While all-in-one printers focus on printing, copying and scanning, Hewlett-Packard has beaten the pack by bundling mobile printing technology. The new HP Hotspot LaserJet Pro M1218nfs, launched on 4 December’ 2012, comes with the latest mobile printing technologies including HP wireless direct, HP ePrint and Apple AirPrint. “The HP Hotspot is a new All-in-One+1 printer that completely redefines the role a multifunction printer can play in a SOHO(small office/home office) or small business environment,” says Nitin Hiranandani, director-printing, PPS, HP. Designed specifically for SOHOs, start-ups and micro businesses, the HP Hotspot AiO+1 exceeds the traditional expectations for an AiO device through a host of innovative features:Connects through Internet/ Ethernet/ Wi-Fi with or without Router to any access device such as notebooks, tablets and smartphones.Automatic dialing to telco internet through PPPoE.Wirelessly share the network with upto eight clients.File sharing over secure internal LANImproved wireless printingE print, Apple AirPrint™ and HP wireless direct print from remote locations/ mobile devices. With a 44 per cent market share, the product is priced at Rs. 18,306. HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer issues.
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Whether one is looking for an inspiration for wedding attire, or finding ways to organize the wedding, technology serves us in the best possible manner! Shaadi-e-Khas, an online wedding management tool, addresses the needs of both retail customers and wedding planners and helps manage guest invitations, RSVPs, guests' travel dates, budget and accounts, hotel reservations, vendors and artists, and upload wedding pictures and videos on a personal website. It provides a list of 8000 pre-screened vendors pan India, including florists, mehndi artists, caterers and videographers. It expects to record a 40 per cent growth in its user base in the next 6 months, which are due to witness a high number of weddings. According to rough estimates, nearly 7 million weddings are expected to take place in India from early November till late February. "Shaadi-e-Khas was launched in 2011 after I organized my brother's wedding and was determined to develop a simpler, organized and connected tool to manage the entire event", says Bharat Kanodia, CEO of its genesis. Shaadi-e-Khas has helped in planning over 10,000 weddings worldwide and currently boasts of more than 11,000 users. Available at three pricing and functionality options that includes the silver package (Price Rs.1100) offers wedding venue list (wedsite), e-mail invitations and the functionality to track RSVP's; Gold package (Price Rs 2100) that offers wedsite, e-mail invitations RSVP tracker, Guest Manager and Platinum package(Price 3100) that offers full range of functionalities across wedsite, e-mail invitations, RSVP tracker, Guest Manager, Event Manager, Vendor manager, Task Manager, Book Keeping, Notepad. Shaadi-e-Khas is India's leading and only online wedding management tool that helps people plan and execute weddings with perfection. It has been created keeping in mind the needs of the end users who like to keep a firm hold on the reigns when it comes to planning and organizing important events. Shaadi-e-Khas has been developed by Veristrat, an Internet development company.
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Too big” or “What is it?” is a refrain you will hear often from those who first see the Galaxy Note, now in its second avatar and tremendously improved in many ways. But just as many are instantly won over by the very form factor that surprises the others. There seems little doubt that the Note II will exceed the original in popularity. The ergonomics on the Note II have been rethought and we now have a larger device, but easier to hold. Users who want its functionality have to adjust to carrying this very handy tablet-phone. Calling on it looks awkward but the speaker, headphones and a Bluetooth device can come to the rescue of those who do a lot of calling. I’d urge potential buyers to weigh their phone usage and see if they are likely to use the Note’s smart features rather than merely making calls. This phone is mostly a larger version of the S3 and Samsung still sticks to its plastic back, but the device still manages to look rather good, specially in grey and if the professional looking flip top is used.LG OPTIMUS VU Squarish in shape, has a nice screen and a decent camera; LOGITECH ULTRATHIN A stylish iPad accessory that allows you to type anywhere you happen to beThat will be extra. All looks and dimensions are forgotten when the 5.5 inch HD Super Amoled 1,280x720 pixel screen comes on. It’s pleasing to the eye. The heart of this super gadget is the stylus or S Pen. On the Note II, it’s been improved to the point of butteriness and is impressive at handwriting recognition. The pen slides into a slot and is safe there, beeping to alert you if you walk off without it tucked in. The pen has many tricks up its sleeve such as giving you information, text and pictures when hovering.The second avatar of samsung’s note packs so many features that it is an easy winner in this space.Or taking screenshots and using gestures with the press of a subtle button. In considering this device, it’s really the stylus that matters and Samsung believes it’s the creative types that will enjoy it most. I however, cannot draw to save my life, but ended up buying the device because I found it fantastically handy to just reach out and quickly write notes and lists while at the same time enjoying the large expansive screen and its beautiful colours. The Note II is a full spec powerhouse with a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage with a micro-SD card for expansion. It’s running Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean. An update to 