Product Review - @FitbitSAfrica Charge HR - Activity Wristband

Hi Guys,

The technology and times have changed a lot since the start of watches when we just wanted to know the time at hand. But with the new and continuous developments in the watches from analogue to digital, there have been a new emergence of sector which have made the world a lot more conscious about their health also. This sector is ever growing and a lot of brands have in continuous competition to take this market share and wipe out the watches from the global scene.

Fitbit Inc. is one such brand which have developed a lot of new technology to keep track of your workouts, number of steps walked, heart rate as well as sleep monitoring. The company was founded by James Park & Eric Friedman in 2007 and the headquarters are in San Francisco, USA. I got the latest Fitbit Charge HR to review and here is my experience of the same. I must tell you that after using the device for almost 2 weeks, I am in love with the device and the reasons to do so will be explained in this blog post. 

Fitbit Charge HR comes with a constant heart rate monitoring tool as an upgrade from its predecessor Fitbit Charge. I instantly fell in love with this advanced feature as it uses Purepulse continuous heart rate monitoring system to measure your heart all day and during workouts also. It has three modes (peak, cardio and fat-burning) to calculate the heart rate burn zones which can be beneficial at times. It also tells you Resting heart rate and the Fitbit app (Android and iOS) will show you much more information in details. 

Fitbit Charge HR measures your number of steps walked which then is converted into the kilometers walked as well as calories burnt. They give you a target of 10000 steps per day and as you reaches the same the wrist band starts vibrating and when you double-tap the screen or press the side button, it shows you some dancing patterns to celebrate the same. You can customize the double-tap to show you whatever you want to see the most, as I set it on time as I completely stopped wearing my watches during the time review unit was with me. I even thought why I spent R2000 to buy a branded watch and could have invested in Fitbit devices. Fitbit charge HR also measures the number of floors you have climbed and sets a target to climb 10 daily. With every goal you achieve, Fitbit devices have several badges for you to earn and then you can share those on facebook and twitter.

Above all it measures your sleep patterns which is very much accurate and tells the sleep quality by showing times awakened and restless periods. I have liked the device a lot due to this hours slept measure as now I can schedule myself to sleep on weekends if not able to complete my daily sleep of 7-8 hours. I now know if my body is feeling lazy due to my unfulfilled sleep and this is one of the best feature of Charge HR. The device also has silent vibrating alarm which can be set and can be snoozed twice. The alarm can be repeated for any number of days in a week.

The battery life of Charge HR is nearly 4-5 days with a single charge and it takes around 2 hours to charge the device completely. You will receive an email when the battery level is low as well as the battery status is shown on your mobile app to keep track of the same. The device can be synced to your mobile via the bluetooth and internet connection and if you want to sync with your laptop a wireless sync dongle comes with the device. The charging cable is unique and you need to have the same to charge the fitband. In case of lost cable, you will need to buy it separately (if available) as there is no other way you can charge the device. 

Fitbit Charge HR also has call notifications features which shows who is calling on the device with some compatible devices. Otherwise for other devices, it starts vibrating to show that you are receiving a call on your mobile phone. It can also measure your active minutes during your workouts and data will be maintained and transferred to the app. Moreover, you can build a online community of family and friends and compete with them to track who is living healthier and completing his/her daily goals. 

Fitbit Charge HR is available in multiple colors like Black, blue, purple and orange in a watch like wristband. The wristband securely tightens on your hands and there is no chance of losing the same which happens with other activity trackers. There are several other features on the Fitbit app which I was not able to make use of like tracking your food plan, water consumption and track your exercise. 

The only thing that becomes cons of the device is its water resistance abilities. It is not shower proof and swim proof whereas it can take sweat, rain and splash upto certain extent. The wrist band looks cool with its diamond pattern which is flexible and made of durable elastomer material. 

Overall I would highly recommend this product for those who live an active lifestyle and wants to track their sleep, steps, workouts and heart rates. I would definitely try to upgrade myself to Fitbit Surge which has a built in GPS to track my jogging etc also but for everyone else, Fitbit Charge HR is a device to go and buy. I am sure you will also fall in love with the amount of information it collects on your behalf and helps you have consistent goal towards a healthy living and lifestyle. 

The Fitbit Charge HR is available only in Black at the moment and can be bought online for R2499 from http://www.istoreonline.co.za/category/237/fitbit

Cheers!!!


