Showing posts with label droid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label droid. Show all posts

Monday, 15 June 2015

Moto E 2nd Gen (3G) vs Obi Hornbill: New making things tougher for old

Motorola has made a great come back as a global smartphone player. However, the competition in the smartphone industry only gets tougher by every passing day. Obi Mobiles, co-founded by ex-CEO of Apple and Pepsi, John Sculley, that launched its first range of smartphones less than a year ago, is attracting attention and may potentially become a challenger. Therefore, we decided to have a spec to spec analysis of products of these two players, i.e. Motorola Moto E 2nd Gen (3G) and ObiHornbill S551, to see how the new player living up to the standards set by an older player.
Look and Feel: 
In spite of having different overall dimensions, Moto E (137.9x 69.2x 8.6mm) and Obi Hornbill (146.8x73.3x 8.2mm) weigh the same 145gm. That makes Moto E a bit smaller and thicker looking device than Obi’ Hornbill which has greater length and breadth but is thinner. Moto has a very compact look with curved edges and a dull back-panel finish, where as Hornbill has a rather extended and posh look with sharp edges and metallic finish on the left and right side-panel. Moreover, while Moto E has a colour choice of black or white, Hornbill is available only in white. 

Display: 
The display screen size in Moto E is 4.5 inch, one inch lesser than Hornbill’s 5.5 inch, which means larger images and more comfortable viewing experience with Hornbill. At the resolution front too, Moto E with 960x540 Pixels is slightly behind Hornbill that has 1280x720 Pixels. In terms of display technology, Moto comes with IPS LCD display that allows wide angle viewing without any light hindrances but at the expense of extra power, where as Hornbill TFT IPS screen with capacitative touch HD. 

Under the Hood:
Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.2GHz Quad-Core processor, Moto E is relatively behind compared to Hornbill’s Mediatek MT6582 1.3GHz Quad-Core processor. In terms of RAM and Storage both smartphones have a 1GB RAM, internal memory of 8GB that is expandable memory up to 32GB through microSD. However, Moto E has a significant advantage when looking at the operating platform, as it runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop where as Hornbill runs on 4.4.2 Kitkat.

Battery & Cameras: 
Battery capacity and cameras are two two key features that customers are often concerned about. At the battery front, the difference is rather minor, where Moto E takes lead with 2390 mAh battery capacity, where as Hornbill follows closely behind with 2200mAh battery. However, on the front of cameras, Hornbill takes a big leap forward with its 13MP primary camera in comparison to Moto E’s 5MP. On the secondary camera front, Moto E with its outdated VGA cameras falls way behind Hornbill that comes with 5MP secondary camera, offering the possibility of much higher quality selfless. 

Other Features: 
Both Moto E and Hornbill have Wi-Fi capabilities (802.11 a/g/b/n), Bluetooth v4.0 and single SIM slot. Hornbill supports both Regular and Micro SIM cards while Moto E supports only Micro SIM cards.

Key Indicator
Obi Hornbill S551
Moto E (2ndGen) (3G)
Comparative Advantage
Dimensions
146.8x73.3x8.2mm
137.9x69.2x8.6mm
Customer choice
Screen Size
5.5 inches
4.5 inches
Advantage Hornbill
Resolution
1280x720
960x540
Advantage Hornbill
Camera (P)
13 megapixels
5 megapixels
Advantage Hornbill
Camera (S)
5 megapixels
VGA
Advantage Hornbill
OS 
Android 4.4.2
Android 5.0
Advantage Moto E
Battery Cap
2200 mAH
2390 mAH
Advantage Moto E

Bottom line: 
Both the smartphones have the same RAM and storage capacity, but there are key differences. Moto E has an upgraded Operating platform and a relatively better battery capacity, where as Hornbill has larger dimensions, larger screen size, bigger processor, superior primary and secondary cameras. To get a sense of costs, we looked at the prices of the two devices in the Indian market, where Moto E costs around INR7000 where as Hornbill at around INR9000. Customers preferring an upgraded OS may like Moto E while those more interested in viewing experience, cameras and processor may prefer Hornbill.

