB RAM, Ports & Connectors Micro USB, Connectivity Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi ready, Sensors Ambient Light, Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Gyro, GPS, Vibration Motor, Microphone

Okay that’s a lot of spec’s. so what bits of it matter? Well it’s pretty similar to most Android Wear watches. The RAM, the CPU, the storage space, the screen size and resolution are pretty much all the some as every other one. So why did I buy this one? Well that’s easy but unless you know about screen technologies you won’t have picked up what makes the Sony Smartwatch 3 different.

Accessories: Well the 3 comes in an assortment of coloured strap options. It also can come in metal and personally I think the metal one one looks freekin’ awesome. Sony did once say they were going to make the metal band available……… yeah they still haven’t and at this point I don’t see it coming. You can buy the rubber straps, they do black, white, luminous yellow or bright pink. Yet those straps seem to go for over £30. Errr no. Ebay also seems largely bereft of things, other than screen protectors. They also curiously do a universal holder thing. You put the watch facing into a rather unattractive black plastic holder and that then attaches to standard fitting watch straps. If it was metal and not black plastic I’d be all over that but as it stands, na, it’s pretty ugly.

Fit/Comfort: Excellent on both accounts. Now for charging the snap shut strap band thingy may be a pain in that it doesn’t separate but for use on the arm? Great stuff. Set to the size I wanted, hand goes in, snap the thing closed and voilà. I’m normally not wild about plastic/rubber straps as I find it traps sweat and you can get a bit of skin irritation. Though its easily cleaned and because the strap comes away from the electronic bit you can stick it under a running tap.

Screen: Some Android wear watches use AMOLED which only consumes power as it lights up individual pixels. So a mostly black screen will use relatively little power, a mostly white and it’ll eat much more. Then there is a normal LCD display. They work by shining a light behind the screen then the screen blocks out colours to make a picture. The whole screen is powered up no matter if you show a mostly black face or mostly white. The key similarity with both technologies is that they need to consume power to light up in order to be visible.

The Sony watch uses a transflective screen. If you don’t know what that means I’ll explain. An AMOLED screen is emissive, each pixel emits its own light. A normal LCD is a transmisive screen, allowing light to pass through the screen and it has to be bright enough to be visible, which is why LCD screens are pretty rubbish in the sunshine. A transflective is different. Transflective screens have a backlight just like a normal LCD but it also is reflective. That means with the back light (the power hungry backlight) is off you can still see what’s on the screen by utilising the ambient light of where you are. This makes is possible to permanently have the time showing on the display! Something that is kinda handy for a watch. It also means that in the brightest sunshine you can still read the screen too, in fact the brighter the environment the more light there is for it to reflect, just like an e-ink screen would. A feature I for one think rather useful in a watch.

Simply put this screen is what makes it a viable device to use in real, normal life.

UI: The user interface is the standard Android Wear one. Everything is a sequence of up/down to get to new cards. Then scrolling left to progressively go into that cards details. So the weather one, first card tells you the weather right now. The next card to the right tells the weather for the next series of hours then the next one gives you the option to open the app on your phone. The cards you have available changes based on what Google Now cards Google thinks are appropriate. Oh and of course any notifications you have outstanding. Personally I’d like the weather card to be always available. So I have to not sweep it away and sometimes you just do it without thinking.

It is actually a bit complex when you start adding in all the different notifications and different apps that add cards, you can over load yourself. You can fill it up and make it practically as complex to use as your phone is. Add in your own app drawer and everything, Wear Mini Launcher is so freekin’ awesome!!! Sure it’s not for everyone but if you want complexity and having every imaginable option in the world available to you then it’s just fantastic. I personally love it and the interface to all my apps it provides. However in many ways it’s not what you want for a watch and I understand that. It’s not for everyone and as is shown by the Iphone popularity, mind numbingly locked down and limited is a boon to many.

In short the UI can be as complicated as you like, though it can still be fairly simple if you want it that way but it require you to remember what commands you have available to you so it may not be for everyone.

Features: Erm anything and everything just about. In terms of what’s common in a smart watch the things it doesn’t have is Qi charging and more oddly, no heart Rate monitor function. Now given I have things that can do that, I’m aware just how not super useful that functionality is, they don’t monitor you continuously because it would destroy the battery so it’s only read when you tell it to. Sony for some reason, in might I add its very sporty looking watch, did not include it. The trade-off it seems is that it has built in GPS rather than simply relying on the phone (which may be in a pocket or at home) so the watch can chart your outdoors run itself. Yeah I live in Edinburgh and don’t run so it’s not such a boon to me.

