Best Android Smartphones for 2K15

2K15 has been a great year for tech. We've witnessed many great devices like the Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge from Samsung in which their design philosophy changed and functionality for the first time took a step back and design went full speed ahead. Then, we have devices like the LG G4 in which LG always refreshes the G series with new features like a new display and an improved camera.

2K15 has simply been an insane year for budget devices. We have fan favourites like the Asus Zenfone 2 which was one of the pioneers in the industry introducing 4GB of RAM for cheap. We also recently just got the OnePlus X which has the crazy introductory price of just US$249. This phone might not be that familiar with those of you who haven't been keeping up with the latest smartphones in the last 1 month as it was only officially announced just this month.

Now the question is 'Which smartphone should I buy ?' The choices I've selected are as follows. I've made my choices based on performance and price. The smartphones chosen have been divided into several categories which consist of budget, wild cards and straight out performance over all else. What makes this list different is I'm going to choose my favorite in each category.

Straight Out Performance:  

1. Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge

So, the question most of you must be asking is what makes these phones different from its predecessor. Here is the thing, these phones were the first ever Samsung flagships to ditch the removable battery and expendable storage in favor of a unibody design to rectify the design flaws of its predecessors. This move wasn't without its flaws as most people started calling it a improvised copy of the massively successful Iphone 6. But despite all that was said, this turned out to be a very good performing phone as Samsung finally started cutting all the crap that always bogged its phones down. The specs include a 5.1 inch QuadHD Super AMOLED display, 16MP camera capable of 4K video capture coupled with a 5MP front facing camera, a fingerprint sensor, a 2550 mAh battery for the regular S6 and a 2600 mAh battery for S6 Edge. Probably its most innovative feature is its ability to charge up insanely quickly and its fast wireless charging. This phone comes with either 32GB, 64GB or 128GB ( available in only select regions ) of internal storage coupled with 3GB of RAM. The only real flaws here are its relatively small battery capacity and its lack of expendable storage. A brand new one can be purchased for a significantly low price since its been on market for quite some time.

2.Huawei Nexus 6P  


This is Google's latest and greatest for this year along with its lower end sibling the Nexus 5X. This phone is the favorite of most the tech community because of the fact it is always the first phone to rock the latest version of Android along with its latest feature set and will be the first Android phone to get the latest software updates. Its the quintessence of what an Android phone should be. Typically, the Nexus line has suffered from generally poor picture quality and disappointing cameras. Too put a stop to this, Google decided to opt with a bigger 12MP sensor produced by Sony which turned out to be a good move for Google. Although the camera may not be as good as the Samsung Galaxy S6 or the LG V10, its comes in very close to its peers. This phone packs a 5.7 inch QuadHD AMOLED display, a 12MP rear facing camera together with a 8MP front facing camera, a 3410 mAh battery, a fingerprint sensor, dual front facing speakers, a USB Type-C connector, a Snapdragon 810 processor and NFC. It also features 3GB of RAM coupled with either 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of internal storage. This phone comes extremely close to being the ideal phone except for its lack of wireless charging and decently performing camera.

3.Samsung Galaxy Note 5


This has honestly got to be one of the most well designed phones of 2K15 if not the best. The design takes cues from its siblings the Galaxy S6 & Galaxy S6 Edge. Long story short, this move too angered a lot of Galaxy Note fans for its exclusions like the non-removable battery and limited storage options. The specs remain largely the same as its siblings except for its bigger display of 5.7 inches at the same resolution, bigger 3000 mAh battery and more sophisticated S-Pen which is capable of breaking the phone if inserted in wrongly. It still features one the best cameras out there.

4.LG V10
.

You must be wondering why I chose the LG V10 over the LG G4, the reason is actually pretty obvious because this is the newer model. The biggest selling point is its secondary display. It does this by simulating a `pop-up' screen which is essentially one line above the main display that can be left active 24/7 without the need to leave the main display active. Its serves as medium to shortcuts and a way to view notifications without using the main display which enables it to save some juice in the process. If you own an LG G4, don't feel so bad because this phone only improves upon the LG G4 in certain areas like the internal storage for example where the the amount of RAM has been increased by an extra 1GB making it 4GB compared to the 3GB of RAM on the LG G4. It also comes with an inbuilt storage of 64GB compared to the G4's 32GB. It also has a larger display at 5.7 inches at which the G4 has a 5.5 inch display but the resolution of both displays stay the same at QuadHD. Both the LG G4 and the LG V10 rock the same processor which is the Snapdragon 808. The real advantage in this phone is the inclusion of a fingerprint scanner on the rear of the phone. This is a welcomed addition because Android Marshmallow will be using this a lot making the phone more future-proof. The only cons of this phone are it is rather heavy at a 192 grams, despite being a rugged phone, it is not water resistant. This phone also rocks a rather dated processor at this point.

