All Posts in Review

|In: DesignCap|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

I have been freelancing since October, 2019 and work with different set of clients on blog creation [business and technology], social media strategy, and more. The intent was to bridge the gap between content and technology by coming up with insightful pieces [blogs, whitepapers, etc.] that highlights work & expertise in their field of work.

Irrespective of the profession, personal branding has become extremely important. It could be done through writing or designing stuff that highlights what you are capable of doing! Designing can be a difficult job, especially for a person who is not from that field. This is where a tool like DesignCap can come to rescue. DesignCap is an online graphics designing software that lets you create awesome graphic-designs without the necessity to have design skills.

In this blog, we do a detailed DesignCap review and deep dive into the features, pricing, and other essential things related to this freemium designing tool. The review of DesignCap was done with the Plus Subscription that was offered by their team.

DesignCap Review – Creating Elegant Graphics with ultra-simplification

Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, if there was a requirement for graphics designing, you had to install a designing software that is relatively heavy on CPU and GPU processing. Not to forget that procuring the software was a costly affair.

Fast forward now, there are options for creating ‘Awesome’ graphics at the click of a button and there is no need of installing designing software on the machine. This is where DesignCap can come to your rescue, as it lets you create amazing graphical designs, even if you have little to no designing skills.

DesignCap lets you create graphical designs for a wide range of sectors:

DesignCap is localized in seven different languages and lets you create high-quality graphic designs on the cloud. All this, with simple drag and drop operations!

Sign Up for DesignCap

Signing up with DesignCap is very easy. You would be prompted to choose an organization type so that the DesignCap can tailor-make the offerings according to your requirements. I chose self-employed.

Once you choose the organization type, you need to select the current role. I rightly chose Blogger/Writer 🙂

With this, the sign-up process is complete and you have to check the email to confirm your account.

DesignCap Editor

With DesignCap’s ‘Plus Plan’, you can create upto 1000 designs. The Cover photograph for this blog review was created using DesignCap and it took us less than ten minutes.

On logging on, you are prompted to create a design with ‘custom size’ requirements or ‘preset’ size according to the design type. The ‘preset’ size helps in scenarios where you are designing a particular category-type [e.g. Poster, Fyler, Infographic, etc.] for the first time and have minimal [to no] information about the ideal size.

Templates

There are close to 3092 templates across all categories on their website. There is a provision to search for templates according to your requirements.

We tried searching for common topics like Social Media Marketing, Technology, Sales, etc. and it suggested the templates that matched our search query. It would be great if there was a ‘detailed search’ kind of option so that it becomes easy to narrow the search and reach to the expected templates with less effort!

Using the templates provided by DesignCap, it becomes easy to create posters, flyers, Facebook cover, attractive resume, Instagram cover, YouTube Channel graphics, and more. Once you select a template, there are numerous options to customize the design.

Customizing Background

After selecting the template, you would be offered numerous ways in which the design can be customized. You can change the background, upload images for usage in the design, add modules like Facebook like buttons [or Icons & Text, etc.], add custom charts, add elements [like abstract shapes, frame masks, etc.].

In the design shown above, we performed modifications on the background by adding ‘gradient color’ and it worked like a charm. Here, we have switched to a solid background. DesignCap lets you ‘Undo’ & ‘Redo’ changes endlessly which essentially means that there is an option to witness a ‘try and freeze‘ kind of experience before zeroing on the final design.

It would have been great if DesignCap could identify the color composition of the background and appropriately suggest the best-suited font color that goes well with the background color.

Adding ‘sector-specific’ photos [powered by Pixabay]

Whether you are a technologist or educator or running a sports academy or just planning to add juice to your content via photographs, DesignCap lets you customize their designs by adding stock photos from Pixabay.

This clearly avoids the headache of going to another website that provides stock photographs and spend additional budget on procuring photos from that site. DesignCap offers close to a million stock photographs in categories like Business, Animal, Art, Car, Celebration, Fashion, Food, Kids, Music, and more.

All you need to do it drag & drop the photo in the design and adjust as per the dimensions. It does not require much expertise and also avoids the headache of leaving the DesignCap platform in search of stock photos.

Adding ‘Modules’ and ‘Textual Content’ to beautify the Design

There are scenarios where you would like add team information in a business presentation or want to add popular icons (along with text) in a poster or show timelines demonstrating the progress of an activity. This is where ‘Modules’ in DesignCap is super handy as it lets you add modules like icons & text, images, steps, timelines, diagrams, comparisons, and more.

Once you select a particular category of ‘module’, it provides you with number of module options that can added to the design under development. It would be awesome if DesignCap can add a ‘hover’ kind of a feature [that can be toggled on request] when the user hovers on a certain module, as the content [and layout] in the module is not clearly visible.

The ‘Text tab’ on the left side bar lets you add text to the design. DesignCap provides a number of preset text styles and simply clicking on the text object adds the text box to the design.

Our Creation with DesignCap

I do not come from a Design background but have used Adobe Photoshop many years back. Apart from the cover image for this blog, I also designed the blog & social media covers that can be used as Facebook and Twitter cover.


The creation took less than ten minutes since the background was provided by DesignCap and all I had to do is add text objects to fill in the social media information. The Getting Started guide by DesignCap is exhaustive and provides information on the features of the platform with examples.

Top reasons to use DesignCap

There are alternatives to DesignCap, the most popular one is Canva. Though I have not used Canva to a great extent, my experience with DesignCap [Plus Plan] has been phenomenal. It caters to diverse sectors and the user need not have technical [and design] experience to use the platform.

