MOTO G (3RD GEN) REVIEW 2015

Good

Third In A Row, Best In Class

The new Moto G for 2015 is the hero for Motorola. With a whole spew of upgrades, the new Moto G is ready to take on the market. With little change in design and price, the customer is left asking for a lot more.

Overview

The new Moto G is available in two variants; a cheaper one priced at Rs. 11,999 comes with 8GB storage and 1 GB of RAM, whereas, a slightly expensive one at Rs 12,999 comes with 16 GB of storage and 2 GB of RAM. You also have a whole variety of covers that you can buy and swap with your current cover.

Build Quality And Design

Design wise you have a whole lot of differences starting with the back of the new Moto G, all the way to the front. It’s more rounded and has silver accents, which add to the premium look and feel of the device. The long cut in the back panel houses the camera equipment and the panel has a new reassuring texture.

Build is superior when compared to the last gen of the Moto G. With the IPX7 rating, the new Moto G can also withstand 3 ft (1 M) of water immersion. This makes the phone one of kind in this price bracket  and also the second device only after the Apple Watch to have this rating.

The plastic shells are high quality and swappable, which mean you can easily replace the back if damaged. The new Moto G also has Gorilla glass and a new solid structured frame that makes it a big winner in the build department.

Hardware

No hardware does not get a big boost, but you do get an improved camera, a slightly faster and more stable chipset and that is just about it. USB On the go is easily available, you also have micro SD card slots for expandability and two hardware options; 1 GB RAM + 8 GB Storage or 2 GB RAM + 16 GB Storage both of which support expandability and are separated only by a Rs. 1000 price difference.

Specifications	Moto G (Gen 3)
Display	5 inches, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Resolution	HD, 1280×720 pixels
Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410
Processor	1.4 Ghz Quad Core
GPU	Adreno 306
RAM	1GB/2GB
Storage	8GB/16GB
Expandable Upto	32 GB
Rear Camera	13MP
Front Camera	5MP
Video	1080p HD video, 30 fps
Battery	2470 mAh
Operating System	Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
Connectivity	Bluetooth v4.0, A2DP, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS, AGPS, GLONASS GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 7(2600), 20(800)
Price	Rs. 11,999 for 8 GB and Rs. 12,999 for 16 GB

Performance

The Moto G Gen 3 is more of a balanced smartphone. You won’t get a performance monster and you shouldn’t expect it to be one especially with the specifications it is packing. The 2 GB version, only slightly more expensive performs far better than the 1 GB variant. It will also bump up the onboard storage to 16 GB which would only make sense.

The User interface is fast and smooth and the stock Android helps with that to a big extent. The GPU handles multitasking and gaming with ease, although some applications tend to lag with the 1 GB variant. The 2 GB will work well for day to day usage and also with gaming.

Games work well with the 2 GB variant, as mentioned earlier. If you choose to run your games (like Asphalt 8) with higher graphics you will face some lag, mainly due to the limitations of graphics processing.

Camera And Multimedia

The 13 MP main camera is a big improvement, mix it up with the Android 5.1 camera capabilities and you get a great camera experience. Manually set up focus and exposure before you click the picture. The camera focuses quickly so you can go up close with your subjects and get a good depth of field. Images tend to be sharp and autofocus is snappy. Its a pity that the Moto G misses a proper oleophobic display, which would allow you to use the phone under water. No, you don’t have an underwater camera with the new Moto G.

No image stabalization also means that shaky hands need to beware of the induced camera shake. Video stays at 1080p and you also get some high speed capture at 720p reducing speeds to half, if needed.

The speaker is forward facing and has good audio. Despite the dual grills there is only a mono speaker. We would have liked a louder speaker, or at least a stereo speaker combo. The forward facing speaker makes the audio experience while watching video or playing games, improved.

The display is still a 1280 x 720p panel but is extremely vivid and bright. Outdoor visibility could have been better, but is very usable. The display has good viewing angles and the colours pop, so you won’t find us complaining. We did want a 1080p display and since most of the competition does offer up a 1080p display in this segment, it became a let down for us.