MY CHOICE Is The Huawei Nexus 6P Because Of Its Clean Vanilla Android Experience And Its Overall Performance Combined With Its Aesthetics All For The Wonderful Price Of $499-$649.                               

Budget Smartphones:

1.OnePlus X

This phone was just recently released and serves as a redemption effort for OnePlus after the failure of the OnePlus Two to compete with its peers as the phone faced problems right from the start like its omission of NFC and Fast charging as it was one of the very first phone to introduce the USB Type-C standard. It also featured a FullHD display when all its competitors went with QuadHD displays. It also certainly didn't live up to its name of being the flagship killer of the year. So what does OnePlus do? That's right, release another phone that is going to supposedly fix the problems of the OnePlus Two. Its not that I'm criticizing them but, they should have release a similar phone to that of the OnePlus Two not a budget phone. Nevertheless, this phone is still a pretty good phone for those who don't want to spend 600-700 USD on a good phone. This phone sits right in between the OnePlus One and the OnePlus Two in terms of specifications which features a 5.0 inch display at FullHD and a 13MP. It comes with 16GB of inbuilt storage which can be further expanded by another 128GB as it features two SIM slots which can function as a SD card slot if only one SIM slot is used. It runs on Oxygen OS based on Android Lolipop 5.1.1 and is powered by a Snapdragon 801 processor. The battery capacity is kinda small at 2525 mAh so, don't expect the crazy good battery life of the OnePlus One. Since this phone is a budget phone, let's talk about its price. It starts at about $249 for the regular version and $360 for the version made of ceramic on the back. The main gripes of this phone are its very average camera quality, its terrible audio quality, lack of NFC and lack of support for certain radio bands ( refer with you carrier first before purchasing this phone ).

2.Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 

This phone was only recently launched this week but is nothing short of being impressive for its beastly specs and insanely cheap price. It packs a massive 4000 mAh battery ( don't worry it supports fast charging ), a 5.5 inch FullHD display, a 13MP rear facing camera and a 5MP front facing camera. It is powered by a MediaTek Helio X10 processor ( which powers the HTC One M9 Plus ) and runs MIUI 7 based on Android 5.1. It also comes with either 16GB of internal storage coupled with 2GB of RAM or 32GB of internal storage coupled with 3GB of RAM which can be expanded to an additional 128GB of storage. The 16GB model will set you back $140 and $172 for the 32GB model. The only real downside is it lacks NFC. 

3.Asus Zenfone 2

This phone is Asus's best shot at making an impact in the western hemisphere for all the effort that has been put in to create an excellent budget without having to compromise its performance. This phone was the first phone to commercially introduce 4GB of RAM to the world before the other OEMs and was the phone to beat in terms of what it had to offer for its price. It has a 5.5 inch FullHD display for the highest-end model and boasts a 13MP rear facing shooter and a 5MP front facing shooter. It is powered by a Intel Atom Z3580 processor and backed up by a 3000 mAh battery which includes fast charging and let's not forget the inclusion of a commonly forgotten feature, NFC. It runs Asus's own ZenUI on top of Android 5.0. The flaws are its battery doesn't last as long as its size would suggest and it has very average camera quality at best. 

