The formidably priced HUAWEI HONOR 6!!

Perfect for the budget-conscious consumers that wants a high spec. smartphone with a mid-level price tag. At just RM 999 (~RM1099), the Huawei Honor 6 is powered by Huawei’s latest HiSilicon Kirin 9202Soc Octa-core processor (4 Cortex-A15 cores and 4 Cortex-A7 cores). It has a 3GB RAM on par with the latest flagships. It comes with a 16GB of internal storage with the option of an additional 64 GB of storage through a microSD. Not to forget it has LTE too! (With Bluetooth 4.0).  Which at this price point is quite amazing. It also has a giant 3100mAh battery locked in. All of these packed in a package that is 7.5mm thin weighing only 130 grams. Now that’s impressive.

In terms of OS, it runs the latest Android 4.4.2 KitKat with Huawei’s Emotion UI 2.3 skin.

Its design is quite simple omitting the Huawei logo. Only the wording “Honor” could be found on its back. Its front and back is covered with glass much akin to the iPhone 4.

The Honor6 has a 5-inch Full HD 1080 x 1920 pixels LCD display with an impressive 445 ppi. Visibility should not be a problem as it emits a brightness of 500 nits. 

It uses a microSIM to connect to the mobile network. For charging and data transferring, a microUSB 2.0 port can be found on the bottom. Another added feature is that this smartphone has an IR blaster. This means, combined with the right app, you could technically use this phone as your remote controller for your TV, hi-fi set and etc.   

Moving onto the camera now. Around 2-3 years ago, for this price you would expect a 5MP back camera with a VGA front camera or no front camera at all. Surprisingly, the Honor6 has an incredible 13 MP back shooter (dual flash) with a 5 MP front shooter for all your selfie needs! Although I can’t guarantee the quality of the photo but normally with 13 MP, the pictures should come out quite nice at least.

Other features that are worth noting are that it has a notification LED, built-in apps such as Phone Manager that does the same task as CCleaner, a Power Saving Mode to save battery, a Harassment filter to block unwanted phone calls and messages and a  Do-Not-Disturb Mode.

Overall, if you’re looking for a smartphone at a price that won’t break your bank account or slim your wallet, but offers the same internals as a high end smartphone, this is one of the best option available on the market. Putting aside the rather normal design, it has one of the best specs for its price. If your budget is under a thousand you really should pick this one up.

This phone would certainly challenge Xiaomi for the value-for-money smartphone crown!

Sources: huawei.com, http://hihonor.com/honor6

Apple Copying Samsung??

(Source: cultofmac.com )

With the release of the larger screened iPhones, comes cries of copying by rivals especially Samsung. They proudly pointed out that it was them who were the first to introduce larger screens and Apple is clearly just following their footsteps. Yes it is true. In terms specifications and hardware many android manufacturers have beaten Apple (they've been pretty loud about it too) but still I disagree with Samsung's complaining. 

They have to remember that their early smartphones were copies/based upon of the iPhones. I'm not being an Apple boy here, somehow I just felt the need to justify facts. Samsung even had a 132 page document that detailed how it should copy the iPhones. (link down http://bgr.com/2012/08/08/apple-samsung-patent-lawsuit-internal-report-copy-iphone/ )

Even now many smartphones are obvious copies of the candy bar shaped iphone. Some even go to the extent of looking the same software wised.

Let's just face it. Manufacturers copying from each other is nothing new. Many of them do it and that's the fact. As long as it doesn't breach any laws and regulations (copyrights, trademarks and patents), I think it's okay. Cause ultimately it would be us, the consumers, that would benefit from this. 

Source: bgr.com

The SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 4!

           

The Back of the new NOTE 4. It actually feels quite nice.

   Another big thing that was released earlier than the new iPhones is the new SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 4. It’s the continuation of the Note series that in its early stages received criticisms (even from moi xP) for its humongous size. How wrong I was. Now, it’s one of the most sought after feature. Back to the device, this time expect high sales for this beast with its beautiful design and Quad-high definition display.

              Following in the footsteps of the Galaxy S5, Samsung has released the Note 4 with a faux leather back cover. In my opinion, this design is much better than the one found on the S5. Samsung has also decided to follow the market (*cough*iPhone*cough*) by wrapping the sides of its new beast in metal. This gives it the premium iPhone-ish look. Trust me, it’s a looker! Onto the big 5.7-inch display, it’s now one of the best in the market (rivaling the LG G3) offering a 2K (Quad High Def) Super AMOLED screen with a ppi of 515. Imagine a screen that has two times the resolution of a 1080p Full HD TV and it all fits into your pocket. This beautiful screen is protected by using Corning Gorilla Glass 3. All of this weighs up to 176 grams.

              Inside all of these lies either a 2.7 Ghz Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chip or an in-house Eight-core Exynos 5433 (Quad-core 1.3 Ghz Cortex A53 with a Quad-core 1.9 Cortex A57) depending on the region (Malaysia is expecting to receive the Exynos model).  Both chips meanwhile offer awesome processing power and speed. It has big 3GB RAM, more than enough for multitasking through Samsung’s Multi-Window  function and 32GB of internal storage, expandable with a microSD of up to 128GB should you ever need more storage.

