All about Windows 10

So, Microsoft's latest operating system update is almost ready for prime-time.

Yep, Windows 10 is just under two months away from launch - so I gathered some key information about the platform, its release date and more.

What is Windows 10?

Windows 10 is the newest update from Microsoft, meant to replace Windows 8.1 and earlier Windows updates.

The platform is designed for numerous form factors, including tablets, desktops, convertible devices, phones, the Xbox One, holographic headsets, barebones computers such as the Raspberry Pi and even Internet of Things devices.

Yep, Windows 10 will run across a wide variety of form factors and devices, albeit with UI differences and other discrepancies - for instance, legacy Windows apps won't run on phones or Xbox One. But the core will be the same.

One Windows 10 app across form factors

Legacy apps might not work on phones/Xbox One, but that's where Microsoft's Universal Apps concept comes in.

Despite the hardware and UI differences across desktop, phone, Raspberry Pi and Xbox One, Microsoft is allowing developers to build one app to run across all these devices.

Yep, the company demonstrated the concept with its own Outlook, Photos and Office universal apps running on both desktop and phone in previews. These universal apps will then scale and change depending on the UI and input methods.

Microsoft also used the example of a news app featuring articles and multimedia on mobile/desktop, but then only showing video when on Xbox One.

It's a pretty ambitious goal, with Microsoft also late to the universal app game in this regard, but it's finally given developers tools to do so.

The possibilities are rather crazy, so we could totally see the likes of Dropbox on Xbox One or Xbox indie games also appearing on phones. 

Key Windows 10 features

So the first thing you'll notice about Windows 10 is the new start menu, ditching the full-screen Start menu seen on Windows 8.1. The new start menu is also where the Windows Store apps can be found, in the form of live tiles.

These Windows Store apps are completely resizeable once booted up, a welcome change from Windows 8.

The other major feature is the introduction of the Cortana voice assistant (not in South Africa just yet), which serves up contextual information via voice or text. It's already a hit on Windows Phone, and Microsoft has also announced plans to launch on Android and iOS.

The internet browser department is getting some love in the form of an Internet Explorer replacement called Microsoft Edge. The browser is quite slick already, even at this stage of the preview, featuring the ability to quickly make annotations, an offline reading mode and compatibility with Firefox/Chrome extensions.

Got a convertible laptop or tablet? Then you'll like Microsoft's Continuum mode, which dynamically adjusts the UI depending on whether you're using a tablet form factor or attached a keyboard.

If you have a Windows 10 phone, then the Continuum mode is even more impressive, showing a Windows 10-style desktop and scaled-up apps when you connect the phone to a TV. 

The Redmond firm is also shoring up its security features, in the form of Windows Hello, which brings biometric authentication to the platform. From iris-scanning to fingerprint reading, your device should be safer.

A focus on gaming too

Microsoft is also ramping up its gaming stuff with Windows 10, allowing Xbox One owners to stream games from their console to a Windows 10 PC via the Xbox app.

In a move inspired by the Xbox One, Microsoft will also let gamers natively record and share footage from their PC games - even Steam titles.

Of course, Windows 10 will also bring DirectX 12 support to the fray, with the new DirectX meant to squeeze even more performance out of existing hardware. 

What are the requirements?

Much like Windows 8, Windows 10 is pretty relaxed in terms of system requirements.

You'll need a 1Ghz processor, 1GB of RAM (2GBs for 64-bit version) and 16GBs of storage - so your ancient laptop should run it fine.

Almost all Windows Phone 8.1 devices should be able to update to Windows 10 for phones as well.

Launch details

Windows 10 is coming on July 29, with the update being free for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users for the next year. This offer expires on July 29, 2016 though.

You can "reserve" your copy of Windows 10 by looking for the Windows icon in your system tray in the bottom-right corner.

If you missed the offer or you don't have Windows 7 or 8.1, the price will reportedly start at $110 for Windows 10 home.

What do you think about Windows 10? Leave your thoughts in comments below.

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REVIEW: Lumia 640 XL

The Lumia 640 XL is the elder sibling of the Lumia 640, and is Microsoft's latest phablet device that packs in decent specifications for a mid-range smartphone. The Lumia 1520 and the Lumia 1320 were the last two large screen Windows Phone devices, and while they were very popular, the 6-inch display was a little unwieldy for many.

