BLU Life One X review

Buy now from Amazon

This year we’ve seen a much larger focus on affordability, without compromise in quality. The end result is a slew of fantastic, premium devices to choose from, without breaking the bank. This trend is not only limited to the high-end side of things, but has made its way across the entire price spectrum, resulting in some great “bang for your buck” smartphones that fall in the sub-$250 category.

With the year winding down, BLU, the Florida-based company known for their affordable devices, seems to have saved the best for last with their latest budget-friendly offering. Given the competition it faces, does this low-cost smartphone prove to be a compelling choice? We find out, in this in-depth BLU Life One X review!

See Also: Blu Life One X vs Moto G 2015

Design

Not a lot is expected from budget-friendly smartphones as far as design and build quality is concerned, but the BLU Life One X manages to pleasantly surprise. The device features a frame made from a high-quality aluminium, that has been sand-blasted to create a sort of matte finish texture, and the back cover is made with a faux leather plastic that has been coated in a smooth paint layer. All of this not only results in the phone feeling great in the hand, but contributes positively to the handling experience as well. Also helping is the fact that the device isn’t too tall, thick, or heavy, and with a 5.2-inch display up front, one-handed use is certainly comfortable.

Taking a look around the device, the power button and volume rocker are found on the right side. These buttons offer a fair amount of tactile feedback, and while they don’t come with a textured finish to help make a distinction between them, the buttons are spaced far apart enough for this to not become an issue. The headphone jack and microUSB port are at the top and bottom respectively, and a single speaker unit can be found on the back. The back cover is also removable, and while the battery itself isn’t user replaceable, opening it up allows for access to the microSD card slot and dual SIM card slots.

BLU certainly manages to bring home the point that affordable does not necessarily translate to cheap, and while the Life One X may not have the most intriguing design, its build quality far surpasses any expectations you may have from a device that falls in the sub-$200 price range.

Display

The BLU Life One X comes with a 5.2-inch IPS LCD display with a 1080p resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 424 ppi. The display is sharp, with good color reproduction, allowing for a great media-consumption experience, and you will be hard-pressed to find a display of a similar quality and resolution when compared to other devices that are in this price category.

Aiding the display experience is MiraVision, which includes a set of options you can choose between in the Settings. The default setting is the “Standard Mode,” and while that is good by itself, some users may appreciate the extra punch in colors that is available with the “Vivid Mode.” There is also an “User mode,” that lets you customize the settings to your liking, with you being able to fine tune the contrast, saturation, brightness, sharpness, color temperature, and dynamic contrast. The preset Standard and Vivid modes will be more than enough for most, but the ability to play around with the settings is a nice addition.

Performance and hardware

Under the hood, the BLU Life One X comes with an octa-core MediaTek MT6753 processor, clocked at 1.3 GHz, and backed by the Mali-T720 GPU and 2 GB RAM. This processing package is found with a few other similarly-priced smartphones as well, but while this is considered a low-end to mid-range setup, the performance it allows for is quite impressive, helped along with the availability of 2 GB of RAM and a near-stock software experience.

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Loading applications is pretty fast, and switching between apps via the Recent Apps screen is also smooth and snappy. The device also holds up very well while gaming, even with more processor-intensive games, and while you may see some dropped frames here and there, this isn’t a frequent occurrence, and rarely detracts from the gaming experience. Granted, the Life One X isn’t going to favorably compare in terms of performance when pit against the higher-end, and far more expensive, smartphones out there, but against its direct competition, the performance of this device is practically unmatched.

16 GB of on-board storage is the only option available here, but expandable storage via microSD card by up to 64 GB is possible, which is always a big plus for anyone concerned about meeting their storage needs. The device also comes with a standard suite of connectivity options, with the exception of NFC. Unlike a lot of other budget-friendly smartphones that are available from various Chinese OEMs, the Life One X has no trouble with accessing 4G LTE networks in the US, which is another big positive, and the device also comes with dual SIM capabilities.

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The Life One X comes with a fairly large 2,900 mAh, which allows for a full day of use comfortably. Unlike other budget-friendly devices, you can get some pretty heavy usage with the device, including gaming and taking a lot of pictures, and the Life One X managed around 4.5 hours to 5 hours of screen-on time. There is no fast charging capabilities here, but you won’t find yourself needing to charge the device until the end of the day anyway.

