Category: 4.4

Hands-on and First Impressions: Cherry Mobile Cubix Cube 2

Daniel Morial Leave a comment

Cherry Mobile’s own Cubix brand is here once again to offer another affordable yet feature-packed Android smartphone. The Cubix Cube 2 brings a 5.7-inch 1080p IPS display to the table with One Glass Solution and Octa-core power for under Php 5k.

The Cube 2 is made with a combination of metal and plastic — with the sides composed of the former while the rest of the device comprised with the latter. We first thought that it has a glass back panel but it turned out to be made with polycarbonate, and the significant amount of smudge is just hard to wipe off. Nevertheless, the device feels solid on hand.

cubix2-7

The Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display looks great during our short encounter. Even at 5.7-inch, clarity still holds at 384ppi. The IPS and OGS solution significantly gives the panel a boost with color reproduction and viewing stability.

cubix2-6

We weren’t able to properly test the 13-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel front-facing shooter yet, but with the short time we’ve spent on it the available indoor lighting performed adequately. Nothing special with the sensors here. Interestingly, there’s a pin connector at the back for wireless charging but you’ll need an additional case for that.

cubix2-8

The major concern with the smartphone is its OS version. With most local smartphones now on Android Lollipop out of the box, the Cube 2 ships with Android 4.4 KitKat. An update to 5.0 is promised but with no exact time frame as of the moment. Another disappointment is the lack of microSD card slot for memory expansion.

While the software and memory might be a deal breaker for some, the device’s built-in NFC and Wi-Fi 802.11 ac are something any sub-P5k smartphone doesn’t have.

cubix2-4

For Php 4,990, you’ll get a 1080p IPS display, 1.7GHz octa-core processor, 13MP and 8MP cameras, plus a whole suite of connectivity option. With the pricing, it’s not a bad package with a big catch.

Cherry Mobile Cubix Cube 2 specifications:
1.7GHz Octa-core processor
5.7-inch Full HD IPS OGS display (1920 x 1080 pixels)
2GB RAM
16GB internal storage
13-megapixel rear camera
8-megapixel front-facing camera
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth
NFC
Dual-SIM / Dual-standby (Micro-SIM)
3500 Li-Po battery
Android 4.4 KitKat
156mm x 79mm x 8mm
170g

The Cubix Cube 2 will be sold online only through Lazada starting November 6 at 12NN.

The post Hands-on and First Impressions: Cherry Mobile Cubix Cube 2 appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines News & Tech Reviews.

Torque Droidz Slate HD Quick Review

Daniel Morial Leave a comment

Local smartphone brand, Torque, offers a good-looking 5.5-inch smartphone with a slim profile, MediaTek octa-core CPU, and sub-Php6K price tag, but are these enough to lure consumers especially now that we have a lot of options within this price range? Read our quick review of the Droidz Slate HD to find out.

Design and Construction

When it comes to its physical attributes, we would give a thumbs up to the sleek physical design of the phablet and its good plastic build. The whole front is dominated by the 5.5″ IPS LCD with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels. Thanks to the IPS panel, viewing angles of the device are wide though colors are not as vibrant as we like it to be but it has good clarity thanks to its acceptable pixel density of 267ppi. Brightness levels are average with sub-par sunlight legibility. We noticed that the display turns bluish when completely dimmed and the ambient light sensor feels like it’s having a hard time adjusting.

Below is a unique home capacitive button together with the usual back and menu keys. The back panel has a matte plastic cover that is removable to give access to the battery, microSD and dual SIM card slots.

On the right side of the device is the power/lock button and on the left is the volume rocker. The top side features the micro-USB port for charging and data connectivity and the 3.5mm headphone jack. While the microphone sits alone at the bottom edge of the device.

The sides are surrounded by a chrome frame with black lining that adds a distinct look and feel to the device. In terms of looks, the Slate HD can definitely stand out.

Camera

Equipped with a 13-megapixel rear and a 5-megapixel front cameras, the phone may appear competitive if you base it on numbers but when it comes to actual image quality it doesn’t stack up against its competitors.

Even under broad daylight, the primary 13MP shooter captures soft and uninspiring images. It generally has trouble with focus and color reproduction. We find the camera to be a slouch for quick snapshots. In case of dark scenarios, you can fire up the dual LED flash. The front camera, on the other hand, struggles with indoor lighting. You may check out the samples below for your own judgement:

Upon further checking, we found out that the front camera has an aperture of f/2.8 only, which explains the lack of light. Both cameras can also record videos with the same quality as those of the still images up to 1080p full HD.