Unless you don't prefer a large screen device, the 640 XL is for everybody really - the casual user looking for a great Windows experience with a nice camera or the business user looking for productivity on the move.

Design:

The Lumia 640 XL is a large 640, and carries almost the similar design. The 640 XL sports a 5.7-inch display, just a fraction smaller than the Lumia 1320/1520, but that seems to make all the difference. With the overall design, that size hits the sweet spot for a phablet and while you obviously can't get everything done with just one hand, it works pretty well for most tasks and doesn't look like a giant monolith slapped to your cheek while you're taking a call.

At the back, there's a camera hump that reminds me of the Lumia 1520. The battery is removable, and the back panel opens up for the microSIM card slots and the microSD card slot. Unlike the 640, the 640 XL sports a matte finish at the back. It's great, because a glossy device of this size would be quite slippery to hold. Despite the size, the 640 XL feels great in the hand and makes for a solid grip.

For a phone with pretty good camera credentials and a large size, I hate the lack of a physical camera shutter button. Otherwise, it's another solid Lumia with a great build quality for a mid-range device. There's nothing new, but there are no compromises either. And as I've said before, Nokia/Microsoft are known to make amazing devices with a great finish.

Hardware:

The internals of the Lumia 640 XL are identical to the Lumia 640, and while they are nothing remarkable on paper, the Windows Phone experience is smooth and everyday usage with navigating between apps, multi-tasking, and Web browsing is a breeze. Casual games of course run great, while graphic-intensive games like Asphalt 8 also don't stutter or lag. Granted the graphics are not like the Lumia 1520, but the nice, large display makes for a great experience.

Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 1.2 GHz quad-core processor with 1GB RAM, the device packs in 8GB internal storage - expandable up to 128 GB via a micro SD card.

Lumia 640 XL to the left vs Lumia 640 to the right.

Except for the internal storage and a higher megapixel front camera, the specs are almost identical to the Lumia 830 along with the 640.

The 5.7-inch HD display has the same resolution as the 5-inch 640 despite the larger size leading to quite a drop in the PPI count (259 PPI). A Lumia 640 next to the 640 XL definitely looks sharper, although the IPS LCD on 640 XL is not bad at all. The colors are bright and sharp, and the viewing angles are pretty good. There's Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection and Microsoft's sunlight readability enhancements. 
An important thing to note is that the Lumia 640 XL available in India is a 3G dual SIM device, and does not have the LTE capability unlike some other country variants.

The stellar battery life of the Lumia 640 XL is one of the underrated highlights of the phone. The 3000 mAh battery with the 720p 5.7-inch display allows for over a day of battery life easily, and casual users might just stretch it to two days - a rarity these days.

Software:

The Lumia 640 XL and the Lumia 640 are the only phones in the market right now that ship with the Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 out of the box.

It's not a major update after Denim, but the all-important Settings app gets a much needed visual makeover. As yet, the list of settings was an endless, random scroll, but these are now categorized in groups. Individual settings can now be navigated to using the categories, or searched for, or pinned to the Home screen.

One of the highlights of the Denim update, the Lumia 640 XL includes the Lumia Camera 5.0 app. It's a surprise inclusion since the app has been a part of only the more-expensive Lumia devices that feature the PureView camera goodness. The Lumia 640 XL doesn't have a PureView camera, but it benefits a lot from the Lumia Camera apps.

Needless to say, the Lumia 640 XL is Windows 10 ready, and will get an upgrade when Windows 10 is ready and available. 
It's worth highlighting that the Lumia 640 XL bundles a free one-year subscription to Office 365, allowing you to use the Office suite on your PC/Mac as well as your tablet, apart from this Windows Phone device of course.

Camera:

Apart from the obvious larger size, the Lumia 640 XL sports better camera than the Lumia 640, and the rear camera in fact is one of the stand out features of the 640 XL. It's no PureView, but the 13MP shooter sports a Zeiss lens unit. It makes for a terrific camera at its price point, and the Lumia Camera app offers a great level of manual control not found in most stock camera apps including features like Rich Capture and Lumia Moments.

The Lumia 640 XL captures great detail in the images, even in low light conditions. The photos are bright and vivid, and the color reproduction is pretty good too. It's a great all-round camera, but if you're using features like Rich Capture, taking a photo and the processing takes some annoying extra seconds. 

