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.
It overflows right off my wrist but that doesn’t stop me from lusting after the Moto 360 smartwatch. There are other designs of smartwatches that wrap around the wrist like a band and don’t end up snipping a little chunk at the bottom so text can fit in, but the Moto 360 is still compelling to the extreme.First, it’s so familiar in its look – like a real watch. I’ve given up on them long ago, but I do believe, those of us born wearing watches still have that watch-glancing instinct. When you long-press on the watch face, you’ll find a bunch of options to change its look, so you can go as new-fangled or old-timer as you like.The screen, a big 1.5 incher, is about as big as my first phone was. It’s a bright LCD with a 320x290 pixels resolution. The screen really draws your eyes to it. To interact with it, you swipe or use your voice – Okay Google, or if you choose, set that to something else. There’s no little keyboard, so you’ll need to input things by voice. The text on each screen is nice and big and visible and that makes it usable by more people.The Moto 360 is based on Android Wear, Google’s platform for wearables, and works with any phone running Android 4.3 and above. It connects to the phone via Bluetooth and a sign-in to a Google account. Then there’s software on both devices to let the user get into the applications.And just like a real watch, the device has a real leather strap (changeable) and comes with either a metallic casing that’s either light or dark, the light looking more steely and masculine. The watch even comes in a round box. There’s a wireless charging dock so that there’s no fiddling with little micro USBs. The battery is a 320mAh and is intended to last the day, so you’ll need to get used to charging it when you charge your phone, perhaps.The Moto 360 has a whole 512MB RAM and 4GB of internal memory.What really brings the watch alive is Google Now. You get notifications and Google cards like weather, flight status etc and even your boarding pass – which of course will only be useful if the airport and airline supports it. An OK Google immediately activates search.Of course, the Moto 360 also does the usual tracking of steps and activity and heartbeat and so on. Smartly, it collects all the data to show you weekly stats and even measures “healthy minutes” which come about when there’s enough vigorous and sustained activity.Launched on Friday (5 September) in New Delhi, the Moto 360 will be available on Flipkart a few weeks down the line, along with the Moto X smartphone. No price has yet been announced but Charlie Tritschler, Senior Vice President Product Management at Motorola, hinted that the price would be acceptable to Indian buyers. Going by US pricing, it’s estimated to be about Rs 15,000. mala@businessworld.inmala.bhargava@gmail.com
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In a cellphone market that gets tougher and more challenging by the minute, we have a new entrant, the LG G3, which has recently made its way to India. The Other Korean Company has tried to give it everything it's got looks, software, specs, specs, specs. But they¡¦re housed in a nice design.I call the removable back of this phone plastic-fantastic because it looks like smooth cool metal. The look is a little reminiscent of the HTC One whose design is the subject of great admiration. The G3 is a big phone but good to hold because of the pronounced curve on the back and sloping sides. On the front, the device looks interesting because it has minimal edges, giving all the space to the screen. On the narrow metallic looking strip on the bottom has LG¡¦s logo looking neat and elegant. In fact the device on the whole is quite elegant.The most talked-about feature of the G3 is the screen. At the moment, only the OPPO Find 7 - featured here earlier ¡X has this screen resolution. There¡¦s a reason for that. Beyond a point, higher and higher resolution is barely detectable and its usefulness is debatable since nothing has been created to leverage it. Thinking back to the screens of the LG G2 and G Flip, I feel those were more than adequate and in fact quite wonderful. Those even had better viewing angles. But the G3's Quad HD display is a big talking point.Another feature that has people excited is the camera¡¦s laser focusing ability. Other than the flash and camera on the back panel, you will also see a little laser which is meant to home in on an object so the camera can focus sharper and quicker. The camera is quick all right and does a decent job, except where absolute low light comes into the equation, whereupon it¡¦s got the same challenges as all phones except those that particularly do something to work around low-light photography issues. And in this age of selfie mania (seeing as even monkeys take them), the camera software includes a neat trick where you raise your hand, palm facing camera, to tell it you want to take a selfie. Close your hand into a fist and you will activate the timer leading up to your esteemed selfie.As for the rest of the software on this phone, Android hums along nicely as it's bound to with all that powerful hardware fueling it. And LG's own interface and customisations work smoothly as these are light and invariably lag-free. At the same time, there's all the bag of tricks