The amazing Zenfone 3 Deluxe ... really surprised me !!

The detailed specs of Zenfone 3 Deluxe:

• A full HD 5.7 inch AMOLED
• All metal unibody
• Snapdragon 820 chipset, 6GB of RAM, 128GB ROM
• GPU Adreno  520
•  Quick charge 3.0 technology, fingerprint tech
• LTE Cat 13
• Rear camera: 23MP ( up to 92MP), 4K recording

Updated design language with aluminium unibody

Unlike the glass-clad ZenFone 3, the Deluxe model has a curved aluminium back, though it shares the same rear camera design and a fingerprint sensor on the back.

Full HD AMOLOED screen

The Zenfone 3 Deluxe also sports an alluring design with an aluminum construction that features ‘invisible’ antenna lines, a world first, according to Asus. The 5.7″ display has a 1080 x 1920-pixel resolution and it’s a Super AMOLED panel.

Great rear camera, 23MP, can up to 92MP

For the ZenFone 3 Deluxe, ASUS brought a 23MP main camera with Sony’s latest Sony IMX318 image sensor, an f/2.0 aperture lens, and 4-axis optical image stabilization for photos. 3-axis electronic image stabilization is utilized when shooting 4K videos, perhaps to prevent the moderate to offensive “jello” effect sometimes associated with optically stabilized smartphone footage.

The rear camera of this phone can ”boost” the image resolution up to 92MP when compared to the physical sharpness 23MP

Incredible performance with 6GB of RAM, and Snapdragon 820

6GB of RAM seems to be the most impressive factor to the fame of this phone, which, for sure, can support and process any kind of multi-tasks during the day. Further than that, the provision of Snapdragon 820 can be another valuable additional composition to the handset. For all these reasons, I do want to  re-affirm that Asus is ready for the battle against other manufacturers on the comtemporary market, ranging from Apple, Samsung to Xiaomi. And in the upcoming weeks, the comparative video between Zenfone 3 Deluxe and other flagships will be released in this site, so please, keep updated.

Apart from the great chipset and the RAM capacity, the Deluxe will come with different storage capacities that go all the way up to 256GB. It blows my mind that a smartphone will soon have more onboard storage than the laptop I’m using to write this right now. As well as that, Adreno 530 GPU is suitable for heavy lifting, such as 4K video playback and encoding, and running the latest games.

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   TECH REVIEWS

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Hugo Boss Smart Classic review

The Hugo Boss Smart Classic is the latest designer smart analogue watch born out of a partnership between luxury watchmaker Movado and tech company HP. While Movado brings the design, HP is powering the smarts so it'll play nice with your smartphone.

Much like the Michael Bastian Titan Juxt, Isaac Mizrahi and Movado Bold Motion hybrid smartwatches, the Smart Classic drops a small digital display inside the watch face to let you view notifications and fitness tracking data.

Priced at $295, it'll cost you the same as a traditional Hugo Boss Chronograph, so if you're already eyeing up a Boss timepiece, you're not paying extra to make it a smarter purchase.

We've seen some great examples of smart analogue watches and some not so good ones, so where does the Hugo Boss Smart Classic fit into that spectrum? We've been wearing it out and about over the last couple of weeks to find out.

Hugo Boss Smart Classic: The app and battery life

There's not a lot going on with the Hugo Boss BOSS Watches app and that's perfectly fine. It replicates the same black and white/silver colour scheme used throughout the watch design and it's very easy to get to grips with.

Along with sections dedicated to notifications and activity tracking, there's also a section that pushes you to the Hugo Boss online store (surprise, surprise), just in case you fancy matching your expensive watch with a similarly pricey shirt. It's also here where you can keep an eye on battery status as well, as you can't view this on the watch display. There are some additional features that are worth exploring in the settings menu like the ability to snooze notifications during a particular period of the day and adjust activity tracking goals.

You won't need to spend much time in here apart from the initial setup because there's very little reason else to go back. The daily, weekly, monthly breakdown of step data is pretty easy to ignore and unless you want to reduce notification support, it'll probably live untouched on your phone's homescreen.

As far as battery life is concerned, the Smart Classic's analogue movements are good to go for some time as it's powered by standard coin cell battery. When you factor in the smartwatch features, I managed to get a solid seven days out of it before it started to flash up a warning that the battery was low. If you don't have full notification support switched on, you can comfortably get four or five days of life more out of it. It's a super snappy charger as well when you do run out of battery.

Hit

• Attractive Hugo Boss watch design
• Solid battery life
• Good notification support

Miss

• Unattractive digital display
• Some syncing issues with fitness data
• No sleep monitoring

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Panasonic GX85 Review

The Panasonic GX85 comes close to offering the ideal blend of image quality, functionality, speed and size in our book, packing a ton of advanced features and performance into a compact, well-built body, all at a fair price. The camera produces crisp images that are competitive with other 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds cameras, 4K video quality is excellent, and overall performance is impressive, making this interchangeable lens camera an attractive option for beginners and enthusiasts alike. Is this the perfect compact mirrorless camera? Read on to find out!

PROS

Excellent build-quality; Good ergonomics for its size; Built-in 5-axis Dual IS, Built-in EVF; Tilting LCD touchscreen monitor; Competitive still image quality; Excellent 4K video quality; Fast autofocus and burst modes; Generous buffers; Tons of advanced features; Built-in Wi-Fi.

CONS

EVF could be better; Sluggish RAW and RAW+JPEG buffer clearing; No external mic and headphone jacks; Slow x-sync speed; Mediocre battery life.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

Offered in both a two-toned silver and black model as well as an all-black color, the Panasonic GX85 began shipping in May 2016 bundled with the retracting, ultra-compact 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH MEGA OIS LUMIX G VARIO zoom lens for US$799.99.

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Xiaomi Mi 5 review

Design and hardware

I went into the review dreading having to live with this behemoth of a phone, especially since I typically exercise with one. I was right for the most part. The Mi Max takes the term “phablet” to some extremes with its 6.44-inch display.

It’s not a comfortable fit at 88mm (iPhone 6+ is 77mm). My hands are small and I need two hands to operate it. Vertically, my thumb can’t get anywhere near that notification bar.

But thanks to the one-handed mode, a tap on the Home button followed directly by a swipe of the back button allows you to pick screen sizes between 3.5- and 4.5-inch simulations in the big screen. At least that is a compromise of sorts.

As for aesthetics, the design of the back is clean, occupied visibly by the camera and the fingerprint sensor. It would have been fine were it not for the two-toned colour between the aluminium body and the plastic caps at the top and bottom of the device. There is a visible seam between the parts and the colours are a shade off.

Another telltale sign: chamfers on the body are clearly shiny and metallic and those on the caps are not. What’s not forgivable is how the body bends at the slightest pressure. For a phone this size it should be doubly important for the structural strength to be extra high, but obviously that is not the case.

Display and features

The 6.44-inch LCD panel has a 1080p (1080x1920) HD display. Calculations show that this translates to roughly 340 pixels per square inch (ppi), which is slightly less than the 400ppi of the latest retina displays from Apple. Generally speaking the display quality is fine. Legibility remains unhindered under direct sunlight, as not only the brightness but also the contrast get an adjustment. Media consumption, videos, games especially are a joy on a screen this big.

But where is the Google Now On Tap? Holding the Home button brings up the standard Google search app rather than Google’s magical contextual aware search feature.

Camera

The 16-megapixel camera is the perfect example of one where megapixels aren’t everything (or anything, in this case). Whether you’re taking photos during the day, indoors or at night, you cannot hope for any sort of output that comes close to “good”. Every aspect of a poor camera – blur, muted colours, noise, grain... you can find in photos taken with the Mi Max. For bearable results, keep HDR switched on. You’ll be better off not taking the camera seriously and make use of the included effects for fun instead.

