Author
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.
Irashly asked a little girl I know what she wanted for her upcoming birthday. Tablet, she announced promptly, without batting an eyelid. But while this child is longing for her own device, the rest of the world isn’t so keen on tablets anymore. One reason may be that smartphones have become so large. Another that hybrid laptops are now getting more affordable and are more common. And yet another may be that there’s little to differentiate between one tablet and another.iBall begs to differ with the launch of yet another tablet called the iBall Slide Stellar A2 tablet. That mouthful is a narrow compact 7-inch tablet that looks like a phone that didn’t know when to stop growing.It’s got itself a pretty good build: metalized on the sides to give it an expensive look, and synthetic on the back. It isn’t, in fact, expensive, at Rs 11,999, and not a bad option for someone who wants a tab they can slip into a bag. Handy is the word that comes to mind when I pick it up every so often in the day. Except that I have a phone that’s just a little smaller than the tablet is so it’s fairly superfluous for me as it could be for many others who have a large phone.The Stellar A2 runs on an 1.7 GHz octa-core Mediatek processor with just 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage space. But it does have space for a micro-SD card. You’ll wonder where that is housed on this device until you try to tackle the tough task of opening the little panel at the back and bottom of the device. There, you’ll find two SIM slots as well. You can call using this tablet and a set of earphones with mic.The tablet is on Android KitKat and is smooth performing. It’s just that the 1280x800 pixels IPS display is a little blocky and un-finessed. It’s bright enough, but not crisp. If you need a fabulous screen, you’ll have to look further up the food chain.The big USP claimed by the maker is the set of two 8MP cameras on the device. This should have been really cool except that the images are a little pinkish-blue and dark, proving that sheer megapixel power counts for little. It’s meant for “selfie addicts” but honestly, smartphones will do that job better.There are many situations in which a tablet like the Stellar A2 will be a good fit. Businesses that need to give on-the-go workers a device to record data, for example. Or indeed, a toy and learning tool for a little girl who could drop it, but hopefully won’t. mala.bhargava@gmail.com(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 13-07-2015)
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I have to say straight off that the Yoga 2 Pro tablet would look great on any table. It’s really not a tablet in the traditional sense, meaning it’s not a book-sized handy portable little thing that you can slip into a handbag or whip out in the car. It’s a whole 13 inches of hardware and more like half a laptop, the keyboard missing in action. But there is a nice use-case for it, and it’s on the CEO’s table, or the CMO’s briefcase. That’s because you can make a presentation in minutes. Here’s how:The cylindrical base of this tablet has a whole lot of stuff inside. There’s a battery, there’s a hinge to move the screen into different positions, there’s a power button and indication light, and there’s a pico projector. A few moments to take it out of a bag, a second to switch it on, ten seconds to tap your presentation in its app, a second to press the projector on — and you’re good to go. If the room can be darkened, you’re in luck and will just need to make sure the tablet is in the right tilt position and height to hit the wall. If there’s too much light, I’d switch to the tablet’s screen itself, a gorgeous QHD display with nice enough colours, brightness and viewing angles.You do get a non-pro version of this tablet without the projector, but come on, a projector is fun. You can just switch to the wall and a 50-inch image to watch a movie or catch up on YouTube. This isn’t home theatre. The picture on the wall will never be as beautiful as the one on the screen — but there are all sorts of situations when you could find the flexibility of projecting the screen on the wall helpful. There’s 30 to 50 lumens of brightness to this pico projector but yes, it will take up battery and resources if you use it for long.The kickstand on this tablet is released with a little switch and the panel located there lifts to let you put in an SD card. But this is a Wi-Fi-only tablet. That’s another reason why it’s really best on a desk or table.The positions you can get this tablet to perform include standing straight up or with a varying amount of lean-back. Lie it flat on the table and then lift the back by 20 degrees or so — that’s the position for projecting as well as for typing. You can also hang the tablet on the wall, but you probably won’t find yourself doing that too often.Sadly, this tablet doesn’t have a stylus else it would be even more enjoyable to work with. You can get one optionally, but it isn’t optimised for a stylus. The keyboard is big and full and if you’re a one-finger typist you’ll find yourself