See also: Best cheap Android phones (December 2015)297

Camera

The camera is another aspect that is mostly overlooked as far as affordable smartphones are concerned, but even that is something that has been slowly changing. The BLU Life One X comes with a 13 MP rear camera with phase detection auto focus and an LED flash, along with a 5 MP front-facing unit, which also comes with a flash.

The camera interface is very simplistic, and while there are some go-to features already on the viewfinder, some key features, like HDR, are tucked away in a menu. The menu also includes a slew of other modes and settings, including a Beauty Mode, Sports Mode, Dual View Mode, Night Mode, and even a Pro Mode, that lets you adjust white balance, ISO, and more. With there being no Auto HDR, you will have to dive into this menu every time you want to enable HDR, but it does work well for the most part.

The camera is capable of taking some nice shots in good lighting conditions, and while the image may look a little soft and with subdued colors, most pictures look pretty decent. While HDR does bring out the shadows and add a lot of sharpening to the image, you may be better off not using it in well-lit situations, because of the time it takes to take a shot, which will require very steady hands, given the lack of OIS. HDR does make more of a difference in low-light conditions, making for a brighter image every  time, but once again, steady hands are a must to avoid blurry images.

The camera is capable of recording video at the 1080p resolution, but you can always lower that in the Settings. Like the images it takes, colors in the video are somewhat subdued and with cooler tones, but the videos captured do turn out looking quite nice, albeit a little shaky, with there being no optical image stabilization available. Selfies look quite good as well, with a good amount of detail. While the front-facing flash can be useful in extremely dark scenarios, it can be quite harsh, and tends to flood the subject.

Smartphone cameras have taken huge strides this year, and while the camera of the Life One X doesn’t come close to those of the flagship devices out there, it does  more than get the job done if you’re looking to share images and videos to social media, and does seem to provide a better camera experience than some of its competition.

Software

The software experience across BLU’s smartphone portfolio has been quite inconsistent, with some devices featuring drastically different user interfaces from others. However, in the case of the Life One X, what you get is a near stock version of Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box, which also contributes to the smooth performance of the device, along with a few useful extras baked in.

A lot of Material Design elements can be seen throughout the UI, including the Recent Apps screen, which only adds a Clear All button, and the notification drop down, which comes with just a few extra options in the Quick Settings menu. Also available are some screen-off gestures that BLU is calling Smart Awake, which allow you to launch various apps by drawing letters on the screen when it is off, such as an M to launch the music player, C to quickly start the camera, and O, to turn on the flashlight. Other gestures include double tap to wake, and flipping the phone to silence a call or alarm. There is also a Pocket Mode, that uses the proximity sensor to save battery while the device is in your pocket.

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BLU has stated that they will be making software updates a priority, and have a promised an official update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow by the end of Q1 2016.

Specifications

Pricing and final thoughts

The BLU Life One X is currently available for just $149 from Amazon, with the color options including black and white.

So there you have it for this in-depth look at the BLU Life One X! Pricing is always a priority for users looking for budget-friendly devices, and it doesn’t get any better than the Life One X.

Priced at just $149, what you get is an impressive build quality, beautiful display, solid internals, and a great software experience, all for what is essentially one of the cheapest smartphones out there. BLU also adds some extras to the deal, including a pair of earphones and a replacement back cover with a flap to cover the display, which brings a little bit more durability. The compatibility with 4G LTE networks in the US is also a big plus, and with everything that this device brings to the table, it really is one of the best phones you can get for under $150.

Buy now from Amazon

POP! CARDBOARD 2.5 review: a superb Google Cardboard variant

Virtual reality (VR) has taken the mobile market by storm as soon as Google introduced a ingenious way to achieve it – by simply strapping a phone to our faces. While that sounds like an odd thing to say, it works! A viewer with lenses and a phone mount doesn’t need to be an expensive accessory, and it was with this realization that Google Cardboard was born.

Since then, accessory manufacturers also wanted a piece of the action. One finely-made Google Cardboard variant is by a German company called Mr. Cardboard. It’s latest revision of the product is called POP! CARDBOARD 2.5.

Let’s check out Mr. Cardboard’s take on Google’s viewer and if this is the Cardboard design you should be using to get away from it all.