Performance and battery life

Equipped with a Snapdragon 650 processor, the Mi Max sits firmly on the mid-tier shelf. It’s by no means slow because on synthetic benchmarks it surpasses last year’s fastest chip – the Snapdragon 810 – comfortably.

It scores roughly the same as the Huawei Mate 8, which was released in February and was considered at the time one of the fastest phones this year. Under real world usage, it’s very serviceable and does not cause too many embarrassing stutters and wait times.

The giant phone, thankfully, comes with a giant battery. With a 4850mAh capacity, two days of medium usage is the norm.

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TOMTOM SPARK 3 REVIEW

Fitness trackers aren’t exactly uncommon these days. Not only are there dozens of them on the market, but there’s little to set many of them apart. Even the ones that are unique are often riddled with issues like inaccurate heart rate tracking.

TomTom, however, hopes to change that. The company has come out with the Spark 3, the third iteration in the much-loved and highly reviewed Spark fitness tracker line. But does the Spark 3 live up to the Spark name? We took the device for a spin (and a run…and a swim) to find out.

It’s important to note that the Spark 3 comes in a range of different models with different features. We’re testing out the Spark 3 Cardio + Music version of the device.

Built for sport

The Spark 3 is quite obviously built with the sportsperson in mind – it’s not something you would wear with a suit and tie, or even necessarily to work. While it’s technically a member of the “sports watch” category, there’s a heavy emphasis on sports here.

Unlike some other sports watches, the main body of the device separates from the band, which is something you’ll have to do in order to charge it. That’s not to say that it can slide in and come out easily – it never felt like the body was going to fall out at random times, and to take it out, you’ll need to press reasonably hard.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 review

Design

The Galaxy Tab S 8.4 comes in two different colours, but we were particularly taken with our white and champagne gold review model. This makes a pleasant change from the usual white and silver combination we tend to see on other tablets, and it certainly helps maintain a feeling of luxury. The gold might not be to everyone’s taste, but the Galaxy Tab S is also available in Titanium Bronze.

At just 6.6mm thick and weighing 294g, this is Samsung’s thinnest and lightest tablet yet, and it certainly feels svelte in the hand. It has a slightly dimpled, soft-touch polycarbonate back which makes it comfortable to hold and there’s reassuringly no flex in the casing. Still, if you'd rather not take any chances, there are a number of optional protective cases to go with the Galaxy Tab S 8.4, including a keyboard case, which attaches through studs that click directly into the back of the tablet.

Performance

Samsung has used its own octa-core Exynos 5 system-on-chip (SoC) processor to power the Galaxy Tab S 8.4, which was first seen on the 2014 model of Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1. It’s technically a quad-core ARM 1.9GHz Cortex-A15 paired with a quad-core 1.3GHz Cortex-A7 filling in when only a less power-hungry processor is needed. There's also an LTE model available which uses a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor running at 2.3GHz instead, but all models come equipped with a generous 3GB of RAM.

Android 5.0 Lollipop

The Galaxy Tab S 8.4 runs Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, but you can now download a free OTA update to Android 5.0 Lollipop. Not that you'd know it, as Samsung's new design is more or less identical to the old KitKat interface. In keeping with Google's Material Design scheme, app icons now look a bit flatter, but that's more or less it. Of course, as with all Lollipop devices, you can now view your notifications from the lock screen and add multiple user accounts, but otherwise you'll barely notice the difference between the two interfaces. 

Android Lollipop looks almost exactly the same as Samsung's KitKat interface on the Galaxy Tab S 8.4

Regardless of whether you decide to upgrade to Lollipop, Samsung has included a few of its own tweaks to the Android operating system. One of the more notable inclusions is Multi Window mode, which allows you to use two apps simultaneously. This is useful if you’re watching a film and want to open up the browser to look up an actor, for example, and each app is resizable. Kids Mode has also been included, allowing a safe ecosystem for children through parental controls and a custom child-friendly interface – meaning you should be able to safely hand the tablet to your little ones.