4.LG Nexus 5X

The sibling of the Nexus 6P and the successor to the original LG Nexus 5. That is probably the best way to put it. So, let us start by asking what makes this phone better than its predecessor and a lesser than its sibling. It improves upon its predecessor by improving its camera performance both front and back. It also incorporates a bigger 400 mAh battery than its predecessor and features a bigger 5.2 inch display compared to the 5.0 inches on the LG Nexus 5. The newer Nexus also runs a much faster processor than its predecessor did which is the Snapdragon 808. It adds on to the features by incorporating a fingerprint scanner that the LG Nexus 5 never had. Now, on to the part on how it is lesser than its bigger sibling. It features a smaller display in terms of size and resolution compared to its bigger sibling. It also features a smaller battery and limited storage options and 1GB less RAM than the Nexus 6P. But, on the flip side, they both run the latest version of Android, have better cameras and incorporate fingerprint scanners making them future proof. This phones true Archilles heel is its pretty limited internal storage and RAM. 

MY CHOICE Is The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Because Of Its Incredible Specs And Its Dirt Cheap Price Which Just Simply Cannot Be Matched By Any Other Smartphone Available Today.

Wild Cards:

1.Xiaomi Mi 4C

Some of you may not be familiar with this phone as it was only released in September this year in the Asian market as that's what this phone is intended for. This is the so-called successor to the Xiaomi Mi 4 although it may not be marketed that way. According to Xiaomi, this phone along with Xiaomi Mi 4i are supposed to be alternatives to Mi 4. In spite of this, this phone is really the phone to get considering its really good specs which match the LG G4 but comes in at half the price of the LG G4. This phone was chosen because of its surprisingly good benchmark scores compared to its peers like the LG G4 and the Motorola Moto X style or Moto X Pure Edition and Google's own Nexus 5X which reach astoundingly lower benchmark scores compared to the Xiaomi Mi 4C although these devices are all powered by the same Snapdragon 808 processor. This phone boasts a 5.0 inch FullHD display coupled with a 3080 mAh battery. This phone also rocks a 13MP rear-mounted shooter and 5MP front facing shooter. This phone comes with either 16GB of inbuilt storage merged with 2GB of RAM or 32GB of inbuilt storage merged with 3GB of RAM which sadly cannot be further expanded as this phone skips the SD card slot along with NFC. Other downsides include its cheap polycarbonate finish and its inability to shoot 4K video capture. When all is said and done, this phone still makes for a wonderful purchase as this phone will not disappoint in terms what you're getting for half the price of the LG G4.

2.Motorola Moto X Pure Edition

   

This is the successor to last year's Moto X. That is really just the best way to describe it. This year, Motorola decided that its next Moto X should have the specs of its competitors while having the same price as its competitors from the low-end market. This phone packs a 5.7 inch QuadHD display and dual front-facing speakers. This phone is powered by Snapdragon 808 processor backed by 3000 mAh battery. In terms of storage, this phone comes with a standard 3GB of RAM and internal storage ranging from 16GB - 64GB which can be further expanded by a further 128GB via the SD card slot. This phone pack an excellent 21MP rear-facing shooter that is just behind the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy Note 5 coupled with an equally good front-facing shooter at 5MP. This phone is also capable of 4K video capture. The only flaws are the lack of wireless charging and the omission of a fingerprint scanner.

MY CHOICE Is The Motorola Moto X Pure Edition Because Of Its Sharper Display And Its Storage Options With The Ability To Expand The Storage. This Makes The Phone More Future Proof Than The Xiaomi Mi 4C.

Well guys, once again my choices are the Huawei Nexus 6P for straight out performance, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 for the budget category and the Motorola Moto X Pure Edition for the wild cards category. At the end of the day, the choice is always and will always be in your hands. Whatever Android smartphone you choose from this list, the definitely won't disappoint you. This article was made with the sole purpose of helping someone to choose a good Android smartphone to purchase in 2K15. In the next article we're going to discuss the latest news in Android space and this is Rish Fabregas signing out till next time.

Introduction To Rooting For Android

                                       Intro To Rooting

What is rooting? Today we'll start by asking this question. Most of you may already know but for those who don't, rooting is basically jailbreaking for Android phones. Rooting enables users to dive deeper into an Android phone's fundamentals to revamp the whole device. Examples of the revamp are install unapproved apps be it Google's or the OEM's, updating the phones OS, replacing the firmware or even overclocking( or underclocking ) the processor for those of you who want to go commando on your Android device.