The other lacking item, no Qi means that you have an awkwardly placed micro USB slot to charge it underneath a rubber flap. This is so awkward to use, I immediately hit up old ebay and got a right angle adapter for the damn thing. Seriously Sony what the F were you thinking? I know it does have a better water proof rating, IP68, which has been said is thanks to the rubber flap but I don’t see how Qi would have made that worse?

The thing also has not just Bluetooth but Wi-Fi too so….. what that means is you can use the watch without a phone. Stream Google Music directly to your Bluetooth headphones while on your run outside that the built in GPS can track for you. You can leave your gigantic phone at home. Though where you’re getting Wi-fi that you wouldn’t be wanting your phone with you anyway, yeah I don’t know. A gym that bans phones maybe?

Frankly, far and away the best “feature” on the 3 is that transflective screen. Words can’t express how useful it is over the highly pretty but battery destroying AMOLED on the 360. Personally having used both, I don’t think I’d buy a non transflective screened watch. Well e-ink maybe.

Build Quality: Very good. I have mixed thoughts on the rubbery strap, that may be because Sony swore the Silvery metal one would be coming separately and it yet has to. Still it’s nice so ignore my bitter grumble. Its everything you would just expect from something Sony stamped on it.

Usability: Well its really up to you. If you want it nice and simple you can keep it pretty simple. If you don’t then you can add it full of everything and have it tell you whatever you like. It really was a joy to use, I vastly preferred it over my Moto 360 and its retarded circularish screen. While the almost round screen looks great and watch like but the fact is square is more functionally useful. It just is better to use. Seriously, everything is made squareish, try imaging what a round monitor, round TV or round book would be to use. Square make it so easy to just swipe in or out across the screen. Round is awkward and frustrating. I really cannot emphasis enough how nice to use the Smart Watch 3 is. It’s so pleasant and easy, straight forward and really what I would hope all Android Wear things to be.

Battery: When it’s behaving, 2 days and maybe into a third depending on how much you use the thing. That’s what it’s like on a good days however, since the last update it got, I think that turned on the Wi-Fi direct thing the battery sometimes seem to just tear through the battery. I mean in half a day its gone. I don’t know what causes this battery abuse and thus I don’t have any way to avoid the circumstances that cause the battery destruction. Its entirely unpredictable and thus when it happens the first you may know of it is when you go to use the thing and it’s just dead. Very frustrating, VERY VERY VERY, get it fixed Sony, Google whoever is to blame.

N.B. So of course just after writing there was an update, seemingly it has cured the random battery drain issue so it’s back to being great. Still I’m not giving it weeks to time to test and confirm it’s cured so that’s why I’m leaving this as is.

Connectivity: It has Bluetooth® 4.0, NFC, Micro USB and Wi-Fi. It doesn’t specify the WiFi so I have taken it to be 802.11G. NFC doesn’t seem to do much but assist in pairing super easily. Though I suppose that if Google Pay is less utterly useless than Google Wallet was then maybe one day you might be able to pay for things with it. I however, would certainly not hold my breath on that one. (Frowny face at Google.) Otherwise Bluetooth worked just perfectly and without the faintest whiff of an issue. Paired easy, stayed connected, always reconnected easily and range was great.

Value: The metal one is currently going for about £185ish which is roughly what the Rubberbanded ones started at. They however have since plummeted to about £110. I look at the Smart Watch 3, at the £60 odd fit bit and my god, the 3 is vastly, vastly, vastly better and more feature filled. If you want it to be just a pedometer it’ll do that and act as a watch should and tell you the time. That’s already double what the Flex can. The other reason why this is super good value is that transflective screen. There is no way you can quite grasp how important that screen is. It stays visible not just in the blazing sunshine but it can be always on with negligible power consumption. You can glance at your arm and see the time!!!! Trust me these sound so stupid and trivial and they are too. They are right up until you use an Android Wear watch that has a normal type of emissive display. Just trust me on this.

