Monster Review/Analysis Introduction

                                         Monster 

I first heard about Monster in a Reddit Anime recommendation thread  where i was searching for some new Anime to watch, i am very selective about the kind of anime i consume, partly because of my wierd personality or just my unique taste, I live in the midwest and watching Anime is not a popular hobby over here, only a handful of my friends watch "Anime" which is limited to shonen anime like Dragon Ball super or One piece , Bleach etc.

Part of my attraction to anime has to do with the fascination towards Japanese culture and the Japanese language which i find strangely familiar even though i can't speak Japanese besides some very common phrases like Hello,thankyou, what is your name etc...

So back to the  reason why i started watching Anime , its because i dont have the general attitude towards any kind of animated art as "its just for children".

Even though Anime such as Monster are very graphic and explicit in nature , people just can't change their view of animated media, i  dont blame them for that.

Some of the general anime that i've watched till now are  Steins Gate, Parasyte, Dbz , Naruto Shippuden , Half of Evangelion ,Monster(completed).

Here i will be discussing the themes , references and hidden meaning in the series, this is the first review that i've written so it might have some grammar mistakes, keep in mind that i am not a native English speaker.  

My thoughts on the iPhone 7.

Its been a while and i've finally got to review and give my thoughts on Apple's recent

smartphone,  when you hear the word iPhone you know exactly what to expect it's an

iconic device that has received a fresh coat of paint each year but has

fundamentally stayed the same which necessarily is not a bad thing because you still have access to millions of applications. over 2 million to be exact about it, we all have come to love the app icons that appear as big bold round squares on your home screens, it honestly wouldn't be called an iPhone without those iconic round square app icons that we've all kind of  come to love.

 While my reviewing of the iPhone 7 , i've loaded a ton of different apps on the device and

 it hardly broke a sweat running any of them. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus feature the  cutting edge fusion chip with an embedded M-motion co-processor that might not mean a whole lot to you  initially, but you can take my word for it when I say this phone is lightning fast,  actually it's one of the fastest smartphones in the world despite only having 3 Gigabytes of RAM whereas many top end Android smartphones have 4 or even 6 Gigabytes of RAM 

For this model, Apple went ahead and tweaked some of the design elements here and there and  added a plethora of new features the iPhone 7 , its upgraded model , the iPhone 7 plus  works like any other iPhone to come before it it's just a little bit faster.

i could just go ahead and say that its perfect as its right not but, it still has a few bugs here and there that still need to be worked out in future.

For the benchmark enthusiasts out there,I've gone ahead and ran Geekbench and it  gives the iPhone 7 plus a single core score of around 3500, and a multi-core score of nearly 5600.

Previous models of the iPhone were available in black color but Apple has made the iPhone 7 available in jet black color, and to be honest, it looks absolutely stunning,  especially as the design is nearly identical to the last gen iPhone making it feel familiar when in your hands.

My biggest problem with the new iPhone 7 is that there is NO headphone jack present, you will need an adapter to plug in your 3.5 mm headphones, which means you cant charge and listen to the music at the same time, I thought this wouldn't be a big deal as most the headphones people use these days are wireless but I've heard of several situations where people haven't had their adapters and they wanted to play music via a wired connection and it has been an absolute letdown.

 Apple have added Stereo speakers to the new iPhone 7 which means that you can enjoy much louder and crispier audio quality than previous iPhones.

The new speakers are much better than the iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s plus, there's a front facing speaker that doubles as the calling speaker and of course a bottom facing speaker

which is a little bit louder than the front facing speaker but overall two

stereo speakers make content much more enjoyable to consume.

The other big hardware change is with the camera, or should I say cameras as there is a 

megapixel F8 aperture wide angle sensor and a F8 telephoto sensor with optical zoom at 2x as well as thee standard digital zoom at 6x magnification. This is one of the first         mainstream smartphones to feature an optical zoom, and it's a stunning feature for anyone who likes to take a lot of pictures.

There are 2 different camera sensors in the iPhone 7's new iOS. They both feature a portrait mode that blurs the background of a subject to create an ultra milky depth of field shot with plenty of depth of view, which results in some of the best looking pictures. 

