Beyerdynamic DTX350M Stereo Headphone review

The good people at Beyerdynamic sent us a pair of their lower-range DTX350M on-ear headphones to test out. You’ve probably heard of Beyerdynamic before, and associate them with expensive, high-end headphones. You’re not wrong for thinking that, but recently they have introduced cheaper options for customers that still want a decent pair without digging a valley in their pockets.

One of these ‘cheaper’ options happens to be the DTX350M that I got my hands on. At $69, it may not exactly fall into the budget zone, but compared to the rest of Beyerdynamics offerings, it’s considerably less than what you you may expect to find.

Do the headphones stand up to their brand name?

In the Box

My attention was immediately drawn to how small the box was. I thought it was not possible to fit any kind of headsets into such a small box. Opening it however revealed the snugly fitted components:

As it turned out, it’s just really neatly packed in. The set can be folded into a considerably smaller footprint than its full size.

Included in the box is a reasonably sized synthetic leather bag to put the headset in. While it won’t offer as much protection as a hard case, it’s still a neat little perk to have. There is also a Beyerdynamic lanyard thrown in.

Enough on the unboxing… how well does the hardware bode?

Hardware

As it is one of the cheaper offerings, it’s no surprise that they are constructed almost wholly out of plastic. The only alternate material is the occasional metal along the inside of the adjustable headband and the obvious hinges above each ear pad.

Talking of ear pads, they each consist of soft padding for the on-ear experience. They aren’t designed to cover your ears completely, but rather just sit comfortably on top of them. This also means that isolation is present, but not as strongly as a pair that would completely surround your ears.

The plastic doesn’t exactly make it feel cheap, but I do feel like they could easily break or conk out on me if I don’t handle them carefully. This is a problem for people with a big head (like me) as I constantly felt like they were going to snap in half when putting them on. They aren’t tiny, but they could be a even a weeny bit bigger in terms in the band size.

This small-ish size also creates a problem when using the headset for extended periods of time as after about an hour and a half I could start feeling discomfort on my ears, particularly along where the padded parts went along my ear. But by all means, they weren’t tight on my head. On the verge of being tight, maybe, but not quite squeezing my brains out.  In other words, it wouldn’t of hurt Beyerdynamic to add an extra inch around the headband, but if you have a relatively normal sized head, you should be fine.

There is also an in-line audio control with a microphone. The microphone worked great during FaceTime calls, but there is only one button to control play/pause. It was nice and big, however.

Audio hardware

The DTX350M comes with some neat audio hardware tucked away inside. It uses a closed transducer with 40mm speaker size. The cable length comes in at 3.93 feet (1.2 meters) with a 3.5mm gold coated audio jack. Impedance comes in at 32 Ohms which results in a frequency capability of between 20 – 20,000Hz. If you’re unsure what half of that means, just know that that’s pretty much a standard combo in most headsets we see today. In short, it is a slightly better spec sheet than most other pairs, particularly the large speaker size.

How do these translate in real life?

 

Audio

This is where the headset surprised me. For $69, these produce some, if not the, best audio in this range. This is where the Beyerdynamic brand name shows itself.

A quick look at box reveals a neat little paragraph regarding the sound:

“The sound was developed by our best engineers, who developed acoustic reference headphones such as the T 1.The headphones feature clean highs, detailed mids and a crisp bass. “

There’s nothing I can argue with here. The sound is very well balanced; the bass maybe not “crisp” but rather “nice ‘n deep”; perhaps the highs should be labelled as “crisp”.

The bass was in a sweet spot. You may think it is a tad too much if you’re not into bass, but for me personally it reproduced the lows almost flawlessly. In a bass boosted song, you could even feel them vibrating a teeny bit, a wet dream for any bass lover. That being said, they were not over-empowering and I think the designers did an excellent job for the bass.

The same thing can be said for the treble. It is very smooth and, unlike a lot of headphones that I’ve used, the highs aren’t piercing if the volume is high. They are well reproduced and lush audio is the result of this. No harsh sounds were present.

