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.
We have a beauty on our hands. After the iPhone, it’s really the HTC One that has been admired for its design — and the new version, also called the M8, takes its seduction-by-metal philosophy further. It’s larger than its 4.7-inch predecessor and the edges are rounded to make it easier to hold. From the front, it’s the signature HTC look, with chamfered edges and the speaker grills up top and bottom. These give the HTC One its Boom Sound, easily the best audio experience on a smartphone, if you don’t use external speakers. The full-blooded, rich sound adds wonderfully to the avid consumption of videos, music and movies that this country is so sold on.The back of the HTC One is smooth as silk. It’s got that brushed metal look and is wonderful to the touch. The phone is supposed to be 90 per cent metal, according to HTC. The problem is though that it’s so smooth it can just glide and ooze out of your hand and crash to the floor. So many reviewers report having dropped it that I clutch it extra tight at all times. It’s sad that such beautiful phones end up having to be put into cases, but that’s a fact and best if you want to protect it as much as possible.The M8 isn’t just about beauty though. It’s got top-end specs and is slow at nothing. HTC’s Sense 6 interface works with Android 4.4.2 for a light and smooth experience. In fact it’s on the beauty and smoothness front that the Galaxy S5 compares unfavourably with it, sporting the usual Samsung look and using the TouchWiz interface that is full of tricks but invariably slows things down.It’s on the features front that the Galaxy S5 beats the M8 — and just about any other smartphone. Now that it works with a smartwatch, the S5 has enough to keep a user occupied until the next version comes around.But that’s not to say the HTC One is low on features. It doesn’t have the same kind of multi-tasking for example, but it does have a beautiful implementation of its Blink Feed, the news feed style content consumption feature that you access with a mere side-swipe. Samsung too has an equivalent now, but HTC, who originated it, does a finessed job of it as it does with everything else on the device. You can tap twice to wake it up, circumventing the annoyingly placed power button on top, lift the phone to receive a call, and more.A distinctive feature of the M8 you can see on the back is the camera. As before, it’s a 4 megapixel — or rather, “ultra-pixel” shooter, designed to let in more light. But it’s also a “dual camera” with one portion dedicated to quickly capturing additional information such as the distance of the objects around which then helps to achieve that bokeh look. It sounds very impressive, but when you get down to it, it’s a mixed bag. The photographs you take indoors are actually filled with light and not blurred out or noisy. Outdoors, there just isn’t enough detail and clarity on distant objects or zooming in. It is, after all, all of four megapixels and although megapixels never tell the whole story, they’re needed if you want big detailed pictures.But everyone does not in fact want picture-perfection. Many users are more interested in casually taking a shot and uploading it. For that, the camera does fine, as does the 5MP front camera, especially there for selfies. So, to sum up the cameras — fun for casual shooting, “Zoe” music-and-movement shows and indoor pics. Not so great for high- end phone photography for which Nokia’s 1020 is currently the best.There are rumours that higher-end models of the M8 are on their way, sporting a 13MP camera. There may also be a ‘mini’ variant. Asus Tranformer Book TrioWe’ve got to hand it to Asus. They really don’t hesitate to innovate. For the past few years they’ve been tinkering with their “Transformer” devices and their PadFones and FonePads and while they may not be awfully creative with their names, they certainly explore different ways of making tablets and laptops.The Transformer Book Trio (TX201LA-CQ003P is the model I reviewed) is a 11.6-inch laptop-tablet hybrid. But you could say it’s a double hybrid because it runs both Windows 8 and Android, when the two parts are attached. There’s a key for that and it just takes one press to switch from one OS to the other.The Trio is solid and very Asus-like, if you’ve seen any of the company’s other products. There’s meat in both the parts of this hybrid — a processor for the tablet and a keyboard for the dock, which you can even attach to another screen to run. In that way, it can actually be used by two people. The processors are Intel Core™ i7-4500U ( up to 3.0 GHz, 4M) and an Intel Atom™ Z2560 (1.60 GHz, 1M). It also has two batteries: 19WHR and 33WHR. The Android part has a longer battery life. And we’re not done — it has two cameras.The screen is a nice bright one with eye-popping colours and no washing out at different angles. The keyboard too is pretty good. At Rs 98,099, this duo isn’t exactly cheap, so one has to decide if one will really use it as both laptop and tablet. The tablet part is of course a bit landscapey and in portrait mode is elongated and not quite comfortable for say, reading a book. It’s also not very light. You also need to figure out whether you’re likely to use Android in that format.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 30-06-2014)