Phone Networks And Battery

With the inclusion of 4G networks, the Moto G adds the list of network ready phones. A major deal of Androids will join this list by the end of the year as most network players will offer 4G services.

The network performance is good and the audio quality is excellent. The connection strength is a big improvement over the last gen. phone. With the IPX7 rating, the one thing we really wanted to check was underwater calling capability. The phone does ring, but making a call is practically impossible as the display goes crazy with electric conduction the minute you unlock the screen, so your phone will randomly jump from app to app. We don’t really want to be making calls underwater, but hey, it could come in handy.

We are getting mixed reports about the battery life, some users are complaining of battery drain and others of overheating issues. However, we faced no such issues, and the phone gave us 1+ day of average use. We are expecting 4-5 hours of talk time mixed with varied use. Charge the Moto G once a day and you are good to go.

• Talk Time 4G : 4.5 Hours
• Internet : 7-8 hours of surfing
• Music : 11 hours
• Video : 5 hours

Conclusion

The Moto G (3rd Gen) is a smart upgrade from a good company. They did miss out on a few key things, a better display and a better chipset would make this the best phone for the price. However, it is a smart choice. It has the trust of a motorola handset, and the added legacy of great phones like the Moto Defy. Also the IPX7 rating, makes it the only phone in this class, with any such rating. It will be useful for those who need it.

Lastly, the swappable colour covers make sense and add personal style. Availability is easy, no flash sales and no invites. Smartphones need to be easy to buy and readily available in 2015, and the new Moto G ticks all the boxes of being a well rounded phone.

BUY NOW

Moto G (3rd gen) Review – 2015

8

Good

The Smart dual SIM 4G enabled device which offers up an IPX7 rating and Motorola’s trust. This makes more sense than hardware packed less trust worth handsets.

BUILD QUALITY8

DESIGN8

HARDWARE7

PERFORMANCE6

CAMERA8

MULTIMEDIA8

PHONE AND NETWORK8

BATTERY7

VALUE FOR MONEY7

Yu Yureka Plus: MINOR SPEC INCREASE

Today Yu Televentures announced a new handset, the Yu Yureka Plus. The phone is a revision to the existing Yureka, with added benefits. The revised specs also called for a revised price of Rs. 9,999.

Registrations for this handset have started again today and the handset will go on sale on the 30th of July exclusively on Amazon.in.

Overview

The Yu Yureka Plus is a phone that the Yureka should have been, in the first place. However, it is the company’s way of letting their consumers know that they are listening. The Yureka Plus improves on key features without drastically increasing the price. Is it worth the extra moolah? Let us find out in the review.

Hardware

Spec wise, the phone is more or less the same with some improved features. A higher resolution display with Gorilla Glass 3, a new Sony sensor in the camera and a stronger chassis.

Hardware Specs	Yu Yureka	Yu Yureka Plus
Display	5.5-inch HD	5.5-inch FHD Gorilla Glass 3
Resolution	1280 x 720p 267 ppi	1920 x 1080px 400ppi
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615	Qualcomm Snapdragon 615
Processor	1.5GHz Octa Core | 64 Bit	1.5GHz Octa Core | 64 Bit
GPU	Adreno 405	Adreno 405
RAM	2GB	2GB
Primary Camera	13 MP Sensor	13MP  Sony Sensor
Front Camera	5MP	5MP
Video	1080p Video Recording	1080p Video Recording
Storage	16GB	16GB
Expandable Up to	32 GB	32 GB
Battery	2,500 mAh	2,500 mAh
Operating System	Upgradable to Android lolipop	Android 5.1 Lollipop with Cyanogen 12
Bluetooth	4.0	4.0
Price	Rs. 8999	Rs. 9999

Design And Build Quality

Design wise, you really cannot tell one Yureka from the other (even if the other is a Plus). The only real design change is the availability of the the alabaster white colour, which is great to look at. Since it is a matte finish, it won’t attract fingerprints, but it will attract stains and pen marks just like the Silk white OnePlus One. For our other inputs on the design you can revisit the original Yureka review.

Build-wise, Yu claims that there is a brand new chassis which has been reinforced for additional rigidity in the frame. The phone is more resilient to drops and dings and just like the first gen Yureka, should last you a long time. The addition of Gorilla Glass 3 as a top layer of the display will make the phone slightly more tougher.

