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.
Samsung Electronics has had one of the most difficult years in its history since it went into the mobile business. Its profits from the mobile business have plummeted a staggering 64 per cent year on year. Yet, a confident-looking J.K. Shin, head of the mobile division, announced the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung’s new flagships for 2015. Assisted by a couple of colleagues, he showcased the two power packed smartphones that the company hopes will reverse the slide seen over 2014. The presentation itself, at the annual Unpacked event held just before the Mobile World Congress kicked off at Barcelona, thankfully didn’t go over the top with theatrics as has happened previously. Instead, it sought to dazzle on the strength of the new products. There was still very much an Apple preoccupation and an aggressive insistence that Samsung designed with a purpose, but it was all to the point – these phones are the most powerful in the world today. Don’t Complain About DesignIn the past, people have detested Samsung’s use of plastic, faux leather and other design tricks that fell short of making the phone truly desirable in looks. Recently, they began shedding the plastic and bringing in metal, such as on the Galaxy Alpha and the Note 4. But with the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, they’ve actually used Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides of the phone. Thought to be very tough and durable, the casing also looks premium now. The S6 Edge particularly looks amazing because both sides have a spill-over screen similar to that seen on the Note Edge. The phones come in various “shimmering” colours and have been described as “sophisticated” by those who have their hands on the devices. There are many cases and accessories already designed for the S6 phones, including a special one that covers the entire screen in front but shows notifications etc. The ghost of the iPhone is, however, still present in Samsung’s new smartphones. Double-Edged DynamoThe edged screens flowing over the sides of the second S6 do have a purpose. They improve the grip, according to Samsung, they make for a much more immersive viewing experience, and they can be customized for context. A feature showed how the edges would be made to glow a specified colour when a favourite contact was calling. Anyone who had the phone face down or covered would still be able to tell from a distance who was calling from the colour leaking out of the sides. The design includes many other clever touches and features such as being able to touch the heart rate sensor to trigger off a set message to a contact who was calling, when it wasn’t possible to take the call. Favourite contacts are also on the lock screen for quicker than ever access. Samsung apparently had to use 800 degrees Celcius to heat the glass and curve it for the S6 Edge, and the company is proud of its world-first – a truly curved screen with functions assigned to the curves. Maxing Out On HardwareScreens have always been Samsung’s forte and the S6s have 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED displays with a staggering pixel density of 577ppi. As vivid as ever, the screens are sharper than the human eye can really differentiate. There’s better daylight visibility now. To power it is Samsung’s own 64-bit octacore Exynos 7420 processor with 3GB of RAM. There are a few changes to things that Samsung users have come to expect though. The 2550 mAh battery is no longer removeable and Samsung says this is because they’re now confident that it won’t need to be removed. There’s fast and wireless charging support. A mere 10 minutes of charging can give 4 hours of talking, if one needs it. There’s also no slot for a micro-SD card. But 32, 64 and 128GB storage variants will be available. It is uncertain whether this will be the case in India. F1.9 Lenses On Both SidesBoth front and rear cameras have f1.9 lenses and are 16 and 5 megapixels. There’s optical image stabilization and live HDR, which is another world first. The cameras are said to work very well in low light and have modes for both casual and professional photographers. They’ve also made the camera faster, with object tracking auto focus and have assigned the phone’s home button to trigger the camera even from a locked screen when pressed twice quickly. Many Software TweaksUsers have often complained about Samsung’s heavy interface but they claim to have removed all lag and stutter, streamlined performance, and even colour coded apps on top of Android Lollipop. Only on long-term usage will one really be able to assess whether the toning down and lightening of Touchwiz has really made a difference to the experience of using the Galaxy flagships. Meanwhile Samsung is touting the security features of the S6 phones and making a specific mention of them being easy for use in the enterprise where IT managers can easily configure to suit their systems. Security is also said to be tightly built in. "All you have to do is turn it on," said Samsung executives. A Payment System Like Apple’sSamsung’s answer to Apple’s “Apple Pay” is of course, Samsung Pay. This mobile wallet feature will work with NFC, magnetic strip and fingerprints to enable paying for products and services with supporting vendors. The process of using is said to be easy and secure. Another year, another flagship – two, actually. But Samsung no longer has that one rival, Apple, to deal with. A host of Chinese companies, including the rapidly growing Xiaomi, are to be contended with if Samsung is to retain any of its dominance in the smartphone market.