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Sit down for this one: LG’s G Flex smartphone is officially a rupee short of Rs 70,000. You heard right. That’s more than my fridge and two ACs. It’s more than the 40-inch television I want. And it’s twice the cost of getting wooden flooring for my whole apartment.Now please peel yourself off the floor to see what it is the G Flex offers…It’s curved all right. Gently but surely. The components inside, including the battery, must be modified to fit. Even the packaging is curved. LG calls it the shape of innovation. But almost everyone else will likely call it the shape of confusion. Why does a phone need to be curved? That’s the one question I got from everyone I showed the G Flex to. Well, it doesn’t absolutely need to, but a curve might actually improve some things. First, it fits the face a bit better than a straight slab. That’s true enough, but not killingly important since we’ve gotten accustomed to yelling into those straight slabs by now. Second, it does something to the display and makes it cinematic and immersive. I don’t know if I’m falling for the marketing but I found watching videos really wonderful on this device as the scene wraps you into it. The screen, incidentally, is hardly top-notch resolution and it really should be at this price. Don’t expect razor sharp text on this one. But somehow, it is very nice perhaps because of the curve and the colours and the fact all angles check out beautifully clear. Still, at the cost of one and a half flagship phones, it should have had a screen to match.The curve is also a flex, as you can see by the name. If there’s some weight on the back of the device, it’ll press down but bounce back to its original shape. There are videos of people stepping on it — but I’m not about to try and then end up handing over Rs 70,000 to LG. The back, which is unfortunately glossy and dangerously slippery, is supposed to “self-heal”, which means that small scratches will sort of disappear. A deeper scratch however will not and I can see that someone’s put one on my review unit.The G Flex is so much more than its curve though, so never think that you’re being charged that hefty sum just for the shape. It’s one of the fastest phones on the planet — and it shows. I didn’t manage to get it to lag although it got a little hot under the collar when benchmarking tests were on. Nothing alarming. My Note 3 gets hotter when it’s just had enough of me. LG has put its own skin or user experience layer on top of Android 4.2.2 and some people hate it, aesthetically. But no one can say it produces lag and stutter. The software includes a whole bag of tricks so it’s really enough to keep its rich user busy for quite a while. You have all these gestures and animations and smart features to play with. There’s LG’s multitasking QSlide apps and the notification area is stuffed with icons for quick access. Most famously, there’s the Knock Code feature that lets you switch the screen on when you tap on it. Otherwise, the power button is on the back right under the camera where many people do end up touching the lens.Talking of the lens, the camera on the G Flex is not special, but certainly it’s nice. That means it’s not in the league of the Galaxy S5, the iPhone 5s and definitely not the Nokia 1020, but it is still good for everyday photos and even handles low light fairly well although images are a bit soft then. There are many scene modes to spice up the pics.One of the best things on the G Flex is its 3,500 mAh battery and the fact that it lasts comfortably for the day. break-page-break Lenovo Ideapad A10More than once I’ve wished laptops would turn Android, or better still, be both Windows and Android. Just for the ease of having it all on one device. That rarity does exist, but here we have the Lenovo IdeaPad A10 which is really an Android netbook. Now Android isn’t really a PC operating system so there will be many times when it doesn’t behave like the laptops you would have known, but for basic work, especially when travelling, it could be a good budget buy at Rs 19,990.The IdeaPad A10 gives you an instant netbook feeling when you take it out of its box. Its exterior is a matte-finish plastic and looks totally plain and straightforward — and yet good. Nothing cheap about it; just no-nonsense.Open up and you’ll notice that the strong hinge is kind of stiff and rigid. The screen can be pushed back and it goes to the point where it strongly locks into a position you can use as a stand. That is, the keyboard is face down and the screen straight up and leaning back a bit. This doesn’t go all the way back and fold over the keyboard or detach from it.The keyboard is really make-do and doesn’t look classy, but it is a full-fledged one with some special Android keys such as for the Home screen. The trackpad is almost half the size that they usually are and it’s also a little temperamental. Still, it’s a workable keyboard.The 10.1 inch 1366 x 768 touch screen is a bit of a disappointment. It looks dull and washed out and any change in angle makes it more so. But again, it’s workable. Other specs include 10-hour battery life, 16 GB of SSD storage with a micro-SD card slot for 62 GB more, two USB ports, HDMI out and a charger with micro-USB, as in phones. But there’s no slot for a SIM and nor does it support a 3G dongle. The processor is 1.6 GHz quad-core from Rockchip and there’s 2 GB of RAM. It’s a little heavy for its size, but still very thin and portable. Overall a usable Android little laptop for a good price.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 16-06-2014)
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Forgive me but don’t all the text books on leadership say that communication is a core requisite? But perhaps the UPA, even after their spectacular loss in the general elections, doesn’t get it even now. When grilled by our favourite TV anchors they first argue that “it happens” in democracies, quite as if it were a cricket match with many more to come in the series. Then they finally say ok, they lost because their one big mistake was they didn’t communicate their achievements well enough. So deep is their culture of non-communication that they no longer seem to understand what that entails. Not a one-way, top-down king-subject communication, but a genuine connect with those who put them were they were in the first place.At one time, you could have argued that there weren’t easy ways to connect to the general public; that those in power were too busy doing great stuff for the country to be doing a lot of communicating – never mind that they spent half the day inaugurating useless things and the other half recovering.But today, it takes no time at all to connect because the social web gives so many opportunities to do so. Pick a network of your choice and go. Instead, the Congress initially tried to stifle social media. At least it threatened to. When they figured that was easier said than done, they