that one might expect today from a top end phone. You have the Knock feature with which you tap twice to wake up the screen; a series of taps to serve as a code to unlock the device; multi tasking and split screen, an interesting instant quick memo feature and a slide-out health section. There¡¦s also the entire gamut of smart features that let you use voice and gestures for various things. A Google Now-like feature learns your preferences and reminds you of relevant stuff such as things you wanted to buy from a favourite shop when you get there. So all in all, a lot of specs and features, for a lot of money.Next up: LG is rumored to be coming out with a stylus version of the G3. Huawei Ascend G750Shenzhen-based Huawei is the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker. It's also a phone maker and it's playing for the budget segment that all companies are gunning for in India. Huawei's Ascend G750, also called Honor 3X on its pretty aquamarine box, has just become available in India at a price of Rs 24,990. For that price, it gives you a fair bit of value. But as usual, there are trade-offs.Just missing the "premium" look, the G750 is in black or white and at 5.5 inches, definitely a big phone. I saw the white version, which from the back, is distinctly plasticky. On the sides, a chrome trimming that looks pretty good. From the front, it looks, well, a bit Micromax-like. No matter. This phone has a 1.7GHz octa-core processor and it's a good performer, with 2GB of RAM to go with. It's still on Android 4.2.2 though and that's Jelly Bean, not KitKat. Huawei's interface, called the EmotionUI, is a light one, but stylises elements to suit itself and stand out differently. There's an interesting easy mode for the home screens that turn everything into Windows-like tiles with big writing indicating what's in them - Calendar, Calling, etc. I thought that very nice for people who've just switched to touch and trying to figure out what's where. I am fairly certain my mother would appreciate that ease of use.Other highlights include a 5MP selfie-friendly camera, paired with the primary 13MP shooter. The results are passable. The screen is a 720x1280 IPS display ¡V not high res but very usable and with good colours and viewing angles. The phone is a dual-sim and there's a 32GB micro-SD slot to add to the 8GB on board (approximately 4GB of which is usable). There's a 3,000 mAh battery which behaves itself just fine.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 22-09-2014)
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Ready To DialIf you're sick of the way your contacts list looks, try Ready Contacts on Android. It uses two styles to display the people on your list. One: you see squares with the people you connected with recently. Two, you swipe right to left to see your contacts in a rotating alphabetical sequence. This is rather slick looking and works pretty fast. But if your people don't have pictures, it's just a lot of black. There are some additional features when compared with default lists. You can choose to see the call history of whoever you're talking to, plus a line on what your last email was about. Useful, that! Contacts are readily searchable. An alphabet panel lets you jump to the needed place too. There are a few additional features that you'll need to unlock for Rs 189 if you want full functioning. Selfie The Lumia WayThe obsession with selfies continues. Check the Windows store for the Lumia Selfie app. What's interesting about it is that it lets you use the main camera and centers your face with beeps. That and a timer make it happen. The beeps didn't sound for me but I still managed to use the main camera well enough. You can always use the front cam, of course.This app auto enhances your picture. After that, you can swipe through about 20 filters and see how you look. There's vintage, lomo pop, black and white, and even an effect that puts you on the cover of a Lumia magazine. Choose what you like and finalise. You can even tamper with skin toning, smile, eyes, slimness and more, using a slider for each characteristic. The Lumia Selfie is free. Flipboard For Windows Phonesand finally, this most beautiful of apps has arrived on Windows Phones (8.1). Well, some of them, anyway. If you haven't seen Flipboard before, it's a beautiful magazine app. You choose content sources pick from categories, and even make your own magazines. On Windows Phones, it isn't quite the same as it is on iOS or Android. To start with, it doesn't quite flip. You have a different arrangement starting with some cover stories that you can scroll through in a card-based format. You can do all the other things you would on other platforms such as adding articles to your magazines, sharing, etc. You don't have widgets, but you can add a source as a home tile. On some phones, such as the Lumia 830, a Flipboard shortcut icon will lead you to the preloaded app. On larger Windows Phones, Flipboard looks great. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 17-11-2014)