These are the top reasons to use DesignCap:

  • DesignCap is easy to use and even a novice in Design can leverage the platform to the fullest.
  • It provides an extensive ‘image’ library that is powered by Pixabay that removes the unnecessary headache of going to different websites searching for stock photographs.
  • DesignCap Plus Plan comes with awesome templates that can be used in creating mesmerizing infographics, business presentations, sales pitch, brochures, business cards, leaderboards, and more.
  • The ‘learn’ section on DesignCap provides the user valuable information on how to make the most of awesome designs. It is super-helpful for someone who wants to gather information on the ROI from offerings by DesignCap.

Potential Enhancements in DesignCap

Based on the experience with DesignCap, we identified certain functionalities that can be of addition to their user based:

  • Addition of hover feature on Modules for better clarity on the module selected by the user.
  • Detailed search option for narrowing the search results. Current search feature is basic and narrowing down to the exact result takes time, since DesignCap provides lot of design options.
  • Suggestion of font colors based on the composition of the background image used in the design.

DesignCap Pricing

There are three pricing models in DesignCap:

  • Free
  • Basic
  • Plus

Users have the option to be charged on a ‘Monthly’ or an ‘Annual’ basis. The Annual option offers good savings and best-suited for someone [individuals or organizations] looking to make the most out of ‘features and pricing’ of DesignCap. Here is the detailed information on pricing plans offered by DesignCap:

DesignCap – Annual Pricing


DesignCap – Monthly Pricing

Its a Wrap

DesignCap is a wonderful designing tool for individuals and organizations look to add quality & flair to their content, marketing, and educational material through Design. It is easy to get started with DesignCap, as users have to use simple drag, drop, and click operations to weave magic in their designs :).

Click here to kickstart your ‘Design’ful journey with DesignCap

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The Indian Media & Entertainment [M&E] industry is at the forefront of disruption. The availability of high-speed mobile internet at affordable rates, growing literacy, and smartphone adoption are some of the reasons for the growing consumption of media in the country.

Image Source

There are currently 451 million monthly active internet users in India and that number is growing at a rapid pace. This has led to changing patterns predominantly in the digital video consumption space which is growing at a staggering 46% CAGR over the last two years. There was a sharp rise in the consumption of non-Hindi or non-English content i.e. regional content with the evolution of new OTT [Over the Top] players targetting that customer segment. Alt Balaji, MX Player, Amazon Prime, NetFlix, HOOQ, Zee5, Voot, AltBalaji, Hoichoi, etc. are some of the OTT players that are capitalizing on the ‘video consumption wave’.

If you are from the urban part of India, there is a high possibility that you may have paid subscription of one or more OTT services like NetFlix, Amazon Prime, or more. What if the content from major OTT players is accessible in a single location? You and your loved ones can binge watch shows in 4K together sitting in the comfort of your homes.

ACT Fibernet, the third-largest wired broadband service provider in India is known for offering high-speed internet [upto 1 Gbps] at competitive rates. It also offers DTH services in certain parts of India. A couple of months back, the company unveiled its new brand identity and announced its plans to be more than an ISP. Through #FeelTheAdvantage, ACT Fibernet is transforming and aiming to be the future of streaming, gaming, smart homes, and more. ACT Stream TV 4K is its foray into the media streaming space.

ACT Stream TV 4k Review

If you are already an ACT Fibrnet user and an ardent fan of originals [on OTT platforms], you might be interested to give a shot to ACT Stream TV 4K. ACT Stream TV 4K is an Android based devcie that runs the TV version of Android Pie. We have been using this Android-based offering for a couple of months and this our detailed review based on that experience.

ACT Stream TV 4k – What’s In The Box

The packaging was minimal and impressive. ACR Stream TV 4K is a small rectangular shaped streaming device that has right number of ports and the minimalistic design makes it ultra-portable. Below are the contents that you would receive in the retail packaging:

  • Remote Controller
  • Power Adapter
  • LAN Cable
  • HDMI Cable
  • RCA Cable
  • User Manual
  • 2 AAA batteries
  • ACT Stream TV 4K box

Though the device works only on ACT Fibernet, the review device that we tested had that feature bypassed. Some of the streaming services, including installation of software updates were tested using an Internet Dongle and it worked perfetcly fine!

Our tests also included random disconnection of internet during firmware updates and as expected, the device passed all those tests.

ACT Stream TV 4k – The Hardware

The device runs on Android 9 Pie. It is powered by Hi Silicon 3798M V200 that has Multi-core 64-bit high-performance ARM Cortex CPUs and a dedicated Multi-core high-performance GPU. The chipset supports maximum 4K x 2K@60 fps 10-bit decoding and 1080p@30 fps video encoding. It is capable of decoding multiple file formats, including H.265/HEVC, AVS, H.264/AVC MVC, MPEG-1/2/4, VC-1, and more. Below is the snapshot of key features of Hi Silicon 3798M V200 chipset that powers the ACT Stream TV 4K:

Data Source

The box has 2 USB ports, 1 ethernet port, 1 HDMI port, 1 AV output, and 1 SD card slot. The device has 2GB RAM and 8GB Flash. The device has Dual band WiFi [2.4G & 5G] and 802.11 ac. It also has Bluetooth connection. The device has enough processing capability and storage capacity to download apps and games from the Play Store. You can also connect USB drive, Joystick, or smart camera to the USB ports. The box supports Dolby Audio and is capable of playing 4K content as well as HDR 10 content. Since it is Android based, it also supports Google Assistant and Google Chromecast.

ACT Stream TV 4k device is accompanied with a remote controller that is ergnomic in nature. The remote controller is beautiful to hold in hands and the keys have excellent tactile feedback. It has IR and Bluetooth connectivity. Other than the normal Volume [Up & Down] keys; there is a circular navigation button and couple of hot keys present at appropriate locations on the remote. There are hot keys for Google Assistant, Google Play, Live TV, NetFlix, and YouTube.

During our testing, we did not much inconvenience while searching for content on the box using the remote. We even tested search using Google Voice and the accuracy was good. Along with the hot keys, you would also find the normal keys like Mute, Power, Back, and Home keys that are present on normal remote controllers.

