Christmas Gifts Under $100

Christmas Gifts Under $100

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This collection is dominated by Chinese companies, so do not be surprised by the large number of accessories from Xiaomi and Meizu, they really have many interesting offers in this price segment. By the way, I use almost all described gadgets myself or gave them to my friends.

Mi Motion Night Advanced Lamp

This is a small stand-alone lamp with motion and light sensors. What is it for? Here the typical use case: go to the toilet at night, and in order not to stumble on everything, put this lamp in the corridor. As soon as you approach it, it lights up.

The light is soft, closer to cold tones. Interestingly, thanks to the light sensor, the lamp does not turn on automatically during the day. There is a lamp from three AA-batteries, do not forget to buy them separately, there are no batteries in the set.

Meizu A20

I have long wanted to buy myself an inexpensive portable speaker to listen to music in the shower or in the kitchen. It was necessary something with a beautiful design, good sound and a decent work time. Meizu A20 perfectly suits these parameters and already a couple of months is in my bathroom. By the way, the kit comes with a handy strap.

Image result for Meizu A20

Deppa NRG Turbo

Let’s think, what should a perfect external battery look like? First, it should have a charge indicator. Secondly – Type C port. Third, of course, fast charging QuickCharge 3.0, it is desirable to both the input and output.

NRG Turbo is an excellent gift, especially for those whose smartphones support fast charging.

Xiaomi Mi Band 2

I’m not tired of recommending a fitness-tracker from Xiaomi for a year now. An excellent inexpensive thing for those who want to monitor their activity and sleep, but they are not ready to spend some fabulous money on sports trackers. And he works about a month from the battery.

Xiaomi Mi Band 2

Meizu Backpack

The model is interesting primarily for its design and protection from moisture and spray. All pockets and zippers are hidden inside, so the backpack has a simple minimalistic design, while it’s quite functional: inside there are two pockets, compartments for a laptop and a tablet, and outside there are places for an umbrella and a bottle.

Meizu Backpack

Mi Bluetooth Speaker

Another wireless speaker, this time from Xiaomi. Comes with a body of bright colors, a built-in microphone. Supports the headset mode.

Xiaomi Redmi 5A

The only smartphone in our collection. Redmi 5A has a comfortable minimum of features, thanks to which it is convenient to use: excellent speed, good for its price display, oleophobic coating, Qualcomm Snapdragon 425.

Xiaomi Redmi 5A

Meizu EP52

Last year, I recommended Meizu EP51, and just a week ago the company began selling the updated model. The EP52 has a separate arc that holds the headphones, now the wire does not pull them down, the ear pads have got a more standard look, and in Meizu, they assure that they have improved the sound quality of the headset.

Meizu EP52

Mi Piston Headphones Basic

I’d like to end the collection with the cheapest gadget. I used the same model of headphones from Xiaomi and was completely satisfied with it. For their money, this is an excellent offer, and even with a remote control.

Mi Piston Headphones Basic

Conclusion

Traditionally I invite you to share in the comments your ideas of inexpensive gifts. I’m sure that everyone will be interested to look at the gadget collections from our commentators.

5 Most Popular Fingerprint Scanners

5 Most Popular Fingerprint Scanners

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Hello, in today’s article, I decided to talk about the most popular options for the location of the fingerprint scanner and its implementation from different manufacturers.

Lenovo/Moto

Since Lenovo ZUK, the company uses a scanner on the front side. It is slightly recessed into the case and is also a touch button. It’s nice that to turn on the smartphone, you have to just touch the scanner and that it does not have a built-in button.

By default, a bunch of scanner + onscreen buttons are used, but in Moto settings you can enable navigation on the scanner only. The on-screen buttons disappear, the swipe from left to right simulates the “Back” action, and from right to left – invokes the latest applications.

A nice addition was not only the inclusion but also the disabling of the display by holding the central button. If you disable the onscreen buttons, then holding down the button momentarily turns the display off, and a two second period calls Google Now.

Samsung

Samsung for a long time used a combination of a physical button and two touch-sensitive side buttons. Personally, I did not like it very much, in the horizontal mode, you will surely touch one of them.

Galaxy S5 16GB (Verizon)

In the latest Galaxy, this approach was abandoned in favor of a scanner on the back cover. It’s not quite clear why the layout is asymmetrical, but despite this, the new version is still more convenient than the past.

Meizu

Meizu uses the proprietary mTouch key. It is both a fingerprint scanner, a physical button, and a touch key. To turn the display on or off, hold the button for about a second. The touch of the key simulates the “Back” push, and in applications with fingerprint authorization, Flyme understands that it is necessary to scan the finger, and not to go to the previous display.

Xiaomi

In Xiaomi, in most models, the fingerprint scanner is located at the rear, and the front is equipped with a touchpad of three buttons. A nice feature is the fine-tuning of actions for short and long presses of each button.

