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)
Read More
In a breakthrough, an Indian-American scientist at the prestigious MIT has developed a simple, cheap, paper test that could improve cancer diagnosis rates and help people get treated earlier.The diagnostic, which works much like a pregnancy test, could reveal within minutes, based on a urine sample, whether a person has cancer, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced on Monday (24 February).This approach has helped detect infectious diseases, and the new technology allows non-communicable diseases to be detected using the same strategy, it said.The technology, developed by MIT professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator 46-year-old Sangeeta Bhatia, relies on nanoparticles that interact with tumour proteins called proteases, each of which can trigger release of hundreds of biomarkers that are then easily detectable in a patient's urine."When we invented this new class of synthetic biomarker, we used a highly specialised instrument to do the analysis," says Bhatia, the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."For the developing world, we thought it would be exciting to adapt it instead to a paper test that could be performed on unprocessed samples in a rural setting, without the need for any specialized equipment. The simple readout could even be transmitted to a remote caregiver by a picture on a mobile phone,"?Bhatia said in a statement.Bhatia, a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, is the senior author of a paper describing the particles in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published this week.The paper's lead authors are graduate student Andrew Warren, postdoc Gabriel Kwong, and former postdoc David Wood.(PTI)
Read More
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)
Read More
JBL'S FLIP II SPEAKER RS 7,990JBL, a line from US-based Harman International, has brought out another Bluetooth portable speaker in its favourite shape. Like the Pulse, which displays colourful lights while playing, the Flip II — a sequel to the original Flip — doesn’t light up, but it is surprisingly loud for its size. I got a sport yellow cylinder to review, but it comes in black, white, red and blue as well. It feels rugged, solid and well-built, without being heavy. At first glance, I immediately thought it would make a great gift for a teenager, especially given its loudness. The Flip II’s design is minimalist while making use of colour as a style element. It can sit on a surface any way you like — up straight, or on its side. The top and bottom plus a ridge down the centre are rubbery in a somewhat classy way. On top, you have a power touch button surrounded by two volume, a Bluetooth and phone button. One touch of the Bluetooth button connects you to the device of your choice. The Phone button lets you take calls using the speaker’s microphone; and you can also use the button to end a call. On a call, I was told I sounded clear enough except with a bit more bass. As far as the bass is concerned, it makes its presence felt as with any JBL audio device, but to my surprise there isn’t a wide range of sounds and the high frequencies don't stand out in particular either. Overall, loud and bass-y is just what a youngster may want. The Flip II has around five hours of battery life. At Rs 7,990, it has a lot of competition from other JBL models as well as other brands — such as Bose, Beats, Ultimate Ears and Soen Audio — that are a bit more expensive but also have more audial finesse. SOEN AUDIO'S TRANSIT SPEAKER Rs 12,990You wouldn’t buy speakers for their design, but with Soen Audio’s Transit Bluetooth speaker — you just may. You can get a glimpse of its unique design from the packaging onwards — it’s classy. There's an Apple-like finish and attention to detail, and you won’t want to throw this box away, which comes with a charging cable, a 3.5’m connector, adaptor and a beautiful magnetic cover — under which lies the Transit.The wireless speaker is a single unit and can be used with any device that has either Bluetooth or a 3.5mm jack — that means everything. As the name implies, it is ideal to put into a backpack or big bag, but it is probably a bit heavy to slip into a woman’s handbag, though. One of the most enjoyable ways to use it is to take it around the house, such as when you go into the kitchen to make a cuppa.To get to that remarkable design — the Transit is a neat rectangle, has rubbery matte finish, with a metallic strip down the centre which goes right through to the back of the speaker. That's where you can press a portion of it to pop out a kickstand. This is particularly well-executed. The device’s build quality is also great.And now, the most important part — sound. You can tell it’s going to be good the moment you put the power button on and hear the notes that indicate you’re powered on. Connect to a source via Bluetooth or the jack and you get a clear, clean sound, which is surprising given its small size. The bass isn't thumping and booming — just balanced and full. The sound range is more sophisticated and wider than you would get on small speakers. The Transit costs Rs 12,990 and competes with speakers from Bose, JBL, etc. It is available on love4apple.com, Amazon and several other online stores.THE SENNHEISER CX 275S IN-EAR EARPHONESRs 2,990 The Sennheiser CX 275S in-ear earphones don’t look anything special at all. You would think they should, because they’re from one of the most high-end audio brands in the world. But no, this barebones pair of earphones is completely unassuming — no colour, no design elements... nothing. They look like the usual black earplugs; you could dismiss them as being your everyday ear plugs; that is, until you put them into your ears and switch on the music. The rich and full sound made my eyes widen in surprise. The bass was perfect and the higher frequencies very nice. In fact, I’d venture to say the Sennheiser CX 275s is about the best sound I’ve heard on earphones that small. The earphone set is supposed to cut external noise and, to some extent, it does, but when you hear such quality music, you’re not likely to notice noise anyway. It’s very comfortable to wear, but you’ll need to the care of them, ensuring that one good accidental tug doesn’t snap them. A single control on the wire gives you ON or OFF and control over tracks. And there’s a microphone so you can interrupt the music for a call. Testing this out, I was told, much to my amusement, by many friends that I sounded clear for the first time. At Rs 2,990, it may seem expensive, but it is a steal given its incredible sound and clarity. It works with any smartphone or device that has a 3.5 mm jack, is OS agnostic, but not Bluetooth-enabled. It comes in a little cloth pouch, with an extra set of caps for the ear buds. mala.bhargava@gmail.com;twitter@malabhargava(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 10-03-2014)
Read More
One of the pioneers behind the iPhone, software engineer Greg Christie, is leaving Apple, a spokesman has said. "Greg has been planning to retire later this year after nearly 20 years at Apple," an official said in an email yesterday, saying he had made vital contributions to Apple. Christie was part of the team that developed the iOS software for the first iPhone, which came out in 2007. Christie was until now leading a team working on a so-called human interface team developing more software for Apple. His role will be taken over by the current vice president for design, Jonathan Ive. Ive in recent years has been working on Apple products' external look. But industry publications say he has played a major role in developing the latest version of the iPhone operating system iOS 7. (AFP)
Read More
Slideshare Now MobileIt's difficult to believe that Slideshare, the presentations portal now owned by LinkedIn, didn’t have a proper mobile app all this time. However, the mobile version of the website worked pretty well so in a sense it wasn’t missed. But now LinkedIn has just released a free app for iOS and Android. You do a quick sign-in with a route of your choice, and you’re good to go. But you can’t create presentations through this app — it’s strictly a viewer. The app works with a slick smoothness. You choose from topics of interest, or use the search to look for something specific. Problem is you can’t filter and refine the search. The topics are also very broad and don’t help you get to specific interests. The results throw up many old presentations, which is always a nuisance the search. The topics are also very broad and don’t help you.Click It, Google StyleGoogle has brought some nice photography tricks to its new app, Camera, available for Android 4.4 users free on the Play Store. The app works separately from your phone’s own camera. It’s obvious that it’s been designed to keep things utterly simple. That will make casual users happy but annoy those who want to have some control over settings like ISO and white balance. Well, they’ll just have to switch to the phone’s camera app for that. On Google’s Camera app, what you get is the ability to take a photo and then give it some bokeh, even if it is faked. You aim at an object, shoot, and then move the camera slowly upward to capture some additional background info. Then, if all goes well, you get the object in focus and the background nicely blurred out. You can also shoot panoramas and 360 degree photo spheres.Medium On Your Minithe publishing platform Medium, spun off by Twitter founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, has a stunningly beautiful app for the iPhone which works well on the iPad by going 2x. It isn’t bad looking on the web, medium.com, either, of course, but the smooth way the app works really enhances reading pleasure. Medium (for which you sign in with Twitter) is all about content and is really for people who love to read. From your Twitter feed, Medium collects and surfaces articles you might want to read and also has selections and collections to browse and read from. The free Medium app really uses the iPad’s screen beautifully and fits right in with what the tablet was first envisaged for — leaning back and enjoying content. Swipe to move across articles, bookmark to read again and share with others. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 16-06-2014)
Read More
These days if anyone asks for a recommendation for a decently priced smartphone, I immediately think Moto-something. The Moto X and then the Moto G offered a great Android experience for half the price of other brands. And, now, the Moto E takes the cake. At Rs 6,999, we have a device that Flipkart ran out of in a day or so. Stocks get replenished, but lapped up again as Android fans on a shoestring budget head to the online store — the only route the Moto E that is available. Obviously, that means you can't see and feel it in a shop, but enough reviews and users will tell you that it's fantastic value for money. There’s no doubt that all the other phone makers squabbling for a share of the sub-Rs 10,000 market now have serious trouble on their hands. The fact that the Moto E is only available online and won’t easily reach first-time buyers in rural India, where Motorola has no mindshare, is the only saving grace for them.Not light, not heavy, not big, not small — the Moto E is well-built and well-designed. It looks similar to the Moto G and Moto X, though it’s a little thicker and heavier. It’s all excellent material at the front and back, and has the ergonomics down pat. Its glass face — Gorilla Glass 3 — gleams out at you and the back is rubberised; and even though greasy fingers will smear it, you can easily wipe it clean. The phone has gently rounded corners and softened edges that meet the slightly curved back to make the phone very easy and comfortable to hold. Perfect for someone who makes a lot of calls — and it’s a dual SIM, just the way buyers in India, especially in the low-cost segment, like it. The Moto E has a wonderful grip, both because of its size and the material on the back panel. The white version could get dirty if you’re not careful. Theoretically, you can also change backs, provided the back panels are available when you need them.Like the other two Motos, but even more so, the E doesn’t bank on specs to be a worthwhile device. That’s one of the refreshing things about this series, so