4.2, which has recently been released, is awaited and should be interesting because it brings more features including a new keyboard with a swipe action that shows the word as you swipe. There’s a giant 3100 mAh battery which can last up to one and a half days. And it’s user replaceable. The camera is an 8 megapixel with lots of features and has 1080p HD video and playback. Samsung’s own TouchWhiz interface combines with Android Jelly Bean to give an exceptional amount of features. There’s the split screen mode with which you can share two apps on the screen. The Note II costs Rs 39,500, but is value for money for the features it offers. Rather unique ones, when it comes to it. It’s an innovative, productivity-oriented device for those who are happy with large screens. HTC ONE X+ The Android smartphone update retains the looks but gets more power; HTC 8X A fabulously designed slim entry into the next generation Windows 8; HTC DESIRE SV Everything that Indians love, including dual SIMVoulez Vous Vu?It’s interesting to think that LG is maker of both the much-talked about Google Nexus 4 giant phone and the thoroughly-odd Optimus Vu ‘phablet’. Not wanting to be left out of the phablet race, LG came up with a peculiar squarish device with a 5-inch screen. At dimensions of 139.6 x 90.4 x 8.5 mm, it’s difficult to hold unless you put it down flat on your palm and stand very still. It may look pretty enough on the table or on a dock, but to take this one up to your ear is stretching it. Talking of pictures, the Vu has a nice 1024x 720 pixel screen with natural colours and viewing angles, though you’ve to watch out for the auto brightness. It also has an 8 megapixel camera which takes clear pictures. It runs on a 1.5GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor with 1GB RAM and 32GB space and a microSD slot. There’s a 2,080 mAh battery that you cannot get at, but it doesn’t last over 8 hours. It’s still on Ice Cream Sandwich. Other than its shape, the Vu has a good build; neither too heavy nor too light. It has a textured back that will help it not to slip. But it has no slot for its biggish stylus (proudly called the Ruberdium for some reason) and this means anyone who uses it has to find some way of carrying it without losing it. Price: Rs 34,500. Type Absolutely AnywhereThis iPad accessory was quite a sensation when it launched in the US a few months ago. It’s designed to match the way the iPad looks, continuing the feel of the back with its own cover. When it’s closed, the iPad and cover look like a small notebook or Ultrabook, and weigh almost as much as well. One obvious problem is that the back of the iPad is not protected and can pick up scratches over time. If you use a separate skin, you lose the look and add a bit of weight. That said, many users have still liked the Logitech Ultrathin. When you open it and put the iPad into typing position, you immediately see why. The iPad sits ever so firmly in place and at a wonderful angle. The cover is ‘smart’ in that it switches the iPad off when closed. But unlike Apple’s flexi Smart Case it doesn’t clamp on hard to the iPad’s magnets. It is also not for someone who uses the iPad for a lot of reading. But investing in a case besides the Ultrathin, priced at Rs 6,599, will push up the cost quite a bit. Designed For Windows 8Tech reviewers who got their hands on the HTC 8X ahead of the global launch have been admiring the way it has been crafted. The back of this handset is some sort of softened polycarbonate rubbery material that’s great to touch. But more than that, the fact that it wraps itself into the sides of the handset to meet the Gorilla glass on the front makes the 4.3-inch phone nice to hold. The volume control, camera button and micro SIM slot are on the right, and the headphone slot and the power button on the top. But here’s my main crib with this beautiful phone: the buttons, especially the power button, are so subtle that you have to keep feeling along the edge for them. That said, it’s still a great phone. It’s running a dual core Snapdragon S4 1.5GHz processor with 1GB of RAM and 16 GB storage — no micro-SD slot. More storage would have been nice, but users will be encouraged to use Windows SkyDrive to store their stuff. The 8X feels fast. I never found any lag no matter how much I played around with the tiles and swiped around. It has a 1500 mAh battery that wasn’t exceptional. The 8-megapixel primary camera is good. These days everyone’s keeping low-light situations in mind, so this camera has an f/2.0 aperture. There’s no burst mode. The front camera, also with an f/2.0 aperture, is nice because of its wide-angle view. The Super LCD-2 screen is something HTC is particularly proud of. It’s 1280x720 with a pixel density of 340 ppi. There’s extra boost sound with Beats Audio. The rest of this phone is all about Windows 8. If you’ve used a Windows 7 phone, it will look instantly familiar and as you start exploring it, you’ll find the additions. For instance, you can set up sharing with friends or family in different Rooms, sync content with your Windows PC using SkyDrive and there’s a new Kid’s Corner, a closed-off area for kids. The bigger changes are under the hood, in fact to the core of the OS, which make it work with other devices, most importantly your computer. With Windows 8 on the phone, Microsoft is working towards an ecosystem it hopes will be compelling. If you want to switch to Windows 8, the HTC 8X is a great choice at Rs 35,023, though it will compete with Nokia’s Lumia 920, Samsung’s Ativ and HTC’s own 8S. Htc just unleashed a slew of phones: the 8x and 8s with windows 8, the desire sv and one x+ on android One For IndiaContinuing on what seems to be a launching spree, HTC has one specially for India. For one, it’s supposed to be an Indian colour, Radical Yellow, sort of orange-yellow, warm and friendly like a fried egg. I do