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Give Me A Ringo There has never been an ideal solution to international calling, unless you're willing to pay heavily. Ringo is a free app for iOS, Android and Windows phone that offers a cheaper way to call abroad, though it's still best to do the math first for your expected duration of calls, frequency of calling and the countries where you'll call, as calling rates differ widely. You do have many calling services such as those via Skype, Viber, Fring and even Facebook, but these need a good rock steady Internet connection — not something we have all the time. Ringo doesn't use the Internet for the full call itself. But the app does that for you to request a call (international only) and to buy credits. You get a call back, after which it's clear unless the recipient has something going on at the other end. Ringo uses local carriers with that call-back.Ask Me AnythingWell known people have been doing ask me anything (AMAs) in various places online. A fairly new app, Frankly.me for Android, iOS and on its website frankly.me, aims to create a platform on which anyone can ask a public figure what they like, and get a video answer. Rather ambitious, and I'm not sure how the developers plan to persuade public figures to be on board and record replies, but they're certainly giving it a shot and seem confident they will trailblaze their way past YouTube and Twitter. Currently, they do have Arvind Kejriwal, members of AAP and Congress, Kiran Bedi, Chef Vikas Khanna, author Ravinder Singh, singers Shafqat Amanat Ali and Gurdas Maan, composer Meet Brothers, fashion designer Bina Ramani, Snapdeal Founder Kunal Bahl, Inmobi founder Naveen Tiwari, Matrix India MD- Avnish Bajaj, etc on board.Whatsapp EverywhereFor those who've got into the Whatsapp habit, you needn't miss a moment. Recently, the app has moved to the Web. As long as you're using the Chrome browser you can head to Whatsapp.com and scan the QR code that will appear, using your phone. In the up-to-date Whatsapp application, you'll find the Whatsapp Web option from the menu. It prompts you to scan the QR Code, framing it to guide you. Whatsapp is then replicated on your PC screen and you can do everything you do on the phone version on the Web app as well. It's a nice seamless switch and very convenient for those who use the phone and a computer a lot. It's not to be found on Apple machines though.Remember to sign out of the computer though, or someone else will get a good look at your messages.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 23-02-2015)
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A certain friend of mine is a happy camper. He’s got his hands on the BlackBerry Classic and finally everything feels like it should be. Not for him, those large snazzy touch-screens that make it easy to do everything except type. Mail is coming in, the light is flashing, messages are flowing, and he tackles them with the reassuring clicks of the much-loved QWERTY keyboard on the BlackBerry. My friend is exactly who the BlackBerry Classic is intended for.
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The Yotaphone, no relative of Star Wars’ Yoda, is based on a really cool concept. It has two screens. Think about it: why shouldn’t we be putting the back of a phone to good use? And that’s the premise the Russian mobile broadband provider worked on when it came up with the YotaPhone. It’s been two years since the YotaPhone first made an appearance and since then, actual production and roll out has been gradual, with the company testing out markets across the globe, launching in India recently.The second screen on the Android-based YotaPhone is an e-ink display, much like the one on Amazon’s Kindle. That means it soaks up much less battery than the main display. A lot of content can be pushed on to the e-ink screen, leaving the rest of the phone with more overall battery life. The e-ink display can stay always-on, which again has implications for what you can do with it. For example, you could have a map on it if you’re going somewhere, leaving the rest of the phone free for use. You could put a book there, turning the phone over to read any time you want to, including say when you’re commuting or waiting somewhere. Your social media feeds could go on the e-ink side, really saving you battery power and being easily accessible at the same time. You could use the second display for reading news feeds. Your notifications could go on the back as well making them visible without having to do anything. The possibilities are endless and all that’s needed is the apps that will make these uses happen. And some of them are there on the YotaPhone already. The problem is that the second generation of this device is already in existence and being showcased in the US and elsewhere and there are clearly many improvements and applications over the first- gen device which is selling on Flipkart for Rs 23,499, a bit of a hefty price for a product that is mid-range other than its dual display and that still needs much development. Anyone interested in the two-screen concept would probably want to wait for the second-gen Yota to come into the market.While the original Yota is not really about specs, there are many usability issues, with both hardware and software, that come in the way of quick smooth functioning. Let’s take the power button to begin with, for example. Sitting in one tiny corner on the top, it takes a specific hard press in a certain position to wake the phone up. Other than volume, there are no other buttons and the phone uses a touch area under the screen for the back display that is very slow to respond. It takes a number of determined swipes for it to do anything, again because of a specific movement being required. On top of that, the specs belong to 2012 and will not satisfy that large chunk of the young early-adopter audience that likes to max out on hardware. There needs to be easier, more intuitive use, a greater number of apps for the e-ink screen, and a lower price if it’s to compete with the low-cost powerhouses flooding the market today.All the same, the basic idea is compelling and one hopes the company will continue to develop what is really a unique phone. HTC ReAn asthma inhaler, a bathroom faucet, a baby periscope — think what you like but the HTC Re is an action camera. It's an odd looking thing, that's for sure, but that also means people come up to ask what you've got there. But it's very easy to hold and small enough to carry and whip out quickly, giving it that slight advantage over a smartphone camera. There's a big button on the device for shutter release and indicators. Otherwise, the Re is extremely simplistic.You connect the Re to the smartphone wirelessly. You also download an app to add some management features. The phone acts as a viewfinder, should you want one, but it's an awkward format for shooting unless, of course, you're using a tripod, which you can. But if you're going to go to all that trouble, you may as well be carrying a bigger camera.The concept of the Re is interesting though not altogether new. Sony has QX lenses that work with a smartphone and there's the famous GoPro camera. This sort of product is meant for creative shareable photos. But there may not be too many who will want an unattached camera at about Rs10,000 when there's a perfectly good one on the phone. The Re is a 16MP f2.8 shooter. The lens is Sony's. But it's still got limitations in size and the photos are certainly no better than you'd get from your phone camera. There's also no direct view finder, no zoom, no flash and it drains both its own and the phone's battery. If you're not careful and don't turn it off from the app's settings the Re will stay on and finish off its battery. With all of this, it's difficult to make a strong use case for a product like the Re, fun though it may be. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 09-02-2015)
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Sound Of Music For lovers of classical music, entire compositions have their own apps on the App Store. Take Vivaldi's Four Seasons, a symphonic poem loved even by those otherwise unfamiliar with classical music. This legendary and lively composition has an app in which you can attend two performances of Four Seasons: a purely classic take by the English Concert under Trevor Pinnock and a recomposed version by the German composer Max Richter. As you watch you can see the musical score scroll by and a "beat map" pulsing out the music. You can also see the orchestra performing and there's a detailed commentary so that you get to know it intimately.
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For Clearer PhotosPhoto editing apps are a dime a dozen, but Perfectly Clear auto corrects your photos in a mere moment. It's on both iOS and Android for Rs 190 and also on the Amazon app store, for those who have the Fire or for those who have Blackberrys with access to the Amazon store.Perfectly Clear can start in camera mode, or pick up photos from the gallery. In a flash it enhances the image, making it look surprisingly better. This isn't an app for effects — you'll have to use the ones on your device or use another app for that. And while many effect apps let you adjust properties of the photo, it's time consuming. Perfectly Clear is a quick fix, a somewhat more interesting one than the enhancement feature you may find on your device. There is additional tinkering to exposure, dark and light, tint etc.Microsoft Word For IpadIphone and ipad users can finally get a functioning set of Microsoft Office applications free from the App Store. If you’re not a business user you no longer need an Office 360 account to create and save documents, not just view them, as before. You’ll need to get Word, Excel and PowerPoint separately. Those who were on the fence about buying an iPad because they weren’t sure if one could use Office on it may now find the decision easier. The Office apps are not as jam packed with features as the computer versions but they’re definitely usable. Until now, there were many other apps you could use, but this is the real thing and can even save your files to Dropbox. Happily for consumers, Microsoft has figured out it could lose the grip on users for office applications unless it gives a little. Apps for Android are coming soon making all tablets more productive.Catch Some ZzzzBetter sleep, from the Runtastic people, is an app that helps you track your sleep and correct a few poor sleep habits — provided you want to work towards that. Download on iOS or Android free (Rs 100 to unlock all features) and place it next to your pillow, where it proceeds to calibrate, figuring out the flat and still feel of the bed to differentiate it from movement. Then, you see if you want to sleep the recommended amount or otherwise, touch a few buttons to log whether you ate late, worked out, drank caffeine, etc, and press the start button to sleep. If you move too much the app will decide you’re not sleeping too well and based on the pattern, give you a report the next morning. It’s up to you to change around whatever needs changing, of course. You have stats to work with — now improve that sleep to improve your day. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 26-01-2015)
