Author: The Metrognome

Categories
Tech

Review: Oppo R7 Lite

Less than good performance and a few design stutters mar what could have been a really good smartphone by Oppo.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

Oppo has been in the Indian market for a bit now, and while it hasn’t been a smash hit among customers, it has usually done well on design and features. Let’s see if the new R7 Lite is worth your Rs. 17,900 or not.

The looks. The Oppo R7 Lite (R7kf) has an all-around metal body with Gorilla Glass 3 on the front that curves around edges to give a nice feel when swiping near edges. The front has a small LED notification, an 8 MP camera, ear-speaker grille and sensors above the 5-inch HD AMOLED, and three capacitive keys — Options/Menu, Home and Back — that aren’t backlit. The Silver metal structure follows from the back and sides — with separate volume buttons and SIM and microSD card slots (micro + nano or microSD) on right, and Power/Lock key on the left side. On the back, you have the protruding 13 MP camera with an LED flash.

At 147 grams, it isn’t a heavy phone and is pretty thin, too. It has a familiar angular look that we have seen with previous Oppo phones and that means uncomfortable pocket baggage for some.

Screen. The device has a 5-inch (1280 x 720) AMOLED that has Gorilla Glass 3 on top. The screen is certainly not very high resolution compared to most smartphones in this price range today, but it does perform well when it comes to rich colours for images, videos and even text. The display does a decent job under sunlight, but many people may find its resolution to not be at par.

The device has a protruding camera at the back

Camera. On the back, there is a 13 MP (f/2.2) camera. Here are a few sample images.

I thought the camera app had plenty of modes to choose from. You get options like RAW mode, expert mode for more control, among the usual HDR, Oppo’s Ultra HD, etc. To try. As you can see, the camera performs well enough in daylight and can give good detailed shots, but struggles in macro and sharpness under low-light conditions. It isn’t the best smartphone camera under Rs. 20,000 today, but is surely a capable one for most use cases.

Sound. The loudspeaker on the back does a good job of giving punchy, clear sound for videos and games, but its placement (lower back) isn’t ideal for daily use. Basics like call quality, network reception and Bluetooth or WiFi connectivity worked fine, though for some absurd reason the phone doesn’t have a WPS option under WiFi, which is a basic thing for smartphones these days.

Battery life. The phone is equipped with a 2,320 mAh battery unit. The phone struggled to last a day (single SIM card) on moderate to heavy usage, but did show good standby time. It’s quite clear the battery really struggles when the screen is on for a longer time even with brightness level under 30%. Though the last firmware update did make the phone a bit more battery optimised, don’t expect much more from it. But the Power-saving mode might come in handy if you aren’t playing games of watching HD videos.

Software and performance. The R7 Lite is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 615 chipset Snapdragon 615 SoC (1.5 GHz quad core + 1 GHz quad core processor, Adreno 405 GPU), along with 2 GB of RAM. It runs on Oppo’s ColorOS 2.1.0i that’s based on Android 5.1.1. It’s good to see the company being serious about the base Android version and not shipping new phones that are running something far from latest. The look and feel of ColorOS is unchanged except for the notification bar, which now also gives you actions right under notifications just like other smartphones today.

The whole OS seems quite consistent, while much different from stock Android, its big bold icons, fonts are not really bad and kind of fit in well most of the times. The phone really loses out on everyday usage. It is fine for a few apps, but it struggles to keep up when you play a game. Frame rates drop and the phone really heats up. At this price point, it is disappointing to have this experience, and I am sure the 615 chipset (as with other phones having one of these) should be given some blame, and I would have really liked had Oppo gone with a better chipset even if it was last generation’s high-end one.

To sum up, the Oppo R7 Lite seems like a nice phone in terms of design and build quality. While it has average battery life, good screen, and a capable camera, its performance issues make it hard to recommend with the given price tag considering the likes of the Xiaomi Mi4, OnePlus One and Nexus 5 are priced similarly these days.

Categories
grey space

Wedding season nears for senior citizens

The wedding season is upon us. Senior citizens, too, will get a shot at wedded bliss in a December event.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

It is every person’s dream to find the right partner and settle down in matrimonial bliss. If we cannot find true love, our parents do the job for us! But what happens to those who are in the autumn of their lives? If they are alone and in need of a companion, where can they go find one?

Sailesh Mishra
Sailesh Mishra

This is where excellent events such as an upcoming ‘wedding and companionship mela’ for seniors comes in. Hosted by Rotary Club of Mumbai, Nariman Point and The Metrognome’s content partners Silver Inning Foundation, the ‘Jeevan Saathi Sammelan’ is being held to encourage single seniors to find a partner for marriage or for a live-in relationship.

Singles will be encouraged to find a suitable partner and initiate a relationship on the spot. “They can meet at the venue, exchange contact details if they think they want to take things forward. It is up to them to get married in the future, or have a live-in relationship. We are also encouraging people to come find a companion at the Sammelan. Many people come seeking constant companions, not a romantic relationship,” explains Silver Inning founder Sailesh Mishra.

Silver Innings had hosted a similar event in 2013, to stupendous success. “We had people coming from interior parts of Maharashtra, and there was a huge crowd at the gates. We insist on a proper registration process and the application form is pretty detailed. Applicants must also give supporting documents when they mention their status: divorcees must submit a copy of the divorce certificate, for example,” Sailesh says.

His learning from the previous event was that women participants are more careful about choosing their prospective partner, and that they look for financial security. “The women mostly wanted marriage, while the men wanted live-in relationships,” Sailesh says.

