ONDA V919 3G AIR (REVIEW)

ONDA V919 3G AIR (REVIEW)

reviews Tech-pro   09:40

The Onda V919 3g Air Tablet is a 9.7" tablet was built to mirror the design of the Ipad Air.  The dimensions are practically identical as is the metal back, button placement and overall look.  Before turning it on, it could very easily be mistaken for an Ipad.  Turn it on and  you are in for an even more pleasant surprise.  Rather than running iOS, this unit dual boots to either Windows 8.1 or Android.  There are several advantages of having a dual boot system.  The Windows 8.1 operating system comes pre-installed.  The tablet is easily updated to Windows 10 for free.  A full version of Office 365 giving the user full access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, Outlook, One Note and the other Office apps is also included.  This allows the tablet to really serve as a laptop replacement.  In Android mode the tablet is a zippy Android tablet providing access to the Google Play store which now boasts more apps than the iTunes store.

Performance:

The Onda V919 is powered by an Intel Bay Trail Z3736F Quad Core 64bit processor.  Paired with 2GB of RAM the tablet is super fast.  In our test, we experience no lag and no issues in Windows 10 and no issues in Android KitKat 4.4.4 running graphics intensive programs or watching full screen movies.  The Intel Bay Trail chips are used in full size laptops, so it packs plenty of punch for a tablet.

Screen: 

The screen is quality is awesome.  Onda went all out with the screen on this tablet.  It is a Retina display offering  2048 X 1536 Pixels which is really impressive.  The picture quality for viewing photos or movies is outstanding.  The one missing feature here is a light sensor.  Without the light sensor the user is forced to manually adjust the screen brightness which is not a big deal.

Memory :

With 64GB of onboard memory this compares to high end Ipads.  The memory is split between the two operating systems.  Roughly 32GB for each.  Given the system memory required by the operating systems (8GB per system) that leaves roughly 24GB of useable space for each system.  The optional SD card slot enable the memory to be expanded by up to another 128GB.  While storing apps on the SD card might pose a problem files saved on the SD card can be easily shared between the operating systems.

Value :

The Onda V919 Dual Boot Tablet is an outstanding tablet for the money.  The 64GB version tested here is available for $188 through Gearbest.com.  For that price you will get a stellar tablet that is well built, resembles an Ipad and runs both Windows 10 and Android KitKat 4.4.4.  Windows 10 greatly improves this tablet.  The new operating system runs smoothly and enhances productivity.  Onda promises an upgrade to Android Lollipop, but nothing has been released so far. When comparing the specs to an iPad, a Microsoft Surface Pro or a Samsung Tab Pro this unit compares well, especially considering the price. None of those other units can boast similar specs at $159.  The inclusion of a SIM card slot operating on GSM is an added bonus, but we did not test the OTA capabilities.

Conclusion :

At $220 this tablet was an awesome deal.  At the new lower price of $159 you cannot beat this tablet.  The ability to dual boot is really cool and provides great flexibility.  The inclusion of a full version of Office 365 is amazing and can really turn this tablet into a productivity workhorse.  64GB with expandable memory, retina display and 3G OTA Sim card slot is unheard of at this price point.

If you are in the market for a new tablet, I highly recommend the Onda V919 Dual Boot.  To match this feature set in an iPad you would be looking at spending $729 for the 64GB with wifi and cellular.  That would not include expandable memory.  

Leagoo Shark 1:Review

Leagoo Shark 1:Review

reviews Tech-pro   09:28

Leagoo Shark 1 is made out of quality polycarbonate plastic and aluminum alloy on the side and back of the device. It looks excellent in every instance. Considering it has a 6-inch display, it is a lot smaller than models of competing companies. Dimensions of this phone are 158.6×82.8×8.5 mm. On the front side, above the display, we find the front camera, ambient light sensor, the speaker, and LED notification light. Below the screen there are no capacitive buttons, giving more to the display real estate. Onscreen buttons appear when you need them, and they are lit well.

Leagoo Shark 1 full review specs :

• Display: IPS OGS 1080P@6.0" w/2.5D FHD Corning Gorilla Glass
• SoC: MT6753
• CPU: 8-core Cortex-A53@1.3GHz
• GPU: Mali-T720
• OS: Android 5.1
• RAM: 3GB
• ROM: 16GB
• Dual-SIM: Yes
• Rear camera: 13MP
• Front camera: 5MP
• Touch ID: Yes
• 2G: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
• 3G: 900/2100MHz
• 4G: 800/900/1800/2100/2600MHz
• Charging: Quick-charging up to 3A 9V
• Battery: 6300mAh

A big display goes great with a big, juicy battery, and so Leagoo obliges with a megantic 6300mAh battery capable of 3A charging.