decided to join them. But no matter how many followers they had and no matter how often posts were uploaded, the stark difference between the UPA and the BJP was the extent of connect.The BJP realised nice and early in the game that it pays to use technology to communicate and social media to engage. With every aspect handled by the best-in-the-business professionals, it was such a success that social media is actually being credited with having helped the BJP win the elections. Specially Mr Modi, of course. It’s fascinating though to compare the online with the offline styles of our ex Prime Minister and Narendra Modi. Dr Manmohan Singh’s Twitter account, for example, is obviously handled by a third party, referring to the ex-PM always in the third person. The PM had talks with so and so, the PM travelled to somewhere or the other… to the point of terminal boredom. It’s nothing more than what you’d read in the news and not care about one way or the other. Modi on the other hand, always tweets in the first person, speaking of feelings, intentions appreciation and even posting selfies guaranteed to strike a chord with today’s generation. Other than a handful of UPA ministers, the culture of that party has been to act as if they can’t lower themselves to be engaging with the masses, even in times of trouble. They were the “ruling” party after all, red-beaconing their way through national history.Offline though, there are some reversals. Dr Manmohan Singh, in the rare times that he did speak, though he mostly read out his speeches, always spoke in the first person and referred to his personal take on things, including how he felt about issues. Narendra Modi, on the other hand, often speaks of himself in the third person. And it’s an unnerving oddity. He doesn’t seem to need prompts and papers, he interacts with the crowd, gets them to participate and respond and shout and get excited. It’s all done most skillfully and with complete control.As for Rahul Gandhi, had he been the youth icon his party projected him to me, would have been active on social media – more than anyone else. He would have been comfortable doing so too. Instead, offline, he looked, to almost everyone, as someone quite out of place in his role, no matter how much he shouted an aggression he probably doesn’t feel.With the campaigning and elections over with, it will be interesting to see what communication style the BJP and Mr Modi adopt. Will time and the assumption of power erect a wall between them and the people or will they be more accessible and open? It’s difficult to predict. But whatever means are used, it would be interesting to see if communication with the masses is given the same importance and attention as in the noisy throes of electioneering.
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It's a given: if you want a powerful full-featured smartphone, you’ll have to figure out how to get comfortable with something upward of 5 inches. To want a phone with the best specs means buying a super-sized device — at least, that’s been the trend for the past year or so.But not everyone is willing, and able, to carry a large phone, neither are they happy to compromise on specs. Their one choice has been the iPhone that stubbornly hangs on to 4 inches. But now, Sony offers another option — the Xperia Z1 Compact, which is pretty much the Z1 squeezed into a smaller body. Unlike the ‘Minis’ from other brands, the Z1 Compact has it all, without scaling down the specs. To look at, the Compact is similar to the recent Xperia smartphones — straight lines and symmetry or ‘Omnibalance’, as Sony calls it. I like that there’s a little weight to it instead of the device being fly-away light. It has a glassy unibody, and all the slots — SIM tray, SD card slot, micro USB — are on the left, on a lighter-coloured strip — protected by rubbery flaps that retain the phone’s water resistance when securely shut. The phone can stay submerged for 30 minutes. The SIM tray should have been easier to handle, though. In fact, I can’t think why inserting SIMs isn’t easier on all phones! The Compact comes with the now-signature round button on the right edge that powers the device on. There’s also a smaller hit-and-miss camera button. Colours sit well on the Z1 Compact and it’s available in black, white, pink and lemon yellow. Overall, the phone looks nice, and it’s a pity one may have to cover it to keep out the scratches and fingerprints that the Compact is prone to. The screen isn’t of the highest resolution but because it’s smaller, it looks good. Thankfully, Sony has improved the display from different angles, which was quite irksome in earlier models. Even now, the screen is far from perfect and not the greatest option for some of the apps that are really meant for larger Android screens, but the colours are good, and low on battery consumption.The phone’s 20.7 MP camera is rather special. It has Sony’s high-quality G Lens, and the sensor works with the F2.0 G lens. The camera app is simple, but featured-packed. It lacks optical image stabilisation, which is a pity. The camera takes great shots in daylight, but is a bit temperamental in low light and over-processed images. But it all depends on your settings, so it’s a matter of getting to know it works in different conditions. Video recording is good but nothing special. Overall, given the processor it has, the Compact is fast enough. Be aware, though, that gaming, videos, etc., don’t turn out to be the same experience as on larger, expansive screens so it depends on what is important to you. HTC Desire 310HTC recently launched a new version of its One and reviewers are calling it the best Android phone the world has ever seen. But most people won't be able to afford it. So, in response to popular demand, the troubled phone-maker has rejuvenated its line for those who want smartphones at affordable prices. The Desire 310 fits the bill. It is unassuming and almost dated in its looks — but it is a solid phone that may be even a smidge heavy for its size. Curved edges make the 4.5-inch handset comfortable to hold. The removable back is plastic and the front is regular except for a big speaker grill on the top. The screen is not particularly high-res at 480 x 854, but rather make-do. It isn't crisp and doesn’t have much finesse, but luckily doesn't wash out from different angles and is responsive enough and, in fact, fast with browsing. HTC’s home-screen customisation, the magazine-style Blink Feed, works quite well. The Desire 310 runs on a 1.3GHz Cortex A-7 Mediatek chipset with Android 4.2 (not the latest 4.4). There’s 512 MB of RAM. Benchmarks put it at anywhere close to the Galaxy S3. It has much of what Indians want — an FM radio, dual SIM and a 2,000 mAh battery, which works well-enough for the phone. Also a micro SD card slot for external storage that supports up to 32 GB. The 5 MP camera is basic and very grainy and very noisy indoors, so it can — at best — be considered for quick, casual photos. Oh, and videos too! The Desire 310 is a fast performer, though the one place I experienced lag was with the camera. For Rs 11,700, it’s a sensible sort of a phone — not charismatic or distinctive, but usable. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 19-05-2014)
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Micromax has finally let go of the Samsung-style design and gone the iPhone way, and I, for one, am happy. Of course, reactions to design are purely subjective and one person’s poison is another man’s meat, but apart from the styling, the Canvas Knight A350 has a whole new premium feel. It’s gone the glass slab way and you can feel its weight and solidity when you hold it. Micromax has a hefty 22 per cent market share in India and is second to Samsung, whose heels its always biting by offering far cheaper options for those who can’t afford the latter’s Rs 40,000-plus handsets. But these always looked very Samsung-like and design isn’t Samsung’s most-admired asset. With the Canvas Knight, Micromax has taken the design factor up many notches. Even the packaging is carefully and cleanly done with lots of protective layers. The Knight is a unibody, and you can’t open the glassy back to get to the battery or a non-existent microSD card. Personally, I like being able to access the battery, not because it’s all that likely I’ll replace it with another but because it’s sometimes useful to take it out and put it back in when a phone misbehaves, as my review unit did initially. A reset fixed all the problems. After its design, the most noteworthy thing about the Knight is that it’s running on a true octa-core 2 GHz processor from Microtek. All cylinders are firing at the same time. The smartphone is fast enough, but doesn’t necessarily feel fluid all the time. It also gets warm and heats up altogether if it’s made to do some heavy work. It has 2 GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage. Because it will be more popular among the young and restless, it could have done with a bit more battery than the 2,350 mAh it has. You can push it through most of the day if you’re not a heavy user, but if you’re gaming and watching videos, keep a portable charger handy (which, in any case, I think no smartphone user should be without). The 5-inch 1080 x 1920 LCD screen has a pretty high pixel density of 441. So, yes, text is sharp and colours good. Though, though the glass is a bit reflective, it’s fine in the sunlight. Overall, the screen is a pretty good experience. Browsing is super-quick, though videos took a while to get going on my rather compromised Net connection. Sound is nice and crystal clear. The Knight has a 16 MP primary camera and does fine in daylight outdoors, but has the usual problems of noise and mushiness indoors. To counter that would take a large lens. The secondary camera is 8 MP. For some reason, the Kinight isn’t running on the latest Android 4.4.2 but on 4.2.2. It’s a dual-sim and costs Rs 19,999. Click-Happy Don't ignore the Gionee E7 just because it's Chinese. The phone has much to boast ofWatch out for Gionee, one of the Chinese companies slowly but surely spreading its dragon wings outside of its home ground. Gionee’s ELife series of smartphones negates the idea that made-in-China is cheap, cheesy and copied. Instead, the ELife phones have stood out for their design, quality and specs. Now, its flagship E7 is available in India, and the new, slim ELife S5.5 has just been launched. Design-wise, the E7’s most prominent feature, on the outside, is a very glossy curved back. The flip cover, which comes with it, also curves and glosses but, be warned, it picks up fingerprints easily and needs frequent wiping. Honestly, I’m not too delighted with the glossiness or the peculiar curve but, well, to each his own. Moreover, the curve doesn’t add to the ergonomics in any way. It’s a broad phone and definitely in the large category. The 5.5-inch screen on the E7 is clear, with sharp colours and good viewing from all angles. But the differentiators are the phone’s camera and the Amigo, Gionee’s customised layer on top of Android. With the ‘special’ 16 MP camera, the lens sticks out a bit on the back, and that’s a problem because it touches the surface on which it’s placed. But it does take sharp pictures and has an elegant app to take them with. There are sliders and dials to make adjustments and HDR and Panorama modes; not many scene modes, but it does have a set of very useable filters. Video is great, but lacks the critical optical image stabilisation. Both photographs and video come out pretty well in low light — and that’s saying a lot. The front camera is 8 MP. Amigo is Gionee’s interface and adds a lot of touches to the phone, including homescreen behaviours, and has stylised icons so that they’re neither attractive nor easily recognisable. The problem I have is that the interface takes the fun out of Android which, after all, is popular for its customisability. All that Amigo also means that the E7 will probably be stuck with Android 4.2. The E7 is, however, a really fast and smooth performer. The smartphone handles navigation, animations, gaming, browsing and video easily, without getting too hot. There are a few too many pre-loaded things though. So Far, So Same The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 is more of the same offering that previous phones have hadSamsung has so many variants of its smartphones that figuring out one from the other can be quite a challenge. Recently, a new series, Galaxy Neo, has also been thrown into the mix along with the Minis and Quatros, and more. The Grand 2 is the second version of the Grand, which was, when it launched last year, a less expensive option for those who wanted a big phone with a not-so-big price. Plus, it was at that time when it became amply clear that local and Chinese companies would offer large phones at reasonable prices, specifically, Micromax. The Grand was the size of the Note series but without the stylus and specs. The Galaxy Grand 2 is a refreshed version of the Grand, with a specs bump and a few tweaks in design. Straight off, it looks 100 per cent Samsung. At a quick glance, the only other thing you can mistake it for is a Samsung imitation — of which there are many. The back of the phone maintains the faux leather material that, maybe, has replaced the glossy objectionable plastic of days gone by. For many, that “pleather” look is not much better, though I don’t particularly mind it, especially since it goes into a case and is quickly forgotten. The one crib I have about the Grand 2’s build is that it’s not ergonomically crafted. The edges stick out a bit, adding a touch of discomfort to a phone that is, after all, too large for your fingers to wrap around. The Grand 2 is about the size of the Note 2 at 5.25 inches of screen. The TFT display is 1280 x 720 with 280 ppi resolution and looks good enough. If you get rid of some of the garish default wallpapers and use their coffee cup image, things begin to look quite classy. So far, so same! But now we have a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 Cortex A7 quad-core processor with 1.5 GB RAM and 8 GB internal storage, with SD card slot and space expandable to 64 GB. It works smoothly and allowed me to navigate, browse and play Temple Run without much lag. The battery is a 2,600 mAh.The 8MP camera is the same, but with the newer camera app now found on Samsung phones. It’s a pretty good camera as far as 8 MP shooters go. All in all, it’s a smartphone I’d describe as middling. The cost online is around Rs 21,000. Dell Venue Pro 8You’d expect to switch on this little 8-inch Dell tablet and find an Android interface. But, no! The Venue 8 Pro is running Windows 8.1, and is a device to consider if you’re buying it for office work. The Venue Pro is a smidge heavy for its size, but it has a solid feel, which is good, plus its textured plastic back gives you a lot of grip. If you’re going to read a lot, holding it in one hand is tiring. You can, of course, pair it with a small keyboard.The 1280 x 800 IPS display is good and bright, with good viewing when tilted. Windows 8.1 swipes along on it just fine. Specs include a 1.8 GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor, 2 GB RAM, 32 GB memory and a microSD slot. There’s an HDMI out. I don’t expect much from tablet cameras, and the 5 MP and 1.3 MP cameras support that point of view — just adequate for quick, practical captures. The 4,830 mAh battery is built for work. Before buying this small workhorse of a tablet, plan how you will input data. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 05-05-2014)
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Third in the BlackBerry 10 lineage after the Z10 and the Q10, is the Q5, a full Qwerty keyboard plus touch smartphone, meant for the emerging markets of the world. On Tuesday, 16 July, launching the Q5 in India, BlackBerry India MD Sunil Lakwani said Q5 is aimed at the young super achievers, the young who want to explore. And keeping in mind the young clientele, this mobile from BB10 stable will cost Rs 24,990 with EMI options for buyers. There are no data bundle offers yet and standard ones will apply.Frankly, if I were to imagine an upgrade to the older BB7 keyboard devices such as the Curve, that would please the BlackBerry faithful, I would think this would be it. Despite two more premium phones that came before it, the Q5 has more going for it.Disclosure: I have never been a full time BlackBerry user and never craved a keyboard, having willingly moved to touch devices as soon as they made an appearance on the planet. But even I have to admit this is a wonderful set of keys. They take up about 40 per cent of the front and have obviously been crafted with loving care. The keys are small but distinct and separate, rounded in the direction your fingers are expected to move, and the right balance of press -– not too hard, not so soft as to interfere with tactile feedback. Unlike some BB7 device keyboards, the Q5’s is not curved upward but just straight and neat and easy to use, specially as the phone is so rather nice to hold in the hand. So, long-time BlackBerry users will easily love this keyboard, except that they may miss some of the keys that have now been turned into touch functions, such as for receiving a call. On the other hand there are many keyboard shortcuts, especially when using the browser, that will be welcome. I showed the Q5 to several BlackBerry users and without exception, they fawned over it, clearly impressed. All the same, they won’t and can’t entirely escape touch, which makes up more than half of this phone. More on that in a bit.The back of the phone -– and that’s surprisingly important to users perhaps because they need to touch it about as often as the front and because it’s what faces others as one uses the device – is made of a solid but elegant plastic which is smooth and soft to the touch. It’s not removable and hides the 2,100 mAh battery inside while the SIM and the microSD slots are on the left edge of the phone. The volume control, BB style, is on the right. The power on button is right on top and not a problem to get to because the device isn’t large enough to require that much travel. If you choose to, you can mostly ignore the power button and swipe up from the screen to turn the phone on.And what of the other 60 per cent on the front? Well, that’s all touch and the same BB10 as the Q10 and Z10. Just as fluid, just as