TechCrooks™

Battleborn, by Borderlands creators Gearbox, is simultaneously hilarious and annoying, extremely eye catching and visually drab, with exciting moment to moment gameplay that's still boring because of how repetitive it gets. That sounds pretty par for the course for Gearbox, but Borderlands was able to go beyond that with its insane combination of loot and huge skill trees. Does Battleborn also deliver more, or fall under the weight of its imperfections? Borderlands was the FPS take on a game like Diablo - lots of loot to collect, skills to upgrade, and hordes of enemies to kill. Battleborn brings the FPS treatment to League of Legends - short rounds of 10 - 30 minutes, where you face off against swarms of minions and enemy heroes, and take down the other team using your weapons and your skills. Instead of slowly leveling up your character over the course of hours of play, you quickly gain levels for your character during each match, unlocking abilities as you go along, and reset ...

Micromax showed off its latest flagships, the Canvas 6 and Canvas 6 Pro , at a grand event in Gurgaon last month where it also unveiled a new logo and brand identity. No longer content to be thought of as a "budget" smartphone manufacturer, the company which has so far made the most of India's smartphone boom, wants to take on new Chinese competitors such as Xiaomi and LeEco , which have seriously upped the ante in terms of features, build quality, and price. Where other companies have pushed high-resolution screens, top-flight CPUs, fingerprint sensors and metal bodies at extremely low prices, Micromax has decided to go with 4GB of RAM as its trump card. Pretty much all phones under Rs. 10,000 now have 2GB of RAM, and 3GB isn't unheard of under Rs. 15,000. Let's see if this one feature is enough to distinguish the Canvas 6 Pro from its competition, or if Micromax is barking up the wrong tree. Look and feel The Canvas 6 Pro might be Micromax's best-lo...

With 40 million PlayStation 4 consoles sold , you'd think the more business-minded folk at Sony would have scuppered development on Uncharted 4: A Thief's End . Considering how well the console has performed commercially without the presence of a big exclusive game, why even bother making one? After all, isn't that why the Uncharted games are called system sellers? Thankfully, the value of content isn't lost on the company and neither is Uncharted 4. And for that series fans should be grateful. Like the last four games in the series (including PS Vita's Uncharted: Gold Abyss), Uncharted 4 has you playing as Nathan Drake. After walking away from the dangerous life of being a treasure hunter, Drake finds himself right back in the thick of things trying to save his brother Sam, who was long thought dead. In order to do so, he must uncover the treasure of pirate Henry Avery. Along the way you'll run and gun past an assortment of expendable soldiers, hunt for clue...

Brainwavz is known for making affordable headphones that offer good sound for their price. The Brainwavz Omega is among our favourite pairs of in-ear headphones under Rs. 1,000, which made us want to try the slightly more expensive Brainwavz Delta. The Rs. 1,599 Brainwavz Delta costs more than what most people are willing to pay for a pair of in-ear headphones that they'll mostly use with their smartphones. Having said that, the Delta is still cheaper than Apple's EarPods so it could be a good alternative for quite a few people. Is it good enough to command a higher price, especially since the Omega is also great choice at Rs. 999? Read on to find out. Specifications, design, and comfort The Brainwavz Delta uses 8mm dynamic drivers, and has a rated impedance of 16Ohms. Frequency response ranges from 20-20,000Hz, and sensitivity measures in at 100dB. It has a 1.3m Y-shaped cable with a slider at the top to help prevent tangling. It comes with a three-button in-line remote...

Pinball is an age old arcade game that has a big place in the digital age in no small part because of its inclusion in Microsoft 's Windows XP . Innumerable variations of the game have been made over the years, which is why our first reaction to Inks, a new pinball game for iOS , was less than enthusiastic. However, that changed once we saw screenshots and the trailer video on the App Store. State of Play, the maker of beautiful games such as Lumino City , is the team behind Inks and we were drawn to the game thanks to its art. Unlike an ordinary pinball game, Inks isn't about racking up a high score. Each of Inks' levels looks plain, apart from a few colour boxes or circles. To clear the level, you have to use the flippers to make the ball hit these colours. Hitting colours makes them splash on the board and the ball begins to leave a trail of the colour wherever it goes. The level ends once you've hit all the colours, leaving you with a kind of a painting that you ...

