If BIG size is not an issue, Galaxy Note is for you

Yes. It is a phone+tablet (Phablet?). This is the fastest Android phone available till now with 1.4 GHz Dual Core processor and 1GB RAM. Amazingly beautiful Super AMOLED 5.3"(800 x 1280) screen with 2500 mah battery, 16GB built in storage expandable with additional 32 GB memory card. 

The 5.3" screen is not as big as I assumed it to be in the hand. Looks very slim and decent. This is the phone for the people

1. Who do not want to carry a laptop

2. Who do not want to carry around a tablet in addition to the phone

3. Who does most of their work with emails, spreadsheets, social media and android apps

4. Who do not mind the carrying around approximately 1.5x size of Galaxy S2.

5. Who enjoys convergence to the extent that the phone and tablet are in a single device. 

6. Who would love to use the special features by SPen.

This is definitely more than a smartphone and size wise less than a tablet. However the hardware and software are on par (may be more). 

I really like the special functionalities of SPen. There are plenty of things one can imagine to do with this SPen. Samsung seems to be very serious about their SPen and released a SDK for developers.

Display, Speed, Size and SPen are the specialties of this phone. Samsung also promised that they will be updating the OS to latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) by 2012. Looking at aggressiveness of Samsung it may release it in 1st quarter of 2012. This is available in Bangalore at Rs. 32,500. Samsung showroom (Mantri Mall) was selling at Rs. 31,900 as promotion offer. Samsung is also providing a designer cover along with the package.

The only feature that is futuristic and catching up rapidly is absent in Note is NFC (Near Field Communication). I think with the commercial focus on this technology this may come to India in a year, where you do not need to carry your Credit Cards with you but just tap your phone on NFC scanner to make a payment at shops. This can also be used to transfer files, photos, music, contacts from one phone to other as promoted by Nokia Lumia 800. The technology is catching up very fast. Google Nexus has the NFC antenna in its battery. In future it may be possible that a non-NFC phone can be converted by just inserting a NFC enable battery or Memory Card.

There are going to be rain of smartphones in the 1st half of 2012. If you can wait, you may consider Galaxy Nexus, Lumia 900, iPhone 5 etc.

Hi-Fi Home Theatre System

The desire that was in my mind from past 10 years suddenly became strong to buy a best home theatre within my budget. Started my research again. Visited almost all showrooms available in Bengaluru.

ProFX - Barton Center
Onkyo - Barton Center
Jamo - Infantry Road
Klipsch - Lavelle Road
JBL - Forum Mall
UniqueSys - Varthur Main Road

Contacted and discussed on Phone with many others.

The first and foremost thing I need to highlight about high end HT system is you have to focus on the speakers first. These are the expensive components of the system similar to lenses of DSLR. The technology has not changed much in Speakers but has been continuously changing in amplifiers and AV receivers. Most of the people who buy the HiFi systems expect the system to reproduce the sound as it is produced (mastered) in the Studio. Usually many of the systems either boost up Bass or Treble to make them sound "better" in showrooms. The sales person usually increases the volume to more than 80% of its capacity as if we are buying them for blasting them at loud parties every day.

In my experience you have to carry your own (CD's preferred over MP3s) to the store and test them with your favorite songs. Listen to them at sound levels that you listen at home. Also listen to them at low volume and high volume just to verify the clarity. Some of the speakers give away at high volumes with a lot of distortion. There are heated discussions on whether the HT system will serve for both Music as well as Movies? My suggestion is : if you have budget you can invest on both separately. However the balanced approach will save a lot of money.

Somehow the packaged HT systems will not give as much clarity as custom configured HT systems. The brands I have tested are:

AV Receivers: ONKYO, Marantz, Denon, Yamaha, Sharewood
Speakers : Polk, Elac, Energy, KEF, Focal, Paradigm, Jamo, Klipsch, MK all series, JBL, Boston

Each person will have his/her own taste for the Low, mid & treble combination. You cannot judge a system as best for all. The best way is listen again and again and again to them and find out if they match to your way of listening. I did test all the above systems. It is not necessary that you have to buy all speakers from the same brand. The front speakers can be from different brand and centre+surround can be from different and Sub woofer can be of other. However if you think that a single brand is suiting to your listening taste you may buy all of them from single brand.