making too many big side to side movements looking for keys. You have KingSoft software pre-installed and it’s just like Microsoft’s Office suite. However, you can as well get the original since it’s now on Google Play. Yes, this device runs on Android KitKat, a version behind the current Lollipop. It performs well and smooth for the most part, but there are sometimes unexpected falters and even a crash or two. Somehow, the interface isn’t optimised through and through for the sheer size of this display.Battery life is a little wanting, but since it’s a more desk-bound tablet, you should have the charger handy. Rs 43,990 isn’t bad for the Yoga 2 Pro, but add the cost of an optional keyboard to that and it should be closer to Rs 45,000. The thing is, it’s very pretty. LG G FLEX 2The first time the LG G Flex came around, it cost around Rs 70,000 and no one understood why it should be curved in the first place. Its banana shape not only seemed like a gimmick, it had scaled down specs — such as a not-good-enough 720p screen. Not forgivable for such an expensive phone. It was also really large and wouldn’t fit in pockets.But LG has been listening to more sensible people and has improved upon the original. The G Flex 2 is much smaller at 5.5 inches. It’s comfortable to hold and fits the face by curving into it. The phone comes with a matching case in the box. It is probably best to use it as the gadget can be quite slippery. The glossy plastic back is removable, but the battery is sealed in.The curved shape of this phone actually does aid the viewing which becomes just a shade more immersive. But it’s not enough to make a difference over the host of other expensive phones around. It’s a whole Rs 54,990 worth of phone.This phone should probably have been called Curve, but it’s Flex because it can be pressed down on and will bounce back into its original shape. It’s also supposed to self-heal scratches. Nice, but not a reason to buy. The G Flex 2 flexes some muscle in the processor department. It has a Qualcomm 810, a 64-bit octa-core CPU running at 2.0GHz. There’s 2GB of DDR4 RAM and the internal storage is just 16GB, though the microSD slot lets you expand to 2TB. Except that the cards you get are only 128GB. A shocker is that 4G in India won’t work on this device. The cameras are 13MP and 2.1MP and they’re full of features such as optical image stabilisation. Photos and video are good on this device. The 3,000mAh battery doesn’t perform that well. The phone also heats up a little on heavy tasks. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 13-07-2015)
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It’s testing time for Twitter. Literally. The social network is in such hot water with its investors, it’s trying everything to ensure users become more active and engaged and that advertising brands get to them in that happy state. Unfortunately, it’s been tough going so far, so much so that CEO Dick Costolo finally made good his plan to step down and let someone else have a good go. For now, that someone is co-founder Jack Dorsey, but the search is on for a more permanent leader who will hopefully know how to steer the little blue bird into safe territory, from where it can settle down to faster growth both in terms of users and revenue. Among the changes Twitter’s been making to its site and primary apps is new product and place pages. No one can miss that Twitter’s active users constantly talk about things they’re buying and places they’re going to. The conversation is probably more fast and furious than on Facebook. But try finding something when you need it and it’ll be a frustrating experience. Twitter Search is not the most rewarding – even though Twitter results could appear in Google searches now – and the signal to noise ratio is heavily skewed in favour of noise. Twitter has made a move to make it easier to discover products and places by giving them their own pages. Facebook already has pages for business and brands for years now and so does LinkedIn, though the professionals’ network is not aimed at direct selling. Now Twitter too has expanded the options for brands to show up beyond their company’s Twitter handles. This is just a test for now and is described on Twitter’s blog. An example of a book that people might be interested in and look for on Twitter will show up with the cover image, a description, relevant tweets from accounts you follow, and even video. There will also be a Buy on Twitter button, an upgraded and more contextual version of the earlier Buy Button Twitter had started. And that’s not all. It will be possible to create and access Twitter collections of pages which will be generated from content shared by the influencers in your network and also by Twitter curators. “This is just the beginning,” says Amaryllis Fox, Twitter exec, on the company’s blog, “In the coming months we’ll be testing new experiences and hope to give you the most personalised and relevant information about the places and things you want to explore.” She doesn’t give any hints about how this will be achieved, but make sure you have your Twitter apps updated to see what’s next.