Also included in the mix is a 360 Touch-ID and a big 3GB RAM.

The MT6753 is one of our favorite SoC, combining a solid battery economy with performance.

If you're looking for a big display mobile married with a gigantic 6300mAh battery, and have a carrier that covers the frequencies above, consider the Leagoo Shark 1.

Best Smartwatches of (May 2016)

Best Smartwatches of (May 2016)

New Tech-pro   09:19

2016 is the year when we were supposed to have jetpacks and flying cars. Instead, we got smartwatches, the supposed new category, a beginning of a new niche that has started to form.

Some devices, however, do stand out in the crowds. The elephant in the room is, of course, the Apple Watch. The smartwatch has seen a lukewarm reception and it is limited to iPhone compatibility only, but with a rich app ecosystem, an appealing design and accurate fitness monitoring and heart sensor it is one of the best out there. Luckily, it's not the only one: Samsung has come up with the Gear S2 family, Motorola has brought substantial improvements with the Moto 360, and there are a few other that have made some great products. So what are they all about?

With no further ado, here are the best smartwatches you can buy right now, in May 2016. What's your favorite?

Apple Watch:

Price: from $350 for Sport edition | $600 for Stainless steel | $10,000 for Edition

To make the Apple Watch stand out, the Apple team put aluminum, stainless steel, and 18k solid gold on a table and started thinking how to make them be the best aluminum, stainless steel, and solid gold incorporated in a smartwatch. They made the Apple Watch: a gadget with an 18-hour battery life, a new system chip specifically designed for this form factor, and a brand new Taptic Engine that delivers gently tactile notifications. It's also got heart rate tracking functionality and a neat fitness and health app that urges you to stand up more often and move to stay healthy. The watch only works with iPhones and the earliest one it supports is the iPhone 5.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Review

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Review

reviews Tech-pro   09:13

Introduction :

Boy what a ride it’s been for Samsung so far for the first half of the year! In one fell swoop, they generated enviable amounts of interest in the Android arena when they introduced the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge earlier this year. And why is that? Well, they’ve completely reconstructed their reputation when it comes down to phone designs, seeing that prior to those phones, their designs have been unflattering in contrast to what the competition produced.

Riding high on that momentum, Samsung is one of the first major players out of the gate to announce and deliver its phones for the second half of the year. Last year, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 managed to receive universal acclaim for its superb specs sheet, all-around performance, and most importantly, its utility for being the Swiss Army knife of smartphones with its rich features set. In the world of Android phablets, Samsung’s Note line has yet to see any sort of threat – so there’s always reason to be excited about a successor.

And that, folks, is where we find ourselves with the Samsung Galaxy Note5. Even before its official announcement, we all knew that another major redesign was coming – not surprising, considering that the S6’s premium design has been widely received by consumers. While it’s almost certain that the Note5 (are we the only ones who like 'Note 5' better?) is going to be yet another solid offering, we’ve seen a shift in the space of late that points us to the direction of these value-conscious phones that pack impressive qualities without the hefty pricing attached to them. As more and more carriers phase out contract pricing, it’s only going to be more crucial for high-end phones to justify their worth, as devices in general are being bought full-priced or financed.

Perhaps, the Note5 can muscle the competition to prove that it’s one of the undisputed pound-by-pound champions?

Design:

Straight to the point, this is the best-designed phone in the series to date! The design is undoubtedly revolutionary for Samsung, as prior phones in the series were primarily constructed out of plastic. Last year’s Note 4 was notable for its stark redesign as well, shedding the all-plastic construction with a slightly more sophisticated one that involves a metal frame surrounding the sides of the phone. With the Galaxy Note5, however, Samsung followed in form by employing the same design language they’ve raised eyebrows already with its S6 line.

We won’t deny the attractiveness of the Note5’s premium aesthetics – one that combines metal with glass once again for that ultimate fusion, though in the process, they’ve shed the utilitarian look of the Note series for one that’s more fashionably stylish. Our eyes are once again mesmerized by the dazzling show produced when light bounces off its glass surface for a shimmering effect – allowing the phone’s color to be more profound at certain angles. What's more, the metal trim bezel adds integrity to the phone’s construction. However, while we applaud its solid construction and eye-catching looks, the glass makes the phone a little fragile, prone to fingerprints, and slippery. Trust us, you’ll want to be extremely careful handling it, since minor drops can probably do a number to it.

Beyond the aesthetics, we’re astounded by how they’re able to trim out the fat even more from its body. For a phone with a ginormous 5.7-inch display, the Note5 bears a smaller footprint than its predecessor (6.03 x 3.00 x 0.30 inches versus 6.04 x 3.09 x 0.33 inches) – while also weighing less as well (171 g versus 176 g). All of this points to obvious improvements in making the handset slimmer, lighter, and somewhat easier to handle. Sure, two-handed operation is still preferred, but the curved edges around its rear help to give it a more ergonomic feel.

