Western Digital My Passport SSD Review

WD My Passport SSD

Storage is one of the most important factor to look at while buying any electronic device, be it a smartphone, desktop, or a laptop. Today we have smartphones coming up with 512GB of internal storage and laptops storage ranging up to 4TB. Having additional storage solutions for data creators can help in keeping backup for files for various capacity. Then what matters next is the speed and portability of the storage devices.

Two most widely available types of storage devices in the market include hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs). The major difference between the two is the architecture, speed, compactness, and reliability. HDDs are cheaper and come in many storage configurations, whereas, SSDs may be sleek and compact, but are expensive and are available in limited capacities.

Today, I will be reviewing the Western Digital My Passport SSD, which is the only portable SSD drive in WD's My Passport series. Manufacturers are including internal SSDs in laptops already but an external SSD is required when transferring tens and hundreds of GB's of files from one machine to another. HDDs are not the best choice in that scenario.

The storage capacity of the WD SSD I'm reviewing is 256 GB and is available from Amazon.in for Rs. 8,999, which is a bit cheaper than the other competitor brands that offer SSD’s in India.

Box Contents

• 256 GB WD SSD
• USB Type-C cable (USB 3.1 Gen-2)
• USB-C to USB-A adapter
• Quick install guide

Design

Western Digital is well-known for its design and the My Passport SSD is no exception. It has a dual-tone look, with the first half made of plastic with matte black touch, and the other half made of metal with diagonal lines texture, which is a fingerprint magnet. The product is a style-icon in its category. The WD logo sits on one side of the SSD and regulatory certifications logos and barcode on the other.

Weighing 40.8 grams, the SSD is just a tad bit bigger (3.5-inch long) than a credit card and is 10 mm thick, making it extremely compact for everyday use. It can easily fit in the palm of your hand. The product has a high-quality build and according to WD, it can withstand a drop of up to 6.5 feet (1.98 meters). There's a USB Type-C port on one end of the SSD used for connecting to desktops, laptops or even smartphones.

If your PC or Laptop does not support USB Type-C port, then you can use the USB Type-A adapter included inside the box to connect the SSD to your device, which is a great addition by WD.

Overall, I'm impressed with the design and the build of the product, with the only con being lack of LED status indicator.

WD My Passport SSD Port

WD My Passport SSD vs WD My Passport HDD

WD My Passport SSD Size

Features

The WD My Passport SSD comes with WD Discovery software pre-installed, which include WD Backup, WD Security, and WD Drive Utilities applications. The software is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating system and so is the SSD as it is pre-formatted in exFAT file system standard out-of-the-box.

WD Backup is responsible for automatically backing up the files from your PC to the drive. WD Security includes 256-bit AES hardware encryption support, which is said to be the strongest encryption in the market to date with password protection, meaning no one can access the files inside the SSD unless he/she enters the password. The WD Drive Utilities application is used to monitor the health of the drive and optimize it, if necessary.

Also, the SSD was compatible with my Galaxy S8 without the need reformatting it. The drive comes with a 3-year limited warranty too.

Picostone Basic Review: Home Automation Made Easy

Imagine you are on a vacation with family miles away from home and suddenly a day after your neighbor informs you that you have left your hall lights and AC switched on. What will you do now? Rush back home abandoning your trip or let it be and pay the heavy bill the next month.

Now, consider the second situation, you are traveling back home beating the heat and realize that your AC takes around 10-15 minutes to cool the house. That moment you will regret not having an automated smartphone controlled house.

The demand for home automation has increased drastically since past couple of years. But it is still a dream for middle-class users because of the high cost of setup. Though we have many big players in the market, the cost is a way too much to handle.

About Picostone

While searching for some home automation devices in the country, I came across an Indian startup called Picostone with low-cost home automation devices. Started in 2016, Picostone aims at resolving many problems with the current home automation devices in the budget. The company is based in Mumbai and has two major products, the Basic and the Polar.

Picostone Basic is a small wifi based device that fits right behind your switchboard and lets you operate your lights and fans through your phone. Whereas, the Picostone Polar is a small wifi-enabled plug-like device that talks to the IR Stone using Picostone's proprietary RF communication protocol for operating AirCon.