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It wasn't that long ago that we saw the Xperia Z2 launched. And now already, here’s the Z3, shown off first at the IFA show in Berlin earlier just this September and already here in India. With all the Zs being turned out that rapidly, one can’t expect dramatic changes from one device to the next. And so it is that the Xperia Z3 is an iteration — but a good one. Sony has been going with a sharp straight-lined design for its Z smartphones for a while now. But with the Xperia Z3, Sony has let go of the sharp edges and has rounded them for a more comfortable grip. It’s interesting how Sony has managed to retain its signature look and yet make this change. A friend who saw the Z3 in my hand was instantly captivated with the “snazzy” gadget I was lucky enough to be carrying. I reminded her the gadget would go back soon enough. As with all big smooth smartphones, there’s some slipperiness, so new owners should watch it. Sony has done away with the beautiful purple colour option, but they have a bronze-gold that looks very elegant. The Z3 is of course, waterproof and dust proof like its predecessors, if you keep the flaps on the side firmly closed. That’s one of Sony’s USPs though personally I think too much is made of this feature. The corners have some shock absorption to them and the device is overall tougher. I was one of the detractors of the display on the original Xperia Z but now the screen is nice and bright and clear with natural colours and good visibility from all angles even though the resolution isn’t at the highest as is the case with other flagships. The sound on this device is rather nice through two front speakers, and really very good from the video you shoot using the device. You can connect the Z3 to your Playstation 4, though I wasn’t able to test this. You connect your phone wirelessly to the PS4, both being on the same Wi-Fi network, and your phone can be the screen for the PS4. You’ll need a controller and a dock. The Z3’s camera is very capable, specially if you work with the manual mode and get to know the camera. Low-light sensitivity is good so you can experiment with photos in varying light conditions. The 25mm ‘G’ Lens means wide angle shots. The ISO extends to 12800 and you have less noisy shots. There is a software stabilisation to get steady images. The camera software gives you lots of features including a timeshift burst, AR effect, sound photos and more. Video recording is 4K if you want it to be. The device does heat up a little while doing this though and may warn you. Sony’s interface and the applications they have on board don’t cause any glitches and lags with Android 4.4.4. It’s at heart a light interface and works pretty smoothly. Browsing, videos, gaming, is all a cinch. Battery consumption is one of the strengths of the Z3 and it has two levels of power saving to get the most out of that battery. If usage is light, you can actually get two days of juice out of it. Now to get to who the Z3 is for. Well, for those who have the money for flagship, of course. For those looking for a less expensive proposition there’s the Z3 Compact at Rs44,990 and the same specs in a smaller body. Fans of the Sony flagship who own the Z2 may not find the Z3 enough of a change, but anyone who owns the original Z1 definitely will. At Rs 51,990 the Z3 isn’t cheap — but then neither are the other flagship phones. Iball Slide WQ32 TabletYou'd think it was a run of the mill Android tablet until your eye falls on the Windows logo on this 8-inch tablet. It's plain and straight forward and at the same time doesn't look in the least cheap. It's worth considering for someone who particularly works with Windows and Microsoft Office, but lightly and on the go. The "Slide" tablet is Intel Atom-powered and Windows 8.1-based. You have to sign in with your Microsoft account and you store your files on OneDrive or transfer them via USB to other storage. You do have a micro-SD card for expansion by 64GB to add to the 16GB on board and a SIM slot as well. The 1280x800 pixel IPS HD display is really rather nice — clear and good with colours and angles. Responsive too. Sound however, is thin and tinny. The Intel Atom Z3735D 1.33GHz, processor and 2GB RAM keeps it moving along quite satisfactorily. There's a a 5-megapixel autofocus primary camera with flash and a 2-megapixel front camera. You have all the connectivity you need on this little tablet and can use it for presentations, connect to a USB drive etc. The battery, which is probably what makes the tablet a little heavy, lasts a good 8 hours. The Firefox PhonesThink absolute barebones when looking at a smartphone based on the Firefox operating system. Two phones, recently launched, by Spice Mobile and Intex, are so basic as to be almost feature phones. But the idea of these is to get at the first-time user who needs connectivity. Fire One Mi-Fx 1, from Spice, is a small easy-to hold handset with a plastic back and an extra silicon back cover. Lower your expectations to align with a price of around Rs 2,300 and you find that you have a workable device. It's a dual SIM, with micro SD slot and a passable battery. There's even a VGA camera on this handset. Firefox doesn't particularly stand out when you look at it. It's got a basic home screen and app icons much as usual. You have a bunch of pre-loaded apps and can access the Market place for a few more. You can get to the social networks, but, no Whatsapp. The Intex Cloud FX, the other Firefox entry, is very similar. A slightly lower specs sheet bit a slightly lower price as well, at Rs 1,999. Screen, sound, camera, are all terribly basic. Neither of phones has 3G connectivity.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 03-11-2014)
