TECNO PHANTOM 5 IMPRESSIONS

Tecno is at it again. This time with a smartphone that they hope will rival other flagships currently in the market and may be take them a notch higher in the smartphone manufacturing game.

A release date for Phantom 5 is yet to be announced, but the spec sheet is here with us already. And boy does this phone boast some insane specs! Truth be told, Tecno is growing. Looking back to the phones it produced in 2012 and now, the difference is clear. Crystal clear.

And so the phantom 5 boasts:

Technology

• GSM: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• 3G: HSDPA 900 /1900/ 2100
• 4G: LTE
• SIM Type: Dual SIM; Micro SIM
• OS: Android Lollipop 5.1

Design

• Dimensions: 151 x 75.8 x 6.8 mm
• Display: 5.5-inch, 1080 x 1920 pixels (401 PPI), Full HD capacitive touchscreen
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity

Hardware

• Processor Type: 64 Bit Octa-core 1.5 GHz CPU
• Chipset: Mediatek MT673
• Graphics Processor: Mali-T720
• RAM: 3 GB
• Internal Storage: 32GB
• External Storage: MicroSD card up to 64GB

Camera

• Rear: 13 megapixel, autofocus, dual LED flash
• Video recording: 1080P HD
• Front-facing: 8 megapixel with soft flash
• F.20 large aperture
• Wide view 78 degree wide angle
• Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) technology
• Visidon technology for 70% noise reduction

Multimedia

• Music Support: mp3, aac, aac+, eaac+, amr, wb-amr, midi, HIFI 2.0, DOLBY Surround Digital
• 3D Surround effect
• HiFi 2.0 and Dolby Surround Effect.
• Luxury Metal HiFi earphone
• Loudspeaker: Yes; HIFI 2.0, DOLBY Surround Digital
• Video Support: mpeg4, h.263, h.264
• FM Radio: Yes

Connectivity

• Bluetooth: v4.0
• WiFi: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
• GPS: Yes
• USB: microUSB v2.0; USB On-The-G0

Miscellaneous

• Fingerprint Sensor at the back
• Ultra lower power mode
• Availability: September 2015
• Battery: Li-Ion 3000 mAh

Away from the tech gibberish which very few understand anyway, the design of this phone awed me.

THE PROS

• To start with, the bezels are so slim you’d be forgiven to think they are not there at all. In addition, the Dolby sound that has been incorporated into this device will win the hearts of many audiophiles. In simpler terms, the phantom 5 might be an improved relative of the J7 in the audio front.

• The build of the phone looks solid and putting the fingerprint scanner at the back of the phone just below the camera was a bold move from Tecno. 
•  3GB of RAM coupled up with the new generation MT6753 mediatek octa-core chipset might as well bring a revamped user experience to Tecno users but I really wouldn’t stake y cash on performance till I get to handle the phone.

• For the gamers, a Mali-T720 GPU is on-board just for you. I hope you won’t fry the phone in your gaming escapades.
• And to the photo maniacs, there’s nothing out of the ordinary except a 13MP rear camera with dual flash and an 8MP front facing camera with a soft flash. You can now take selfies in the dark.
• With 4g connectivity, you are bound to get insane browsing speeds.
• 401 PPI on an FHD screen is utter bliss. No lie.

THE CONS

• Having the fingerprint scanner at the back was a bad idea. From experience, it would have been better if the scanner was positioned on the front, considering the fact that most smartphone users prefer using their thumb print over other fingers.
•  The 3000mah is child’s play for a 2015 flagship when some phones are boasting as much as 4000mah.
• 13MP camera. Really now Tecno? Really? We expected not less than 16MP on that hind camera.

The price is still at large, but based on Tecno's pricing system it might not be so pocket unfriendly.

And so when it’s all done and said, the phantom 5 would be the perfect way for Tecno to end their year. We hope the final build will feature all the speculated specs, if not better.

WHAT TO CONSIDER BEFORE BUYING A SMARTPHONE

Let’s face it. We have all been stranded at the phone shop trying to figure out which phone to buy from the unending variety available. 

Truth be told, there’s now worse feeling than being uncertainty when selecting a smartphone.

Therefore, before getting a smart phone one should consider:

Screen Size

Majority of the phones currently available in the market have pretty huge screens.  big screen translates to a big phone. 
so if you are not a huge fan of huge phones (probably because you have small palms..haha) , stick to phones with smaller screens. 5.0" is the current cool.

Internal storage and expandable storage support.

The larger the internal storage, the better. Period. It only gets better when there’s an option to expand the storage via external storage (SD cards and OTG support), though read-write speeds of the external storage are considerably slower than internal storage. But who cares about speed when you can carry your entire movie collection in your pocket?

Processor speed

Huh! This should be the most important of them all. A good phone will spot a processor with a high processing speed. It does not matter how many cores your phone has, but if they are all clocked to the lowest of speeds your phone will turn into a lag station. A phone with a >1.5GHZ processor is just fine for the normal user, but if you are a gamer get something closer to 2.0GHZ.

RAM

This one is easy. More RAM translate to better overall performance. Period. 

Any phone spotting <2GB RAM belongs to 2013.

 

Battery capacity.