The 5MP front camera isn't something special but capable of taking decent selfies and 1080p videos - pretty good given the price point of the phone. The rear camera also does a decent job of shooting casual videos at 1080p at a continuous 30fps with auto-focus.

Verdict:

The Lumia 640 XL is not a high-end smartphone, but offers an incredible value for money. The solid Windows Phone experience with a pretty good rear camera makes for a solid package that I could recommend to anybody looking for a sub-Rs 20,000 smartphone. Available in cyan, orange, black, and white, the 640 XL is a pretty good middle of the pack offering at Rs 15,499. Granted it is pretty big, and if that's not your cup of tea, you should look at the Lumia 640 or maybe the older Lumia 730.

For those of you who are interested in the younger sibling. Lumia 640, you might want to take a look at my review here.

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Wearable Technology: Explained.

There a lot of upcoming interesting technologies and wearable technology is at the forefront of this revolution. You'd be forgiven for wondering what the fuss about wearable tech is, given the explosion of smartwatches, fitness trackers, sports watches and other connected devices in 2014. Put simply, wearables are the biggest new innovation in technology since the smartphone – and the possibilities are endless.

Over the last months wearable tech has gone mainstream, and the hottest devices on the planet are now ones you can place on your wrists, arms and faces.

So what is this wearable technology revolution? 

Lets find out:

While the clue’s in the name, it doesn't quite tell the whole story. Wearable technology is clearly gadgets you wear, but there are important distinctions. Wearable tech isn't a trendy pair of headphones, for example, or a digital watch.

The new age of wearables tap into the connected self; they're laden with smart sensors, and make use of a web connection, usually using Bluetooth to connect wirelessly to your smartphone. They use these sensors to connect to you as a person, and they help you to achieve goals such as staying fit, active, losing weight or being more organised.

Most wearables are wrist worn, but an increasing number can be clipped to the body and hung around the neck. Wearables are quickly blending with jewellery, and are worn in the same way. Watches, rings, pendents – you name it, there's a wearable that does it.

Different types of wearables:

There are a few different categories of wearables at the moment. Some products manage to get their feet in more than one camp and a few others define new categories all of their own. 

Smartwatches:

Smartwatches are wrist-worn devices that connect to your mobile phone to act as mini-windows onto your digital life. Telling the time is simply an after-thought of these wrist watches; they'll tell you about the notifications of calls, messages and usually email and social media as well. They basically relay the most significant of the data from your phone to your wrist for quick actions.

Samsung, Motorola, LG and Sony have been at them for a while and the recent introduction of Apple Watch is expected to take the game a little further at least in this generation.
While some feel smartwatches to be attractive, very few actually find them useful. But the things can only get better.

Fitness Trackers:

Fitness trackers come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and levels of sophistication too. Usually worn on the wrist or clipped to a belt, they're generally bands or watches of some sort which will keep a count of the number of steps you make each day. The newest bands are adding continuous heart rate monitoring, for even more accurate data on your calorific burn and exercise. 

This landscape, too, has been seeing a lot of competitors. The most popular ones being Fitbit, a lot of startups are participating to provide affordable fitness bands.

Sports watches:

For those active types who love running, cycling, swimming and more a dedicated sports watch should be at the top of your wearable wish list. These devices should have GPS (don't be suckered into one that isn't, it won't be accurate) and can provide another level of information about your chosen sport, and take your training to the next level.

These are basically Fitness Trackers in a Smart Watch shell that don't require a smartphone to work. These are  more of standalone kinds of devices than accessories.

Head-Mounted Displays:

If you want some kind of virtual information delivered right to your eyes, then a head-mounted display (HMD) is what you'll need. Some are designed to block out the rest of the world, like Oculus Rift, and present a computer-generated virtual reality to fool your brain into thinking it's somewhere else entirely. Others would rather just act as an overlay of information on top of what's already there like Google Glass or other so-called smartglasses. Another example of a head mounted displays is the Microsoft HoloLens about which you can read here.

Smart Clothing:

Smart clothing is a rather broad category which encompasses both garments with electronics in that make them look more interesting or fashionable, as well as clothing that essentially appears normal but houses additional functionality. It's predicted that over the next few years a lot of the features in fitness trackers will find their way to smart garments. You won't find a lot of options in this category right now as it will take a few years to develop to be sold at a retail level.