Follow me on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway
Email - thelifesway@gmail.com for invites to launch events / sponsored posts and product reviews!
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Journey towards #MissionSamsung @SamsungSA Blogger Challenge Winner

Hi Guys,

It was the moment of satisfaction as well as gratefulness as Dr. Michelle announced my name as the #MissionSamsung Bloggers Challenge Grand Finale Winner. The Grand Finale was telecast live on SABC3 TV at Expresso Morning Show on 25th May 2015. The host of the show along with Dr. Michelle from Samsung was the smart and dashing Katlego Maboe @KatleGomaBoe. He surely is the coolest guy I ever met if you have seen the show you will know of this fact.

Mission Samsung Blogger Challenge was launched last year in June 2014 with a great idea which was implemented very well by Samsung, @SABloggers, Webfluential and most importantly @EpicMSLGroup. The idea was to select Top 10 bloggers for 6 challenges and introduce them to the latest Samsung Gadgets for some weeks (1-3) with some set series of tasks to be performed using the same devices. I was not amongst the top 10 chosen bloggers in the first round and really felt very bad for some days. But then after the chosen ones were given devices to review, Samsung launched a Community Challenge for other bloggers who applied and was not selected to be in the top 10. 

I immediately grabbed the opportunity as I always wanted to be a "SamsungBlogger" as similar contest was launched in India before I started blogging in 2011-2012 and I knew of some winners who used to get all the Samsung devices and gadgets to review even before it's launched in the market. I thought this to be a wonderful opportunity for me to showcase my skills. The theme of the community challenge post was to review Samsung NX300 mirrorless Smart camera. I immediately checked the Samsung website for the product and instantly fell in love with the design and capability of the camera.

On a Saturday afternoon, I sat with my laptop and started to work on the post. Ideas started flowing to my mind as I continued to write and review the device to show my relationship with the cameras I have used before. I was satisfied with the blog post and send the links to the respective parties. The results came on 7 July 2014 and I was announced the winner of the Community Challenge along with "Wild Card" entry into the finals and this amazing device called Samsung NX300 be me mines forever. I felt awesome and at the top of the world! Hurray! Also my interview was published on We blog for love.

I still wanted to participate as a Top 10 bloggers because they used to get some awesome #MissionSamsung branded stuff like tshirt, stationery, mugs, water bottles and flasks, caps etc. I tried for the next few rounds but never made it to the top 10 till the time of Challenge 5 to review Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in Feb 2015 and received #MissionSamsung tshirt, cap and flask. I felt great and did some amazing work with the post and the phone. Check it out as this post is the top 3rd post on my blog measured in pageviews and going to take 2nd position by next month and I almost thought that I will win in this category.

Finally, I started waiting for the finals to start which was scheduled to start end of April 2015 and somehow the event did started in May first week but my name was missed and it was a broken dream for me. I immediately drafted an emailed and waited for their response. They gave me 4 hours of time as a "Wild Card" entry in the finals to write the Final blog post with 20 words that needed to be incorporated. I am really grateful to Samsung and Epicmsl Group for giving me an opportunity to contest with other finalists for a chance to be in the Grand Finale.

I started writing and several themes came to my mind - one was being a lone traveler through South Africa but the other idea was able to incorporate and convince all the Samsung provided 20 keywords fully. The topic I chose for my final entry was my honeymoon to South Africa which I really loved writing about. Check it out as it helped me to be in the top 4 Grand Finalists. 

The day arrived when it was all set for the Grand Finalists to appear live on Expresso Show and I flew a day earlier to Cape Town in the evening. It was a fight amongst #Johannesburg vs #CapeTown bloggers as I was the only one from Johannesburg and rest 3 were from Cape Town. The program started and we were using Samsung S6/S6 edge devices as our buzzers. It was a series of questions and I was able to give the final answer after being tied with 2 other contestants. It was at that moment I felt so grateful to everyone and couldn't believe that finally my dream has become a reality. I am the Top blogger for #MissionSamsung Challenge 2014 and the very first one to win a grand, big and awesome 65" Curved UHD TV which will soon decorate my home. 

I am so thankful to Almighty Lord for giving me this opportunity to start my own blog and then pouring my heart out in words which works for me and the brands who loves me. I am greatly thankful to Samsung SA for making me their top blogger and I am looking forward to cover their various launch events and review their amazing products.

