GADGETS AND GIZMOS SPECIAL.....Bang For The Buck

Bang For The Buck
 

The Lava Iris 504q packs a punch at a very reasonable price

With a parade of low-cost mid-range oversized smartphones marching in every day, I find myself not too eager to review devices that have so much sameness about them. Mediatek processor: check; 5-inch screen: check; 8 or 13MP camera: check; Android 4.2: check; and even a white flip cover: check. But I liked something about the Lava Iris 504q the moment I lifted it out of its box. That feeling has held right through my time with it and it’s with some reluctance that I return it to Lava, the guys who also make a similar Xolo series of phones based on Intel chips.
 

The 504q is instantly nice to hold. It’s one of those big phones that doesn’t at all feel big. It’s light and very thin. It’s narrow enough for your hand to reach across to the other side of the screen and curved enough to nestle comfortably in your palm. The removable back panel is a softened rubbery material that, for a change, doesn’t hold on to finger grease. The front glass does, but that’s wipeable or coverable with a screen guard. Though I never use screen guards. Overall, this budget phone has a great build and in-hand feel. And thankfully, it isn’t wearing a Samsung signature look.
 

The ‘pleasantly surprised’ experience went up several notches when I switched on the phone. I found myself loving the screen. Specs aside, it’s just a very nice screen. It can be a little too white and bright, but make your adjustments and you’ll find it really nice to look at with rich colours and no compromised angles. It’s also very smooth and responsive, as is the phone in general. It’s running on the almost-latest Android version and Lava hasn’t smothered the Android with its own customisation while at the same time giving enough apps and widgets for a user to get started without having to tinker too much. “Stock Android” untouched and straight from Google is the flavour of the day, possibly because companies have tended to heavily change the interface to stand out as distinctive. That isn’t the case here at all, which means the floor is open for users to easily tailor the experience to suit themselves.
 

The Iris 504q may not benchmark as high as some other phones, but it certainly works smoother, putting paid to the idea that specs and benchmarks are everything. Clearly, we give in to the specs race manufactured by marketing and give experience second place. Flipping through screens and animations was a nice experience and browsing wasn’t bad either. Videos and games were fine, though you need third party software for times when you encounter format rejections. The device gets a tiny bit warm, but by no means alarmingly. This is a quad-core 1.2GHz processor with 1GB of RAM and 4GB of storage. That’s not much and so you have a microSD slot, but bear in mind that all apps don’t install on external cards. This is a dual SIM with a 2,000 mAh battery that performs fine. There’s an 8MP primary camera which has the now standard low-light fix. It’s not a bad camera except that low-light photos are tricky unless you have a giant sensor. But the camera software does have a few irritants; specially, it just seems to take a picture if you as much as move.
 

And another surprise is that this device has a few Samsung-style gesture gimmicks. Wave your hand to take a picture, change music tracks, etc. These are fun, but should not be your main reason for considering this smartphone. The reason you should consider it is that it’s a really good experience for a very reasonable cost of Rs 13,499.

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Kindle Fire HD

In an ocean of identical Android tablets, one stands out as different. And it isn’t because of how it looks, though it’s distinctive, tough and clean, with a nice slightly rubbery back. The Kindle Fire HD, now available in two sizes (8.9” and 7”) on the Amazon India store, is based on Android and while it runs many Android apps, is a different kettle of fish. Unlike other Android tablets, it isn’t the kind of device on which Google is at the heart. On this device, it’s Amazon that’s front and centre.
 

While on other Android tablets, you can get Amazon content, including the ebook reading app, on the Amazon tablet, you can’t get all of Android. You can’t flip through home screens, head straight to Google Now, or check out the newest version of Android. Instead, it’s meant for ebooks, audiobooks, games, movies, TV series, and shopping at Amazon for physical items. You buy and download content. But — and this is important — not everything on Amazon is available outside the US. Pick something from the international selection of TV episodes and movies and you’re likely to be told that it’s not available in India. The same goes for music. This isn’t Amazon’s fault but licensing policies from the media companies at work. So, out of the whole Amazon universe, you get only the rather small collection on the India store. You can connect your device to a computer and move stuff from there — but why would you buy the Fire for that. The price for the Fires is 21,999 and 15,999.
 

The Fire HD has a lovely screen and videos look good on it. Sound, despite Dolby, isn’t impressive but okay if you hold the tablet close. The real usefulness of the Fire HD will come about as Amazon develops the India store to the point where it’s spilling over with options.

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