Setup and Design

I loved how easy it was to get the POP! Cardboard up and running. I have to say that when I received the review unit (unopened it just looks like a thick envelope), I didn’t look forward to assembling it. I don’t like having to set something up to use it. But that’s how Google’s Cardboard project works.

To my satisfaction, the product guides you perfectly through each step (and there aren’t even a lot of steps). When you open the envelope, you see instructions on the back panel and the flattened product on the other.

All it take is two unfolds and you begin to see what the Cardboard looks like.

There’s a clearly marked perforated line on where to detach the device from the packaging. Once you do, it’s pretty self-explanatory on what do from here. Simply expand the flattened box and the viewer takes shape.

The panel that holds the lenses just folds down into place. There are two inserts on the panel that go into corresponding slits on the box, so that it doesn’t come apart unwillingly.

On the other end, you see where the phone is to be placed. There’s a flap that encloses the phone, secured by Velcro.

I would’ve liked for the orientation of the Velcro patch to go vertically instead of horizontally. It’s easy to overshoot it when closing the lid. Rather, you need to visually make sure that the two patches line up. No biggie.

Usability

My current phone is the LG V10. It’s not a small phone by any means, so I was interested on how well it would fit onto the POP! Interestingly, the length of the phone extends past the dimensions of the Cardboard.

At first impression, one suspect a failure. But Mr. Cardboard actually states that the POP! Cardboard 2.5 supports very large phones like the Nexus 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. So what gives?

Turns out that it doesn’t really matter. The viewer functionality still works. Actually, the phone’s extension gives you more to grip onto.

However, do notice that the back cutout (meant to allow the phone’s camera to be utilized for augmented reality) slightly cuts into my phone’s camera. This is a tough one, because you have to try to guess a cutout that would work for all phones. Fortunately, all it takes is a little shift to unblock the camera. The phone’s mounting is undisturbed by movement of the phone.

The POP! Cardboard 2.5 doesn’t have a strap, so it can only be used with support by your hands. I suspect this is due to the device’s support for large phones. The weight of phablets can compromise the experience. Also, there’s a risk with the phone falling out, since it doesn’t get fully encapsulated. Using your hands makes sure your device stays safe.

As soon as you’re ready to go, simply download a VR-supported app. Google has a list of apps and games here. There’s a Cardboard-specific QR code you scan on the side of the box for checking “Works with Google Cardboard” compatibility.

Where you place your face on the viewer has mindful foam padding. It’s very comfy and the experience is as it should be. There’s no issue whatsoever viewing the screen through the lenses. The functionality works as it should. On the bottom, there’s a small cutout to allow you to interact with the phone without removing it.

Final Thoughts

It was a joy to test out Mr. Cardboard’s solution for Google Cardboard. The POP! Cardboard 2.5 is extremely easy to get up and running. I loved how simple and refined the product is.

It’s a bummer that there isn’t some way to attach the viewer to your head for a hands-free experience. But I do appreciate that you can use it with large phones.

The POP! Cardboard 2.5 is made in Germany, but fortunately it’s available on Amazon for U.S. customers. At $19 (at the time of this writing), it’s not the cheapest Cardboard out there, but you know you’ll be getting one that is well-made.

Product page

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UB+ Eupho modular speakers review

These days, “modular” devices are all the rage. Starting with Phonebloks, the idea that you can take a device and modify it to your liking seems to appeal the tech world at large. UB+ has taken this idea and applied it to its Eupho speakers, allowing you to have as little or as much added onto your speaker as you’d like. I had the opportunity to try these out, and I think it’s an interesting idea, though with some confusing aspects. Read on below.

When you first look at a UB+ Eupho, it looks like your typical portable Bluetooth speaker – cylindrical, with the speaker coming out of the top. However, there are any number of accessories that you can get from UB+ to morph and change how your speaker works. For example, you can buy the UB+ Eupho Stereo to turn two portable speakers into a single double speaker stereo.

UB+ Eupho

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However, the Stereo and another accessory called the Brave have not been released yet, but are slated to come out early in 2016. For now, you can get an expansion case, which acts not only as a protective case but also as a sound enhancer (more on that later). The case is two parts, one part that’s mostly clear, the other part matching the color of the speaker. You can also get an adapter that allows you to connect multiple Eupho speakers together via aux cable. UB+ calls this the BuddyStereo system. Basically, connecting two or more Eupho speakers (or other speakers, even) through an aux cable via the BuddyStereo port. This way, if you connect to a speaker either through a cable or Bluetooth with your phone, you control both speaker’s sound.

