Here in YugaTech, we try our best to bring you a regular supply of reviews in order to guide you in buying the latest devices the market has to offer. If you’ve missed some of them, fret not as we compile them in a monthly basis for you to stay up to date. Here’s our Gadget Reviews Roundup for November 2016.
Full Reviews
The Infinix Hot 4 Pro might be an entry-level offering but it offers some notable features not always found in a smartphone at this price range – decent performance, solid build, good camera, LED flash for the front camera, fingerprint sensor, and long battery life. At Php5,990 it’s an attractive offering for those with a tight budget.
The Asus Zenfone 3 Max 5.5 (ZC553KL) is yet another quality smartphone from Asus. Although, it’s already above the Php10k mark making it a bit difficult to suggest among budget consumers who prefers long battery life. At Php10,995, it’s a good balance for what you’re getting and this makes it the second cheapest Zenfone 3 member you can purchase.
The realization is that the Mobilio, even the RS version, is not the performance people carrier it was expected to be. What it’s good at is hauling a family with kids through straight highways.
The Infinix Note 3 Pro, like its predecessor, the Note 2, is built like a tank but better. It has a large display for multimedia consumption, sufficient CPU and RAM for casual and heavy users, good camera, and long battery life. Infinix could have made it even more compelling if they equipped it with at least 32GB of storage, but with a Php8,390 asking price, I think we can forgive them for that.
The Sony FDR-X3000R Action Cam, to us, beats the latest GoPro in a few ways. For one, Sony’s OIS is such a pleasure to have on a sports camera like this. It is indeed better than the Hero5 Black’s image stabilization and that will really be the case since OIS is a physical mechanism for producing smooth footage.
Although, the X3000 also isn’t perfect and falls short on picture quality when we talk about raw output. We also wanted to have more mounts that come standard with the package and maybe have a firmware update to fix the buggy connection through NFC and Wi-Fi.
The V20 is certainly a great phone in so many aspects, though not without fault. We wish it was also water-resistant but considering the removable battery, that’s already over-reaching. That goes without saying that you can’t really have them all but still, the V20 is way up there as one of your best options.
The Cherry Mobile Flare X2 offers features found in high-end smartphones in a low price tag. At Php7,999, you’re getting a 5.5-inch display with Full HD resolution, Dragontrail Glass, 4GB RAM, fingerprint scanner, dual-SIM with LTE, and Android Marshmallow, all housed in a premium body. It will handle most of your basic needs including gaming but don’t expect blazing-fast performance given the hardware configuration, not to mention the lack of gyroscope for VR use. On the bright side, it’s not going to break the bank.
If you’re coming from a similarly priced smartphone, there’s not much reason to jump on the Flare 5 unless you’re itching for the 700MHz LTE. For now, being in the 700MHz club is a privilege and an advantage. For Php5,499, it’s a little more expensive than it’s predecessor probably due to the AMOLED panel and tweaks done to sneak in Band 28.
ASUS really has a killer ultrabook in the form of the ZenBook 3. It has premium build, attractive design, great display and audio, and good performance and battery life. However, the heating is a turn off as most people would like to use it on-the-go without burning their laps. The USB-C port can be an issue for some as well but can be remedied using the universal dock included in the package. Just make sure you don’t lose it.
If you are keen on building a small-scale NAS solution in your home or office, the Seagate IronWolf is something to consider. Just don’t pick any type of HDD and think it will perform or behave the same way. It’s an option we didn’t have before but something to look into now that they’re here. Of course, if you’re really eyeing for the 10TB drives, it will cost you a bit more.
The Xperia X Compact features the same sexy body of its flagship model — only smaller. It’s a bit of a fingerprint magnet unlike the previous series but is fairly tolerable as long as you don’t mind wiping the body of the handset every once in a while.
It is still a decent performer despite sporting a lower-tier Snapdragon processor. Overall, multitasking is not a problem although we experienced occasional hiccups.
It’s priced at Php33,999 which is right on par with high-end Androids from other manufacturers. What Moto Z offers that other current flagships don’t at the moment is the clean and pure Android experience. Since the Google Pixel is unlikely to land officially on local shores, the Motorola phones are the best bet for the Android purist in you.
The handset has a solid build quality although personally, I’m not a fan of its gold color. We’re also not complaining that it only has a Full HD resolution as battery life greatly benefitted from it. We’re also fans of the dual camera setup ala Huawei P9 and its Monochrome mode that shoots sharp photos with great contrast.
In terms of software, we’re happy that bloatware is were kept to a minimum leaving us with a nice room for storage. Unfortunately, expansion is not possible which could turn off potential buyers. If you demand more space, you could always go for the 128GB variant.
Quick Reviews
To sum it up, the Promate Encore is disappointing both in hardware and audio quality. If there’s one decent thing going on for it is its lightweight build and low price of Php995.
Promate has a pair of good-sounding speakers in the form of the Conex. It may not exude a “high-end” appeal but it can deliver the kind of sound quality that can appease different kinds of listeners. It offers something new on the table as well thanks to its dual stereo speaker setup which provides an immersive listening experience. Lastly, it only costs Php3,495 SRP (Php2,495 until January 5, 2017) so it’s not going to break the bank.
Overall, the myT2 DTV from MyPhone is a decent tablet if you’re looking for a cheap entertainment device. The DTV feature will depend on your location so it’s best to check or ask around first if your area has good coverage.
Video Reviews
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