hope this colour ends up being widely available, because the only other colour is black. HTC’s made for India phone, the Desire SV, has something Indians love — a dual SIM capability. The dual GSM micro SIMs fit under the back panel. The inside of the phone is neat and well-engineered, unlike many handsets that look great on the outside and hide a holy mess on the inside. It’s reassuring to see the changeable battery and a micro SD slot, and to feel the solidity of the device, overall. The Desire SV is a 4.3-inch phone and has a nice LCD2 screen working at 480x800 resolution with a density of 217 ppi, according to GSM Arena. It runs on a dual core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor with 768MB of RAM and has 4GB of internal memory. Seems too little for a phone that Indians will fill with music and video, as one would expect. The phone is on Android ICS, upgradeable to Jelly Bean. The camera is an 8 MP with f/2.2 aperture and an LED flash. It’s fast and outdoor pictures are fine. Amazingly, there’s no front facer and hence, no video chatting or self shots. It’s priced at Rs 22,590. Now In Plus SizeWhen the HTC One came out into the world earlier this year, everyone loved it. It was big, looked classy, had a lovely screen, an excellent camera, and rode into town on a quad core processor, becoming a serious challenger to the Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 4S. HTC figured it wouldn’t let go of a good thing and decided to give the One X+ some more power. Wisely, it decided not to tamper with its looks. It has the same design, unibody build and the textured matt finish back in egg-shell white and in black. Contrasting with that is the jet black of the large 4.7 inch 1,280x720 pixel Super LCD2 screen. But now there’s a more powerful processor to run it: 1.7GHz quad core Tegra 3. The One X+ has a whole lot of storage space — 64GB of it. HTC says this phone is 27 per cent faster than its predecessor and has 37 per cent more life due to its 2100 mAh battery. The One X+ is on Jelly Bean, which in itself speeds things up and adds features to the device, including Google Now. At Rs 40,190, the One X+ is rather + on price. Watch out for a reduction sometime.(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 10-12-2012)
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Take a big beautiful screen. Strap it on to a camera, Heap on a multi-storey zoom lens. And then cover the lot with a thick coating of Jelly Bean. What you get is Samsung’s GC10O, a hybrid device with a tonne of smart features not seen together before on a camera. All the smartness on the Galaxy Camera comes from the bold and innovative way Samsung has combined Android 4.1.1 and its own TouchWiz interface tricks with photography. Of course, it must have connectivity, and it does. There’s Wifi and Bluetooth. But more than that, there’s also a 3G sim card slot so you have an always-connected camera. ` Before you ask, no, this camera does not make regular mobile calls or take SMSs. Nothing stops you though, from downloading VOIP apps like Skype, Fring, Viber, Google Talk, etc. and using those to connect. There’s no secondary camera for video calls, but voice works very well. I promptly tested this out and tried to surprise my father by saying: Hello…I’m calling from my camera! It was a nice clear call too, but unfortunately nothing surprises my father very much on the gadgets front! Jelly Bean SweetnessWhy on earth would you want Android 4-point-anything when you are shooting photos? Here’s what: You can create an entire little environment around photographs and videos, all from that camera. First, there’s the immediate sharing. You can auto tag your friends and share to other phones, post to Facebook, hook into Instagram or just let the photos take themselves off into your favourite cloud storage. This happens really fast. Because you have a touchscreen and its virtual keyboard, you can write captions, a mail to go with an image, or even a blog post, right from the camera. Second, you can get Play Store access to regular Android apps, the most relevant being photo editing and effects apps. Again, that’s not something you get with your everyday camera. Instead you have to transfer photos someplace else like to a laptop or tablet and do all your editing there. You can edit and share from a high end smartphone too, but the idea here is to be more camera than smartphone and let photo enthusiasts have some fun with better quality images. Third, without switching devices, you can do the usual connected things like e-mail, surfing, watching video or playing a few rounds of Bad Piggies or whatever one plays nowadays. Much of this will sap the battery, of course, but you can make sure you balance out what you want to do and also keep the spare battery handy. Finally, you can use the features that Samsung likes to put into its devices, such as the option to voice-command the camera. While this may seem like a gimmick, see how much it helps when you need to hold the camera steady and not shake it while depressing the shutter release. You can also change some settings, zoom and record video using voice instructions. Meanwhile, the gadget can, at least theoretically, easily receive updates and bring with it even more features to add to the enjoyment. As for the butter, the Jelly Bean version of Android coupled with a powerful processor make the device fast and the screen glide with slippery smoothness. Using a non touchscreen camera after that just seems wrong. Seductive ScreenThe 4.8 inch HD Super Clear LCD screen on this device is surely one of the largest on a compact camera -– if not the biggest. It has a ~306 pixel density and resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. It’s not an AMOLED like the SIII’s but the screen is so pretty it will actually motivate you to take pictures. And its size spells one other advantage that’s easy to overlook: you have lots of room in which to better compose a photograph. That matters. On top of that, because of the touchscreen there’s minimal fiddling with physical dials and buttons making it very easy to use. The settings ring you have in many cameras is on-screen on the Galaxy Camera and you can just gently swipe to change modes and fine tune ISO, aperture, etc. In every way, the screen is really not just a functional fringe, as with other cameras but something actually enjoyable. Now, how often do you find that? A camera screen you can enjoy by itself. The screen, for those considering this device, is a significant draw. Watching a movie (attach a USB thumb drive with a tiny adapter cable) and playing games is great, except that it drains the battery. Big, Definitely BigThe Galaxy Camera is not subtle. It's large and almost in-your-face, so forget about playing paparazzi. Not that it aims to be quiet – it comes in a prominent white, black and in orange and pink which are bound to be unavailable.Still, it’s obvious that the choice of colours aims at making a statement. The camera does fit into a bag or carry case but as far as pockets go, you will need a very baggy one and you will feel the weight (300 gms) regardless. If you have other gadgets with you, you really need a carrying plan. But this gadget is a good looking one and is well-designed, with none of Samsung’s shiny plastic in evidence and instead a textured and matt material that makes the camera easier to hold. A curved right edge gives you a good grip. The buttons are just a few and all settings are on-screen. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, a tripod mount, HDMI port, USB port and the battery compartment. Overall, the build is satisfyingly solid. But big. Definitely big. Some SpecsThe Galaxy Camera is powered by a 1.4Ghz quad core processor and 1GB of RAM. That’s the first time for a camera. There’s just 8GB of internal memory, but you have cloud storage and you also have a slot for a microSD card that can add 64GB to the device. With the Jelly Bean on board, this gadget works fast. It takes about 15 seconds to boot up from scratch but once there, it’s speedy and it would be as it has the same processing power as the SIII. Pressing the power button sends it into sleep and standby, and while that makes it quicker to take a picture with, it will tell on the battery. The battery is sadly underdone and is a 1650 mAh and it finishes up in a matter of about four hours. This is a limiting factor because you need to ration out what you a’re going to do with it – shoot video, take photos, check e-mail, watch a movie, or what? However, a spare battery is included. The Galaxy Camera is priced at Rs 29,900 and is being launched with an introductory offer of 1GB data free for two months from Airtel. Easy To UseIt takes all of five minutes to figure out how to use the camera part. Physical controls are limited to the shutter release and a dial or lever to control the zoom. Not that you need those either. That and everything else is on-screen. When you get into the camera, on the right you find the camera and movie buttons, and a three mode button -– Auto, Smart and Expert. There are 15 presets in the Smart mode including some interesting ones like fireworks, light trace and silhouette. Panorama is also found here. The Expert mode lets you control aperture, shutter speed and ISO sensitivity. There are additional settings on a top menu such as white balance, focus, etc. The menu options change somewhat depending on the mode you’re in and it’s from here also that you can set voice controls and sharing options. If you’re not familiar with photography, there are tips on screen to tell what the controls do. A little pull up arrow on the bottom of the screen brings up a range of effects you can spice up your photos. There are also apps like Photo Wizard, Instagram and Paper Artist to help you do more with your pics. Outside of the camera app, the rest of the device is all Android, so it all depends on how quickly a user gets familiar with it. Given the number of Android phones around, that hasn’t been a problem. In off-camera mode, the Galaxy Camera is like a little tablet, though difficult to hold for long because of the bulge on the camera side. Still, if you can hook your fingers through the side of the lens, you can go at it long enough. Photo Quality Now after all that, it wouldn’t be amiss to turn to the quality of the 16.3 MP pictures this clever chunk of a camera takes. And that’s a tricky issue because it’s a mixed bag. Samsung has used its own 16.3 megapixel CMOS sensor and it puts out 4,608x3,456-pixel images. The 21x optical zoom is remarkable for its very presence on a point-and-shoot. The ISO range is from 100 to 3200 and max aperture is f/2.8 – to run through a few camera specs. Video is full HD 1020p and includes an interesting slow motion mode (also found on the Galaxy Note II). The sound on this device is rather good, For the most part, the pictures you get from the Galaxy camera are good -– for causal use. The colours are good except for in some unusual circumstances from indoor lighting, and there are nice tricks not easily found elsewhere, such as light trace photos. The zoom really works. Shooting from a second floor apartment, I zoomed right in on a fruit seller’s cart. The photo was good enough for me to be able to choose the fruits I wanted! Details such as little dents in guavas and variations in colour were captured nicely. I could also read the text on little stickers on walls and home in on car numbers. But this was all in bright daylight and being very careful to stay still. Even so, enlarging the picture and looking at the edges of objects showed a lack of sharpness and some noise. Checking with other reports, I found some agreeing with my assessment, and some calling the images crisp and clear. In low light, the Galaxy Camera is supposed to be good but I didn’t find notable performance in that category. Low light is a special challenge for all compacts and smartphone cameras, really. Except this isn’t a regular point and shoot claims more than the usual, including being suitable for pros. All the same, the photos are better than those shot on most other smartphones. I also found the shutter speed slow so that in some conditions, capturing a photo took long enough to give you the opportunity to move and shake the photo up. You could put it on a surface or tripod and use a voice command, but as a casual shooter, would you take the trouble? Now, you may not care about very sharp images. In fact, in this day and age, we make a special point of fuzzing up our pictures with filters and effects. But then, why would you not just shoot with a smartphone? There’s the Galaxy Camera paradox. All said and done though, taking pictures with this camera is enjoyable and that will attract gadget-loving photo enthusiasts. Quick ComparisonsSmartphone Cameras: The Galaxy Camera gives better images than most smartphones. But there are a few phones that do stand up to muster and those are the iPhone 4s and 5, the Nokia Pureview 808, and possibly the Nokia 920 though that is yet to be launched and reviewed here. The iPhone camera is very much loved and people have produced some great pictures with it, especially when they attach the tiny but powerful Oloclip lenses. The iPhone of course, gives fewer controls and no 21x zoom. It also costs about twice as much. The 808 has a slightly smaller lens, but it’s a Karl Zeiss and it uses Nokia’s own oversampling trick to come up with surprisingly detailed and clear photographs, sometimes (but not always) even in low light. But you need to know how to get the optimum settings in place and of course, its biggest annoyance is the outdated Symbian OS. The choice between camera and camera phone also, after all, depends on many other factors for each individual. Some may find it unnecessary to drop calling ability and battery life to improve the image quality somewhat. Others may just love the gadget and the feel of Android on a camera and decide to try it. The one thing to keep in mind though is that there will be the recurring cost of another data connection unless you keep the camera a Wifi-only device, which then takes away half the fun of a connected device. Compact Cameras: Point and shoots come in different categories. There are low-end ones that are very busy dying out because smartphones have taken over their jobs. The Galaxy Camera is way above those in every aspect – except battery. It’s even better than mid-level ones that just don’t have the ability to shoot well indoors or in low light. Mid level cameras are from a time when there was just a race for megapixels and optics were not a priority. But then there are advanced compact cameras – from Sony, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, and even Samsung. Some of these are pre-DSLRs and give pretty remarkable results. Often these specialize in one thing or the other – low light, zoom, etc. The Galaxy Camera is not as good as some of these – but then the pre-DSLR’s don’t have Android. So it depends on what your trade off is. Little Tablets: When you are not using the camera, you have the full Android operating system at your command, to do as you will. Mostly. You can get your email, make VOIP calls, play games, check your social networks, etc. The only problem is that holding the device for too long this way will be tedious because of the nice big bulge of the lens. Also, you will drain your battery out leaving nothing for the camera, which won’t be very smart. So, a short spell of use as a tablet, yes, but replacing a tablet for regular use, no. Think of the Android layer as supporting the camera rather than the other way around. At the same time, when you use your camera, you are not far from basic connected tasks like email and browsing. You Don’t Need It, You Want ItUltimately, buying the Galaxy Camera may not be one of the most rational decisions you’ve made. But it may well be fun. As happens with many gadgets, you just plain want it rather than have a crying need for it. But well, nothing wrong with that though it’s a good idea to take stock of what else you own to begin with. If you carry around a premium smartphone, you will already have pretty good point-and-shoot level photos and all the sharing options you need. If you tote a DSLR around and think you might want to replace it with the Galaxy Camera, you won’t get the same level of photographs. If you just happen to like it a lot for the ease with which it works, I can understand that you may want to consider it as an indulgence. We are all allowed those, surely. mala(at)pobox(dot)com, (at)malabhargava on Twitter
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I could tell you that Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon represent the best of the breed of the ultrabooks I’ve seen so far this year, but then again, you already knew that, didn’t you? Here’s the lowdown, as promised, on both of these ultrabooks! ThinkPad X1 Carbon What I Liked: ThinkPads have long captivated the imagination of business users, but with the X1 Carbon, the family gets an ultrabook makeover. The design aesthetic is typical ThinkPad, so it either looks a tad dated or comfortably familiar (depending on how you see it!). It’s seriously light at less than 1.36kg yet in no way does it feel flimsy, and the slim wedge-shaped carbon fiber outer shell takes the legendary ThinkPad reliability up a few notches, and this is an ultrabook that’s built for rough use. The keyboard is very comfortable to use, but what I really was impressed with was the excellent gesture-friendly glass touchpad, probably the best I’ve seen outside of Apple. Performance is