Anyways, on the top you have the power button along with Bluetooth control, and then the volume up and down buttons. The speaker grill has a very unique-looking design  on it that makes the Eupho stand out. On the side you have your analog in port, the micro-USB port for charging and as a digital input. Then you have the BuddyStereo input.

Alright, so we have a modular speaker with the capability to connect to other speakers to make one sound-system: how does it work?

In short, the BuddyStereo system on the UB+ Eupho works well. You simply plug one Eupho into the other, and you’re set. I’d say the only part that was confusing was figuring out which speaker you connected your phone to.

Once you figured that out, though, it worked like a breeze. Whether your phone is connected via cable or Bluetooth, control was seamless. Even controlling the volume on the master speaker would in turn control the other speaker.

Otherwise, the Eupho works as any other portable speaker does. Bluetooth setup is fairly seamless, everything is pretty clearly labeled on the speaker itself.

Battery life is great – I actually haven’t charged the speakers since I’ve received them, and have used them for a good 8 hours a least. I was going to try to wear the speakers out to give a better number, but that has proven difficult.

When it comes to portable speakers, one of the biggest complaints  is in regards to the sound being thin. Usually, the music sounds more like it’s trying to escape instead of being willfully delivered. Many try to fix this by tweaking the sound, but at the end of the day, that speaker with the diameter of a thumb just isn’t going to sound as good as bigger, multiple speakers.

UB+’s (UB+’? UB+s? Your guess is as good as mine) fixes this problem by combing multiple speakers together, using a system similar to surround sound systems for your home. Those speakers aren’t particularly big, but with more of them, you get more full sound. With this method, UB+ achieves great sound considering the size of the speakers.

However, something that is odd is the use of the expansion case I mentioned earlier. UB+ encourages use of these cases, as they claim the sound is more complete. While I admit there is certainly a difference with the expansion case, and arguably a better one, it is curious to me that it takes this expansion case to achieve the sound. Without the expansion case, you are still left with a very thin-sounding output, even with the addition of other speakers. It’s not until you add the expansion case that it sounds better. I’m not sure why the sound achieved with the expansion case wasn’t just designed into the normal speaker to begin with. I imagine not building the case onto the speaker makes modifying the speaker easier. Still, make you wonder.

Overall, the speakers sound great, and allow for a more complete sound with the use of the BuddySystem that other portable speakers cannot achieve.

UB+ seeks to be different in a very saturated market of portable speakers, and I think they do it well. Building the capability to make a portable speaker more than just a slightly bigger speaker than your phone is quite the task. Yet, UB+ has implemented this well, and if they can create more accessories to modify the speakers, having a handful of the UB+ Eupho could complete your home sound system.

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Digitize your notes with the Neo smartpen N2 (Review)

With laptops and tablets becoming super portable workstations, writing stuff down with pen and paper seems to be going away. Looking around in any of my classes, I can see the majority of students are either typing things out on a laptop or tablet, some writing with a pen and paper, and some not taking notes at all.

Even with studies and teachers telling us that taking handwritten notes results in better retention than mindlessly typing out whatever our teachers says, writes, or puts in a PowerPoint, we continue to rely on our devices to serve as a stack of notebooks. Of course, there are some compelling reasons to store your notes on a device rather than in a notebook with the biggest being security.

When I take notes on my Surface Pro 4, everything I type is immediately backed up to the cloud. If something were to happen to my computer, I could easily access all my notes from my phone or another computer. If your notebook gets stolen, ripped, or rained on, you are out of luck because those notes are only stored in there.

The N2 is attempting to bridge the gap between typing and writing by offering a streamlined way to digitize your handwritten notes and back them up to the cloud.

Design and Build Quality

The design of the N2 is sleek and stylish. With the cap on, it does not look my different than an average pen aside from being slightly taller than normal. The body of the pen is made from aluminum and is triangle shaped to make writing with it more comfortable and easy. At the back of the pen, you will find the microUSB port for charging the device along with the button for powering it on and off. There is also an LED that signals if the pen is on along with some other cool features I’ll discuss later.