Camera

Around the back is an 8-megapixel camera complete with an LED flash to help with low-light photography which we don’t often see included on a tablet. Annoyingly, we found that the camera would refuse to use the flash if the battery was low in order to conserve battery, but strangely this was also the case if you then plugged the tablet in to charge, which was puzzling.

As far as tablet cameras go, we were actually quite pleased with how the Galaxy Tab S performed. The camera supports image stabilisation for both video and still images, which we found helped under tough low-light conditions and allowed for sharper images when slower shutter speeds were needed. There were also modes for HDR, Panorama, Burst Modes and Dual Camera, which allows you to use both cameras at the same time, which is a surprising fun feature we first saw on the Samsung Galaxy S4. Overall, the camera captured decently sharp images, with good saturation and low-light noise was kept under control.

Hardware
Processor	Quad-core 1.9GHz Samsung Exynos 5 Octa (+quad-core 1.3GHz)
RAM	3GB
Screen size	8.4in
Screen resolution	2,560x1,600
Screen type	Super AMOLED
Front camera	2.1 megapixels
Rear camera	8 megapixels
Flash	Yes
GPS	Yes
Compass	Yes
Storage	16/32GB
Memory card slot (supplied)	MicroSD
Wi-Fi	802.11ac
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.0
NFC	Yes
Wireless data	4G (optional)
Size	212.8x125.6x6.6mm
Weight	294g
Features
Operating system	Android 4.4 (KitKat)
Battery size	4,900mAh

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PlayStation 4 Slim review

Summary

In a vacuum, the PlayStation 4 Slim is a great console. It's smaller, quieter and much more portable than the original PS4. But unless you need a new console right now and are on a strict budget, there's no reason to buy it when the higher-powered PS4 Pro is set to ship in November for $100 more.

Hardware

As its name suggests, the Slim is indeed a more compact version of what came before. The Slim drops over 2 pounds in weight, down to 4.63 pounds from 6.17, and it measures 10.43 x 11.34 x 1.54 inches, versus 10.83 x 12.01 x 2.09 inches on the older model. From the front, the PS4 has always looked like a sandwich cut at a funny angle. Both pieces of "bread" were an inch tall. That changes with the Slim. The bottom piece of "bread" is 7/8ths of an inch, and the top is 7/16ths of an inch. The Slim is 25 percent lighter, according to Sony, but it manages not to feel cheap or hollow. All of which is to say that the console is even more portable than its predecessor.

Much like the original PlayStation 3 and the PS3 Slim, the PS4 Slim retains the overall shape of the PS4 and drops its glossy black plastic in favor of a textured matte finish. This makes it much less prone to collecting dust, fingerprints and scratches. Meanwhile, sharp corners have given way to softer, rounded ones. It's up front where you'll notice the biggest changes.

The controller

The DualShock 4 is one of my favorite gamepads ever, but its battery life is absolutely awful. When images of a revamped controller started surfacing along with leaks of the Slim console itself, I hoped we'd get a more-power-efficient gamepad, or at least one with a bigger battery. The product label on the controller's underside reveals that there's an 800mAh battery tucked away, the same capacity as on the original. That's a huge missed opportunity on Sony's part, especially when you consider that with the Xbox One S, Microsoft retooled its standard gamepad to address shortcomings on the original controller.
That's not to say there aren't a few differences here, though -- it's just that they're mostly cosmetic. The thumbstick pods feel a little smoother in motion, while the share and options buttons aren't as stiff. The spaces where the face buttons and D-pad sit have changed, and have a matte, not glossy, finish. Oh, and all the touch-points, save for the touchpad and PlayStation/home button, are a carbon gray color versus monochrome black on the original.

The competition

At this point, it's impossible not to compare the PS4 Slim to the Xbox One S. The revamped Xbox One went on sale last month starting at $299, with an Ultra HD Blu-ray drive and support for HDR gaming. In terms of pure specs, the Xbox One S is a much better value. That UHD drive future-proofs you, making it hard to dismiss even if you don't currently have a 4K TV.