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Somewhere near- by is a mom who’s at her wit’s end. She gave in to her daughter’s demands for a Moto X — and now the young girl is not to be seen. She’s closeted in her room with her fluffy cat. One of them gets a lot of sleep and the other is supremely busy talking to her phone — and I think we know which is which. Obviously, the Moto X was the right choice for her. The Moto X went through such a bubble of hype in the US, that until the phone came into India about six months later, it was difficult to figure out what the fuss was all about. You could get the handset’s chasis customised and Americans were particularly frothy about a wooden or leather look, but you could always achieve the same look with a case, so I’ve never understood why that is such a big deal. What I thought was much more interesting — and a hint at the direction software on mobiles will take in the future — is how the Moto X is “always listening” and responding to you with Google Now. Like with Google Glass and Android Wear watches-to-be. And this has to be experienced to be understood. The Moto X can be sitting around close by, screen off and dark, and all you have to do is say “OK Google Now…” and it’ll ping awake for a command. We’ve seen Google Now do that when on a search page on the web, but this is different because it means another level of ease. You could be drifting off to sleep when you remember you need to wake up early at 7 am. Don’t move — just say “OK Google Now, wake me up at 7 am”. In the unlikely event that you find yourself arguing with friends over the height of the Empire State Building, just call out to your Moto X. Actually, so many have asked Google Now exactly that question that it must be heartily sick of it and soon it’ll tell you even before you ask. There are lots of things you can ask Google to do. Just say “Help me” to get the list which includes the weather, reminders, directions, making calls, texting, scheduling meetings, etc. And each time, Google Now will greet you personally, by name. You can also get an unfortunate Indian accent, if you like. While other companies get their phones to race for spec after spec and feature after feature, Google has really got a winning formula with that personal touch. Another aspect that makes the Moto X a great experience is its sheer smooth working. It doesn’t have the fastest processor, the sharpest screen or the maximum possible RAM but instead it has two other processors that keep it in the always-listening mode and sensing movement without draining the 2,200 mAh battery. It’s an innovative idea, smoothly executed. The Moto X runs on Android 4.4.2 and apart from some Motorola apps, is really all Google. The camera on the Moto X has been a disappointment for many. But I’d submit that this will be the case only for those who are looking for evolved phone photography. For casual users, like the young girl with her cat, the camera is a piece of wizardry. The camera app is simplistic and upsets those who want to tinker with ISO and white balance and exposure, but is an intuitive one-hand operation for those who want to just take quick fun shots. The camera comes to life with a twist of the wrist, even when the screen is off. The lock screen is another innovation — touch the notification without unlocking to see what it’s all about. The design is plain and premium. Minimal edges make the screen — which is great looking despite less than top-end pixel counts — stand out well. And all this is at a price that, so far, Indians have no quarrel with — Rs 23,999. Samsung Galaxy Note ProI’ve really liked the Galaxy Note series with its big screens and the smoothly functioning S-Pen, complete with its bag of tricks. But the Note Pro is a lot of Note — 12.2 inches of it, to be sure.While browsing the web, looking at pictures, watching video and drawing with the S-Pen all turn out wonderful on that vast expanse of screen, the large landscape form has its drawbacks. It is, after all, larger than the smaller notebooks and yet, has no attached keyboard. You’ll immediately want to pair it with an external Bluetooth keyboard — and then you have to consider how you want to carry the duo around, especially as there’s no stand to go with it to keep the screen up. But it’s so very Samsung to bring devices out in all conceivable sizes, so if you don’t like one size, please opt for another. What we’ve got to figure out is who the Note Pro could be right for. If your work involves laying a tablet flat on a surface and say, sketching, the Note Pro may suit you. Other specific work situations may call for it as well. The virtual keyboard is very good, but long-term, typing on glass is not as easy as typing on a real keyboard. Even while writing with the S-Pen, which is very accurate and easy, you have to rest your palm on the screen (thankfully it handles that fine) which again means putting the tablet down flat. The Note Pro is just not made to be held in one hand and even holding in two hands and say browsing or watching something gets tiring very soon. Reading a book on it is almost unthinkable. On the other hand, if you rest it on your knees while reclining, browsing the net is gorgeous. Apart from its form factor, the Note Pro is a powerful device with top notch specs and works really well. Two warnings though: it takes absolute ages to charge, and costs the earth. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 02-06-2014)
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If you've had your eye on a beautifully designed HTC top-ender phone, do give the Desire 816 a look. It’s in the big phone category but costs half the amount the HTC One M8 does. Despite being big, its rounded sides make it comfortable to hold, though it can be slippery. A case is probably in order.From the front, the 816 looks very like HTC’s recent phones. Same basic design and with those prominent speakers on the top and bottom. It’s got itself a more annoying power and volume button placement as these move to the left edge, but otherwise, it’s got a signature HTC look.It’s on the back that the 816 is different. You’d better not be allergic to plastic because the non-removable back panel is glossy plastic instead of beautiful metal, to keep the cost down.The screen, always the most important component, is not Gorilla Glass 3 — another compromise — and not full HD, on par with the current top specs bracket, but it’s nonetheless a very pleasing and usable one. Colours look good on it and tilting it to one side or the other does not wash it out. It’s also perfectly responsive. A lot of fuss is made over ever sharper screens, but the truth is even lower-res screens often work just as well in everyday situations. The experience with the display is really overall pretty good.The 816 is not by any means just about lower specs. Instead of the 4 ultra pixel camera on various versions of the HTC One, here we have a regular 13 MP shooter with an f/2.2 lens. Many have wanted this and will be pleased. It doesn’t do too badly in low light and gives detailed images outdoors or in bright light. There are lots of settings to tinker with along with filters, frames and more. There’s full HD video recording. The front camera is a whole 5MP and that’s not skimping on specs. The flagship phones typically don’t go much beyond 2.2 MP or so. Overall, it’s a good mid range set of cameras.Watching videos on this device is very nice, especially because the sound is, as is now usual for new HTC phones, really full and pleasing. In fact, there’s nothing mid range about the sound.The 816 performs pretty smoothly though it heats up a bit under some conditions. It’s probably not the best device for heavy gaming. HTC’s own Sense 6.0 sits on top of Android 4.4.2 lightly and doesn’t cause much lag or introduce complications. You have HTC’s signature Blink Feed, the magazine-like home screen app when you swipe from left to right at one end. This can be turned off if you don’t want it. But HTC’s software and apps do take up quite a bit of the available storage which means you can’t put too many apps on the phone so you can store a lot of your data on an extra card.The battery can last you most of the day on moderate usage, especially on power-saving mode.This device has a lot of competition especially since just about everyone is trying to get into the mid range and budget segments. There’s a certain classiness and the feeling of good value about the 816 alright, but HTC will have to fight hard and market well to compete with Micromax and others who are also coming up with value for money offerings. Lenovo S860When you take this handset out of its box, you immediately feel its heft. The Lenovo S860 isn't just a big phone, but a heavy one. The reason for that extra weight is the 4000mAh battery, the biggest USP —literally — of this device. If you travel a lot or for some other reason feel battery life is the most important feature you can't live without, the S860 is aimed squarely at you.The screen on this phone is actually 5.3 inches (these are measured diagonally) and we know that there are much bigger phones floating around. But on this phone it feels bigger because of the weight and the fact that the edges are all straight, making you more than ever aware of its rectangularity.The back of this phone is the good looking part. It's titanium brushed metal and immediately gives that expensive impression.The 720x1280 resolution screen is good on colours and brightness but should have had better viewing angles. Tilt it and you get some reduction in clarity. The pixel density is 277 ppi.There's a 1.3GHz quad-core Mediatek MT6582 processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage (no micro SD slot) powering the S860. There's a bit of stutter on browsing but great improvement after you upgrade its software. This phone is now on Android 4.4.2 and there's quite a bit of customisation by Lenovo.The camera is an 8MP and it's about average. The front camera is 1.6MP and hasn't caught up with the selfie age. The camera app is however, full of options. Sound is pretty loud.The S860 is a dual-SIM phone, as mid-range phones tend to be in India. Officially at Rs 19,999 it could be available for less, but has a lot of competition in this segment. Consider it, above all, if you're really bothered about battery life. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 11-08-2014)
