The Boom J7 is officially the first Android device that lasted more than 48 hours in my hands. Being a renowned die hard Blackberry 10 fan, I am quite shocked that I haven’t missed my BlackBerry much from the day I picked up this device. Design My first wow for this device is the design. I am talking about looks, feel, colours and all of that. Being a designer, I am almost not attracted to coloured devices. The Boom J7 proved to be an exception. It was love at first sight. I immediately took some time to take in its lovely feel and colour and to caress it. very few devices in this price range give you the semblance of premium that the Boom J7 gives. The colour display too.. erm.. though not as bad as what is on those premium devices that cost as much as my dad’s first car, is very good and clear, with really beautiful wallpapers. As a matter of fact, the wallpapers are so beautiful that Mr Mo took one of it for that his device that can buy a Range Rover. Selfies We all know that until recently, BlackBerry made horrible selfie cameras. As a result, I have been selfie starved for as long as I can remember (I used a Z10). This Boom J7 brought my swags back with its selfie and primary camera. With really clear pictures and well defined colours, one could easily mistake its photo for one from those other high end devices – you know, those ones that are equivalent to your house rent. The Boom Player Boom Player is a music app built into the Boom J7 by TECNO. It is at the core of the new focus on entertainment. It gives the user access to an online music store to stream and/or download music tracks. It also lets the user play music from the device storage or memory card. This is officially my first use of an in-built music and videos streaming app on any device. And I must confess, it feel like I have been living in a cave all my life. It took split seconds for me to get the hang of it and ooo-la-la! I have been on music without end. I do not know how other music apps work, but this one actually gives me the lyrics for every song played and the lyrics downloads with the songs as well. Now, I just pick a song, download it and sing along every other time it plays on my device. For me, that’s the shiiii. Meanwhile, the loudspeaker on its back is simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! We had an in-house test with a really high end device, and honestly, the results blew our minds. And the bundled headphones are really good, producing clear audio. For a mid-range device like this, I can bet on the fact that it would blow its peers out of the waters. Ultra power Saving Mode I must not forget to mention that the Boom J7 has an Ultra Power Saving feature. This basically turns the device into an ordinary feature phone with the most basic of functions and without any internet connection. I once had to run on this mode during a weekend party when my battery ran low. Guess – it lasted an amazing 12 more hours of standard use on calls, text messaging, calculator, notebook for jottings and a sound recorder. Because joggling between modes is so easy, you can switch briefly into the smartphone mode to check your messages and switch back to feature phone mode. Nahs? Unfortunately, I have none. The device hasn’t misbehaved in all two weeks it has been with me. It hasn’t lagged once either. I do all my smartphone activities – mails, web browsing, social media, phone calls, mobile banking and some little measure of gaming. The battery is good but not exceptional. It keeps me going throughout my working hours, though one needs to charge up about once every 12 hrs. It doesn’t heat up like some other devices I know and its finishing looks like it will withstand some serious use. 9 August, 2018