The Basics

The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is one of the only phones to feature a dual front camera (one regular & one wide angle). The phone is powered by Qualcomm® Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor with 4GB RAM/ 64GB ROM (expandable to 2TB) & runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS. Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro’s main front camera has a wide f1.8 aperture lens, provides fantastic images.. Also, its electronic image stabilization (EIS) that eliminates annoying shakes and gives smooth & fine videos, while shooting selfie videos with this sleek and beautifully build smartphone. It’s not end her, its second camera is a 120° super wide that helps you to capture more of the world around you  and it is great for big group selfies too. It also has a unique Hybrid dual SIM functionality- you can choose two use it with either two SIM cards or one SIM card and one microSD card. It also has an impressive 3000 mAh li-ion quick charge battery that ensures you don’t run out of power often & your phone is always ready to perform with you.

As a blogger, most of the content I create is visual, I do have to take photos & video every day to post on instagram, facebook, twitter, this blog, youtube… you get what I’m trying to say! Sometimes it’s not always feasible to carry my main camera with me. so I tend to rely a lot on my phone. To put this phone to the test, I’ve been using it for the past three weeks, during which time I explored a few new parts of the city & even took a road trip.

Design

The Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is sleek & chic. It has a muted gold matte body & is quite comfortable & ergonomic to hold & operate, even one handed. It has a bright 5.5inch full HD AMOLED display which is great to watch videos or see the true colours in every picture.

The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro Camera Experience

The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro has three cameras in total – there’s one rear camera & the dual front camera. The rear camera is 16 megapixel & one of the highlights of it is the phase detection autofocus that works super quickly & performs great, even in low light.

Obviously the main feature of this phone is going to be the dual selfie camera. So I’m going to focus more of this post on that. The main selfie camera features a Sony IMX362 dual pixel image sensor with DuoPixel camera technology to capture gorgeous, 24MP shots with the main camera and ensures excellent low light performance for bright and vivid selfies in any situation. It also features a secondary 120° FOV camera that lets you shoot super wide angle selfies that helps you capture more people or more of your surroundings.

While you can take great selfies on the auto mode (just open up the camera & shoot, like the one I’ve shared above), there are also many different modes to help enhance the camera’s capabilities & get more out of your selfies.

Beauty Mode

The front & back cameras have a beauty mode that softens & smooths skin & makes you look flawless. You can even control the intensity of this setting. The best part is that it even works for video recording & livestreams!

Portrait Mode

This allows you to get the high depth of field effect, or aesthetically blur the background for photos or selfies, which makes your phone selfies look like they were taken with a professional camera. Portrait mode works with both the front & back cameras.

Front Camera – Regular v/s Wide

Switching between the regular & wide front camera is seamless. The 120° super wide angle camera just lets you get more in the frame. It’s best used for group selfies or to capture more of your background, I love it even when I’m alone but in front of an interesting building.

The Best Selfie Phone

Today, there are quite a few cameras on the Indian market that claim to be good at taking selfies like the Oppo F3 Plus & Vivo V5 series.

While all three phones offer 4K Ultra HD video recording on their back cameras, the Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is the only one to offer it on the back camera too. The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro also has the wide aperture front camera (f1.8 vs the others which have f2)

The Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is not just about selfies either… the back camera pro mode offers a max exposure time of 32 seconds for artistic long exposures, something that neither of the other two phones have.

The Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is priced on league with the Vivo V5 & significantly cheaper than the Oppo F3 Plus, but when their features are stacked up next to each other, there’s no doubt on which one is superior & gives you a better bang for your buck!

You can buy this smartphone exclusively Flipkart.com.

In Conclusion

There’s a lot to really like about this phone. It delivers on it’s promise to be a Selfie Pro yet doesn’t disappoint on other areas like the looks, display, back camera & battery life. I think it’s a great smartphone for the price that can handle just about anything.

The images in this post have been resized for quicker load times but have otherwise not been edited in any way.

The post Take Amazing Selfies with the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro 📱 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Backup Your Data Regularly

The best way to prevent data loss is to back everything up on a regular basis. How often you backup should be determined by how much data you can afford to lose if your computer crashes. Consider using an external hard drive or cloud computing service to effectively backup your valuable data.

Set File Permissions

Keep your files away from prying eyes by setting file permissions on your data. It is possible to share permissions for data on a network share, which will allow you to determine the users that can or can’t gain access to your important files.

