Tag: ninetology

[Sponsored] Last Phone Thoughts

Naoko Kensaku

This is a sponsored post, commissioned by The Tech Kaiju. I acknowledge that I have received some form of compensation for this post. However, I further admit that this compensation has NOT affected my opinion nor judgement of the units that were lent to me.

A party phone and a business phone. Which would you choose?

And

This pretty much sums up the last of my phone reviews. I’m returning them tomorrow as per agreement, but I will miss them after one week of use. So here’s a summary of what I think everyone should know before purchasing one or the other:

U9X1:
Get this if your criteria is one of the following:

  • You don’t need a large phone
  • You need something quick and responsive
  • You have a budget, but want something fast. Brand name does not matter
  • Did I mention reliable?
  • Inbuilt security is important to you. The U9X1 comes with the M-Warranty and NQ Mobile Security apps. The former lets you register your warranty without having to send in the physical card from your phone. The latter is an anti-virus suite.
  • You want a vanilla Google experience but can’t spring the cash for the Nexus series.

I highly recommend the U9X1 mainly to middle-end users like me who will tinker and root their phone. By default, the almost-vanilla experience is great for those already familiar with the Android user experience and are seeking for something a little bit more. The U9X1 is a great jumping point. Just… watch out for the back cover. It’s kinda slippery and can be a bit hard to open.

Optimus G Pro:
Get this if your criteria is one of the following:

  • You want a really big phone for readability issues.
  • Your phone stays in your bag more often than your pocket.
  • You want a camera that’s good at deciphering lighting and has a beauty mode.
  • You’re new to the Android/smartphone scene, and you want something more user-friendly.
  • Themes are important to you. The LG Optimus had a really cute pink theme that was very childish yet cheerful. They also had a few other “corporate” kind of themes.

As you can tell, the LG Optimus is pretty much a premium phone, and it’s very user-friendly. The LG Optimus skin is pretty much geared towards allowing you to customise your phone the way you want to, and if you’re never going to go beyond installing/removing apps, I’d say the Optimus would be for you. Oh, and unlike the U9X1, the back cover comes out easily.

TL;DR: Get U9X1 if you’re a mid-range user. LG Optimus if you’re not.

[Sponsored] 24 Hours with the U9X1

Naoko Kensaku

This is a sponsored post, commissioned by The Tech Kaiju. I acknowledge that I have received some form of compensation for this post. However, I further admit that this compensation has NOT affected my opinion nor judgement of the units that were lent to me.

Now that that’s out of the way, let me start by saying that I managed to get my hands on review units of the Ninetology U9X1 and the LG Optimus G Pro for one week. I picked them up last week and will be reviewing them as I go along. Right now they’ve been in my hand for slightly over 24 hours, and active for perhaps a little under that. So what can you expect?

For the spec sheet, here’s the Ninetology U9X1 and the LG Optimus G Pro, provided by CNet Asia. As you can tell, I’m not big on specs. What I’m big on is how well the phone performs and how well it fits into my lifestyle.

So how’s the initial impressions so far?

For both phones:

  • OMG THEY ARE SO LIGHT!
    In comparison to my Sony Xperia Pro, both the U9X1 AND the LG Optimus feel much lighter. In fact, they feel almost weightless. Which leads me to my second point:
  • Terrified of dropping them
    Anyone who knows me knows I’m pretty much butterfingers, which is why durability is a very big thing for me. So far I’ve not dropped the phones, and I hope that never changes.
  • They are both black
    I’m sorry, but I’m the kind of person who wants my phone to be COLOURFUL. I don’t really like black or white phones, at least not for myself.
  • FAST
    Joel is showing his age, so these two phones which are still quite new, are very fast in comparison.

For the LG Optimus:

  • It is HUGE!
    The LG Optimus dwarfs the U9X1, which means it cannot go into my pocket. It also means that the power button makes more sense on the side than it does on the top. Thanks to its size, I’ve resorted to carrying it around in a tiny bag instead of throwing it into my pocket.
  • It’s fairly heavily-skinned and missing quite a few “must have apps”
    I’m surprised that it didn’t come with Facebook and Twitter preinstalled, but on another note, I’m glad it didn’t.
  • The swiping keyboard is pretty functional
    It isn’t going to blow Swype or Swiftkey out of the water, but it does its job well.
  • Camera is decent
    The photos I took looked a little blurry till I realised I forgot to switch on the “Intelligent Auto” setting

For the U9X1

  • Easy in the hand
    Though it’s just as light. It fits better in my pocket though, and it took to my Pebble and bluetooth headset quite easily.
  • WHY ARE THE BUTTONS ON THE SIDE?
    Let’s just saw that I switched on the phone by accident when trying to open the back cover. This happened almost every single time.
  • Camera does horribly at macro shots
    While the camera’s quite decent, it fails completely at taking close up shots when the flash is turned off. I don’t know why. The camera does pretty well if I focus it, switch off the flash and then take the shot, but if I switch off the flash, touch to focus and then attempt to take the photo, it becomes blurry.

Need to sleep, so will write more tomorrow. 🙂