Which smartphone should you buy #2017 ?

Well if you're thinking that I am going to review some ton of smartphones and then direct you to some particular brands (paid/not paid) then my friend you are on the wrong side of the internet. With this all round media hype with new smartphones and new tech bumping in every few months. Reviewers are going bonkers with the amount of smartphones they are reviewing each month.

Well in this point i'd rather mention a few points that might open up your brain to new areas and might help you in buying the device that will be best for you instead of some random reviewer comparing ton load of smartphones and suggesting you pixel 2 or iPhone X as the best phone and then when you glance at your budget and I will be able to see that frown on your face.

Reviewers often get review units. Well this is quite argue-able point as many reviewers get and many don't but most of your famous reviewers which you keep a track of get review units. Which they area allowed to keep for a while till there's the hype about the phone and then return when their review is done or the hype dies. At times they are often allowed to keep them like gifts.

As I said many would argue with me on above point, some reviewers also order the devices for
their personal usages and also if that device isn't available in their own regions. Which probably if you do after watching your favourite YouTuber or Blogger buying the device then you end up paying custom fees which most of the times people aren't aware of or might end up getting scammed from some random 3rd party website shipping those devices to your region.

As these days market is changing and new tech coming every day the device you bought at for example 20 bucks might be available at just 10bucks after half a year or maybe its just too  old to be sold.

The technology is upgrading itself rapidly especially in the world of smartphones. So what to do when you wanna buy a phone and also keep up with the latest tech if you are a tech lover like me. Answer is very simple. Get yourself a budget or maybe a mid-ranger device if you still wanna spend more.

As I said tech especially in the smartphone world is upgrading at a rate that after a year or two your flagship might be comparable to mid-ranger or worst case a budget device. You might think that you invest so much into a flagship and it didn't outshine a few years.

Invest in a top-of the line budget device or a decent midranger device. In this way even if you change your device every 2 year or so, which undoubtedly most of the people do these days due to various reasons. You can spend less every time and still stay with the best tech which might be available in the market.

For those who still are stuck upon thinking that they'd always opt for the most costliest device, dude you are all good to go.  But don't buy it with an intention that a it'll be top of the line and best till 3/4 years you are intending it to keep.

For some people who might be thinking about the E-waste situation here, I am not promoting it by any means. People already are doing that  without saying every year. So instead of buying a new, either get it exchanged with website/store you might be buying that device with so you might get a discount as well or you can pass on the device to some member of the family who might require it. You never know with the 2017 era mobiles have grown more importance for everything.

So what do you think about this?? I'd love to read your thoughts comment em down below. See ya later next time.

Having fun with the Anonymous feedbacks

Recently there was a huge trend of Anon-feedback websites and apps. At first I was a bit hesitant to try them out. But later when the Sarahah was trending, I thought to give it a try. At first I thought, there'll be haters (keyboard warriors) spamming the inbox as it was totally anonymous but what I got totally surprised me out.

I know many of you will judge me after this, you're free to do that. But trust me this was one of the most fun things that I had tried ever. Generally I have noticed on thing, whenever I am hesitant to try something out, it always turns out to be the best thing I've come across.

So here, I'll be posting some of the messages I had received from you people, who always read and support my work.

In case you were living under the rock and don't know what the whole thing is about, then lemme guide you here. A few weeks back, a trend started with people making accounts on Sarahah.com which helps you to get Anonymous feedback from the people near you, so that you can improve. It's a kind of constructive feedback system, so people are free to say whatever they feel like. For most of the times it was used as a dating site, yet it was a total fun.  The popularity reached so much that the servers were overloaded. If you're reading this and want to give me some feedback/message or ask me something, here's the link -> click here Leave your constructive message for me here.

The thing with this anon feedback system, that I enjoyed is people can say anything they have in their mind. They can tell it to you without fear of being judged. Most of us at times don't say anything to people because we feel the fear of being judged. We feel if we comment we might lose the friend or mess up the relation we had with that person.

Here I am attaching a some messages that I had received. I have answered all of them on my Twitter, don't forget to follow me there.

How to Judge a Book - Is It a good pick?

Once you made up your mind that you want to read a book, then you're off on Internet either to check some reviews before buying one or go to some book website to order them. Many of the times the reviews are biased or your thinking doesn't match with the reviewer. Many times you follow reviews and get a book, but after reading you feel 'Ah! It's boring', 'Why did I waste my money on this?',' This is not my type'.

It completely spoils your mood when you're soo into a book or waiting for it to arrive and read as the reviews and even the cover and blurb is great but when you open and read the first few pages cuss words leave your mouth. Ah! Don't deny, we all do that and it's okay. After this many will ask me 'how to choose a book?' for them I am writing this post so that you don't end up choosing something that doesn't suit your taste and end up spoling your moods.

The cover and the blurb has a lot of effect on the readers when they are out for choosing a book. Whether you're buying it from a local bookstore or ordering it online. Online at times you can save your money from buying something that looks so promising but isn't your type at all. As many times, some websites allow preview for a few pages to be read to see if the book is really good or not. Some of you may be old school and follow the book bloggers/vloggers. But there's a difference when you see a review buy a blogger and any normal user.

While reviewing the proffesional bloggers mostly avoid harsh terms or most of them time they don't even point out any cons in the work. As many of them go by the line that its someone's hard work and things like that but for them, I would like to say, why would anyone get what you like?

And then there are times when you'll find people writing really crappy reviews all over but if you just see the amount of copies that the book's been sold is really impressive. So when it comes to end, after seeing reviews by bloggers and comments on social media and stuff, you are actually now not in a mood to buy a book.

You suddenly start feeling that nothing's worth a buy or nothing is worth your money. Even if you're on some website like Wattpad you'll feel like nothing suits your taste. It's all crap.

So I wanna share a few tricks that I use while picking my books to read. If you think they're good you can follow them or else the old school methods awaits you ;)

While searching anywhere for a book, the very first thing I would notice is the cover and blurb. Many times the cover and blurb look so promising that you end up buying them, but what if that's nothing something that book actually contains? We'll discuss this after a few topics. So first check if the book and blurb are in sync.

For example : The cover looks proffesional with detailed graphics and eye pleasing but when you get to blurb you'll find the same old tetto-tales which you're not at all interested in.

Many times you'll find cliched stories, honestly as much I've read and experienced, I found cliched stories much more interesting and story filled and juicy as along with the cliched plots they added some wonderful creativity along with it which made even cliched reads enjoyable so I won't say a no no to Romance or Cliche works.

When you feel that okay, now this books looks promising. The blurb says a lot in itself, the way of writing blurb tells you itself the how the book might be. Personally I would refrain overly melodramatic stuff. It would be like a big NO NO for me.

When you're done with blurb and cover and have made up your mind for trying that book out. You think to go and check the reviews. Now see if the reviews and what you felt is in sync or not. Personally I would advise to search for full reviews and refrain from considering some random one word or sentence publicities.

While searching for reviews if you know someone whose thinking matches yours then without any doubt check what they think about it. Else first search reviews for a book which you've already read. In this manner it'll be easier to check if the reviews can be trusted or not. As both reviewers and readers are humans and humans are unique there are chances you feel that the popular reviewer is not posting correct views, but well that's his/her POV and it need not be same for all.

Once you find a reviewer that you feel is good for you then you can check if he/she has reviewed the thing you're buying. If not then dude! Stop overthing and just try it out. WHY BEING SO CONFUSED.

You're not gonna lose or gain the world if you would buy or won't buy a book. As simple as that.

Keep it simple Keep it easy

So folks, that's all for now. I hope you enjoy reading this and do follow me on socials for the updates. 

How to Tweak your WiFi to get best speeds.

Internet is one of the wonderful things that can happen to you in 21st century. A fast and unlimited Internet connection is no less than a heaven on earth. But at the same time a snail-paced internet can drive you nuts. Don't believe me there are like gazillions of memes about it.

Well to avoid snail paced internet speeds we always take care to pay and subscribe to best plans that suit our needs. But there are times when it happens that we aren't still getting the speed that we should. There are a lot of reasons that can slow down your WiFi speeds. You can find all that reasons all over the internet. Here I am not gonna fuss and waste time upon all the issues, instead I am gonna give some really handy solutions that I've tried myself.