Take the cap off, and you will see that the N2 is not a normal pen. Under the actual pen tip is a sensor that is used to record everything your write, doodle, and sketch on an N2 notebook. The pen itself is actually a standard refill type that you can buy at your local office supply store which is a nice surprise instead of having a proprietary pen refill.

The overall design and build of the N2 is sleek and professional. It is light enough to use without your writing suffering and the weight is spread out well to keep it from toppling out of your hand. Writing with the N2 has been as enjoyable as any other pen I have used.

Setting up the N2

The N2 comes with a Neo Notes companion app for Android and iOS which is where all of your notes will be backed up to. The N2 pairs with your phone over Bluetooth, and the pairing process is simple and straight forward. Open the app, turn on the pen, and it basically takes care of the rest.

You can connect the Neo Notes app with your Evernote and Google Drive account to have your notes automatically backed up to one or both of these services. It is an extra level of security in case you cannot access your Neo Notes app to view your notes.

The app keeps itself and the pen up to date. It will alert you whenever there is an update to the firmware of the pen so that you can download it and always stay on the latest and greatest.

Using the N2

What makes the N2 special is its ability to digitize all of your handwriting into the Neo Notes companion app on your phone or tablet. In order to get the N2 to recognize your writing and digitize it, you have to use an N2 notebook which come in several sizes from pocket notepads to spiral notebooks. If you would rather not purchase separate notebooks, there is a free application for Widows called N Toaster that allows you to print Ncoded paper from your own home.

When you open a new notebook, it will open a new notebook in the Neo Notes app that is the same style as the one you are using this is cool. Unfortunately, it cannot differentiate between notebooks that are the same style. I have several notebooks that are the same style which I use for different subjects. If I just switch between them, all of the notes I take will appear in one notebook in the app.

I have to archive each notebook in the app after I use it and unarchive the notebook I need to use to keep all my notes in the right book. If you are forgetful (like me), you could easily forget to change notebooks in the app and have your biology notes in with your marketing notes. There is also no way to move notebook pages between books in case this happens.

This being said, using the N2 is an awesome experience which is only slightly dampened by the notebook switching difficulties. If you have the Neo Notes app open on your device, you can watch yourself write in real time in the virtual notebook. While this isn’t actually a useful feature of the app, it is still pretty cool to see how little latency is present between writing in a notebook and your writing showing up in the app.

The N2 has built in memory so that you don’t have to have the pen synced with your device to have your notes saved. Once you connect back to your phone, it will sync all the pen data to the app in the background.

As far as battery life is concerned, the N2 is good, but it will not be setting any records. The N2 is touted as having about 8 hours of battery life when in use, and I would say that is right on the money. I kept the N2 in my bag and used it in two of my four classes. I needed to charge it about one or twice a week which worked about to around eight hours of class time between charges. You can monitor the battery level of the pen within the Neo Notes app.

There are actually several useful features in the Neo Notes app itself. First off, you can have your notes backed up to your Evernote and Google Drive accounts. This will put pictures of each page of you have and upload them to whichever app you select.

When writing in a notebook, you can change the pen color and line thickness in the app so that when you view your notes later in the app, you can have different parts of your note in different colors. However, you must have the app opened when writing because the selections for color and thickness are only available then. When you change the pen color in app, the LED on the N2 will change to display whatever color it is writing in which is quite useful.

You are given the option to record audio as you take notes by pressing the Voice button in the app. Unfortunately, there is no mic on the N2 and the recording relies on your devices microphone for audio. This means you will need to have your device out in order for any recording to be audible.

When you go back and review your notes later, you can play them back and watch the app replay your notes in the order you wrote them. You can also play back the recordings which will highlight whatever you were writing down during each part of the recording. This is a great feature for students who can record their professor as they take notes and go back later to follow along with the recording of their teacher.

There are a couple of extra features in the app such as Edit or Transcribe, but I did not find them to be useful for me. Edit allows you to change the notes you took in the app, but it was just too difficult to use on a phone screen. It was simpler to open the notebook back to that page and edit whatever needed to be done in the physical notes. Transcribe will convert your handwritten notes into text, but if your writing is as bad as mine, your results will look like some sort of alien language. If you happen to have handwriting on the neater side, then this feature might prove useful to you.

