24 Hours Series

24 Hours in Busan with the Xiaomi Mi A1

Published

October 10, 2017

Chay Lazaro

There are very few cities that have a bit of everything for everyone, and Busan is one of them. Whether you’re a coffee junkie, adventurer, history buff, art lover, foodie, shopaholic, or even a beach bum, Busan has something in store for you to discover.

Terarosa Coffee

No matter how you like your coffee — brewed, espresso, hand-drip, cold brew, or Dutch — there’s no shortage of cafes and blends to try in Busan.

Terarosa Coffee in Suyeong is one you shouldn’t miss. It’s in F1963, a former factory renovated into a Kinda Blue art and culture hub, similar to Huashan in Taipei.

While I prefer cold brew any day, their iced hand-drip coffee and baked goodies are worth a try. If you have a lot of time, you can check out one of the many hard-bound titles they have inside, or visit the exhibition next door.

Geumnyeonsan Mountain

There are many ways to get an aerial view of Busan, paying KRW 5,000 (US$ 4.35) to get to the top of Busan Tower being the easiest. But if you’re in for a little adventure, consider Geumnyeonsan Mountain. Like most sights in Busan, it’s free and you get your dose of exercise for the day.

The Mi A1’s zoom lens is especially useful in this scenario.

You can take the village bus to save time and shorten the hike down to 20 minutes.

United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea

South Korea’s second city is not short of history. This UN Memorial Cemetery, the only one of its kind in the world, serves as a burial ground for the fallen UN troops during the Korean War, some of whom have no known graves in their home countries.

Haeundae

Did I say Busan has everything? This port city is also home to a lot of beaches, with Haeundae being the biggest and busiest. But it’s autumn, and I think we can all agree that beaches are best saved for summer time.

HaeunBAE in Haeundae? ? Taking advantage of the portrait mode on the Mi A1!

The Pancake Epidemic

Thanks to tourists that flock Haeundae, restaurants and cafes are now found everywhere.

Among the plenty of choices in the area is The Pancake Epidemic, which serves Stumptown Coffee from Portland and makes some of the fluffiest pancakes I’ve ever tried!

If you know me well, you know I’m not a morning person, so having breakfast food at lunch time is not really that unusual. It helps that the food and cafe are perfectly Instagrammable.

Dalmaji-gil Road

An alternative to walking along the coastline of Haeundae is this old railway. It’s especially beautiful with the trees on each side of the track, sometimes giving you a peek of the ocean to the right, and houses from the nearby villages to the left.

Light at the end of the tunnel. The Mi A1’s HDR works really well in this scene.

Haedong Yonggung Temple

From the railway, go off track and take bus number 100 from the Mipo Moontan Road Entrance stop. You’ll know you’re going the right way when you see the humongous Lotte Premium Outlet mall. A few stops away is the entrance to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple.

Get a hotteok from one of the food stalls before reaching the temple.

While most Buddhist temples in Korea are located in mountains, Haedong Yonggungsa is built next to the sea.

Gamcheon Culture Village

Another thing Busan is known for are the colorful houses built on its foothills. While there are a lot of them in the city, this one in Gamcheon is the most famous and touristy one.

The community painted these fish signs to guide visitors around the village.

Nampo-dong and Jokbal

Expect to have more than your usual number of meals in one day because walking around Busan will make you hungry.

There’s an entire alley of restaurants serving Nangchae Jokbal or pig’s feet in Nampo-dong. It’s said to give you wrinkle-free skin thanks to the the collagen in the pig’s skin. ??

Gukje Market

If shopping is a must, walk towards Gukje Market for souvenirs, clothes, shoes, socks, spices, humongous fruits, and seafood!

If you’re visiting Busan to buy cosmetics and makeup, don’t fret, you’re sure to find stores around Nampo as well, and at every subway station.

Midnight dinner at BIFF Gwangjang-ro

They say eat where the locals eat! For a good sampling of Busan’s seafood, find these carts along BIFF Gwangjang-ro and they’ll cook whatever you point at. While you’re at it, get a bottle of soju and drink the night away.

It doesn’t matter whether you get there on a train, plane, or boat. You’ll have plenty to see and do in Busan, even if you’re there for just one day.

24 Hours is a series on GadgetMatch.com where we showcase our travels through a smartphone camera’s perspective. It’s also a documented guide on things to see and do in a city in case you happen to plan a trip there.

[irp posts=”20513″ name=”Xiaomi Mi 6 vs Mi 5X: Camera Shootout”]

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24 Hours Series

vivo V27: Studio lights in your pocket

Meet the new Aura Light Portrait System

Published

April 14, 2023

Chay Lazaro

It’s spring 2023 and vivo is back with the V series. The vivo V27 comes with a new feature called Aura Light Portrait System, which takes its main camera to another level. Like its predecessor it’s got a color-changing back, making it a fashionable choice for different users.

Stylish color-changing design

We have the V27 in Emerald Green, which starts off with a lighter tint that looks like jade. When exposed to UV light, it changes into a darker shade of green. This is achieved thanks to the Emerald Glass processing technique. The phone also comes in Magic Blue, Flowing Gold, and Noble Black.

Chay is wearing light colors so the Emerald Green model matches her outfit better. It makes a nice, subtle pop of color, and goes with her pastel-y mint green purse and boots.

It’s also worth pointing out the 3D curved screen and this curved back on the V27 make it feel extremely thin and light.

Studio lights in your pocket

As mentioned earlier, the vivo V27 features the Aura Light Portrait System for great portraits even in low light. It’s a combination of the IMX677V sensor, which Sony designed with vivo specifically for this phone, algorithm optimizations, and the Aura Light. Its outer ring is matte and sandblasted, softening the light coming out of it.

The Aura Light, combined with the large sensor, and algorithm optimizations work together to take great portraits even in low light.

Lunch and coffee

The day before was a very long day so we figured we should get food and coffee. We found this dimly lit restaurant in Soho called Cafe Select. I think it’s a German restaurant because we had some schnitzel and there’s German decor everywhere.

We also specifically asked for the corner booth to test out the V27’s low light capabilities. Despite the lack of light sources, it’s impressive that the V27 managed to produce an accurate cutout of me even when I kept moving with the Bokeh Portrait video mode on.

There’s no natural light in this restaurant so it’s also the perfect place to take portraits and test out the Aura Light Portrait System. It’s like a portable ring light that you can use to take clearer portraits. Take a look at some examples.

On video mode, you can also use LUTs. We had fun using the Nostalgia filter to film a short video in the restaurant, which perfectly matches the vintage vibe of its interiors.

High definition selfies

The vivo V27 would not be a V-series smartphone if it didn’t have an amazing selfie camera. On the V27, we got a 50MP HD selfie camera with autofocus.

It’s worth noting that the phone feels so light in the hand. It’s so easy to take one-handed selfies. I also love how subtle the color change is on the Emerald Green model.

The V27 offers three levels of selfie filters that help hide blemishes and enhance your features — None, Natural, and Classic.

The 50MP front camera means clear selfie details. Most other smartphones have inferior selfie cameras compared to its rear counterparts, but not the V27. As you can see in the example below, zooming in on my eyes show that you can clearly see the strands of my eyebrows.

Walking the High Line & shopping

To test its video stabilization and macro camera, we continued to walk the High Line. Both features produced very impressive results.

Another feature we tried is MicroMovie. It’s perfect for creators like me. It comes with a whole bunch of templates that you can use for TikTok or Instagram Reels. I filmed a daily vlog with it and had so much fun.

While we were shopping, I noticed too that the V27 changed colors after being indoors for a bit. It turned into a beautiful white marble-like finish that fades into mint green at the bottom.

After the sun has set, it’s time to take more low-light portraits and OOTD. Our friends Alex and Leslie even joined us for a quick photo shoot. New York City comes to life at night, and with a 1/1.56-inch sensor and Super Night Mode, the vivo V27 can easily capture the hustle and bustle of the city streets.

More than just a camera smartphone

The vivo V27 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 and comes with either an 8GB or 12GB of RAM.

With Extended RAM the phone borrows memory from your internal storage and gives you an additional 8GB RAM. This way you get either 16GB or 20GB available RAM.