T3 India

Tested

Tested: Optoma ML330

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An Android-powered projector for home users

PRICE Rs.38,490 URL optoma.com DIMENSIONS 157x122x35mm WEIGHT 460g DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY Single 0.45” WXGA DMD Chip DLP Technology RESOLUTION WXGA 1280×800 BRIGHTNESS 500 lumen (Bright Mode) CONTRAST 20,000:1 LAMP LIFE 20,000 hrs 3D SUPPORT Yes CONNECTIVITY HDMI + MHL v1.0, microSD-slot, AV in 3.5mm, RJ45, 2x USB-A, Audio Out 3.5mm SPEAKER 2W

The projectors available in the market for home users today concentrate on giving the best possible colour reproduction and picture quality. While that is important, most projectors involve complex setup and use. Optoma is trying to change that with the ML330. It not only makes it easy for home users to consume content from a variety of sources, it is also compact and can be carried and placed in any room of your liking.

The ML330 is not your average-size projector. It is not a pico projector as well but sits right in the middle. Its lightweight at 460g and has a clean design. Te lens and vents occupy the front whereas the touch-sensitive controls are on the top and connectivity ports at the back. Te focus ring is on the side whereas the tripod mount, two speakers and a kickstand are placed at the bottom. Optoma also bundles a carry pouch that makes it easy to carry the projector.

The reason why we say this projector is easy to use is the fact that it does not rely on an HDMI source alone. Users can connect a USB flash drive and start playing the content or with the customised version of Android 4.4, coupled with the built-in Wi-Fi or an Ethernet connection, start streaming YouTube, Netflix or content from your favourity video streaming app.

The ML330 does not support full Google services, which means you can’t play content from Play Movies but comes pre-installed with the Aptoid store that gives access to a plethora of other apps.

The DLP projector offers decent picture quality for its size but don’t expect it to beat other home projectors that are expensive and sophisticated when it comes to picture quality. ML330 supports WXGA resolution (1280×800) and has a 500 lumen bright LED lamp with a lamp life of up to 20,000 hours. Tere’s also auto keystone correction that works well but if you want a bit more control, the projector allows to tweak the keystone setting manually.

Moreover, it also supports 3D but requires an additional purchase of 3D glasses. The 2W speakers are weak, but the ML330 comes with Bluetooth, so connect Bluetooth speakers can be paired for better audio. All in all, the ML330 is not about the picture quality but it’s about the ease of use and portability, and if you’re looking for something like that in a home projector, ML330 will give no reason to complain.

VERDICT
WE’RE IMPRESSED Easy to use
WE’D IMPROVE Speakers are weak
THE LAST WORD Android-powered projector that is portable and plays content from a variety of sources
RATING 3.5/5

Note: This review is published in the February 2018 issue of T3 India.

Tested: Honor View 10

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SPECIFICATION:
PRICE Rs.29,999 URL hihonor.in DIMENSIONS 157×74.98×6.97mm WEIGHT 172g DISPLAY 6-inch
FullView FHD+ (2160x1080p) ASPECT RATIO 18:9 CPU 2.36GHz Huawei Kirin 970 octa-core RAM 6GB STORAGE 128GB MICROSD CARD SLOT Yes CAMERA 16MP+20MP (Rear), 13MP (Front) OS EMUI 8 based on Android Oreo HEADPHONE JACK Yes BATTERY 3750mAh

Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has been on a launching spree. In the last few months, Honor has launched phones at different price points, including the View 10. The phone sits at the top of the Honor lineup in terms of asking price but with that price tag, Honor is making sure you get their top-of-the-line hardware along with the latest software. We take a thorough look.

DESIGN
Why change something if it’s working well seems to be the mantra for Honor. And that’s not a bad thing as far as design is concerned. We like the phone’s curvy design, it despite being a tall device, gives the phone a good grip.

However, single-hand use is still a tough task. The View 10 has solid build quality and certainly looks premium with all-glass on the front, with focus on the 18:9 FullView display and metal finish at the back. We did not find the device slippery but if you do, Honor is also bundling a clear case with the phone.

As far as physical keys, ports and slots go, the fingerprint scanner is on the front. It also works as a home button and few other things (more on that later). The power and volume keys are on the right; the hybrid SIM+microSD slot on the left; 3.5mm headphone jack and USB Type-C port at the bottom; and an infrared blaster for universal remote at the top.

PERFORMANCE
Most of the phones launched in the last few months have gone 18:9 and Honor 10 is no different. It has a 6-inch FullView display that supports Full HD+ resolution (2160×1080) and it can be lowered to HD+ (1440×720), if needed, to save power. The display is sharp, has decent viewing angles and good colours. The colour temperature can be tweaked to user’s liking with preset “vivid” and “normal” modes or to get the precise temperature with the colour picker. The phone also supports eye comfort feature that blocks the blue light to reduce eye fatigue and gives the option to view non-full-screen apps in full 18:9 aspect ratio.

