IntellectBeat

Unlike its compatriot Samsung, LG has never really managed to be one of the big boys in the phone market in any category. Not that the South Korean company hasn’t been experimenting and innovating (the G5 modular flagship phone is the latest example of LG’s innovation), but then they appear to have fallen short in having the right mix. With its new K series (that succeeds L series) LG is seen as attempting to undo some of its past wrongs while packing in premium looks and features at affordable prices. The phones were first unveiled at CES earlier this year and LG has just launched the K7 and the K10 for the Indian market at Rs 9,500 and Rs 13,500 respectively. The K10 lives up of LG’s promise of premium looks. The glossy pebble finish does give it an understated elegance that is accentuated by the fabric-patterned back, which also improves the grip. The 2.5D arc glass design, where the front glass is curved at the edges gives the phone a smooth feel devoi...

Aiming to create a space for itself in the budget smartphone market, LG on Thursday introduced two new Android smartphones under the K series - the K7 and the K10, the company's first 'Made in India' phones. Both the mid-range phones appear to be promising, but do they have in them to compete against the competitors' offerings in the same price segment? We have played with both the phones, but here we will talk about how the Rs 9,500 LG K7 phone fared during the review period and where it stands in the already heated budget smartphone market. One of the most impressive features of the K7 is its premium finish. The device comes with a slightly curved display thanks to LG's 2.5D Arc Glass on top. And the rounded edges and LG’s pebble design make it an extremely eye-pleasing smartphone. The K7 comes houses all the buttons at the back, and therefore, with no button at the sides, the company has managed to give the phone a slim profile. The K7 feels comfortable to ho...

With an aim to create a space for itself in the crowded Indian smartphone market, US-based InFocus has been consistently producing affordable devices to attract budget buyers. While its first phone for the Indian market promised some potential, the rest of the offerings turned out to be average performers, and therefore, failed to make to our recommendation list. But the company has been continuing with its efforts to flood the Indian market with mid-range devices and the latest phone to have come from their stable is the Bingo 50. We played with the phone for weeks and put it to our exhaustive tests to check if it actually holds true to its name. Priced at Rs 7,499, the InFocus Bingo 50 runs the latest Android Marshmallow 6.0 with InLife UI 2.0 skin atop, which makes it one of the cheapest phones out there to come packed with the newest Google Android OS. The first thing to notice about this sleek, easy-to-hold phone is its rear panel. The review unit we received was in Sandstone ...

Unless you take a lot of selfies or need a bigger phone, Apple's new 4-inch iPhone SE is a good choice at a good price. You get the same 12-megapixel rear camera that's in the much larger iPhone 6s, but for $250 less, at about $400. You also get the same speeds and graphics capabilities. Of course, you don't get everything. The SE isn't going to be right for everyone, especially power users. Now that Apple has started taking orders, with shipments due in a week, keep these differences in mind: - Most noticeable is the front camera. The SE has an older 1.2-megapixel camera - not the 5 megapixel one in the 6s. But with software improvements, selfies taken with the SE came out better compared with the iPhone 5s it replaced. In addition, the SE's screen turns into a front-camera flash. That's more important than megapixels in darker settings. - Though you get the same rear camera as the 6s, you don't get an image-stabilizing feature found in the jumbo iPhon...

Over the last 20 years, mobile phones have evolved from being a luxury to an absolute necessity for many of us. The technology within the phones has also reached levels that your 20-year younger self (that is if you are old enough) will find it difficult to believe. Our phones first got smaller, then they started getting bigger (and bigger) and in the interim, they also got slimmer while developing abilities to potentially replace most household gadgets. The smartphones of today are more powerful than the most advanced supercomputers of the 1990s. Two things, however, remained the biggest stumbling blocks in this smartphone race: the battery and the fragile screen. The most significant feature we have seen in the solving the battery issue is fast charging - that actually solves only one part of the problem. But there is significantly more hope now in resolving the other big phone conundrum - the fragile screen. Motorola has a credible solution that they demonstrate in the Moto ...