Thursday, 11 June 2015

Galaxy Note 4 vs Moto Turbo: Brand value vs specifications

Samsung and Motorola are two global players in the smartphone market. If Motorola has made a great comeback after facing near defeat, Samsung has pioneered the big screen smartphone movement. It would be interesting how the recovered Motorola is living up to the challenges put up by Samsung. Therefore, in this comparative review we decided to pick up a model from each of these two companies for a spec to spec match. The two smartphone models are Samsung Galaxy Note 4 which is a consistent refinement over its predecessors and Motorola Moto Turbo which claims stellar set of specifications. 
Let us begin with the look and feel of the two devices. In general, both the smartphones are a bit chunky and can be evidently felt in the pocket. While there is significant difference in the overall dimensions of the two devices, i.e. Galaxy Note 4 (153.5x78.6x8.5mm) and Moto Turbo (143.5x73.3x11.2mm), both the devices weigh exactly the same, 176gm. The overall dimensions reflect in the display screen size, which is 5.7” in case of Galaxy Note 4 and 5.2” in case of Moto Turbo. Since both the devices have Quad HD (1440x2560 pixels) touch screens, the quality of visuals is the same. However, the larger display screen of Note 4 may slightly enhance the overall viewing experience, where as Moto Turbo may be easier to hold and to use by one hand only. 

Furthermore, the most notable design element in Galaxy Note 4 is the metal rim, which gives it a dignified and solid look, where as Moto Turbo has introduced a new material ballistic nylon which is essentially a thicker, tougher variant of synthetic nylon. The Moto Turbo is available only in a black colour, whereas the Galaxy Note 4 is available in black, white and copper.
On the performance front, both the devices are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 2.7 GHz Quad-core processor which is among the fastest processors in the market and has 3GB RAM that allows for faster switching between various applications. However, the difference appears in the operating system (OS) and at the memory front. While Galaxy comes with Android v4.4.4 Kitkat OS which is upgradable to v5.0.1 Lollipop, Moto turbo runs on more advanced Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OS, which gives Moto a leg up over Galaxy. Also, Note 4 has an internal storage of 32 GB which is expandable to 128 GB via MicroSD, whereas Moto Turbo has a 64 GB internal storage, but without any MicroSD slot. 

Both Galaxy Note 4 and Moto Turbo boast of exceptionally powerful primary (rear) cameras. Samsung Galaxy comes with 16 MP primary (rear) camera that can record UHD 4K videos @ 30fps, where as Motorola Turbo can capture 21 MP in 4:3 screen modes and 15.5 MP in 16:9 screen modes and record UHD 4K videos @24fps with an additional feature of 720p slow motion video. However, Galaxy takes a clear lead with its secondary (front) camera of 3.7 MP which is only 2 MP in case of Moto, which means a clearer selfie with Galaxy.  

Moreover, both the devices have Wi-Fi capabilities (802.11 a/g/b/n/ac) and Bluetooth v4.0. Additionally, Note 4 comes with a single micro and Turbo with nano SIM slots. In terms of connectivity, both smartphones are available in 2G, 3G and 4G, depending on the market. However, one of the major differences between Samsung Galaxy and Motorola Turbo is in terms of battery capacity. While Galaxy Note 4 has an impressive 3220mAh battery, Moto Turbo simply outshines Note 4 with a 3900mAh battery capacity.

In conclusion, we note that both the smartphone models come with impressive specifications and have their design strengths. Besides having similar display technology, resolution and RAM, there are differences too. Galaxy Note 4 has a larger display screen, the option of expanding memory and superior secondary camera. On the other hand, Moto Turbo comes with more advanced OS, twice as large internal memory, superior primary camera and a higher battery capacity. 

Furthermore, we looked at the prices in the Indian market for the two devices, where Galaxy Note 4 is priced at around INR 58,000, whereas Moto Turbo is exclusively available on Flipkart at around INR 42,000. Moto Turbo does offer an impressive specification and price combo, unless one is willing to pay significantly more for a larger display screen and better selfie experience, besides the design and brand consideration, which are a matter of individual preference.