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There's nothing remarkable about the looks of the LG G Pro 2 — and yet it looks premium enough. It’s actually a little larger than Samsung’s Note 3, but looks about the same size. On the removable back panel, is plastic done right. It's textured and adds a little to the grip and thankfully doesn’t collect fingerprints as a hobby.But turn the screen on to make this smartphone come alive and you come across a gorgeous screen. Even though many others sport the same specs, it’s bright and vibrant and has superb viewing angles and handles colours really well. You can bet that gaming and watching videos and otherwise consuming content are some of the things this phone lets you do best. There’s a touch of grey-blueness to the screen, but on the whole it’s a pleasure to use.The sound on this device doesn’t quite live up to the screen though. It’s loud enough, but not well-rounded enough — and not stereo. The sound actually gets a little bit muffled when you put it down on a flat surface.You could quite easily pit the G Pro 2 against the Note 3. Many features are similar. There’s a one-handed use mode, for example. Gestures like lifting the phone to your ear to answer a call and flipping it over to silence it are on both phones. The Note 3 is, however, a little ahead in this department and most of all, it has the stylus or S-Pen which makes it useful for various professionals. Multitasking also exists on both phones. On the G Pro 2, you have the usual Q=Slide apps feature with which you can put two apps on the screen. You can also split the screen in two.A feature that LG is especially proud of is the Knock Code which lets you tap a certain pattern to unlock the device. In any case you tap twice to wake up the phone and put it back to sleep, but the Knock Code goes further to offer you a layer of security — as long as no one looks over your shoulder and figures out your pattern of taps.Performance on this phone is smooth, smooth, smooth. I’d say LG’s software must be very well optimised on the hardware because there’s just no lag or stutter to be seen. The phone does get a little heated up on heavy use though. The large battery, which amazingly fits into the thin body of this phone, lasts about 7 to 8 hours of heavy use. Lighter use will see you through the day.The 13MP primary camera has optical image stabilisation and pushes the light up hugely if you’re shooting indoors. Photos are sometimes a surprise when you see nice colours and tones — but images will often be too lit up and also soft on zooming in. That’s, of course, a problem that small sensor cameras haven’t licked yet. Images shot outdoors are detailed enough and there are tonnes of filters for the type of photos people like to share these days. Video recording is also great and includes some nice dual camera and zoom tracking modes. There are some fun live effects to fool around with. The front camera is a wide angle one making it nice to video chat with. There’s also a ‘selfie flash’ which turns the screen bright and leaves a window for you to fit your face into. Tricks like that.But ultimately, at Rs 51,500, the G Pro 2 is a bit expensive. It’s got a lot of competition as everyone around has a phablet including all the players who work with much lower prices. Creative Aurvana Live 2Creative has been in the audio business for a long time. My very first MP3 player was a smart looking little Creative with more features than the iPod, which followed soon after, wiping out all such players.But this time we’re looking at a pair of over-the-ears headphones, the Aurvana Live 2, called that presumably because they promise you audio nirvana. It features a 40mm Neodymium driver with a bio cellulose diaphragm.The headphones, I’ll say straight away, are very comfortable to wear. So many high-end headphones weigh down on your head, clamping it in a vice like grip but not this one. The set is light and the cushioning on the ear-cups is soft and just fine for long listening sessions. They also isolate out a bit of noise. The band is covered in a soft material and doesn’t end up pinching your hair. While the Aurvana headphones are not meant for hardcore audiophiles, they’re good enough for mainstream users, especially in India where people like a lot of bass. So yes, the bass is a little boosted here. The mid tones and treble should have been stronger though it was good enough for me to notice all sorts of instruments I hadn’t realised were there on the tracks I heard. Often, I found vocals sounded a bit in the background. But overall, the experience is pretty good for pop, rock and lighter music.There’s a basic volume control on the flat long detachable cable that comes with the headset. And a microphone to switch to calls. The Aurvana is also quite nice to look at. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 28-07-2014)