The Yureka was pretty tough as it is, and we showed that off in our review of the handset. Pop on a case and the included screen protector and you are good to go. However, the new white colour, despite being resistant to smudging and fingerprints, gets dirty easily and will attract ink stains and food stains.

Performance And Gaming

Just like on the design front, the performance of the Yu Yureka Plus is the same as the Yureka. The Hardware is identical and a few software improvements are apparent. The phone does not heat up despite excessive usage, and the plastic shell of the phone aids in keeping the heat at bay. Although the Yureka was in big trouble with heating issues, after some usage, it appears to be resolved.

We, just like everyone else who waited for a new device, expected a big bump in specs and that was not the case with the Yureka Plus. The company launched a modest update and the performance hasn’t been entirely impacted. The benchmark scores are higher due to software optimizations, but this might not be the case after weeks of usage.

Gaming seems better too, we did face few drops and jitters while playing games like Asphalt 8 and we are not sure if the full HD display will impact the GPU performance enough to make a difference in gaming.

Network, Calls And Battery

The Yu Yureka Plus will handle two LTE enabled SIM cards, however, you can have data running on one SIM at a time. LTE speeds are good as we managed over 20 Mbps downloads on Airtel Delhi Network. The network remains strong through most areas, which also impacts the battery less, hence improving the battery life.

Calls remain good too, the proximity sensor issue also seems to have been addressed. Sometimes however, during the calls the screen turns on, on its own, which can get rather frustrating. Dropped calls are negligible and can also be due to network limitations in certain areas.

Battery will last you a day with moderate usage. The Full HD display will impact the battery life a little extra, but optimisations from the company improve performance, considerably. We did hear mixed opinions about the battery last time, where some experienced good battery life while others had heating and battery drain issues. If that will be the case with the Yureka Plus or not, is presently unknown.

Talk Time : 5-6 Hours. (LTE)

Music : 10 Hours

Internet Usage : 5.5- 6 Hours

Multimedia and Gaming : 4 Hours.

Cyanogen

Yu Yureka was the reason that OnePlus had to drop Cyanogen OS usage on the One when it was launched in India. Their Cyanogen OS exclusivity partnership is one of the biggest reasons that makes the Yu franchise stand out. Cyanogen 12 OS comes out of the box on Android 5.0.2 along with many of the new features on the OS. The newer user interface has a highly improved experience. Transitions and page changes are fluid too. Cyanogen customization options make the usage very personal, and the tweaks and quick toggles make usage, easy.

Alabaster White and Moonstone Grey

Yu Brand Value And Promise

Negative chatter still remains high on the lack of service quality from Micromax. The Yu franchise also has the same response. With a lack of spares, service from the brand is slow and tedious and somewhat expensive in case of things like cracked display replacement.

The forums are active and a large community has adapted the brand and endorse it thoroughly. We don’t see many updates from the company when compared to the activity of companies like OnePlus and Xiaomi on their respective forums. However the discussion boards are full of consumers and prospective buyers communicating within themselves, which is in itself, a great thing. There are also YU team members who answer queries, in the usual, robotic manner.

Display And Camera

The increase in resolution is always welcome, especially when it brings along added Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The outdoor visibility is poor and at its brightest setting, it is barely visible. The increased resolution improves ppi to 400ppi which will improve the usage experience. The display has good colour reproduction and viewing angles.

The camera sensor has been improved from a previous gen Sony sensor to a newer sensor which will capture colours better and work well in low light conditions. The megapixels remain the same at 13MP, however images are sharper and contrast is better. Some samples are given below. Video is still shot at 1080p and thanks to better low light performance and colour saturation, the video quality is much better.

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Conclusion

While the price difference is negligible and so are the improvements, the Yureka Plus adds a Full HD display and a better camera, with a supposedly better build. All of which are worthy of the Rs. 1,000 price increase. There is no loss in performance, in fact, it is a tad bit better. If Yureka was your choice before, the Yureka Plus should be your choice now. There are however some other options in this price bracket, the ZenPhone 2 and the new Moto G (3rd Gen) is just around the corner.  Check out our video review below.

