A day out with Xiaomi Yi Camera

So, I got something new for myself. Something completely new and strange to me. Yes, an action camera! Not GoPro, but Xiaomi Yi Camera. It cost only 399 CNY (around $64) which about 1/3 of GoPro price. So why not?

Here are the specification of the Xiaomi Yi Camera :

• 16 Megapixels
• Sony Exmor R BSI CMOS Sensor
• Ambarella A7LS image processing
• 155" viewing angle lens with F/2.8
• 1,010 mAh battery
• 1080@60 fps, 720p@120 fps and 480p@240 fps
• 72 grams

Of course, one of the main reason I bought it is the ability to captured 1080p video in 60fps! True 60fps at least if compare with SJCam. I been spending few days time with the Yi Camera and I even made a first video impression on the camera when I just got it for few hours. Check it out!

So, on labor day, 1st May I took the opportunity to brought the Yi Camera for a street shooting. Yes I know it may sound abit underutilized the action camera for street shooting but that's not the main reason I bought it actually. So I did few numbers of still image and also recorded video in 1080p 30fps instead.

Went to Chow Kit market where it is a good place to test since inside the market is really dark for low light shot while outside is for daylight. I am using the camera and connected to my phone via WiFi for the whole shooting duration.

I have no doubt on the image quality on daylight. It is great. usable and color pretty much lively. Or I should say accurate. The Sony sensor truly shine well here. However the camera is lack of IS and a slightly move will cause the image blur despite it was on day light shooting. I have tested few times where I just press and move away before the confirmation sound beep and the image turn out blur. A little frustrated I would say coz I am expecting the shutter speed are fast enough for daylight.

Since everything is auto, I can't choose any ISO for the camera. On lowlight, the camera did pretty well until ISO 800 where noise are everywhere and color starting to look dull and wash out.

The camera battery doesn't last long. Just about 1 hours with continuous shooting and recording, the battery went flat. Do aware I am connecting the camera with WiFi as well. Here is the sample of the video recorded with Yi Camera on that day.

I brought it to friend house as well to tested indoor light. ISO was boost as high as 1600 and image turn out too many noise. Why I am not surprise?

Here are my verdict. I have no doubt on daylight where the Yi Camera is perform excellently. On lowlight, it just perform as bad as any smartphone camera will be. The viewing angle for the lens is 155 degree where it is closer to true fish eye lens. Being a wide angle, it is impossible to focus on close up with this camera. From the EXIF file, I also realize the Yi Camera are fix in f2.8 and also 1/30s shutter speed. Hence, the exposure are purely controlled by ISO only. Not a bad thing at least but there are no long exposure option available for the camera. It is worth the mention the mic is actually very soft! I actually have to adjust it on post processing to increase the volume. A little bit disappointed in here.

Nevertheless, I am very happy with my purchased. It is small, light, simple and easy to use. Now, I am patiently waiting for the waterproof casing so that the camera look much rugged and durable. Tell me, will you get one Yi Camera for yourself?

Plants vs. Zombie 2: Progressive Sponsor

I don't know about you, but I have been a big fan of Plants vs. Zombie since it first comes out when I was still in Uni years. I am not that old *cough* Recently, it has been very boring, even with the endless level, it doesn't satisfied with my needs any more. Until recently, there are some new costume on Easter and now costume with a blue theme on the daily Pinata Party.


Guess what? This is my first time seeing someone sponsor until they can have their own themed costume in a game.


Although I didn't won the costume on yesterday's but I was lucky that it's my 5th day i.e. Senor Pinata.




Still get a unicorn costume on my tile turnip.

Obviously, Progressive is not the first insurance company that can throw money on advertisement and definitely not the first one who does advertisement in games. But how much does Progressive pay to double the price plus 1 free retry? I am still waiting for more news to leak.

Illegear S5 ( Clevo P651SE) Performance Banchmark

So, a while a go I teaser this photo in our blog. We were very excited on our first Gaming Laptop review laptop on the YouTube Channel. It's Illegear S5, an OM from Clevo P651SE.

The unit we are having, the spec is as follows:

Display:15.6 inch 4K QFHD Display Sharp IGZO Wide Color Gamut & Viewing Angle (3840 x 2160)

Processor: Intel (R) Core TM i7-4710HQ (6 MB L3 Cache, 2.50 GHz)

Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M 3 GB GDDR5 with Optimus (Maxwell)

Thermal Compound: IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU & GPU

RAM: 32 GB Dual Channel DDR3L RAM 1600 MHz - 4 X 8 GB

Primary Drive: 1 TB 7200 Hitachi Hard Drive

Primary M.2 Solid State Drive: 128 GB Crucial M550 M.2 SATA Solid State Drive

Wireless Network Card: Killer TM Wireless-AC 1525 M.2 -WLAN & Bluetooth 4.1 Combo

The result of the PBM (performance Bench Mark) was quite decent. With it's mobility, I don't expect it to perform like a desktop, but 2.6 K on PC Mark 8 isn't bad at all.