Sony

Sony – almost the only company that installs the fingerprint scanner on the button on the side. The solution is original and elegant in its own way, but it has a small drawback: if you want to see the notifications without unlocking the display, you need to manage to turn on the device so that it does not have time to unlock the display.

Conclusion

Personally, I like most when the fingerprint scanner is located on the front panel paired with the on-screen keys. I understand that such placement can negatively affect the overall dimensions, but no matter how much the devices used with the scanner on the back, each time it was uncomfortable.

Smartphones I Would Like To Buy

Smartphones I Would Like To Buy

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Below is a selection of smartphones that I would have bought myself, having various budget constraints. But before you go to the selection, let me pay attention to what is important in smartphones for me.

Firstly, it’s a display, a primary oleophobic coating, then go screen resolution and the quality of the display itself.

Secondly – the speed of work. It’s very unpleasant to use a sluggish and stupid smartphone.

The third is the time of work. In 2017, you need to stop worrying about the fact that the smartphone will not live one light day.

The fourth is design and dimensions. I do not like thick and heavy smartphones, I’m uncomfortable with them. The same applies to impractical materials of the case.

Notice, I did not write anything about the quality of the camera, it’s uncritical for me. Of course, I would like to receive decent pictures in any lighting, but I so rarely take pictures that this parameter is unimportant for me. I focus on this attention for a reason, because if you have other priorities, then my selection will most likely not suit you. And now it’s time to move on to the collection.

Under $100

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A

Dimensions: 153 x 76.2 x 7.55 mm, weight 153 grams
Screen: 5.5 inches, 1280×720 pixels, IPS
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 425
Operating system: Android 7.0 + MIUI 8
Memory: 16 GB internal, 2 GB operative
Battery: non-removable, Li-Ion, 3080 mAh
Camera: 13 MP

Under $200

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X

Dimensions: 151 x 76 x 8.5 mm, weight 165 grams
Screen: 5.5 inches, 1920×1080 pixels, IPS
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 625
Operating system: Android 7.0 + MIUI 8
Memory: 32/64 GB internal, 3/4 GB operational
Battery: non-removable, Li-Ion, 4100 mAh
Camera: 13 MP

Under $300

Xiaomi Mi A1

Dimensions: 155.4 x 75.8 x 7.3 mm, weight 165 grams
Screen: 5.5 inches, 1920×1080 pixels, IPS
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 625
Operating system: Android 7.1.2
Memory: 64 GB internal, 4 GB operative
Battery: non-removable, Li-Ion, 3080 mAh
Camera: dual 12 MP, optical zoom

Under $500

Honor 9

Dimensions: 147.3 x 70.9 x 7.45 mm, weight 155 grams
Screen: 5.15 inches, 1920×1080 pixels, IPS
Chipset: HiSilicon Kirin 960
Operating system: Android 7.0 + EMUI 5.0
Memory: 64 GB internal, 4 GB operative
Battery: non-removable, Li-Ion, 3200 mAh
Camera: dual 20 + 12 MP, optical zoom

Samsung Galaxy A5 2017

Dimensions: 146.10 x 71.4 x 7.9 mm, weight 159 grams
Screen: 5.2 inches, 1920 x 1080 pixels, Super AMOLED
Chipset: Exynos 7880 Octa
Operating system: Android 7.0 + TouchWiz
Memory: 32 GB internal, 3 GB operative
Battery: non-removable, Li-Ion, 3000 mAh
Camera: 16 MP

Meizu PRO 6

Dimensions: 147.7 x 70.8 x 7.3 mm, weight 160 grams
Screen: 5.2 inches, 1920 x 1080 pixels, Super AMOLED
Chipset: MediaTek MT6797T
Operating system: Android 6.0 + Flyme 6.0
Memory: 32 GB internal, 4 GB operative
Battery: non-removable, Li-Ion, 2560 mAh
Camera: 21 MP

Under $1000

Apple iPhone 8

Dimensions: 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm, weight 148 grams
Screen: 4.7 inches, 1334 x 750 pixels, IPS
Chipset: Apple A11 Bionic
Operating System: iOS 11
Memory: 64/256 GB internal, 2 GB operative
Battery: non-removable, Li-Ion, 1821 mAh
Camera: 12 MP

Unlimited

Apple iPhone X

Dimensions: 143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7 mm, weight 174 grams
Screen: 5.8 inches, 2436 x 1125 pixels, Super AMOLED
Chipset: Apple A11 Bionic
Operating System: iOS 11
Memory: 64/256 GB internal, 3 GB operative
Battery: non-removable, Li-Ion, 1821 mAh
Camera: dual 12 + 12 MP, optical stabilization

Conclusion

I am sure that you, dear commentators, are already scratching your hands about what unbalanced selection criteria I have, what cool suggestions I have not mentioned, etc. I will not restrain you in this motivation, share and tell me about your preferences.

And I’ll remind the critics, just in case, that this is my subjective selection. These are smartphones that perfectly fit the important requirements for me. Of course, you may have other priorities, and they will be completely different models.