10 Things they dont say when you buy an iPhone

You are out on the market searching for a new mobile, and most people would blindly recommend you an Apple iPhone. When you ask them why is it cool, they'll say , "Oh, because its an iPhone.". Yes, the phone may act as a good status symbol and the latest versions are pretty fast. But that's about it. When you boil down to the finer tech specs, this is what you'll be missing , when you compare to a 10,000 Rs Android phone :

1. No Dual Sim Card Slots : Yes , every basic Android phone worth 5000 INR has a dual sim card slot, but with an iPhone 6/6S you always have to stick with a single sim card (Probably a easier way to make you buy 2 iPhones for 50,000 each)

2. No Radio. So if you're someone who loves to listen to the FM radio, you'd be sorely disappointed

3. No Expandable External Memory  : If your phone comes with a default 16 GB or 32 GB, your available internal memory will be 5GB lesser than that . So you always need to be conscious of that growing space with every photo you click or every song and video you upload through iTunes (iPhone OS updates require atleast couple of GB left for it to do a complete updation, so you need to keep check on that as well . This is also an easy way to make further money by forcing you to buy an expensive Apple iCloud subscription

4. Quality of Lightning Cable : The data/charging cable which is called a lightening cable comes only for 6 months or max 1 year ( if you're lucky) . So get yourself a new cable in your warranty just before the 12th month (even if your existing cable is working fine) so that you can work for another 6-10 months.    The failure rate of the cable after 10 months is nearly 90%. Those new cables come at a hefty price of a min 800-1000 INR

5. The phone doesnt support OTG  cables or OTG Pen drives. OTG pen drives is a dual pen drive which can be used in a laptop and the other end of the drive in a phone ( http://fkrt.it/c7DkGNNNNN).     But iPhone given their different size specifications as well as compatibility doesnt support this.

6. Syncing : File transfer is the biggest thing that you may crib about post getting an iPhone. It'll never be the easy Ctrl C + Ctrl V that you always did in an Android or Windows phone. Files has to be synced to a iTunes app, synced, and then the phone has to be resynced to download those songs or pictures. Every single time ! You may feel better off not listening to those songs than doing the whole sync process

7. No Gorilla Glass Protection: Yes, your 50,000 INR iPhone lasts only until the first accidental drop with no hardened display or gorilla glass protection . The display can easily get shattered even if you use a tempered glass on top of it.. So you need to think whether you need to get a 50K iPhone that can last only one single drop

8. Display Problems : In case you do damage your display accidentally you have the following 2 choices:

• Original Display Replacement: An original iPhone display will not be usually available. In the case of say iPhone 6 or 6s, the iPhone service center will offer you a refurbished iPhone for 24,000 in exchange for your old phone. This refurbished device has no warranty, will not come with any accessory and you have no idea how long it will last. Paying 24K for that is downright ridiculous

• Duplicated Display Replacement :  Unless you live in the metros, getting a replacement display for an iPhone is very tough (Irrespective of which model) . In the big cities, you can only get yourself a duplicate display imported from China in a local bazaar which will cost you roughly 8-10K including labor charges (for iPhone 5C/6/6S). The guy will usually offer you 3 months local warranty and chances are that the display will go off in 6 months is fairly high. Consider yourself lucky if it works for more than a year .

• Get a display from Amazon  http://amzn.to/1Q4LfSE  and get it fixed with a repair center guy

9. Loss of Value : When the next iPhone version gets released, the existing's model retail price will be reduced by almost half and your current phone's valuation goes for a huge nose dive. Eg. iPhone 5S that was selling initially at 50K is now 21K in Flipkart and Amazon

10. Non Bluetooth Tethering : You want to transfer that important photo or song from a friend's phone. Well you cant do that with Bluetooth unless he has an iPhone too

Sony MDR-XB30EX Review

If you ask me which is difficult , choosing a good phone or choosing a good pair earphone, I'd definitely choose the latter. When it comes to choosing a phone, the specifications are pretty explicit and you have a limited no of brands to choose . This makes the process far more easier and you can narrow it down quite easily to 2-3

But when it comes to choosing a pair of earphone you need something ,within your budget, that can give you the sound output equivalent to a super expensive brand and at the same time should be comfortable wearing it and of course long lasting.