Password Protect Your Documents

Microsoft Office allows you to password protect individual documents to keep them away from eavesdroppers. Anyone wanting to open the document must therefore enter the password. What’s more, you can set an encryption type before sharing it with others, so it is safe when you’re sent via an unsecured network, such as the internet.

Disk Encryption

Disk encryption locks the content of a disk drive, which will be transparent to the user. The data will be encrypted automatically once it has been written onto a hard disk, but it will be decrypted automatically once loaded into memory. The programs can often store invisible containers, which serve as a hidden disk within a disk, and only external users will see the data from one disk. You can use a disk encryption on a removable USB drive or flash drive. In some cases, you can create a master password, as well as a secondary password that grants users with lower rights.

A Cautious Attitude

Cybercriminals look for vulnerabilities in a person or company’s network to gain access to their operating system and data. Unfortunately, human error often poses the biggest risk to your data as it is easy to click on a harmful ransomware, trojan or virus link, which could be sent to you via an email phishing scam. Download files with caution, and never click on a suspicious link that could damage your computer’s health and sensitive data.

Hard Drive Recovery

The files might no longer be available on your computer, but that doesn’t mean they will disappear off your hard drive. For this reason, before disposing of your computer you should consider a recovery specialist who can retrieve lost data and ensure you always have secure data. This means your files do not fall into the wrong hands once you have thrown away an old computer or mobile device.

Do you have any top tips for protecting your data? Share your tips by writing a comment below. x

The post How to Protect Your Data 💻 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Let’s talk about the phone: The Nubia Z11 miniS is a new premium smartphone with a focus on photography. It has a 23 MP fast focus rear camera + 13 MP front camera with Selfie Fill Light. Under the hood, the Nubia Z11 Mini S comes with a Qualcomm®  Snapdragon 625, 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM.

It has a 98% metal unibody, and screen size 5.2 inch full hd with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass and comes in two metallic colours – khaki grey & moon gold.I have the moon gold & I love the classy combination of muted gold + white with little red accents on the main buttons.

The camera is fast & comes with multiple options like HDR, Pretty, Pro (where you get to choose a lot of settings), Panorama & more. The camera focuses with excellent accuracy in just 0.1 seconds which means you can immediately snap without any lag.

Of course I had to click this click #OOTD by an old building in South Bombay. I love how crisp & clear the colours are.

Next I decided to finally tick off a bucket list item & visit the famous Britannia & Co restaurant in Ballard Estate. I snapped this picture from their top deck / balcony. It was dimly lit inside the restaurant & sunny outside, but the HDR feature captured a lot of detail even in high contrast conditions.

Just before we dug into their famous Berry Pulao. Again this was very dimly lit with unflattering artificial light & I think the colours still are very crisp & there’s a lot of detail.

 On the way home, testing the selfie camera.

We were tired & sweaty, but the Beauty feature did a good job of making us looking presentable. It smooths out skin, enhances the eyes without distorting any features.

The battery life is impressive as well & even after a full day of snapping I had over 30% battery remaining. I found the camera really impressive & it was great to be able to capture such great images on my phone & not having to pull out my bulkier pro camera. Whether day to day snaps or travels, I think this is the perfect smartphone that multi tasks.

Of course this does everything you can expect out of a good smartphone as well (I love me some phone gaming when I’m stuck in traffic) but for this post I focussed most of my attention on the camera.

The Nubia Z11 miniS is available online exclusively on Amazon.In

If you’re looking for a new phone that looks good, works well & has a nice camera, make sure you check it out! x

The post Mighty ReturnS with the Nubia Z11 miniS appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

The rise of instagram & snapchat over other social networks have confirmed something I’ve known for a while – We live in a very visual culture. As someone who creates digital content, I need to make sure that my pictures & videos always look good. As a fashion influencer, I need to make sure I always look good. And none of that is easy!

I recently had the chance to test the new Asus Zenfone 3. It makes a lot of promises – good looks, great front & back camera, excellent processor. Does it deliver? I’m going to address the same in this post. I’m not a tech blogger of course, but I am definitely interested in technology & I do know more stuff. So this post is just going to focus less on specifications & more on usability. OK? Let’s get started.

My Experience with the Asus Zenfone 3

Design

I used to be an all silver girl, but nowadays I seriously can’t get enough of gold! The Asus Zenfone 3 also has this muted, classy gold look that’ll go with all your gold accessories. But there are a lot of gold phones on the market, what truly sets this apart is the concentric circle design, it’s hard to capture in photos but the way light reflects off it is simply stunning & unlike anything I’ve seen until now!