quick with its swipe gestures and also sporting the BlackBerry Hub, social integration, and other BB10 features. In fact, there’s no compromise on the software front on the basis of its being the cheapest of the three so far. Physically, it isn’t even smaller than the Q10 and is, in fact, a tad taller. They Q10’s keyboard has frets and that device is a little heavier and has better hardware specs, but I found the keyboard, the all-important feature of the Q phones, actually more comfortable to use than the Q10’s. The 3.1-inch display is an IPS LCD, 720x720 pixels and not as advanced as the Q10’s but still it does have a density of ~328 ppi and is more than adequate for the phone. Together with the keyboard, it’s 4.72x2.60x0.43 inches.A few other essential specs include dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon internals. RAM is 2GB, which is a lot for a device of this size. Internal storage is 8GB expandable by 32GB -– good to store documents on. The camera is perfectly average. The 5MP primary should not be considered an asset but a make-do camera, really. The front camera is 2MP and remember that you could be using it a lot since video chat is so easy to initiate on BB10.The Q5 comes with many essential apps on board. There’s Docs to Go, all the social network apps, maps, Box for file storage, PDF reader, shortcuts to Dropbox and YouTube. In the past, BlackBerry users haven’t been as focused on apps and have used their devices as a super connected one to communicate with friends, family and colleagues. But it’s a different world today and while BlackBerry was busy creating BB10, Apples and Google’s app stores only went from strength to strength. With BlackBerry, the unfortunate chicken-and-egg situation is that developers are waiting for enough users and users are waiting apps. Well, that and a lot more. If you’re considering the Q5, know that it isn’t a great option for anyone moving from Apple or the Android ecosystems. It suits the BlackBerry faithful much more.The Q5 comes in black, a very smart white, a nice red and a pink. In India, it will be available in red, white and the black But it remains to be seen which colours are available in India.mala(at)pobox(dot)com(at)malabhargava on Twitter
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Analysts can say what they like, but it is not quite doom and gloom in the PC industry. The world may be gravitating towards tablets and smartphones, but that’s not to say it’s ready to give up on laptops and ultrabooks. In fact, there’s often debate on whether to consider tablets as part of the PC market, for a better picture on statistics, but research firms such as IDC disagree. The jury is still out on whether we’re in a ‘post-PC era’ or a ‘PC-plus era’. For now, both PCs and mobile devices are needed; just not in the same numbers as before. First, there are all kinds of tasks that are still best done on a PC. Familiarity, power, ease of input, and the fact that some software just won’t work on a tablet yet, are some of the reasons why people may want tablets but not at the cost of the laptop. A second reason is that laptops are converging with the tablet form factor and never before has there been so much innovation, with all sorts of hybrids and convertibles coming out to give you the best of both worlds. One of the innovations that is thought to be ready to give the world of laptops a shot in the arm is Intel’s new core processors, code-named Haswell. Normally, most of us don’t want to fill our heads with information about the innards of our laptops but, in this case, there’s a lot worth knowing as it means a step change in the options soon to be available. Haswell is the fourth generation of core processors, after Ivy Bridge. This time, there are bigger differences however, and the processors are much more aligned to portable hardware. In fact, Intel is finally beginning to look like it could be part of the mobile world and not just by making processors for a handful of smartphones. One of the most welcome advantages of the Haswell processor is that it will mean longer battery life — 50 per cent longer at least. An ultrabook will last you the day at work. Sony’s Vaio Pro, for example, will last up to 25 hours on the Haswell processor. The MacBook Air will work for 12 hours without a charge. The standby time of laptops will also be measurable in days and will involve turning off processes to save battery only to power up again rapidly. This isn’t done by putting in bigger, heavier batteries. In fact, devices will be lighter and thinner (the aim is thinner than a centimetre). There are design and spec changes coming up for ultrabooks which will make them compelling in more ways. Asus, innovative as ever, has come up with a hybrid that runs Windows 8 and Android, is both ultrabook and tablet, and has two processors, the Haswell and Intel’s Atom for the tablet portion. Because Intel has worked at reengineering the way power and cooling sit inside a device and merging certain components, it’s possible to make them thinner and lighter. Dell’s XPS 11 will have a very high-res screen and flip over like Lenovo’s Yoga. Ultrabooks will have touchscreens, if they stick by Intel’s specifications. Another change from previous notebooks, Intel now incorporates its own graphics, Iris and Iris Pro, onboard high-end Haswell processors, giving NVidia some competition in the gaming department. There are different series of Haswell processors for different performance levels — U, for example, is for ultrabooks. Also adding to the improvements in ultrabooks, hybrids and other devices is the combination of Windows 8.1 (codenamed Blue) with the Haswell processor. Windows 8 is the first avatar of Microsoft’s OS to be totally touch oriented, even if it does work in the traditional way of inputting as well. Touch needs to be smooth and fast, include gestures and voice commands, make quick work of handwriting recognition, etc. And that’s where you can’t have a device that is sluggish or exhausts its power in a short while of usage. Devices with the Haswell processor are going to start rolling out in the next couple of months and it’s by the end of the year that the real impact on the PC industry will be clearer. mala(at)pobox(dot)comTwitter: (at)malabhargava(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 15-07-2013)