Mobile phones are meant to last one through the day without dying on you. Therefore battery capacity is very important to ensure you get the most from your gadget. A good phone should spot >3000mah battery which at least ensure you do not have to carry a power bank around if you are a normal user. A removable battery is also better since one can easily swap batteries when need arises.

Screen resolution

No one loves a screen with poor resolution. At this time and age when we have  upto 4K resolution, poor resolution on a phone should be a punishable crime. That means that 720*1280 is the least one would expect to see on a very low end smartphone in 2015. A denser screen resolution provides more pixels per inch translating to very vivid screen outputs.

Camera

A good phone will have at least an 8MP primary camera. But then with the competition in the market, some of these cameras do not possess true pixels and end up deceiving the buyer on the spec sheet. The surest way to ensure one gets a good deal in this department is sticking to mobile makers with the reputation of exemplary cameras. But if you are more endowed with camera tech specs, you can always find out more about the camera from the spec sheet.

Aesthetics

Some people will leave out a good phone because it is “ugly”.
Well, that’s personal preference. After all beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

Purpose

Why are you buying the phone?
You see, with all the abilities bundled in today’s typical smartphone, there is an endless list of things one can do with them. Therefore, always be sure of the reason as to why you are purchasing a phone then get one that’s best endowed in the sector you are most interested in.

With all the above considered, you are assured to get a phone that’s worth your money. You can never go wrong.

GADGET REVIEW

After numerous phone calls from people requesting me to advise them on the best gadget to get,I have decided to start a section where I will provide as much in depth review of various gadgets ranging from mobile phones, tablets, to earphones.

My criteria will be pretty simple. I will pay much attention to PRICE and SPECIFICATIONS, as well as bring to light gadgets that I think deserve a chance.

The lowest price will be $77.10 (Ksh. 8,000) upwards.

Kindly let me know the devices you'd want me to shed light on.
Comments are always welcome 

HOW TO ENABLE HIDDEN FEATURES ON THE SM-N900 RUNNING LOLLIPOP WITH NO ROOT

What if I told you your SM-N900 has hidden features that you could activate and enjoy WITHOUT rooting your device? Well, it is possible.

I will save you the agony of waiting for the great news. So without further ado, heres how to activate a couple of hidden features on the SM-N900.

Oh! And before I forget, some of these features include:

1. Download Booster
2. Ultra Power Saving Mode
3. Private Mode (doesnt work smoothly though)
4. Usage statistics.
5. Extra S View wallpapers including personalised ones.
6. So much more.

PREREQUISITES

• QuickShortcutMaker. Get it from Google Playstore or HERE
• SM-N900 running latest official lollipop(Android 5.0). You can download the latest firmware from HERE
• Atleast 5GB of COMMON SENSE.

PROCEDURE

1. Install the QuickShortcutMaker app then launch it.
2. Switch from Incremental search to Normal search by just tapping on Incremental search.
3. Now search for the shortcut you intend to create. For example, if you want to create a Download Booster shortcut, just search Download booster.
4. From the search results, tap on the precise one then tap on create in the screen that appears next. Your shortcut will now appear on your home screen.

NB: You can change the name and icon of your shortcut.

That's it! with the shortcuts on your home screen, you can easily activate the features at will. Have fun.

Here's the video tutorial.

HOW TO DOWNGRADE SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 3

It has been a while ever since I posted something about something.

So today I will talk about the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Exynos variant (SM-N900).

You can get detailed information of the gadget HERE.

Now, this phone has lived to see and feel Jellybean (android 4.3), Kitkat (android 4.4.2) and now, Lollipop (android 5.0). At this point, it is important to note that Samsung always has its old models in mind so it keeps updating the android versions. As a matter of fact, it is one of the reasons I will die before I switch to another mobile phone brand.

Those SM-N900 owners who wish to get the various android versions for their beautiful beast, here are the links.

Jellybean

Kitkat

Lollipop

In case you upgraded to lollipop and wish to downgrade to Kitkat, just use Odin.

But the problem comes in when you  want to downgrade to jellybean. It is hectic since the bootloader will not allow it. 

But who are we kidding? This is android. Everything is possible.

So to downgrade from either 5.0 or 4.4 to 4.3:

Prerequisites

1. Bootloader . download from HERE
2. Odin . Download from HERE then extract.
3. 4.3 firmware for your SM-N900. Download from the links above and extract.

Procedure

1. Boot your phone into download mode by pressing vol down+power+home buttons simultaneously till the phone boots into a screen with instructions,then press volume up.
2. Plug your phone to your computer via a USB cable then launch Odin on your PC. Ensure Odin recognizes your phone by checking whether there is a blue box written the COM port in the ID COM section.
3. In Odin, make sure only Auto Reboot and F.reset Time boxes are ticked in the Options section.
4. In the File Download section,. Tick the BL option then select the bootloader from wherever you downloaded it, then click Start. Wait for the flashing to complete. Your phone will reboot automatically.
5. Once the phone has fully rebooted, boot into download mode once again. This time round you will notice that if you had a triggered Knox counter it has been reset. You can now flash the firmware of your choice via Odin without a glitch.

Comment and share. Feel free to ask questions too.