So this is my story which I have been working towards since the first day I saw the tweet when Samsung asked people from all major cities to look forward to a blogger challenge way back in May/June 2014. If you have big dreams in your eyes and work towards them with full dedication and commitment, you will sooner or later achieve the same. I felt great to achieve this dream of mine and now need to start dreaming of something else so big that it should not let me sleep till the time I achieve the same. 

Cheers!!!

Follow me on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway
Email - thelifesway@gmail.com for invites to launch events / sponsored posts and product reviews!
Checkout my Instagram (araijain) page
Checkout my photo blog - www.photoyatra.blogspot.in
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SocialMedia #Lumia apps connecting @MicrosoftSA

Hi Guys,

The most popular social networking sites sure have changed over the years and as time goes by they are expected to change even further. Old social media trends will die and new ones will surface and you never know what will come soon and take the market by storm. Since the introduction of social networks there has been a significant shift toward mobile-based social media consumption. A recent Mobile Africa 2015 study conducted by the mobile surveying company GeoPoll and World Wide Worx on mobile phone usage in five African countries has delivered startling findings on the rise of Internet access via phones. The most significant finding was that internet browsing via phones now stands at 40 per cent across these markets, with 51% of respondents in Ghana and 47% in Nigeria reporting that they use their phones to access the internet. South Africa lags behind at 40%, and Kenya (34%) and Uganda (29%) are slowest on the uptake.

Here are some of the most popular Lumia social media apps:

2Go

2go is a mobile social network that allows you to chat, share with friends, and meet new people. Users can create their profiles and upload profile pictures. The app allows you to message friends instantly, receive notifications of new messages, share photos and files as well as invite friends using their phone number or username.

Viber
Viber is an app that allows everyone in the world to connect, freely. More than 500 million Viber users text, call, and send photo and video messages worldwide over Wifi or 3G - for free. Viber Out can be used to make calls to non-Viber mobile and landline numbers at low rates. This app is available for many mobile and desktop platforms. On Viber, your phone number is your ID. The app syncs with your mobile contact list, automatically detecting which of your contacts have Viber.

Instagram BETA

It's a simple, fast and fun way to capture and share life with your family and friends on your Windows Phone. The app allows you to transform everyday moments into works of art you'll want to share with friends and family and gives you access to a world of inspiration as you view photos from near and far.

Facebook
Facebook is a social platform that connects people with current and old friends, people they went to school or work with, acquaintances and besties alike. It allows you to keep up with friends, share photos, videos, news, thoughts and commentary. Facebook for Windows Phone v5 has been completely overhauled, with faster performance, a new user interface, improved navigation, support for multiple resolutions and tile sizes, and more. Keeping up with friends is now faster than ever before.

Whatsapp

WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. This app allows you to send and receive messages, pictures, voice messages, and video messages. This one doesn't need any introduction and also now comes with the latest voice calling facility which will soon be enabled for Windows phones too. 

 

Staying connected is the life we are all following at the moment but it's also a necessity to stay personal and close with people in our own houses and locality by meeting and greeting offline too. Think about it!

 

Cheers!!! 

Follow me on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway
Email - thelifesway@gmail.com for invites to launch events / sponsored posts and product reviews!
Checkout my Instagram (araijain) page
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Origami helps fight Anxiety #Lumia @MicrosoftSA

Hi Guys,

Our busy lives can lead to us experiencing high levels of anxiety, suffering from memory loss or even a decrease in cognitive function. But adding a simple hobby to your life can help you in focusing your mind away from the stress in your day and letting you learn a new skill. One such hobby is the ancient art of paper folding, Origami.

Why Origami?

Learning origami has great benefits for both your mental and creative capabilities. Often used in therapeutic settings, Origami is also regarded as a great treatment for anxiety. People who take up the hobby also report that their hand-eye coordination has improved and, for children, it can help teach sequencing skills. Importantly too, learning Origami helps all of us to analyze and carefully follow instructions.

The fun stuff

But it’s not just a hobby for the mind, as it can also be used to create a wide range of beautiful things. From birthday party decorations to décor items you can use for your home, the products of your new found hobby can be used in a number of ways. Your child is turning three and loves animals? Decorate their party venue with a bunch of paper-folded animals for a cute touch.

How to learn Origami

Because it’s an ancient art, many books, resources & youtube videos have been created to teach this delicate skill. But, with your trusty Lumia in your hand, you don’t need them. Head on over to the Windows Phone store on your handset to discover funky tutorial apps that will help you get folding.