The next thing to ask would be what can you do with a rooted Android phone that you can't usually do with a non-rooted Android phone? The list is pretty long. So, for today we're only going to discuss  several. Firstly, a rooted Android phone has the ability to unlock features like getting features from the latest version of Android before an OEM magically 'intervenes' and turn the whole feature upside down. You can do this by referring to guides that are usually uploaded by the good gentlemen over at  XDA-Developers Android forums. As mentioned earlier, you can replace the firmware which enable the option switching to custom ROMs such as CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android and AOKP.

More features would be the ability to install the so-called incompatible apps. Such apps are Titanium Backup, SuperUser, SuperSU and Chainfire3D. Usually, most people root their phones for the apps mentioned above because these apps extend the functionality of you Android device. My personal favourite feature is the ability to increase the RAM on your Android device. Now, for those of you who don't know what RAM is no worries, the acronym RAM stands for Random Access Memory and what it does is it enables the running of apps on a smartphone and a PC. The thing to remember here is the more RAM, the faster the opening and closing of apps will be. imagine this, the Android device you own has only about 1GB of RAM like the Galaxy S3 Mini and you're a power user and you ask yourself 'What is the best way to push this device to its limits ?` The answer is to add a Micro SD card into the device ( make sure it has already been rooted ) and download an app called Link2SD  and then follow the steps provided and choose the amount of RAM you desire.

The next biggie is the ability the delete bloatware or crapware. What bloatware means is the features, functions and apps pre-installed by a certain OEM that is usually not used by anyone. This features, functions and apps also occupy a huge portion of the internal storage on a device but cannot be removed on a whim. The only way to remove the bloatware is to root your Android device and install an app called system app remover pro ( it is a paid app ). Now, this isn't the only app in fact there are hundreds but, this is the one that has worked the best for me. There is also one thing to remember that is to check which apps can be removed and which apps can't.

The last feature is the ability to install themes. To do this, Your Android device should already have a custom ROM running, The most prominent custom ROM in terms of support for themes has got to be CyanogenMod. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of themes available on the Google Play Store. Some of my favourites are Flux, Nuclear Red, Tigers Eye and Rouge CM12 Theme. I will include a few pictures to showcase these themes.

Nuclear Red:

Rouge:

Tigers Eye:

Flux:

That is all there is in this article. In the next, we are going to be discussing about 'Best Android Smartphones for 2K15' That's all for now and this is Rish Fabregas signing out.

Personalisation Apps For Android

                                        The Apps 

This is article is going to be very straightforward because most of the apps have already been showcased( at least some of it ). Let's get into it.

1.Minima Live Wallpaper:

The first app on this list is very popular among android users because this apps give users the ability to customize everything from the size of the subject to the transparency of the shadow-like effect on the background. In case you guys don't catch on with what I'm saying, there will be pictures to show you what I mean. The options provided by this app are also spectacular.

See these two pictures above, this is exactly what I mean when I say the customization is spectacular.
As you can see, this is one of the many wallpapers you can choose from. But, this app has one MAJOR catch. The catch is to enjoy the options you must pay for the app as the free one only sets the wallpaper without its extensive customization options.

2.Facets:

Facets is the name of the next. Some of you may have heard of this app as it is the source for most awesome looking wallpapers. So you may be asking, 'What makes this app so great ?' The answer is the way it functions. The concept here is you get a new wallpaper everyday that looks completely different from the previous day. The wallpapers from this app are truly a work of art as these wallpapers use simple abstract ideas to make stunning combinations which makes it worth the money you  have to spend on it. To give an idea of what I mean, take a look at these wallpapers yourself.

These wallpapers should explain what makes this app awesome. These wallpapers are actually 4K.

3.Wallrox:

This app doesn't offer as much customization as the apps mentioned above but, in fact has a whole cloud filed wallpapers that follow the material design guidelines introduced by Google in Android Lollipop. There are some very stunning wallpapers but not as much as the previous two. This app should suit those of you who are not willing to pay for a wallpaper app. Consider this an alternative.

But, ultimately it is up to you. These are wallpapers from the app. The one amazing thing is it has support for Muzei Live Wallpaper.

 Another awesome thing is the ability to save the wallpapers. 

4.Muzei Live Wallpaper:

Some of you probably saw this coming. This app is one of the greatest wallpaper apps if not the greatest. I am not even going to explain how it does but, rather what it does. You see, this app basically provides a new wallpaper everyday which most consists of famous artwork by the likes of THE Vincent Van Gogh and few others. The feature that makes it special is it blurs and makes it dim to highlight your home screen. To enjoy it, simply double tap the screen. This is by far the most famous wallpaper in this app. It's called 'The Starry Night. 

That is all for this time. For the next article, I'll let there be some surprise as to what I will do next.

Customization In The App Drawer

                                         How Its Done

As most of you already know, Android is highly customizable. What use would this OS be if everything is left to be as boring as the OEMs design it to be. To change that, I am going to show all of you what I did to my Android phone to make it truly mine. We will start by taking a look at what my app drawer looks like first then comes the explaination. For the most part, I use icon packs.

This is what the first page looks like:

It may look kinda simple but, I assure there has been a lot of time spent here. Firstly, the flashlight app rocks an icon from Silhouette icon pack whereas, the icon for the dextris lite game comes from Cygnus Dark. Most of the apps on this page rock icons from Silhouette icon pack.

This is the last page on the contrary:

                                                                                

 On this page, the google news & weather app uses an icon from Cygnus Dark. Google Maps uses a 3D-like effect icon from Polycon icon pack. Google Keep rocks a hollow-like icon from Silhouette icon pack. The rest of the Google Play apps get their icons from Cygnus Dark. Cygnus Dark is my personal favorite because I have always favored those black accents. The icon packs stated above are all 100% free to download from the Google Play Store. In the next article, I will be talking about more customization aspects like wallpaper apps and lock screen replacements.                                                                                                         

     

                              Intro To Android-Part 1

Last week I talked about widgets, today it is gonna be home screens. Lets start by asking what are home screens? Home screens are the main 3-7 pages of your android device. Home screens usually contain widgets( as explained in the last article ) , apps, folders and basically just about anything you can think of. 

This is what my home screen looks like:

                                                                                                                                                  

I am going to be using my home  screen to explain more. Now as you can probably already tell, I am using a third party launcher. Firstly, I am using the latest version of Nova Launcher. To achieve that search bar at the top, a setting called persistent search bar must be activated( I have chosen the lolipop option ). Next, the widget. I am using a widget from an app called Timely. The bottom portion is achieved by using a dock background.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                             This is what my second home screen looks like:

For my second home screen, I decided to add a dialer widget to make life a whole lot easier. I am using Simple Dialer Widget which is not part of an app. This widget is awesome because it lets you customize it completely from the size of  dialer digits all the way to the text color.This concludes today's article. In the next, I will explain the many personalisation apps to make your android phone truly yours.                                                                                                                                                                     

Introduction To The Series

                                            Intro To Android

So let me start by saying this 'I`ve been using android for about three years now. In these three years I have tried everything under the sun except for rooting because I do not like the idea of voiding warranty.' Now back to why we're here. Imagine this you have been using an Iphone all your life and you decided to try something a little out your comfort zone and picked up an Android phone but don't know how to make full use of it. This is where I come in to help those of you with this problem. Today we will talk about widgets.

                                                                Widgets

So what are widgets? Widgets are just simple application extensions often part of a application already installed on the device. There are also available from the Google Play Store to be downloaded separately. Some of the popular choice of widgets are Zooper Widget and Dashclock.

This is what Dashclock looks like:



This what Zooper Widget looks like on the contrary:


The next thing to know is what are these two widgets capable of. In the case of Zooper Widget, thre are two versions, the paid version and the free one. As everyone knows the paid version of anything gives you access to the full version whereas, the free version only gives you access to some of the features. The free version of Zooper widget supports ads and does not allow the storage of templates on a SD card neither does it have support for apk themes. The paid version basically supports mentioned in the above. Now, its function. It displays your device's information in a way you like (the beauty of customization on android) according to the millions of skins available to the Google Play Store. It can also display your device's toggles i.e. `the NFC toggle or Wifi toggle'.This is some of the many things Zooper Widget can do.

Next, Dashclock. In a nutshell, Dashclock is just a lock screen replacement for android phones running android 4.2+ that displays information such as missed calls, calendar appointments and etc.
Just click Zooper widget, there are hundreds if not millions of plug-ins available to enhance the experience. This has been my time for my first ever article. I hope those who read this blog can help my experience grow by giving me some constructive criticism. This is Rish Fabregas signing out.