Click here to register for the Yu Yureka Plus : REGISTER NOW

7.3

Good

Considering the Price and other devices in the same Range. The Yureka Plus stands out from the rest. It also adds improvements to the Yureka, which are worth the increase in price.

BUILD QUALITY8

HARDWARE8

DISPLAY & MULTIMEDIA8

BATTERY LIFE6

PERFORMANCE7

CAMERA AND OPTICS7

NETWORKS AND PHONE7

HTC ONE ME DUAL SIM REVIEW

HTC ONE ME DUAL SIM REVIEW : MORE MEDIATEK

The Perfect Alternate Flagship, With Great Performance.

HTC has had a tough year, tough decisions and a lot of devices. The company has had the slowest quarter yet and the stock prices have dropped to an all time low. The company also reported a net loss of $258 Million, which points to the fact that the company is not doing well.

However that has not stopped HTC from making new handsets, and in countries like India, the HTC market share is growing considerably.

The HTC One ME, adds fuel to the HTC fire in India, a handset that brings the best of the flagship world  at a relatively lower cost.

Overview

The HTC One ME is a good mix of things from HTC. Priced at Rs. 40000 or US $ 630 (outright) the phone makes a lot of sense to people. However the use of mediate is slightly bothersome to the tech crowd, especially at such high prices.

Hardware

The HTC One ME has almost everything from the HTC One M9+ including most of the hardware. What differs is the chipset. The One ME uses the new MediaTek Helio X10 and is also the first phone with the said chipset. This enables devices to utilise full octal-cores at 2.2 GHz in 64 bit and also shoots high quality videos at upto 480 frames/sec. It allows a 120 Hz video display rate too.

Apart from that you will get 3 GB of RAM, a brilliant 2k display with 5.2 inch size, a  2560×1440 px resolution and 565 ppi.

The same camera as the One M9, a 20 MP f2.2 lens equipped sensor, and an HTC ultra pixel sensor for the front.

Specifications	HTC One ME
Display	5.2-inch Super LCD3
Resolution	WQHD 1440×2560 pixels : 565 ppi pixel density
Chipset	MediaTek Helio X10
Processor	Octa-Cora 2.2 GHz
GPU	PowerVR G6200
RAM	3 GB
Storage	32 GB
MicroSD Support	Yes,  Upto 2TB
Rear Camera	20MP, f2.2, BSI Sensor, 4K Video Recording
Front Camera	HTC Ultrapixel, f2.0
Battery	2,840mAh
Operating System	Android Lollipop 5.0.2 with HTC Sense 7.0
Misc	Boom Sound Speakers / Fingerprint Scanner
Price	Rs. 40,500

Display, Multimedia And Camera

The display on the new ME is the same as the M9+, excellent colours, deep blacks and great outdoor visibility. The touch is highly sensitive and even works when there is water on the display or if your fingers are wet. You will also get features like double tap to turn on. The display is great for all sorts of usage like watching movies, playing games or even browsing the internet. The high resolution makes content optimized for this look, great and the strain on the eyes is reduced considerably.

Boomsound speakers have always had this ability to be better than the remaining devices in the price segment and that continues with the new One ME. Sound is excellent in the headphones, out speakers or via bluetooth. Volumes are kept high and bass levels deep, almost as if the profile is the same as the old ones when HTC handsets would ship with “Beats Audio,” however, only better.

The camera lens and sensor are relatively large, hence a lot of light passes through to get a really high detail image. The images have excellent contrast and sharpness, shallow depth of field on close ups and a large zoom ratio thanks to the large 20.1 MP size of the rear camera.

4k video can be captured in 5 minute bursts, which gets annoying for those looking for a seamless solution. There are alternatives, devices which do not have said limits including the one we chose for our project here. Video is jitter free and captured at 30fps and it looks good, as the colour is deep and light is aptly adjusted.

Camera App

The Camera App is in-depth and features a lot of the capabilities of HTC devices seen in the past, galleries and Zoe are now independent apps with independent cloud storages. This complicates things for first time users, but in the longer run, makes sense. You also get the usual filters and effects along with post capture edits, which were all a part of HTC’s Sense.