I got hold of the Picostone Basic for a month and here's my in-depth review of the same.

Picostone Basic

Picostone Basic

Picostone Basic is a small rectangular box-like hardware device with Wi-Fi support. It comes with a connector which can accommodate up to 4 switches. The Picostone Basic is sturdy and made of good quality material. The major features of the Picostone Basic are: 

Picostone Basic Features

• 15 Minutes Installation
• No Rewiring Required
• Control From Anywhere
• Dim Your Devices Using Phone
• Schedule Appliances On or Off
• Add Scene To Control Multiple Appliance at a Single Tap
• Voice Controls using Alexa
• IFTTT Support
• Physical Switch Act as Two-way Switch
• Highly Secured Inter-device Communication
• Offline Customer Support
• 2-year Replacement Warranty

Picostone has priced the Basic for Rs. 11,800, which might sound costly, but for the features and support Picostone provides, the pricing is justified. Picostone also has something called as MadSale which happens once every quarter, where the price of Picostone Basic is dropped up to Rs. 3,000 or even less at times, which makes it a steal deal.

The company also offers Effortless Starter Kit for Rs. 10,999 during the sale which includes 1 Polar, 1 Basic and 3 IRIS products. Other kits are... (Note: Kit prices are subject to change on every sale)

Picostone MadSale Kit Offers

Picostone Basic Technical Specifications

• Input/Output Voltage: 230v/50Hz
• Power Consumption: 1W
• Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n WiFi
• Input Voltage For Switches: 230v/50Hz
• Power Per Channel: 220W (Max) 5W (Min) Resistive Load
• Communication Security: 256-bit AES Encrypted
• Dimension: 87.75mm x 57 mm x 22.8mm

Installation & Setup

One Picostone Basic device will allow only 4 switches to be automated. The device packaging is very basic and it includes the Basic itself with a connector/socket, fuse, and a 1ft long wire which needs to be cut into 4 pcs for the switches. As the device is very compact, it easily fits inside existing switchboard. The space required is very minimal. No extra wiring or construction work is required to install the Basic.

Picostone Basic: How It Works

After getting the Picostone Basic, you can install it either by calling your own electrician or the one from the company. I selected the latter one. Picostone has partnered with the HouseJoy team for the installation of Picostone Basic across the country. They have well-trained and experienced electricians, and the service cost anywhere between Rs. 250 to Rs. 300. HouseJoy follows up with you twice a week to check if everything is working perfectly.

If you know the basics of electrical engineering, then you can manually install the Basic easily using the installation guide provided by the company inside the packaging. Installing Basic is not a rocket-science, rather a few minutes work. It would be better if you decide the four switches to automate prior the electrician comes.

Picostone Basic Socket

Picostone App

After you are done installing the Basic inside the switchboard, the next job is to set the Picostone Basic using the Picostone app. Picostone has included a step by step guide for configuring the Basic inside the box. It took me less than 2 minutes to configure the Picostone Basic with my phone. In case you face any issue with the setup, you can contact the Picostone customer support, as they are very responsive and well-knowledged about the product.

The primary step of setting the Basic is to first enter personal details of home WiFi network inside the Picostone app. Then connect to Picostone WiFi created by the Basic. After that, traverse back to the Picostone app and under Device Configuration click on Configure. This will configure the Picostone Basic with the home WiFi network and now it can be easily used from anywhere, as it is synced with the server and has a dedicated network connection.

Do note that you need not connect to Picostone wifi after the configuration is done, though it will be always shown in your nearby WiFi networks.

                

After the Picostone app is configured with the Picostone Basic, the device is now ready to use. Inside the app, you get the list of all rooms/Picostone devices. Selecting one will show 4 set of switches. You can rename the room name and type by going to individual listing settings. Also, if you want multiple users to get control of that particular room then you can also add users to that room listing.

Long press on any switch will help configure that switch where you can rename the switch and select the switch type as Light, Fan or Motion Sensor. Also, you can select if the switch is dimmable or not to enable the dim setting. Last but not the least is that you can add an auto switch on or off schedules on particular days and at a varying time. There's one more feature called Scene which allows to switch on or off multiple appliances with just a single tap.