Conclusion: The Smart Watch 3 isn’t a faultless device. That wonky battery issue is the most glaring thing but it’s only a software issue as it didn’t do it before. At present it seems cured however. The lack of Qi, well with the right angled adapter I bought it’s not so bad anymore and the rubber cover flap thing, well I’ve just gotten used to it. The positives waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than make up for it. That screen. That tranflective screen is the star feature of the 3. Sure when you first see it, it won’t wow you. It does look a little washed out in comparison to the stunning OLED one of the 360. It looks so lacking in colour and mildly greyed out. Ahhh but then you walk outside. You can see the 3 perfectly, it is perfectly clear somewhat like those of e-ink screens. The 360 in comparison may as well be a mirror attached to your arm.

So what about indoors then? It not like Edinburgh is blessed with endless days of brilliant sunshine. So the watch, on your arm, you flick it ever so slightly and glance down. With the 3 you can read the display and see the time, all the time. In theory the 360 can light up with a wrist flick but it’s not a subtle wrist flick or you can have it always, dimly lit. That destroys the battery like you would not believe. The transflective one on the 3 is the screen type that ALL Android Wear watched ought to use. Google needs to mandate its use. Yes it really is that good over normal display types.

The rest, well that’s really a question of if you want an Android Wear watch. I’d say you do if you have bothered to read this. It’s not something you will ever need but it’s so convenient glancing at your wrist rather than pulling out your ginganto phone just to see the time or to see who it was that just texted you. The little vibration on the wrist I found super helpful in actually noticing notifications too. That and telling the time was worth it for me. You? Well only you can answer that but if you have read this far, you clearly want one and the Smart Watch 3 is no question, THE Android Wear watch to get.

N.B. i did have photos but it seems to be a total arse to add them to XDA, that is why there is none showing.

Choetech Qi Wireless Charger under $20 - Review

I've been looking out for a Wireless Charger since the Samsung Charging Pad gave up on my S6 Edge+ on the first day itself. I did get it replaced, however, the second one didn't work either. I know there are some good wireless chargers out there, but frankly, the ones I liked were quite pricey. Its just that, I didn't want to spend more than on something I might never use and not to mention, I just spent like 0 on my new phone.

I came across this CHOETECH Circle Wireless Charger which looked really good. Having seen the reviews of other CHOETECH products, I expected a descent quality out of the brand and the price tag looked just perfect for what I was looking. So, without further thinking, I just ordered one. I've been using it for a week now and I don't have any regrets at all.

Like most of the product brands, CHOETECH also reached out to me asking about my experience with the product and if I'm willing to write a review on it. Hell yeah, I'm always ready for a review and since I'm writing one, why not on XDA. So here's how it goes:-

I have set a standard for reviewing any product on following categories:-
1. Packaging & Content
2. Build Quality & Design
3. Functionality
4. Pros & Cons

I'll go through each of them one by one.

Packaging & Content

From a user's perspective, this might not be the best category for reviewing, however, a consumer's first impression comes with the packaging of the product. It is definitely one of the reasons for so many unboxing videos that we see on YouTube. Now, the one about this product which didn't really impress me is its packaging. It comes in a sleek soft box as shown below:-




As you can see, the box doesn't really give an impression of a top notch brand as it doesn't even mention the exact name of the product which is CHOE Circle Qi Wireless Charger [highlighted above]. It also lacks any kind of seal [highlighted above] or mentioning some of the unique features of this product that I read online while ordering. May be I'm expecting too much of a product, but that's just me. This may not even bother most of you.

Looking through the contents of the box, we have the following items:-
- Wireless Charging Pad
- USB Cable
- Instruction Manual
- Service Manual




So, you did notice that we don't have a charging adapter coming up with this one. May be that's why the charger is priced at just . I don't really care for this (since I've plenty of spare chargers) but, for some, it might be a deal breaker because if they want to use it at their office and the original fast charger at home, they might have to buy a spare charger (with atleast 2 Amp output).
Moving on to the next category...

Build Quality & Design

With an Alumnium back, this product is definitely one of the best out there at this price range. Not just the top, the bottom also has a thick rubber ring to hold onto its ground, no matter where you place it. It has the perfect grip to keep the smartphone in place even without a case on S6 Edge+ and Note 5, which are extremely slippery due to their glass back. The top surface is shiny plastic to provide wireless charging capability. Although it is slightly smaller than Samsung Wireless Charger, the size is just right for any smartphone or smartwatch (Moto 360).