good, but there seems to be a battery-first approach here, which is perfectly reasonable for the largely business audience who will pick this up. The RapidCharge feature, which lets you perform a super fast 80 per cent charge in 30 minutes is incredibly handy, one wonders why more manufacturers don’t do this. Where It Lacks: While the 14-inch display with its 1600x900 pixel resolution looks good on paper, in everyday use the display is a bit of a let down, both in terms of sheer clarity and brightness. While connectivity options are good, I found that not having an Ethernet port on board might be a little limiting for the business user, as may the lack of a quick-replaceable additional battery. Plus it’s on the pricey side of things as well. And then there’s the broader question for all existing ultrabooks – what will the launch of the “touch-first” Windows 8 mean for non-touch laptops? Verdict: Truest to the ultrabook spec, the X1 Carbon is a great option for business-types looking for a solid, reliable companion. HP Envy Spectre XTWhat I Liked: Look at the Spectre XT from across the room, and the shiny silver ultrabook may fool you to believe it’s something from Apple’s stable. I mean sure, it has a different lid, hinge and trackpad but the overall effect feels crafted to appeal to people who’d want a Mac ultraportable with Windows. That said, there are plenty of things the Spectre XT gets right. The brushed-aluminum body looks lovely and the chassis is rigid and feels durable. The keyboard and trackpad are a pleasure to use as well. Connectivity options are generous – a full sized HDMI port, a USB 3.0 socket, an Ethernet port and a full-size SD card slot, among others. Audio, courtesy the Beats Audio enhancements, is pretty great for a laptop this size. Performance is pretty good, and the capable processor options and fast SSDs ensure things are zippy all round. Where It Lacks: The Achilles’ heel for the Spectre XT is its lower resolution 1366 x 768 pixel display, which is a dash on the dim side and loses brightness and suffers from images washing out when you move off center. For a laptop that screams high-end in every other respect, it is a let down. Battery life, while not bad, is a bit middling and I managed a little less than five hours of use. And yes, the Windows 8 question applies here as well. Verdict: Sexy package? Check. Good performance? Check. Screen resolution aside, this one earns a strong recommendation. ThinkPad X1 CarbonRating: 8/10Price: starts from Rs. 85,000/- (plus taxes)URL: http://lnv.gy/RapHc6 Envy Spectre XTRating: 8/10Price: starts from Rs. 64,990/- (plus taxes)URL: http://bit.ly/OJyR0Xtechnocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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Without a shadow of a doubt, the Samsung Galaxy Note was one of the big surprise tech stories of 2011, and the sales of the undersized-tablet-oversized-phone proved that what was considered a niche product actually had mass-market appeal - by the bucket loads! With the Note II, did Samsung manage to do one better? I took the… “phablet” – yes, I find it difficult to say the word even now — through its paces to find out.The first thing you notice is that the Note II is … even bigger than the Note, with a 5.5-inch screen up from the original 5.3 inches! It’s taken on the aesthetics and the proportions of an oversized Galaxy SIII, so it’s marginally narrower to hold in the hand than the Note, and slimmer by a sliver as well. Small hands will still find one-handed operation of the Note II a tough ask, but smart software tweaks let you align the keyboard, dialer etc. towards one side of the screen, which allows your thumb to cover the entire horizontal area. That said, the taller display means you constantly have to readjust your grip to access different parts of the screen. Occasionally cumbersome, but overall it is more usable than the Note.Of course, the ginormous screen size does have its benefits, and the Super AMOLED panel is awesome for everyday use. Watching video on its 720x1280 screen — full screen or on the pop-up window over any other app — is impressive, and using maps and browsing the web benefits greatly with the larger real estate at hand. Another unique feature I personally loved was the multi-screen mode, which lets you tile two different apps — say a video player and a web browser, or email and maps — and use them simultaneously. While I have to say I wish more apps supported this mode, but this is a stellar example of how Android manufacturers can differentiate their offerings with smart software add-ons.And then there’s the S-Pen, which is leading the stylus revival charge — the handwriting recognition is excellent and feels very well thought through. Performance in daily use is comparable to leading Android superphones, except with its 3100 mAh battery, this baby lasts all day long, and then some more. And a bonus — the Note 2 ship with Google's flagship JellyBean OS already installed, which brings with it some much needed under-the-hood enhancements and the class leading voice control and Google Now features.All in all, hardware and software considered, the Note 2 is a great buy — it’s big enough to be a powerful media consumption and productivity device yet small enough to carry around everywhere. Just be prepared to get some strange looks if you bring this up to your ear for a phone call… Rating: 9/10Price: Rs 39,900URL: http://bit.ly/X4NFe2 Kicking Off In High GearBuying the latest instalment of the much loved game franchise that is the FIFA series is a little like the new iPhone 5 – it’s very familiar and comfortable, yet better in almost every department. With FIFA 13, Electronic Arts has taken big strides – be it player stats that now reflect their real-life counterparts, enhanced physics, better teammate and opponent AI(artificial intelligence), a better defending