              The back camera now has 16 Megapixels to play around with resulting in beautiful photos that is said to be on par with the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. It has optical image stabilization other than the usual autofocus and dual flash. Now for all you selfie-junkies, the front camera’s megapixels have been bumped to 3.7 megapixels to better take your gorgeous selfies and have a wider 130 degrees shooting angle to fit all of your friends in as well. *thumbs up*

              It has a giant 3220mAh battery that I feel should accommodate the extra juice needed to power the big 2K display. It should also last more than a day with casual use. If it doesn’t, fret not because the Note 4 has a new feature called Ultra-fast charging that allows the phone to be charged from 0% to 50% in just 30 minutes! Surprisingly, Samsung has decided  not to use the 3.0 microUSB port found on the Note 3 and has thus reverted to the standard 2.0 microUSB port commonly found in most smartphones nowadays. (The former is supposed to be faster).

              The Note 4 also has an Ultra Power saving mode first seen on the S5. No fingerprint scanner on this one though. As for the OS, it comes preloaded with Android KitKat. I suppose an upgrade to the latest Android Lollipop should come before the end of this year.

              For those who wants a big screen smartphone to enhance productivity in your life (Multi-Windows), a phone that not only is beautiful to show around but is also able get some work done on the go (Polaris Office/S-Pen), or just to better view your magnificent photos on a screen that will turn heads (Quad HD Super AMOLED) , the new Note 4 is the next big thing. J

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

Sorry it took some time. I’ve been a bit busy lately as I embarked on my first working (internship) experience. I’m still trying to find time to fit all of my usual activities and I do hope that after this I would still have time to write more entries to techylh. Well the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus still haven’t been released here in Malaysia so I guess I’m still early xP. Normally they would reach here in around 2-3 months of the official launch date. So mark your calendar around end of October or early November. Fingers crossed that it will come sooner.  I have seen a few imported units of iPhone 6 and they do look nice. Holding the iPhone 6 in my hands doesn’t feel awkward even though it now has a bigger screen. In fact I can say that it still feels nice to hold the iPhone 6 (no say about the 6 Plus).

The most obvious difference between the new iPhones and the old ones are, of course, the screen sizes. As rumoured, the iPhone 6 has now a 4.7-inch (1334x750) screen size while the “bigger than big” iPhone has a 5.5-inch (1920x1080) screen size. iPhone 6 has the same number of pixels per inch (ppi) as the previous iPhones with Retina display (321), but it is touted to have the new Retina Display HD with the  technology that is supposed to display brighter colours.  The iPhone 6 Plus also has the Retina Display HD technology but with a higher 401ppi. As the screen size of the iPhone 6 Plus is gigantic, Apple has come up with a way to make it easier for you to touch the top of the display without shifting your fingers around the phone. It is called Reachability. It is activated by double-touching, I repeat double-touching not tapping the home button. This would bring the top of the screen down to half the screen and thus allowing the user to touch top buttons easily.  The convenience of this method remains to be seen. Although the screen went for a rise, the thickness decreased even more. The iPhone 6 has a thickness of only 6.9 mm while its bigger sibling is slightly (not even that noticeable) thicker at 7.1mm.

With bigger screen sizes, comes the need for bigger batteries. Compared to the small 1440 mAh battery found in the iPhone 5S. The iPhone 6 has now an 1810mAh battery sealed closed inside it while the iPhone 6 Plus has a 2915 mAh battery. So far reports and test doesn’t suggest much improvement in terms of battery life hours obtained on the new iPhones, they are said to last just a full-day with normal usage. 

In terms of design, it now looks closer to the iPads with its rounded edges compared to previous square design. All three colours are available (Space Grey, Silver, and Champagne Gold). Both the iPhones now have the power button relocated to the right side of the phone. This tremendously helps us to better reach it (something that they may have been inspired by from Samsung). Other than that most of the buttons are in the same place with the headphone jack, speaker, and microphone still on the bottom side of the phone. The microphone port now has fewer holes than the speaker port. Not to forget, both models have the Touch ID feature first found on the iPhone 5S.

Zooming to the inside, they have both a 1.4 Ghz A8 (Apple’s second 64-bit desktop class ) chip combined with an M8 motion coprocessor and 1GB of ram, it might not be the best specification in the market but you have to take into account that the iPhone 6 is running iOS instead of Android. iOS in general doesn’t require as much memory and processing power as an Android (another similar OS in this case would be Windows Mobile).  It still offers a smooth user experience that we all enjoy while, and quoting Apple, while being able to handle even the most demanding and intensive games. The A8 chip is said to be exponentially better in terms of processing power compared to the A7 chip.

For those of you who need more storage space exceeding 64GB, you’re in luck! Apple has finally heard your calls and have thus started offering a maximum storage space of 128GB (That’s like half of my laptop’s capacity =_=) Nevertheless, extra of anything is welcomed as long as it doesn’t hinge the practicality and usability of the device.  They have also kicked out the 32GB option, so now you have the 16, 64, and 128GB options. Personal opinion, they should have just stopped the 16GB model and maintained  the 32GB but this is maybe a way to reduce the cost/price.