far. The Moto E’s specs are, in fact, outdated. Who looks at a dual core any more when even inexpensive phones are quad cores. And just 1 GB RAM? A tiny bit of storage space? On the other hand, the phone runs the latest Android version and will get updates quicker than others. We hope! Even the screen is low-res compared to what you get these days. And, yet, its colours pop out and it looks just fine and there’s not too much compromise on viewing angles.Without much skinning and trickery, the Moto E works smoothly. Not super-fast, but good enough for many things, including moderate-level gaming. Navigation is the smoothest. Movie watching is good, social networking is fine and so are all the Google functions you get on an Android phone such as Google Now and Maps. The battery is a 1980 mAh and should last you the day if you don’t use it heavily. So what’s to dislike?Well, the camera. We have on board a mere 5 MP rear camera — no front camera, so no grainy selfies. You can capture a car number with it, a big flower outdoors, but forget about really getting into the joy of mobile photography with this little thing. There isn’t even a flash, though there’s a collection of filters and effects including panorama and HDR. You don’t get 720p video recording. If there’s one thing to miss, it’s really the cameras considering how quickly that becomes important to users even if they didn’t think they wanted it in the first place. But then, all arguments come to a screeching halt at the price. If Motorola were to go up the alphabet a little more, one could have a phone that would kill off the feature phone.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 16-06-2014)
Read More
Wearable computers like Google Glass and the Samsung Galaxy Gear watch may not have caught fire yet, but that hasn't stopped mobile game developers from rushing to create apps for the new devices, eager to seize what they hope is the next big moment in consumer technology. An array of new smartwatches and devices like fitness tracker Fitbit will go on display this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, heralding a potential breakthrough for the devices in 2014. Of the 3,300 companies exhibiting at the conference, starting 7 January, about 300 are focused on digital health, according to Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association.And there is reason for this optimism. A new Accenture survey (Accenture Digital Consumer Tech Survey 2014) found that more than half of consumers (52 per cent) are interested in buying wearable technologies such as fitness monitors for tracking physical activity and managing their personal health. The survey of more than 6,000 people in six countries – Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States -- showed that many are also interested in buying smart watches (46 per cent) and Internet-connected eyeglasses (42 per cent).In a consumer electronics world dominated by smartphones, HDTVs, laptop computers and tablet PCs, a new market category is generating significant consumer buying interest: wearable technologies. Wearable technologies deliver a wide range of capabilities: fitness monitors track a person’s heart rate and calories burned, while Internet-connected eyeglass displays enable consumers to browse the Internet, take digital photos and receive hands-free notifications. Among the six countries, consumers in India were most interested in buying fitness monitors (80 per cent), smart watches (76 per cent) and Internet-enabled eyeglasses (74 per cent).“In the past year wearable technologies have emerged as the next big consumer electronics market category, particularly for health and wellness,” said Mattias Lewren, global managing director of Accenture’s Electronics and High-Tech industry group. “To capitalize on this growth opportunity, consumer electronics companies should consider investing in wearable product innovation and industrial design, and building ecosystems that connect wearables to the broader array of interactive digital networks. Every consumer is a digital consumer, and the keen interest in wearable technology provides further evidence of that.”In addition, the survey found significant consumer interest in purchasing phablets, an emerging category of mobile devices that combine smartphone and tablet PC functions while featuring a screen size of five-to-seven inches -- in between a traditional smartphone and a tablet PC. The survey also unveiled strong purchase plans over the next year for traditional smartphones, HDTVs, laptops and tablet PCs. Consumers Crave PhabletsMore than half of consumers (52 per cent) who plan to buy a traditional smartphone in the next year indicated they would prefer a phablet. And while interest in phablets was significant, the surveyed also revealed that consumers continue to show strong interest in buying traditional smartphones and tablet PCs. During the next year, for instance, 52 per cent plan to purchase a smartphone and 40 per cent a tablet PC. Similarly, 41 per cent intend to buy a HDTV and 38 per cent a laptop. Consumers’ plans to buy these four types of multi-function devices – typically the most popular product categories in consumer electronics -- far exceed the percentages that plan to purchase single-function devices such as home game consoles (25 per cent), Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) navigation units (23 per cent) and ebook readers (22 per cent).Indians Among Keenest ConsumersConsistent with their keen interest in buying wearable technologies, consumers in India ranked highest among the six countries in the percentages that plan to buy consumer electronics products during the next year in numerous categories. For example, 80 per cent plan to buy a smartphone; more than two-thirds (69 per cent) a HDTV; nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) a traditional tablet PC, and almost two-thirds (63 per cent) a laptop PC. “India is clearly a major growth market for consumer electronics,” said Lewren. “Craving more personalized digital experiences, the country’s consumers rank among the world’s most willing to pay for and use consumer electronics devices -- including wearable technologies.”
Read More