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There are those of us who like a smartphone to have some solidity and heft. And then there are others who like their devices light. The S 5.1 is fly-away light; so light that I initially thought the battery was missing. This sliver of electronics comes from Chinese company Gionee.The S5.1 is really all about its slimness. It’s the slimmest phone in the world. And yes, it’s called 5.1 because it’s that many mm thick.What might have looked ordinary in a thicker form, looks and feels specially nice because it seems a marvel to be able to pack in so much in such little space. And it is. Of course, you’ll have to be super careful with it because it’s easy to forget in a pocket or anywhere else. You wouldn’t want to sit on it and hear a bit of a snap, though it’s not about to bend.I had a look at the white version, but there are black, blue and pink ones available as well. It’s all glass and metal and has nice classy looking edges. The back doesn’t open up, but well, the phone is light enough for you to be keeping a portable charger handy somewhere. No one should be seen without one of those any more.Gionee has put all sorts of stuff into the box and that includes a flip case. Thoughtful really, but the case has to be stuck on with whatever they’ve put on it and this will effectively hide the whole reason for which the phone is thought to be special.Also in the box is an OTG cable, the usual charger and a number of screen guards. The screen on this phone is an AMOLED, strongly coloured and vibrant and no compromises on viewing angles. It’s a 1280 x 720 display of 4.8 inches. It’s narrow and even my thumb can reach to the other side of the display.On the home screens, you’ll notice all the app icons. Gionee is another phone maker that likes to put its own skin on top of Android in a way that they hope will make them distinctive. Ask most users who’ve seen plain Android and they’ll tell you it’s just an annoyance. I’m afraid I’m in that camp as well, as I’d rather have the option of doing what I want on the phone and if not, stock Android is pretty nice looking on its own steam. Instead, several companies have tried to customise by removing the app drawer, changing icons, and providing themes and gesture features. That’s what Gionee has done with its Amigo 2.0 interface as well.The benchmarks place this handset somewhere between the older HTC One (not the M8) and the LG G3. It works fine but some reviewers do report lag. I’m afraid that’s a situation that occurs with many phones, once they’re fully in use and packed with apps and data. The S5.1 has 16GB of internal storage but no external slot and that’s a downer with many, except that at least it’s better than the 8GB you often get. Gionee has put in a lot of apps onboard to begin with though.The handset has a cramped but interesting keyboard with predictive text on steroids. You can flick words up and have them float up into the text area. That’s always nice and as you get used to the phone, a keyboard like this will make one handed text input easy. Of course, all sorts of keyboards are a download away.The cameras on this phone are 8MP and 5MP and they’re both about average. The camera lens doesn’t stick out of the phone, which is a nice bonus. There are two camera apps, one regular and a “Charm Camera” that lets you do all sorts of things like beautify and also click documents.If big heavy phones really frustrate you, consider this slim Jim. Huawei Honor 6Huawei’s recently launched Honor 6 has the design popularised by earlier iPhones. The slab-of-glass look, though it isn’t glass on the back. It’s now a bit of a tired design, having been copied and given a twist here and there by so many companies. But if you’re not looking for something particularly different, it works.It’s s a 5-inch screen phone and being in the pre-phablet size, it’s easy to hold and use, including with one hand. It has a 1080 x 1920 screen with a nice high pixel density of 445ppi. Whenever you turn the phone on, the lock screen will show you a new wallpaper, though you can just set your own, of course. It makes for a nice surprise. Swiping up from the bottom of the lock screen brings up a quick menu which includes things Huawei thinks you might want to access quickly, for instance, the music controls.You also have an option of two home screen styles, one regular Android and the other “easy” mode with large tiles. There are lots of other software touches like that with Huawei’s “Emotion UI” interface, on top of Android KitKat which is nothing special and mostly annoying as most such “skins” are.The Honor 6 uses Huawei’s own 1.3 GHz octa-core processor, Kirin 920. With 3GB of RAM to work with, it has the phone performing smoothly with no hiccups and slowness. The battery is a 3000mAh and performance fine – not spectacularly – and you have some power saving modes that help. There’s 16GB storage on board with a card slot for 64GB additional.Camera specs are good – 13MP and 5MP – with a simple camera app. Camera performance is about average, sometimes surprisingly good even in low light and sometimes as noisy as many others. But it does have a fast shutter. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 26-01-2015)
