Micromax

I really hope you enjoyed my article talking about iPhones and how they have changed over the last 8 or so years. I can’t believe it has been that long since the first one was made and it’s amazing how different the newest iPhone 6 is in comparison. Well I wanted to talk now about the other end of the mobile phone spectrum. Most Indian’s should have heard of Micromax as it is the biggest Indian mobile manufacturer. The good thing is that Micromax offer really good value budget phones that have great spec for the money so are very competitive in that area of the market. They are starting to become popular as a budget option in other parts of the world as a result. They also do a range of tablets and two-in-one devices.

Yu is their ultra-budget sub-brand with really cheap budget models available for super cheap but you can only currently buy online. Their new Micromax Canvas Pulse 4G is offering great spec but still for a very reasonable price compared to competitors. It has a 5-inch touchscreen display and a good resolution of 720 pixels by 1280 pixels. It has a 1.3GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6753 processor and it comes with 3GB of RAM. You can increase storage memory with a microSD card if the 16Gb internal memory is not enough. As far as the cameras go, it has a 13Mp rear-facing & 5Mp front-facing camera which is ideal for selfies. You get a removable battery and Android 5.1 O/S. It has Dual SIM and all the latest built-in sensors for connectivity and navigation. Those kind of specs and functions would hold-up to most of the top branded phones available. A brand definitely worth considering when you buy your next mobile.

Comparing todays iPhones with the Original

Hello and welcome back to my blog. I decided that this article would be all about iPhones. Instead of comparing the latest iPhones, I wanted to look at how they’ve evolved over the years. Since 2007 when the first iPhone was manufactured, there has been at least one new model released every year. Today, the latest iPhones are the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Take a look at some of the comparisons, hopefully you find it quite interesting.

The Screen

Can you remember how big the first iPhone was? Don’t forget that over time, screens started to get bigger and take up the whole front of the phone with touchscreen meaning no space had to be wasted on buttons. The screen on the original was but 60% the size of the iPhone 6 and around 45% the size of the 6 Plus. The 3.5inch screen on the original was actually Apples preferred screen size with all models up until 2012 when the iPhone 4 with 4inch screen was released. It’s really been the last few models that Apple have released where the screen sizes have taken their biggest leaps. For a long time, it was something a lot of other phones had over Apple. Now at least 5inches seems to be the expected screen size. Back in 2007 there was no retina display so you did get pixilation. Retina technology was used from around 2010 when Apple boasted “sharp enough that most people won’t notice any pixels”.

Body & Design

The old iPhone if you’re talking in width and height was far smaller than the latest phones but due to advances in technology, the newer phones are over 50% thinner. This means that overall, the original iPhone worked out about 5% heavier than the newest model. The aluminium body was a trend setter but it certainly wasn’t light and thin like the new models. The first few iPhones did however incorporate some plastic into the design. There were slight variations year on year with stainless steel also being incorporated. From 2012 onwards however, all models have had 100% aluminium bodies. As far as different colour bodies being available, it wasn’t until the 3G was released that you could now buy a black/white combination if you wished. It was then with the iPhone 4 that you could actually get more than one colour.

The Camera

Camera technology on smartphones was also very basic back then with the Apple iPhone sporting just a 2Mp rear camera. 2Mp was however pretty good as far as other phone cameras went at that time. Again it was 2010 before front facing cameras were introduced as video calling started to become popular. The newer models of today boast very good cameras. It’s a time when phone camera technology really is starting to blossom. These days you get much higher resolution sensors, you have dual-flash capabilities and the cameras even perform well under low-light conditions. With the 6 Plus you even get optical image stabilization.

Battery Life

Although people always complain about battery life on phones, with the power they have packed inside, you have to expect that to come at a cost. One thing is for certain, the new iPhone lasts a lot longer on a single charge than the original so there has been progress despite the newer models obviously being more power hungry. You get up to 10hours continuous use on 3G/4G from a single charge compared to the originals 6 hours of internet use.

 

Other Comparisons

It feels like the App store was always there from the beginning but it was actually a full year before it was launched in 2008. Back before the app store you could only use web apps which are unheard of nowadays.

