Are budget Android phones any good? – Redmi 1S Review

Hey everyone. It has been quite some time since I’ve done a phone review (due to lack of phones to review =P). But now I’m back with a review of the value for money Redmi 1S. I know it is a little late and numerous sites have already reviewed it some time ago but it never hurts to get yet another opinion on something before buying it, right? The full review (very lengthy) comes up right after the break but here is a recap of this phone’s main features.

Main Features:

Price: RM419
Screen: 4.7″ 720×1280
Processor: 1.6GHz Quad-core
RAM: 1GB
Storage: 8GB (microSD supported up to 64GB)
Camera: 8MP back, 1.6MP front
Battery: 2000mAh
Full spec listings are available at GSMArena or Xiaomi Malaysia websites.

Android L Nexus 4

Android L. That’s the name of the next major release for Android that Google has planned. Announced and revealed at Google I/O, Google also released an early preview version of the OS intended for App developers to test and ready their apps. However, the preview version was only released for 2 devices – Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 2013. Nexus 4 owners were understandably unhappy at being left behind.

However, all was not lost as the developer community came to the rescue and ported the developer preview version to the Nexus 4. The ported version is, in some cases, an improvement over the original developer preview version that was released. Developers worked relentlessly to fix issues and add features as the ported ROM matured.

Moto G – Officially available in Malaysia soon!

The new year has come and Chinese New Year is just around the corner. New clothes are a must for most Chinese communities but why stop there? With the Moto G launching, there’s finally an affordable but still good spec-ed Android phone from a reputable manufacturer. How much is it? Only RM698 for the 8GB or RM798 for the 16GB. You may be asking, at that kind of price, how good is this phone?

Android 4.4 KitKat Factory Images and Binaries updated to KRT16S – OTA has begun

Soon after the release of KRT16O Factory Images and Binaries, Google has updated them with the KRT16S Factory Images and Binaries. Also, the OTA for Nexus 4 has begun and if you haven’t received an OTA update yet, you will probably be updating straight to KRT16S (happened to a friend of mine).

AndroidPolice has gone over the differences between KRT16O vs KRT16S and found that most of them were quite minor changes except the bug fix to full disk encryption and also an update to the kernel’s WLAN driver. Even if you don’t use full disk encryption, you should still flash over to KRT16S or allow the OTA update to install when it comes to you.

Should you need a guide on how to flash your Nexus back to stock from whatever ROM, you can let me know in the comments and I’ll help you out.

Android 4.4 KitKat Factory Images and Binaries released – OTA coming soon

Almost 2 weeks after Google launched Nexus 5 with Android 4.4 KitKat, older generation Nexus devices have started receiving their OTAs. However, for those who were on custom ROMs (like my Nexus 4), you will need to use the factory images to flash back to stock KitKat 4.4 or continue using whichever custom ROMs that suit your needs. Google has finally published the stock factory images and I’ve just completed flashing my Nexus 4 back to stock (rooted) and set it up with the Google Experience Launcher.

The process to flash stock factory images onto Nexus devices isn’t that hard. It takes a little time and you probably will lose your applications (and their data), but you can choose to retain all your photos and files in your Nexus 4’s internal memory, if you wish. AndroidPolice has a detailed post about how to perform the process so you should probably head over there to read up on it if you are unfamiliar. Also, do keep in mind that Nexus 4’s KitKat upgrade does not come with the Google Experience Launcher (GEL) APK. Therefore, you will be unable to use the GEL launcher although most of the code is already present in the Google Search APK. To enable it is as simple as downloading the GEL APK from AndroidPolice and installing it onto your phone.

Having issues? You can contact me via Facebook/Hangouts or via the comments section below.

Enjoy your new KitKat!

Links:
AndroidPolice – KitKat
AndroidPolice – GEL