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Beloved of geeks and awaited for months in India, the Nexus 4 is the all-Google phone made by LG. In fact, this phone has gone a long way in boosting LG’s brand equity. To start with, it’s a great looking device because it pretty much seems like human beings love glass and gloss, and that’s something the Nexus 4 has, both front and back. It’s got broad bezels bordering the top and bottom of its screen, but slimmer bezels on the sides. The Nexus 4 has a distinctive signature back, which is a smooth non-removable panel that sparkles with a very fine pattern of dots — which makes it look like diamond dust. The glass, however, makes it quite slippery and if it weren’t for the rubbery sides that improve the grip somewhat, the danger of dropping the phone would be very high. It doesn’t look like it would take very many drops either, so most probably it will have to go straight into a case, hiding the lovely back design. Oh well, that is the fate of many smartphones whose good and bad design are both hidden by a case. The Nexus logo on the back, by the way, looks so very classy too and that’s another thing that will have to go into hiding. But the thing that the Nexus 4 is most famous for is being “pure Android”, which means that it’s got whatever Google put on it as part of its operating system, which gets updated long before other Android devices, giving the tech-savvy a huge thrill. The updates usually bring new features and capabilities, but what you give up with a pure Android phone is the customised experience that phone manufacturers such as LG, Samsung, HTC or Sony put in to make it easier to use. And more interesting, if you’re an average user. With a Google phone, those who are tech-savvy can go ahead and easily discover the new things that the updates can do and shape their own experience by downloading launchers, apps, widgets, among others. For the person who would rather get a readymade experience, I’d recommend getting a device on which the manufacturer has put in the effort for you, even if it means you don’t have the absolute latest Android version. The Nexus 4 is also known for being a smooth performer — ‘Project Butter’ or Google’s measures to make Android fast and pleasurable, work like a charm on it. You can swipe and pinch and zoom through the screens with swimming ease. You encounter no lag while navigating and using applications. The benchmarks put this device close to the Galaxy S3 and HTC One X in performance, but it is real world performance that matters because raw power has to be optimised carefully with the software. The screen on this smartphone is bright, though maybe a touch glaring, with good viewing angles and natural colours. It’s great for gamers, though it gets a little warm with heavy use that drains the battery, of course. The battery lasts just a day with light use. Browsing is fast, but minus Flash. Sound is a little disappointing as it’s on the tinny side and lacks depth. Call quality is clear though. A third reason why the Nexus 4 created a buzz right from the start is that it’s been priced lower than other phones. At Rs 25,999, it’s definitely value for money as you get a device that performs well and has a premium feel and branding. It is available in black and white. The camera on the Nexus 4 is not one of its high points. It’s average and workable, but the device is not a camera specialist. A feature that is enabled with Android 4.2.2 is the ability to take 360-degree panoramic shots, and that was a much-awaited feature when the Nexus 4 first came out. But apart from that, the interface is a little atypical and takes getting used to. CheckoutNikon Coolpix AIf you’ve been even a little camera-conscious you would have heard of the Nikon D7000, a favourite Rs 54,000with photo enthusiasts. Now Nikon has taken its APS-C CMOS sensor and squeezed it into a Coolpix camera, from its compact range. The new Coolpix A is jacket-pocketable and yet, houses a DX-format sensor meant for DSLRs. It’s not quite your point-and-shoot and will call for knowing some photography and camera basics, and it’s not quite a comprehensive professional’s tool. Instead, it’s considered a niche product for street photography and other similar situations. The Coolpix A has a sturdy metallic body with a lot of magnesium alloy. It stays compact because there’s no extruding lens mechanism — and no zoom. The lens comes out a little bit when you use the power-on lever on top and it does so quickly, ready to take a shot. The body has a sandpapery feel to ensure you don’t drop it. There’s no viewfinder or moveable screen and the 3-inch screen isn’t touch enabled. There’s been an obvious attempt to keep it as slim as possible while still keeping it solid. There’s a hotshoe that will let you use various optional accessories such as a Wi-Fi attachment. This is a 16.2 MP shooter with a 28mm f/2.8 ’equivalent’ lens. It competes with the Sony RX100 and the Fujifilm X100s. Its effective ISO range is 100-6400. There are lots of controls and buttons; some of them, such as an instant macro button on the side, are quite useful because of their quick access. But there are also some quirks, such as no physical button for video shooting. That’s hidden in one of the dials. The quality of images is clear and sharp and realistically coloured. It’s good at low light as well.mala(dot)bhargava(at)gmail(dot)com(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 15-07-2013)
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If you think waggling your fingers and waving your hands at computers and gadgets is more natural than touching and typing, you’re in for a treat. The day when you will use gestures and your voice to communicate with all the devices around you is not far away. And what’s more, the gadgets will understand you and respond. There’s already the familiar Microsoft Kinect for XBox 360 that registers large gestures in 3D space and even some face movements. Leap Motion is a tiny device that hooks up with a PC and also does accurate finger and hand-tracking to help you work with your PC in a more ‘human’ way. On phones, Samsung’s heavy use of hand gestures and other tricks has meant inputting with gestures really isn’t alien anymore. But now, another big player has stepped in to take man-machine interaction to another level — Intel. This means new ways of communicating have come to the world of PCs, especially Ultrabooks. The idea is to make computing more natural, intuitive and immersive, says Intel. As we all know, PCs and notebooks are doing far fewer numbers today than they used to, putting pressure on companies like Intel and Microsoft to do something revolutionary enough to make people buy them again. With Windows 8, Microsoft is trying to create an ecosystem where phones, tablets and notebooks all reflect the same interface and experience in your life. Intel, on the other hand, is gunning for a world in which computing has gone perceptual. It aims to create a world where users go back to the roots of how they communicate naturally — with body language — perhaps even shedding the keyboard and mouse. You need the processing power to do that and that’s where Intel comes in. A device like an everyday Ultrabook, equipped with a powerful processor and hooked up with a depth-sensing camera is what will set up the scene for the next big change in man-machine interface. And along with that, a thick layer of software to tell both computer and user what to do. Research at Intel on perceptual computing has been going on for a while, but now it’s time to step on the gas. Intel has set up a $100 million investment fund to help start-ups and accelerate the development of software to make perceptual computing experiences get out of the lab and into the wild. And it’s happening. As we speak, a challenge has been thrown to developers to come up with applications that use voice and face recognition, movement tracking and even expression input. You can see the progress on these, with examples, online. Intel has distributed an SDK (software development kit) and those working on it find that it is easy to use. The camera made by Creative, in particular, is said to be sensitive and quick. Once the image of your hand or face is fed in, you’re ready for a whole repertoire of gestures. The implication of this on education, of course, is enormous — imagine being able to create the solar system with a few gestures. The wonder alone would make students learn. It’s equally big for gaming, as Kinect technology advances. ‘Perceptual computing’ projects will be pouring in during the next two or three years. As more sensors — already in smartphones — are added, the possibilities expand, with emotion-recognition not too far off either. While it’s more natural to move our hands and face to communicate, it’s also true that this is while talking to other people, not inanimate electronic devices. We’re used to using the ‘rather limiting’ keyboard and mouse. A whole rewiring to our brain will have to take place as well, and one can only hope that this is gradual. It’s more natural to talk than to type, but even though voice recognition has been around for decades, it’s far from foolproof and also most embarrassing to use in public. Though talking into my smartphone to enter text or ask Google something has begun to work so well, there are few times when I can do this without feeling awkward. The technology may be around the corner, but are we ready to use it beyond a novelty? mala(at)pobox(dot)com, Twitter: (at)malabhargava(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 29-07-2013)
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Draft And FinishWith smartphones becoming as big as they are, obviously users want to do more with all that screen space. On Android they also have keyboard variants that make writing stuff more than possible. But note-taking apps are a little more sophisticated and elegant on the iOS. Some are packed with features and others are nice because they have a beautiful and simple interface. Such an app on Android is Draft. It is clean and uncluttered with minimal of buttons and menus. In fact, it’s just you and that blank, creamy ‘paper’. There is some very basic markup, meant for those who may want to upload something online. The rest may just choose to put their files on Dropbox, with which the Draft app integrates.Be In The Picture360cities first came to my attention because a startled journalist had written about it after getting a bit of a shock at the unusual method the developer had of promoting the app. It was via a video in which the man demonstrating the app was stark naked except for an iPad, mercifully covering up what needed covering. That aside, the app is rather nice because it’s about 360° panorama photos of different cities across the globe. It’s a Rs 110 iPad app and is based on content uploaded from users — so you may have good pictures, not so great, or even no pictures at all, such as for Delhi.But there are enough that are most interesting. Panoramas are obviously a bit warped where the angle changes because they are, after all, an artefact of sorts. But they’re still often beautiful and really give you the feel of a place. PDF For Windows 8Adobe reader, the official app, has now arrived on Windows Phone 8 — although you would think it would be one of the first few to have been available. It was already there for Windows 7.5 devices, but moving it on to Windows 8 depended on Adobe. There has been a PDF Reader around but it didn't read some files. Adobe Reader lets you view your files on the go, including protected ones. The app, free on the Windows Store, is rather minimalistic, but you can search for text, cut-and-paste it into other files on your phone, and navigate across pages and websites. Adobe's lethargy in bringing the Reader to Windows 8 is indicative of the struggle Microsoft has had to get the top apps on to its platform. Hopefully the situation will improve as it gradually gains market share.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 29-07-2013)
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