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Samsung's galaxy S series has had a long and successful run. Responsible for the march of Android across the world and many headaches for Apple, this series is now in its 5th generation, as is Apple’s iPhone. And as is the case with the iPhone, some users are happy to move on to the next upgrade because they’re fully invested in and used to that product and some are jaded and want a new concept. Whichever camp you fall into, know that the S5 is an evolution, a refresh, an improvement but not a new approach. It’s possible that it could have been replete with new tricks and features, but after so many complaints about there being unnecessary gimmicks, Samsung toned it down and instead stepped up the hardware specs and usability. The S5, with or without tricks, came in at over Rs 51,500 in India, which by all accounts, is a bit much. Thankfully, it seems to be available for much less (Rs 37,000 or so) at various stores online.So what does the S5 have over, first of all, the S4. Actually, the S4 is still a powerful phone and can hardly be considered obsolete. In the design department, there are no changes in approach and the S5 is essentially the same shape but this time with a slightly strange perforated patterned back panel. Thankfully, the panel opens and you have access to the battery and the SD card slot. The smartphone is still good with ergonomics and can even be used comfortably with one hand.To cut to the chase, the hardware specs on the S5 are all bumped up. The screen looks gorgeous and is vibrant and responsive as well. In fact, it’s easily the best screen on a phone — for now. The CPU is faster and the battery is bigger. There are also power-saving modes, one of which really cuts down on everything to give you a last reserve of battery juice in case you’re stuck.The camera on the S5 is very capable and takes quick sharp images. Other than the photography specialist Lumia 1020, the S5 is actually one of the best camera phones in the regular category, competing with the Sony Z2 and the iPhone 5s. It’s not the phone camera of choice in low light, but outdoor shots are particularly accurate and full of detail. Video recording is also superb.Also on the hardware front, the S5 is now dust and water resistant, has a heart rate monitor on the rear, and a fingerprint scanner. The heart rate measure is of slightly dubious usefulness. The scanner needs to be more reliable, but the water resistance works.TouchWiz, Samsung’s famous interface overlaid on Android, has been tweaked in many places. The most immediately noticed one being the capacitive button on the bottom left bringing up recent apps. The old tricks of using gestures, etc., are all still there, but on the software front, it’s the addition of an improved S-Health app that is more notable. Health on phones and wearables is poised to take off, so in that sense, there’s a starting point on the S5.The S5 isn’t necessarily a recommended buy if your S4 or Note 3 is going strong. However, if you’re new to Android and looking for a top-of-the-line phone, the S5 is certainly worth considering. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 14-07-2014)
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There are so many unusual things about Chinese company Oppo’s Find 7 smartphone that we should dive right in. First, Oppo has upped the screen resolution so high it’s gone well beyond the point where the human eye sees individual pixels. There’s much debate on whether there’s any point in it and whether it’ll just be a battery guzzler, but others say well, it still looks beautiful. It’s a big display, so it’s quite a treat to look at. The Find 7 has only one speaker, else it would have competed with HTC’s signature Boom Sound speakers, but even this one is loud and deep. Its placement on the back, however, muffles it up when you put it down on a surface such as a bed.Then, the Find 7, like other Oppo phones, comes with the company’s own take on Android — Color OS. This is what brings in all sorts of different features, especially gesture-based ones. For instance, there are several ways to wake up the device. One of them, like the Moto X, is by saying, not OK Google, but Hey Snapdragon. That will undoubtedly look a bit silly, but it promptly wakes the phone up to go straight to Google Now, ready for a search command. Another way is to knock on the screen, LG style. Another is by drawing a shape on the black screen as it sleeps, such as a line to the left to wake up and go to the camera. You can also just swipe down with two fingers to unlock. There are a number of gestures you can set and modify this way such as a V to open up the flashlight or circle to call someone specific. You also have gestures from an awake screen when you pull down from the top left and draw a shape to lead to some action. I really like these and though they seem like gimmicks I think they could be pretty useful. I’d rather like to just swipe a locked screen to call my car in the sunlight, for example. Quick, and I don’ t have to even look at the phone.The rest of Color OS has to do with its home screen arrangement, widgets, animations, effects and themes, and a nice pull-from-down drawer to house all these. The device has a huge amount of RAM to keep all this going smoothly with no hint of slowness or lag except for stutter when browsing.The problem with being too individual and different with a layering on Android is that one can’t update as readily to the newest version. You would think all the gimmicks would drain the battery, but I played with it through the day constantly and it lasted a good 10 hours. But here’s the thing: Oppo has included a special charger that will take the battery from 0 to 75 per cent in half an hour.The camera also has some tricks up its sleeve, the biggest being that it can take 50 megapixel photographs when it’s a 13 megapixel