It is important to note that currently ACT StreamTV4k is available only for ACT Fibernet customers.

ACT Stream TV 4k – Getting Started

For setting up the ACT Stream TV 4K,  connect the ACT StreamTV4k HDMI output with the TV’s HDMI input using the HDMI cable provided in the box. Then connect the power adaptor to ACT StreamTV 4k. Once the ACT StreamTV4k is ON, follow the series of instructions on your screen.

To use Google Assistant, the remote controller has to be paired with the TV via Bluetooth. Since the device is based on Google’s Android platform, Google credentials have to be entered to login to the ACT Stream TV 4k. As the box only works with an active ACT broadband connection, you would be asked ACT credentials which could either be your mobile number or email address used at the time of registration.

ACT Stream TV 4k – Experience

Before we jump into this main section where we talk about the user experience, let us tell you that the interface in the ACT Stream TV 4K is very much similar to Fire TV Stick. The good part about this is that there is not much learning curve involved in using the box as people who have used Fire TV Stick or Chromecast [which is very much likely] might like the device from the word go!

The box uses a clean interface where there are fixed tabs on top – Home, Apps & Games, Live TV, and Offers. Based on the currently active tab, the contents are updated based on the services that you have subscribed to. The first tab shows the featured content across different streaming platforms that come pre-bundled in the box, irrespective of whether you are subscriber or not. The next row shows a list of the OTT platforms that are available on the device. When you use this interface without loading any extra apps, it would show majority of the OTT platforms that come pre-loaded in the box i.e. Voot, Netflix, Hotstar, Hooq, Hungama Play, Eros Now, Zee5, YuppTV, and more.

It is worth noting that Amazon Prime does not come pre-installed in the box and you would need to download the same from the Google Play Store. You can also side load apps and also stream content via Chromecast. We received good number of OTA updates during the process of testing which means that ACT Fibernet is working hard to fix issues and improve the overall customer experience.

Customers can subscribe and unsubscribe to OTT services with a single click and the amount gets added in the ACT bill. This makes the entire experience very seamless. We are yet to test the ‘subscription’ feature using the ACT Android application. For people who are not interested in OTT services can opt to watch close to 300 TV channels. There is a mix of free and subscription based TV channels.

The ‘offers’ section lists the offers that are available with the box. Customers receive one month of Zee5 and two months of free HOOQ. These offers are subject to change depending on when you subscribed for ACT Stream TV 4K.

You can uninstall apps by performing long-press of the center button and clicking on the ‘uninstall’ option. Select apps/channels may not be available for pre-install and most of these are the one’s that come pre-loaded with the box. The ACT Stream TV 4K does not support recording of content of any form either on StreamTV 4K device. Last but not the least, ACT Stream TV 4K comes with a built-in Chromecast and also supports casting of mobile devices. All you need to do is select streamtv4k1007 for casting.

Though we faced couple of lags and hangs while using the device, the overall experience was very smooth. It is only a matter of time, the technical team behind the development of ACT StreamTV 4K fix the issues via FOTA updates.

ACT Stream TV 4k – Pricing

Services for ACT Stream TV 4K are available in four Indian cities – Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Delhi. The ACT Stream TV 4K is priced handsomely at Rs 4,499. If you are an ACT subscriber, you would definitely find lot of value in using the device as it provides a superlative experience. Below are the plans for the city of Bengaluru:

If you are residing in any of the cities where ACT Stream 4K TV is available, do check out the Stream TV 4K Plans. The pricing looks right as it is less expensive than Fire TV Stick 4K which is priced at Rs. 5,999.

ACT Stream TV 4k – Closing Remarks

The box and remote controller are well-designed and we liked the egronomic design of the remote controller. Barring aside a few software lags and resets, the experience with ACT Stream 4K TV was superlative. If you are already an ACT Fibernet customer, you should definitely go for ACT Stream TV 4k

Click here to register for ACT Stream TV 4K!

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Take the case of the following scenario – You are not a married person and obviously, you do not have any kids [Hopefully!]. But for some reason, you receive promotional emails from a vertical e-commerce website during their online shopping festival and guess what; the promotional email contains offers highlighting Baby Products. And to make things worse, the email campaign has zero-personalization and it is quite likely that the same email was sent to all their customers [without taking any personal traits of the customer into consideration]. As per a report, 86% of customers feel that personalization played a major role in their purchase decisions. This is the era of hyper-personalization and marketers have a plethora of information about customers – Age, Sex, Browsing History, Social Media information, Purchasing History, etc. which can be extremely helpful in charting their ‘hyper-personalization marketing’ strategy.

Image Source

It is of prime importance that when an email campaign is sent to the customer; it is designed well, conveys the relevant information, is personalized, clearly has the ‘Call to Action’ and has a ‘well-designed subject line’ so that the recipient opens the email. To summarize, a sub-standard subject of an email campaign results in low ‘open rate’ and average email content & design results in low ‘Click-Through Rate’. Email marketing companies are also leveraging the power of Machine Learning [ML] & Artificial Intelligence [AI] in order to cater to the hyper-personalization requirement of email marketers. Entrepreneurs Ben Richardson and David Greiner faced a similar problem where they could not find email marketing a tool that could suffice their requirements and that is what made them co-found ‘Campaign Monitor’.  ‘Campaign Monitor’ is a global email-marketing company that offers a full range of email solutions to help marketers create meaningful, lasting connections with their audience. ‘Campaign Monitor’ streamlines every part of the email marketing process and the beauty of the product lies in its elegant design & scalability across different verticals.