My opinion on the brands:
Elac and Energy lack a bit on Mids.
KEF, Klipsch and Paradigm are high on treble and bass.
Focal is good but could not find the model in my budget.
JBL and Boston did not taste good.
MK 750 series is best for movie viewing as it is also THX certified and are usually used in Studios. However not so good for listening pure music.

Happened to listen Polk RTI A7 series speakers. They sounded very good with right balance between Low, Mid and Treble for my taste. Could not get the black color and had to upgrade my purchase to A9 series.

Remember every new speaker has to run for a least of 100 hours to sound better.

Onkyo is value for money. However I read a lot of complaints on them.
Marantz and Denon are from the same company. Marantz sounds more melodious than Denon. Both of them are equipped with Airplay feature.
Yamaha has their own proprietary technology on their Aventage series.

I was more leaning to ONKYO TX-NR809 (THX) until I heard Denon-AVR 2311. Every store has their own agenda to sell the brands. I came across UniqueSys store while searching to test Paradigm speakers. Mr. Saif gave me a good demo and was very keen on meeting my requirement than selling a particular brand.

At the end came up with this combination:

Front Floor Standing speakers: Polk RTi A9 (2X500W @ 8 Ohms)
Centre Speaker : Polk CSi A6 (200W @ 8 Ohms)
Surround Speakers: Polk FXi A6 (2X150 @ 8 Ohms)

I have almost selected Marantz SR6006 and dropped because of 110W per channel output as my front speakers are 500W per channel and will be under powered.

Thought of buying Yamaha RX2067 then found the latest Yamaha RX-A2010 Aventage series with 140W per channel @ 8 Ohms. Bi-Amped the front two speakers to theoretically getting 280W per channel. The only thing I have to change in the setup now is my 5 years old Samsung 40" LCD to some 3D LED. I am waiting for this excitement to settle down so that I can focus my next research on TV.

***You have to listen to the system again and again and again before finalizing. Do not go by brand value or word of mouth or sales person's hidden agenda***

Palm Top Mini Projector - Joybee GP1 from BenQ

Recently I had to conduct a Training Session for 10 people for 4 days with very tight budgets. To get a projector on rent it was costing around INR 12K to 16K. So, decided to buy one for my self. Researched a lot on them and found BenQ gave a reasonably better value for money. Almost decided on BenQ 525p recommended by the vendor.

For the first day the vendor was kind enough to give a standby projector till he picks the new one from distributor. When I saw the size of 525p, I felt it is more for 'portable' in my terms and less for a big projector. Then I was also thinking of their "Short-throw" projectors in case I have to use it for a small meeting rooms.

I came across Joybee GP1 projector and started reading about it. This is so cute and small and fits in the laptop bag, weighs around 640 grams with 100% mercury free 3LED technology. SVGA (858X600) resolution and with PC/Laptop will project up to 1280X1024. This is more than sufficient in many cases where the presentation has to be done in a small meeting room with maximum of 10 people. The colors are good. It starts up very quickly and when you double press the power button it shuts down very quickly. It also has USB port. You can also buy an iPod/iPhone Universal dock. I have completed the remaining training with this projector and participants were happy with this.

I strongly recommend this for the road warriors (typical Business/Sales persons) who don't want to carry a lot of weight and would not want to wait for the systems to boot up and adjust a lot of things before the projector shows the slides on the wall/screen. Also ideal for home projector if you are not a videophile.

In India it costs you around INR 36K including taxes. However in USA it is selling around USD 400 as per amazon.

It comes along with a soft carry case & remote (looks bigger for the size of projector) in addition to a quick start guide, power adaptor, power cable, CEA 30pin Cable & a manual CD.

For more details visit www.benq.co.in/product/projector/joybeegp1

You may also look at Acer C110 or Viewsonic PLED-W200.

The New TATA ARIA

Recently test-drove TATA Aria. I must say if I remove the TATA badge and ask you to drive you will not think in any wild way that it is TATA vehicle. The build is very strong. It feels like a tanker. The pick up and gear ratios are very smooth. You will never feel that you are driving a beast of 2720 Kg. I must say TATA engineers have done an excellent job here. For the sake of mentioning the specs, it is 140PS@4000RPM and 320NM@1700-2700RPM that makes it very peppy. The space inside is huge. You have AC vents on the pillars for rear passengers. The seat configuration can be changed as per your requirement. For such a huge vehicle the turning radius of 5.6m is very decent. I test-drove the 4X4. It is all wheel drive unless you choose to make it 4X2. A 4X2 version is also available now. The higher end 4X4 version has automatic climate control, cruise control, 6 airbags, ESP and Traction control, navigation system & 17" alloys.

The things I did not like: a whole row of roof pockets, slippery steering wheel (not the drive) and the last row plastics. However one of the pockets on the roof can be an LCD and a leather cover stitched on steering wheel will work with better grip. The last row plastics may create a rattle sound in future.

Aria really surprises you with its strong feel. The highest being priced at INR 19.65L and base at around 12L on road (Bengaluru).

www.tataaria.com

Good one until you see the XUV500 from Mahindra & Mahindra.

Facebook Stole every contact and phone number in your phone ?!?

TATA Sky Mobile Access

Recently I saw an ad on TV, Ameer teases his friend about the program he is watching. Updated my Tata Sky+ app on iPhone. First thing I noticed is how the TV watching can become instant social networking (facebook/twitter). I can see a lot of people following "serials" will have a lot to socialize. The second thing I observed iPhone can be your universal remote.
Read few details about it and ordered the accessory online. Next day I received a call from call centre confirming the order and saying it is free as a promotional offer. After 3 days I received the accessory. Looks neat and inline with iPhone design. Plugged into the 3.5mm jack.

Now the fun started. Opened the app and tried tuning it with my TV, DVD & HD box nothing happened. Called call centre, the guy on the phone with half english and full hindi tried his best nothing happened (was expecting it). Then went little more deeper and found two tips on the app : 1. In the settings, ipod settings - Off the 'volume limit'. 2. In settings, General, accessibility Off the 'mono audio'. Thats it. All my devices are configured. Now I can control my HD set-top, Samsung LCD & Sony Hometheatre with my iPhone. Just remember to keep the LED of the remote facing downwards when you hold the phone facing towards you. Somehow the volume controls are not working.

One thing that shows on the ad and doesn't work actually is keeping the accessory plugged into the 3.5mm jack and talking to your friend on phone. You cannot hear other person's voice as it thinks the head phone is plugged-in (unless you are on speaker phone). Surprisingly on TV both Ameer and his friend talk to each other with the accessory plugged-in and keeping the phone to the ear.

Visit www.tatasky.com/mobileaccessapp/index.html for more details.

If customers cannot reach Store, the Store reaches customers

Virtual Mobile Grocery Store

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGaVFRzTTP4

Online shopping may not be an unique idea. But if it can utilize your (the most boring) waiting time to shop for your convenience then it is superb. You can shop while waiting for your transport simply by using your smartphone. By the time you reach home the items arrive at your doorstep.

Hopefully the infrastructure and most importantly the public sense of people reaches to this stage very soon in India.

Modern Projectors for Multiplex Cinema

Had a chance to visit the projector room of a latest multiplex theater in one of the new malls at Bengaluru South. It is a really amazing technology. Gone are those days where people have to continuously attend to the projector to adjust precise distance between two carbon rods, or keep track of the discs and lights on/off etc.

Now with the latest projectors one can program the entire movie to play (MPEG4) from starting slides, lights on/off, ads, movie, interval, slides, end card without any intervention except pushing a start button. One Hard disk caries around 7 to 8 movies. All that the operator does is to insert the correct Hard disk into the projector and push a button. The movie can also be loaded on to the server so that they don’t need to handle the hard disks. They keep an additional lens kit for screening 3D movies in front of this projector. This projector can play the sound in Dolby, DTS as well as simple stereo or mono.

In future, the distributor will have a server, which serves, to all the theaters without any intervention and for a number of prescribed shows. The theater management just has to ensure that there is an uninterrupted Power supply with powerful AC and a high bandwidth network. Forgot one important thing, a direct high power AC vent into the projector through its head.

If you want to know more about the projector, follow this URL: http://www.barco.com/en/product/2180

Next time when you step into a cinema you know how it is being screened.

Galaxy S II is a real success to Samsung

Samsung Galaxy

Also fastest selling smartphone after topping 3 million units in 55 days.

My first Android Phone is Samsung Galaxy 3 i5801 (sister version of Galaxy S). Very exciting phone under Rs.12K. However the excitement did not last longer as the phone started hanging now and then. Had to do a lot of technological circus to connect to (then version of) Kies software on PC. Landed up formatting the phone twice after trying to jailbreak with custom firmware from xda-developers. Installed task manager app and forcibly started killing unwanted apps. But still the phone did not leave its hanging habits. With the latest update of Kies software it became bit easy to connect to the PC. Had trouble in connecting to my office email which forced me to switch over to iPhone 4. My wife took it after her iPhone 2G lost its touch on the screen. Now with the latest firmware (android firmware 2.2 FroYo) the hanging became built in feature.

Samsung Galaxy S II has solved all the above issues. In addition, it has beautiful hi-tech hardware and thinnest to date in the market. Intelligent display technology. Excellent camera (8MP). Except that there are few areas where it can improve such as hubs other than Reader Hub (I like the integration of Kobo Reader). Could have been better with metal than plastics (no complaints though). Few of my friends still use laptops less powered than 1.2 GHz dual core, 1GB RAM of SII.

Since Android doesn't impose stringent rules on the apps (as apple does), the onus is on the users to install the apps at their own discretion.

Dont forget to properly protect your beauty with screen guards and skins/covers etc. It may affect the outlook but will protect it for a long time. Keep updating your phone with official firmware (current 2.3.3).

For indepth review :

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/28/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-review/


If you can wait for a while you may also consider HTC Sensation (I love HTC Sense than Samsung TouchWiz). If you don't have budget for S II watch out for Galaxy Z (younger brother of S II).

Kindle - I love it

Recently during my visit to USA, I bought Kindle 3G+WiFi 6". I must say it is a great device one must have. Thanks to Arvind to prime me to buy one.

Advice: Create an account on Amazon website (you need your credit card details to be entered) before buying Kindle. Go through the books available on Kindle bookstore. See if they are useful to you. One of my friends (CA) could not find the book he wanted on taxation (the basic motive to buy Kindle). I would also suggest using Kindle apps on your PC, MAC or mobile and experiencing it before investing on Kindle device. There are thousands of free books you can get from Kindle bookstore. Just sort them by "Price: Low to High".

There are a lot of eBook readers in the market. What makes kindle so special is:
1. The Free 3G connectivity to buy books wherever you are in the world (as long as you have GSM network in that area) under 60 Sec.
2. The "Buy once and Read on many" approach of Amazon (up to 6 devices)
3. One need not be disappointed by the Grey scale (B/W) eBooks on Kindle, as there are apps that can be installed on PC, MAC, IPhone, Android and Blackberry to read the same in Color.
4. Excellent support & service.
To elaborate on this: My Kindle gave up after 70 days. It was not connecting to my account. Wi-Fi works but only on the browser and 3G is not at all working. I called up the support and asked them what to do. They asked me to perform few basic things on the device to revive it. After it failed, they sent a fresh device configured to my account and the new Kindle reached my home in less than 96 hours (from Cincinnati, USA to Bangalore, India). All this without a single Rupee spent by me except an international call to their support center.

The Device:
I liked the package of Kindle, as it is hassle free unpacking. When I held the device for the first time in my hand, there were instructions on the screen, tried peeling that paper off to see the screen. To my surprise the instructions were on the screen. This is superb. This is as good as reading any book holding in hand. If you have ordered through your Amazon account, & if you already have books in your account, they are pre-loaded into your device and you are ready to go. There are more you can do here:
1. Change the font size or orientation of the screen to suite your reading comfort.
2. Highlight the sentences or words, just like we do in the normal book
3. If you come across any tough word, just move the cursor onto it to see the meaning in the dictionary.
4. Read highlights done by others
5. Bookmark a page as you fold your page in the normal book
6. Let your friends on Facebook or twitter know that you have completed this book and give your recommendations or share your notes or highlights with them.
7. It also has a built in browser (the most basic) provided on experimental basis. (a free 3G browser wherever you are ;-))
8. You can play MP3 songs (to be uploaded through your PC or MAC by connecting the device) Not a great idea but not a bad one too.
9. If you are traveling in a bus and cannot read it as your eyes may get strained, just press (shift+sym) it reads it for you. You can use standard headphones to isolate the sound only to you. I think some of the books don’t support this feature please check the Kindle store.
10. If you have read a book on other devices using Kindle app, when you connect Kindle device to network it synchronizes pages where you stopped on the other devices.
11. You can also subscribe to magazines, news papers etc.
12. Up to 2 months battery charge.