Since this is a Gaming Laptop, it's only fair to compare it's 3D capability.

A whopping 68K score on Ice Storm.

Its performing higher than average gaming laptop.

If you want to compare score with your laptop, you may go to HERE for PCMark 8 and HERE for 3D mark.

My personal opinion on this laptop:

Like most gaming laptop, the GPU can only perform in optimum if you plug it into power supply. I know 4K display is the current big thing but for me it's the my least impress item. Most of the application is not design to have such resolution, as a result, you end up like Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong)

credit to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOubsDuxXg4

When I open up photoshop, I can't see sh!t. When I am playing DOTA, the notification is smaller than mosquito. Even if you use up scale software, it doesn't work.

Other than that, I am quite satisfied. I love how low it's price can go compare to some major brand with the similar specification. If you are interested, check out Illegear website on this customable S5 unit to know more about it's price.

For other information about it's spec and our opinion, please watch our review video :


Updated on 9th April:

Wanted to know hows does S5 look on inside? We have you covered.

Dygadget Chinese New Year Come Back

It's been a while we post any new post here. Sorry (but not really) about that, in coming 1 month we have some project schedule. Here is the sneak peak.

Hint: Computers & accessories

Be sure to subscribe to us on YouTube as well!

BlackBerry Passport; yay or ney?

First of all, I would like to say that I didn't give any expectation on this phone's launch before I attend this event. With the fact that BlackBerry has obstacles to shines among other OS's phone in the pas 2-3 years, and the whopping price tag of RM 2,399, I did not see how lauching a new phone would help Blackberry to gain back it's market share.

However, when I learn more about this phone, I starts to see a bit of light and purpose of this phone and Blackberry's existence. Instead of trying to be a hippie and extend their market to a younger age market by introducing touch screen and social media inprovements, Blackberry Passport go back to what they do best, which is focus on productivity-driven business professionals.

Inspired by the actual passport, Blackberry passport's large square touch screen has 1:1 Aspect Ratio with QWERTY touch-enabled keyboard, optimized for viewing an creating content. The Corning Gorilla Glass 3 does elevate the touch and feel of the phone's physcical appearance. THey also claimed that BLackberry Passport's new QWERTY keyboard is almost4 times more accurate than Blackberry 10 virtual keyboard with average 74% lower error rate.

What impressed me the most is the OS (Blackberry 10.3). Since OS 10, the OS allows you to have multiple login account to navigate your personal and business needs, a great way for work life balance achieve in a single device. Also, I am please that Blackberry has listen to the user about the limitation of Blackberry World. Other than improving their market, balancing between choice and quality, Blackberry now supports Android apps, downloadable from Amazon Appstore or any .apk file that has originally cater for Android.

Another highlight from Blackberry is their Blackberry Blend (www.BlackBerry.com/Blend). Working across various OS such as Mac OS X 10.7 +, Window 7 + and ANdroid tabled 4.4 +, Blend connect your phone to your larger screen device through cellular network, USB or Wi-Fi, enables you to get instant message notifications, read and respond to your work and personal email, BBM or test messages, and access your documents, calendar, contacts and media in real time. 

The Blackberry Passport will be available through Blackberry's authorized carrier, Celcom from 10th Oct 2014 and though other partners ranging the product from 1st Nov 2014.


Blackberry Passport Product Specification as below:

Size (L x W x D)	128mm x 90.3mm x 9.3mm
Weight	196g
Display	453 PPI, 4.5", In-cell IPS LCD Touch Display, 1440 x 1440 resolution
Keyboard	3 row Touch-enabled QWERTY (recognizes touch gestures)
Memory	3 GB RAM, 32 GB Flash, Hot Swappable microSD slot supports up to 128 GB
Processor	2.2 GHz Quad Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801
Cameras	13MP rear facing camera, Auto Focus, LED Flash, Images & Video Stabilization, 5x digital zoom, 1080p HD video recording up to 60fps. 2MP (720p) front facing camera, Image & Video Stabilization, 3x digital zoom 720p HD video recording
GPS	Assisted , Autonomous , and Simultaneous GPS
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy
NFC	NFC-enabled to support mobile payments and file exchange
Ports	Multi-function Port (support USB and microHDMI out)
Advanced Sensors	Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Time of FLight (ToF), Gyroscope, Ambient Light, Proximity
Wi-Fi	2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n, 5Ghz a/n + ac, Mobile Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Miracast, DLNA Server
Network Connectivity	FD-LTE, support for global roaming
Battery*	3450 mAh (integrated); up to 30 hours of mixed use *Many factors affect battery life, including network connectivity, application usage, feature configuration and battery age. Actual results may vary.
Talk Time	GSM up to 18 hours; UMTS up to 23 hours
Standby Time	GSM up to 18 days; UMTS up to 18.5 days
Audio Playback	up to 84 hours
Video Playback	up to 12 hours

HTC Malaysia launches the new One M8

This evening, HTC Malaysia officially launches the long awaiting One M8. It is a replacement for the One M7 and the new facelit promises alot to consumer.