Campaign Monitor – Overview

Campaign Monitor is an email marketing platform that companies can use to design personalized messages to its customers. Once a campaign is created using ‘Campaign Monitor’, tracking & analytics that is integrated with the dashboard can be used to measure the effectiveness of the campaign. The platform also provides list-management tools in the ‘List & subscribers’ tab where a brand can create segmented lists in order to send ‘personalized email campaigns’ based on the customer’s profile & other important data points about the customers in the list.

Along with personalized email campaigns, Campaign Monitor can also be used to create personalized customer journeys. Campaign Monitor can be integrated with close to 250+ platforms; some of them being Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, SalesForce, etc.

Campaign Monitor – Features

Design customer-centric emails – Once the marketer logs into the Campaign Monitor dashboard, he can use the drag & drop mechanism to create simple, yet beautifully designed emails. Due to the simplicity of the interface, designing email campaigns is a very simple task.

Insights & Analytics – Similar to Google Analytics, ‘Insights’ feature of Campaign Monitor helps in tracking the CTR, open rate, engagement, and geographical coverage of the audience. It also provides analytics through which marketers can improve the performance of a campaign.

Automation Emails – Through the ‘Journey’ feature, a marketer can set up customer journeys as well as RSS campaign to send automated updates from the customer’s website. You can choose the appropriate ‘Industry Vertical’ [Media & Entertainment, Publishing & Digital Media, Retail, Travel & Hospitality, Travel, Hospitality, etc.] and your intent of sending the email campaign. You could send a personalized welcome-email on signup or send an email in order to keep a customer engaged on the platform.

While creating the ‘customer journey’, you should choose the end-goal of the campaign. You could choose from the following options

  • Drive a series of actions
  • Drive conversions
  • Increase email engagement

Smarter Transactional Emails – Transactional emails are triggered by your own site or app, typically in response to a user’s action, such as an order confirmation or a plan renewal. They are some of the most valuable emails a company send but usually, aren’t measured or optimized. ‘New sign-up email’ is an ideal example of a transactional email and is used to welcome a new user. Transactional Email can be created using the Email builder feature and there is also an option to import your own design. This category of email is triggered on demand and you can choose from a portfolio of ‘wide range of designs’. API or SMTP can also be used to send email directly from your site or app.

Campaign Monitor – Email Campaign Creation

Campaign Monitor has a number of templates that can be used for creating an effective email campaign. It has a WYSIWYG editor through which you can design campaigns by using the ‘drag & drop’ facility. The design of the campaigns can be optimized for different mediums namely, desktop, mobile, tablet, etc. There is also an option to import HTML template or HTML design, but you might need certain coding knowledge to use the HTML feature.

A/B Testing or Split Testing is used widely by designers & developers to compare two versions of a web-page and measure the overall performance of the test. Campaign Monitor provides a facility of A/B Testing where a user can create two versions of the same campaign. This also helps in figuring out which design works well and designing a long-term marketing strategy. In a nutshell, Campaign Monitor can be used to send personalized email campaigns and trigger automated workflows based on customer behavior.

Campaign Monitor – Pricing and Third Party API integration

There are three plans of Campaign Monitor – Basic, Unlimited, and Premier. The Basic Plan costs $9/month, Unlimited Plan costs $29/month, and Premier Plan costs $149/month. Below are more details about each plan

Basic Plan [$9/month]

  • 2,500 emails across campaigns and automated emails
  • Customer support via email
  • All core email marketing features Use our drag-and-drop email builder and professionally-designed templates to launch completely branded email campaigns.
  • Insights analytics suite
  • Basic marketing automation

Unlimited Plan [$29/month]

  • Unlimited emails across campaigns and automated emails
  • Priority customer support via email
  • All core email marketing features
  • Insights analytics suite
  • Basic marketing automation
  • Advanced marketing automation
  • Unlimited inbox previews
  • Time zone sending
  • Unlimited spam testing

Premier Plan [$149/month]

  • Unlimited emails across campaigns and automated emails
  • Premier phone and email support
  • All core email marketing features
  • Insights analytics suite
  • Basic marketing automation
  • Advanced marketing automation
  • Unlimited inbox previews
  • Time zone sending
  • Unlimited spam testing
  • Send-time optimization
  • Advanced link tracking
  • Template management for teams

In case you are using emails occasionally, you can use the ‘Pay per Campaign’ feature of Campaign Monitor. Further details about pricing can be found here.

Campaign Monitor – API Integration

Campaign Monitor has a robust third-party API support and using those APIs, you can connect all your core business apps to meet your unique email marketing and automation needs. You can also integrate the platform with popular Content Management System [CMS], Blog, and other third-party software. Based on the ‘core requirement’ of the email campaign, you can use the third-party APIs from the host of services mentioned below

  • Account
  • Campaigns
  • Lists
  • Clients
  • Segments
  • Subscribers
  • Templates
  • Transactional
  • Webhooks

More details about API integration can be found here.

Campaign Monitor – Conclusion

There are number of companies that provide ’email marketing’, some of them being SendPulse, Moz, LeadsRx, SocialPilot, etc. and each of them have flexible pricing structure & variety of features. Campaign Monitor’s extensive feature-list, attractive pricing strategy, excellent customer-support makes it an ideal choice for companies that plan to use email-marketing to welcome new customers and retain existing customers. You can also create simple, yet effective surveys using Campaign Monitor.

In case you are Campaign Monitor use, do leave your feedback in the comments section.. You can log on to Campaign Monitor in case you want to give Campaign Monitor a spin!

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Few weeks back, we had covered the launch of the Comio X1 Note in Bengaluru. This is the Chinese smartphone manufacturer’s first foray in South India. We got a chance to use this latest smartphone from Comio for a couple of weeks and this is the detailed review of the Comio X1 Note.

Comio X1 Note : Overview

The Comio X1 Note is a Android Oreo based smart-phone with some additional enhancements from Comio, we would talk about it in the later part of the review. The device sports a 6 inches Full View FHD+ display with a pixel resolution of 2160*1080p. The screen density is 402 dpi.