Origami on your Lumia

To start you off with learning how to fold basic shapes, Origami (Free) has easy lessons and schematics for you to follow, as you work towards acing more complex shapes and folds.

And when you’re feeling confident enough to try more complex shapes, check out Origami 3D. Listing more than one hundred shapes and forms to set your fingers folding, this app includes 3-D animations to help you learn as you fold and check that you’re on the right path to creating your paper masterpiece.

Origami Book (Free) gives you step-by-step instructions on how to create cute animals using just a single sheet of paper. Learn how to fold a crane, dog or even a frog, and get the kids to colour in your creations.

Or if your children would prefer to paper-fold for themselves, check out Origami for Kids (Free). With cute illustrations and great guidelines, your kids will be folding away like they were born to do it in no time.

No paper? No problem. Paperama 2015 (Free) lets you get your Origami game on without needing a sheet. With 3-D folding effects and more than seventy puzzles to choose from, Paperama challenges you to create shapes using a set number of folds.

So grab your paper, open your Lumia and let’s get folding. You can do it during a lunch break or during a rainy afternoon with the kids. And mind it. it's not as easy as it seems as sometimes you will be stuck at some of the folds that you need to do but with more practice you will become a master of the same. 

Cheers!!!

Follow me on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway
Email - thelifesway@gmail.com for invites to launch events / sponsored posts and product reviews!
Checkout my Instagram (araijain) page
Checkout my photo blog - www.photoyatra.blogspot.in
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New Image Capture features on #Lumia #Denim @MicrosoftSA

Hi Guys,

One of the amazing things about modern technology is that improving it doesn’t always mean having to invest in new hardware. Sometimes a software update is all it takes to turn a piece of hardware’s performance from good into great, or from great into unbelievable. That’s the case with the Lumia Denim update, which brings a range of new imaging features to the Lumia 830, Lumia 930 and Lumia 1520 – in addition to new features like live folders and smoother and faster internet browsing.

Chief among these new imaging features is the Lumia Camera app, which complements the existing default camera app by making it even faster and easier to capture crystal clear, properly exposed images, even in low light or high contrast conditions.

If you’re more interested in what you’re shooting than what your camera’s settings are you’ll love Rich Capture, a feature that automatically decides whether or not to apply exposure compensation, whether or not to use the flash and if HDR (high dynamic range) is needed to accurately capture a particular scene. Meanwhile, if you’re the sort of person who wants full control over your handset’s camera the Lumia Camera app is ready to oblige. Swiping up on the shutter release button brings up a range of onscreen controls, allowing you full control of focus, shutter speed, white balance, exposure compensation and ISO.

Switch to video mode, and those setting options change to controls for white balance, focus and exposure compensation. And what would an imaging update be without improved selfie capture? A new setting called “auto selfie” lets you use the rear camera to take a selfie and trigger it by blinking to set off a three-second self-timer.

The Lumia Selfie app then lets you apply a range of filters and corrections to your selfies, from brightening the eyes and softening the skin tones to giving your self-portraits a vintage feel or even putting your face on a fake magazine cover.

Lumia devices aren’t just great at capturing stills, they’re masters of video capture, too. A new feature called Moment Capture combines the best of both worlds by letting you shoot high-definition video by simply holding down the camera button. Video is captured at 24 frames per second, and each frame can be saved as a high-quality still image.

Another welcome addition is the ability to capture images as RAW files. RAW files are bigger than conventional images because they contain all of the data captured by the camera sensor. They’re the negatives of the digital photography world because they can always be reprocessed to produce different effects.

Most mobile phone cameras only capture and store images as JPG files, which means the phone has to make processing decisions and throw out some of the original data when saving the image. This limits how much you can do to a photo because it’s already been compressed by the time you come to edit it. With RAW files you have full control over the final image, and you can reprocess images down the line if you want to achieve a different effect.

If, however, you don’t want to fiddle with processing your pics and are quite happy with JPGs alone, you’ll be pleased to know the algorithms your Lumia device uses to process JPGs has been updated, too, to ensure the best possible results, regardless of shooting conditions.

Lumia cameras have always produced impressive results because of their combination of top-notch optics (the physical lenses that make up the camera), high-quality sensors (that capture and record the light the lenses help to focus), speedy autofocus and the best in image processing software. I am still in love with the #Lumia1020 which is not part of this update though but considering the improved camera capabilities with Denim updates, you can do wonders with mobile photography.