Overall, it might not give you the best premium feel that you would get with brands like Samsung or Google (Nexus), but it is definitely made out of a good quality material and gives feeling of a quality product.

Functionality

Where the Samsung Wireless Charging pad failed to charge my S6 Edge+, this one didn't dissapoint me at all. Just like the former, the CHOETECH Wireless Charger is QI based and it also has an illuminating Blue LED around it which starts glowing once the phone has been placed over it and the charging starts. The blue LED also notifies you when it is unable to charge wirelessly when you place a phone (without wireless charging capability) on top of it. I love the blue illumination since it tells me that my phone is charging alright, but with the Samsung Pad, it used to bother me at night with the illumination being too bright. Thanks to CHOETECH's Smart Light Sensor, this charger dims or completely turns off the bright blue LED depending on the nearby ambient light. That means, if I turn off the light at night, the blue LED around it turns off automatically, but the charging continues.

Another feature that I noticed on this is, even if the phone reaches 100% battery, the charger doesn't turn off (like Samsung's did) and when you get up in the morning, you get your device with 100% Charge. This might be a good thing for some, because I've seen people complaining over it on Samsung Wireless Pad's review that it turns off automatically and the phone charge goes down by the time they get up in the morning. Anyway, this is definitely a matter of personal choice, and I would have preferred an auto-off system against this one.

The charger specification mentions input as 5V/2A, so any modern day charging adapter would do just fine with this wireless pad. The output mentioned is 5V/1A which is same as any other wireless charger available in the market. With this specification, a 3000 mAh battery should charge within 3 hours. So, does it really stand upto it's bold claim? Let's find out...

So, I used a USB power meter to see how much current is drawn when a Nexus 4 and S6 Edge+ is charging. Its hard to tell if the shown current is being drawn by the wireless charger for itself or is it the rate at which, the phone is charging. If I have to take a guess, I would say it's the current that the charger is drawing for itself in order to generate the wireless charging through it's induction coil. Here's a comparison between the Nexus 4 and Edge:-




I also noted down the S6 Edge+ charge time at specific intervals while charging it from 6% - 100%. You can see a constant charging rate from 6%-80% in the graph. And then it takes a little more time from that point to 100%



From the readings above, one can tell that the average time from 0%-100% would be around 3 hours for a 3000 mAh battery (S6 Edge+), which is exactly the time a charger would require if it's output is 1 Amp. And this is where I felt I've made the right choice. A 3 hour charge time for wireless charging is definitely a good sign and I'm 100% satisified with this product. I also ran some tests using different cases for my Edge+ (2 SPG and 1 Arozel) and it didn't make any difference at all. The charger was able to charge my phone through all the cases, which again is a good sign as I read in many of the Wireless Pad's reviews that they don't charge when a case is used.




Pros & Cons

Here's a list of pros and cons for Choetech QI Wireless Charger :-

Pros
- Solid Build Quality
- Small in Size
- Top & Bottom Grips
- Good Power output
- Smart Light Sensor
- No Beep Sound on charge completion

Cons
- Poor Boxing (No Seal on Box either)
- No Charging Adapter
- Doesn't turn-off after 100% charging


So, overall, I'm extremely satisfied with this product. If you're looking for a cheap wireless charger that looks good and gets the job done, this one is definitely for you. However, if your budget isn't limited, you can always opt for a wireless charger from brands like Samsung or Google (Nexus).

Here's a quick video review of the same: CHOE TECH Circle Qi Wireless Charger - Quick Review

Anker PowerCore+ 10050 With Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 Review

Anker PowerCore+ 10050 With Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 Review



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_i2KRhz5Bk

Cloud N7 Watch Review

So I recently received another Chinese smartwatch that’s based on the Mediatek MTK6261 system-on-a-chip, which isn’t a very common chip in smartwatches as far as I know. Other than that, the watch supports a variety of different wireless standards such as GSM, Bluetooth 3.0 & 4.0 but that’s about it. These are the full specifications for the watch, and what other features it brings to the table:


The build quality of this watch feels pretty solid, and is better than most other < smartwatches I’ve tried; it’s made out of aluminum and plastic and feels very solid. The band is made out of a leather looking material, but I’m not sure if it’s real leather or not.
So feature wise, this watch brings in some of the common features on Chinese smartwatches like a basic messaging app, remote dialer support and support for notifications. However, it does lack some features some other smartwatches have but it does have some features others don’t such as a heartrate monitor.
The watch comes with a variety of different watchfaces that looks better than on most other china watches, and I especially liked the black analog watchface with white text. The only thing I wish was that there was some better digital ones, as there’s only 1 digital watchface on it.
The firmware of the watch is based off an old phone firmware as far as I know, as there’s some relics that they’ve not removed and sometimes they make the user interface feel a bit clunky. For an example, if you want to set an alarm you have to go through many different menus to do something that simple. Another example is that the keyboard for inputs in the text messaging app is really small, and feels like a keyboard that were initially intended for a bigger screen or a product with a stylus.

So with what said, I’m pretty satisfied with this watch but the firmware is a bit clunky in certain areas of the watch; anyone that own this watch that have found any custom firmware for it or is there a more recent firmware available? I suspect that this is an OEM version of the Flyshark Smartwatch, if I find a way to flash it I’ll try that firmware out.

[Review] Mugen Power 3100 mAh Extended Battery for LG G4

TL;DR version: you're probably just better off spending that money on a couple of cheaper batteries.

https://mugen.co/mugen-power-3100mah...dual-818n.html

I’ve been alternating between the use of the Mugen 3100 mAh battery and my OEM stock 3000 mAh battery for about a week and half now so, as agreed to, it’s about time to share my thoughts on it. I have been noting my usage. Nothing scientific, just hands on experience.

I do want to point out, though, before sharing these initial impressions that, while my day to day usage is mostly the same, my phone’s performance seemed to have taken a hit during this past week. I have been experiencing lag when I wasn’t before and it seems like my phone was just burning through battery a lot more than usual so I can’t rightfully point my finger at this particular battery. I did a factory reset a couple nights ago and will do further testing this coming week and will update this thread with my final thoughts.

To sum things up, as of right now I would find it very hard to recommend the .50 Mugen battery over cheaper alternatives or even just buying an OEM battery from LG (not sure how much it costs, but it’s probably similar). 100 mAh just isn’t a meaningful boost and it’s just not a noticeable improvement, if you could even call it that.

To put in perspective, you could buy two TrendOn batteries for less than the price of one Mugen battery. The TrendOn battery (as well as other brands such as Hyperion) also has the added benefit of throwing in a battery charger with your purchase – the Mugen battery does not include a charger. I mention the TrendOn brand because that’s what I used with my G3 so I’d be comfortable buying that brand again and, if I were to spend my own money, I’d definitely choose two for less than the cost of one.

This battery compared to the stock battery looks to be about the same size in my eyes. I honestly can’t tell the difference other than the color and branding, however, it is a tighter fit. Not by much, but you do notice it when snapping your back plate on. If you manually installed a qi sticker, you might want to double check to make sure the qi/NFC contacts still connect with this battery installed and make adjustments to your sticker as necessary (adding a small piece of paper under the contact to raise it does the trick).

As for battery life and usage, maybe my phone was just having a bad week, but I was not getting impressive results. The week prior the arrival of this battery, I was recording usage from my stock battery from the time I woke up and unplugged my phone to 5% battery drain when I swapped it out for a fresh battery. I’ve kept conditions roughly the same with the Mugen battery.

Overall, my stock OEM battery actually had better results (but also keep in mind that those results were recorded before I felt like my phone could have benefited from a factory result). From my very heavy use, my stock battery averaged 9.55 hours total time on with 3.45 hours of SOT whereas the Mugen battery averaged 8.42 hours total time on with 3.0 hours of SOT.

Maybe the results will be different after this most recent factory reset, but, even then, is that extra 100 mAh even worth it when there are cheaper alternatives? I’m leaning towards no. Use the money for two 3000 mAh from another brand that includes a battery charger or just pay a bit more and get their extended 6500 mAh battery instead (the downside of their extended battery, though, is the quality of the back cover – it’s slippery and feels cheap).

2/5

Or, if you don’t mind losing NFC and qi, consider this extended battery from Hyperion:http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ZAJ...7fL&ref=plSrch

I recently got this 6000 mAh battery from Hyperion for my G4 (great customer service, by the way – they replaced my G3 battery with one for the G4). Like the Mugen extended battery back cover, it’s also cheap, slippery plastic, but this one should at least have a case coming for it down the line. First day of recorded use gave me 24h 26m total time on with a SOT of 8h 35m. Not bad at all.

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