camera. This is done by taking 10 super quick shots and creating the image from four of them, which can be close to 10MB in size. I found it depended a lot on being really still in which case you got surprising detail. But equally often I got softness in photos. Indoors, I found the colours less than accurate. Still, the camera is full of effects and scenes to play with. The 5MP front camera obviously keeps selfies in mind. The camera also does 4k video recording.It’s a beautifully designed phone. Rounded in places, fitted with a classy looking removable panel, and set off with a special pulsating strip of light.The price of the Find 7 (which also has a scaled down version called the Find 7a) is a reasonable Rs 37,990, but I’m not sure what Oppo is doing to really make itself known in the Indian market. LG L90If you’re looking for a modest, no-nonsense little phone that attracts no particular attention, does its job quietly, and lets you do yours, take a look at the LG L90, a mid-range Android smartphone that makes no bones about being what it is. It’s a 4.7-inch screen device and fits very well in the hand, nestling in your palm as you make calls and use it. The screen isn’t a high-res one by any means — just 960x540 pixels and so the text isn’t razor sharp. But its colours are good and thankfully it looks good from all angles. The back panel is a good sturdy textured plastic that adds to the grip and also keeps the phone from looking grimy and dirty. It’s removable and you have a 2,540mAh battery that will go a long way with such a little phone. Ah yes, 4.7 inches seems little today.The L90 is powered by the 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor with 1GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal storage, and a SD card slot for increasing to 32GB for data storage. LG’s interface is not a heavy one and so the phone works smoothly enough except for some instances of going to sleep a bit harder than necessary. For example, when you knock twice on the screen (LG’s favourite Knock Code feature), nothing happens. You repeat a few times and then the phone gets it and wakes right up. Subsequent knock-knocks work, but after a long period of sleep, it needs slight rudeness.The primary camera is an 8MP, average for this category of phone.But LG is playing in a tricky segment here, one that’s full of risks and unpredictability. The Moto G, Nokia’s Lumia 630 and BlackBerry’s Z3 are all in the same market. The L90’s price, given all these players, is a little more than it should be at Rs 16,500.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 25-08-2014)
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Wave To Get To Inbox ZeroIf you tend to collect a nice mess in your Inbox, you need help! Else, you'll constantly find yourself drawing a blank when someone asks why you didn't answer mail or keep wondering where that important email went. Mailbox comes to the rescue. A veteran on the iOS, it's finally on the Google Play Store, for free. The app — with its convenient interface — lets you organise your mail with gestures. A simple swipe allows you to archive, delete, add to a list, snooze for later, etc. This gets more specific over time. Make a habit of it, and soon your Inbox will get to that coveted size zero that is so prized in the corporate world. Simply, Mailbox turns your Inbox into a task manager. This one is for those who have a lot of stuff on their Android phones or for anyone who gets frustrated looking for things that just can't be found in a hurry.The Google For Your PhoneOur smartphones are like the humungous bags we used to carry, in which one would spend several minutes trying to fish out that one thing. Fear not, SRCH2 is a free app that very quickly looks for anything on your device. Ideally, it could have done with an interesting widget, but you can also just park it at the bottom row of apps on the home screen for quick access. One tap will open a browser-like interface. Search for a contact, app, music, photos, messages, documents or something on the Web. The results are instant and some are actionable such as calling or messaging a contact. When you search for a contact, you get a little bit of the recent history of interactions because messages etc., also show up. If I have a crib against this app, it's just that I think it could have been much more elegant.Need For Speed? Get Swift About ItOn an Android device, you can use Swiftkey, Swype or any other gazillion apps to type at top speed. Even the default Android keyboard has its speed tricks. It's Apple that has lagged in the text input department because Apple tightly controls the system to ensure a constant-safe experience. Finally, an Android favourite, Swiftkey, turned up on the App Store and though it can't be a part of the overall iOS system, you can use it separately and even sync it with the popular Evernote. You get the high-speed predictive text without losing the look and feel of Apple's environment. Turn an iPad to landscape and use both hands to type much faster and more accurately, or go one-handed on an iPhone and text away without mistakes. Some note-taking apps do include predictive text, but Swiftkey is a proven productivity enhancer.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 19-05-2014)
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