They are also effective at taking away any grainy noise in the background from low quality audio files.

The only thing I can criticize here is the volume. Note that I’m not the type of person who likes to blasts their eardrums out with max volume. For most tracks, the volume was just fine, but on files that were created with low volume or during calmer songs, I do wish I could step the volume up a notch or two.

Opinion

You get a nice package with these headphones. There are no missing features or severe trade-offs, and they are convenient to carry around. This price range also makes them a good choice for students wanting a decent set.

The Beyerdynamic 350M are an excellent pair of headphones for $69. You get high-end audio at the price of “meh” audio. This is, however, compensated for in the build quality with the weak-feeling plastic. It is by no means a ‘cheap’ feel, but you’ll have a hard time convincing anyone that they’re a premium set.

Unless they listen them, that is.

You can check out the official Beyerdynamic page on them here or have a look at them on the official Amazon page here.

 

The post Beyerdynamic DTX350M Stereo Headphone review appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Marshall London review

In an industry where all manufacturers aim to cater to the general consumer, is there room for a device that makes audio its main focus? That’s a good question.

The Marshall London comes from a popular music company and certainly offers a very unique experience. Before anything, I would like to start by apologizing for how long after our unboxing and first impressions it took to publish this review. A ton of new Android devices were announced and released, making it hard to prioritize this specific device over others. This does come with a benefit, though. I used this smartphone as my daily driver for much longer, and I am ready to tell you all about it in full detail. Let’s get started.

• Best Android phones
• Marshall London is a phone for music lovers

Design

Those who usually complain abut copycats in the mobile market will find the Marshall London to be quite refreshing. This phone was built by Marshall from the ground up, and definitely takes on many of the company’s iconic looks. For starters, their logo is right below that 4.7-inch display, above the dual front-facing speakers. There’s also a unique white line that outlines the whole front of the phone.

Moving into the sides we can start feeling the rubberized material Marshall is so famous for using with its amplifiers and speakers. Some of you may not like non-metallic materials, but I have to say this provides a great grip on the phone. On the right we can also see the power button on the higher part of the body, with a volume roller (yes, roller) right below it. This analog style control can even be pressed for further functionality.

It is on the top side that we start seeing the luring parts about the Marshall London. This thing has two audio jacks, which can be used for both listening and recording. There’s also a circular Marshall button up there, which can be used to trigger the company’s official music app.

As we move to the back we can find more of that rubberized material. But the interesting part is that there is actually a removable back here, something that is becoming more of a dying breed as this industry evolves. Under the backing we can find a microSD card slot and a nanoSIM card tray, along with a removable battery. But get this, the battery literally has “Long Live Rock & Roll” written on it. Pretty darn awesome, if you ask me!

All in all, I have to say I have really enjoyed how uniquely designed this device is. Marshall has done a great job at translating their iconic design into the smartphone world, something not every manufacturer can achieve. And handling is about as good as you can get in modern times, thanks to that 4.7-inch display.

I do have to say the removable back cover is a little flimsier than I would like. It seems like it could be easily broken, or those latches could crack, deeming it unusable. But smart touches like the volume dial make it clear that Marshall really wanted to put its stamp on this phone. And that, they did.

Display

As we mentioned above, this phone comes with a handy 4.7-inch display, but what else can we tell you about the screen? Well, it does have an IPS panel, which gives it more true-to-life colors, but the sad part here is that it sports a 720p resolution. This is definitely the first sign of the phone’s mid-range specifications. That said, this really isn’t a bad display, by any means. We would just like you to keep in mind this phone is also not intended as a flagship competitor; it lives in its own realm.

When brightness is set at its highest, you can obviously tell there is a noticeable warm hue over everything, making the white areas look more taupe. By the way, this brightness makes the phone readable during daylight, but it definitely isn’t up there with other IPS displays we have seen in the past.

The lower resolution also becomes very noticeable when reading text and other sharp content. 720p is not horrible, but it is definitely behind the times by now.