While the Neo Notes app comes with all the features you could look for and more, it is in desperate need of a design refresh. For a device so sleek and stylish, the app itself lacks the same polish and almost appears unfinished.

Conclusion

After using the N2 for a couple of weeks both in and out of class, I can say that I am impressed with what the N2 has to offer. Its fantastic handwriting digitization, feature filled app, good battery life, and Google Drive/Evernote integration all wrapped up in a premium, sleek package made for an amazing writing experience. Sure, the app could definitely go for a design refresh and a couple of features that could have been improved, but my overall impression of this pen is high.

For students, this pen gives them the security of backing up their class notes while still letting them hand write their notes for improved retention. The N2 tries to blend old school note taking with new school technology, and it pulls it off with elegance and simplicity. If you are interesting in getting your hands on an N2, you can grab one for $140 from Amazon right now in either black or white. This will come with everything you need to get started including a small notebook. You can grab some extra notebooks from Amazon, as well.

  Buy your N2  Buy Notebooks for the N2

What I liked:

• Sleek, stylish design
• Great build quality
• Easy setup
• Good battery life
• Handwriting is cleanly and quickly digitized
• App is full of useful features
• Evernote and Google Drive integration
• Pen stores notes when not connected to device
• Simple and easy operation
• Immediate recognition when I switched to a notebook with a different style

What I did not like:

• Could not differentiate between notebooks of the same style
• The app needs a major design overhaul
• No mic on the pen to take advantage of the recording feature
• No way to move note pages between books in the app

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Agent 003 to the Rescue [App Review]

Agent 003 to the Rescue is all about rescue and adventure. As you may have guessed, Agent 003 takes a Bond-style approach on all his missions, with his ultimate goal being to rescue stolen pets and return them to their owners.

The game attempts to offer a unique style of gameplay and an original title. How does it stack up?

Setup

There’s minimal setup required. None, in fact. You pretty much begin playing as soon as you press the play button. Gameplay is straightforward and relatively simple, at least in theory. There is no tutorial.

While it’s not really necessary, a tutorial would’ve been nice to add in. It took a couple of runs to know the controls and the idea of gameplay.

Settings wise, you can obviously change the music and sound effects on/off. There’s also a neat feature to change the frame rate, in case your device can’t keep up nicely. The graphics aren’t intensive, but if you have a low-end device it’s a nice tool to make the game run smoother.

Gameplay

The gameplay is nothing really new or unique. You are a dog armed with a gun that has to avoid obstacles. To finish the level, you have to reach the end of this “obstacle course”. A very deadly obstacle course, that is.

Along the way you have to jump or shoot or these obstacles, ranging from waterspouts and floating platforms to a guy throwing rocks and bombs falling on you. You get to shoot some of these down or have to jump timely over the obstacles.

For me personally, I didn’t find it boring but it wasn’t exactly entertaining at the same time either. After playing longer, I initially felt like it was the ideal game for youngsters, who typically put a lot of effort into stuff they do.

This however is not the impression I had for long. The game difficulty is relatively more harder than you may expect, and it takes three or tries to just get past the first level. Certainly suitable for someone more grown up, but contradictory of my earlier thoughts.

There’s also some economy factors in the game. This involves resources like energy, gems, ammunition and life savers. The game is very centralized around this, which is a rather good thing as it adds some more features into it. It can, however, get annoying sometimes when you run out of bullets or energy and you get stopped halfway through the game. Lifesavers are like a health add-on, something you can purchase as well.

There was no lag or glitches along the way. Everything ran smoothly creating a positive user experience.

Something I should also mention are the graphics. They are of modest quality, but they help add a sense of uniqueness to the game somehow:

You may have noticed the line dividing the screen. One side is more transparent. On the left, you tap to jump (twice for double jump). A tap on the right side will shoot a bullet from the doggy gun.

Rating

3,8 out of 5 stars

Conclusion

If you’re not into hardcore graphics, Agent 003 might just be the game for you. There are 21 levels to complete, and with the not-so-easy gameplay, it will certainly make the ideal time waster. There are two versions, a paid and free, with the only difference being adverts in the free one.

It is overall a relatively decent game, with no big negatives or trade-offs, but nothing “wow” either.

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