The phone is available in two sizes, 5.2″ & 5.5″, so you can pick according to your preference & I have the smaller one. If you aren’t into the shimmer gold variant, it’s also available in moonlight white, aqua blue & sapphire black!

The front & rear panels of the Asus Zenfone 3 have Corning Gorilla Glass, so you don’t have to worry about scratches or cracks (a huge pro for incredibly clumsy people like me).

Camera(s)

The tagline of this phone is Built For Photography, & it’s a claim I was eager to put to the test. For photos / video for this blog & my YouTube channel, I’ve relied on a series of trusted dslrs to get the job done. Dslrs are ugly, bulky & cumbersome to carry, but they’re popular for a reason – the quality is unmatched! The main magic of a dslr lies in the size of it’s sensor (part of the reason they’re so bulky!) so I’ve never thought that any phone, regardless of brand could capture ‘dslr quality’ photos. And yet, it’s not possible for me to take my big camera everywhere, so when it comes to vlogging or social media updates (such as instagram) I rely on my phone quite a bit. For live updates from an event or a stunning sunset on holiday, I’ll always post pictures from my phone so I do need something of a decent quality.

So the Zenfone 3 is a total photographer’s delight, whether you don’t know much about cameras & just want to snap the best possible pictures or you’re a control freak like me that needs to be able to adjust settings etc. to get the perfect snap.

Here’s a preview of some of the different modes, from HDR pro to beautification & low light, to slow motion, timelapse & more, you can use any of them to capture just what you need!

Here are some pictures taken with the main (back) camera. They’ve been cropped & straightened & in the case of the collage above, stitched together, but I have made no other exposure or tonal adjustments whatsoever. These are how my pics look, #ShotOnZenfone3. I think they absolutely speak for themselves.

Here’s an example of the kind of photo you can get with the depth of field option selected. You can see how the subject is sharply in focus, while the background is aesthetically blurred. The awesome f2 aperture plays a large part in making this possible. It also has subject-tracking TriTech auto-focus for variable distance and lighting clarity in just 0.03 seconds! Obviously I didn’t lab test this claim but it is fast & a total pleasure to use!

I wanted to test how this functions with very fast moving subjects & who better to test the camera on than my cats? They move constantly & it’s a task to photograph them. Here are how the Asus Zenfone 3 captures them. Again the pics have just been stitched together with no other post processing by me. Go ahead, enlarge them. They’re crystal clear & sharp, with every detail visible without blur. I usually have very blurry pics on my iPhone.

And now let’s talk selfies…

These are how my selfies look on the Asus Zenfone 3. Yes I did use beautification, which made my skin look ah-may-zing, but again the best part if how vibrant & natural the colours come straight out of the camera – not dull or oversaturated, just right.

Here’s a selfie taken at the same time, same angle with my iPhone 6 Plus. Again, totally unedited. I kinda want to run & hide…

A few other camera specifications – it has a four axis optical image stabilizer (which will prevent excessive shaking especially in video!) & you even get 4K video, I’m convinced the camera of this might rival my dedicated vlog camera. Other than that, it has all the features one could want in a smartphone including a 64-bit, 2.0GHz octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor, dual SIM 3G or 4G slots, fingerprint sensor & more.

With all these amazing features, I was expecting a very steep price to boot, but the phone is priced at just ₹ 21,999 (I would’ve honestly expected double that). The Asus Zenfone 3 seems perfect in every way & I just can’t fault it.

The post My New Gold Essential – The Asus ZenFone 3 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

I recently had the opportunity to test the LYF Wind 3 4G smartphone. While I am by no means a tech blogger, I thought I would share my experiences & observations after using it for a while.When I first held the LYF Wind 3 in my hand, I fell in love with the look & design. It has curved edges & a premium feel when held. It has a 5.5 inch HD (720p) LCD display – I read, check my instagram feed & even watch a lot of videos on my phone so I always prefer larger displays. The screen is made of scratch resistant Asahi glass too, so you don’t have to put an additional screen guard on.

I’m wearing: Koovs breton top // Topshop mom jeans // Daniel Wellington Classy Sheffield Lady watch // Persé Femma backpack // Vans leather sneakers & of course my LFY Wind 3 smartphone.

Coming to the next super important feature, the camera and photography. The phone has an 8-megapixel LED flash rear camera and a 2-megapixel selfie camera. The main (back) camera shoots 1080P video and the front camera is pretty wide angle which makes it great for capturing more in your selfies or taking group selfies even!
The LYF Wind 3 also comes preloaded with Reliance Jio Apps like My Jio, Jio Chat & Jio Beats which add some great additional functionalities to the phone!

These apps combined with the Jio preview 4G connection, allows you to seamlessly watch movies, videos,listen to  your favourite songs –and, all content on HD.

The Jio Beats for instance, is a music app which offers HD songs in over 2o different languages. With Jio’s connection speed, you need not even download songs you don’t already have. You can just listen to your favourite music on the go.

 The Jio On-demand is a video streaming service. It offers movies, TV shows, music videos and trailers. This app turns your phone into an entertainment device! It claims to have 1 lakh+ hours of HD content. I checked and found that most of the HD movies are already available!

With the preview offer of unlimited steaming for 90 days, it’s everything you could ever ask for!

And of course Android Lollipop means I can install any app that I need, via the Play Store. The Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core 64-Bit Processor powered with 2GB RAM ensures that the phone never lags, even on ‘heavy’ apps.That, along with dual SIM & 4G compatibility means this phone has everything I look for in a smartphone.

After playing with the phone for a while, the most surprising thing I found was the cost – at just ₹ 6,999 the LYF Wind 3 is really affordable as well. I seriously couldn’t ask for more. You can find out more about the features etc. by checking the website & you can buy the LYF Wind 3 Smartphone online on Flipkart. x

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If you follow me on instagram, you’ll know I was in Delhi for a few days in early April for the OPPO F1 Plus launch event (I documented it in this vlog). When I’m testing tech or any kind of electronic, I like to take my time with it. I’ve been actively using the OPPO F1 Plus Selfie Expert phone for well over a month & it’s time to share my two cents here on the blog.

While I am going to talk about technical specifications, Magalic.com is not a tech blog & this review will focus more on the usability aspect & my personal experience with the phone.

I’ve previously reviewed the OPPO F1 Selfie Expert & I was pretty excited to get to test the OPPO F1 Plus. Like all phones with the plus suffix, the OPPO F1 is bigger in size (it’s more of a phablet) & has better cameras, ram, internal storage & more. Let’s talk about about the external looks / design first. As the OPPO F1 Plus is quite similar to the iPhone 6 Plus, my current primary phone in many ways, I’m going to compare the two quite often.

OPPO F1 Plus : Looks & Design / How does it compare to the iPhone 6 Plus?

When you compare the looks of the OPPO F1 Plus with the iPhone 6 Plus, you can see that they look very similar (OPPO on the left & Apple on the right in both pictures). They’re both gold too, obviously I have a preference!

Now that you can see how similar they are, let me talk about where they differ. With a height of 151.8mm, width of 74.3mm & just 6.6mm thick, the OPPO F1 Plus is definitely slightly shorter & thinner than the iPhone. At just 145 gms, it’s also quite a bit lighter. But with 98.02% metallic ratio, it still feels sleek & premium rather than plasticky & cheap.

Internal Specifications / Under the Hood

The OPPO F1 Plus comes with 4GB RAM & 64GB internal storage. The ram means the phone is lightning fast, responds instantly to every touch & command & has no lag whatsoever. I never turn off apps so a majority of my apps are always running in the background & it was still quick as a whip. The 64GB storage is ample because I tend to click a lot of photos & rarely delete anything.

The phone runs on the ColourOS operating system which is based on Android 5.1. The look, menus & overall interface is very similar to iOS which makes it very easy for me to switch between my iPhone & OPPO F1 Plus as I know where everything is, how it’s laid out & I don’t fumble.

The OPPO F1 Plus also has a Corning Gorilla Glass screen, which is very tough so theoretically you don’t have to worry about it cracking or shattering. And VOOC Flash Charging means the phone always charges super fast.

OPPO F1 Plus Selfie + Back Camera

The tagline of the phone is Selfie Expert so I’m going to talk about the front or selfie camera first. The front camera actually has better specifications than the back one. I knew it would be no contest to compare it with my iPhone 6 Plus as my iPhone pretty much sucks at taking selfies. And the difference is quite plain to see below!

The OPPO selfie is to the left & iPhone to the right. The iPhone one is sort of grainy & lacks saturation. If you watch my video on the phone below, I’ve given a lot more examples of selfies, using the beautify mode etc.