                

After using the Picostone Basic for a month I found it very convenient for daily use. The app has become very responsive after the latest update. They have revamped the UI and made is more clean and simple to understand. The device at times face an issue of syncing the speed of the fan if changed manually via a regulator, but it isn't a deal breaker.

Controlling the app using mobile data is not at all a problem, but you need to wait for like 10-20 seconds for the app to get synced with the device at home. All multiple Picostone products can be controlled using one single app. The device comes with voice control feature using Alexa, but I haven't tried it, so I'm not well-aware of the working using voice.

           

Verdict

With Picostone Basic installed in your house, you can easily control any appliance at your fingertips with ease. The best time to buy the Picostone Basic is during the MadSale where you can get it for over 75%  discount, or buy a kit package of your choice.

If you are looking for a cheap and best solution to automate your house, then Picostone has you covered with its offers and support and the product is very well designed for anyone to understand and use. It would be great to see Picostone bring voice support using Google Assistant and Siri for more convenience.

I cannot comment on the long-term performance of the Picostone Basic, but as far as my one-month usage is considered, the Basic definitely gets a 👍👌.

How to Buy?

Picostone products are only available from official Picostone website. Any Picostone product sold on Amazon or Flipkart or any other e-commerce site (at the time of writing this review) is not officially authorized by Picostone. You can click here to buy Picostone Basic.

Infinix Note 4 Detailed Review - New Smartphone Brand Worth Considering

India is a big market for every smartphone manufacturer, be it the domestic vendors or the international players. A lot of Chinese smartphone vendors have already made its way in India and recently a new Hong-Kong based smartphone manufacturer called Infinix has stepped in the Indian market.

Infinix was founded in 2012 and is owned by Transsion Holdings. Infinix has begun its journey in India by introducing two global range of smartphones – Infinix Note 4 and Infinix Hot 4 Pro. Both the Note and Hot series are marketed as under budget-segment devices.

Infinix has priced the Note 4 at Rs. 8,999 and the same comes with mid-range specifications, giving tough competition to many other smartphones within the same price bracket.

So, is Infinix Note 4 worth investing in and does it stand-up well against the likes of the Xiaomi devices? Let’s find out in this detailed review.

Infinix Note 4 Specifications

• 5.7-inch Full HD IPS LCD display
• 1.3GHz 64-bit Octa-Core MediaTek MT6753 processor
• Mali-T720 GPU | 3GB RAM
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• 13MP rear camera with dual-LED flash
• 8MP front facing camera with LED flash
• 32GB internal storage with microSD card support
• 4300mAh with fast charging
• 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS
• Dual-SIM, 3.5mm Audio Jack, Fingerprint Scanner
• Dimensions: 159×78.8×8.4mm | Weight: 198g

Box Contents

The box packaging of the Infinix Note 4 is simple with the brand and device name on the front and casual device details on the back. Infinix is shipping the Note 4 with following contents – Note 4 itself, a USB cable, a travel adapter, user manuals, a TPU plastic case and a screen protector. (Buyers get the Blue box and following contents)

Design & Build Quality

There’s nothing great in terms of the design uniqueness of the Infinix Note 4. It’s like every other smartphone you see in the market. Though, Infinix has spent some time in making the Note 4 design a differentiating factor by using a metal paint on the rear of the smartphone.

The back-panel design of the Note 4 is quite impressive at a first glance as it seems to be made of glass. It is curved from both sides and also has slimmer tapered edges. The chassis is made of sturdy metal and rest everything is plastic.

Infinix has covered the back panel of the Note 4 with some protective film, which the company claim is added to heal minor scratches. I’m not sure about the real-life functionality of that film, but it’s good to have that film as it provides grip and alters fingerprints.

On the front of the Note 4, you get a huge 5.7-inch display with a sensor, LED flash, earpiece and a front facing camera above it and a fingerprint scanner embedded inside the home button below. It’s a physical home button and needs a press to unlock the device when the screen is off. When the device is active, the fingerprint scanner acts on a single touch. The fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate.

The recent apps menu and the back button are placed on the either side of the button. The bezels on the front are big. Volume rockers and power/lock button are both placed on the right side of the Note 4. The buttons are very soft and easily clickable, because of which the device at times automatically triggers “Emergency Number”. Unfortunately, there’s no way to disable this feature.

