TECH SPECIAL..REVIEWS

TECH REVIEWS

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There has been a spurt of budget 'phablets' with 5-inch touchscreens but these devices tend to be too large and heavy for most people. With the A21, Karbonn has provided a large display (4.5-inch) in an easy-to-carry size.
The A21's 4.5-inch touchscreen Xhas a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels — most budget large screen phones/phablets have a 800 x 480 pixels screen and this gives the A21 an advantage when it comes to screen sharpness.
The device is impressive in terms of design and build quality. It has a fingerprint-resistant matte finish on the back panel and feels good to hold. One issue we faced was with the tight microUSB connector on the phone — it needs significant pressure to push the charging cable into the socket. Also, the rear cover does not do a good job of protecting the camera module, making it prone to dust and fingerprints. Even though the A21 has a dual core processor, it feels sluggish to use. The main reason for this is the 512MB RAM which often falls short. The sluggishness is most noticeable when navigating between screens, switching between apps and random frame drops while playing games.
The 5MP camera on the phone has a surprisingly fast autofocus lock. The image quality is also above average with noise visible in black areas when viewed at full resolution. However, the plain camera interface is a downer. On the plus side, you can install a third party camera apps from the Play Store and use it as your main camera app. Audio output from the loud speaker for calls and music as well as the inear speaker suffered from low volume.
The 1800mAh battery lasted over a day and a half with moderate usage. You can also consider Micromax's A110. It has similar hardware specifications and offers a larger 5-inch screen, 8MP camera and a bigger 2000 mAh battery at a lower price ( 9,999).

Anyone looking for an affordable, touch-enabled Windows ultraportable laptop is in luck, because Asus decided to launch the VivoBook S200 at a much lower price than the next touch-based competitor. It weighs under 1.3kg and is easy to carry and hold because of the tapered design.
Even though the S200 is not officially an 'Ultrabook' (it doesn't meet Intel's specification), Asus has made sure that you won't be disappointed with the size or performance. You still get a 2 second resume from sleep and a fast Windows boot up and shutdown.
The 11.6-inch touchscreen is responsive and makes all the difference when using Windows 8's tiled user interface. The only gripe we had with the display is that the viewing angles were not so good; even a 10 degree tilt makes the colour seem washed out. The keyboard has individual keys for comfortable typing.
The VivoBook scored 4.4 on the Windows Experience Index test — not bad at all for this size of machine. Performance for browsing, office work or watching HD videos is more than adequate. Thanks to the cooling fan (which can get a bit too loud for comfort at times), there was no overheating as well.
Audio output is surprisingly loud from the device — good enough to use as a bedside music player if required. Battery life was roughly three hours — as expected from the 2-cell battery. At the moment, the VivoBook has no competiton thanks to the price. You can get a Windows 7 laptop with better specs and larger display for the same price (Lenovo Z580 or the HP Probook) but if you want more portability, consider Samsung's ATIV Smart PC ( 53,990) which can be seperated from the keyboard dock and used as a standalone tablet when required.
KARAN BAJAJ

The common perception of dual SIM phones is that they are generally low-cost devices meant for people who want to juggle two numbers. However, there probably exists a demographic that wants the two-SIM convenience but in a higher quality device — hence the Desire SV.
The Desire SV has a nice matte finish real panel (removable), 4.3-inch ‘Super LCD’ with vibrant colours and an understated design — unless you opt for the Radical Yellow back panel — our unit was the more traditional black.
The interface is HTC’s Sense UI, which is intuitive and attractive. The two-SIM functionality has been neatly integrated into HTC’s scheme of things, further marking out the Desire SV as a ‘high-end’ device compared to others. Day-to-day operation is speedy and HTC has included 768MB RAM to help with multi-tasking. The 1Ghz dual core processor is not really a powerhouse performer, though having said that, performance is good enough for the casual user. Camera performance was satisfactory at best — it can take a decent photograph outdoors but struggles in low light with noise. At least there are lots of nice effects (vintage, sepia, vignetting and so on) built in.
There are a few strange omissions in the SV. For instance, it does not have a front camera. Second, it can only record 800 x 480 video (not even 720p) — we were expecting 1080p. Overall, if you have the money to spare and necessarily want a dual SIM phone, this is the best one out there. A good single core Dual SIM is Samsung's Galaxy S Duos for roughly 16,000. Or you could spend less than half of what you would on the HTC and get Karbonn’s A21 – which has a 1.2Ghz dual core processor, front camera, a slightly larger 4.5-inch screen with higher resolution (960 x 540 pixel) and a slightly larger 1800 mAh battery.
HITESH RAJ BHAGAT

Karbonn A21 `10,299
Specifications
4.5-inch (960 x 540 pixels), dual core 1.2Ghz, 512MB RAM, 4GB + microSD, 5MP + 1.3MP camera, Android 4.0, 133 g, 1800mAh Well built, sharp display, good camera with fast autofocus, great battery life Weak audio output, sluggish interface, camera module prone to dust and fingerprints

Asus VivoBook S200 `39,990
Specifications
11.6-inch (1366 x 768 pixel) touchscreen, Intel Core i3 processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Intel HD 4000, Windows 8, 1.3kg Compact, value for money, responsive touchscreen, loud audio output, good battery life Poor viewing angles, small function and arrow keys, audible cooling fan noise

HTC Desire SV `22,590
Specifications
4.3-inch (800 x 480 pixels), dual core 1Ghz, 768MB RAM, 4GB + microSD, 8MP camera, Android 4.0, 131 g, 1620mAh High quality and refined dual SIM Android device, Beats Audio, built in live camera effects No HD video recording, no front camera, low resolution screen (for the size)

ALSO SEE Micromax A110
5-inch (854 x 480 pixels), dual core 1Ghz, 512MB RAM, 4GB + microSD, 8MP/VGA camera, Wi-Fi, Android 4.0, 168 g, 2000mAh
    9,999

ALSO SEE Samsung ATIV Smart PC
11.6-inch (1366 x 768 pixels) touchscreen, dual core Intel Atom processor, 2GB RAM, 64GB SSD, 8MP/2MP camera, Windows 8, 750g
53,990

ALSO SEE Karbonn A21
4.5-inch (960 x 540 pixel) LCD, 1.2Ghz dual core, 512MB RAM, 4GB + microSD, 5MP/1.3MP camera, Android 4.0, 133 g, 1800mAh
10,299

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