The Samsung Galaxy Note 4

The Note line of phones was an experiment by Samsung that has payed off big time as it sparked the big phone (phablet) race. The new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is not a radical departure from the previous Note line up but it is improved in every field possible.

The Note 4 is a big leap forward for Samsung in terms of quality of materials used. The phone now has a metal chassis which is cold to the touch and does wonders for the feel in the hand. The fauxe leather on the back cover is carried over, but the gaudy stitching is no longer there. 

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is set to pack a 5.7" screen (same as the Note 3) but with a 1440p (or 2K) display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. It has a 2.7 GHz quad core processor with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset and has 3 GB of RAM. It comes with Android 4.4.4 KitKat out of the box with the standard TouchWiz UI. It has a 16 MP rear camera with optical image stabilization and it is capable of shooting video in 2160p (or 4K) at 60 frames per second. It also has a 3.7 MP front facing camera with 1080p recording at 30 frames per second. It also has a heart rate monitor and a fingerpringt sensor just like the Samsung Galaxy S5. It has a 3220 mAh battery.


The Note 4 uses a microUSB 2.0 unlike the microUSB 3.0 from last years Note 3.
The Note 4 is compatible with the Gear VR- Samsung's Virtual Reality headset and right now, it is the only phone that is compatible with it.

The standard S-Pen stylus is now better than ever. It's more sensitive than the previous generations of Note's S Pens thus making it feel more like a pen while drawing or writing. The s pen in ow more useful as you can select multiple pictures or lines of text easily to share or save them.
Now you can run as many as 5 apps at the same time in windows that you can minimize to pinheads on your home screen. you can now copy and paste media from one window to another window, which does not seem like a big feature but it is in daily use.
The note4 is one of the best big screen phones you can buy and the new materials make the device a nice buy for the people who like getting things done on the go.

The Motorola Moto X

The Moto x (Gen 2)

Motorola just launched its new flagship, that is a revision to its model from last year called the Moto X. The phone follows the family design language.
All the new phones unveiled by Motorola now get front facing speakers, including the new Moto X. The phone is really well built with an aluminium frame with a slew of customization to the trim, back and boot up animation (though this only in the USA). For those of you who were wondering, the phone does not bend like the iPhone despite its aluminium frame. Reports from Unbox Therapy have shown that the phone doesn't as much as creak under pressure and is probably one of the most sturdiest phones in the market.

This phone has a 5.2" 1080p, having a pixel density of 423 ppi with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. It includes a 2.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad core CPU and has 2 GB of RAM with an Adreno 330 GPU. Only the 16 GB variant is available in India however, a 32 GB model is sold abroad. It has a 13 MP rear camera capable of 4K recording and a 2 MP front facing camera. It comes with Android 4.4.4 KitKat out of the box and is upgradable to android L when it releases. It has a 2300 mAh battery. The phone also has NFC and bluetooth 4.0 and is water resistant.

It also comes with enhanced voice controls and compatibility with the Moto Hint.

This phone is a huge improvement over its predecessor, the Moto X (1st generation). However, the camera is average and does not have a great battery life as compared to its rivals.

The Apple Watch

Apple unveiled its much awaited smartwatch; the Apple Watch which was rumored to be called the iWatch. The watch has a square display, with curved edges and curved glass. The watch also has a dial, which apple calls a 'Digital Crown'.

The Apple Watch runs a custom OS which is not very intuitive and doesn't offer a very good user experience. The crown on the watch lets you zoom in and out of the OS without touching the screen. The icons are small and it is not easy to navigate through the interface.

Apple is one of the only companies that understands the fact that "one size fits all" doesn't always work, so they have two watch sizes. There is a larger size (The 42 mm model) for people who like big watches and a smaller size (the 38 mm model) aimed at women and people who don't like a big watch. 

The Apple Watch has 3 variants: the standard Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Sport and the Apple Watch Edition. The sport has a rubber strap while the edition is gold plated (18-karat gold).