Smart jewellry :

Brands like Kovert Designs have brought the idea of smartwatches to items of jewellery finding ground somewhere between the two. Smart jewellery is mostly aimed at women right now, and the most common usage is to discreetly notify the user of texts, calls or emails when their phone is out of reach.

The big players in wearable tech:

So far, it's largely the smaller companies that are making the better name for themselves in the wearable tech space.

Jawbone, Fitbit, Misfit and Withings have had huge successes with fitness trackers for the masses. TomTom, Garmin, Polar and Suunto make some of the very best sports watches for running, swimming, cycling, hiking and even skiing and golf.

With smartwatches, it's more about your traditional multinational tech brands with Sony, Samsung, Motorola, LG  and now, Apple.

As for headgear, Oculus Rift is the big name in virtual reality although the Microsoft HoloLens is a very interesting idea in personal computing and not just virtual reality. Google Glass was a player in AR glasses but it remains to be seen if and what the second iteration of the project ends up looking like.

So, what's the problem?

Wearables are getting very good at measuring us. They can record your heart rate, body fat composition, perspiration, health, temperature and muscle activity all by just touching your skin as well as movement, distance and speed using GPS, accelerometers and gyroscopes.

However, a weakness is still interpreting the results. The key to that interpretation lies in hoards of expert medical, sports, photographic and all sorts of other professional opinion to come up with the right kind of software and algorithms to extract the salient trends and markers of what's going on when we run, swim, play golf, make food choices or take thousands of daily pictures without wanting to manually edit them all.

Once they know how to do that, then these wearables will become highly effective life coaches rather than just items of curiosity.

What do you think about wearables? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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REVIEW: Microsoft Lumia 640

Announced about 3 months ago at the MWC 2015, Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL are available in the Indian market and are two of the most anticipated Lumia devices out there. It's no secret that Microsoft does budget as well as flagship phones incredibly well; and the 640 does not disappoint. 

I recently got my hands on one and after using it for a while, here are my thoughts:

Design:

The design is very similar to that of the Lumia 630 and 635, a little larger and heavier yet slightly thinner, with the same matt-finish case in black, or glossy in blue, orange or white, that sits comfortably and securely in the hand. This case is removable, but wraps around to the front, resulting in a solid feel that won't creak or flex under pressure.  

It's simple and unassuming, a slab of plastic with a slightly curved rear and rounded edges. There's a gaping hole on the rear for the small speaker, and the rear camera and headphone jack protrude just enough to spoil the Lumia 640's smooth surface, but still it's a good- if basic-looking phone for the money. 

As before the screen is covered by tough Gorilla Glass 3, with cutouts top and bottom for the earpiece and microphone. It's a larger sheet of glass, though, since Microsoft has upgraded the Lumia's display not only in size but also resolution. Whereas the Lumia 630 and 635 feature a 4.5in 854x480 ClearBlack IPS panel, the 640 has a 5in HD (1280x720) screen, which results in an improved pixel density of 294ppi. (Bigger still is the 5.7in screen on the Lumia 640 XL, although the resolution is the same at 720p.) 

As such, browsing the web, watching videos and even playing the odd games is now a far more enjoyable experience on the Lumia 640.

The overall design of the device is good looking in this price segment and the build quality is exceptional. You'll find that the poly-carbonate back cover is solid and has a great feel in the hand and the device is a pleasure to use.

Hardware:

The Lumia features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, along with 1GB RAM and the graphics performance is aided by Adreno 305 GPU- which is what you'd find on other mid range phones as well; so no surprises here. The performance in day to day use, though, is exceptional. You won't find any lag in using apps and mid range games. The performance gets a little shabby when playing high end games such as Asphalt 8 or Halo, but that's a given seeing the specs. That said, it runs such games pretty well for a device of this caliber.

The battery performance of this device is something that its Android counterparts should take inspiration from. The battery performance is quite amazing. It features a 2500 mAh battery and the battery lasts about a day with ease during heavy use.  

A major drawback of this device, though, is the internal storage. Microsoft promises 8 GB of internal storage but in reality, like always, the user accessible memory is just a little over 4GB. There is a Micro SD card slot available which allows you to expand the storage up to 128 (which is not something you see on every smartphone) but it would have been nicer to have a GB extra available on-board.