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We spend the better part of our lives in offices, moving very little, straining our backs, necks, shoulders etc with sheer inactivity. Unless you build in some stretching and changing of postures, it's going to impact your body terribly in the not-so-long long run. That's why a whole category of yoga fondly known as Office Yoga has come up. Here are some places you can pick up the moves: Art of Living: 6 Simple PosesThe Art of Living hasn't forgotten that you spend half your life at your desk. Ideally one should get up and move at regular intervals but if one can't, at the very least some desk-bound stretches should help. Six moves are described in brief.and picturised here and you just need a glance to learn them. http://www.artofliving.org/yoga/off-yoga-mat/yoga-office Yoga Journal: A Collection to Choose FromYoga Journal is a long-standing hub for all things Yoga. It's a huge repository of detailed information and guidance for anyone interested in Yoga. They also have a full Office Yoga section and it's brimming over with videos showing the moves you can do. These involve not just seated moves but those you can do using office furniture, so.you do need a short period of privacy.http://www.yogajournal.com/category/beginners/how-to/office-yoga/ BeliefNet: A Sequence of 12 PosesA nice complete sequence to do at regular intervals during the workday. Included are stretches to counteract tiredness from sitting in just one posture four hours. There are no videos here but a picture for each pose and a description. The annoying thing is you have to click to the next page for each bit. http://www.beliefnet.com/Wellness/Health/Healthy-Living/Yoga-Poses-for-Your-Workday.aspx?p=3 Befit: But let's head to YouTube where well-known Yoga instructor Sadie Nardini takes you through a 10 minute rejuvenating chair seated sequence that involves elongation of the spine. She focuses on breathing and flow, making this session more enjoyable than many others available on YouTube. https://youtu.be/mqmaFcckLVQ HealthNutNutrition:Yoga for Office WorkersThis video, from Lesley FightMaster is meant for when you come back home but it is a special collection of moves meant to take away the terrible stress on your lower spine from sitting in the a chair all day and the sequence stretches and exercises on the parts of your body that are office-abused. this sequence is over 30 minutes long and is very relaxing. The only annoying thing is a very long introduction that includes a lot of repetition when the instructor talks about the other YouTuber she has collaborated with and the special yoga mat she uses. A pretty interesting mat, by the way. But try it as it will take away the tiredness of the day.https://youtu.be/_ah3OTVHvmU
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Toshiba’s shop girl, Aiko Chihira, a robot, moves about the shop floor, interacts with customers, and talks quite sweetlyYour next best friend could be a piece a chatty chunk of metal and tech The human race’s attempts to recreate itself in metal and tech is unstoppable. Robots aren’t just intended for cleaning windows or taking on monotonous tasks in factories that people get bored with or replacing humans for dangerous jobs. They’re made to delight kids, take care of the elderly when they have no one else, and even read the news when it’s too late for people to be up. Just recently, the Japanese took their fascination for robots up a notch with the launch of Toshiba’s shop girl, Aiko Chihira. She moves about the shop floor, interacts with customers, and talks quite sweetly. She’s very human – and yet isn’t. She’s a robot who’s going to man (or should that be robot) the information desk at a Tokyo store and help customers find their way about and get what they want. All are movements are startlingly people-like and you’d be tempted to makesmall talk with her – but that may be going too far. Chihira is going to be working at Mitsubishi among other places but someday, there could obviously be plenty of her kith and kin working around the world, say at airports, to guide people across increasingly complex spaces or at hospitals, to do some basic tasks. Exciting, but at the same time someone’s going to be done out of a job. But now here’s a robot that doesn’t look human – he looks like a robot– but behaves like a person. Pepper, developed by Softbank, is incessantly chatty, demands to be called cute, and avoids difficult questions. It’s a glossy white saucer-eyed four-footer that seems willing to chat all day. And it’s a bit cheeky, so people are immediately amused and start to chat with it – or him. It looks like it’s been designed to keep chatting and seems to like human company. But the chatting isn’t one-way. You reply and all its sensors and cameras are trained on you noticing your body language and responding accordingly. In other words, it’s supposed to be understanding human feelings though it’s also a bit thick skinned and does what it likes mostly. Now Pepper is actually becoming commercially available as of nowthough it costs $1,600 and will also have a service fee of $200. Softbank is starting with 1,000 Peppers and it will only be available in limited countries for now, but you can see where this is going. Robots like Pepper are not just a lab experiment any more. Pepper could be used for just about anything you develop it to work with. It’s as cute as R2D2 and kids are extremely charmed by the creature, so it could be used for teaching things that are readily gamified. It could be used, like Chihira, to help customers. Or just make it a member of the family. Pepper even likes and responds tobeing patted on the head.