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.
September is a great month for lovers of technology. There’s the IFA tech show in Berlin, Samsung’s Unpacked event, and very soon, Apple’s event possibly bringing the iPhone 6 to an eager world. And of course, everything leaks a little before it happens so much was already known about Samsung’s next version of the Note, the Note 4 super-smartphone. Way back in 2011, the Note was responsible for kicking off users’ fondness for really big phones that blur the lines between smartphones and tablets. It’s a trend that has shown no sign of ending. In fact, it’s rumoured that Apple will be going so far as to follow that trend by unveiling a “phablet.” If it does, one wonders whether the device will have anything of the maturity of Samsung’s Note, which has by now had a few years to evolve.This time, Samsung has actually gone ahead and unleashed not one, but two Galaxy Notes, the Note 4 and the Note Edge, presented by Samsung’s Vice President, DJ Lee. This was at a three-city event with the main event being in Berlin and echoed in Beijing and New York, and it took place just ahead of the IFA tech show. And depending on how you want to play it, you may see the fare at the Unpacked event as being either about iterations or innovation. I’m inclined to think there was plenty of both. Galaxy Note 4The Note 4 doesn’t look dramatically different from the current Note. It’s the same size, a bit thicker and heavier, and has more metal on the edges, I suppose because people complain so vociferously about plastic. The still-removeable back panel is made of soft leather-looking material, as before. But practically everything else has been bumped up so that the Note 4 today is most likely the most powerful smartphone around. First there’s the screen. Not only is it Super AMOLED with its strong contrasts and colours, it’s now at 1440 x 2560 pixels resolution or QuadHD and has a pixel density of 515ppi. So it will look crisp and as well as bright and colourful. There are two or three other phones with this resolution and also one of Samsung’s own tablets, but on a device the size of the Note 4, it is dazzling, as those who’ve seen it are reporting.Other specs are also enhanced, including the processor which is a 2.5GHz quad core Snapdragon 805 and a variant which is Exynos 5433 octa-core. There’s 3GB of RAM and a 3,220 which while it isn’t very different from the Note 3’s now includes quick charging, going to 50 per cent in just 30 minutes.The cameras are another iteration. The primary camera is a 16MP and now has optical image stabilisation for less blurred phtotos, low light images and steady video. The front camera is a 3.7MP shooter, being touted as just the thing for selfies. It would have been great if they’d just put in a swivel mechanism and allowed you to use the primary camera all round. But another good use of the camera onboard the Note 4 is that it has a Snap Note function with which you can take a picture of text and then be able to edit it.The heart of the Note and its main differentiator is the stylus or S-Pen and this has been enhanced in several ways. First, the pressure sensitivity has been played with so that it feels more like natural writing. There are very useful additions such as being able to select multiple objects and text and dragging that into a note application. In the note taking app, there are now additional pen styles including calligraphic ones, again, to make the handwriting more personalised and real. Samsung Note EdgeThere’s a fingerprint scanner which is said to be improved, a heart rate sensor which even has a camera triggering function, and a recording function that journalists will love as it picks up sound from eight different directions and allows the user to control what can be heard more.Coming in with a second Note and surprising everyone with an entirely new feature, Samsung has put in an extra bit of screen space on the right of the screen, rolling off the main area. This edge, after which the Note Edge is named, displays apps, alarm clock, news and whatever else app developers will now work to put there. It’s innovative and attractive and can be potentially put to many interesting uses.Samsung also launched two wearable devices at the Unpacked event, one of which uses virtual reality.The Note 4 and Note Edge will start to be available in October although the Edge may not be present in all markets. IDC says that “phablet” shipments will hit 175 million over 2014 and by 2015, they’ll actually surpass tablets. So it looks like big phones are here to stay, unsurprisingly as there’s so much more that can be done on them. With the Note being just about the most capable and feature-endowed of these so far, there’s no doubt Samsung has a good thing going.Mala@businessworld.inmala.bhargava@gmail.com@MalaBhargava
Read More
By now every-one knows that there's a Chinese phone on Flipkart that is in the habit of disappearing before you can get anywhere near it. For those who want it, it's like a round of KBC — try your luck. For those who don't, it's still a curious thing, this gadget that can take all of two seconds to sell out. Marketing gimmick, or genuine under-estimation of the potential market, we may never know. But we certainly can check out the device to see what the fuss is about.Beyond all argument, is the Xiaomi Mi3's price. For the same amount, until recently, Indian customers have been treated to cheesy products, compromised in some way or the other. What the Mi3 offers, first off, is a good build and a classy look and feel. In fact, the Chinese phone maker has constantly been accused of copying Apple in many ways. Xiaomi is certainly busy gobbling up Apple's share in China.The Mi3 itself doesn't look very Apple-ish. It's got a smooth silver matte and very neat back and is solid but light. The Mi logo looks exceedingly classy glinting at the bottom of the panel. It's got very rounded sides, making it easy to get your hand around but it's also tall, bringing in a little awkwardness to that grip. You also have to watch it doesn't slip. I'm not convinced it's a one-handed device because that involves using your finger at the correct angle, not just reaching across the screen. It isn't just about the price but what you get for that price. What used to be — and in some cases still is — the stuff of top- tier phones that cost around Rs 40,000 is now housed in a device about one third the price. With the Mi3 you needn't worry about getting a sluggish or lag-riddled phone. The hardware has the device performing well and the software doesn't interfere with the performance. It's fast enough at browsing, navigating, switching apps, etc. Benchmark tests also bear that out. The device doesn't overheat or guzzle up power. The battery is a big one for the size of the phone and on my moderate usage, it lasted the day. The screen looks good and the sound is okay.Xiaomi's interface is pretty different from the regular Android look. You'll immediately see that there's no separate level for apps which are organised Apple style. Instead of their being too many gimmicks, the focus is on giving the user customisation options. So there are themes you can download and use, including one especially for India. It's a simple yet adaptable interface with enough apps to get a user started. In China, many downloadables for Xiaomi phones are paid, but in India, that's not the case yet.The camera on this phone is no low light specialist, but that's a problem for most smartphones. I found the colours dark and lifeless on indoor low-light shots, but with a big improvement if one uses the HDR mode which is quite nice and natural rather than giving you artificial looking images. There's also an easy panorama mode and more to fiddle with. Daylight shots have good detail and colour. Overall, good for the price.Interestingly, the Mi3 uses a standard SIM card.The one thing that remains untested is the after sales service. That's where the older players still have an advantage. Should newer companies like Xiaomi manage to work in that piece of the puzzle, the others who've been charging the earth for their products have had it. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 08-09-2014)
Read More
It's difficult to stop looking at the screen on this tablet. Some call it over-saturated, some eye-popping, but either way it’s a vibrant feast of colour and contrasts that makes everything on it look gorgeous. And clear. In a moment, you forget Samsung’s usual design, somewhat tweaked. Anyway, if you buy a case for the Galaxy Tab S, as you will undoubtedly need to, it’s the case that will dominate — not that the design is bad, just unremarkable. The version I reviewed is the 10.5 inch white and it has a gold-ish metal trim all around and looks fine. On the back is the dimpled non-slippery panel that you may have seen on the Galaxy S5 smartphone. Samsung knows well enough that the killer feature on the Tab S is that sizzler of a screen, so it’s positioned the tablet (available in two sizes: 8.4 and 10.5) as a consumption device. The iPad’s Retina screen seems to literally pale in comparison, though, of course, the same can’t be said of its elegant build and that universe of fine apps. In fact, it’s well to keep in mind that apps optimised for Android tablets are few and far between even after all these years of Android growth. Still, the Tab S is considered one of the strongest rivals to the iPad yet. Even minus Android tablet-specific apps, there’s plenty to do on the device. While the Tab S may not have the design and finessed build of the iPad, it certainly has good ergonomics, specially for a landscape-oriented device of that size. I’ve never liked those wide tablets — without their keyboards — but in this case, Samsung has managed to make it so thin and light — lighter than the iPad Air — that it isn’t a strain to hold, and I quickly got comfortable with it in either direction. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a chance to test it out with any of its optional accessories such as the flip case-stand and keyboard case.It doesn’t take too long to discover that an HD movie, a video on YouTube, a nicely designed website, or visually fantastic apps like Flipboard, are a pleasure on this screen. So is reading, flipping through photographs, and also doing two things at the same time because you can split the screen and put two apps on it.Pity, but the sound on the tablet doesn’t match the screen. There are stereo speakers and they’re fine, but not unusual and extraordinary. The Tab S, apart from that wonder of a screen, has plenty of hardware and software chops. There’s an 8MP camera which has got to be useful when you’re scanning things or taking a quick pic. There’s an IR blaster to use as a remote for your TV, and a fingerprint scanner, which while it isn’t a joy to use, is an option. The battery gives you a day. Power saving and bringing down the brightness helps.As for software, Samsung has always laid it on thick. If you’re familiar with the S5, the company’s current flagship, all that is on this tablet in bigger form. Incidentally, you can SideSync your S5 so that it can be controlled from the tablet, including receiving calls. Not having an S5 handy I wasn’t able to try this, but reports are that the feature works well enough. There are also other Samsung favourites such as the My Magazine app, smart gesture controls, etc.Check out both sizes of the Tab S as the larger will give you more real estate to enjoy movies and pictures on, while the smaller will add portability and even mode lightness to the experience. Asus Zenfone 5The batch of smartphones that have been coming into the market of late make everyone wonder what right other phones have to be costing upward of Rs 40,000. Devices that cost one fourth that amount are rich in looks and features and make for quite a value proposition. Among these is the ZenFone 5, available in different colours including a striking cherry red. The back is a clean matte finish that doesn't attract fingerprints and anyway wipes easily.The ZenFone 5 costs Rs 9,999 for the 8GB version and Rs 12,999 for the 16GB variant. A micro SD card slot adds to data storage.Unlike other phones that typically have a Qualcomm or Mediatek processor, the ZenFone 5 has an Intel Atom Z2560 dual-core processor running at 1.6GHz with 2GB RAM. Benchmark tests don't peg this phone as being a powerhouse but all things considered, performance isn't bad and quite lag-free. The device doesn't heat up and wears its Android 4.3 well enough. The battery is a 2110mAh but you'll need one of those portable chargers.The ZenFone 5's screen is a 5-inch 720x1280 IPS display with pretty good colours and viewing angles.The primary camera is an 8MP and does a nice job of low-light shots. The camera app has a ton of features including a faster burst mode.On the software front, Asus' ZenUI interface is flat and neat and has some nice features like a task and notification manager, Do it Later. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 08-09-2014)
Read More
Type InaccuratelyUsually it's apple users who wish they had some of the keyboards available on Android (though they won't admit it) but in this case it's Android users who have only recently been able to get a typing method born on the App Store. Fleksy gets a second mention as it finally makes it to the Play Store. Fleksy is interesting. I find it particularly helps type in physical keyboard style, using your thumbs. The thing is that it's totally tolerant of inaccuracy. You hit the keys in roughly the area you need to and Fleksy will do a surprising job of guessing the words you're trying to type. Short swipes let you select words additionally and add punctuation and spaces. However, it takes some getting used to and learning can be a little frustrating. The full featured app is a paid one and lets you develop your custom dictionary.Beautiful Screensfor those who use their smartphones to the hilt, every bit of screen matters. You don't just want it to look good, you want it tailor-made so everything is arranged exactly where you want it to be. A launcher is your answer. Give the easy-to-use Buzz Launcher a try. You'll find it free on the PlayStore. Once you trigger it off, you'll find you have a database of some 400,000 "homepacks" to choose from. These are pre-organised and beautified home screens that you can just download and apply to your own phone. Read the comments and descriptions first though. In some cases, you will be prompted to download widgets from the Google store. After this, you move things around, change things to your liking, and make it your own. It's fairly simple and needs no expertise.Your Time, In A Cubecalcube for ios really has to be seen to be understood. It's a simple calendar when it comes down to it. What distinguishes it is a totally different interface. Your time is fitted onto a cube. You use gestures and look at different sides of the cube to switch from one view to the other, such as from year to day or week view. Swipe in any direction and something will happen, accompanied by a sound. You can select your calendars and choose to display your contacts birthdays and the weather. As usual. Tapping will let you enter new events. But browsing everything is through swipes to get to different sides of the cube. It's a bit of a gimmick and I would recommend making sure the app is free on a promotion when you pick it up because you could either like it or hate it but it's worth having a look at.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 25-08-2014)
Read More
How DelectableBefore you take that sip of wine — what do you know about it? In today’s society, it’s not just about the taste of wine, but your knowledge of its characteristics. If you’re an iPhone user, get yourself the app, Delectable, and use its camera to click a wine label. Now, once it’s been recognised, see what Delectable has to say about it, where is it from, what vineyard, etc. And more interestingly, go social with it. If you let the app into your contact list and networks, you can see who else has been partaking of the particular wine and what they’ve said about it. In fact, you can see what wines your friends have been drinking and what they like. Delectable is both a wine scanner and a wine journal and a lot more enjoyable way to learn about wine than attending a course. Also a way of getting reviews and recommendations before you buy.Get your ColoursArtists, designers, interior decorators — or anyone who frequently has to deal with colours such as when creating marketing material, schemes for an app or logo colours — here’s a wonderful tool on iOS. Spectrum is a great way of creating or capturing colour schemes and sharing them with others who may be working with you on a project. The app has colour wheels and matrixes of various kinds, but the more interesting part is how you can extract the colours from a photograph and use them for something else. In fact, if you spot a set of colours that grab your attention, just take a good picture and then pull the photograph into Spectrum. The whole palette will open up for you to edit so that you can adjust any colours or add or throw out some if you like. You can save the palette to your camera roll or share it.Salient EyeAt a pinch, you can use your Android phone as a security camera. Download the free app and it’s best to watch a tutorial on how to use it though it isn’t very complicated. You configure the app on various parameters like whether to switch the screen off, how many seconds to take to arm, password, etc. You then set the phone to have the rear camera face an entrance or vulnerable area, press the button to arm, and get out of the way. The problem is that it’s rather fussy and insists the user stop moving so it can finish arming. You can experiment with the sensitivity level. If it detects movement before arming, it’ll just start all over again. Once it’s armed, you move away totally. If anyone passes in front of the camera, even from a distance, an almighty alarm will go off and only stop when you enter your password. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 11-08-2014)
Read More
Tom Foldesi, Senior Director of Product, New Devices Group at Intel explains the chip maker's push into wearablesHonestly, aren't wearables a solution in search of a problem?Consumers will always want their electronics to be more compact, portable, lighter, and at the same time less obtrusive. In many ways, it is the perpetual problem statement in computing. It is that same problem statement that gave birth to notebooks, smartphones, and now wearables. In fact, wearables introduce a new level of convenience in how we interact with information. To use a mundane example, imagine a world where you just glance at your watch and do not need to retrieve you phone dozens of times a day. In the wearables space, Intel’s product philosophy is to bring smart, connected features to the items that individuals already wear. So your wearable is not just another gadget. Rather, it’s something that you have always worn that now also offers convenient computing functionality.Would you say wearables are set to be as big an evolution as the mobile phone has been?It is still very early days for the industry, but wearables are already revolutionising the way we collect and consume data. The more features we integrate into wearable devices, the more compelling they will become. There is no doubt that this is the next frontier in computing. However, we do not yet know with certainty what dominant usage models and devices will emerge and when.Do you see any specific industries as being particularly ripe for wearables? Or is it all just a lot of experimentation? Tom FeldosiWe believe that lifestyle brands, including fashion houses and sports/fitness companies are going to be very powerful drivers of wearable technology. You can put a smartphone in your pocket, but wearables are actually worn on your body, easily visible. This makes them a very personal product - an expression of users’ personality and style. The aforementioned industries are best positioned to be able to address personal style on a very broad scale and will be instrumental in the deployment of mainstream wearable devices. To foster innovation in this field, Intel has already announced partnerships with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), premium retailer Barney’s of New York, and international design house Opening Ceremony. It seems like wearables are sprouting up in too many different fields. There's a lot of fitness trackers, health tracking devices, notifiers, etc. Do you see something that would unify these? There has not yet been one single usage model or device that has emerged as the broad standard. People have different tastes and preferences and the market is growing very rapidly, so there is more than enough room for numerous devices/usages to coexist. Over the medium to long run, ongoing form factor miniaturisation will drive device convergence, as it did in mobile. Ten to fifteen years ago, you may have had a cell phone, a PDA, pocket camera, and a Blackberry. Today, you have a smartphone that can perform all of those functions. Wearable devices of the future will be able to integrate fitness/health tracking, notifications, etc. in one single device. That device could come in a variety of form factors: watch, bracelet, glasses, earpiece, etc. Intel has always been and continues to be a global leader in driving ever smaller form factors in technology. We are currently engaged with our customers on various