Photos appear very natural in color, they kind of appear a little bit more muted than other smart phone sensors like the one in Samsung Galaxy S7, but if you want an extra vivid vibrant photo you can always crank up the saturation and contrast in the settings.

I will say the wide-angle sensor can capture some of the most astonishing low-light photos thanks to the F8 aperture.

The camera features optical image stabilization can also help create for blur free photos and shake free videos when you are moving around or just vlogging. The camera maybe the biggest reason to upgrade to the iPhone 7 plus as its IS one of the best smartphone cameras in the world, period. 

Even though the Battery life and Display are close behind I was a bit disappointed to hear that Apple decided to only upgrade the brightness and color palette of their displays this time around. The resolution of these 7 plus is still 5.50 inch retina HD display and the display type is still LCD, although this might be the last iteration of the iPhone 7  to feature an LCD panel. 

The Display panel itself doesn't impress me like a the displays on Samsung smartphones panel does but I can't really complain about it too much as it performs pretty well outside the house.

It has great viewing angles and is very color accurate, I just wish I had the deep blacks and extra saturated colors that AMOLED Displays tend to produce.

The AMOLED panel would also help conserve some battery life, although the 9 milliamp hour battery is really really great.

The iPhone 7 plus  can get around seven hours of screen on time and sixteen hours of standby time give or take, that's really tough to compete against.

 With all the positive things about the iPhone, there are "little things" that have been added or tweaked with these 7 and 7 plus models, some might not be so little for example IP67 water resistance rating, which helps keep this phone in functioning order even when completely submerged underwater, that's right you can run this phone through a sink to

clean it off and it will be completely fine! if it falls out of your pocket and into your toilet, it will still be completely fine but probably it will need a cleaning a deep cleaning for hygiene's sake.

Although i would highly advise against putting water on your iPhone, likely because of water and technology don't really mix very well but it can take a splash and be totally fine  I mean 

The new and "improved" home button doesn't actually move even though it feels like it does Apple added a vibration motor to simulate a press similar to the MacBook force touch track-pad, that way the button can be sealed shut from water. 

Many users have complained about the removal of the actual physical button , but it had to be done to make the device water resistant.

 Like the previous versions, the home button features a fingerprint built into the home button and it works to unlock the phone lightning-fast.

Fforce touch is also still found in the 7 and 7 plus and it's been improved as developers have worked to add the functionality into their apps , the biggest use of this feature is probably moving the cursor around what I'm typing, that is a huge feature.

Overall the iPhone 7 plus makes for a great smartphone, the battery life and camera performance are probably its strongest areas, but the other areas that may be surpassed by other smartphones are still adequate

You should enjoy using this phone as a daily driver if you're open to iOS, and you don't find yourself customizing your device to the degree that Android allows for I would also recommend you only consider upgrading if you have a device that is more than two years old if you own an iPhone 6 or 6s plus, I'd probably save money unless you are really hankering for an upgrade also if you consume a lot of media and you find yourself transferring files between your iPhone and your computer frequently 

I'd recommend you go with the 6 gigabyte iPhone as it features faster flash storage than the smaller capacity variants the difference in speed is very noticeable.  There's also been some reports of a hissing noise when the phone is under some intense stress like when it plays games runs graphic intensive applications so if you're sensitive to hearing or something I guess that's something to consider as well before buying an iPhone 7 or 7 plus. 

written by 

Jubin Dhantule

How does Xiaomi's Redmi 4 stack against Moto G5 and Lenovo K6 Power.?

Whenever you go out to buy something in the market, its always a battle between the price and quality of the said product,  you can buy a cheap product but its not going to be very good, or.. you can buy a great product but its going to cost more, that's just how it always it.

It was the same case with smartphones until Xiaomi launched their Redmi series which combined great quality with a price soo cheap that it became the hallmark of their entire brand, today we will discuss their newest device , the Redmi 4 and how well it performs against its opponents in the similar price range.

DESIGN 

With a full glossy metallic finish, the Redmi 4 stands out of the pack with its 2.5D curved screen and rounded edges, it makes the phone look sleek and compact.
although it weighs 165 grams its much thinner than the other 2 phones combined.
design of any phone is subjective to the user , but the Redmi 4 has a much premium feel.

DISPLAY

The Redmi 4 has a 1280x720 HD curved display, this is however one of it's only drawbacks as both the Lenovo K6 and the Moto G5 sport 1920x1080 FULL HD screens , although there is little to no difference in the touch quality of the screen, the higher resolution of the Moto G5 and the K6 is much better suited for gaming and watching movies.

This however is not a deal-breaker for many buyers as the Redmi 4 is far superior in other areas such as battery and performance.

BATTERY 

The Redmi 4 again comes first with its powerful 4100 mAh battery which allows you to go through

the entire day on a single charge without worrying about running out of juice.

The large battery can last up to 9:38 hours of video playback and around 12 days of standby time. Lenovo K6 takes the second spot with a respectable 4000 mAh battery, while the Moto G5 comes last with a disappointing 2800 mAh removable battery, which could allow you to swap for a new charged battery, but it seems to be more convenient to just have single powerful battery than to rely on powerbanks or replacement batteries.

Bottom line, the Moto G5 is just capable of extended  operation like the other two phones.

HARDWARE

 The Redmi 4 ,Lenovo K6 and Moto G5 all sport the latest 64-bit Snapdragon 430 octa-core 1.4GHz CPU allowing it to game and multitask easily.

The Redmi 4 comes in 3 variants of 16GB,32GB and 64GB of storage with 2GB,3GB and 4GB of RAM respectively priced at 6999, 8999, and 10999 each. It packs 13 megapixel back camera with and LED flash/torch and a 5 megapixel front camera, with decent selfie capabilities. It also has a fingerprint sensor at the back which makes unlocking your device , taking selfies that much easier.

It has a universal IR sensor which allows you to control TV's Air conditioners , set top boxes and almost any device that uses an IR remote, this is extra handy when you cannot find your remote and need to use your TV.

The Redmi 4, Moto G5 and Lenovo K6 all support dual-sim 4G/LTE technologies, the one problem Redmi 4 has that it cannot equip 2 Sim's AND a SD card, which is bad news for buyers who already own two phone numbers and also want the extra storage of a SD card, Xiaomi does provide 64GB variants but to those who are on a budget the 10,999 rs price tag might be too much. Users might want to go with the Lenovo K6 who want to use both the sim cards and a memory card.

 SOFTWARE

The Redmi 4 runs MIUI 8 on top of Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. MIUI is Xiaomi’s proprietary customization layer on top of Android. It is heavily skinned, and a totally different UI altogether than stock Android.

My biggest grouse with this phone is that it runs Android Marshmallow in the second quarter of 2017. Xiaomi does offer a beta version of Android 7.0 Nougat for users interested in testing the same, and expectedly it would be released to the general public soon enough.

Thankfully though, MIUI 8 is one of the better Android skins out there and has a lot of fans. There’s evident attention to detail and unlike most skins from Chinese players, the user experience is polished and quite cohesive. On the other hand the Moto G5 runs Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box and is one of the first in its price segment to offer a stock UI.

The Moto G5 also has some neat software and gesture shortcuts. The Moto display feature shows preview of notifications while the phone is asleep, with just a nudge. Lenovo says this is better than an LED indicator which cannot filter different apps and notifications.

FINAL THOUGHTS

With the low starting price of just 6,999 rs, the Redmi 4 clearly wins against almost all the current budget smartphones in the market, with its excellent build quality , lightning fast  performance and special features such as Second space and dual apps.

Sure, there might be some other phones that beat it in some areas or more, but when you compare ther price to performance ratio , i doubt that anyone can hardly go wrong with the Xiaomi Redmi 4 as their choice for their new smartphone.



Written by

Jubin Dhantule

How India and China have affected the global smartphone industry ?