There’s nothing on the left side of the Note 4. Speaker grills are at the bottom accompanied by a microUSB port and a primary microphone. The 3.5mm headphone jack is placed on top. Talking of the back, it’s removable and houses a camera module on top center with dual-LED flash just below it. The Infinix branding is in the middle followed by the Note branding.

Underneath the back cover, the first thing you will notice is the 4300mAh battery sealed tightly with dual-SIM slots (nano-type) and a dedicated microSD card slot.

Overall the build quality of the Infinix Note 4 is quite premium. The Note 4 is 8.4mm thick, the reason being the battery size and weights 198 grams, which is one of the biggest drawbacks of the device. I personally like the build quality of the Infinix Note 4.

Pros	Cons
Premium Build	Heavy

Display

The Infinix Note 4 comes with a 5.7-inch Full HD display with a pixel resolution of 1920 x 1080p. The display is of IPS LCD type and is the best I have ever seen on a budget smartphone. According to Infinix, the display included inside the Note 4 is from SHARP and has 85% NTSC Color Gamut.

Talking of the display performance, the color reproduction is very good producing natural and vibrant colors. Viewing angles are good with a very minimal color shift from a certain angle. Also, the brightness level of the Note 4’s display is very nice with text viewable under direct sunlight.

On top of the display is a 2.5D curved glass of unknown manufacturer, which attracts fingerprints. The display might be prone to scratches, so Infinix is shipping the device with a screen protector, which works out well, though it’s better to invest in a tempered glass.

Watching videos is good as text and images appear sharp. The darks are produced well too. The display is reflective at times but manageable.

Pros	Cons
Full HD Resolution	-
Color Reproduction

Software

One of the biggest drawback when it comes to budget smartphones is the Android version it is running on. Surprisingly, Infinix has stepped up the game by launching the Note 4 with Android 7.0 Nougat onboard.

Though Android 7.1.1 is the latest version of Android, it’s still good to see Nougat running on the Note 4. Like every other Chinese vendor, Infinix also has its own customized skin on top of Android, which it calls the XOS.

The Infinix Note 4 runs on Chameleon 2.3 version of the XOS which brings a lot of features. Infinix has tried to keep the interface of the XOS as simple as possible. Unlike other manufacturers, the XOS comes with an app drawer, which can be accessed easily by swiping up from the homescreen.

      

      

Besides having an app drawer, all the apps are placed on the homescreen like iOS and there’s no way to remove those shortcuts from there. It would have been great if Infinix added the functionality to remove apps shortcuts from the homescreen.

Moving ahead, the XOS comes with a theme engine which allows users to customize the overall look and feel of the UI. There are a couple of XOS dedicated apps like XAccount, XCloud, XClub, XHide, XManager, XSecurity, XShare, and XTheme, all of which can’t be uninstalled but can be disabled.

Other proprietary apps which can’t be uninstalled include MagicMovie, Notes, Power, User Guide, and Weather. The Infinix Note 4 is no exception, as it also comes with dozens of bloatware apps, but with the facility of uninstalling them. One app which irritated me the most was TouchPal 2017 keyboard. I will recommend uninstalling that app first when you get the device.

Swiping down from the top brings notification panel with quick settings, which is customizable. Settings are similar to stock with no extra added functionality other than Gesture & Smart Motion which brings Tap to Wake, Quick Start, One-hand mode, 3-finger screenshot and wake to unlock features. Multi-window is also present.

      

      

You can set the icon size on the homescreen along with desktop grid size by going to Menu settings after long-pressing any empty space on the homescreen. XOS also provides an auto-app arrangement and Smart Arrange setting.

Besides having so many features and functionalities, the Infinix Note 4 was running smoothly most of the time. RAM management is very nice as I was able to keep more than 9 apps running in the background without killing any activity. You might notice a slight delay while opening heavy apps, but it's ignorable.

Overall, I like the user interface of the XOS as its simple and not complex like what I see on other Chinese branded smartphones. One key feature of XOS is that it moves unused apps automatically into Freezer, which when used will never keep the app in memory until and unless you unfreeze it.