Although the design isn’t necessary original per se, it’s something that meshes well in giving the phone its premium qualities. The overall package is undeniably beautiful.

The Note series has always been known to be the Swiss Army knife of smartphones. That claim is still reasonable because it’s fashioned with several amenities you don’t get with most phones. In particular, it features rapid charging via its microUSB 2.0 port, built-in wireless charging, heart rate sensor, and a finger-print sensor.

The latter is worth noting because it employs the same, hassle-free operation brought on by the S6 – one that only requires us to gently rest our finger over the sensor, as opposed to the swipe down method offered by the Note 4. Without question, it’s significantly easier to operate than before, and in our experience, it seems faster too with its recognition than the S6. In addition, it’s going to come in handy when Samsung Pay officially launches.

At the same time, there’s a drastic change to the Note5’s arsenal – one that’s generating a lot of concern for some folks who are used to seeing it on previous iterations. Gone are classic staples in the series such as a removable battery, microSD card slot for storage expansion, and an IR blaster. We’re told from the Samsung folks that the latter has been omitted because they found out that customers rarely use it. To an extent, we can agree with that argument, but the other two items are just tough to overlook. Whatever the reasoning behind it, the Note5 forgoes having them in favor of a design that’s more premium, slimmer, and lighter. That’s the obvious tradeoff!

S Pen :

Fortunately, the S-Pen continues to be one of the Note5’s integral features, so its availability continues to make it unique in the space. With this year’s offering, Sammy changes things up a bit in the way the S Pen is accessed. It’s still tucked away in the lower right corner of the phone, but it employs an auto-eject mechanism – one that’s spring assisted to give it a clicky pen-like feel. For us, this new way of accessing the S Pen feels unnatural, and the process adds just an extra step over last year’s implementation. And why’s that? It’s because we have to eject it with our finger, then proceed to pull it out – whereas before, it was a single step process.

We also feel that its placement would’ve been better suited in the upper right corner, since the ejection process would feel a bit more natural there. Whatever the case, it just means that we’ll need to adjust to this new particular method, which should feel a bit more natural over time. Technically speaking, this S Pen is slightly longer when its spring-assisted end is extended and it’s skinnier, but gone are the groove marks that gave the previous S Pen a grippy feel. It’s smooth all throughout the pen, which thankfully enough, doesn’t hinder its operation.

Just like before, too, the tip is sensitive to recognize varying degrees of applied pressure. Therefore, it’s able to distinguish light presses from firm ones – it’s a useful thing that truly gives this particular stylus an accurate feel. While it can be used for jotting things down quickly and drawing something, it also acts as a useful navigational tool by hovering it over the display. No one does the stylus like Samsung, that’s just the undeniable reality! We’ll talk more about its new features later on.

Review of the Xiaomi Piston 3.0 headphones

Review of the Xiaomi Piston 3.0 headphones

reviews Tech-pro   09:09

The Xiaomi Piston line of headphones has enjoyed a lot of success, particularly because of their high build quality, great sound and extremely competitive pricing. Xiaomi have just released their third iteration of the headphones - the Xiaomi Piston 3.0 - and they've continued to impress.

Design :

Starting off with the gold plated 3.5mm headphone jack, we move through to a metal headphone jack cover. The cover has (essentially invisible) laser etchings going around it, as well as a contoured design, making it easier to grip when you want to unplug the headphones. The cable from that point on is threaded in finely braided kevlar which continues through to the point where the individual earphone cables diverge. At this point we meet a metal cable cover over the Y-divider with the same metal design as the headphone jack cover. The cables for the individual headphones are sleeved through silicon from this point, except for the remote which you come across on the right headphone (with the same metal covering that is mentioned earlier). The angled in-ear earphones have a metal back with a plastic body, in contrast with the earlier Piston generation that had a full aluminum body. The previous Piston had beryllium-alloy drivers, but in this iteration they've been replaced with titanium ones.

 

Performance :

These went above and beyond what I would have ever expected from them. They produced wonderful mids and lows, although I found them lacking in highs at some points. This is contrary to what some other reviewers have experienced where they felt that the highs and lows were fine and that it was actually lacking in mids. Regardless, the headphones are very reasonably balanced: the bass is not over-powering, the mids are there, and the highs are largely there as well.

Because of the design it also means they also have a very "different" soundstage in comparison to the previous generation: not as "in your face" but still not at all bad. It may be a bit of a trade off as the previous generation were extremely bassy and really lacked mids, where these are significantly more balanced.

The remote has three buttons and a mic. All three buttons and the various sound control functions work flawlessly on Android, however, only the play/pause button works on iOS. I don't own a Windows Phone so I can't say how successful it will be on there, but if Android-supported headphones usually don't have an issue with Windows Phone, then it's safe to consider that these will probably work fine as well. The sound clarity of the mic is actually surprisingly good, dare I say it is better than my phone's microphone. The remote and mic are positioned right next to the mouth which makes it more natural and comfortable to speak into. Speaking of comfort, it's worth mentioning that the headphones are extremely comfortable to wear for extended listening sessions.

Sound leaking, noise isolation :

The design of the 3.0 over the previous generation is more "open" which means that the sound leaks a little more and the noise isolation isn't as great. Both of these are on the very low-end, however, as you could still use them at work without annoying anyone next to you.

The noise isolation is still fine and while they won't match your $200 pair of in-ears, they are still surprisingly good in this area. I used them on a train and they successfully blocked out 98% of the noise from the caffeinated school children that were sitting opposite me.

Accessories :

The headphones come with three replacement rubber tips that are sized in extra small, small and large. This is in addition to the ones that come by default with the headphones.

There is also the rubber "case" that they come wrapped in within the box itself, and I'm not sure if this is intended for anything other than the box's presentation but it's thick and tough enough to definitely act as something to wrap the headphones around when you're on the go.

Conclusion :

I'm at a loss for words with how much the Piston 3.0 has improved over the previous generation. They definitely need a few hours of burn-in to get a "natural" sound out of them, but they are heads and shoulders above anything else even remotely in the price bracket. So far I've avoided talking about the price and reviewed it as if it was priced at ten times as much, but the Piston 3.0's are actually priced at$15 within Asia (expect it to cost a few extra dollars if buying it from a reseller). For the price, they're absolutely amazing. They easily outperform anything under $100, and put up a good fight with headphones from the next bracket up. The previous generation of Pistons had their issues with mids yet still managed to convince a lot of audiophiles that they were the holy grail of the sub-$100 range of headphones, but the improvements that come with the 3.0's really takes it a step further. They are definitely well worth the money in this regard and I cannot recommend them enough for anyone looking for superior sound and not willing to break the bank.

A big thank you to our friends at Geekbuying who supplied the headphones for this review. If you are interested in picking one of these up, Geekbuying has the headphones available for sale at $18.28with free shipping.

Top 5 Best Android Chinese Smartphones: February 2016

Top 5 Best Android Chinese Smartphones: February 2016

New Tech-pro   08:45

5. Huawei Mate S:

Huawei has introduced Mate S during IFA in Berlin back in September. This handset has been available for a while now, and even though it’s no longer the latest and greatest Huawei has to offer, it still deserves a place on this list. Huawei Mate S isn’t exactly cheap, but it offers really sleek design, solid set of specs, and it comes in a Force Touch variant as well, for those of you who are into that sort of thing.

4. Xiaomi Mi 4C:

The Xiaomi Mi 4C is a rather interesting phone. This device comes in both 2 and 3GB RAM flavors, and it is fueled by the Snapdragon 808 64-bit hexa-core processor, which is still quite powerful. The Mi 4C, despite all that, is not all that expensive, it costs around $220 dollars no matter where you live. The device is also well-built, and ships with a 5-inch 1080p (1920 x 1080) display.

3. Asus ZenFone 2 (ZE551ML):

The Asus ZenFone 2 was announced back in January 2015, and it’s still more than a compelling handset, especially if you consider its price point. The 4GB variant of this phone is definitely something we can still stand behind and recommend, and you also get Intel’s Atom Z3580 SoC here, and a rather solid 13-megapixel camera. The 5.5-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) display is also available, and the phone offers a rather sleek looking body as well.

2. Meizu MX5:

The Meizu MX5 was introduced by the company back in July, and even though it’s not exactly Meizu’s flagship any longer, this device is well worth it. The phone is fueled by the Helio X10 64-bit octa-core processor, while it sports 3GB of RAM and it comes in a couple of internal storage flavors. The 20.7-megapixel shooter on the back of this phone is quite capable, and below it, you’ll find a Laser Autofocus as well. The MX5 is actually quite affordable considering what it has to offer.

1. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3:

Xiaomi has introduced the Redmi Note 3 back in November last year. This handset is, much like the Mi 4C, quite affordable, and it has plenty to offer you. The phone is made out of metal, and it ships with a 5.5-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) IPS LCD display, along with 2 or 3GB of RAM. MediaTek’s Helio X10 64-bit octa-core processor fuels this phone, and a 13-megapixel shooter is placed on the back of the phone.