Smartphone , a device owned by almost everyone around us has become the invention of the decade like the Radio in the 1960's and T.V. in the late 90's and just like the Radio and TV , smartphones have carved their place as the "must have" piece of technology of our times , even though the first smartphone came in 2007 with the introduction of the revolutionary iPhone , the smartphone industry have just now caught up to the innovation that was spearheaded by vision of Steve Jobs.
The spread of the smartphone to the general population of India is a result of the special trait of the electronic market as any kind of technology gets cheaper as time goes on , smartphones have also seen an exponential growth over the past 5 years as they were once a commodity for the wealthy (the original iPhone) to a device which everyone can and needs to own if he wishes to keep up with the times.

With the ever increasing competition of the today's world one can only ask , what does the future hold for the smartphone industry ? That's what this short essay is all about.

1.The rise of Chinese smartphones

The smartphone era was brought upon main-stage with the introduction of the first iPhone,  before that there were attempts to create tablets by  Microsoft and some other brands but all of them lacked a key ingredient, simplicity ,and simplicity is what exactly Apple brought to the spotlight, Steve Jobs's vision of a device which could be operated by a person with almost no technical background was a groundbreaking one, which resonated with every customer who heard about it, Apple went on the become the most successful mobile phone brand on the back of that very idea.

Steve Jobs introducing the first iPhone.

But in the last few years after the passing of Steve Jobs, Apple's innovative edge was getting dull allowing other brands to prop up and make a name for themselves.
Where Industry giants Samsung and Apple were focused on making top of the line smartphones for the western market , the Chinese market was focused on making a cheap and reliable device that was affordable for the people in low income countries.

Chinese brands dominate the Asian market.

2.The exponential growth of the Chinese market.

Chinese brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi , HTC, Vivo and Oppo have been the highest grossing brands in the Asian region. particularly Xiaomi which has been the highest selling smartphone brand in 2017 with their Redmi Note 4.

Chinese brands trying to one up their competition by using popular movie stars for their advertisements.

3.China's next target demographic, India

The primary focus of these corporations is to sell their products to the middle class and the lower middle class demographic of their region , and since India ranks 112th on the per-capita income in the world, its inhabitants are a perfect target for these budget smartphones.
This became abundantly clear as companies like Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi became some of the largest advertisers on the Indian cable TV and internet. Using popular celebrities as their brand icon, these corporations knew that India was their next major consumer base as it was easy to transport and provide services to. This however has been a very bad news for Indian smartphone brands that cannot stand to compete against the Chinese products, in fact the competition has gotten to a point where Chinese mobile phone companies are driving out the Indian smartphone completely out of the business.

Indian mobile manufacturers like Intex and Micromax suffer greatly from the fierce Chinese competition.

4.The secret advantage of Chinese manufacturers 

With all the success that China has had, there were always some facts that were buried under the illusion of creativity and competition.
Intellectual property, commonly referred as IP is and idea which cannot be stolen of used by anyone other than who own its, we see this everyday in our lives in forms of Patents and copyrights, ever wonder why in Marvel movies the superheroes are called "Heroes", while on the other hand DC has to use the term "Meta-human"?, its because the word "Hero" is copyrighted by Marvel comics which means they and they only have a right to use it, no one else, 
With this idea if Intellectual property in mind , we can see that all the technology that companies create is patented, but this is not the case for Chinese people, which always have a bad reputation for letting their government turn a blind eye towards Patent theft by their local companies, the same companies which earn a lot of revenue every year and support corrupt politicians to mend the law in their favour.

Chinese corporations are not afraid to steal the classified information form their competition .

Therefore its not a big surprise that with the "help" of their government the local manufacturers will go ahead and use stolen technology in their own products to gain an advantage over their adversaries. And unlike the western market which is dominated by US, the Chinese corporations are under no threat to the legal persecution by their western counterparts.

5.The Future 

It is unclear what the next major breakthrough the next smartphone is going to bring to the industry, some say that improving on the basic functionalities such as battery life or the over heating of the much larger phones would be essential before creating something extravagant just for the sake of spectacle would be a waste of time, but this is not stopped creative people with coming up with their own interpretations of the futuristic smartphone. some of them are seen below.

Modular phone where each component is fully customizable. 

Transparent phone made with organic materials.

A phone that bends to fit your wrist.

whether or not we get transparent folding smartphones its clear that India would be playing a major part as a ever growing consumer-centric nation.


written by 

Jubin Dhantule