In a market flooded with a range of affordable smartphones, the consumer is often at crossroads when it comes to choosing a device that comes with desired features and is also easy on the pocket. The Coolpad Note 3 may come at an attractive price of Rs 6,999, but does it get the right boxes checked in terms of features and experience? Read on to know. The Coolpad Note 3 Lite is lightweight at 142 grams and that is one of the most prominent features to be noticed about this phone. With its slightly curved edges and a thin body, the phone makes for a comfortable hold and it - quite literally - is easy carry around. The phone has a standard designing, with the lock/power button on the right and volume controllers on the left. The headphone jack sits atop and speakers are encased in the rear. Although the battery remains non removable, the SIM and memory card/second SIM slots are layered beneath the matte-textured rear panel. The phone's display has narrow bezels, which could be ...

Xolo has launched its latest smartphone- Xolo Era 4K. Under the hood, it is powered by a 64-bit 1GHz quad-core processor paired with 2GB of RAM. Running Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system, it features a 5-inch HD IPS display with 1280×720 pixels resolution and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection with Native Damage Resistance (NDR) which is claimed to offer improved toughness. For storage, it comes with 8GB of internal memory, which can be further expanded up to 32GB via microSD card. On imaging front, the handset sports an 8 mega pixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 5 mega pixel front facing camera. Camera features which the phone offers, include Face Beautify, Face Detection, Gesture Capture, Voice Commands, Smile Detection, Proximity Capture, Multi Angle View Mode, HDR, Panorama and QR Code Scanner. Backed up by a mammoth 4000mAh battery, it is claimed to deliver up to 17 hours of talk time and up to 472 hours of standby time on 3G netw...

The smartwatch concept isn't exactly new anymore, but it's not every day that you see one out in the wild. This might be because a lot of people believe that watches need not be smart, while others see them as expensive toys that might be a lot of fun to have, but that no one really needs. Either way, we still get a lot of attention when people spot our fancy smartwatches, and it's usually interesting looking at the curiosity on people's faces. Although there have been plenty of launches by smaller companies, such as the Intex iRist and Wickedleak Alpha, the market is still dominated by Pebble, Android Wear, the Apple Watch, and Samsung's Gear range of devices. Predominantly Tizen-powered, the Gear range is responsible for some truly innovative and path-breaking products, including the Samsung Gear Live and original Galaxy Gear. Up next from the Korean electronics giant is the new Samsung Gear S2, which was launched alongside the Gear S2 Classic. Running on T...

Introducing its new warrior to the smartphone battlefield, Huawei recently announced the launch of the Honor 5X smartphone in India. The company claims the phone offers a desired combination of good looks, great camera, and a powerful engine - all at an affordable price, but does it get through the real world tests that come its way and make it to our recommendation list? Read on to know. The first thing to notice about the Honor 5X is that it is slimmer and lighter than its predecessor 4X. At 158g including the battery, and the slightly rounded edges make the phone a light and comfortable hold despite the 5.5-inch display size. The phone is unibody and what adds to its appeal is the metallic rear that also houses a fingerprint sensor. The lock/power and volume control buttons are to the right of the phone, while The SIM and memory card trays sit neat on the left of the device. The phone comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p display that offers comfortable viewing with narrow side bezels. Com...

Chrome OS has been with us for about six years now, and has not really caught on outside of a few niches. With Android rapidly evolving, there's been a lot of murmuring around the Web that perhaps Chrome OS will be killed off and its features will be integrated into Android, but this rumour was quashed when Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP of Chrome OS, stated that the platform will live on. Instead, what we can expect is a much tighter synergy between mobile and desktop platforms, similar to what Apple is doing. So far, we've seen Chrome OS on laptops like the Xolo Chromebook and as a mini-PC like the Asus Chromebox CN60. Today, we'll be taking a look at a third type of computing platform which has garnered quite a bit of interest ever since Intel announced the Compute Stick last year. This "PC-on-a-stick" concept was also used by Android TV sticks couple of years ago, which were essentially devices a little larger than thumb drives that ran Android and plugged direc...