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on his Twitter status that he had launched an app that was available on the Play StoreYou know how they say “There’s an app for that,” a snide remark on how everything in the world is getting to be an app? Even this phrase has become a little passé because everything actually is an app and it’s no longer surprising or comment-worthy. But when a prime minister launches his own app, it’s time to raise an eyebrow or two. On Wednesday (17 June), Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on his Twitter status that he had launched an app that was available on the Play Store: “Come let’s stay connected on the mobile,” he invited Indian citizens. The PM’s Facebook page echoes the announcement as well. While Twitter has close to a billion users worldwide, the active user base is much smaller as new users create their accounts and promptly disappear from the network, finding the onboarding too overwhelming and the stream of hanging 140-character conversations too chaotic. On Facebook, on the other hand, the engagement is more intense and users are not hesitating to put in long-winded comments and remarks. “We’d like to see you on iOS and Windows next,” says one user, humourously. The app has clearly been created keeping current design in mind. It’s visual, easy to use, and quite feature-filled. Unlike many bare-bones government apps, it gives the user a lot to do. When you sign up with Facebook, Twitter or Google, you swipe into a few introductory screens. Getting past that you see a stream of news, each item topped by a photograph – the developers have obviously keptin mind the fact that visual content draws audiences. You can tap into news items to read the full article and comment. Apart from articles, interviews, his Man Ki Baat video and in general daily prime ministerial activities can all be seen in the app. You can also save items to read later. More interestingly perhaps, there’s a platform to interact with the Prime Minister, writing to him with your views and questions. What answers one will get and from whom, remains to be seen. Writing to the PM takes the user out of the app and to pmindia.gov.in website where you first register with your email id. In the app, the user also gets “personal” messages from the PM, possibly in the style of the recent direct message sent out to his followers on Twitter. A “To Do Tasks” sections seems currently to hold ebooks about various activities such as the PM’s visit to Germany recently. The Narendra Modi app certainly feels more personal than comments made on Twitter or Facebook. It remains to be seen how Indian citizens take to this new method of connecting with a prime minister.
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My once-beloved Sony RX100 lies stone cold in my gadget drawer and I wince every time I come across it looking so neglected. A new version, the RX100 IV, is now in existence and it’s as pocketable and light as it originally was and now it takes 4K video, but somehow, I’m looking to the next great camera on a smartphone. Although I’m loathe to go so far as to get rid of my RX100 (in case anyone’s asking), I would now think twice before taking it along on a holiday as I once did to the beautiful island to Langkawi. I’m afraid my Note 4 camera does an admirable enough job of holiday pictures. Although no one has seriously thought smartphone cameras were as good as DSLRs, the truth is many photographers are tending to leave their DSLRs behind in various situations. A handful of smartphones have offered cameras that have been more than good enough for non-professional photographs, the iPhone, Samsung’s flagships, Nokia’s amazing 41 megapixel 808 and 1020 and now LG’s G4 with its solid manual controls over parameters. And now, just launched, is the next in Chinese phone-maker Gionee’s ELife line, the ELife E8, with a camera that takes a staggering 120 megapixel photo. The camera is thought to use technology similar to Nokia’s Pureview, and is lossless. Zoom is 3X on this 23.7 megapixel camera. And that’s not all. The camera is reported to launch is 0.8 seconds, so you may just get that shot that you would with the super fast DSLR. Except that you’d have to be ready with the DSLR all mounted and waiting. It also features fast phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilisation. The lens is a six-element assembly. With the help of its software, the camera actually takes 120 megapixel photographs. The rest of the hardware on the 6-inch (all the screen real estate to see those pictures and frame a photo) E8 is on the face of it equivalent to today’s flagships, though performance has to be seen when it’s in the hands of reviewers. There’s even a price floating around – Rs 41,000. The recently launched ZTE Nubia Z9 Mini goes so far as to call itself an SLR camera. While that may not be altogether true, its 16 megapixel primary shooter has a whole lot of features unusual in a smartphone camera including very fine control over settings and the ability to do light painting. All it costs is Rs 16,999. Looking at these phones, already here, one can only wonder how far smartphone cameras will go in matching DSLRs in results. While at the present time it’s impossible to think of what a phone camera can do to mimic the sheer size of lenses used by full-fledged cameras – and the variety of lenses, to be sure – the real advantage will be that phone cameras will begin to suffice and even please in an increasing number of situations.