HTC One M8 Key Specification :

• 5.0 inches Super LCD 3 screen with 1080 x 1920 of resolution
• 2.5 GHz quad core Qualcomm MSM8974AB Snapdragon 801 processor with Krait 400
• Andreno 330 GPU
• 2GB RAM
• 16 GB internal memory with microSD slot
• Dual 4 MP Ultrapixel camera with dual-LED (dual tone) flash
• 5MP front facing camera
• 2600 mAh battery
• Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat with Sense 6
• 146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm
• 160 g

Like most company flagship phone, the One M8 is upgrade of One M7. Bigger screen, faster processor, microSD slot and camera as well. Of course, the new design now is much better than the predecessor. It is more metal now, rounded edge and feel slimmer. Personally, it is one of the beautiful crafted phone that I'll appreciate it. The HTC One M8 also come with new Sense 6 which bring alot improvement. One of the coolest new features brought by the updated package is Motion Launch, which lets you quickly open the camera or unlock the phone while the screen is off. Picking up the One (M8) in landscape mode and pressing the volume button will launch the camera. There's double tap or slide up from the bottom to wake the phone. While locked you can pick up the phone in portrait mode and swipe left on its screen to launch the widget panel or right for BlinkFeed.

Check out my quick hands on video on the HTC One M8 that focused most on the new camera features.

Eventhough it is still the same 4MP Ultrapixel camera, HTC introduces the secondary camera at the back which uses to capture depth information. HTC calls this Duo Camera. It mimics the stereoscopic abilities of the human eye - two independent lenses able to calculate the relative distance of the subjects in an image. HTC's dual camera setup enables cool effects such as selective focus (shallow depth of field) and post-shot refocusing. Unfortunately the editing has limitation where only auto mode and without flash images taken by the camera can proceed the editing. The optical image stabilization of the original One is now gone, and the One (M8) will rely solely on digital stabilization. Similarly to Apple, HTC has improved the flash of the smartphone by using a two toned one - one cold and one warm LED, which can help the smartphone produce more accurate color tones in low-light conditions. HTC also claims the One (M8) can focus in just 0.3s. If that's not enough for you, HTC is generous enough to packed the front facing camera with 5 Megapixel for selfie lover.

As I mentioned earlier, I love the design and material used in the HTC One M8. Personally, I still prefer the rough surface on One M7 since the One M8 surface pretty smooth as if it feel like plastic. It is no surprise that the UI and animation transition everything is smooth since Sense UI has been tone down since Sense 5. I still hate the fact the camera still 4MP since I am very much a pixel peep guy. However, I can assured that HTC One M8 camera works as advertise. It is quick in focus, great for low light capture as well and a tones of fun processing mode to be use. Overall, it is really a beauty plus functionality phone, one of the kind phone at the moment and it is for people who dare to change, to try and to explore the possibility using this phone. So once again, HTC did it!

The HTC One comes with a variety of accessories like the Flip Case, Double Dip case (each in three colors), Dot View case (showing you alarms, events, calls, battery, weather and more in a colorful dotted way) and more. The HTC One is available today with RRP RM 2,399.

Sony announces the Xperia ZL2 in Japan

Surprise! The Sony Xperia ZL2 is now official in Japan. Just like the first one, it's a version of the current flagship with much slimmer bezels and smaller footprint.

Sony Xperia ZL2 Key Specification :

• 5" with 1080p display Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 and X-Reality engine
• 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AB chipset
• 3GB RAM
• 32GB internal memory with microSD slot
• 20.7 MP back facing camera (1/2.3" sensor, G Lens, optical image stabilization, autofocus, LED flash)
• 2MP front-facing
• 3000mAh
• Android 4.4 KitKat with Sony's Xperia UI
• 167 gram
• 137 x 72 x 10.8mm

The Xperia ZL2 is available in the standard black and white colors as well as a turquoise one, if you want to stand up from the crowd. The phone will soon launch in Japan, and we presume a worldwide premiere isn't too far away. Other than that, nothing much exciting on the ZL2.

[SOURCE]