tech2touch

Author: Aniruddh

  • Asus Zenfone Max Review – Pros and Cons

    Asus Zenfone Max is a lower mid range dual sim Android smartphone. The key highlight of the device is its massive 5000 mAh battery. The device can be used as power bank for charging other smartphones. The price of Zenfone Max in India is Rs. 9,999. For this price, it is one of the best value for money smartphone if you are looking for a smartphone with good battery life. This Zenfone Max review is segregated by questions and answers. This includes features and specifications, advantages and disadvantages and few simple tips.

    Asus Zenfone Max Dual sim

     Asus Zenfone Max Review and FAQ

    What are the box content of Asus Zenfone Max? 

    Box content of Zenfone Max includes Handset, user manual and warranty card, charger, USB to microUSB cable, USB OTG cable.

    How is the design and build quality of Zenfone Max?

    The device looks very similar to previous Zenfone 2 smartphones. The dimensions of the device are 77.5mm*156mm*10.55mm. The thickness at its thinnest edge is 5.2mm. This smartphone weighs 202 grams.  Unlike Zenfone 2, the volume and power buttons are placed in the right side of the device. The device comes with surrounding metal like edge which gives style factor to Zenfone Max.

    What are the different colour options available?

    Zenfone Max is available in two colour variants. One is Pure White with an elegant eggshell texture and another one is Osmium Black with the look and feel of embossed leather.

    What is display size and quality? Does it has any protecting glass cover?

    Zenfone Max sports 5.5 inch  HD (1280×720 pixels) IPS display screen. The viewing angles and colours reproduction are good. Even brightness of the device also decent but not great. If you are used to high ppi density display screens, you might observe bit of pixalation. As far as screen protection, it has Corning Gorilla Glass 4 with fingerprint and smudge-resistant oleophobic coating.

    How is the performance? Does Zenfone Max has any heating issue?

    Zenfone Max is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SoC with 2GB of RAM. The device has 16GB of internal storage in which 10GB is user available. It also supports microSD card. The internals are very similar to Zenfone Laser. In general usage, i have not faced any lag while switching between the apps or opening a app. The gaming performance too decent. In my usage, I have not faced any heating issue.

    How is the camera performance?

    Asus Zenfone Max houses 13 megapixel, f2.0 aperture rear camera with dual tone LED flash. There is also a laser auto focus for quick focus on the object. The performance of camera in outdoor condition is good. In indoor and low light performance with auto settings is average. However, if you play with manual settings, it takes decent images.  The device also has 5MP, f/2.0-aperture camera with 85̊ wide-viewing angle. It does take decent images.

    P_20160220_084439

    What is the battery capacity of Zenfone Max? Does it has fast charging? 

    Zenfone Max comes with huge 5000 mAh battery. There is no fast charger out of the box. The bundled charger takes around 5 hours to charge completely. The battery life on this device is excellent. With my regular usage, I got more than 2 days of battery life with 4G/3G enabled all the time. The standby time also excellent.

    Can I use Zenfone Max as power bank? 

    Yes. You can use this device as power bank. Asus has bundled OTG cable along with the box.

    What are the connectivity features of this dual sim Zenfone smartphone?

    The connectivity features of the device includes 4G(on sim 1 only), 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and USB.

    What are different sensors available in  Zenfone Max?

    Accelerator,E-Compass,Proximity sensor,Hall sensor,Ambient light sensor.

    What are the pros and cons of Zenfone Max?

    Pros:

    • Excellent battery life.
    • Decent performance and software.
    • Decent build quality.
    • Ability to use the device as power bank.

    Cons:

    • Bundled charger does not support fast charging.
    • Display could have been better.
    • Feels bit heavy in hand.
    • No Android 6.0 out of the box.

    How to download PC suite for Zenfone Max?

    There are 2 ways through which you can install Asus PC suite for Zenfone Max. One through directly from your phone. That is connect your device to PC. New drives shows up. Click and install the PC suite. Another way through directly downloading from official support page. You can read more on this in my previous post how to download Asus Zenfone PC suite.

    How to use Zenfone max as modem?

    You can use Zenfone Max as modem through USB tethering, Wi-Fi hotspot and through Bluetooth tethering. I have detailed post on this with title How to use Zenfone as modem.

    How to capture screenshot on Zenfone Max?

    I already covered it in previous post. You can refer to it here.

    When Zenfone Max will get Android 6.0 Marshmallow update?

    As per the recent announcement from Asus, Android 6.0 update for Zenfone Max will start from March 2016. You can read more about this here.

  • How to update Moto E 2nd Gen to Android 6.0 Marshmallow

    Motorola Moto E 2nd gen finally started to recieve Android 6.0  Marshmallow update in India. The size of the OTA update is around 450MB. So you need to have around double that space. The new Android 6.0  Marshmallow update for Moto E 2nd gen will bring new features like Now on Tap, Doze functionality which improves battery life, using microSD card as extension of internal storage etc.

    Useful links:

    How to take screenshot on Moto E

    How to use Moto E as modem

    Moto E 2nd gen pros and Cons

    How to update  Moto E 2nd Gen to Android 6.0  Marshmallow

    Before starting the update, it is better to fulfill some of the prerequisites. They are

    • Battery is charged at aleast 50%.
    • Have atleast 1GB free space.

    Now here is the update procedure.

    There are 2 scenarios.

    1. If you have received a notification message for this update:
      • Select “Yes, I’m in”.
      • After the software is downloaded, select “Install now”.
      • After the software is installed, your phone will re-start automatically.
      • Your phone is now updated to Android 6.0.
    2. If you have not received a notification message for this update:
      • Select the Settings icon in the apps menu.
      • Select “About phone”.
      • Select “System updates”.
      • Select “Yes, I’m in”. After the software is downloaded, select “Install now”.
      • After the software is installed, your phone will re-start automatically.
      • Your phone is now updated to Android 6.0.

    Motorola has released Android 6.0 update for its Moto G series(Starting Moto G 2nd Gen) and Moto X series. Now it is the turn for Moto E. Android 6.0  Marshmallow update as of now available through OTA in India only. But it expected to roll other parts of the world as well very soon.

    If you haven’t got the update, don’t be panic. The update will come in phases. With this update, Moto E 2nd Gen will be most affordable smartphone to run on Android 6.0  Marshmallow.  If you already recieved updated, don’t forget to share your experience with new OS in the comment section below.

  • How to take screenshot on Asus Zenfone Max

    Asus Zenfone Max is a sub 10k Android smartphone with huge 5000 mAh battery. It runs on Android Lollipop with ZenUI. In this post, we will go though on how to take screenshot on Zenfone Max.

    For capturing screenshot on Zenfone Max, there are 3 different methods are available. 1. Power and Volume down method, 2. Recent Apps key method and 3. Through screenshot button.

    How to take screenshot on Zenfone Max

    1. Power and Volume down method:

    • Go to the screen on which you want to perform print screen.
    • Press and hold power and volume down key for around 1-2 seconds.
    • Screenshot will be saved.

    2. Using the recent apps Key method:

    For using this method, first you need to assign recent apps key to take screenshot.

    • Go to  “Application” >> Tap “Settings” >> Choose “ASUS customized” from options. >> Choose “Key settings”>> Choose “Tap and hold to get screenshot”.
    • Now whenever you want to capture screenshot on Zenfone Max, long press on the recent apps key.
    • The screenshot will be saved.

    3. Using the screenshot button method

    By default quick settings menu does not have screenshot button. So you need to add it to the quick access menu.

    Print screen on Zenfone Max

    • On home screen, go to Access Quick settings and then tap “Quick settings options”.
    • Select the screenshot option from the available tools option. Do note that, you can choose maximum of 4 tools. So you need to disable the tool from quick settings menu which you don’t want.
    • Now whenever, you want to perform screen capture on Zenfone Max, access the quick settings and tap on to Screenshot button.

    Where the taken screenshot will be saved?

    All the screenshot which are taken on Zenfone Max will saved under Gallery->Screenshot folder.

  • Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 Features and FAQ

    Samsung has recently launched 2016 variant of Galaxy A5 and  Galaxy A7. Both devices share similar specification in many aspects. The key difference are display screen size, RAM  and the battery. In this post we will have a quick look into features of the Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 which are segregating into questions and answers.

    Samsung Galaxy A5

    Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 edition FAQ

    What are the different variants Galaxy A5 2016 available?

    Mainly Galaxy A5 2016 comes with 2 processor variants. One is powered by Snapdragon 615 Soc and the other one is Exynos 7580. The model which is available in India is powered by Exynos 7580 Soc which is a 64 bit 1.6GHz Octa core processor(Cortex A53) with Mali T20 GPU.  It has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It also supports microSD card.

    What are the different colours options available?

    Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 will be available with 3 different colours variants namely Gold, White and Black.

    Does it has seperate dual sim slot or hybrid slim slot?

    Galaxy A5 2016 has dual sim card slot+ seperate memory card slot.

    How is the display on this device? Does it has any protective glass?