Try all this at your OWN RISK

WiFi routers come in lot of kinds and all techy stuff. But to keep it simplified for even the ones who aren't techy These are a few simple tips and tricks that you can do to literally double the speed and range of your WiFi Routers ( which was in my case )

If you have an android device you can download an app from the playstore named WiFi Analyser and install it to check the status of your WiFi router signals at your place. This will give you a brief Idea about the signal strength and number of WiFi connections available in your surroundings.

A lot of these instructions aren't router specific as different routers have different options but you'll find all these options in all routers please look out for them.

Open your router admin settings and go to wireless settings. In the modern N based routers they have some default settings to ensure that the router supports even the most ancient device. If you don't own any of these ancient devices this can actually slow down the output of your router upto 50% or more.

In the wireless setting ensure that the wireless security settings are set to WPA2/WPA2-PSK and the Encryption is set to AES. Both of these are latest security methods that can help to increase the security of your connection along with improving your network status.

These settings actually reduce your support to the ancient devices, but it doesn't really matter as most of the latest devices ( from minimum 2005) support these settings. 

Second step is to change B/G/N mixed mode to N mode. This will increase the signal range and speed both as mixed settings is kept by default to ensure that the router supports most ancient devices, but unless you own one of those its of no use to you.

While you're changing these settings ensure that no other settings are harmed and always have the channel mode set to Auto as it will decide the best possible channels for your connection as you're not the only person in the surroundings who has a WiFi connection.

I hope this short and crisp little settings post help you out to increase your connection speed and range. If there's any mistake or error and you know the previous settings do revert them back or else call your ISP to reset the router for you.

How to Decide on Internet?

There are times when you're stuck upon a choice. You are in a dilemma of losing something if you choose any one of the options but you can't have both as well. Choices are something that either make or break things. I guess the whole market and mostly blogging world thrives on choices.

Influencers over the social media be like ' X no of reasons to choose/not to choose this'. You'll see millions and billions of posts over Internet with some awesome reasons about the things you're being indecisive about. You go on reading them all and at the end instead of finding a solution you end up being more confused. Most of the times people search online for tech and in the most common reasons it turns up into Andriod vs iOS or Windows vs OSX vs Linux.

Internet is full of information and when i mean Information its both correct and false information. You're likely to get false information first most of the times due to several factors that you know. Sometimes people ask me 'how did you find that? I ended up searching for hours and landed on youtube watching something else' The answer to this is very simple, its all about your searching habits and things you watch over internet.

There are things like SEO and stuff but it doesn't show its effect unless you act upon it. If you watch more iphone posts there are likely chances that when you search for iphone vs andriod posts you'll get iphone biased posts. Here the blame games won't work at all and that's the fun.

I always say to people,

Keep it simple, Keep it easy

But Ah well, you can guide and rest people have to make their choices. Its like you want to loose weight but you want to eat that cheese burst pizza as well, Quite tempting eh? At the end of the day, whether you choose one or the another it solely depends upon your happiness. You might end up choosing the best option but you might not find the happiness you wished for. Remember

Making the best choice always doesn't mean you'll end up happy.  

 Sometimes you have to go deep inside and find what makes you happy. If you want to eat that pizza brings you happiness then go and eat it. But if getting more fit makes you happy then its better to refrain from the idea of pizza.

At the end of the day

It's all about priorities

Everything in the world is about priorities that you make and break. If you think getting the most expensive phone makes you happy then go for it but if you think getting most value for money thing makes you happy, then that's your call. I hope after this making decisions over internet gets a bit easier. 

How Wattpad became more than just an App

With happy new year kind of posts plaguing the internet, I thought about doing something different. Well, 2016 was a kind of special year for me. It was a year full of surprises and thrills like a roller coaster ride. High soaring heights along with deep scary chills were filled throughout the year and now it's finally over.

I am actually awaiting the surprises that are packed in this new year. Along with the year end It was also a year completed on Wattpad. I know officially and technically I had logged into Wattpad for the first time last week of Dec 2015. But I considered it seriously only after March.

So I am sharing my first year at Wattpad Along with my book writing journey with you guys. Jan and Feb were the months I considered Wattpad as just like any other app that you install.

I am a regular tester and try a lot of apps including their beta versions as well. So while scrolling across the play store I came across with this app named Wattpad. At first, I felt like 'Okay! this sounds cool. Let's try this.'

As I logged first time into the app, I was totally disappointed by its interface and design. I know some of you will say its a place for writers. But let me tell you, my internal instincts of a programmer and beta app tester didn't allow me to get impressed at all with the design of the app. That was one of the reasons I did consider the app seriously till March ending.

I hadn't uninstalled it but I didn't even look at it during that time. I was too engrossed with reading published eBooks. As everything has an end, so had my collection. Being a foodie for books kind of a person (i know there's nothing as such, but stop being so nit-picky)  I started my search for new books in Wattpad.

To my astonishment, I came across wildest of book themes and the topics I could ever imagine. Most of the Books I could see were filled with Mafias and their angel romances or Bad Boy-nerd girl romances. I know again people will say making a grumpy face - 'there are a lot of books apart from that on Wattpad' to them I'll reply - 'I know dear!'. But those are the kind of books that still plague my Wattpad recommendations.

So coming back to the story, I started writing my first book which I titled-"Friendship V/S Relationship". Yes as the title suggests It really has a war between Friendship and Love.  As it usually does, A first few chapters went unnoticed. It might have a few reads but everything felt like a waste as I had uploaded more than half of the story by September and it still hadn't completed 1k reads.

But later on during Oct-Nov when I had started editing at bit and uploading the chapters again. My Book hopped up into What's Hot list and that's where the fun part begun in the journey. I completed the book by November and December was one of the best months in my writing journey. The book was completed and it ranked highest in the What's Hot list.

While I was still busy enjoying my new found writing success. I received a message on Wattpad from Wattpad Team. I had applied for Wattpad Ambassadors during Aug-Sept. Well, they really felt that I can be a worthy candidate and I landed up in the "Friends Of Wattpad" Group.

The people and engagements with the Wattpad community are the things that really makes it all special. The stories and imaginative worlds along with the mixture of different communities and people from all over the world makes Wattpad overall more than just a web-portal for me.

As I started engaging more and more with this awesomesauce community Wattpad really became just more than an App for me this year.

I have started writing my second book which is a sci-fi and fantasy mix. I hope it's loved as well.

Tutorial - How to make a Multi-cast cover

Hey everyone,

In the previous article we taught you about making a simple or a unicast cover. Here we are getting a bit more complex. We are gonna use multiple pictures and this gonna get more complex.

Requirements : photo editing apps, you can use any but here we have used phonto and picsart, both of them are freely available in app stores. If you have knowledge about image editing you can even use snapseed for achieving pro level effects.

NOTE : ALL WATTPAD COVERS SHOULD BE OF SIZE 512 px X 800 px  WIDTH AND HEIGHT RESPECTIVELY.

Step One : Choose a background Image and other images that you'll be needing for the cover.

 

Choose any image of your choice. Make sure it is in HD or even if it isn't make sure that your book cover background doesn't look pixelated or blurred. You can search internet for stock photography or can use any copyright free images. Its better advised to choose no copyright images or any images that belong to any of the creative commons license or free for personal use. If you're planning to make it for something that's gonna earn money make sure you have appropriate consent to use it commercially. Image should be relatable to the story or concept of the theme you're going to keep in mind while designing a cover.  Even for the cast as we said make sure choosing your character images appropriately you download and keep a lot of them. Incase you wish to change your mind. But for that you need finalise your cast before you start making a cover. You can even use portraits of famous celebs but make sure you aren't using it for monetary gains else that could land you in copyright issues.

Step Two :  Cut out the required Portions

Now you need to crop and edit out the parts that you'll need. Just open those images that you had downloaded previously into image editor app. Now just crop out the characters or the portions that you'll be needing and save them.  You can add effects to the parts before cropping so that they look attractive or funky. But as always avoid overdo.

Step Three :  Arrange the cropped parts.

Now as you are done with selecting and separating out your characters or the elements of your cover. You can now arrange them by opening app and creating a new template. Add the cropped parts to template and adjust their locations where you would like them to be on cover.

Step Four : Add the background image.

Now add the background image using the add background option. After adding the background you can also add effects to background to make sure it gives out the vibes that you want to be in a cover. As i had said in previous post don't over do the effects. Just make sure it looks pretty with the cast you've Chosen.

Step Five : Save the cover design

You're now half done with your super cool looking complex cover. Now export it or as in simpler terms save it with the resolution you want it to be. Well you can choose for maximum resolution for excellent results but that'll increase the image size. Though high wouldn't be that bad. But don't go for small. It'll detoriate  image quality. Choose any between high or maximum. I would opt for high as its best for a our needs for printing or other purposes you can choose maximum.

Step Six : Add text to image

It's one of the most important aspects of cover designing. You can now add text using any good app, here we have used phonto for adding text to image. While adding text make sure you don't overdo the funky texts. A slight tinge from regular straight faced fonts surely look attractive but that won't be looking any professional or good either. Make sure that your text is visible even so that your title is visible even when someone scrolls through your lists. Authors name can be or should be smaller than the title. Make sure to place the texts in regions such that the overall feel of the cover is good. Make sure to keep texts such that it doesn't hide the background image as it might depict a story on itself. Use contrasting colours for the text, bold isn't necessary but might look good in some cases. Adjust the text and effects in a way that it is eye pleasing.

Step Seven : Publish your final cover.

When you're done with the texts and other stuff. Make sure that the cover overall feels good. You can edit it again to ensure factors like brightness, contrast, sharpness etc. Apply effects till you're satisfied with your output and make sure you don't over do it. When you feel satisfied with your artwork its ready for publishing.

I hope that this helps you out to design your own complex multicast covers.

Else you can always request here at @authorsarena ;) do comment and share it and let me know what you think about it. For any doubts please feel free ask in your comments.

Tutorial - How to make a single cast cover

Hello everyone in this tutorial we'll be guiding you around with some simple and easy steps to make a simple book cover.

Requirements : photo editing apps, you can use any but here we have used phonto and picsart, both of them are freely available in app stores. If you have knowledge about image editing you can even use snapseed for achieving pro level effects.

NOTE : ALL WATTPAD COVERS SHOULD BE OF SIZE 512 px X 800 px  WIDTH AND HEIGHT RESPECTIVELY.

Step One : Choose a background Image

Choose any image of your choice. Make sure it is in HD or even if it isn't make sure that your book cover background doesn't look pixelated or blurred. You can search internet for stock photography or can use any copyright free images. Its better advised to choose no copyright images or any images that belong to any of the creative commons license or free for personal use. If you're planning to make it for something that's gonna earn money make sure you have appropriate consent to use it commercially. Image should be relatable to the story or concept of the theme you're going to keep in mind while designing a cover.

Step Two :  Apply the desired effects.

The effects may defer from different app to app. You can choose and apply your desired effects from the options available in your app. Make sure its not too of anything it should be enough bright, should have good contrast and sharpness. Don't overdo the effect. It'll be a disaster for cover. If the picture is good as it is for cover you wanna make there's no need for any effects. You can skip this step if you think your image is perfect for cover. Here we have used picsart for adding effects and making it a perfect cover size.

Step Three : Add the text and textual effects.

You can now add text using any good app, here we have used phonto for adding text to image. While adding text make sure you don't overdo the funky texts. A slight tinge from regular straight faced fonts surely look attractive but that won't be looking any professional or good either. Make sure that your text is visible even so that your title is visible even when someone scrolls through your lists. Authors name can be or should be smaller than the title. Make sure to place the texts in regions such that the overall feel of the cover is good. Make sure to keep texts such that it doesn't hide the background image as it might depict a story on itself. Use contrasting colours for the text, bold isn't necessary but might look good in some cases. Adjust the text and effects in a way that it is eye pleasing.

Step Four : Finalise the cover.

Now when you think the text and the other things are perfect you can now save the image. If you feel that you still need to adjust overall brightness and stuff in final cover. Use app and make sure it looks good according to you. At last when you're fully satisfied with your artwork publish it.

I do hope that this tutorial helps you out for designing beautiful covers.

Do let me know your views about the article and comment for any doubts. Well you can always try yourself making it yourself or Artists at @authorsarena are always ready with their virtual brushes ;)