If you want to watch English movies on the Internet, there is a huge list of content providers that you can log in to right now, with some being free and ad-supported, and others being fully paid. Apps such as Netflix, Hooq, and Hotstar are all well-made, easy to use, and have huge libraries on offer. If you want just regional content though, then you might prefer to turn to a specialised provider - that's where Fast Filmz comes in. The app currently has a small library of over 150 Tamil movies, with plans to add Telugu films soon while growing the Tamil catalogue through 2016, and adding more regional languages over time. The app itself has a simple, easy to use interface that puts a lot of focus on the "superstars" of cinema. It's a paid app, but the charges are quite low; you don't have to commit to an entire month's subscription, and you're paying a mere Re. 1 per day, with support for carrier billing. Users can subscribe to a monthly plan of Rs. 30...

Now the number five smartphone vendor in the world , Vivo's growth has been nothing short of tremendous. This Chinese smartphone maker has come a long way since setting up shop in 2009, and has used its relatively premium positioning to develop a good reputation for itself in India. Vivo's newest launches are the V3 and V3Max , priced at Rs. 17,980 and Rs. 23,980 respectively. While the former is a simpler, more cost-effective phone, the latter offers a bit more in terms of performance and specifications. Today, we're reviewing the Vivo V3Max , which offers a mid-range feature set, but with a powerful new SoC under the hood. Find out all about the V3Max in our review. Look and feel The Vivo V3Max isn't a small phone by any means. With a 5.5-inch screen and weighing in at a chunky 168g, this phone is a proper phablet and not for anyone who wants a phone that is easy to handle. Although it is fairly slim for the size, the V3Max definitely has a sense of bulkiness to ...

There's absolutely no doubt that Marvel has the biggest cinematic universe in the world today. Everything that Marvel has thrown at the big screen, ever since Iron Man, has struck gold and the reviews have been largely positive. It's reached a point where Marvel can make movies on the most obscure of characters - the C listers in its comic roster such as Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy - and still have the audience flocking to the cinemas. It's not going to be any different for its latest offering - Captain America: Civil War . But that doesn't mean it's any good. Before we get into what's wrong with the movie, you should take a look at our Civil War guide to familiarise yourself with the significance of Marvel's Civil War event. In the world of comic books, Marvel's Civil War was a big deal. The comic event has its roots in the very real-world problem of collateral damage, and it's something that will take place when great power lies in the...

LG recently launched the K10 LTE and K7 LTE in India, from its new budget series that was first unveiled at CES 2016 . After having reviewed the K10 LTE, it's now time to take a look at its smaller sibling. The K7 LTE is a bit more affordable, but that does come at the cost of features and specifications. At Rs. 9,500, the phone goes up against the likes of the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus ( Review ), Coolpad Note 3 ( Review ) and the base model of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 ( Review ). Let's see if the K7 LTE can makes its presence felt among those heavyweights. [embedded content] Look and feel The K7 LTE is designed with the same pebble-like finish as its older sibling and from the front (or sides for that matter), it's hard to tell the two apart. The curved edges of the display blend seamlessly with the rest of the body, lending the phone a very nice look. The back cover has a milder texture as compared to the K10 LTE but continues to offer good grip. There's a 5-meg...

Canon's EOS 1200D was the talk of the town when it launched two years ago, and it continues to be quite popular with first-timers, mostly due to the company's aggressive marketing campaigns. Today, we'll be reviewing its successor, the EOS 1300D, which was launched recently in India for roughly the same price as the outgoing model. The new EOS 1300D adds Wi-Fi and NFC capabilities, among other minor changes in order to make it more modern and enticing for first-time buyers. So, is it going to become the new go-to camera at the entry level? Let's find out. Design and build Canon hasn't strayed too far from its current formula, and the EOS 1300D looks virtually identical to its sibling. The body is built entirely of plastic with a matte texture which is good for grip and is somewhat resistant to scratches. There's rubber padding where your fingers and thumb would go, which makes it easy to shoot with one hand. Fit and finish are fairly good, although the qua...