devices/usage models and we are determined to help our partners shape this emerging landscape.What kind of developers have been taking up work with Intel Edison so far? Can you give me some idea of the work in progress? (Edison is Intel's tiny computer that fits into an SD card).Edison has not officially launched yet – the product is expected to be available within the next couple of months, so we are not in a position to talk about specific devices. Though our CEO did showcase the Mimo Baby “smart onsie” in his CES keynote in January 2014. It is a baby garment with biometric monitoring sensors powered by Edison. It allows parents a new level of insight into their baby’s biometrics. We will be able to talk about additional products soon after launch. Intel is sponsoring the Make It Wearable Challenge to foster innovation in this space and Edison is expected to power a lot of the devices for the competition. Intel has announced more than $1 million in prize money for the most innovative ideas. Competition finalists will be announced in the Fall.What new reference devices are in the works from Intel post CES?We have publicly announced that we are developing a smart bracelet with international fashion house Opening Ceremony. Our CEO, Brian Krzanich, also demonstrated a smart shirt last month at the Code Conference. It underscores Intel’s research and development activities in smart fabrics and garments. We will be making more product announcements in the coming months… stay tuned!How important will it be to have unifying standards in the upcoming wearables industry? Everyone's doing their own thing. Consumers have the most power in driving vendors towards particular standards, devices, and usage models. Convergence in mobile ecosystems was driven by customer behaviour. However, there is certainly room for vendors to align around particular technical standards to make the marketplace more transparent upfront. For example, in the interest of a better user experience, Intel is an active player in designing smart wireless charging technologies based on the Rezence (A4WP) standard. How do you see the problems of security and privacy being tackled as we move into the age of wearables?Every person has their own preferences when it comes to privacy. But regardless of whether individuals want to maintain a public or private profile, everyone agrees that they want their data to be secure. Intel has been a leader in designing security features into both hardware and software for more than 40 years in servers, PCs, and mobile devices. We are now bringing this rich, diverse experience set to bear in wearables.
Read More
If you are craving some attention, just strap on a smartwatch — especially one like the Samsung Gear Fit. It’s got a curved, bright vibrantly- coloured screen that sits on your wrist like a bracelet and is guaranteed to turn heads and be a conversation starter. And when someone asks “What’s that you’re wearing?” you’ll find yourself stuck between wanting to say smartwatch and fitness band because the Gear Fit is trying to be both. I could be uncharitable and say it’s succeeding at neither but I think that isn’t Samsung’s problem alone; it’s something that the new wearables that are said to be about to flood the market still have to figure out — what do you really, really need them for?So, the Gear Fit, which will work with a couple of the most recent Samsung phones like the Galaxy S5, of course, and the Note 3, is an expensive piece of kit for something that hasn’t quite found its place yet. It’s Rs 15,550 in addition to the phone it has to pair with and have nearby to work. The Gear Fit is mercifully not clunky or heavy. You barely feel it on your wrist. The leather strap has lots of apertures to fit any size of wrist and it’s even interchangeable. But looking at it does present a bit of a tricky situation. As you lift your wrist (and the device comes on), the angle is a little awkward. The text on it can go into portrait mode but because it’s so narrow, that too is a bit strange. All the same, it’s very clear and readable, even in sunlight. Specifications1.84 inch curved Super AMOLED TouchscreenIP67 certified dust and water resistantAccellerometer, Gyrososcope, heart rate sensor2 to 4 daysbattery lifeThere’s a surprising number of settings to adjust the display, for something that small. There are some settings for left vs. right-handed use. As it sits on your wrist, the gadget senses when you’ve moved your hand to look at it and the screen turns itself on and then turns off when you’re done. This surely takes up some amount of battery, but it’s very convenient and frees you from fiddling with it too much.The Gear Fit has to work with a Gear Fit Manager app which the phone will prompt you to download. Once that’s done and your devices are paired via Bluetooth or NFC, you can well… tell the time. But no, there’s a few more things you can do. You can use it to control the music on your phone; you can get notifications and messages in case you don’t feel like pulling out your phone just at that moment. You can even reply with preset messages in some cases. But you can’t extend its features beyond this as there are no apps that you can add.As a fitness band, the Gear Fit can count your steps, tell you how peaceful your sleep was, track your exercise, and measure your heartbeat provided you keep still a moment. Commonly, people don’t find it’s that