I would not touch much about the software aspect as that should be covered in an article dedicated entirely to the new iOS 8. 

              Apple has decided to stick with the 8-megapixel shooter (manufactured by Sony) on its new iPhones amidst other competitor churning out devices that have cameras on average with 13-megapixels. Like they say, it’s not the megapixels that count; it’s the end results. And what the iPhone capture are stunning! The iSight camera now has a new sensor with Focus Pixels. The photos produced are clear improvements over the 5S.  In terms of video recording, both are now capable of taking super-slow motion video (240fps compared to 5S’ slow-mo of 120fps). The new camera can also record Full-HD video at 1080p, and as extra it can now take time-lapse videos. Included with the new camera app on iOS 8, we now have more control over the settings of our camera. On the iPhone 6 Plus, you’ll find an Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) that’ll help you take better videos. This is another feature that differentiates the 6 Plus from the 6.

              With the addition of NFC to the iPhone (something not new to the market but new to Apple), Apple has released a new feature called Apple Pay which allows you to pay at any accepting  stores by tapping your iPhone towards a sensor (much like the touch&wave credit card feature). It remains to be seen if this feature would be useful in Malaysia as it depends a lot on the stores. Most of those that signed up with Apple are found and are limited to the USA.

              The new iPhone has even more LTE bands than before with up to 20 of them.  This essentially means that the iPhone is a more international phone, allowing the user to connect to different LTE networks in different countries that uses different frequencies.  Other than new bands the iPhone now could reach download speeds of up to 150Mbsp. Now it’s your turn telcos! A new Wi-fi antenna (802.11ac) means that the iPhone could reach higher download speeds than before. In anticipation of pairing the iPhone with the Apple Watch, Apple has added Bluetooth LE (low energy) that would essentially allow the iPhone to pair with the smartwatch without draining the smartphone’s battery too much.

              To summarize, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are improvements over the previous model as Apple is just catching up with the market (bigger screen size and NFC) in terms of specifications. But still, don’t let this article discourage you from buying it. If you are an avid photographer, this is a model you wouldn’t want to miss. And if you are planning on upgrading from at least iPhone 4S, this is a no­-brainer decision. With a bigger screen, you’ll get to see more of your favourite contents now and get an overall better smartphone experience ;D

The launch of the iPhone 6 (and my first post).

Welcome to techyLH!

What better topic and time to start a blog with than the hotly anticipated announcement of the iPhone 6. As an amateur tech avid, I can't help but be excited about it. I know, I know some of you might say that this author is already biased towards Apple. But hey! I myself am using a Note 10.1 2014 instead of an iPad. I appreciate technology wherever they come from. :)
I admit android is better on tablets, and am slowly being attracted towards Android smartphones. Still sticking to my iphone 5S due to its one hand usability and the iOS ecosystem.

At the time of writing we are about 4 hours away from the announcement and it can't come any sooner. The main rumours about the new iphone is a bigger screen size than the iphone 5S and possible release of two different screen sizes (4.7 and 5.5 inches). The names could be iPhone 6 and iPhones 6L.

It is also expected to be much thinner than the previous model though I myself am wondering if it's really necessary. A thickness of the iphone 5S with a bigger screen size would allow room for more battery capacity and aren't we all worrying about whether our phones would last the day or not. It's expected to be released with all colour variants including the new champagne gold first seen with the iPhone 5S.

Expect a new processor by Apple to power it (A8?) coupled with a bigger RAM (2GB).  The new iPhone should be released with the standard 16, 32, and 64 GB of storage memory (although there are rumours suggesting that Apple would drop the 16 and add a 128GB option :O ). Oh and NFC might be included, though like everything I've typed so far,  are rumours. So better take them with a pinch of salt.

The camera is said to be increased to 13-megapixels from 8. (Or they won't, this is Apple, they like to "surprise" us). The boost would certainly up the iPhone's competitiveness against other smartphones that are offering 13, 16, 20.7 and even 40 megapixels (though Apple never seem to losing in this area even when it is offering what seems to be the lowest megapixels count among flagships phones). Keep in mind, more megapixels doesn't equate to better pictures.

Other than the iphone,  people are saying/expecting Apple to debut its iWatch as Apple was known to have trademarked the name in most countries. But certain parties are saying that the iwatch's launch has ben delayed due to the device not being up to the standards that Apple wanted it to be.

We just have to wait and see to confirm if all of these rumours are true.

If you have a mac, an iOS (5.0 and above) device, or an apple tv, you can catch the event live for free. Just open up safari on your apple device and go to this link : http://www.apple.com/live/

If not, you could follow the updates on major tech websites.

So fingers crossed and hope that Apple would deliver us amazing gadgets!

This is my first attempt to write a blog, thus bear with me. This post was also typed jn a rush xP  If you have any constructive criticism, do tell. Bye for now and I hope that I'll get the time to publish more posts.