The original had a meagre 128Mb of RAM. That was very impressive back then but nowadays there’s no way a phone could manage on that kind of RAM. As far as storage memory goes, Apple did start with both 4Gb and 8Gb options but quickly discontinued the 4Gb option and stuck with 8Gb until 2008 when a 16Gb model became available. It was the same year when the iPhone 3G was released that people first got to experience the beauty of 3G web browsing on their iPhone. The first year would have been painfully slow 2G browsing.

The first iPhone would have effectively run what we now recognize as, iOS1. It would not have been able to handle anything over iOS3.1.3 released early in 2010. Later in the year, the next generation of iPhone was released with the iPhone 4 so any model prior to that will not be able to run any faster software than iOS3.1.3.

 

Hope you enjoyed the comparisons, makes you wonder what the next 5 or 10 years will bring. Check out the Apple Website to see some of the latest innovations due to be released by Apple.

For nostalgia purposes, if you’re after one of the older models, maybe you want to pick-up the original just to see how much things have moved on, you could get a cheap second-hand one now for next to nothing. There’s a place you can check out, follow this link for a site I use and search old/used iPhone for sale.

Thanks Again,

Ring “One Gesture, One Magic”

Has anybody heard of the Ring? It is a new piece of gadgetry released this year by a company called Logbar. It is technology that has been designed primarily for use around the home. It is a little bit like one of those smart remotes that you can buy and tune into all your home equipment so that you don’t have to flick light switches and press buttons manually. Ideal for any coach potato.

It allows you to operate appliances within the home just by waving a finger in the air and works through gesture so you don’t even have to press a button like you would with a smart remote. It does sound like something out of Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter so it will definitely gain appeal from fans of wizardry and fantasy.

The cool thing is that this technology came from a kick-start project where Logbar were then able to raise funding in order to get the ring produced. It’s took them time to perfect it but now they have a small, lightweight and very nifty piece of tech.

Last spring, Logbar was able to raise funds of almost $900,000 for the product through the Kickstarter crowdfunding website. However, the company admitted that their first attempt in developing Ring was not perfect, starting with the size of the device. The new and improved ring uses materials that will not conflict with other devices like smartphones, something the old ring used to have problems with.

A new ring hub is also planned for next year which will increase its abilities further. It is the hub that will integrate infrared capabilities meaning you can then use the ring for things such as closing curtains and turning on your TV etc like the bigger smart remotes currently do.

Sondors E-bikes

Hello its Gurdip, I am now back for the first discussion. My first subject is to discuss new technologies available.

I personally have never passed my driving test so I have to walk or use public services to get around the City. I have been looking at e-bikes for quite a while but they have always been just that little bit too expensive for a good reliable bike and I haven’t really found them very attractive to look at. You have to keep them charged up so finding one that has a good charge or that works well as a manual if you run out of charge, is difficult.

I’ve been looking at Sondors e-bikes. They look very smart and have new improved technology which sets them apart from older e-bike. They work well in all terrain and have water resistant motors and batteries.

The lithium Ion battery is lightweight and very powerful and is very compact weighing just 6lbs. The Ion batteries have higher energy densities than the usual polymer batteries so the weight, size and therefore cost is reduced but the power is still the same. You could ride up to around 90 minutes or say 50 miles without having to pedal and recharge the battery. This is a lot better than other e-bikes I’ve seen. You could easily carry a spare battery is need be and replace easily.

The geared drive motor works best at higher speeds. You’ll get less economy at 5mph but better getting up to 20mph which is decent enough for an e-bike. The bike should be classed as road legal without additional licensing as it does not surpass 20mph.

These bikes could be affordable at a push and a possible future option for me as a good substitute for public transport. Something I need to look into more and maybe wait for the price to reduce down.

Let’s talk Electronics

Hello, my names is Gurdip and I’m from India but I’m currently living in Europe working in IT.

This blog is to discuss Electronics and IT related subjects.

Anything electrical or technology based I find very exciting and interesting so this is my chance to share my enjoyment with the world. Please join in with the discussion.

Thanks,

Gurdip