<div>Take a big beautiful screen. Strap it on to a camera. Pile on a multi-storey zoom lens. And then cover the lot with a thick coating of Jelly Bean. What you get is Samsung’s GC100, a hybrid device with tonnes of smart features not seen before in a camera.<br /> </div><div>All the smartness in the Galaxy Camera comes from the bold and innovative way Samsung has combined Android 4.1.1 and its own TouchWiz interface tricks with photography. For connectivity, there’s Wifi and Bluetooth and a 3G Sim slot. But no regular phone calls or SMS. You can use VOIP apps though. The exciting part of this camera is Android. First, it means immediate sharing. You can auto tag your friends and share on social networks and other devices. With the touchscreen and its virtual keyboard, you can write captions, a mail to go with an image, or even a blog post, right from the camera. Second, you get access to Google services and Android apps, the most relevant being photo effects apps. Third, you can do the usual connected things like email, watching video or playing a game. Finally, you can use the features that Samsung likes to put into its devices, such as voice command. While this may seem like a gimmick, see how much it helps when you need to hold the camera steady.<br /> </div><div>The 4.8-inch HD Super Clear LCD screen is one of the largest in a compact camera – if not the biggest. It has a 306 pixel density and resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. But the Galaxy Camera is itself large. It won’t fit into anything but the baggiest pockets and even so you will feel its weight and bulk. But it’s well designed, with none of Samsung’s shiny plastic, but a textured and matt material that makes it easier to hold. The buttons are just a few and all settings are onscreen.<br /> <br />There’s a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a tripod mount, HDMI port, USB port and the battery compartment. <br /> </div><div>It is powered by a 1.4 Ghz quad core processor and 1GB of RAM. That’s a first for a camera. There’s just 8GB of internal memory, but you have cloud storage and a slot for a microSD card that can add 64 GB. With Jelly Bean on board, this gadget works fast. The battery is sadly underdone —a 1650 mAh — and it runs out in about four hours. </div><table width="400" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5" border="0" align="center"><tbody><tr><td><img width="600" vspace="5" hspace="5" height="374" alt="" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=dc942d1d-b6bc-4f42-a945-91492d6b7a6b&groupId=222922&t=1355740532176" /></td></tr><tr><td><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);"><strong>BLAUPUNKT’S BT DRIVE FREE 211 The device can connect to two cellphones simultaneously; SONY XPERIA SL A superbly stylish mid-range Android phone<br /></strong><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128);"><strong>(BW Pic by Ritesh Sharma)</strong></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /> </div><div>Samsung has used its own 16.3 megapixel CMOS sensor. The 21x optical zoom is remarkable for its very presence on a point-and-shoot. The ISO ranges from 100 to 3200 and max aperture is f/2.8. Video is full HD 1020p and includes a slow-motion mode (also found on the Galaxy Note II).<br /> <br />Ultimately, buying the Galaxy Camera may not be one of the most rational decisions you’ve made. But it may well be fun. As happens with many gadgets, you just plain want it rather than need it.<br /><strong><br /></strong></div><div><strong>Heavy On Style</strong></div><div>What a pretty looking phone! Sony has a beautiful aesthetic for its Xperia line and the SL comes in white, black, grey and pink versions. The clean-cut lines are satisfyingly neat. The length of this 4.3-inch phone is broken by the signature transparent strip, giving both the front and the back a stylish edge. The back is ever so gently curved and made of that matt plastic material that I’m beginning to think of as ‘classy plastic’. <br /> </div><div>Sticking to minimalism, Sony has put in all the necessary buttons and slots and made them look good under little flaps. Unfortunately, the SL carries over some of the annoyances of the Xperia range, such as the three capacitive buttons at the bottom of the screen that you can barely tell are there as they don’t light up.<br /> </div><div>The SL has an LCD 720 x 1280 pixel display with a high pixel density — 342 ppi. Text is sharp, colours nice, but viewing angles are not. There’s the usual Sony Timescape interface. This handset supports 10 finger gestures and is fast all through. Browsing the web and navigating the device are also quite fast. The SL is a bit of an upgrade to the Xperia S. It’s got a faster dual-core Snapdragon 1.7GHz processor, a better screen, and Android ICS. <br /> </div><div>There’s 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage but no microSD slot. The sealed battery is of 1750 mAh and lasts you most of the day. The SL only accommodates a micro-Sim.<br /> </div><div>The camera, an important part of the SL, is a 12 megapixel, with minimal settings. It takes nice pictures in daylight, does a surprisingly good job with macro, and has nice colours. In indoor conditions though, it’s particularly noisy. The SL costs around Rs 24,000. Go for the SL if you like its design and style and want a good mid-range Android phone.<br /> </div><div><strong>Speak Free</strong></div><div>Blaupunkt’s BT Drive Free 211 is a hands-free device with a difference. Its smart Bluetooth headset works just like any other. But the difference shows up when you snap this headset into its dock — and the whole unit turns into a hands-free ‘speakerphone’. The docking base clips on to your car’s sun visor. The headset can be used separately for calls. <br /> </div><div>With signal-processing technology for echo cancellation and noise suppression, the sound is clear indeed. The built-in battery in the docking base also makes this portable — you can carry it into a meeting room to use as a conference speakerphone. Its microphone is good, but in my tests, it wasn’t as clear as the mike on handsets. The device can connect to two cellphones simultaneously, and supports text-to-speech and voice recognition. For Rs 3,990, this is a useful device. There are other models, such as the 411 (Rs 2,790) and 112 (Rs 2,990), both ‘speakerphones’ without a headset. The top-end 311 (Rs 4,990) adds phonebook sync and a display to the headset-dock combo.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 24-12-2012)</span><br /><br /><br /> </div>
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
