 "Top Reviews this week: Asus Transformer Book TX300CA, Spice Coolpad Mi-515, Company of Heroes 2 and more!")
We’ve had good fun this week in the tech2 labs reviewing an app, a game, a laptop and more. Here are our top reviews this week:
Buzz Launcher (7/10)
Overall, Buzz Launcher is a great app for those who like unique homescreens. It features some interesting categories and the homescreens don’t feel amateurish, but are quite elegant. And there is plenty to choose from. The fact that it is easily customisable is an added bonus. If you think you can create some creative homescreens, then you can also take part in the competitions that they conduct regularly. However, one of the biggest drawbacks is the fact that the app is heavy on resources and drains battery.
Neat categories makes it easy to browse
Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair v4.5 (7/10)
Recovery products from Stellar Phoenix are definitely powerful and the results are pretty promising. The company is completely into hardcore data recovery providing solutions on both software and hardware levels. The PST recovery utility is part of its recovery software fleet and can be purchased from its website. To sum up the whole, Outlook PST Repair is very simple, very easy to use and one of the most powerful Outlook PST recovery utility for Windows out there. For a price tag of $129 (approximately Rs 7,800), users might feel the pinch, but the utility is definitely a life saver in case you have some important emails to be fished out of the damaged database.
The utility is fast enough, but it finally depends on file size and system speed
Spice Coolpad Mi-515 (5.5/10)
A quad-core processor-based handset with a 5-inch IPS panel selling at a price below Rs 10,000 is certain to raise a few eyebrows. For a phone costing Rs 9,990 that is well built, performs decently well and is affordable, the deal breaker is the slight weightiness, below average display quality and the poor battery life. If you’re looking for a quad-core phone under Rs 10,000, we would suggest you opt for the Xolo Q700.
5-inch qHD IPS display, quad-core 1.5GHz CPU, PowerVR SGX544 GPU
Company of Heroes 2 (9/10)
The game is an oasis in a genre that is akin to a barren wasteland. It has compelling gameplay as well as great depth. The concepts in the game are easy enough to understand, but pulling them off while trying to manage not dying is a different thing entirely. The game’s focus on offense and tactics rather than resource-gathering and base-building also come as a breath of fresh air.
World War 2? In my strategy games?
Asus Transformer Book TX300CA (7/10)
Asus has once again built a very finely crafted and desirable product, but that’s not enough to make a it a commercial success. The Core i5 variant of the Transformer Book is priced at a whopping Rs 91,999, which we find exorbitantly expensive. Samsung’s ATIV hybrid PC shares a similar configuration (minus the 500GB HDD) and design and is priced almost Rs 20,000 lesser. Our other main issue with the Transformer Book is the weight. It’s simply too heavy to be carried around as a complete notebook.
Excellent design and build
Intrigued by all things social, Nishtha will invariably tweet about you. When not tweeting or writing about the next viral video, you will hear her proclaiming her love to Metallica, James Hetfield, Opeth, Akerfeldt and all bands that go 'growl'. She also obsesses about ACP Pradyuman and South Park and you will always find her moving around with a book. Her focus is on all the happening stuff in the tech domain, and she won't hesitate to take a shot at some of the oddball devices that make their way to our labs.