Performance

The mid-to-low range trend continues as we move on to performance. There is a Snapdragon 410 powering the Marshall London, backed by an Adreno 306 GPU and 2 GB of RAM. As you can expect, this processing package is far from being considered premium, and the components definitely reflect in performance.

We can find occasional stutters even going through the general UI, but the phone is able to perform most simple tasks with little to no problem. After all, it’s not being pulled down by a higher resolution display and other resource-heavy components. You can really start noticing the weight that higher-demand tasks carry, though. Games did have higher load times and periodic crashes, for example.

For regular tasks, it worked fine, but we did need to get used to the extra time it takes to open apps or do other simple jobs. What the Marshall London does have going for it is its near-stock Android experience. Marshall didn’t try too hard to make Google’s OS different, something that might have helped keep the phone snappier.

Just keep in mind you would be getting a mid-to-low tier performance out of this phone. That’s really the important part.

See also: The best music streaming services for Android compared34

Hardware

The main focus here is, of course, the audio, but we will get to that in a bit. First let’s talk more about that removable back and what is underneath it. That microSD card slot makes the internal 16 GB expandable by quite a bit, which means you can fit plenty high-quality audio files in this phone.

The battery is a 2500 mAh unit. Definitely not bad when considering the lower-end specs. And that battery actually works quite well; one of my best days with it I used it for 14 hours and about 4 hours of screen-on time. Couple that battery performance with the ability to replace the battery at will and you have a winner.

NFC is missing, which is definitely a bummer, but many of us can live without it. Also keep in mind this phone is not necessarily made for America, which means it will work only with GSM and HSPA+ networks when imported to (or released in) the States.

OK, now we can talk about audio. Let’s start off with the first thing you will notice – those front-facing speakers. These things are great! Marshall managed to give its device stereo sound, as well as a very full-bodied audio that makes it unnecessary to use headphones during gaming or sharing videos with friends.

But when you do want a full audio experience, there are those two audio jacks on top. This allows users to share music, with a built-in Cirrus Logic sound card providing full connectivity to both jacks. And this is a full set-up for both users. The phone provides full audio quality for both outputs, and each person would have its own volume control.

The great part about this phone is that it can mold the sound to your liking. The controls in the equalizer can change your tunes very dramatically, whether you want low end bass or higher end peaks. The audio experience is very robust here… definitely in line with the history the company has created for itself. Professionals will have a blast with it, as well as casual audio enthusiasts.

Camera

You aren’t expecting a great camera out of this phone, right? If you are, disappointment awaits. The Marshall London sports an 8 MP rear camera and a 2 MP front-facing camera that will get the job done, but definitely won’t take you the extra mile.

It does use the Google Camera app, so you will have access to all that this entails. It features abilities like Lens Blur, Photo Sphere and HDR. But the camera is still a bit slow and under-performing, something that definitely shows in the actual pictures. These tend to be washed out and don’t showcase enough detail and sharpness. Color reproduction is actually pretty good, but overall we didn’t walk out of this review with a good impression of the camera.

I would say this is the bare minimum camera for the social media picture taker. It will get the job done, but it’s no over achiever.

Software

Marshall will please many user with a mostly stock version of Android. The company chose to make specific applications to improve its experience, as opposed to changing the core of the software. There are a couple additions, though, like the unique power up and down animations, as well as a very nice guitar riff used for notifications. Lollipop brings the typical home screens, app drawer and notification drop-down menu with a Quick Settings panel.

Marshall’s unique applications include an audio app (equalizer and sound settings), which is even able to tap into other services, such as Google Play Music and Spotify. This app was a bit wonky in the beginning, but a recent update seems to have fixed all the problems. Users can even access a loop stack for creating music, and there’s also a full-blown DJ application for the more experienced musicians. I personally loved a little game called Rockabilly Bros, where you can manage a band and the venue where they play.