A simple search for earphones in all e-commerce websites gave me a list of 40-50 brands each boasting of the best sound quality, at low prices, with great bass and treble  . The process becomes even tough when you have to narrow it down to 4-5 , after sifting through thousands of reviews , both positive and negative. E-commerce retailing can always give you a small disadvantage of not having hearing the sound directly or feeling its touch to see if you are ok with it. Some of my initial choices included a Creative earphones, Philips, House of Marley , Sound Logic ES and of course Sony

With all the other brands, you know that you'll be expecting a fairly straight mid range vocals and a controlled bass. Sometimes the sound can be as flat as it can get and leaves you wanting for that punchy bass feeling that you always wanted.  Sony, in this case has delivered just that

The SonyMDR-XB30EX has the "Extra Bass" in its name itself and delivers a powerful, rich, high bass which no other earphone in this range or even extra can remotely deliver. The sounds are clear, the bass is phenomenal as the pulsating beats can totally deliver a superior performance

I recall a scene in Jobs movie , when he says : "Both "Coach and Economy land in the same runway, but they cant be the same". This is where you realize the power of Sony.

Sony is one of those premium brands that can always be classy to carry around and you know it screams of quality and power. It has the potential to turn you into that ultimate bass head as you begin to swing your head to the tunes of the punchy bass.

I tested these quite extensively with various tracks of DJ LikeMike, The Knife, Hardwell, Metallica and of course some punchy beats of Rahman and the sound output was outstanding. The initial period during burn-in can be a bit wavery but it just gets so much better after that

Price :

Rs.1689 in Amazon :  http://amzn.to/1VpqvtS

Rs.1985 in Flipkart   : http://fkrt.it/EFWg5NNNNN 

Note : This is one of the most popular versions which is duplicated in China. So please be careful and not buy any variants which costs you around 400-450 in less reliable sites like Shopclues

The Flipkart and Amazon link posted above have been personally verified to be original and safe to buy

Summary :

This is one of the best bass earphones in the market and totally worth every penny of it. Chances are that once you get to hear this earphone, you will never go back to any other model or brand

Pros :

• Excellent Bass
• 4Hz- 24000Hz Frequency Response
• 13.5 MM driver that provides the additional bass
• Good price point in the 1500-2000Rs segment.  Comparable brands of similar quality will easily cost Rs.3000+
• Additional earbuds are provided based on ear size

Cons:

Just be very careful while purchasing it, as there are many sites and sellers dealing in duplicate copies of this and you can easily be misled.

Verdict : A definite buy for all music lovers !!

Xiaomi Mi 5 : A Pre - Review !

The much awaited day for Xiaomi loyalists is here. A breed , similar to Apple users, Xiaomi users have predominantly stuck to the brand quite fiercely since its launch in India.

Unlike Apple which saw it going back on the technology line to launch an  smaller 4' iPhone SE phone for a 40,000 INR pricetag, Xiaomi has held strong to launch a really fast powerful phone and from the features , it certainly doesn't disappoint. They certainly have delivered and even beaten expectations

Price : 25K INR
To begin with ,this is by far their most expensive phones at a price tag of 24,999 . Can it see a price drop after 4-5 months ?
Most probably yes, probably to compete with the likes of Nexus 5X and OnePlusTwo (both of them started at 25000 and now selling it at 23,000)

The Mi4 during its launch was priced at 20-21K price tag and now retailing at just 15K in Flipkart. Though the sales of Mi4 hadnt taken off like its predecessor Mi3 , they are high chances that the Mi5 might definitely a big hit

So what do we get new for the extra 10K in the Mi5, when compared with the Mi4 ?

Storage : 32GB (non expandable)
 

Mi5 now sports a 32 GB internal memory compared to 16GB internal space in Mi4
Again, there is no external SD card slot, but to a large segment of the population, 32 GB should be more than sufficient. It however supports OTG Pen drives which can be used to access external storage data

Battery : With no surprise, Mi5 comes with a 3100 mah non-removable battery , that can easily last more than a day or two depending on heavy your usage is and can definitely not leave you stranded with no battery to spare at a crucial time

Processor & Speed : One of the key points of Xiaomi phones are their minimalistic interfaces and fast response times. With a Snapdragon 820 Processor and 3GB RAM, this is definitely gonna be way faster than its predecessors

Camera :  MI claims that it has a special 4axis  optical image stabilization and a next gen 16MP sensor with a sony camera . This is one of their key selling points for Mi5 ,but early product reviewers claim it may not be the case. Though the images may definitely be way sharper and better than other Mi Phones, it may not really give a run for its money when compared to the raw images shots of Nexus , OnePlus 2 or the Iphone 6s (This is a point not personally tested and only mentioning from general reviews of product testers yet)

Other Miscellaneous Features :

• USB C connectivity
• Quick charge option
• Fingerprint Sensors
• 3D Glass Body (No more cheap plastics)

Verdict : Can someone consider ditching that expensive 50K iPhone and go for the Mi5?

A definite Yes without a moment's notice !!