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Remeber the song about the old lady who swallowed a fly! She then swallowed a lot of other things, including a cat to catch the bird, a bird to catch the spider, and the spider to catch the fly. But no one knows why she swallowed the fly. You could draw a parallel between the nursery rhyme and the much-hyped wearables industry. The wearer controls the smartphone, the smartphone controls the smartwatch, the smartwatch controls the ring — but why the wearer wears the ring, no one is quite sure. What’s missing is a definitive ‘killer app’. But that’s truer of devices for mass consumers. While they figure out why they swallowed a fly, industries have already got their killer app in place — their core work. Right through 2015, practically every vertical from aviation to healthcare to travel will try out all manner of wearable devices for new and better services and efficiency through context and ‘anticipatory computing’ that throws up information right on cue. One has tasted contextual information appearing when one needs it with Google Now. And it was only natural that Google Now should take its place in wearables. But the fledgling wearables industry got a shot in the arm when Apple showcased the Apple Watch. Suddenly, wearables as a new category received validation, a green signal. After all, if there wasn’t something in it, Apple — known for being extremely careful about the products it brings to the market — would hardly have jumped into the arena with a smartwatch. Incredibly, for a product that hasn’t yet launched, the Apple Watch, became Time magazine’s gadget of 2014. Such is the faith in the Cupertino company’s ability to kick-start a revolution. Back in the opposing camp is Google’s Android Wear, actually ahead of Apple by over a year with hundreds of wearables from different companies and, of course, the controversial Google Glass. Android Wear is the operating system spun off from Android, but meant for wearable devices such as the beautiful Moto 360 — the first to look like a traditional watch while putting Google Now contextual notifications on the wearer’s wrist — You’re missing your flight if you don’t rush. You should get home because there’s a package due to arrive in an hour. You absolutely must not forget to pick up flowers for your wife today. LG, Asus and other companies subsequently launched their own Android Wear smartwatches, while Samsung veered off on a somewhat different route, using its own Tizen software in its smartwatches. Among the functions that smartwatches and wrist bands have been able to do with some ease is to measure activity, heart rate and movement during sleep. So perhaps by default, the majority of wearables have been ‘wristables’, and the health and fitness sectors have been the most involved in new wearable products. But smartwatches and bands have tended to look as if they were meant only for men. That’s where the fashion industry stepped in, sensing an opportunity to correct the imbalance. This course is being spurred on by companies like Intel, whose chips will go into wearable devices. For women who want luxury tech, Intel has created an intelligent bracelet, MICA, or My Intelligent Communication Accessory, which is made of high-end materials such as gold, snakeskin, precious stones and sapphire glass. This item of connected fashion puts meeting alerts, messages, and notifications on a woman’s wrist. It will be expensive, once available, and it wouldn’t be out of place to wonder whether the additional connectivity is worth it. It’s the trend-setting US market that leads the interest in wearables. According to a survey by the American research firm UBS, 10 per cent of smartphone owners across four countries are most likely to buy a smartwatch in the coming year, and 17 per cent are somewhat likely to do so. UBS extrapolates that 24 million Apple Watches will sell in 2015. The Apple Watch may cannibalise the bevy of fitness wearables that exist today, but there are plenty more wearables coming, including smart garments that will empower people to interact with the world in ways as yet imagined. There’s healthy skepticism about wearables as they are today because their users, except for outright techies, dump them after a short period of use, often finding them just too much trouble. The story will be different for enterprise wearables, and industries are already exploring how to use them in day-to-day work. Healthcare is one such industry and that, along with fitness and sport, is already front and centre in this new category. Other industries like aviation, hospitality, marketing and retail are also developing apps and features to use wearables. One of the key ingredients to a successful wearable product could well involve letting go of the bond with the smartphone and focusing on innovative new uses. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 12-01-2015)
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Xiaomi Piston 2 In-Ear Earphones It's not often that you’d find anything in particular to say about the way a little pair of earphones is packaged, but that’s not true of the Mi (Xiaomi’s nickname for itself) Piston 2 in-ear earphones. They arrive in a little brown box with instructions all over the fold-out parts. Inside the box there’s a bit of casing into which the earphones are nestled. The cable part is wound-in around and around in grooves made for it and the two ear-buds, and remote also have little spaces of their own.
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Talent At A Touch Think of it as a creativity browser. TouchTalent is an Android app and web community put together by a group in New Delhi and they’re obviously on to a good thing as they have funding from over fifteen angel investors to take their idea further. TouchTalent is just what the name implies — swipe your screen to browse through thousands of works by creative people.
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