All in all, I am a fan of Marshall’s attempt to keep Android as pure as possible. They found a great balance in which they can add in their own touch without becoming obtrusive.

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Price & conclusion

You can get the Marshall London in the UK and European markets for prices that translate to at least $499. This would be the projected price for the phone when/if it comes to the USA. It’s a bit of a high price, but some audio enthusiasts may think a device like this is priceless. As always, it depends on what you are looking for.

Marshall definitely took a risk by diving into the smartphone world, especially in such a saturated market, but this may also work to their advantage. For one, costs of making a mid-range smartphone have gone down, which allows more companies to specialize in certain departments. For Marshall, audio is the obvious focus, something that definitely shows in the London.

• Marshall London unboxing
• http://www.androidauthority.com/best-music-player-apps-for-android-208990/

Sharing your tunes with friends is one thing, but going as far as adding to the experience with equalizers, recording, music creation and other apps makes the Marshall London a benchmark for audiophiles.

With that said, we also have to mention casual smartphone users will have to cut too many corners to live with superior sound. That’s the main issue here, Marshall took a generic phone and put its name on it. Cool apps and a good design won’t be enough to put this phone in the hands of people outside the target niche. Especially when considering that price.

We certainly love what Marshall has done here, but are also hoping a follow-up will improve on the aspects that truly matter to the Android faithful.

App review: LinkedIn gets major overhaul

NIRUT RUPKHAM / Shutterstock.com

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say “social network for professionals”? Most people will instantly think of LinkedIn, but it has been a while since their app hasn’t looked very… professional.

In fact, the mobile app has looked quite outdated and unintuitive compared to modern efforts from other networks for a while now. But LinkedIn plans to close the year with a flourish by remodeling its application from the ground up. The team has been hard at work and the new design has just rolled out globally.

The real question is: did they succeed at creating a well-designed, modern app that harnesses the power of LinkedIn’s 396 million members? Continue reading to find out.

• Best Android apps
• Top 5 best social media apps for Android

Design and UI

This will obviously be where the main changes rest. It is a redesign, after all. But the nature of today’s changes make this more than a simple change in looks. We will start by talking about the aesthetics, though.

There are obvious differences between the new and old versions of the LinkedIn app. You will notice that the new application is much more colorful, dynamic and light. LinkedIn got rid of the dull black and darker blue hues, introducing a color palette that offers a much more colorful and modern feeling.

I would almost go as far as saying it has a touch of youthfulness, but in a very subtle, elegant way. The colors still look professional, playing with brighter blue and white tones that are very easy on the eye. And yes, the black colors are gone, something that makes the app look much less heavy.

Do you remember those old, ugly buttons that seem to be from 2013? Well, they were from that year, and those are gone too. The app has adopted an icon design that is simplified and is more in line with Google’s Material Design guidelines. They are flatter and much more minimalist. And what’s best is that they are prevalent throughout the app, not lost in a labyrinth of content.

Everything now seems to be within a couple taps away, something that will definitely make dealing with your professional contacts simpler than ever. We can mostly thank this to the sections LinkedIn has decided to put in what we will call the tab bar (the row on of icons on top).

The 5 “core areas”

These tabs keep all your content, information and options within a touch or two away. It’s also a great way for LinkedIn to successfully organize the app by sections, which include 5 “core areas”: Feed, Me, My Network, Messaging and Search.

Pretty simple, right? Let’s go through them and tell you a bit about them, as well as what new features they bring to the table.

Your Feed

This is where all your public social activity is going on. In here you will find all of your contact’s posts, as well as any content relevant to your interests and professional field. What’s new here is that LinkedIn now gives you a certain control over what you want to see in your feed. Over time, you can select what you like and don’t like here, something which will allow LinkedIn to more intelligently choose the posts displayed. In addition, a couple buttons for sharing posts and photos have been included.

Me

This is pretty much where you go to polish your profile and deal with all things related to your personal activity. From here you can edit your profile, look at your account settings, see who has been viewing you, see recent comments and more.