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I have about 350 apps on my primary phone. The first question anyone asks me if they hear this is: do you really use all of them? The answer is yes, I do. Not all of them all the time, but I like the lot to be around for when I do decide to use them. Today, whether you’re booking a flight, calling a cab, ordering some food, buying a dress or listening to music, or even getting your house cleaned — it’s all done from within an app. I find I get my news these days by using news aggregator apps like Nuzzel or Flipboard or Pulse.Pick my interest areas, keep giving feedback by voting up stories I wanted to read and then let the app “learn” what I want to know about in future. Gone are the days when I would start out at news.google.com. Google is not about to take that sort of thing lying down and this was more evident than ever when it showed the world a glimpse of the biggest change coming up in the next version of Android. “Google Now on Tap” is an ever-helpful but also over-powerful feature that shows you just how much Google knows. When we’ve all been duly Lollipopped and moved on to Android M, sometime later this year, Google Now, which already picks up information from your Gmail, searches, calendar and task list, will be able to delve right into the apps you use and second-guess what information you want. All you have to do is tap the Home button on your phone or tablet to get it. You won’t need to leave the screen or app you’re in at the time. You could also go the lazy voice route and just ‘OK Google’ to ask. App developers will have to do nothing much to enable this: it’s a Google thing, because Google now understands what’s on your screen even if it’s a picture. Put that together with the fact that it also knows who you are, where you are, and what’s around you, and you have a powerful contextual combo. Put that together with the fact that Google can “suggest” what you should do, and you have something frightening, even though most of the time it could be helpful. Say you’re looking at a picture of the Pyramids of Giza on Instragram. Or reading a message with a plan to meet up for dinner. Press the Home button to immediately know the height of the Pyramids or get instant recommendations on which restaurants to check out for dinner. You can go ahead and use highly contextual natural language like saying “How high are they?” for the Pyramids. Or perhaps “Where should we eat?” for the dinner invite. The constant machine learning of all your activities and preferences will make every such answer increasingly relevant.The same learning will obviously power regular Google Now suggestions, including on wearables and on the web. You won’t even have to ask. So pretty soon, Google could bypass apps and be the one universe to guide you through decisions through the day every day. Of course, many a time, it will all go wrong as something or the other happens not to be working. Perhaps your location is off or wrongly picked up, your voice isn’t heard properly or an image hasn’t been correctly identified and you’re getting incorrect information. But that’s the price we’re going to have to pay for using a technology early in its lifetime, even as it’s learning, and wanting more and more convenience as Google’s Knowledge Graph gets more and more detailed. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 29-06-2015)
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Would a smartphone’s slimness weigh a lot in your decision to buy? I believed too much was being made of thinness until I had a look at the Gionee Elife S7 Android phone. This wafer of a phone is truly sleek and elegant, helped in looking so in no small measure by its double-steel rimmed sides. Two metal lines sandwich glass on both sides making the device look tall and pretty. I got the black version and decided it probably looked a whole lot nicer than white or any other colour.The S7 may be slim (only 5.5mm thin) but it still doesn't feel flimsy. Fragile perhaps, but not flimsy. It has a premium build and looks all glossy the way so many Sony phones do, except for the fact that it immediately shows up fingerprints. Safer to use the case thoughtfully provided in the box and also reduce the chances of the phone sliding smoothly out of your hand. It’s otherwise supposed to be made of pretty tough metal on the sides and feels good when you hold it because it’s ever so slightly rounded. At the same time, the buttons all on the right edge, stick out just enough to be easy to find — important on a slim phone. Two SIM slots, and the charging slot are all exceptionally neatly lined at the bottom of the phone. Amazingly, the 3.5mm jack also fits there as do the mic and speaker. This device can’t be opened up and is really neat and well crafted.The screen on this device is quite a pleasure. It’s bright and reproduces colours very well. But then that may be my weakness for SUPER AMOLED screens. It’s vivid and crisp and has a nice trick up its sleeve. It uses Chameleon, an app that lets you point the phone at something and pick up a mix of three colours as the theme for the device.In its brand new state, the S7 runs really fluidly. Navigating across screens and between different sections on the phone is especially smooth. Gionee has its own interface and like many Chinese takes on Android, does away with the separate app drawer. Apps are all in rows on the home screens. Then they add a few features here and there for differentiation. These interfaces are losing their distinctiveness today, especially