Wrap-up

The PS4 Slim is a great console. It's smaller, quieter and less obtrusive than the PS4 that launched in 2013. The addition of 5GHz WiFi is incredibly welcome, but no UHD Blu-ray drive makes it a tough sell against the comparably priced Xbox One S. The only reason to buy the Slim is if you need a new console right this minute and have a hard budget of $299. If you can hold out until November and sock away another $100 for the PS4 Pro, though, you absolutely should.

Pros

• More compact than before
• Quieter performance
• Even more portable than before
• No more distracting LED strip

 

Cons

• Lacks the UHD Blu-ray drive of the similarly priced Xbox One S
• Pack-in DualShock 4 controller still has abysmal battery life
• Only available with a 500GB disk

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Soon, your phone will learn the local lingo

ASUS's latest ultraportable the ZenBook 3 is often compared to Apple's 12-inch MacBook. And can you blame people? The laptop is even thinner and lighter than Apple's two-pound wonder, but just as fast and with longer battery life. And it comes with a mini dock in the box, adding precisely the sort of ports you'd be missing on the MacBook (and would only have access to if you paid extra for an adapter). On paper, then, it's precisely the computer Windows-using travelers have been looking for.

Depending on your needs, that may still be the case, but in practice we found the ZenBook 3 isn't everything we hoped it would be. In particular, we found the keyboard and trackpad uncomfortable to use, and we had some concerns about the build quality too. It's possible you'll disagree with us there, but you owe it to yourself to get some hands-on time with the machine at a local store before buying, if at all possible.

Pros

• Thin and light design comparable to the MacBook
• As fast as other high-end ultraportables
• Vibrant screen
• Comes with a mini-dock for extra ports

 

Cons

• Keyboard and trackpad are difficult to use
• Fingerprint sensor placement makes no sense
• Build quality is suspect

Summary

The ZenBook 3 does a decent job of mimicking the MacBook's design while also cramming in faster hardware. But the combination of a hard-to-use keyboard and trackpad, along with build quality concerns, make it difficult to recommend.

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Sony PlayStation 4 Pro with 4K Gaming

Sony has officially announced the PlayStation 4 Pro, the latest generation gaming console. Previously, the new PS4 console 2016 model is known as “Neo” and it comes with upgraded hardware with a faster processor, better graphics quality, and also supports 4K gaming. Sony PlayStation 4 Pro price is $399 

PS4 Pro will still be sold alongside the base PS4 instead of replacing it, and new games will still be playable on the older hardware. Newly introduced PS4 Pro is now fully dedicated to 4K and HDR gaming, thanks to the support of a new upgraded GPU. Sony has also increased the CPU clock speed of the new device, which helps it operate faster. In addition, the product is also equipped with a 1TB hard drive, but PS4 Pro Gaming Controllers is still DualShock 4.

Commenting on the launch, Mark Cerny, the chief architect for the PS4, said: “PS4 Pro is not intended to blur the line between console generations, Instead, the vision is to take the PS4 experience to extraordinary new levels.” 

On stage at the opening ceremony, Cerny also demonstrated the real 4K gaming video samples like Spider-Man and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, not just 4K video running through the PS4 Pro. In addition, he also said that the PS4 Pro was able to pull new detail out of the scenes from these games, even though they were developed for the original PS4. But he went on to say that select PS4 games will have improved graphics to take full advantage of the the PS4 Pro. Titles like Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare: Remastered will be able to support PS4 Pro’s extra capabilities out of the box on day one, while Battlefield 1 and FIFA 16 will be supported later this year, and Mass Effect: Andromeda gaining support next year.

PS4 Pro will also improve the PlayStation VR experience, according to Cerny. The developers in the future may increase the vitality of the scenes, increasing the frame rate and more. Netflix and YouTube are also developing applications for PS4 Pro.

Sony admitted that not everyone would wish to upgrade to PS4 Pro, and hence it’s bringing HDR capability to the existing market of 40 million PS4 owners, to be available via a firmware update next week. And should you decide to upgrade and fork down money on the PS4 Pro, part of your existing game library will work the new console in what Sony termed “forward compatibility”. 

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