Specifications

Display – 6-inch [2160*1080p] FHD+ display, 402 dpi
OS – Android Oreo, with minor enhancements from Comio
CPU – 1.4 GHz quad-core Mediatek MT8735 SoC, 3 GB RAM
Storage – 32 GB storage [with additional micro SD slot along with dual SIM slots]
Cameras – 13MP+5MP primary dual camera with auto focus, flash and 8MP front facing camera
Connectivity – Wi-Fi, 3G/4G LTE/2G, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, USB OTG
Battery – 2,900 mAh
Dimensions – 16.2 x 0.8 x 7.6 cm
Weight – 168 grams

The Comio X1 Note is available in offline stores, as well as on Amazon. The smartphone comes in two different variants – Royal Blue & Sunrise Gold. Inside the box, you receive a back cover, charger, SIM removal kit, a pair of headphones, and a screen guard. We received the Sunrise Gold version for the review.

Comio X1 Note – Design

The X1 Note is around 6 inches tall and the display resolution is 2160*1080p. When ‘Note’ is tagged to any smartphone, consumers expect a big & tall display, with a battery with exceptional capacity. Though X1 Note has a huge display, the battery capacity is only 2900 mAh which might be a let-down for the phone.

Talking about the other aspects of the phone, the back cover is made of plastic but you would only come to know once you hold the phone in your hands. From the farther distance, the back cover might not give the plastic feel and would look like it has a metallic back. Since the back cover is very shiny and it is prone to scratches, hence it is recommended to use a back cover with the phone. Since the company is positioning this phone as its first flagship, this is a very good effort to give a premium look & feel to the device. Regarding the other aspects of design, there is the volume rocker on the left side, power button and the dual-SIM tray on the right side. There is a 3.5 mm audio jack along with a micro-USB charging port at the bottom.

As the target segment of the X1 Note might the smartphone-aspiring audience, they have retained the normal USB port instead of opting for the USB type-C charging port which has become a norm nowadays.

Comio X1 Note – Software, Display & other Specifications

Comio X1 Note – Software

As far the software is concerned, the X1 Note has Android 8.0 Oreo. There is very less bloatware on the phone [with only few additional apps like Xender, WPS Office] and the experience is more or less looks like a stock Android one. There is finger-print scanner on the back and it was very responsive. You can also opt for facial recognition to lock or unlock the phone. You can customize the Navigation Bar and opt for your preferred button layout. For ensuring the best possible after-sales service and simplying the service-centre discovery, the X1 Note comes with the ‘Comio Connect’ app which lets you find the nearest Comio Service centre.

‘Venus Broswer’ is the default browser on the X1 Note. It is the first Indian browser providing hyper-regional content covering majoring Indian states. It offers a Light Weight Web Platform for Smart Phones users with advanced functionalities like Browsing, App store and Services [Source]. Since there is limited on-board storage, having a browser like Venus that is light on memory and helps users to do majority of their tasks is a good addition to the phone. X1 Note also has a built-in call recorder and support for 22 Indian languages.

On the very first glance, the back side of the phone might look strikingly similar to the Moto G5/Moto G5 Plus as the rear-camera design & placement is somewhat identical to them. In terms of software features, the phone also has an ‘App-Cloner’ with which the user can have two instances of the same app in the RAM. However, the customization is limited since you can only clone Twitter, Facebook, FB Messenger and WhatsApp. This feature is not completely unique as it is already available in couple of competitor devices in the market.

Comio X1 Note – Display

As mentioned earlier, the display has a 18:9 aspect ratio and the colors look vibrant on the phone.he display is equipped with ‘MiraVision Tuning features‘ which is a set of engines to enhance the display picture quality. This interface allows for interactive tuning with real-time quality feedback, making it easy for users to tailor the picture quality based on their needs.

There are three picture modes – User Mode, Standard Mode & Vivid Mode. User Mode is for power users where you can do Basic Color Tuning [Contrast, Saturation & Change picture brightness], Advanced Tuning [Sharpness & Adjust colors according to temperature]. The viewing angles on the X1 Note are good and performing daily activities like reading e-mails, news etc. is a real pleasure on the X1 Note due to it’s excellent display quality. Though the readability is very good indoors, it falters a bit when taken outdoors, especially when it is sunny outside. Overall, the display looks good [if not great], especially when the price s taken into consideration.

Comio X1 Note – Hardware, Battery & Performance

The X1 Note has Mediatek 8735 processor under the hoods. The processor can be clocked to maximum frequency of 1.45 GHz and 4 ARM A53 cores in order to get the best possible performance with minimum drainage in battery. The MT 8735 is a slightly old processor of the Mediatek family but since the phone is priced handsomely at Rs. 9,999; this step could have been taken in order to reduce the BOM [Bill Of Material] cost. The review unit which we received had the Android security patch dated 5th March 2018. The battery capacity is 2900 mAh which is a slight let-down considering that there would be a good amount of consumption especially in the active use-cases!

The phone comes with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB ROM which can be expandable upto 128 GB via a micro-SD card. Out of 32 GB, around 8 GB was already utilized and 24 GB storage capacity was available. The performance is perfectly fine when couple of apps are kept open, but it might deteriorate and slowly it might become sluggish if you are playing games. In some of the scenarios, we could even see that the app-launch time was more, even though there were no apps running in the background. There are couple of ‘Battery-saving modes’ that might come-in handy when there is very less juice available on the phone. With average daily-useage, the battery on the phone lasted for close to around a day and the consumption is very high when the device is used for HD gaming or HD video viewing use-cases.

In a nutshell, the performance of the X1 Note is average and same is evident from it’s AnTuTu score of 42,524. However, from a user’s perspective we hope that in the future there would be many performance updates available for the phone 🙂

Comio X1 Note – Camera

The X1 Note comes with a 13MP+5MP primary dual camera with auto focus, flash and 8MP front facing camera. The camera has a in-built Image Stabilization. The camera is equipped with features like Auto Focus, Continuous Shot, Smile Shot & Face Detection.

The shots from the rear camera are of decent picture quality. The performance & photo-tuning of the rear-camera was much better when it was used in the HDR mode since in the normal mode, the sharpness of the objects deteriorated a lot and hence, HDR mode is preferred in case you want the best out of the rear camera. There are different filters like Aqua, Gorgeous, Calm, Movie, Sepia, Fresh, etc. in order to give some extra effects to the photos captured using the phone. During the camera testing, we did find some lag especially while taking burst shots. The camera performance can be termed as average since there are phones with much better camera features & performance in the same price range.

Some of the sample images are below

Comio X1 Note – Pricing & Verdict

There are some perks for being a Comio customer since the Comio X1 Note comes with 1 year+ 100 days extra warranty, 30 days replacement*, Buy-back offer*, Screen breakage warranty* and Upgrade offer* [* – More details on Comio.in]. Barring aside these benefits, the Comio X1 Note is competing with many other devices in the market with better specifications & performance that are available in the sub 10,000 price range. This would be the biggest challenge for Comio that has released its first flagship in the Comio X1 Note.

As far as pricing is concerned, both the variants – ‘Royal Blue’ & ‘Sunrise Gold’ are priced at Rs. 9,999. The Comio X1 Note in Royal Blue & Sunrise Gold are available online on Amazon.in here and here.

What are your thoughts on the Comio X1 Note, do leave your feedback in the comments section…

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Technology has a profound impact on our everyday lives and e-commerce & omnichannel retailing has changed the commerce industry for all the stake-holders involved in the eco-stem. Though it has changed the shopping experience and made things accessible on the click of a button, customers are still very sensitive about buying items related to sexual wellness. The topic of ‘sex’ is still considered a taboo [at least in tier-2, tier-3 cities] and not openly discussed, whether the discussion is in peer-groups, friends or family.

Image Source – Wellness

Digital Medium [blog, online videos, digital advertising, etc.] is playing a major role in breaking that barrier and here also online commerce is playing a pivotal role in that transformation. Unlike brick & mortar stores, products that are sold online are accessible anytime and companies use utmost care by using discrete packaging for shipping such products so that privacy is maintained. As a matter of fact, many brick & mortar pharmacies are now adopting the online route so that they can tap the burgeoning online market.

The other factor why pharmacies are joining the online bandwagon is because the pharmacy business is highly fragmented and this is where lies the opportunity. Startups as well as pharmacies are tapping this opportunity to create a mark in the online healthcare market, particularly the ‘Sexual Wellness Market in India’. Many customers are on the lookout for best sex capsule or sex power tablets for man and it would an awkward moment for anyone to purchase such products either from the medical store or from a supermarket, hence online medium works the best for purchasing such items.

Sexual wellness market in India

Sexual wellness is a term to describe products that are related to enhancement of sexual health and experience. As per a report by Reuters, the market in India is set to grow at a CAGR of 34.76% over the period 2014~2019. Horizontal e-commerce players have also shown tremendous interest in this sector and due to which they also have dedicated section on their site for this category.

However, it is the vertical e-commerce players as well pharmacies like Wellness Forever who have the expertise and tremendous knowledge about the customer-base [due to omnichannel mode of operations] have created a dent in the industry. The other advantage that brick & mortar pharmacies like Wellness Forever have over its online-only competitors [or the medical marketplaces] is that they already have expertise in logistics and can quickly deliver medicine’s [that are ordered online], if the customer is staying in close proximity of the pharmacy [something akin to the hyper-local model].

Wellness Forever – 24-hour online wellness & health store

Online shopping definitely brings convenience in customer’s hands, but when someone looks for medicines [especially in emergency cases], they might require the same [even at late in the night]. This is where Wellness Forever Lifestyle Chemists & Supermarket, a branded pharmacy chain present in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur and other parts of Maharashtra have advantage over other online medical stores. They have expert staff that chooses the suitable combination of products that justify quality & price best suited to your needs.

Since they follow the omnichannel approach, by utilizing their 100+ stores in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Nashik, etc. for delivery; they can dispatch medicines, lifestyle products, best sexual wellness products like condoms, best sex tablets in India, sex toys, etc. in discrete and pristine condition. There are products in various categories – Sports Nutrition, Women’s Grooming, Women’s Hygiene & Intimate Care, Weight management, Pain relief, etc. from famous brands like Beardo, Omron, Durex, Little’s, etc. on a single platform thereby giving choice to its valued customer base.

With major e-commerce companies [irrespective of the sector of operation] taking the omnichannel route, specialists like Wellness Forever definitely have an upper hand as far as online medicine and sexual wellness is concerned. Do share your thoughts in the comments section…

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Technology has become an integral part of our every-day lives and it has helped to a huge extent in making our lives organized as well as simpler. In fact, it has reached to such a peak that we no longer have to step out to do shopping or for paying our bills or even for furniture shopping. Wearable’s, especially smart-watches or fitness bands are being increasingly used by many health-conscious Indians for monitoring their food intake, water intake, tracking calories burnt during a workout, etc.

However, monitoring the statistics but performing relevant actions based on those inputs would add more value to that data. Even though some wearables give data about the amount of water intake, still many of us [due to some reasons] take less water and even if we have water, we have no idea about the quality of water. This is where water purifier can play a vital role since it removes the impurities from water and makes sure that the water being consumed is pure, germs free and safe for consumption.

