This Kit Makes Installing A Hidden Door Simple

- (blog)This Kit Makes Installing A Hidden Door Simple - (blog)It's a classic staple of mysteries, horror movies, and TV shows; a quick search of the library, the right book pulled, and a hidden door swings open to offer the hero more evidence or access to a new area. But of course, installing that in your home is ...

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Kristie Bertucci is an L.A.-based writer, who can't live without her MacBook Pro. When she's not writing, she's either reading or shopping (online, of course) and loves lazy days so she can catch up on her DVR-recorded shows and movies. She's definitely a Mac girl, she loves music and is currently on a mission to to have an insane and enviable iTunes library.

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When he isn't enjoying the beautiful Northwest outdoors, you can find Tyler on business and tech sites, writing about the latest news, analyzing trends, and generally making the Internet a more interesting place.

Gadget review: Yoga is good for you

Taking a cue from its first Yoga tablet, Lenovo moves several notches higher in the performance and style categories with the Yoga Tablet 2

We thought that the era for voice-calling tablets was over. But Lenovo seems to be in no mood to believe this. And it shouldn't; since the Yoga Tablet 2 is a prized item when it comes to the larger hand-held devices. If you liked the Yoga tablet, launched last year, you will love Yoga Tablet 2. The battery life is longer, the screen is sharper, and to top it all, it's 4G LTE ready, and can make voice calls as well. But there's more to grab the eyeballs. See for yourself.

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 in hang mode Design and user-interface: Yoga Tablet 2 is a beauty with its curves and edges. Its innovative design ensures it can be used in a hanging mode as well, apart from the tilt, hold and stand mode available in the older models. The body of the tablet has also been given a new look with the slightly darker colour of Platinum (only available colour) as compared to the silver edition of the first Yoga tablet. Lenovo has made several smart changes to the User Interface (UI) too, adding more colour to the Android 4.4 Kitkat OS. The home screen is also different, and the icons appear more vibrant. Though, everyone might not warm up to the new UI, but it's a welcome shift from the older UI.

In stand mode Display and sound: There has been a significant improvement in the 8-inch screen, in terms of pixel density (283ppi). With a resolution of 1920x1200, it's also more comfortable to work around - the colours are more vibrant, pictures are crisper, and since the auto modes change both colour as well as brightness depending on how you hold the device and the ambiant light, viewing is less strenuous. The audio performance is on par, offering a decent performance for movie watching.Memory and storage: Yoga Tablet 2 has 2GB RAM, which is sufficient to take the load off its customised UI, and heavy-duty tasks. While the external SD card support has been increased to 64GB, the in-built storage is limited to just 16GB, of which a little more than 10GB is available to users. The brain behind the Yoga Tablet 2's awesome performance is a quad core 4th-generation Intel Atom processor, Z3745 that can function up to 1.86 GHz, depending on the requirements.Camera: The device has two cameras - an upgraded 8MP rear camera with f2.2 aperture which is positioned at the same spot as in the first Yoga tablet, and a 1.3MP front camera. The quality of pictures is decent for everyday use.Battery: The major change here is its 6400 mAh Lithium-ion battery, which it claims, can last up to 18 hours. With a combined usage for browsing and watching videos, the device lasted an entire day while being connected to Wi-Fi.Overall, Yoga Tablet 2 comes across as the best 8-inch tablet, and beats the rest in terms of design, performance and styling. But then comes the question. What's the practical 'additional' use of a voice-calling tablet in this era of phablets? Not much, especially if you bought one of the 5 or 6-inch devices. However, if you haven't yet, and are looking for a bigger screen, drop everything and plumb for the Yoga Tablet 2.Price: Rs 20,999 At: All major retail stores.Rating: 8/10

8-inch 1920x1200 (283 ppi) 1.83 GHz Intel Atom Z3745 quad core 2GB RAM, 16GB (expandable up to 64GB) 8MP (rear), 1.3MP (front) 6400 mAh Specifications SizeDisplayProcessorMemoryCameraBatteryPrice Rs 20,999

Gadget Review: Gionee GPad G5, a re...

Gionee GPad G5

Price: Rs 14,999

Specifications: 5.5-inch IPS display (1280 x 720 pixels), 1.5Ghz hexa core processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, microSD slot (up to 32GB supported), 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, dual SIM, Android 4.4, 2,400mAh battery

Pros: Good display, slim unibody design, improved user interface, good day to day performance.

Cons: average battery life, uncomfortable large dimensions, 1GB RAM feels limiting at times.

Gionee has made a name for itself in the Indian market by offering fantastic smartphones at great prices. However, the one segment which everyone had issues with was their user interface. Now with the GPad G5, Gionee delivers a revamped UI along in a well-priced smartphone.

At just 7.9mm thickness, the Gpad G5 is a well-built phone. We liked the overall build quality but we also feel it is too large, even for a device with 5.5-inch display. Gionee phones have always impressed us with their sharp and bright screen and the Gpad G5 is no different. The screen has a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels with excellent viewing angles. Gionee has used Dragontrail glass on the screen for protection and the screen did not get any scratches during our usage for various feature tests.

This is the first phone from Gionee to use the new 1.5Ghz Mediatek hexa core processor. Other specifications include 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage. In our usage, the phone performed fine for basic day-to-day usage of calls, chat, multimedia and social networks. In games, it was able to run most games, but hardware intensive games such as Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt suffered from random frame drops. Other than that also we noticed slight lag in the phones operation when there were too many apps running in the background. There is a microSD slot for expansion along with the usual 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth for wireless connectivity. The GPad G5 comes with 2,400mAh battery that lasted us for a single day regularly. Even with battery saving modes enabled, the backup only improved by 20-30 minutes per day.

In terms of software, the Gpad G5 runs Android 4.4 but instead of Amigo, it comes with a new user interface. The interface is similar to stock android in terms of icons placement and app drawer. The interface is also faster in operation for navigation, search and app launches. In addition, Gionee has added various tweaks to the notification bar for ease of use including a one-tap memory booster. There is also a system manager app to take care of your junk files, manage apps, data traffic monitor and power optimization to keep your phone running smoothly.

The dual SIM phone has dual cameras - 8MP autofocus rear with LED flash and a 2MP front camera. In daylight, the rear camera takes good images with natural colours. However, in low light and indoor, the images are bright but there is visible noise on the phone's screen itself. The interface has been updated here too with additional modes and effects. You get an eraser mode, best face, beauty mode and best shot capture mode in the camera. The front 2MP camera is good enough for taking an occasional selfie as it suffers from heavy noise.

All in all, Gionee Gpad G5 proves to be a mix bag. You get a large display in a slim design at a great price. However, the limited RAM, average battery life and uncomfortable large dimensions are a turn off. In the same price range, consider the Karbonn Titanium Hexa that has 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, full HD 5.5-inch display, 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera.