Budget Friendly – SomeGadgetGuy

October 29, 2015

Cricket Adds 5.5″ Acatel OneTouch Idol 3 for $149

Proving to be my Wife’s favorite phone of the year thanks to its low cost and front facing speakers, the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 is coming to Cricket!

When I reviewed it, I thought the Idol 3 was a budget champ at $250, but Cricket will be offering it for $149.99. Front facing stereo speakers, 5.5″ HD screen, MicroSD card expansion, and a nice mid-ranger camera. It’s a solid offering which covers the basics really well, and can be fun for rich multimedia playback.

Cricket will also be expanding their data plans, with LTE coverage for Canada and Mexico included at no additional cost. You can read their full press release below.

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September 2, 2015September 2, 2015

Trio of Lenovo Vibe Smartphones Focus on Budget Friendly Prices and LONG Battery Life

Lenovo unveiled their new line up of Vibe Smartphones at IFA, focused on bring a premium experience to mid-range pricing.

The Vibe P1m and P1 bring HUGE batteries to the table, 4000mAh and 5000mAH respectively. That might sound like overkill for daily smartphone usage, but these phones can also be used to charge up other gadgets over USB-OTG. Handy when you’re out in the field, and also packing a camera for example.

Other specs on board are solid mid-range Android. A Qualcomm 615 Octa-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, 13MP rear camera, 5MP FFC, up to 32GB of storage on the P1 (16GB on the P1m) with MicroSD card expansion. They look nice too, built with an aluminum shell and Gorilla Glass 3 on the face. Not a collection of kit at all, considering the P1m starts at $159 and the P1 will sell for $279.

Stepping up to the Vibe S1, Lenovo thinks they might have the solution for the perfect selfie, and it comes in the form of dual front camera sensors. Flanking the ear piece, you have an 8MP camera for actually taking the photo, and a 2MP sensor for measuring depth and distance. We’ve seen similar solutions before on rear cameras, and it can be a handy trick for blurring photo backgrounds or adjusting focus.

The S1 moves to a MediaTek Octa-Core CPU and 3GB of RAM. It retains the aluminum and Gorilla Glass combo, but shrinks the battery from the P series to a 2500mAh capacity. As this is the most premium offering of the three announced, pricing climbs a little higher, but users will only need to fork over $299 for a “flawless” selfie.

March 4, 2015

Adventure Gear Review: OxyLED Motion Sensing Headlamp

OxyLED makes some budget friendly lighting options and today we are taking a look at the OxyLED motion sensing headlamp.

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The OxyLED Motion Sensing Headlamp uses a bright 200 lumen Cree XP-E white LED bulb which will last 50,000 hours and is powered by 3 AAA batteries which will power the light for 6 hours. This light will shine about 328 feet (100 Meters) in front of you. Your path will definitely be lit up at night. The light has 6 adjustable angles to suit your needs. The housing has 2 buttons. One button is to turn on the motion sensing option which when engaged, all you need to do is wave your hand in front of the light to turn it on and off. I use this option when riding my bike at night. I wave my hand in front of the light to turn it off in order not to distract any drivers while I am at a stop light. The button on top of the housing will give you three lighting options: high beam, low beam and strobe.