I am quite impressed with the back camera as well. There are a few occasions like in landscapes where my iPhone still comes out on top, but in terms of capturing true colours, the OPPO F1 Plus always wins, my iPhone pictures always look a bit dull & desaturated & I have to tweak them a bit before I post them anywhere.

And here are a few photos taken with the rear camera, presented completely unedited. I love the clarity & how the colour pop, but feel free to judge them yourself

I’ve found that the OPPO F1 Plus rear camera really proves it’s mettle in low light situations – the images still look wonderfully bright & vibrant! No dullness, no noise.

Video

I made a video discussing my experience with the OPPO F1 Plus & a few of the key features I liked. I especially discuss the different features & options on the Selfie Camera (such a Beautify 4.0) in more detail, with examples; so do check it out!

 Conclusion

I’m throughly impressed with the OPPO F1 Plus – it looks great, has powerful technical specifications & just functions beautifully overall. The tagline of Selfie Expert is well earned & at ₹26,990 it costs half the price of my iPhone & still manages to outperform it in quite a few areas. The OPPO F1 Plus Selfie Expert is definitely a standout phone.

The post OPPO F1 Plus Selfie Expert Review (+ Comparison with iPhone 6 Plus) appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

I Used To Read Books…

This is one of those posts that I’ve been meaning to write for months but somehow didn’t get around to it. As a kid & tween – I read books. A lot of books. Anything I could get my hands on, I read. Storybooks, novels, anthologies, fiction, non fiction & everything in between. I frequented the school library, bought second hand & borrowed. Some of my first income as a teenager was spent buying books, I have some very special memories associated with those. But somewhere in my late teens, I found myself still buying new books at the same pace, but falling behind when it came to actually reading them.

This was difficult to cope with at first – reading had been such a huge part of my identity growing up (I’m pretty sure one of my first facebook profile picture had me sitting with a Mary Higgins Clark novel – over 7 years ago!) I soon came to the conclusion that I had burnt myself out, what with college, running this blog & more. I read a lot online & so it was difficult to find the time & motivation to curl up with a book – I knew I would get back there in my own time. Buying books wasn’t helping the clutter situation in my room too much, so I stopped.

Embracing Technology & New Forms of Consuming Written Word

In the interim, I’ve been trying newer forms electronic forms of consuming the written word, including a Kindle (I love my paperwhite!) & Audiobooks. This is not a debate about which form is better than the other – books will always have their irreplaceable charm, but electronic alternatives are sustainable – easier to carry (daily or while travelling – I don’t miss weighing my vacation bags down with 3 or 4 paperbacks), space saving in apartments & of course more eco friendly. This post is purely to share why I’ve been loving audiobooks so much & how I like listening to them.

I didn’t think I would ever seriously consider audiobooks for myself – I always imagined them as many CD packs & in my head they were only for long drives or sight impaired people. I couldn’t possibly fathom why I would ever choose being read to over reading something myself, at my own pace (usually very fast, I speed read most of the time).

Then one of my favorite YouTubers suggested Audible & I decided to sign up for their free trial, figuring I had absolutely nothing to loose. Fast forward a year & a half later & I almost can’t imagine my life without Audible!

The Perfect On-The-Go Listening Companions

Audible comes in the form of a handy iOS app (it’s available for Android too, obviously) & I enjoy listening to Audiobooks on with my Sudio Earphones. Sudio is a Swedish company than makes beautiful earphones for your tech. I’d almost given up on earphones because they tend to hurt (was sticking to headphones only) until the Sudio Klang came into my life. These earphones ooze luxury (I know that sounds corny but I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it!) The box that it came in was so utterly gorgeous, & it the earphones are perfectly designed. Earphones are nifty, but tend to look a bit too loud or cheap quite often. In stark contrast to that, Sudio Klang wouldn’t look out of place with even black tie attire, & comes in it’s own über stylish leather pouch.

Why Audiobooks?

As I mentioned above, I couldn’t understand what audiobooks had to offer, why I would choose them over reading. Turns out, being read to is incredibly soothing. Sometimes when I’ve been staring at a screen the whole day, I don’t feel like picking up & staring at a book. So I can turn out the lights, rest my eyes & just listen.

It is also particularly awesome during long journeys, when reading books isn’t recommended because of the vehicle shaking (or at least that’s what my mom always told me). I love plugging my years in, listening to an interesting book while watching the trees pass by my window. In fact, I finished three or four audiobooks in December itself, during the slower moments of a trip to Goa.

Mini Audiobook Reviews

Do you want to know another area where Audible really shines? Celebrity memoirs. I’m obsessed with popular culture (especially television!) & listening to a celebrity read this own writing feels both very entertaining & personal. So I thought I’d give mini reviews of a few audiobooks I’ve read listened to since I got an Audible account.

When I was thinking of what books to start with, I’m proud to say that I turned to my comedy / feminist idols first.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

This was supposed to be one of the greatest comedian memoirs of all time, the one all books have since tried to emulate. Tina Fey reads this one excellently (she was nominated for a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for her narration). She talks about everything from Second City, Upright Citizens Brigade, Saturday Night Live & of course 30 Rock. My two favorite parts of the book are Chapter 15 – I Don’t Care If You Like It (described by her as one in a series of love letters to Amy Poehler) & Chapter 25 – What Should I Do With My Last 5 Minutes? (the final one) where she lays down the truth about why female comedians are often branded as crazy-

“I have a suspicion – and hear me out, ’cause this is a rough one – I have a suspicion that the definition of “crazy” in show business is a woman who keeps talking even after no one wants to fuck her anymore.

The only person I can think of that has escaped the “crazy” moniker is Betty White, which, obviously, is because people still want to have sex with her.” – Tina Fey, Bossypants

I found myself nodding along throughout, & I was reminded of it when I watched the Last Fuckable Day Sketch on Inside Amy Schumer with Tina Fey, Patricia Arquette & Julia Louis Dreyfuss. It’s NSFW (language!) like most of Inside Amy Schumer but easily one of her finest sketches ever.

In short, I think this was a brilliant first audiobook for me to start with & needless to say I definitely recommend it.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

I can honestly say that I have anticipated the release of a book more than Yes Please. I squealed out loud when the news first broke that Amy was writing a book, which was probably only topped by how loud I screamed when the cover was released. This is the only audiobook I’ve ever preordered, on the first day it became available to pre order! So yes, I’ve taken up four lines of my mini review just to tell you how much I looked forward to it, but I feel like it’s relevant.

Yes Please didn’t disappoint one bit. I could have easily finished it in a day, but I chose to stretch it over four months because I didn’t want it to be over. Amy was adamant about the fact that she didn’t want to do a traditional tell all autobiography, instead Yes Please is a collection of stories about her life, youth, relationships, friendships, even sex & drugs.

She’s funny, self deprecating & brutally honest. She doesn’t dish dirt about the low moments in her life like her divorce & even said that she doesn’t like people knowing her shit. She just described it as too personal & too sad. I loved learning about her childhood & early twenties, it just made me love her even more as a person. At this point I should let you know that I am notoriously bad at writing coherently or objectively about things that mean a lot to me (which is why I still haven’t written a tribute post to David Bowie, neither do I intend to) but Yes Please was one of the most poignant pieces of writing I have ever read. Never has any book made me laugh & cry as much, & I would heartily recommend this book to every living being.

When I read that the Yes Please (paper) book was going to have drawings, I wondered if I was missing out by getting the audiobook. But I think that other than being wonderfully written, this was one of the best produced audiobooks I’ve had the pleasure of listening to, there are parts read by Carol Burnett, Seth Meyers, Mike Schur, Eileen Poehler & William Poehler (her parents!), Patrick Stewart & Kathleen Turner. The last chapter is also read in front of a live audience. Amy was also nominated for a spoken word Grammy for the audiobook this year.

I feel like I should also mention that she has an entire chapter dedicated to Tina Fey as well, because those two are #FriendshipGoals all the way (& the only reason I watched the Golden Globes for three years!)

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell

This book is kind of special for me because it was the first international book I bought (way back in 2010! I even blogged about it) so I pondered for a while about whether I needed the audiobook as well. But I’m glad I bought it. Bruce Campbell has an iconic voice & this is wonderful to listen to. I always crack up at the part where he describes how he got his scar-

“There is an L-shaped scar on the left side of my chin. People always ask me how I got it and I’ve told them everything from “One dark night in Bombay,” to “A scuffle with bad, bad, Leroy Brown …”

In actuality, it came about because I was a fearless kid. I played outside a great deal of the time, in any weather and in suburban Detroit, Michigan, that’s saying something. In this age where laser surgery rushes to correct every imperfection, I’m not going to touch that scar—it reminds me of too much fun.” – Bruce Campbell, If Chins Could Kill

As the audiobook was published twelve years after the paper one, Bruce gives little asides & updated throughout, which really adds to the experience.

I think I’ll wrap up the reviews, because I’ve been listening a lot & this could go on forever. Maybe I could do a part 2 soon?

So with Audible, you can either buy books a la carte or sign up for a membership. The Gold Membership costs $14.95 a month, wherein you get one credit which is redeemable for one audiobook & a 30% discount on any a la carte purchases while you’re a member.

The best part? Audible offers a no obligations 30 day free trial, with two free audiobooks. You can sign up here if you’d like to try it. You will need to have a card on file (if you have an Amazon India account, the same login details work!) & if you cancel before the month ends, you don’t have to pay a cent & still get to keep the audiobooks you chose. Happy listening! x

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Being a full time blogger & vlogger, part of my job description is to always be connected. I check & update my social media multiple times a day, whether it’s facebook, twitter or instagram. For the last few weeks I’ve been using the Asus Zenpad 7.

The size of the Zenpad is perfect for someone who’s on the move a lot, it’s bigger than my phone & to make usage more comfortable – whether I’m emailing, checking social media & yet it is small enough to fit in almost any bag. It’s internal storage can be upgraded up to 128BG (great to store pictures & share them with friends!) & the body looks incredibly stylish!

While the Zenpad doesn’t replace my phone, it makes taking flights or even getting stuck in Mumbai traffic infinitely more bearable, pleasurable even! The battery life of the Zenpad is great, but add the audio cover & it becomes even better! I especially love using this when I haven’t turned on my computer, but am just lounging around. I can catch up on YouTube viewing & binge on Netflix, & at the same time switch to social media or email with a few quick taps of my finger. It has an Intel Atom Quad Core 64bit micro processor, that supports even the most heavy games (even 3d enabled ones!) with skipping a beat. The Audio Cover also makes it easy to watch videos & experience great sound on a tablet without using headphones or separate Bluetooth speakers & also adds to the luxury feel of the Zenpad with minimal bulk. To me the Zenpad brings out my love for fashion & tech!

With Valentine’s Day very close, I’m sure a lot of you guys must be searching for last minute gifts for your significant others. The fact is, a lot of guys experience Same Gift Syndrome at this time of the year – you know, that thing when you want to gift your girlfriend something nice but end up getting her the clichéd gifts like flowers, chocolates, a card, cake & a stuffed animal? Break out of that gifting rut & get her a Zenpad! Asus has highlighted it wonderfully in this fun video! Technology is the perfect gift for the modern woman, & the Zenpad is both stylish & smart!

I’ve styled the Zenpad with two looks here, one casual & summery, great for a lunch date & the other is more formal & truly captures the spirit of Valentine’s Day. Which one do you like better? x

{Outfit 1 | ONLY Tshirt // Topshop Jamie Jeans // Steve Madden Marsh Sandals // Fossil Sydney Crossbody bag}

{Outfit 2 | StalkBuyLove dress // Clarks Smart Deva sandals}

Photos by Sheila Vaz.

The post Two Valentine’s Day Looks with the Asus Zenpad appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

The Launch

A little while ago I was invited to the grand launch of the OPPO F1 Selfie Expert here in Mumbai. The event saw a huge audience of media & bloggers, from the spheres of both technology & fashion. Sky Li, OPPO Global VP, MD of International Mobile Business and President of OPPO India unveiled the F1 to a very excited crowd; OPPO also took the opportunity to announce it’s global partnership with the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The Brand: OPPO

I’ll admit to not being very familiar with the brand OPPO before attending the launch event but while there I got to learn much more about them, their history, growth & operations. OPPO is an electronics manufacturer based in China. It was founded in 2004 with their first product being an MP3 player, although they still manufacture other electronics, they have become globally recognized for their android phones.

As of late 2015, the OPPO brand has been registered in 140 countries and is operating in over 20 markets worldwide. In 2015, OPPO sold around 50 million smartphones globally, up 67% year on year, with over 3,000 researchers involved in developing innovative technologies as well as high quality and iconic products.

Why ‘Selfie Expert?’

In recent years, smartphones have changed the way we interact with tech. With phone cameras advancing in leaps & bounds, the point & shoot camera has become all but redundant. Chase Jarvis famously said ‘The Best Camera is the One that’s With You‘. We carry our smartphones everywhere & this has led to democratisation of photography. Yes, everyone with a smartphone doesn’t become a photographer but a smartphone certainly enables us to document (& if we desire, share) our lives much more easily.

Along with the rise of phone photography, we’ve seen astronomical rise in the word selfie in recent times. Self portraits have been around since the dawn of photography in the 19th century but with phones cameras improving the selfie too has been on the rise. In November 2013, Oxford Dictionary declared Selfie as the Word of the Year & it’s only been increasing in popularity since then. Everyone from actors to models, astronauts to world leaders take them & while some may argue that they are narcissistic & vapid, I think selfies can be a great way to document your day to day life, travels & big moments; overall very life affirming,

I’ve talked about selfies before, & how getting a good one not a given – you need to know basic lighting, angles & of course filters to highlight your best features.

For the OPPO F1 to be called the “Selfie Expert”, it really needs to have an excellent camera & the F1 features a standout 8 MP front-facing camera with a wide f/2.0 aperture lens and a 1/4-inch sensor, a sophisticated Pure Image 2.0+ photography platform offering OPPO’s Beautify 3.0 feature, OPPO’s patented Screen Flash to make snapping selfies in low-light conditions, and can shoot selfies using hand gestures and spoken commands, ensuring stunning selfies in all conditions. It is also 4G enabled to support the best data connections & has a fast processor with 3GB RAM.

The Exterior

They say never judge a book by it’s cover but when I’m looking for a phone, the internal specifications are paramount, but the looks aren’t far behind. I want the phone to have an excellent camera, run all my favorite apps & be quick as hell but I also want it to look good, be a stylish accessory just like my jewellery, bags, watches & shoes – one that I’d be proud to flaunt when I take it out in public to snap a selfie, food pic or #OOTD (Outfit of the Day!) for instagram.

The OPPO F1 features a Premium Metal Body that feels almost velvety to touch. The body of the F1 is made of an exquisite metal alloy, treated with zircon sand surface coating applied in a low-pressure, low-speed spraying process. The result is a lustrous eye catching finish that’s looks & feels lovely. It’s available in two finishes, gold & rose gold (mine is the gold one). The beautiful line band edges definitely add to the look & feel and at just 134gms it feels light but not cheap in your hand.

While my primary phone, being a phablet can feel somewhat uncomfortable to hold with one hand sometimes, the dimensions of the OPPO F1 make it lovely to operate, I feel that it fits perfectly in the palm of my hand!

Being touted as the Selfie Expert, the OPPO F1 comes with beautify 3.0 that brigtens your skin & seamlessly removes blemishes. When I take selfies, I usually have to run it through an filter apps because I love filters that give phone photos a subtle & classy analog-photo type look. And although I talk about body positivity & self love, I have used apps to remove that one nasty zit that just pops up sometimes, I feel that is no different from using makeup, where’s the harm if it makes you feel better about yourself?

I tried taking a selfie with the OPPO F1 & I was stunned at how nice it looked straight out of the camera, with no post processing  or edits whatsoever! (you can see it on the left) It had smoothed over some of the lines from my face & made some of the acne less obvious, while making it look like my skin was glowing from within! Beautiful & still quite natural looking in my opinion.

My favorite trick with selfies is to take them in natural light as much as I can (there’s no filter like the sun!) & to always face the light. So I tried standing against the sun, with the light to my back & the lighting, colors & my skin still looked great. When OPPO calls their phone ‘selfie expert’, they aren’t kidding around!

Well, you can’t take all selfies in the daytime & sometimes I like to do them at night when the lighting doesn’t co-operate. Night light is dim, & often at very unflattering angles. And whether I’m using my dslr or a phone camera, I tend to hate flashes as they often create a worse image emphasizing oiliness or just washing out your face completely – which is why I loved the patented screen flash on the OPPO F1. Instead of a tiny little LED flash, when you leave the screen flash setting on it just leaves the whole screen on. The larger surface area of the screen (compared to a flash) & the fact that it isn’t too bright works in your favor. It bathes you in a very natural looking light, ensuring you get the perfect selfies even at night or in low light situations – WIN!

The regular back camera has a 13MP resolution that captures everything in stunning detail with true to life colors – check out the depth of field in this image on the left, also completely unedited.

Conclusion

The OPPO F1 Selfie Expert is a great camera phone with a special focus on taking selfies. Using the Selfie Expert is a foolproof way to get bright & beautiful selfies no matter what the lighting & environmental conditions are!

At the cost of ₹15,999 – if you’re into photography & taking selfies it’s an excellent buy! You can find out more about it on the product page.

The OPPO #F1HotSale begins on the 4th of Feb!

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