accurate, but more importantly, there isn’t much you can do with most of the information. True, you can speed up or slow down your walk or run to meet a required standard, but a fitness freak will need more in-depth analysis and highly accurate measurement.The Gear Fit’s battery lasts two to three days depending on how much you use it and it charges by using a tiny adaptor which clamps on to allow for the micro USB slot to be used. Lose the adaptor – and that’s big trouble.Samsung has a couple of other Gear watches as well. Overall, the Gear Fit is interesting looking but it doesn’t have a serious and really important use either on the watch or fitness side. More wearables are coming and unless you have money to spare for a toy, it’s best to wait for the next iteration. On the other hand, if you want to look cool, really cool.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 14-07-2014)
Read More
Sony's xperia z2 is one of the three top smartphones fighting it out for your wallet at the moment, the others being the Galaxy S5 and the HTC One M8. You could also count the Lumia 1020, which is in a class by itself because of its special camera. And, of course, there’s the iPhone 5S which one won’t argue with — for now.Someone seeing the Sony Z2 in my hand asked why the phone had two screens. And it’s true that with the display turned off it does look like the same back and front. Sandwiched on the sides is the metal, which is where all the buttons and flaps sit. In this department, the Sony Z2 looks different from other phones because all of its slots are behind flaps that keep it waterproof. With these securely shut you can actually take the phone underwater, in the shower, and through the rain. Sony has led the way with this waterproof business and it’s only more recently that others, including the Galaxy S5, have been featuring this sort of protection. The phone is also dust and scratch resistant.Also different about some of the Sony phones including the Z2 is the little round power button and a dedicated camera button on the right edge. As ever, the design of this phone is all straight lines, totally recognisable as a Sony phone. “Omnibalance” they like to call it. Straight, straight, straight, is what I call it. It’s very much like the Z1 and unless you were to examine that with the Z2 by its side, it’s difficult to tell the difference. And that’s fine, as design has certainly not been a problem with any of the Xperia phones. There were other issues, and it seems Sony listened.Definitely the best thing that Sony has refreshed in the Z2 is the screen which in its earlier version used to wash out at the slightest change of angle. This time, Sony has got it right as it gets on the path to catching up with others. The Galaxy S5 still has a more contrasting screen but the Z2’s 5.2-inch display is pretty good too. On the sound front, the HTC One M8 beats everyone else, though the Z2 has stereo sound and noise cancellation in the headphones. But considering it’s the maker of the Walkman, Sony should improve the sound on its handsets.The Z2 works with a more powerful processor — the most recent — and has more RAM than the Z1 did. It works without a hitch though I did encounter some stutter when browsing. Sony’s interface is light, not interfering with the Android experience too much. And that experience is overall smooth. Its battery does well, not only because it’s large, but also because of the battery saving software, “Stamina mode”.The camera can’t but be especially good on an expensive smartphone particularly from a company that makes cameras and has the expertise. The Z2’s camera is actually the same as the Z1’s except that something’s been done to get better pictures out of it. It’s still not a low-light specialist and I found that images shot outdoors would get noisy and blurred if a portion was in the shade. So don’t expect great results indoors. But in full daylight, photos were sharp and clear and detailed. There are several camera apps replete with options. The video shoots in 4k if you should find a need for that capability. There’s no optical image stabilisation. Let’s leave that for the Z3, shall we?Xperia Z2 is Rs 49,990 and includes a smartband worth Rs 5,990. Canon's Powershot G1 X Mark IICanon’s PowerShot G1 X Mark II, obviously the upgrade to the G1 X of 2012, is quite a chunk of a camera even in its new guise. It’s compact and portable – yet not light and pocket-able. The reason for the chunkiness, however, is what’s under the hood. The G1 X Mark II has a 1.5-inch sensor which is just short of an APS-C, as did the original G1 X. Its lens has a 5x optical zoom, equivalent of 24-120mm in 35mm terms. Digital zoom is 20x. Its max aperture is f/2 ranging to f/3.9. The camera is Wi-fi capable and can be controlled, in a limited fashion, via a smartphone using its app.However, it has a lot of design quirks that, combined with the weight, don’t improve the ergonomics. For one, it isn’t well balanced in the hand. The minimalistic grip on the front is too small for the weight of the device and doesn’t sit comfortably. Then there are a few button placements that are problematic: the flash trigger is too close to the clasp for the strap; the playback button is in an awkward place up top; the power button is too close to the mo-dial and the inner ring encircling the lens for aperture settings is stiff to use quickly when you’re taking a shot. There’s no electronic view finder, however, you can add one. The lenses are not interchangeable. The G1 X II is a 12.8 megapixel point-and-shoot. It does a not-bad job of low-light shooting and you can go right up close with it for macros, but I did find I often ended up with fuzzy pictures. However, it handles colours beautifully and accurately.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 14-07-2014)
Read More
I’ve learnt two big lessons this week. One is that there’s no limit to how ridiculous a piece of technology can get. Two is that there’s no accounting for human tastes.Who would have thought that someone would go to the trouble of putting together an app that goes “Yo” (in the most annoying little voice, I might add) from one user to another and that this app would then go on to become among the five most popular apps on Apple’s App Store with 790,000 users already? And the story does not end there; investors are actually willing to back it up with $1.2 million – with more promised! Luckily, the Israeli duo, Moshe Hogeg and Or Arbel of Mobli, a company that develops more serious applications, seem to be unwilling to go crazy with Yo. Very sensibly, they’re waiting to see how it goes. It’s being suggested that Yo could be developed to include more interesting features, including different sounding Yo’s, and that it would be a perfect fit on a smartwatch.The Yo app and phenomenon has dominated social media news, made it to the Stephen Colbert show, and received due attention from hackers who’ve used it for a bit of target practice. You can check it out for yourself on iOS and Android and see if you become one of its addicted fans. I tried it for a bit and promptly and without regret, offloaded it. Like the developers, I’ve also often used punctuation marks to communicate with someone who understands the context. But a Yo is probably something I’d be able to tolerate say once a year at best. It’s funny when you think that the app wasn’t supposed to be out in the wild in the first place but was meant for internal communication. Even Apple reportedly rejected it as having too little substance. Who would have thought it would get that popular, though who knows how long the world’s amusement with it will last. When you look around, there are many other apps and games that are simple one-trick ponies but end up becoming frantically popular. I’d count Flappy Bird in that category. In fact, I’d even say Talking Tom, mimicking everything you say, should have outlived its funniness. But oh no. The art and science of viral content and its longevity has not been cracked yet. Which is why the future of Yo is being watched with great interest. But at this point I’d say one can neither ensure virality nor can you take it for granted and sometimes, it just knocks you off your feet. One thing’s for sure: things like Yo certainly teach us something we didn’t know about people.
Read More
A Secret For AllPeople have always loved secrets. But with the app Secret, it's not a matter of "don't tell anyone..." rather the opposite. Secret is all about anonymous confessions and gossip and you can use this social network to get things off your chest. The immensely popular iOS app has just made it to Android as well as to the world outside of the US. Now you can just say whatever without anyone knowing who you are. Sounds childish? It probably is — but it's also addictive. Very much like another app Whisper, Secret, so far, has been more focused on corporate gossip. That may change as the app opens up to the world at large. Secret knows who you are so it can let you see stuff from nearby and from contacts, but anonymously. Secret is worth a look to see what we humans can really be like when allowed to.Travel And Tellmotormouth, a free iOS app, is based on a great idea. However, I think someone should rebuild and improve on it. What MotorMouth does is pair voice notes from users with a map. Wherever you happen to be, you can leave a voice clip, created from within the app. As people travel around they can open the app and get interesting information and reactions from others who've been there. Sadly, a nice idea doesn't mean people use it nicely. I heard wholly unnecessary clips saying, 'Hello, how are you?' And some others were in languages I didn't know. But it's early days yet for this new app, which has the potential to be really cool if users let it be. If the app were better designed and used images as well and allowed you to use ratings and leave more detailed text notes, it would be far more interesting.Slack Off To Do Stuffa collaborative tool still in limited preview (but downloadable), Slack is a combination of chat, email, file sharer and more. You add others, who also need to download the app on Android, iOS, PC, or Mac, and form a team to work together on something. Chat would have been too temporary and difficult to exchange files on. Email is sometimes too confusing as multiple people send mails and inevitably someone doesn't get someone's mail. But Slack is that combination that makes collaborating easier. It also works with other services such as Google Drive and Dropbox. Everything concerned with your project is all in one place and searchable as well. On top of that, you can use it as a task manager by setting reminders to complete your part of the work(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 30-06-2014)
Read More