system, and a new Skill Games mode, each of these are well-implemented. Graphically too, there’s been a big leap, and the realism is the best I’ve seen in a sports game this year. What this means is that you have a game which is a blast to play, even though the changes in ball control mean you can easily lose the ball when you’re passing to average players, which leads to a lot of handwringing, hear tearing and cursing mid-game. Much like the real thing, eh?In the end, FIFA 13 builds on the excellent FIFA12, while doing a great job fine-tuning some of the stuff introduced in last year’s variant, so it isn’t quite as revolutionary. However, if you’re new to the game and love your football, FIFA 13 is exceptionally good, in presentation, depth of game play and sheer fun! Go grab it now!Rating: 8/10Price: Rs 2,999 (Xbox 360 and PS3)URL: http://bit.ly/Su9yy8technocool at kanwar dot nettwitter@2shar
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The online savvy, tech crazy metro male may be surfing the net looking for his gizmo of choice, but when it comes to actually buying the gadget, he prefers to go offline — to a store near him. The countless hours spent comparing, contemplating and finally zeroing in on a budget compatible gadget of choice happens at home while the shopkeeper (whose expertise is not solicited any more) just offers a bill and a smile perhaps, once our man has made his purchase. Incidentally, the latest Deloitte study points out online shopping is yet to pick up in India with only 15 per cent preferring to shop online.Google India’s tech shopper report, a pan India offline study conducted by Nielsen (on behalf of Google) which attempts to analyse the influence of the internet on consumers purchasing technology products, albeit in retail stores, becomes topical in this context. The idea was to observe how “user behaviour has been changing offline because of online trends,” says Rajan Anandan, VP and Managing Director, Sales and Operations of Google India.Of the 3,677 respondents interviewed across 12 (4 metro, tier 1 and tier 2) cities, 40 per cent said they engaged in online research before buying a product. The most definitive finding is that an impressive 69 per cent of these intending purchasers make up their minds about the exact model (of smartphone, laptop, tablet, camera etc) they want to buy based on the gamut of information available on the internet before visiting a store. “The retailers’ ability to influence a buyer's mind is diminishing and companies need to look at engaging buyers online about their products and offerings”, explains Anandan. The study conducted at 200 multi-brand and single brand retail stores, interviewed respondents as they were coming out of these stores of whom 34 per cent has already made their purchase. Not surprisingly, 86 per cent of the interviewees were male and 92 per cent fell within the demographic of 18-44 years. Most Searched Technology Brands On Google (January to October 2012)Interestingly, the trend highlights that the impact of the internet (in the final decision making process) is greater in smaller cities. The study finds that 83 per cent of consumers from tier 2 cities (Kanpur, Vadodara, Kochi, Bhubaneshwar) know precisely what they wish to purchase (owing to online research) before they enter a store. The number dwindles to 73 per cent when it comes to tier 1 cities (Chandigarh, Pune, Indore, Coimbatore) and decreases to 53 per cent in the metros (Mumbai, NCR, Chennai, Kolkata). Contrarily and more predictably, the percentage of people committing to pre purchase tech research online is highest in metros at 43 per cent and lowest in tier 2 cities at 25 per cent. Anandan attributes this acute reliance on online data to inform consumer choice in tier 2 cities to the relatively low penetration of brick and mortar gadget and consumer goods retail shops in these cities.The monumental reach of the internet in tier 2 cities is concomitant with the sharp rise mobile internet users. The new mobile generation emerges from smaller cities which is evident from the fact that 22 per cent of people from tier 2 cities (in this survey) access the internet exclusively through their mobile phones as opposed to 8 per cent in metros. Despite the growing presence of the online medium across India it still isn’t the most effective medium for generating initial awareness among prospective consumers as it cannot surpass 9 and isn’t likely too very soon) surpass the lure of television. Fifty-three per cent of the respondents revealed that television advertisements caught their attention as opposed to internet ads which intrigued 23 per cent of the population: this is however higher than print and radio ads which only intrigue 14 per cent of the people, the study reveals.Price point is a decisive moderator of research patterns since the amount of time spent in learning about a tech product is directly proportional to its price; research intensity is higher for high value products. In the mobile phones category, the research intensity increased when price exceeded Rs 7000, for laptops when the price exceeded Rs 30,000.Among the products most researched online, laptops (at 54 per cent) top the list, followed by mobile phones (39 per cent), digital cameras (38 per cent) and televisions (33 per cent). The study estimates that an interested consumer devotes an average of two weeks gathering information about a product before purchasing it. Google’s internal data reveals that volume of search queries on technological and consumer electronics goods is growing at a healthy rate of 39 per cent and is second only to travel. With around 137 million internet users in India, that translates into a lot of hits. Search queries on mobile phones are growing three times faster than those from desktops and this trend is more concentrated in tier 2 cities as previous statistics