Let’s look into the technology being used by water purifiers and what exactly is an RO water purifier. Water Purifiers use a technology called Reverse Osmosis [RO] that is used to remove a majority of contaminants from water by pushing the water under pressure through a semi-permeable membrane while Ultraviolet [UV] water purification penetrates through harmful pathogens in your home’s water and eliminates their ability to reproduce. Drinking purified water is one of most essential things that keep us healthy and Livpure is playing a pivotal role in bringing safe, consumable and healthy water in consumer’s homes. As a matter of fact, Livpure has been game-changer in that industry with India’s first smart-touch RO, UV and UF Taste Enhancer and guess what, customers need not walk-in to their stores, they can order for a demo over an email or a phone call.

Drinking germ-free water and taking timely intake is one of the first measurements for living a healthy life since keeps you hydrated all the time and you can stay away from water-borne diseases like Dysentery, Cholera, Diarrhea, Typhoid, Trachoma [Eye Infection], etc. Many of these diseases are life-threatening and consuming germ-free water is the only solution to keep them away. As per a report, more than 80% of country’s surface water is polluted and hence every measure that to be taken in order to keep yourself [and your loved ones] hale and hearty.

Though there are many more brands in the market that sell water purifier and RO water purifier, you have to make the right decision in choosing the best one in the market. Unlike other electronic items like mobile phones, laptops, etc. that require service only when they go bad, after-sales-service is very important in case of water purifiers since they require proper maintenance so that you get pure water when required. Livpure is a well-known brand that has been in the market for many years and has a good after-sales support and their purifiers are available for personal & commercial use.

To summarize, always stay hydrated and consume pure water in order to keep yourself away from diseases. What purifier do you use, do leave your experience in the comments section…

|In: AppReview|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

A very famous quote on investing says – ‘Risk & Rewards are two sides of the same coin’. This means that in most of the cases, higher the amount of risk involved chances of maximizing the returns are also very high! The investment portfolio of every person would differ since it is dependent on various factors like risk appetite, assets, liabilities, dependencies, etc. and hence, it becomes virtually impossible for any investment firm to cater to varied investment requirements of such a large audience.

Image Source – WealthApp

This is where emerging technologies like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence can play a vital role in creating a tailor-made investment plan based on your long-term and short financial requirements. Machine Learning has already the paved way into the Fintech market, be it approving loans, documentation, managing assets, etc. Many Fintech startups are leveraging machine learning, AI, Chatbots and helping banking institutions to either enhance the existing banking experience or creating kick-ass products in the areas of wealth management, personal finance, customer service, etc.

When it comes to investing, there are different types of investors – Novice and seasoned investors. There are options for investing in FD, RD, Gold, etc. that are used for many years, are less risky and yield lesser returns. On the other hand, there are options like investing in stocks, equity markets, Gold bonds, etc that yield higher returns but the investor needs to have at least basic know-how about the markets. According to a report by Bloomberg, less than 1.5% of the Indian population invested in equity markets and only 2% of India’s household savings were exposed to equity.

Most of the investment firms reserved their advisory services for HNI’s, with none of them catering to the expanding retail investors and middle-income groups. This is where founders of Fintech startup WealthApp saw an opportunity and created WealthApp with a single aim to make goal-based investing easier by combining their wealth management expertise with the power of Machine Learning. In simple terms, WealthApp is an algorithm based, tech-driven investment platform created by seasoned finance professionals that help you create your ‘Perfect’ investment portfolio as per your requirements and risk appetite. We had earlier interviewed Gaurav Dhawan, Co-Founder of WealthApp and today we do a detailed review of the app w.r.t features, enhancements, competition, etc.

Note – Since it is an app related to finance, we have blurred out certain things that might be personal or related to my investment portfolio.

WealthApp: Changing the Investment Habit for ‘Better Financial Planning’

As mentioned earlier, investment in the equity markets is not very popular option amongst investors in India but that scene is changing rapidly! 60,000 new investors are investing in Mutual Funds and this is where fin-tech startups like WealthApp are acting as a change agent. WealthApp is using Machine Learning, AI and proprietary algorithms to invest, track, redeem, etc. in Mutual Funds owned by different AMC’s [Asset Management Company].

Apart from in-depth know-how about the Mutual Fund [MF] industry, another problem faced by investors is that in order to keep a track of their MF investment, they have to log on to the website of each AMC for checking the performance, invest in other MF’s from the same AMC, etc. WealthApp has tied-up with different AMC’s due to which investors can track their investments from AMC’s, invest in Mutual Funds from other popular AMC’s in a single window. As an investor, you have to create a profile on WealthApp, allow WealthApp to access your portfolio information from the corresponding AMC & you are done 🙂

With WealthApp, there is an end to the long winding process, paper work and emergence of proper guidance in investment methods by a team that has extensive experience in managing individual investment portfolios.

WealthApp: Goal-based investing, dedicated fund manager and more

Each one of us has short-term as well as long-term goals and ambitions like going for an overseas vacation, buying a house, overseas education, etc. and this is where ‘Goal-Based Investing’ plays a very crucial role. Goal-based investing aims to get around the drawback of the traditional investment approach, which generally focuses on outperforming the market while staying within the investor’s threshold for risk. Instead, it uses individual asset pools with an investment strategy that is tailored to the client’s specific goals [Source].

Goal-based investing: Once you create your profile on WealthApp, you would be recommended with relevant and personalized investment options based on your risk profile, goal & aspirations set by you. There is an automated and continuous monitoring, re-balancing of your portfolio according to changing market conditions so that you can maximize the returns on your investments!

Dedicated fund manager: Couple of months back when we interviewed Gaurav Dhawan, he raised a very valid point ‘Investors are interested to invest in Mutual Funds but most of them feel that MFs are difficult to understand’. This is where WealthApp wants to create a dent in order to drive investor’s interest in MFs. This is one of the primary reasons why every investor on WealthApp has a dedicated fund manager assigned to him/her. The fund manager would hand-hold you in the on-boarding process, efficiently managing your portfolio, guiding you to maximize returns and more…

Frictionless on-boarding process: The KYC is done in a paperless manner, you no longer to submit multiple paper documents for the on-boarding process 🙂 Since the platform runs on high-end machine learning algorithms, the entire advisory process is automated so that investors can get timely investment tips and latest updates on their investments.