as you can use launchers and apps to get those features. But the Amigo 3.0 interface on this device is at least light and does nothing to interfere with smooth functioning though it has a few oddities such as having to swipe from down to up to see settings and other buttons. Gionee has gone and put way too many little apps on this device. The company is actually very focused on smaller cities and towns and probably likes to give pre-loaded apps to a segment less aware about what’s out on the Play Store.The cameras on the S7 are not low-light specialists, but perform fast and well in proper daylight. The camera app is full of controls and features such as focusing on an object to blur the rest out, HDR, Panorama and a Professional mode so you can adjust basic parameters.The Gionee S7 is priced at Rs 24,999. There’s no image stabilisation, as is to be expected for a device of this price. There are tonnes of options today, especially from Xiaomi that throws in a game changer every couple of months with devices that offer both design and specs for a low price. But look at the S7 for its elegance and smoothness. Creative Ultra Light Soundblaster JamIt’s nice to know there are affordable Bluetooth headphones coming out with some good sound to them. The new Creative Ultra Light SoundBlaster Jam didn’t look particularly impressive when I first ripped it out of its box. Neat enough, tough enough, but nothing in the looks department otherwise. A standard grey-black hard synthetic material with nothing fancy going on. The only accent and splash of colour happens to be its charging cable — a nice thick sturdy red wire with micro USB on one end and regular USB on the other. You plug it into a phone charger you may have handy, and then untether. It can also connect to a PC or Mac with that cable. But there’s nothing else in the box by way of a direct cable or adaptor. This is barebones. I expected the sound to be equally barebones but was surprised. It’s good rich sound and balanced with nothing sticking out like a sore thumb. The base (and that has a separate little button for boosting) was clean and not thumping or like a slap on the ear as is common with lower-end headphones. The treble doesn’t pierce through but sounds reined-in. It doesn’t sound like it could damage your eardrums and there are no distortions. You get warning beeps if you try to increase the volume beyond a point.The controls for volume, pairing via Bluetooth (though it does have NFC as well), and the base booster are all on the right earcup of these over-the-ear phones. They’re comfortable and yet strongly fitted. I’ve had several high-end headphones fall right off when I look down.Some of the strong points, beyond pretty good sound, are 12-hour battery life, good comfort, and a great price of Rs 3,499 on Amazon, FlipKart and Snapdeal.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 29-06-2015)
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You Can Forget It Are you one of those people who often draws a blank when you meet someone and find you can’t remember a whole lot of things about that person? Well, here’s an app to help pull out what you should have remembered but didn’t. But you’ll have to be prepared to be disciplined with recording information.InstantRecall on Android (not to be confused with iInstant Recall on the App Store) picks up all the contacts on your phone and has a place for you to organise all sorts of information about a person. It doesn’t replace or interfere with your native contacts application.So, when you get a phone call, a pop-up will ask if you want to record a note. You also have a widget which you can keep handy on a home screen, if you’re a strong networker and meet lots of people, and you can just tap to add information either by voice or keying in text.Everything from what the person’s achievements are, to where he went for a holiday, who’s in the family, to what he wants to discuss can be put in. Then there’s connections to the main social networks. You can call up the information before you meet the person again and be quite impressively up-to-date.InstantRecall is particularly meant to be helpful to those in marketing, PR, and sales or communications departments allowing them to cement business relationships by keeping relevant information right at hand. While it may be too much work for personal contacts, one can immediately see that it would be really helpful for business contacts. InstantRecall is free and has a bunch of tutorials and power tips on the developer’s website for users to make the most of what they can do with the app.Lookup What You Needit's a great idea, but how well it works depends on businesses, appropriate use by customers, and what’s available in a location. Lookup, free on Android, is an app that tries to put messaging and local shopping together. You need something — you search for it, and when results come up, you click on a seller and message him your queries. Lookup is only available for Bangalore and Mumbai right now but may move into other locations. I did find some Delhi entries. The app aims to get users prices, deliveries, restaurant bookings and even access to hospital and appointments with doctors. It probably won’t be long though before Google and Facebook extend their services, making any other attempt redundant. Facebook is about to use WhatsApp to link customers and businesses, and Google is throwing up recommendations on searches.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 29-06-2015)
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