Pros	Cons
Simple and Smooth UI	Bloatware (which can be uninstalled)
Freezer feature
RAM Management

Camera

The Infinix Note 4 comes with a 13MP rear camera with dual-LED flash and PDAF. The front facing camera house an 8MP sensor with LED flash. Both the rear and the front cameras are capable of shooting videos in 1080p@30fps.

The rear camera is capable of producing very good images under natural lighting conditions. But at times whites are over exposed and so are the clouds. The HDR feature is available which brings sharp and clear images with clouds captured perfectly. HDR is not suitable in all conditions, as some images turn out good with HDR and some without it. You can check out the camera samples in below album.

      

      

The UI of the camera app is simple with the shutter button on the front. Swiping left brings camera quick settings like HDR, Guidelines, Level, Timer, Gesture Shot, Smile Shot and Touch Capture. Swiping right brings enhanced camera modes like Professional, Face Beauty, Night, Panorama, PIP, and WideSelfie.

Talking of selfie, the images are decent and not that great. Under good lighting conditions, the selfies turn out good with sharpness. Color reproduction in both front and rear cameras are not up to the mark, as the viewfinder shows accurate colors but after the image is processed the colors are a bit exposed, but it does not hamper the overall image.

If you are looking for low-light performance, then both the cameras perform well. The images clicked using the rear camera in low-light aren’t that sharp and contains noise but is better than its competitor smartphones. For selfies, the front camera performs similarly to the rear camera. The front LED flash does help in enhancing up the selfies.

Infinix Note 4 Review Camera Samples

Considering the price tag, overall the camera of the Infinix Note 4 is good.

Pros	Cons
Images under Natural light	Lowlight Videos
PIP and HDR mode

Performance

If you are expecting something great in gaming performance, then the Infinix Note 4 is not for you.

Infinix Note 4 house an octa-core 64-bit processor from MediaTek modeled MT6753 clocked at 1.3GHz. Paired with the processor is Mali-T720 GPU for all graphic activities. The Note 4 has 3GB of RAM and includes 32GB of internal storage with dedicated microSD card slot for expansion.

The performance of the Note 4 is quite good, but it lags when it comes to high-end apps especially gaming apps. Daily-driver apps are smooth with minimal delay in opening, but games like Asphalt 8 can’t be played in extreme high settings. Lowering the performance of the game to mid helped a bit.

Frame drops are noticeable. Mid-graphic games were running smoothly including Dead Trigger 2. Opening games need patience. Lag is not common and happens once a while, that too during heavy usage.

      

The Note 4 has an old school MediaTek MT6753 processor, but that does not hamper performance. RAM management as mentioned above is good with around 1GB RAM always available.

Pros	Cons
Smooth & lag-free day-to-day performance	Gaming

Battery

One of the best parts of the Infinix Note 4 is its battery. The battery of Note 4 is extraordinary. On paper, the Note 4 comes with a huge 4300mAh battery and it keeps the device running easily for two days on normal usage.

Even if you are a heavy user, the Infinix Note 4 will last for more than a day. With 4300mAh battery, charging is a big issue, but Infinix has included fast charging support inside the Note 4 and it is truly fast.

If you use the proprietary wall adapter and USB cable, the Infinix Note 4 will charge completely from 0 to 100% in around 2 hours, using third party charger will increase the time by 150%.

Pros	Cons
Battery Backup	-
Fast Charging

Verdict

Infinix is a new brand in India and with the Note 4 it does stand up head-to-head against the already established brands in the budget segment like Xiaomi and Motorola.

The Infinix Note 4 has many improvements over its competitors like huge Full HD display, amazing battery performance, build quality, software, and camera. Some areas where the device lacks a bit is the old school processor and gaming performance.

As an introductory offer, the company is providing one-time free screen replacement within the first 100 days of purchasing the Note 4 along with 84GB data with no daily limit for 84 days on IDEA network. Infinix already has over 850+ service touch points across the country.

I will personally recommend the Infinix Note 4 if you are looking for a budget smartphone, with no main focus on gaming. Also, an old school processor can never decide the fate of a smartphone, as day-to-day and user-to-user performance varies.

You can buy the Infinix Note 4 exclusively from Flipkart in Milan Black, Champagne Gold and Ice Blue colors for Rs. 8,999.

Infinix Note 4 from Flipkart