Investment tips & Detailed reports: Once you have your account setup and records of your MF investments are imported on WealthApp, you start receiving personalized e-mailer based on your investment profile, goals and other important criteria that might impact your long-term & short-term investment goals!

Also if you want to make further investments, you need not go to the AMC’s website but can continue investing in MFs via WealthApp. At any point in time, you can download the performance reports of your investments.

The design of the app is very simple since there is a possibility that the app could be used by someone who is not well versed with mobile/technology but has good knowledge about MF’s, equity markets, etc.

WealthApp: Improvements, Competition…

WealthApp amalgamates technology [AI, Machine Learning] with finance/investing and makes lives of MF investors easy since now they no longer have to log-in to each & every AMC’s website where they have invested their funds! However, in many cases investing is a long-term strategy and hence, it becomes important that reports are very detailed. The reports should highlight the performance of any particular fund in a graphical representation so that that data dishes out much more information. As seen in the screenshot below, the reports of funds that an investor has invested in are not detailed and the overall format also needs some improvement.

There has been a meteoric rise in the fintech startup landscape in H1, H2 of 2017 with e-commerce, FinTech startups top Funding Charts in H1 2017 [Source]. Many of the fintech companies are leveraging Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Social Data Intelligence, Blockchain, etc. in order to solve critical business problems, including the one being solved by WealthApp. A fintech startup UpWardly is also leveraging Machine Learning to Upwardly, which facilitate goal-based investments in mutual funds.

WealthApp: Conclusion

Overall, WealthApp is a simple yet effective service from seasoned finance professionals that makes ‘goal-based investing’ easier. Even after you have downloaded the WealthApp application, there is still a human-touch to investing via your dedicated fund managers. Barring a few improvement areas, it is an app that a retail investor can use in order to test the waters of Mutual Fund Investing. If you are a seasoned investor, WealthApp solves the major hurdle of logging on-to individual AMC’s website for maintaining your investment portfolio.

You can download WealthApp for Android from here and WealthApp for iOS from here. If you are an existing user of WealthApp, do leave your feedback/experience in the comments section.

|In: Books|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Each one of us would have encountered situations that would have acted as a complete life-changer. Some of them would have brought the best out of you, whereas some could have shattered your life. The impact of the incident or situation would be of higher magnitude in case it involves the family members.

However, what happens if you come to know about some of the mysteries surrounded in your life. Well, your life would go completely topsy-turvy once you realize the same. ‘I Owed You One‘ by Doctor Madhu Vajpayee is one such novel that involves various emotions that a person has to go through when he is put under testing circumstances.

Today we review the book ‘I Owed You One’, a heartwarming story of love, duty, and courage.

I Owed You One: Trailer

Dev Khanna has it all before a mysterious letter shakes the very foundation he has built his life on. With beliefs challenged, he decides to close the chapter once for all. I Owed You One is the story of promises, triumphs, defeat, and of holding on and letting go.

About the Author: Dr. Madhu Vajpayee

Dr. Madhu Vajpayee studied her MBBS from KGMU, Lucknow and MD from AIIMS, New Delhi. The writer in her was born somewhere in those hospital corridors where she spent the last two decades of her life. After writing several scientific papers and chapters in books, I Owed You One is her second journey in the literary world, the first being Seeking Redemption. When not creating stories, she enjoys traveling and reading.

I Owed You One: Detailed Review

The central character of the novel is Dev Khanna, a chemical engineer based out of Australia. Dev is happily married to his wife Radhika and has an adorable son named Neel. He is very well to do and his life is progressing at a steady pace when suddenly he receives a mysterious letter from his hometown in India. What is inside the letter and how this small piece of paper changes so many lives is what is answered in the novel I Owed You One. The letter results in a series events of self-realization which form the crux of the story.

Though Dev is very well to do, he has attained this stature by facing a lot of difficulties. He had a troubled childhood where his father used to constantly ignore his mother and did not have any emotional bonding with her. Due to such bad behavior, Dev Khanna never shared a good rapport with his father. Such events leave a mark in his mind and would never leave him even when he leaves India for settling in Australia. The passing away of his mother has a deep-rooted impact on him since she had always been his pillar of support.

After fighting so many odds, Dev still does well on the professional front but these haunting personal memories never left him. The mysterious letter from India just acts as a trigger and this is where the story goes into flashback. He goes back to India and this is where starts a journey filled with emotions, anger, anxiety, etc.

All the characters namely Dev Khanna, his wife Radhika, son Neel, including the supporting cast of Mr. Goyal who is Dev’s host in India, driver Shahid have been etched with perfection. The story is written in a subtle manner and each character plays a pivotal role in the novel. As the story progresses, you can feel for Dev Khanna and start realizing his feelings. There are a lot of interesting quotes or one-liners about Dev’s bonding with his mother, his love for India, friendship, etc. The best quote in the book is

Even Phenomenal amount of wealth doesn’t guarantee any security against unhappiness

The storytelling by Dr. Madhu is spot-on with characters entering and exiting scenes at the right time. At around 258 pages long, I Owed You One is a fascinating read and sends a very important message that irrespective of the amount of wealth a person owns, he cannot buy true happiness!

Closing Thoughts

I Owed You One is a must-read novel if you looking for an interesting story with path-defining characters. The story is etched in a very beautiful manner where relationships are given primary importance.

Overall Rating – 4.5/5

You can purchase I Owed You One by Dr. Madhu Vajpayee by clicking on the link below

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