The connectivity specs come as no surprise at this price. There's support for Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, DLNA and NFC. The GPS and GLONASS is assisted. The Indian version of the device also comes with Dual SIM support and 3G.

Camera:

The 640 packs in an 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 0.9 megapixel front camera. The rear camera comes with f2.2 aperture and autofocus, as you'd expect, while the front facing camera has fixed focus but does come with options such as manual exposure and timer. 

The Lumia 640 is not the best cameraphone in the world, but it's significantly better than its Android rivals. It is a well known fact that in terms of cameras and optics, Microsoft does the best job with its Lumia devices at every price range, and the same is true even here.

There's an LED flash for low light photography, though the shots look a little grainy. The performance during the daylight is exceptional for such a device and captures details and colours very well. The 0.9 megapixel front cam takes pictures better than I expected it to, perhaps because of some algorithms Microsoft uses in the "Lumia Camera" app. Whatever may be the reason, it takes some great shots and comes with a wide-angle lens for better group selfies and Skype calls.

The overall camera performance is far better than other phones in this price range.

Software:

The Microsoft Lumia 640 runs Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim, although Windows 10 will be available later this summer (in fact, you can get Windows 10 on your phone now with the Windows Insider program). 

Windows Phone is heavily criticised for its lack of apps, but the situation is improving with thousands of legit apps being added to the store every day. Although Windows Phone does not have Google apps, you can still sync contacts, calendar and mail with native apps in Windows Phone to get a truly seamless experience between services. There are also third party apps available for YouTube that not only allow you to watch videos but also download them natively and store them on your device.

In other respects Windows Phone is every bit as good as iOS and Android, although it has a different look and feel with a colourful tiled interface in place of the familiar icon-led home screens. In place of Siri and Google Now there's the excellent Cortana and with Action Centre notifications are just as easy to manage.  

Here Drive+ and Here Maps are very good, offering free turn-by-turn driving instructions, offline maps and live traffic information, while MixRadio offers free audio from your favourite artists (without ads, although you can skip the track only six times in an hour). Add to that Kids' Corner, preinstalled social apps and a double-tap to wake feature, and Windows Phone isn't looking too shabby next to its rivals. 

Verdict:

Microsoft yet again proves how well it does smartphones and at the price of Rs.10000, the Lumia 640 is a steal! It is a perfect example of seamless hardware, software and services and along with Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim, an absolute pleasure to use.

And why wouldn't you go down the Windows Phone route? Windows Phone is bright, it's colourful, and it's something different to the icon-led home screens of iOS and Android, with tiles that update with information in real time. Once you've become familiar with its layout, it's really easy to use. It wont be an overstatement to say that the Moto G just met its match!

Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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REVIEW: OnePlus One

After about almost a whole year since its been out, I got my hands on the much hyped OnePlus One.

There has been an interesting trend lately: Chinese manufacturers developing Android smartphones. Xiaomi and OnePlus are the at the forefront of this trend. Both these manufacturers promise phones with high-end specs at lowest prices possible and market them with tags such as "flagship killers"; which is a highly disappointing overstatement. Anyway, I just got to play with one of my friends' OnePlus One and here are some of my thoughts about it:

Aesthetics:

On design, OnePlus' official website reads that: "Unimpressed with the designs on the market, we weighed each hardware decision directly against the impact it would have on the look and feel of the final product." Big talk, but in the end, the company simply copied the Oppo Find 7a's design.
There's no denying that the OnePlus One is quite a looker. The sandstone finish feels good to hold. The chrome rim around the screen is a nice touch from the aesthetics point of view. As seen on most Samsung phones though, it's faux-metal.

Like most Android phones these days, the OnePlus One is not ideal for one-handed use. The lock button is on the right hand side. Bang opposite is the volume rocker. The buttons have insufficient travel. Because of this, you don't always get proper tactile feedback from buttons. 

The back-cover is not user replaceable. Speaking of covers, OnePlus had promised bamboo and silk white swappable "StyleSwap" for months. Later, the company with a "Never settle" tagline asked its fans to settle without these covers due to "technical difficulties" in manufacturing process. The biggest issue is that OnePlus only has about 25 service centres in India. In comparison, Samsung has more than 40 service centres in Mumbai area alone. 