The straps on the apple watch is another area where Apple has done better than the rest. The straps are interchangeable with a seamless system . It can be seen that Apple wants the watch to to be a fashion statement and swapping out straps lets people customize their watch to fit their personality.

The battery life on the Apple watch was any area where people thought Apple would do wonders but like every other smatwatch (except the pebble) the battery life is not good. It should last people a full day of use but it is not the 5 day battery life that was rumored.
The Apple Watch is slated to be on your wrists by early 2015 at a starting price of $349.

The Moto 360

Motorola caught everyone's attention with the moto 360, but after its release some are less enthusiastic about buying the smart watch.

Smart watches are still a niche product for the geeks and early adopters of new tech, but the moto 360 was supposed to change that. The circular display and watch design made the watch seem more like a standard watch rather than the square, less eye pleasing ,design.

After some use we can clearly see the moto 360 is not what it was meant to be.The circular display was not a perfect circle and the long lasting battery barely lasts a day.

The moto 360  has a 1.5" LCD with a resolution of 360 x 290. the display is not the sharpest and not the brightest but the display is good enough for viewing your notifications and Google Now cards. The watch runs on a TI OMAP3 chipset and has 4 GB ROM . The watch has 512 MB of RAM that should be sufficient for running android wear OS. The 320 mAh battery does not do any favors for the smartwatch, even with the under powered processor the moto 360 maxes out at 8 hours of battery life. When the moto 360 was torn down it was found that there was only a 300 mAh battery in the watch. The charging dock is actually usable with a desktop clock face when you dock the watch, but you'll be using the dock more often than you'd like. 

The moto 360 runs on android wear which is still not a very ironed out OS and it still  has its hiccups and glitches. 

All together the price ($249) and specs of the watch don't compel average consumers to buy a smartwatch.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus

The new iPhones ditch the sharp edges for a new rounded look. The iPhones now come in two screen sizes, a 4.7" and a 5.5" variant.The larger 6 Plus is virtually identical to the iPhone 6 except for a few differences, most notably, optical image stabilization and a few other areas like battery size. Otherwise the two devices are exactly the same. Since the devices are larger, the power/sleep/wake button is moved to the right side.

The new iPhones pack a new A8 chip along with an M8 co-processor, host improved cameras and an all new NFC chip (finally) for the iPhone.

iPhone 6

The iPhone 6 has a new 4.7" screen and a new camera . The screen is a 720p IPS display which is crisp and sharp. The iPhone will be able to make mobile payments using Apple Pay using the new NFC chip.

iPhone 6 PLUS

The new iPhone 6 PLUS has a bigger 5.5" screen.The screen is a 1080p IPS display, with good viewing angles and sharp text.

Apple Pay

Apple is quite late to add NFC to its phones, but it can only be used for Apple Pay. Apple Pay uses the Touch ID system to make secure payments. Apple has partnered with many leading retail brands to make the payments seamless and hassle free. Apple claims that none of the account information of the user is stored on any of Apples's servers and can't be stolen.

Cameras

The cameras on the iPhones are improved and now offer a 240 frame per second slow-motion feature. The sensors on both models are still 8 MP cameras with improved optics. The camera on the iPhone 6 has software stabilization while the 6 plus gets optical image stabilization.

#Bendgate

There have been reports of the iPhone 6 bending in peoples front pockets, so if you are considering the iPhone you should make sure you are not rough with it. Here is a video by Lew from Unbox Therapy to explain the bending of the iPhone 6 Plus.

  

Google chromecast

The google chromecast

This is the review for the google chromecast. the chromecast is the easiest way to watch video on your Television. It is a simple dongle that you plug into your tele. You need to connect to your wifi service and set up the chromecast using the app that is available on android,ios and windows devices. 

 the chromecast works with a few supported apps to bring you videos pictures and music.

The chromecast is due for an update that will let you stream your entire screen rather than just a movie or a picture from a supported app. the new feature will allow you to cast unsupported apps to your big screen television