The Lumia Denim update maintains this tradition of excellence and makes the existing, already outstanding camera hardware found on the Lumia 830, Lumia 930 and Lumia 1520 even better and more flexible, helping you capture images as you really see them. If you have any of these three devices, go ahead and become a better, improved and motivated photographer to capture the whole world in your pockets.

Cheers!!!

Follow me on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway
Email - thelifesway@gmail.com for invites to launch events / sponsored posts and product reviews!
Checkout my Instagram (araijain) page
Checkout my photo blog - www.photoyatra.blogspot.in
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Photo Review - @AlfaRomeo_SA GIULIETTA

Hi Guys,

AlfaRomeo Guilietta is one of most favorite cars amongst a lot of people in South Africa. Here are some of the pictures clicked by one of my friends who used to own the car.

The tail lights are the eyes of something which will arouse a sense of looks into the ones travelling behind the car.

The exterior looks of the Giulietta is simply superb and you fall in love with the same instantly.

The aerodynamic style gives the car the necessary speed and grip on the road for long continuous drive.

I simply loved the car because of it's responsive engine and sporty drive mode which gives better control on the brakes and speed of the car.

Alfa Romeo has a history of great groundbreaking technology built into it's cars. Guilietta is one of the marvels from the house of Alfa Romeo.

Giulietta is a car which you would love to do a photo shoot in all weathers. I have been to Drakensburg and St Lucia on the same and really loved all my travel on the same. Kudos to the brand for making our drive pleasurable.

Cheers!!!
Follow me on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway
Email - thelifesway@gmail.com for invites to launch events / sponsored posts and product reviews!
Checkout my Instagram (araijain) page
Checkout my photo blog - www.photoyatra.blogspot.in
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@SavannaCider #JoziComdey VIP Encounter #SavannaNewBottle

Hi Guys,

It was the first time that I saw a Yellow carpet and felt so happy to see the same. People know about my obsession with Yellow as I drive a Yellow Fiat 500, have a Yellow Tomato watch and many other things.

To me yellow represents sunshine and brings in a hope to stay the best no matter what happens in your life. The event was VIP encounter at Protea Hotel - Fire and Ice! in Melrose Arch for the new bottle launch of Savanna Premium Cider. Check more about the same at @SavannaCider & check their brand new website at http://savannacider.com/welcome

The carpet brought us closer to the stand where the cold crisp Cider was served by these lovely ladies in yellow clothes. With the stage as clouds, it clearly looks like Sun shining brightly on the other sides of the podium.

This is the first look at the new enhanced bottle and it's packaging as a whole. The design change has taken place after many years as they say.

The desserts and food was amazing and I really dug into Sushi option as I wanted to go vegetarian way.

It was time to showcase the latest advertisement which will be launched to public soon but we got to see it on the first day other than senior officials.

The stage was set for #JoziComedy to start as Mpho Popps was the MC for the evening which started at around 830pm. The auditorium at the hotel was fully booked and no chairs was empty to be occupied.

Soon the stage was cleared for Vittorio Leonardi who started the night on the right note. The audience was going mad with craziness and laughter can be listened even outside the hall. 

There were many acts which kept on adding fun to the whole event as a whole with artists like Kagiso Lediga, Trevor Gumbi, Mojak Lehoko, Karou Charou being at their best. 

The event ended at around 12 in the night and as we were making our way out, I got the best present as a blogger from the brand. It was a brand new Beats by Dre Solo HD headphones along with bottles of Savanna, I was so elated as I got to laugh for the whole evening and at the end my heart was filled with the soulful music that beats headphones will produce in the days to come. All the photographs are taken using the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 phablet smartphone. 

Thanks to @Goliath_Goliath ; @Samoka_SA ; @FireandIceMA for making this event possible and really looking forward to other events soon in Johannesburg. A big thanks to @GC_Com for finding me and making my blog a success via all their brands and endorsements!

Cheers!!!

Follow me on twitter @araijain or @thelifesway
Email - thelifesway@gmail.com for invites to launch events / sponsored posts and product reviews!
Checkout my Instagram (araijain) page
Checkout my photo blog - www.photoyatra.blogspot.in
Like The Life's Way Page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheLifesWay