Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Fun fact #1

Now we all know what this is, isn't it? It's a small plastic covering at the end of shoe-laces. But do you know what it's called? An aglet. Yes, a small name that is, for a thing of such usefulness. If it weren't for this aglet, your shoe-laces would have un-wound themselves even before you could get your shoes tight.
So the next time you are referring to one of these, use the term. Aglet. 

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Another Jelly Bean for Sony Xperia SP.

Sony Xperia SP, the phone released in March, 2013, was initially launched with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. There was a planned upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat when it released in November 2013. But now, the 4.4 update idea seems a bit far fetched, or does it? Read all about it here.
And oh, do let me know about your views in the comment section provided below.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Eternity, you.

Have you even wondered why do people die, when someone close to you just passed away? Or perhaps wished, that he/she would come back. Well, it's against the laws of physics and nature, naturally, but our heart doesn't simply agree, does it? We long for our lost ones.
Fortunately for you know, a team of developers from the MIT Entrepreneurship Development Program have come up with a solution. And no, it isn't like any other psychological treatment that many overly attached people might have been told to undergo. In fact, it is quite simple. You can talk to the person who left you.

Unbelievable, you might say. Might as well be he present here. He's present on your screen, and if that's not enough, I don't know what is. Just wait and watch.

This site, Eterni.me, was launched with an aim to bring back the dead, if not literally. It uses the database that you created during your lifetime, and uses, to quote the site, "complex artificial intelligence algorithms" to generate a virtual presence. The virtual you can talk, laugh, cry, et cetera, and even advise the ones he/she is talking to.

As of now, there aren't any explanations. But then, the world of Artificial Intelligence has always been subjected to miracles. And this is nowhere away from being one. The site uses your online activities, your Facebook messages, your tweets, and everything pertaining to your character available online.

Within 24 hours of being launched, the site reached 36000 views and received 1300 email registrations. The feature is still being developed and perfected. Any interested parties can enter their email address here. 

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2

After the not-so-good success of the Galaxy S Duos 2, Samsung released it Galaxy S Duos 2 in December 2013. Though competition from Lumia 520 has been tough, S Duos 2 has managed pretty well, but owing much to the fact that other companies like LG, Sony, HTC et cetera haven't got any good phone in this price bracket.

BODY:

The S Duos 2 looks much like it's predecessor, the S Duos, but then, all Samsung phones now-a-days look alike. It's mainly made out of plastic, which does feel a bit cheap. The matte finish is a slight improvement over the shiny, fingerprint-magnet previous one, but it does attract a lot a dirt. After a use of around a month, it shows signs of wear and tear. 
The front is covered by a single sheet of glass, ordinary glass. There is a hardware home button rested in the middle of 2 capacitive buttons, namely menu and back. On the back, there is the camera in middle, a 5MP shooter with an LED flash beneath it. On the right side, there is the power button and below which, there is a hot-swappable microSD card slot. On the left side, there is the usual volume rocker.
On the bottom there is a microUSB port and the primary microphone. On the top rests a 3.5mm jack.

HARDWARE:

Under the hood, there is a 1.2GHz Dual Core ARM Cortex A9 CPU which fits snugly into the Broadcom BCM21664T chipset, along with a Broadcom VideoCore IV GPU. All of these are coupled together with 768MB RAM, which give moderate performance in heavy games like Asphalt 8, Real Racing 3 et cetera. It has 4GB on-board memory, but has an expansion for an SD Card slot, as mentioned earlier. The slot supports cards of upto 64GB.

DISPLAY:

The 4-inch 800x480 LCD display is not over-the-top, but considering the price range, it's quite good. It packs 233ppi, and every other thing is quite average. The display is dull in bright sunlight.

CAMERA:

The 5MP shooter at the back is exceptionally good, for this price range. It manages well in the dark, and even in the brightest sunlight as well. The LED flash though is a bit of a letdown. The UI is fluid, and it can capture images quite fast. Video recording is limited to 720p at 30fps, even though the hardware can support 1080p at 30fps. The front camera is VGA, which is quite bad, to say. Samsung should have provided at least a 1.3MP for 720p video.

SOFTWARE:

The S Duos 2 comes with Android 4.2.2 JellyBean with Samsung's TouchWiz UI. There is no news on an update, and most likely there will not be any. The UI navigation is fluid thanks to the Dual Core CPU. 

CONNECTIVITY:

The S Duos 2 has 2 SIM card slots, with both supporting 2G+3G. Other connectivity options include FM Radio, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS with GLONASS.

BATTERY:

The 1500mAh battery is another let down. An average user still has to charge at the end of the day, and if you play games, you need to charge more often. 

VERDICT:

Overall, the S Duos 2 is a very nice device, probably the best under 10000 INR. The hardware is good, the camera is excellent (again, for this price range), the screen is average, and other features are above-average too. For 9500 INR, you can get it here.



Motorola Moto G

Okay, so what's all the hype, you might ask. Motorola has just launched another phone. I'd say, not just another phone. Motorola has launched a bombshell.
Back in 2012 when Motorola closed operations in India, we weren't so sad. Now, when it has decided to come back with a nuke, we are rejoicing. And why shouldn't we? The Motorola Moto G is a perfect excuse to do so.

Priced at 13999 INR on Flipkart, this small device may not look so "over-the-top", but it certainly has got some nerve. Under the hood, it has got a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset, which is more than what an average user may need. And by average, I really mean people aged between 35-55. It has a 1.2GHz quad-core ARM Cortex A7 processor, which accounts for the fluid user interface (UI) navigation. It has 1GB RAM along with an Adreno 305 GPU clocked at 450MHz, which is capable of playing even the most intensive games like a breeze. It can also play 1080p videos.

It has a 4.5 inches IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1280x720, which gives a staggering 329ppi (staggering for this price range). The display isn't as good as an AMOLED one inside the house, but once you are under the blazing sun, you will get to know it's proper potential. The color reproduction is rich, and it has got Corning Gorilla Glass 3, which doubles up the display as a portable chopping board. (Just kidding, that was a metaphor for the display's toughness!)

There are two versions of the phone, one with 8GB internal memory, and another with 16GB. Both the phones use the flash-friendly file system, or the F2FS, which is blazingly fast. This is the reason Moto G out performs the Nexus 4 in benchmarks, with the latter clearly having an upper hand in hardware. This also translates to faster boot time, quicker app launch et cetera. But is doesn't have an option of expandable memory, so the options you may face is to either keep your movies/music or your games.

The Indian model is XT-1033, which is the dual-SIM version. It comes with Android 4.3 JellyBean, and the UI is untouched, pure Android experience, which is also knows as the Vanilla Interface. It is a Google phone, which means that it will get updates fast, and for sure. However, the dual-SIM one will get updates a week or two later after the single SIM one gets.

On the back, it has a 5MP shooter with an f/2.4 lens, and it is needless to mention that both are mid-range at their best. However, the camera is very good in bright sunlight, where phones like S4 Mini or Galaxy Grand or Canvas Magnus lag behind by a wide margin. The camera app is surprisingly plain, which makes it easy to use. It also captures 720p HD video. Why Motorola didn't make an option for 1080p no one knows; the GPU is powerful enough. The back cover is matte, and comes in a wide array of dazzling and soothing colors, enough to match any of your moods (you'll have to buy them separately though).

It has a 2070mAh battery. Thus, you may need to charge it at the end of the day if you are an average user. You can use apps like SnapdragonBatteryGuru to minimize battery usage.
The call quality is average, and the top volume might be a little higher. The phone has got a secondary microphone at the top for active noise cancellation.

There is a power button and a volume rocker, both placed on the right side. The microUSB post is placed at the bottom, and the 3.5mm jack is placed on the top. The overall weight is just 143 grams, but it is a thick phone, measuring 11.6mm at the thickest.

Overall, Moto G is a great phone, with cutting-edge hardware (for the price), promised updates, and great colors for the back cover. If you want a phone within 20K, this is the one you should choose. Motorola has completely nailed the pricing at 13999 INR. And for those of you perturbed by the fact that there are no service centers from Motorola, keep in mind Motorola has planned to open 80 service centers across 21 states. So if you are ready to have your mind blown off the moment you use this, Buy Moto G from Flipkart.com.