Performance and Benchmarks

The device runs Android 4.4.2 “KitKat” with no indicated future with 5.0 “Lollipop.” Overall, it runs smoothly with little to no lag during everyday use. The 1GB of RAM can handle simultaneous apps well as long as you keep things light and steady.

Torque’s skin on top is very similar to stock Android but with white backgrounds and imported icons from other themes. We personally dislike the pale icons, good thing 3rd party launchers and icon packs are available for download through the Play Store.

Benchmarks of the device reveals the following scores:

    Antutu 5 – 18,240
    Quadrant Standard – 6,974
    Nenamark 2 – 51.6 fps
    Vellamo – 1262 (Multicore), 678 (Metal)

Call Quality

It’s worth noting that the earpiece of the device is soft and tinny. We were surprised to hear such bad output from the it since most modern smartphones today already has quality phone calls, making the Slate HD not suitable for everyday cellular talking. And also, the loudspeaker doesn’t do justice to media playback.

Battery

Despite its large display, only a 2,200mAh removable Li-ion battery powers the device. Its juice lasted for only 3 hours and 19 minutes during our routine battery test which involves playing a 1080p file in loop using its native video player as MX Player has an issue with the device causing it to crash.

Conclusion

The Torque Droidz Slate HD is priced at Php5,499 and offers good looks with some compromise. This phablet is okay for light gaming and multimedia consumption thanks to its large display. However, it has a terrible earpiece for calls, mediocre camera, weak loudspeaker, and poor battery life. For its asking price, one might just consider shelling out an extra Php1K and get a better performing device instead.

Torque Droidz Slate HD specification:
5.5-inch IPS LCD @ 1280×720 pixels, 267ppi
MediaTek MT6582 1.3GHz quad-core processor
Mali-400 MP GPU
13-megapixel primary camera
5-megapixel front-facing camera
1GB RAM
8GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD card
3G/HSPA
Dual SIM / Dual Standby
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
GPS with aGPS
Li-Ion 2,200mAh battery
Android KitKat 4.4.2

What we liked about it:

  • Decent to good looks
  • Responsive large display
  • Tap-to-wake function

What we didn’t:

  • Terrible earpiece
  • Quiet loudspeaker
  • Mediocre cameras
  • Small battery capacity

The post Torque Droidz Slate HD Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Torque Droidz Slate HD Quick Review

Daniel Morial Leave a comment

Local smartphone brand, Torque, offers a good-looking 5.5-inch smartphone with a slim profile, MediaTek octa-core CPU, and sub-Php6K price tag, but are these enough to lure consumers especially now that we have a lot of options within this price range? Read our quick review of the Droidz Slate HD to find out.

Design and Construction

When it comes to its physical attributes, we would give a thumbs up to the sleek physical design of the phablet and its good plastic build. The whole front is dominated by the 5.5″ IPS LCD with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels. Thanks to the IPS panel, viewing angles of the device are wide though colors are not as vibrant as we like it to be but it has good clarity thanks to its acceptable pixel density of 267ppi. Brightness levels are average with sub-par sunlight legibility. We noticed that the display turns bluish when completely dimmed and the ambient light sensor feels like it’s having a hard time adjusting.

Below is a unique home capacitive button together with the usual back and menu keys. The back panel has a matte plastic cover that is removable to give access to the battery, microSD and dual SIM card slots.

On the right side of the device is the power/lock button and on the left is the volume rocker. The top side features the micro-USB port for charging and data connectivity and the 3.5mm headphone jack. While the microphone sits alone at the bottom edge of the device.

The sides are surrounded by a chrome frame with black lining that adds a distinct look and feel to the device. In terms of looks, the Slate HD can definitely stand out.

Camera

Equipped with a 13-megapixel rear and a 5-megapixel front cameras, the phone may appear competitive if you base it on numbers but when it comes to actual image quality it doesn’t stack up against its competitors.

Even under broad daylight, the primary 13MP shooter captures soft and uninspiring images. It generally has trouble with focus and color reproduction. We find the camera to be a slouch for quick snapshots. In case of dark scenarios, you can fire up the dual LED flash. The front camera, on the other hand, struggles with indoor lighting. You may check out the samples below for your own judgement:

Upon further checking, we found out that the front camera has an aperture of f/2.8 only, which explains the lack of light. Both cameras can also record videos with the same quality as those of the still images up to 1080p full HD.

Performance and Benchmarks

The device runs Android 4.4.2 “KitKat” with no indicated future with 5.0 “Lollipop.” Overall, it runs smoothly with little to no lag during everyday use. The 1GB of RAM can handle simultaneous apps well as long as you keep things light and steady.

Torque’s skin on top is very similar to stock Android but with white backgrounds and imported icons from other themes. We personally dislike the pale icons, good thing 3rd party launchers and icon packs are available for download through the Play Store.

Benchmarks of the device reveals the following scores:

    Antutu 5 – 18,240
    Quadrant Standard – 6,974
    Nenamark 2 – 51.6 fps
    Vellamo – 1262 (Multicore), 678 (Metal)

Call Quality

It’s worth noting that the earpiece of the device is soft and tinny. We were surprised to hear such bad output from the it since most modern smartphones today already has quality phone calls, making the Slate HD not suitable for everyday cellular talking. And also, the loudspeaker doesn’t do justice to media playback.

Battery

Despite its large display, only a 2,200mAh removable Li-ion battery powers the device. Its juice lasted for only 3 hours and 19 minutes during our routine battery test which involves playing a 1080p file in loop using its native video player as MX Player has an issue with the device causing it to crash.

Conclusion

The Torque Droidz Slate HD is priced at Php5,499 and offers good looks with some compromise. This phablet is okay for light gaming and multimedia consumption thanks to its large display. However, it has a terrible earpiece for calls, mediocre camera, weak loudspeaker, and poor battery life. For its asking price, one might just consider shelling out an extra Php1K and get a better performing device instead.

Torque Droidz Slate HD specification:
5.5-inch IPS LCD @ 1280×720 pixels, 267ppi
MediaTek MT6582 1.3GHz quad-core processor
Mali-400 MP GPU
13-megapixel primary camera
5-megapixel front-facing camera
1GB RAM
8GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD card
3G/HSPA
Dual SIM / Dual Standby
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
GPS with aGPS
Li-Ion 2,200mAh battery
Android KitKat 4.4.2

What we liked about it:

  • Decent to good looks
  • Responsive large display
  • Tap-to-wake function

What we didn’t:

  • Terrible earpiece
  • Quiet loudspeaker
  • Mediocre cameras
  • Small battery capacity

The post Torque Droidz Slate HD Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

LG L Fino Dual Quick Review

Daniel Morial Leave a comment

LG smartphone line up has been pretty well since they launched the LG G2 a year ago. Following the success of the G2 is the current LG flagship, the LG G3. But these are top tier devices that will cost consumers a handful of Pesos. Good thing, LG made us the L Fino. A G3-looking device without the horsepower but has a few charms on its own.


First off, LG Fino closely resembles its elder brothers — the G3 series – with the rear-buttons, clean face and minimal branding. It is a pleasure to hold since it only sports a 4.5-inch with acceptable bezel. One-handed use is a check, making this smartphone friendly to any users.

A quick tour around the device will reveal the front-facing camera and proximity sensor on the front, the camera, LED flash, volume buttons and power/lock button at the back, the microUSB port at the bottom, and the 3.5mm jack on top. The rest of the device is clean and unobtrusive. When the screen is off, the Gorilla Glass on top of the display reflects beautifully and seamless.

Like any other modern phones, the call-quality of the L Fino is good with a little exception on the loudspeaker during calls. Voice sounds soft and quiet, but when playing music, it gets a bit louder.

Display-wise, the smartphone can please the eyes for its vibrant display but the resolution disappoints. With only a WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) on a 4.5″ display, the 207ppi is a drawback since its direct competitors already sport an HD display. Nevertheless, the LG UX is a big welcome to the L Fino with some of the G3-features on board especially the QSlide apps, Knock Code and tap-to-wake.

The L Fino carries a 8MP shooter at the back and it captures images with good detail in bright situations. Low-light scenarios will result to smudgy stills but a usable photo. If things get very dark, the single-LED flash can help. Also, the camera UI is very simple and easy to learn. There are casual effects too, just to add a little fun.

While the still feature of the camera is plausible, the video recording capability raises eyebrows because it only captures up to 480p. In today’s world of 4K flagships, 480p is not an excuse for such specifications. We hope to receive an update that will enable at least 720p recording soon.

Check out the captured samples from the 8MP sensor of LG L Fino:

After using the LG L Fino for days, its battery gives ample energy to power the phone for a whole day of casual usage. With a 1,900mAh power source, data connections should be used occasionally or you’ll get shorter battery life. And for quick performance showcase, the L Fino gets a score of 16890 in Antutu Benchmark.