Display:

The OnePlus One sports a 5.5" Full HD (1080p) screen. As you would expect from the pixel density of 400, the screen is impressively sharp. It is protected by the scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 3. Although it's an IPS panel, the colours look somewhat dull. Even by LCD's standards the blacks are disappointing. The brightness slightly less when compared to other phones in this price tag. The screen is very reflective. Take it out on a sunny day, and you barely get to read the screen. Overall, the display quality is not what you would expect from an IPS display.

Specifications:

The OnePlus One packs-in some serious firepower; at least on paper. It features a quad-core Snapdragon 801 SoC (System on Chip) clocked at 2.5 GHz. To handle multitasking, you get 3 GB RAM. In the photography department, OnePlus has thrown-in a 13 megapixel camera with Dual LED Flash. The company is using Sony Exmor BSI sensor. For selfies, there's a 5 megapixel front-facing camera. Other features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, NFC, and 3100 mAh battery. The phone lacks a microSD card slot. But, it won't be missed since the phone packs-in 64 GB internal storage.

Given all these specifications, the processor performs well in playing medium intensity games, not as well in processor intensive tasks. Again, false promises.

Software:

The phone runs Android 4.4 Kitkat. As you would already know, it comes with Cyanogen 11 customisation that gives you total control of the device. The built-in theme support allows you to customise the handset with ease. You can change the boot animation and fonts without rooting the phone. Keep it in mind though that most themes are paid. Plus, there's a privacy guard to keep a check on the permissions acquired by third-party apps.

OnePlus' default theme is quite nice and user-friendly. Cyanogen's square app icons look good. The problem is that the third-party app icons have no such guidelines, so they look out of place. Plus, when you really think about it, all these customisibility options turn out to be rather useless when you really want to use your device. I mean, who would change the boot animation of their phone as much? In my opinion, day to day users who want to get their work done wouldn't really care about all these options.

The menu navigation and transition effects are mostly smooth. Surprisingly, the phone takes a couple of seconds to render images in gallery. I also found a slight lag when pressing the multitasking button to see all open apps and the home button also lags about 2 seconds when you press it. All those high-end specs won't help you here.

Multimedia:

The OnePlus One does not ship with earphones (WHAT!). The built-in video player is basic. It plays videos and that's that. It lacks subtitles support. However, it's not an issue since the Google Play Store comes to the rescue with the MXPlayer.

Camera:

The camera interface is straightforward. Right hand side keys, let you choose between the snapper and video recorder. Moreover, you can select from Auto, HDR, Beauty, and Action modes by swiping from top of the screen. Strangely, the camera viewfinder is sluggish. If you move the camera swiftly, all you see is ghosting for a second or two. 

The 13 megapixel camera backed by Sony's Exmor sensor performs well outdoors on a sunny day. However, the image quality goes downhill in not so bright conditions. In low-light, it produces trashy photographs. This is strange since the phone sports a BSI (Back Side Illuminated) sensor to enhance low-light performance.

The OnePlus One records 4K videos. However, even when viewed on 42-inch TVs, I couldn't find any quality difference between 4K and 1080p videos. It's worth noting that a 10 second 4K video takes up to 85 MB storage space, which is yet another reason why you should stick to Full HD instead. To keep up with the competition the OnePlus One also supports slow-motion. 

Cellular And Messaging:

The phone's network reception is very good. Voice quality through earpiece was good too. The contacts app is quite similar to what we get on the stock Android OS. Messaging is a standard Android affair. The default keyboard is the one you get on Nexus devices. However, my typing experience on the device wasn't satisfactory at all. The screen at times was either too sensitive or not sensitive at all. Same is the case with 3rd party keyboards. Nothing exciting in this area.

Battery:

Another disappointing factor about this device is the battery life; and it is a huge letdown. During processor intensive tasks, you'll notice battery level taking huge dips. During my usage, the battery lasted a little over 6 hours, where even other mid range smartphones perform well, let alone flagships. On paper, the device has a 3100 mAh batter, non-user replaceable. 

Verdict:

OnePlus started off with an aggressive marketing campaign lambasting big brands. the company promised to deliver a Flagship Killer", but in the end, it has delivered nothing more than a run-of-the-mill Android phone. After comparing it to the similarly priced phones, I think that the OnePlus One's screen and camera are mediocre at best. After sales service is another area of concern. So while it is affordable at Rs.22000 approx, you'll get much better mid-range smartphones at the same price including iPhone 5c and Lumia 830, both which perform  

Sorry hardcore Android enthusiasts, looks like that octa-core CPU and 3GB RAM are impressive only on paper. If you're really that desperate to buy an Android, I suggest buying a Motorola handset than a cheap Chinese smartphone.

Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Difference between Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors: Expained

Whenever we think of buying a computer, processor is one of the most important aspect that we consider. Depending on our daily needs out of it, we start looking for a computer with the right processor installed in it.But it may be difficult to choose the right one. When it comes to processors, the most heard names these days are Intel Core i3, i5 and i7. But which one is right for you?

Let's find out:

Architecture:

First, it's important to explain about architecture and codenames. Every year, Intel releases a newer, faster range of processors. We're currently starting to see Broadwell chips, a refresh of last year's Haswell. Before that we had Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge. Generally speaking a Core i3, i5 or i7 that has a newer architecture is faster than the older-architecture processor that it replaces. You can tell the architecture by the model number, Devil's Canyon and Haswell start with 4; Ivy Bridge with a 3; and Sandy Bridge with a 2.

The most important thing about different architectures is making sure that you have a motherboard that supports the type of processor you're interested in. Processors, regardless of whether they're a Core i3, i5 and i7, based on the same architecture are fundamentally the same inside. The differences in performance come from which features are enabled or disabled, the clock speed and how many cores each one has.

Cores:

A core can be thought of as in individual processor. A dual-core processor, therefore has two internal processors, a quad-core model has four. More cores are useful for multi-tasking; for example, you can run two applications at the same time, each one having access to its own dedicated processor.

More cores are also useful for multi-threaded applications, such as video editing. With these types of applications they can use multiple cores to improve performance. Single-threaded applications can only use a single core leaving any others idle. Core i3 processors have two cores, Core i5 CPUs have four and Core i7 models also have four.  Some Core i7 Extreme processors have six or eight cores. Generally speaking, we find that most applications can't take full advantage of six or eight cores, so the performance boost from extra cores isn't as great.

Hyper-Threading:

Hyper-Threading is Intel's technology for creating two logical cores in each physical core. In other words, to your operating system it appears as though your CPU has double the number of cores than it really does.

In terms of performance, Hyper-Threading speeds up multi-tasking and multi-threaded applications. It's not as fast or as efficient as extra 'real' cores, but it's an improvement over a single Core. Core i3 and i7 processors have this technology, Core i5 processors do not.

Clock Speed:

The faster the clock speed in MHz, the faster each core can run. This can create some variances in performance. For example, a Core i3-4370 Haswell processor runs at 3.8GHz. It would be faster running a single-threaded application, which can only use one core, than a Core i5-4590, which only has a clock speed of 3.2GHz. However, running a multi-threaded application, the Core i5 would most likely be quicker, as its four real cores are better than the Core i3's two cores and Hyper-Threading.

Turbo-Boost:

Turbo Boost is Intel's technology for automatically overclocking a processor, boosting its clock speed higher than the default setting. The CPU monitors its temperature and, when it's running cool enough, will apply the overclock. Core i5 and i7 CPUs have this technology, Core i3 models do not.

Graphics Chip:

All Intel processors have graphics chips in them. Pre-Haswell, the GPUs weren't particularly good for games, although they were fine for watching video. With Haswell, came the Intel HD Graphics 4600 line, which is fine for a bit of light gaming; some cheaper models have HD Graphics 4400 chips, which are fine for some older less-demanding games. Some of the more expensive chips have Intel Iris Pro chips in them. They're slightly faster in games, but can cope with 4K video, making them suitable for high-end video editing

In all cases, if you're serious about playing games, Intel chips don't cut it and won't give you high-resolution, high-detail gaming. So, if you're into hardcore gaming, it is advisable to look for a dedicated graphics card instead.

Availability of features:

 If you're not sure which features that processor you're interested in has, you can use the ark.intel.com website. Just use the search box to search for a model number and you'll find all of the features your processor has.

Verdict:

As a rough guide, a Core i3 chip is fine for day-to-day use. Go for a Core i5 if you do a lot of video or photo editing. A Core i7 chip is generally more expensive than it's worth, in our experience, but buy one if you do a lot of video editing, particularly 4K, or other processor-intensive tasks.

Also See: 

• How to buy the right Laptop.
• How to buy the right Desktop.

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