You can go through a huge list of shortcuts and tricks at http://blog.diannegorman.net/2010/09/kindle-3-keyboard-shortcuts-et-al/

Please remember to buy a good cover for your Kindle. I bought the one that has light in the cover (uses Kindle battery) to read in the dark. Kindle does not emanate light.

Now talking about the new trends in the competition: Barnes and Noble has recently launched new Nook (touch). This seems to be a great device with complete touch. Also faster than Kindle 3 and very intuitive. However only WiFi.
It also has the color nook (readers tablet). Actually you can hack and installed Android OS on it. I found a lot of readers preferring a b/w device than a color one.

A lot of others are also in the market Sony, Samsung, Kobo and a dozen of them. I am interested in watching how Kobo does as they seems to be fast catchers of technology.

What Amazon is doing: Amazon 'may' come up with color + touch Kindle very soon. Going by Jeff's words "it will complement the existing Kindle readers stay tuned". The e-Ink technology is growing faster. No surprise if you see a complete tablet with e-Ink technology (except that you may need a table lamp to read them in dark).

Which Digital SLR?

Recently I have attended a workshop from 'Better Photography' to satisfy my inner photography desires. Got tempted to buy a DSLR camera. Went to a shop at Bangalore and compared prices at both official & grey market. Zeroed down on two brands Canon & Nikon. On the lower side 550D from Canon & D3100 from Nikon. On the higher side 7D from Canon & D90 from Nikon. The lower range was from Rs. 35k to Rs. 50k & higher was from 80k to 90k.

When I took the camera (7D) in hand the temptation was such I went to ATM to draw money. Just before entering ATM I called up my friend (Anand Joshi) a great guy with a lot of pro knowledge on photography (http://www.flickr.com/photos/anandjoshi/). He said in another one month there are new models being launched and it is worth waiting for them.

Now Nikon has launched 7000D. A wonderful camera with almost all features for a person who is serious about photography. Costs Rs. 85k with kit lens, a bag & 4 GB memory. Canon has launched 60D with swivel LCD monitor & a lot of movie options & costing around 65k. My friend (Kiran Raj) wanted to buy a DSLR. Looking at the features & his budget I suggested him to go for 7000D. Surprisingly he readily invested on that marvelous piece.

Now I am planning to buy 60D.

Things I like in DSLRs:
1. The clarity in the picture even with low light
2. The number of customizable options right from PSAM to white balancing, metering etc.
3. With new gen Cameras we can also take FullHD movies ( may not have many options to tweak)
4. The option to change lenses to suit the requirement.

The things I wish in DSLRs:
1. Lighter cost ( USA is cheaper than India)
2. Built-in GPS location tagging (Geo tagging). Most smart phones have.
3. Bluetooth transfer facility.
4. WiFi capabilities
5. Multiple memory cards ( 7000D has)
6. Allow a bit more customization options in terms of memory management such as frame buffeting etc.

After all the research I learnt that the photography mainly depends on the person who is taking that wonderful snap and not on the camera. A simple DSLR with a very good lens will produce great pictures than a great camera with average lens. One must have the lighting sense & picture composition sense. First thing we have to remember is what our eye can see (with our amazing brains behind them) the camera cannot see. For example I have seen many people taking snaps during sunset (low light) thinking that what they see through their eyes is what they will get through the camera. So we have to train our brains to see through eyes of the camera which is the biggest secret behind the best snaps. Also one has to remember to tell a story through the snaps. I have seen some photographs that are very impressive by the story that they convey than the technicality of the photo.

www.dpreview.com, www.kenrockwell.com, www.the-digital-picture.com, www.cameralabs.com are few of the good websites that give a complete review of latest cameras & lenses.

Enjoy Photography.

iPhone 4

IPhone 4 through online ordering via Singapore (factory unlocked). Thanks to my close friends who brought this to India. However was shocked to see apple's Q/A fumbling. The earpiece was not functioning properly and had to spend Rs. 1000 to get it repaired.

Now coming to the func

tionality it is very great as usual. But if you are trying to get one from USA please think twice as there is no unlock available yet. Tried my best googling for it in vain.

The great things I was hearing about the AppStore proved right as it is really amazing.

Also got hands on iPad really a piece of excitement. Part from no camera, swf etc.

Finally got the taste of Airtel 3G. Superb speeds. More on this soon.