Year in Review 2016

It’s been a pretty crazy year. Not just for the smartphone industry, but for the whole world in general. I’m here to talk mainly about the smartphone part of course. Looking back, I haven’t actually reviewed that many phones this year. Since this is more of a side hobby, I only buy phones that interests me. So here’s a list of phones I’ve reviewed this year.

Lenovo Moto Z Review: For Better Or Worse

After years of uncertainty, the Motorola brand found a new home at Lenovo. While the acquisition from Google was completed 2 years back, Lenovo stuck with a familiar looking lineup last year with the Moto X and Moto G. Undoubtedly looking to shake things up a bit this year, Lenovo launched the new Moto Z series back in July, and it’s finally available for sale in Singapore. Its selling point? Mods.

Google Pixel Review: Pretty Magical

If you want something done right, do it yourself. I can almost imagine a motivational poster with that phrase being in the same room when the Pixel devices were conceived.

Samsung Galaxy Note7 Third Review: The Phone That Could Have Been

You read that right, this is the third review I have written for the Galaxy Note7. You may wonder where are the other two reviews? The answer is, sitting awkwardly on my Google Docs, never to see the light of day.

Apple iPhone 7 Review

In a familiar looking shell, the iPhone 7 breaks convention by not breaking form. Tradition dictates a major design refresh after two years from Apple, but what we got this year was a similar design for the third year in a row.

OnePlus 3: Growing Up

OnePlus is all grown up now. With its third flagship device, they are finally getting serious about selling phones (at least in some countries). They did away with their asinine invite system, and turned their infamous OnePlus hype-machine down a couple of notches. This time round, they are letting their product do the talking instead. So let’s take a look at the product in question, the OnePlus 3.

Motorola is (sort of) back!

When I heard the new Lenovo showroom in Marina Square had a Moto booth showcasing and selling Motorola phones, I went down to have a look as soon as I had time.

A Day With The Samsung Gear IconX

My trusty Jaybird Bluebuds X died on me during a jog in a light drizzle last week. To be fair, it wasn't the first time I've used it in similar, wetter conditions. It served its purpose more than well enough, for long enough.

So it's time for a new pair of buds.

A Day With The Samsung Gear 360

So... I stole borrowed a Gear 360 from a friend to play with...

To start off, I would like to say that this is NOT a review of the Gear 360. It's hard to review something when it's the only product of its kind that I have used. So if you're looking for comparisons with other 360 cameras, there are plenty on YouTube.

This post is just sharing some of the images I have taken throughout the day, and some of my observations while using the Gear 360.

Quick Look at the Sony Xperia X

From Xperia Z to Xperia X, the first question that I want to ask Sony is... why?

Get it? Y?

Quick Look at the HTC 10

If you’re not a tech enthusiast, you probably don’t even know the HTC 10 exists. Partly because the phone isn’t officially sold in Singapore, and partly because of HTC’s small market presence here. Nonetheless, I got my hands on an imported set from Taiwan, and would like to share my quick impressions of the device after spending a little bit of time with it.

Quick Look at the LG G5

As LG’s flagship device for the first part of 2016, the LG G5 has a lot to live up to. Unlike Samsung which chose to take a more “evolutionary” approach with the S7 and S7 Edge, LG went back to the drawing board and came up with an all new metal phone. All while keeping a user replaceable battery, and a new feature that enables certain “attachments” to the G5.

I had a chance to test out the device for a short while, and while it isn't enough to give a full review, I thought I would give my quick impressions on it.

Apple iPhone SE Review

Apple’s new iPhone SE is an interesting blend of old and new. You have a body that looks nigh identical to the iPhone 5S, and you have the processor of the blazing iPhone 6S in it. One might think “Who in their right mind would buy a new phone that looks like an old phone?” Which is why the iPhone SE is such an interesting device. Because I would.

Thoughts on the iPhone SE

Watching the announcement live, it felt like the iPhone SE was made out of necessity, not because it was the best damn phone that Apple could make at this point in time, but it probably doesn't matter...

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge: Edge-traordinary

While there were plenty of new flagship devices announced over the past few weeks, Samsung is the first to get the device into the hands of consumers with the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. Not only is it the first major flagship release for 2016, the Galaxy S7 also has some big shoes to fill considering how good the Galaxy S6, and the Galaxy Note 5 were. So let’s take a better look at the Galaxy S7 Edge, and see if it is a worthy successor.

Quick Look at Marshmallow for Note 5

We are a couple of days from the announcement of the much discussed Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, and the LG G5. So until I get to play with the new devices, I am in a bit of a lull. Admittedly I haven't been updating as frequently as I would have liked, so I thought I will do a quick look at the Marshmallow update that just started rolling out to the Note 5 (N920C). Which should give us a glimpse of some of the things that can be expected from the S7 and S7 Edge since they will be running Android Marshmallow too.

BlackBerry Priv Review: New Beginnings

The BlackBerry Priv is probably the most interesting Android device released this year. Not only does it bring with it a slider form factor, it is also BlackBerry’s first smartphone that is “Powered by Android”. So let's talk a bit more about it.