Rear Camera Bokeh Effect

Rear Camera Indoor

Wide Front Camera

Front Ultrapixel Camera

Performance And Gaming

The handset scores roughly 46-48k on Antutu 64 Bit benchmark, which is impressive taking into consideration, the price. However, most of the performance which may not appear on benchmarks can been seen in real time usage.

The handset will almost never lag. In the 2 weeks of usage, the handset has not slowed down and transitions remain smooth, despite consuming large parts of the storage and or RAM.

Gaming remains impressive, the 120 Hz refresh rate of the display helps tremendously. Boom sound adds to the experience and so does the impressive touch screen. The good thing is that the device does not heat up despite increased usage, or high periods of gaming.

Phone Networks And Battery

The HTC One ME accepts dual LTE sim cards, both of which need to be nano sim cards. Network strength is great and so is the audio on both sides. Both sim cards can run LTE data packs and can be switched, depending on your convenience or usage scenarios.

Battery life was impressive due to high levels of optimizations and range point locks. Despite several rumours of poor battery life, we did not face any such issues with the handset. On our handset, the battery life was rather impressive. We got an average of One day plus use. Another thing to brag about is the quick charge capability of the handset. The One ME reaches a full charge in just over an hour, 50% recharge can be achieved in about 15 minutes of time.

Type Of Usage	Battery Life Expectancy
Phone Calls	5 Hours
Standby	3 Days
Gaming	3.5 Hours
Music Playback	11 Hours
Internet	7.5 Hours

Fingerprint, Blinkfeed And New Sense 7

The new style fingerprint scanner utilised by HTC is better by leaps and bounds. Versus the previous ten scanners, which required you to slide your finger across, the new “Apple Touch ID” style scanners are efficient and very usable. This makes your phone private and safe. You can easily unlock your device in the presence of others, without revealing your passwords or unlock patterns.

Fingerprint Sensor

The new Blinkfeed is far more seamless and smooth. The UI is easy and very pleasing to the eye, HTC has improved the layout of the content and things like fonts and colours have been tweaked to appear easy to the eye. You can now simplify content and chose what feeds you want, within your Blinkfeed. You can also set up custom channels for the same, to allow you to reach directly to your favourite feeds.

Sense 7 is a mega improvement over previous Sense UIs, more because of the way pure android is available to the consumer. The UI is far more simplified and streamlined, less invasive and does not come loaded with bloatware. Essentials like the “Zoe” feature and the “One Gallery” are cloud-only apps that serve a simple purpose.

Customisation has been HTC’s forté and it remains so, in the new Sense 7 on the new HTC One ME. The UI is extensively modifiable, and if you don’t like the BlinkFeed on the left you can simply use a third party launcher and replace it all.

Conclusion

HTC may not have gotten a lot of things right this year, but their devices in the Indian market show that the company has chosen the right things at the right time.

The HTC One ME is one such example. With Snapdragon not performing well on their current lineup of chipsets, HTC went with MediaTek and their latest “premium” chipsets. This has made the devices a lot more stable. However, this has also made one handset considerably vary from another. Some report of lag and battery drain while others, like us, appreciate the long battery life on our handset.

MediaTek aside, the HTC One ME is the plastic equivalent of the all round phone. The impressive display, great camera, excellent battery and seamless performance on our handset, makes us want to like it a lot. Just like any other scenario alternates do exist and with the S6 becoming cheap, a fixed storage and single sim is something that may make you pick the HTC One ME with its Dual Sim and 2TB expandability. However the S6 performs better and looks damn good.

7.9

Excellent

The Unique mix of hardware, design and software that is unusual to find easily. The HTC One ME comes at a less than flagship price, with flagship features and great all round performance. Dual sim and LTE capabilities work well.

BUILD QUALITY8

DESIGN8

HARDWARE8

CAMERAS AND OPTICS7

PERFORMANCE8

MULTIMEDIA9

PHONE CAPABILITIES AND NETWORK9

BATTERY LIFE8

SOFTWARE AND UI7

VALUE FOR MONEY7