    The device sports 5.2 inch super AMOLED screen with a screen resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels and pixel density of ~424 ppi. The screen has Corning Gorilla glass 4 protection.

    What about camera?

    Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 houses 13MP primary camera with f1.9 lense and LED flash. The camera also has optical image stabilisation. There is also a 5MP front facing camera with f1.9 lense. Both camera are equipped to record videos at 1080p resolution.

    What is battery capacity of Samsung Galaxy A5 2016? Does it has fast charging feature?

    Galaxy A5 2016 model houses 2900 mAh battery with fast charging feature.

    What is Android version? Will this device gets Android 6.0 Marshmallow?

    Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 edition runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out of the box. There is no official communication on Android 6.0 update as of now. However, this device is expected to get the update.

    What are box content of Galaxy A5 2016 edition?

    The box content are device, Quick start guide, sim ejector pin, microUSB to USB cable, Power adaptor which supports fast charging.

    Does it has FM Radio?

    Yes. It has.

    What is the price of Galaxy A5 2016 edition? Where can I buy?

    Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 edition price in India is Rs.29,400. You can purchase it from Snapdeal.com.

    How to take screenshot on Galaxy A5 2016

    To take screenshot on Samsung Galaxy A5 2016, there are 2 different methods available. One is through the Power button and home key and another one is through palm swipe method. I have done detailed post on these method. You can read that in my previous post on how to take screeenshot on Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

    Can I use Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 as modem to share mobile data with PC and other devices?

    Galaxy A5 2016 supports USB tethering, Wi-Fi Hotspot and Bluetooth tethering features. Using these features, you can share mobile data with other capable devices.  You can read more on this in my previous post on how to use Samsung Galaxy as modem.

    These are most commonly asked question on this device. If you have any specific questions, you can ask using the comment section below. I will be doing the complete indepth review on Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 in the coming days which will cover pros and cons of the device.

  • LeEco Le 1s Review- great looking smartphone with average performance

    LeEco Le 1s has good design and build quality coupled with feature studded spec sheet. The key attractions of the device are full metal unibody, octacore Soc with 3GB RAM, fingerprint scanner and thin bezel display. LeEco Le 1s price in India is Rs. 10,999.

    Read:

    LeEco Le 1s Top 5 Features

    How to take screenshot on LeEco Le 1s

    LeEco Le 1s or Letv Le 1s is powered by 64bit 2.2GHz  MediaTek Helio X10 Soc with 3GB of RAM and PowerVR G6200 graphics. The device runs on dated Android 5.0.2 with LeEco’s heavy eUI skin.  It has 32GB of internal storage and sadly there is no expandable storage option through microSD card. Though it has powerful Soc with 3GB of RAM, overall performance is let down by the unpolished eUI skin. Out of 3GB of RAM, 1.8GB of RAM is always used by the system.This means we have only 1.2GB of free RAM.  There was a visible lag while switching between apps and has heating issue while playing high end games.

    LeEco Le 1S

    Letv Le 1s sports 5.5 inch full HD IPS screen. The colours look sharp and viewing angles are acceptable. The brightness of the screen is good enough for indoors but difficult to use under direct sunlight. The device has fingerprint scanner and it works as expected. Letv Le 1s houses non removable 3000 mAh battery. The battery performance is just average. It is enough for a regular day’s usage with casual usage.

    Letv Le 1s has 13MP primary rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front facing camera. Like many other budget android smartphone, this too takes decent images in outdoor conditions. The low light performance is weak. Video quality is adequate for the budget this smartphone is priced.

    Let us summarise Letv Le 1s review by merits and demerits of the device.

    Advantages and Disadvantages of Letv Le 1s

    Pros of Letv Le 1s

    • Premium looking metal unibody design.
    • Decent display screen.
    • Good speaker output and call quality.
    • Good features like IR blaster, fingerprint scanner, USB-C type fasting in a budget smartphone.

    Cons of Letv Le 1s

    • Unpolished heavy eUI skin and dated Android 5.0.2.
    • Average battery life.
    • Average camera performance.
    • Heating issue while playing the highend games.
    • No expandable storage through microSD card.

    LeEco Le 1S Tips and Tricks and FAQ

    What type of sim cards LeEco Le 1S supports? What is the size of sim card?

    LeEco Le 1s supports dual sim. Both sim cards are 4G LTE enabled. 1st SIM is micro SIM and the second one is nano sim.

    How to use LeEco Le 1S as modem?

    LeEco Le 1s supports Wi-Fi hotspot, USB tethering and Bluetooth tethering. Using this, you can share mobile data to other devices. You will be able to find this options in “Settings”->  “Personal Hotspot”.