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Messaging

Emails can get clogged and cluttered. At least that is what LinkedIn believes. This messaging section offers a much more casual and simple way to communicate with your professional contacts. It works as expected, and even includes a floating action button to begin new threads. Simple and clean!

My Network

This is where a lot of the magic happens. The My Network section keeps you updated on things that go beyond posts. Did someone get a promotion? Did they celebrate a birthday? Maybe you have a meeting with one of your contacts. LinkedIn will remind you through here. The network will even recommend people you may know.

Search

LinkedIn is very proud of its new Search section, and for good reason. It’s said to be 300% faster and much smarter. It benefits by finding results as you type, so you don’t even need to press enter (or finish the search query) before what you are looking for shows up before your eyes.

LinkedIn Apps

There is also a LinkedIn Apps section that offers shortcuts to other apps from the company. These include Job Search, Pulse, SlideShare, Lynda and Lookup.

See also: LinkedIn revamps its Pulse news reader app to bring you news powered by the professional world1

Conclusion

Though some say this app looks much like Facebook‘s, I have to say LinkedIn probably did a slightly better job. It helps that this social network is much simpler, but I do believe the application redesign is also a success.

The main thing to assess is whether the app is intuitive or not. Is everything where you would expect it to be? How much did you have to think about finding where something is located? I found that I pretty much already knew how to use this app. Everything is in plain view, bright and colorful.

Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock.com

The app even integrates swiping from side to side, as well as sliding content away from the screen, giving it a much needed dynamic touch the previous app iteration lacked. So yes, the app is very intuitive, and it also helps that it’s pretty good-looking.

Is it perfect? Nothing is. I will complain about that Settings button, which I do believe should have been more consistent throughout the app. In fact, it should have gotten its own icon in the top row, instead of being hidden in the Me section. Otherwise, I do believe LinkedIn took the right steps to provide a pleasant experience and take its networks where it needs to go. This update is big, and I am loving it.

Check out other great app-related coverage at AA:

• Fastest Android browsers
• How to speed up your Android device

But check it out for yourself and hit the comments to let us know what you think! Do you agree with me, or are you less excited about the redesigned app?

Get it on Google Play!

Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro review

Back at IFA 2015 Lenovo introduced the latest members of its tablet lineup, including the successor of the unique Yoga Tablet 2 Pro. While retaining all the unique aspects of its predecessor, including the pico projector, the newest premium addition to the Yoga Tablet series brings with it further refinements to the design and build quality, while also adding features to make this tablet a true media-consumption powerhouse.

Does the latest tablet offering from Lenovo prove to be a compelling choice? We find out, in this in-depth review of the Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro!

Looking back: Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro Review

Design

What is noticeable right off the bat with the Yoga Tab 3 Pro is the cylinder at the bottom of the device, a signature element of the series that serves multiple purposes, including housing the kickstand, the battery, and the pico projector. The cylinder and resulting bulge does make for a handling experience that can be quite awkward initially and will take some getting used to. Thankfully Lenovo helps with the handling by utilizing a faux leather backing that allows for a lot of grip, and while the kickstand is metal, everything is held together with a plastic frame.

With the Yoga Tab 3 Pro featuring a more traditional 10.1-inch display, compared to the 13.3-inch screen of its predecessor, this tablet is definitely easier to handle, and save for the cylinder, the tablet is also impressively thin, with a thickness of just 4.68 mm. Even with its comparatively more compact nature, it is quite heavy though, with a weight of 667 grams, which means that it isn’t the most portable tablet out there. That said, contributing to this heft is the large 10,200 mAh battery that the device packs, and that is a trade-off that a lot of users should be comfortable with.

Taking a look around the device, the power button is on the right side of the cylinder, with a notification LED ring around it, and below you’ll find the microUSB port and the volume rocker. On the opposite end of the cylinder is the button to power up the pico projector, which has now been moved to just off center of the tube, instead of at the end of cylinder as seen with the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, and below the projector button is the headphone jack. The placement of the power button and the projector button can take some getting used, and you might find yourself accidentally triggering the projector initially. Opening the kickstand reveals a plastic cover that houses the microSD card slot.