By the end of the day, we hope the LG L Fino was cheaper. It is a well-balanced phone with smooth performance and fantastic software touches. Though, for Php 7,990, it doesn’t have an HD screen, HD video recording, and an HD front camera. Basically, everything high definition is removed from the L Fino.

LG L Fino specifications:
4.5″ IPS LCD (480 x 800 pixel), 207ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
1.2 GHz Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200
Adreno 302
1GB RAM
4GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 32GB
8-megapixel autofocus primary camera w/ LED flash, 480p video
VGA front-facing camera
FM radio w/ RDS
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
microUSB v2.0
HSDPA
Dual-SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by)
Li-Ion 1900mAh
Android 4.4.2 w/ LG UI
127.5 x 67.9 x 11.9 mm
145 grams
Php 7,990

What we liked about it:
– Vibrant IPS display
– Solid polycarbonate construction
– Smooth LG UX
– Fast performance

What didn’t like:
– 480p video recording
– Quiet loudspeaker
– Competitors have cheaper offerings with better specifications

The post LG L Fino Dual Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

LG L Fino Dual Quick Review

Daniel Morial Leave a comment

LG smartphone line up has been pretty well since they launched the LG G2 a year ago. Following the success of the G2 is the current LG flagship, the LG G3. But these are top tier devices that will cost consumers a handful of Pesos. Good thing, LG made us the L Fino. A G3-looking device without the horsepower but has a few charms on its own.


First off, LG Fino closely resembles its elder brothers — the G3 series – with the rear-buttons, clean face and minimal branding. It is a pleasure to hold since it only sports a 4.5-inch with acceptable bezel. One-handed use is a check, making this smartphone friendly to any users.

A quick tour around the device will reveal the front-facing camera and proximity sensor on the front, the camera, LED flash, volume buttons and power/lock button at the back, the microUSB port at the bottom, and the 3.5mm jack on top. The rest of the device is clean and unobtrusive. When the screen is off, the Gorilla Glass on top of the display reflects beautifully and seamless.

Like any other modern phones, the call-quality of the L Fino is good with a little exception on the loudspeaker during calls. Voice sounds soft and quiet, but when playing music, it gets a bit louder.

Display-wise, the smartphone can please the eyes for its vibrant display but the resolution disappoints. With only a WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) on a 4.5″ display, the 207ppi is a drawback since its direct competitors already sport an HD display. Nevertheless, the LG UX is a big welcome to the L Fino with some of the G3-features on board especially the QSlide apps, Knock Code and tap-to-wake.

The L Fino carries a 8MP shooter at the back and it captures images with good detail in bright situations. Low-light scenarios will result to smudgy stills but a usable photo. If things get very dark, the single-LED flash can help. Also, the camera UI is very simple and easy to learn. There are casual effects too, just to add a little fun.

While the still feature of the camera is plausible, the video recording capability raises eyebrows because it only captures up to 480p. In today’s world of 4K flagships, 480p is not an excuse for such specifications. We hope to receive an update that will enable at least 720p recording soon.

Check out the captured samples from the 8MP sensor of LG L Fino:

After using the LG L Fino for days, its battery gives ample energy to power the phone for a whole day of casual usage. With a 1,900mAh power source, data connections should be used occasionally or you’ll get shorter battery life. And for quick performance showcase, the L Fino gets a score of 16890 in Antutu Benchmark.

By the end of the day, we hope the LG L Fino was cheaper. It is a well-balanced phone with smooth performance and fantastic software touches. Though, for Php 7,990, it doesn’t have an HD screen, HD video recording, and an HD front camera. Basically, everything high definition is removed from the L Fino.

LG L Fino specifications:
4.5″ IPS LCD (480 x 800 pixel), 207ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
1.2 GHz Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200
Adreno 302
1GB RAM
4GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 32GB
8-megapixel autofocus primary camera w/ LED flash, 480p video
VGA front-facing camera
FM radio w/ RDS
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
microUSB v2.0
HSDPA
Dual-SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by)
Li-Ion 1900mAh
Android 4.4.2 w/ LG UI
127.5 x 67.9 x 11.9 mm
145 grams
Php 7,990

What we liked about it:
– Vibrant IPS display
– Solid polycarbonate construction
– Smooth LG UX
– Fast performance

What didn’t like:
– 480p video recording
– Quiet loudspeaker
– Competitors have cheaper offerings with better specifications

The post LG L Fino Dual Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.