One major component that differentiates Honor devices is the use of their own processors. Just like Samsung has their Exynos range, Huawei develops the Kirin range for its own and Honor line of devices. The Honor View 10 is equipped with a Kirin 970 octa-core processor, which is comparable to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 and when coupled with 6GB RAM, the phone handles the complex tasks with ease and fluidity. The Kirin 970 also features something they call as the neural processing unit (NPU).

To put it simply, NPU is used to handle all the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning-related tasks. View 10 promises a lot of AI trickery and while AI still in nascent stages, it’s good to see Honor committing to it, and this should improve over the coming months. Some of the things View 10’s AI can do is analyse how we use the phone and allocate the required resources, to make the phone run smoothly even after months of use.

There’s also an AI accelerated translator that relies on Microsoft’s translation service but is optimised by Huawei for faster and better response. Other AI enhancements include automatic scene and object recognition when using the camera, motion detection and more.

The phone runs EMUI, which is Honor’s customised skin over Android. The good thing with the EMUI on the View 10 is that it runs on the latest Android 8 Oreo. The interface looks a tad heavy but is well optimised for smooth and fluid operation.

The fingerprint sensor on the View 10 works as intended but it’s the multiple uses of the button, just the way Lenovo has it for their phones is what we like. View 10’s fingerprint scanner can not only be used as a home button but swiping or tapping in different ways will execute a different command. For instance, a single tap will return to the previous menu whereas long pressing the home button will take you to the home screen and swiping from the right will open the app switcher menu.

The phone also supports face recognition but currently works only to reveal notification content when it detects the correct face. This was first introduced on Apple’s iPhone X and it’s good to see being implemented by others. The View 10 also supports Face Unlock but at the time of going to press, our unit did not receive the software update to enable Face Unlock.

The View 10 features a dual camera setup at the back with a 20MP monochrome camera and 16MP RGB camera. We tried the camera in both daylight and low-light scenarios and liked what the phone has to offer. Pictures clicked have good colours and details and clicks some good looking portrait shots as well. The camera offers a number of modes, including Snapchat like live AR stickers.

The 13MP front-facing camera takes decent selfies that support beauty mode and a number of other shooting modes. On the video front, the back camera is capable of shooting 4K UHD videos whereas the front can shoot in 720p. The View 10 sports a 3750mAh battery which easily gives more than a day’s worth of battery life with moderate use of calls, videos, data and music. For instances when you run out of power, the phone is bundled with a 18W charger that charges the battery quickly.

CONCLUSION
It goes without saying that the View 10 wants some of the market that OnePlus enjoyed the last couple of years and with a price of Rs. 29,999, View 10 might be able to have it. The View 10 is a really good device and at this price point, it offers excellent performance and battery life

WE’RE IMPRESSED Overall performance
WE’D IMPROVE AI is still in nascent stages
THE LAST WORD Go for it if you’re looking for flagship smartphone performance at an affordable price
RATING 4/5

Note: This review is published in the February 2018 issue of T3 India.

Tested: Centric A1

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There’s no denying that the Indian smartphone market is crowded but the good part about it is
that there’s always room for new players. Centric launched its operation last year and while its
previous devices failed to attract the fickle Indian consumer’s attention, their new A1 might be
able to do so.

The Centric A1 may not win any accolades when it comes to design but it certainly is a decent
looking device. It comes in two colour choices – gray and gold where the glass front is
complemented with a metallic back. The phone has a good weight distribution that makes it
easy to use and hold. The fingerprint sensor is at the back and touch-sensitive buttons beneath
the display.

The phone has a 5.5-inch Full HD display that offers decent colours along with good contrast
and legibility in direct sunlight. There’s no option to tweak the colour temperature but supports
adaptive brightness and ambient display.

Centric A1 is powered by Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor and 3GB RAM and while the
phone works fine for everyday tasks, you see some signs of slowdown while multitasking. The
Android 7 Nougat phone comes with 32GB of built-in storage but can expand with a microSD
card to up to 256GB.

On the camera front, the phone is equipped with a 13-megapixel camera with LED flash
whereas the front sports an 8-megapixel sensor with a selfie flash. Both cameras do a decent
job in daylight but disappoint in low-light with images showing a lot of noise. The front-facing
flash helps a bit while taking low-light selfies but the images still turn out to be grainy.

In terms of battery life, our average use gave almost a day on the phone’s 3000mAh battery but
the good part is support for Quick Charge 3.0 that can charge the device really fast and even
bundles a fast charger along with the phone.

The phone also supports DTS Sound that also helps to improve the audio quality.

Centric A1 is priced at Rs. 10,999 where the competition is really stiff with a lot of options for
consumers. But few things that work in favour of A1 is the ample base storage, Quick Charge
3.0 support and DTS for audio lovers.

WE’RE IMPRESSED Quick Charge 3.0 support that you generally find in expensive flagship
phones

WE’D IMPROVE Camera can be optimised

THE LAST WORD Centric A1 is aggressively priced smartphone that comes with premium
features like Quick Charge 3.0, DTS

RATING 3.5/5