Speaking of the kickstand, it is definitely worth mentioning how good a job Lenovo continues to do with it.  As mentioned, this is one of the few parts of the tablet that is made of metal, and the resulting weight does a good job in keeping the device propped up. There is a large button available to release the kickstand, and once open, you can prop the tablet up in a few different positions.

First is the stand position, which is at a relatively steep angle, making it ideal for media consumption, and there is another tilt position at a much smaller angle that lets you do everything from typing, playing games, watching videos, or browsing the web. There is also a hole in the kickstand, present to not only accommodate the release button, but is also something that lets you hang the tablet from a nail or coat rack. The last use is admittedly gimmicky, but the kickstand otherwise provides a lot of utility, and some might even want the ability to hang up the tablet for media consumption purposes.

The Yoga Tab 3 Pro is being touted as a media-consumption device, and along with the high resolution display and pico projector, rounding out the experience is the availability of four front-facing JBL speakers with Dolby Atmos technology. The unique design of the Yoga Tab 3 Pro will certainly take some getting used to, but users will definitely appreciate all the different features that the odd cylinder allows for.

Display

The Yoga Tab 3 Pro comes with a 10.1-inch IPS LCD display with a Quad HD resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 299 ppi. The display looks fantastic, and features accurate color reproduction and great viewing angles. It is also bright enough to read in direct sunlight, although the adaptive brightness doesn’t work as well as one would hope. Given that this tablet is intended for media, users shouldn’t have anything to complain about on that front.

There are some other issues with the display experience however. While it is great that this is a “super sensitive” touch screen, which makes it possible to use while wearing gloves, a setting to turn off this feature would have been very useful. The display is often too sensitive, registering touches from things like sweatshirt sleeves and even headphone wires, which can get quite annoying, and having the option to turn it off would help. Secondly, the response time is a bit slow when scrolling between elements, which causes a noticeable ghosting effect. Finally, the display does seem prone to scratches, which is disappointing given the premium price point the device commands, and picking up a good screen protector is definitely recommended.

Performance and hardware

Under the hood, the Yoga Tab 3 Pro comes with a quad-core Intel Atom X5-Z8500 processor, clocked at 2.24 GHz, along with 2 GB of RAM. The performance of the tablet has been good for the most part, and the device can handle day to day tasks very well. Tasks like opening, closing, and switching between apps happen fairly quickly, and gaming is also excellent, further enhanced by the high resolution display, and the front-facing speaker setup that makes for a very immersive experience.

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There are some hiccups along the way however, with their being occasional instances of lag that ruin the otherwise fast experience. Multi-tasking is also not as smooth as expected, and an additional gig of RAM would have likely done the trick in this case.

When it comes to storage, 32 GB of internal memory is the only option available, though it can be further expanded via microSD card by up to 128 GB. The device also comes with a standard suite of connectivity options, and while the tablet seen in this review is a Wi-Fi-only model, a version with mobile connectivity and 4G LTE support is also available for those who may want it. The device also comes with an IP21 rating for dust and water resistance, which means that you do get some form of splash protection.

Of course, the unique hardware feature of the Yoga Tab 3 Pro is the integrated pico projector, with 50 lumens brightness, and it allows for an output image of up to 70-inches, at a 480p resolution. Granted, it’s not going to rival traditional projectors, or even some of the better portable projectors out there, in terms of quality or resolution. In many ways, it is more of a novelty than anything, though it can prove useful in certain situations. If you are looking to quickly share content during a presentation or with friends, you won’t have to deal with everyone huddling around a small screen, and the projector can come in handy to watch videos as well, in a pinch.

Audio is also an area in which Lenovo does a great job with the Yoga Tab 3 Pro, and the four integrated front-facing speakers with Dolby Atmos tech certainly sound good, and get plenty loud as well. Whether you are watching videos or playing games, the speaker setup plays a role in further enhancing the overall experience.