indicate. Tablets are the most searched category, growing at 160 per cent YoY, followed by television (51 per cent), mobile phones (41 per cent) laptops at 39 per cent and refrigerators at 19 per cent.How many of these tech searches convert into real purchases is a larger question, not quite answered by the survey in question which also chooses to exclude purchases made from e-commerce portals. There is however reason to believe that the rate of conversion (from search to purchase) is significantly high since 67 per cent of the interviewees claimed that they have used Google maps, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) website to locate an electronics store for their convenience. This corroborates with a recent survey by Deloitte which reports that only 15 per cent of India’s population shops online. Read: E-shopping Yet To Take Off Seventy-two per cent feel the need to buy products from such stores to get a complete ‘touch and feel’ of the product they have otherwise finalised. Forty-six per cent believe they can secure a better deal in terms of price from shop owners.The study culminates in emphasising the new age wisdom which calls on brands to develop their digital strategy, better. Despite the proliferation of user review sites, and technology blogs (such as tec2 and techradar) the survey finds that 66 per cent of people rely on OEM websites to gather information about the product they are interested in buying. Blogs and review sites are favoured by only 39 and 38 per cent of the consumers, respectively. “Brands need to focus on building assets for the internet,” quips Anandan while going on to talk about how Google’s advertising platform will thus enhance its forcus on screening relevant ads. Given that the trust factor (at 78 per cent) is very high among brand websites, it is essential that they focus on providing what consumers search online on their website itself,” Neeraj Gupta, Industry Director, Google India, exclaims.What matters most of course is price, followed by photographs, product specifications, videos and product comparison. Most respondents (82 per cent) watched user videos on brand websites whereas many (62 per cent) relied on YouTube videos. Given that the internet leads to a multiplicity of choices: 55 per cent of people searching for one particular product found many others within the same league and 57 per cent subsequently changed their original choice after a detailed online research, tech OEMs need to work on creating the complete digital package, to whatever extent possible in the near future.
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Two surveys released on 6 November – one by Ericsson’s ConsumerLab and another by Google - reiterate that media usage is shifting from television to the smartphone.According to a study done by Ericsson’s ConsumerLab on the digital lives of India’s Gen Z (this encompasses the 9-18 age group), the amount of time they spend on their mobile phones has begun to overtake the time they spend watching TV. Also, 58 per cent are now willing to give up the once idolized idiot-box to use the Internet on their mobile phones.A new Google –IPSOS study also points to a similar trend. The report says that a whopping 49 per cent of smartphone owners in India are ready to give up the TV rather than their phones. The study says that that 56 per cent of Indians find their smartphones more entertaining than the TV. In contrast just 21 per cent in US and 18 per cent in the UK find the smartphone more entertaining. The Ericsson report shows just how much the mobile phone has become part of the lives of Gen Z. Of the 69 million urban Indian youngsters surveyed for the study, 30 million own mobile phones, with seven per cent of them owning smartphones. And 20 per cent of these are below 11 years old. Another 11 million have access through shared usage with their siblings or parents. The Ericsson study was carried out in 7785 urban households across 16 cities.Calling kids (9-11 year olds) and tweens (11 to 15 year olds) ‘digital natives’, the report says their behaviour tends to mirror the internet usage of their older teenage (16-18 year old) counterparts. Eighty per cent of 9-11 year olds are already on social networking sites, with majority of them unaware of the age restriction on Facebook. The study also observed a pattern of influence that parents hold on the broadband usage behaviour of Gen Z.However, parents aren’t satisfied with merely influencing broadband usage behavior. One third of parents believed they exercised control over the mobile phone activity of their young ones. Sixty-two per cent wish they could have more control of their kids’ mobile usage. But Gen Z is one step ahead of their nurturers. 30 per cent of 9-18 year olds use a privacy screen to prevent others from seeing their mobile phone activity.“What parents want is important to us, since they are the ones who buy the devices for the youngsters. Parents want call/message log details, spending control, premium handset insurance, web guard among several other controls over their children’s’phones,” said Fredrik Jejdling, Managing Director and Head of Region of Ericsson India.Meanwhile, the Google-IPSOS study shows that even as overall penetration of smartphones is higher amongst males in India, it is women who are using it more for entertainment. And, no, ‘entertainment’ for women was not just about watching shows, but includes connecting with friends over social networks, shopping, and searching out places to hangout with pals. In contrast, more than 55 per cent of the men watched videos on their devices.According to Lalitesh Katragadda, Country Head, India Products, Google India, “This is a truly astonishing trend among India's first wave of smartphone users, caused by high quality online video content and superb apps".
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