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As mentioned, packed into the cylinder of the tablet is a large 10,200 mAh battery, and as you would expect from that capacity, the Yoga Tab 3 Pro offers fantastic battery life. In my testing, I managed an average of a little over 7 hours of screen-on time, with around 36 hours of total usage. Keep in mind that was with pretty heavy usage as well, which included hours of watching YouTube videos and using the projector for around half an hour during the testing period. With more casual usage, you will certainly be able to get a lot more out of this battery. Helping the battery life is the tablet’s standby efficiency, that, with more passive usage, should keep the device running comfortably for at least a couple of days.

Camera

On paper, the Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro features quite an impressive camera package, with its 13 MP rear camera and 5 MP front-facing camera, which seems to be better than what is available with most tablets out there. However, as we’ve seen all too often in the smartphone world, the megapixel count is rarely the best indicator of quality. The camera package here is certainly an improvement over what was available with its predecessor, but images from both the rear and front-facing cameras still lack a good amount of detail, and the image quality deteriorates rapidly in even the slightest of low-light situations. As always, cameras on tablets aren’t intended to replace your primary shooters, and while it might do in a pinch, the camera of your smartphone will likely be far superior.

As far as the camera application is concerned, while there is a larger focus on ease of use, there is some amount of manual control to be found as well. As nice as that might be, the camera app itself, at least in this particular review unit, proved to be very unstable. Not only did the app frequently crash, but would sometimes refuse to take a picture altogether, with only a device restart resolving the issue. Of course, this is a software issue, and hopefully a future software update will fix this problem.

Software

On the software side of things, the Yoga Tab 3 Pro is running Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box, with Lenovo’s Vibe UI on top. This time around, the user interface is closer to a stock version of Android than it was in the past, with Material Design elements showing up throughout, such as in the Recent Apps screen. An app drawer is also available now, something that wasn’t there with its predecessor. There are some obvious differences however, as seen in the notification drop down, and with the app icons.

Lenovo has also kept the bloatware to a minimum here, with the tablet shipping with only a handful of third party apps pre-installed, such as Evernote and McAfee Security, and all of them can be uninstalled easily. Lenovo does add a few of its own apps in though, with the most interesting being the Sketchpad app, which takes advantage of Lenovo’s AnyPen technology that allows you to use any stylus with the device, and even something like the eraser at the end of a pencil.

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There are certainly still a few areas in the software experience that could use a little more polish, but it is definitely better than what was seen with previous generation Lenovo tablets. Instances of lag and other buggy aspects can also be fixed with future software updates, which should make the overall experience even better.

Specifications

Display	10.1-inch IPS LCD display, 2560 x 1600 resolution
Processor	2.24 GHz quad-core Intel Atom x5-Z8500
RAM	2 GB
Storage	32 GB on-board, microSD expansion up to 128 GB
Camera	13 MP rear-facing camera 5 MP front-facing camera
Battery	10,200 mAh
Software	Android 5.1 Lollipop
Sound	4x front-facing speakers, Dolby Atmos 3D Surround Sound on Speakers
4G LTE option	Yes
Projector	Yes
Dimensions	247 x 179 x 4.68 mm 667 grams

Gallery

Pricing and final thoughts

The Yoga Tab 3 Pro is priced at $499.99 for the Wi-Fi only model, and the pricing of the 4G LTE version hasn’t been announced as yet.

So there you have it for this in-depth look at the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 3 Pro! Lenovo gets a lot right with this tablet, with the device featuring a great display, a solid audio experience, and excellent battery life. Add on bonuses like the kickstand and the pico projector, and what you get is a fantastic media-consumption device. That said, the less than stellar processing package, inconsistent performance, and software issues are a bit of a let down.

While these issues are more easily forgiven with more affordable devices, the premium price tag that the Yoga Tab 3 Pro features makes these concerns harder to ignore. If you are in the market for an excellent tablet for content consumption, you will have to look no further than the Yoga Tab 3 Pro, but for anything else, you might be better off looking elsewhere.

The CardNinja replaces your wallet with your phone (Review)

Our smartphones seem to be slowly and surely replacing our wallets, and with tap-to-pay options like Android Pay becoming more widely used and accepted, carrying a wallet around is becoming less necessary. If you are like me, you love the idea of using your phone to pay for everything, but you are still not comfortable leaving all of your cards and cash at home. For me, there are not enough places where I live that accept wireless payments so I have to carry cards with me, and I always keep some cash on hand because you never know when a company’s card reader will start messing up. The CardNinja from Cubi is a simple solution to this problem that allows you to carry some cards and cash with you but still leave your phone at home.

Design and Application

CardNinja is an elastic pouch that attaches to the back of your phone with adhesive. This allows you to fit several cards and some folded up bills into the pouch and keep everything you need to pay with on your phone. The CardNinja comes in a variety of colors, and I went with the Steel Grey option.

I normally keep a case on my Nexus 6, and although the CardNinja claims to work with most cases, I decided to take the case off and give the CardNinja a try just on the back of my phone. The CardNinja itself isn’t thick at only 2.5mm, but once you start adding cards into it, it definitely adds some thickness to the back of your phone.

There is 3M adhesive on the back which keeps it securely attached to your phone, and you should be careful when applying the CardNinja because the adhesive is extremely strong and is a pain to remove if you make a mistake. I was worried that the CardNinja would not like the curved back of my Nexus 6, but the adhesive is strong enough to hold it to the curve even with cards in it.

Make sure when you apply the CardNinja that you avoid any sensors or microphones on the back of your device. I almost covered up the microphone on the back of my Nexus 6 because I wasn’t paying attention.

Using the CardNinja

I have been using the CardNinja for over a week now on the back of my Nexus 6, and I must say that I am impressed. I included my four most important cards (driver’s license, school ID card, debit card, and Google Wallet card) along with a couple of twenties, and the CardNinja had plenty of room for them and even more cards. Cubi claims that there is room for eight cards, and I believe it! One thing that was slightly annoying was that the CardNinja added thickness to one end of my phone which made it awkward to place flat on a table. If you are used to using your phone when it is face up on a table, the CardNinja will make that more difficult. After a few days, I was used to it and it actually does not bother me anymore. 

I found getting cards in and out of the CardNinja extremely easy, and I believe it was actually simpler to use than a wallet because all of your cards and cash are right there. I was worried that the added thickness would make it difficult to use Android Pay, but I experienced no problems whatsoever. I used AndroidPay at several different retailers, and each transaction went perfectly.

One unexpected bonus is that it actually made my phone easier to hold and use with one hand. I have a tendency to drop my phone which is why I keep a case on it, but the entire time I have been using the CardNinja, I have never had my phone slip out of my hand. It also adds some extra grip on the back which makes the phone easier to hold.

The only real negative that I found with the CardNinja is that the added thinkness makes wireless charging basically impossible with stuff in the pouch. That being said, if you have cards with magnetic strips, I would not recommend using wireless charging with them on the back of your phone anyway since there is the possibility of the wireless charging messing up the cards. If you still wish to use wireless charging, you can easily take the cards out first as the CardNinja does not interfere with it when empty.

After using the CardNinja for over a week, I can say with absolute certainty that I did not miss my wallet one bit. I enjoyed only carrying the cards and cash I needed and being able to pay with everything from my phone. In fact, I do not plan on returning to using my wallet any time soon. The CardNinja does everything I need it to do.

I believe that the CardNinja could replace wallets for the majority of people who only need a little cash and a few cards on them. It may not be a solution for everyone, but if you are looking to ditch your wallet, you would be wrong to not give CardNinja a try.

For under $10, the CardNinja is a great stocking stuffer or gift for family members of all ages. You can pick on up in any of the 6 colors at Amazon (with Prime shipping) or at the CardNinja website.

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