The Sammelan will be held on December 13, 2015 at Dadar. Watch this space for more details on how to register.  

(Picture courtesy www.mid-day.com. Image is used for representational purpose only)

Categories
Kharcha paani

Start ups: Plan small, reap big

Start ups should not be too ambitious in scope, despite regular funding. Keep your goal large but your scope small.
by Reyna Mathur

Jignesh Parikh runs a web solutions company in Mumbai with his college friend and partner, Ketan Joshi. The duo currently caters to about 20 national clients, and is in talks to increase their office space and staff strength this fiscal. “We have been in business for 10 years now, and it is this year that we are going to increase our office size for the first time. Till now we have been operating from a 10×20 space, which has a low rent and maintenance costs. We have been fortunate to receive so much business despite only five staff members for so long,” Jignesh says.

Despite the modest nature of their office, their business is experiencing a turnover of Rs 6 crore for the last two years. “We realised early on that we were in the digital business, which does not require a posh office. It requires a robust computer and Internet setup, so we invested our initial money in them.” Low overheads and only a minimal staff – all of them web developers, two of them freelance staffers – ensured that of the hefty profits made, only a small portion went towards payments every month. Eventually, the duo has now made enough money to move into a bigger office and hire two more full-time staff.

It is quite easy to run your own start-up provided you are clear in your mind about not wasting your resources for any reason, and are prepared to not even have the money to afford the rent on an office in the initial period. If you get a few basics right and change your approach, you can start small but have big returns on your initial investment.

You are there to do business, not to impress others. No business person in the world, unless backed by a strong funding model, has the means to have a huge staff and a posh office on ownership basis. When you start your enterprise, realise that you are starting it to realise a personal goal, and not to impress people with how big and well-equipped your office is. Many start-ups insist on putting in all their money to keep up appearances, which ultimately leads to huge losses (especially if the expected turnover doesn’t happen). For example, if you have just opened a café, don’t invest in too much imported equipment and staff. As more and more customers begin to trickle in, you can look at investing more money.

Don’t take an office if you don’t need one. Some businesses, especially freelance ones, don’t need an office set up at all. If your work requires you to travel often and take in business via meetings, you might not need a permanent office but a space to keep your computers, phones, printers etc. For a few days, try operating from your home or take up a storage space for rent. In case you need to conduct meetings, you can call them to a café. The overheads you save will help you invest in an office in the future.

Use communal office spaces. Many cities in the country are now offering start-ups and new businesses the use of ‘communal working spaces’, where a lot of entrepreneurs converge at one spot to carry out their daily work and even conduct meetings with clients. The working spaces offer a fixed spot with a computer and Internet connection for a month or longer, depending on the payment plan you select, apart from free use of the facility’s conference rooms and tea/coffee dispensers. Certain places also offer a courier service for your packages at a separate charge. At a monthly rental of not more than Rs 2,000, you get a complete office set up without any overheads.

Replicate, replicate. It is a good idea to maintain a team of experienced freelancers to do all the tasks that a full time staff can do. You will save the money you would spend on their salaries, plus they will each have their own set-up for completing the tasks. You might only have to pay for transporting certain paperwork and equipment, based on your businesses, to and from the freelancers’ postal address. If your work entails the same set of tasks to be done repeatedly (like editing technical papers), pay five freelancers to do it. The work will be replicated five times over at lower costs to you.

(Picture courtesy knowstartup.com. Image is used for representational purpose only)

Categories
Film

Review: Titli

A superb directorial debut and excellent performances are just two reasons to watch this remarkable film about a dysfunctional Delhi family.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 4/5

This is a film that takes you to the narrow bylanes of Delhi, with its small, packed houses. One of these houses belongs to Titli (Shashank Arora) and his family of car-jackers. Titli is desperate to escape from his criminal family and plans to invest money in a shopping mall parking lot.

Vikram (Ranvir Shorey) is Titli’s oldest brother; he is abusive and short tempered, and his wife and daughter leave him because of this. Pradeep aka Bawla (Amit Sial) is the second brother who is often the mediator between Vikram and Titli, while their father (Lalit Behl) is the silent type, maintaining his peace with a cup of tea even in the midst of huge fights between brothers – stepping in only to give wicked suggestions.

Titli is a part of their newest car-jacking plan; he asks for a lift from a car that slows down but does not stop. Vikram and Bawla ride past on a scooter, intercept the car and break the windshield before Bawla and Titli flee with it. However, the car soon meets with an accident near a police check post, but the duo is released after they bribe the cops. Titli soon discovers that Rs 3 lakh is missing from his bag; this is the first time his brothers hear of the money and they realise that Titli is saving up to escape them.

 

Instead, they persuade him to get married – they reason that a woman can be useful to their work in conning people. Titli soon marries Neelu (Shivani Raghuvanshi) who is in love with a married man, Prince (Prashant Singh). Titli tells Neelu that he will help her unite with Prince – but first, she must hand over her fixed deposit money. She agrees.

First time director Kanu Behl impresses with his tight grip on the subject and shines a spotlight on the realities of families that are driven by the lust of money and harmful to their own. Debutants Shashank Arora and Shivani Raghuvanshi are confident, while the best performances come from Ranvir Shorey and Amit Sial. Without a doubt, this is one of the best films released this year – it will stay with you long after you leave the cinema hall.

(Picture courtesy www.india.com)

Categories
Deal with it

Resolution for Diwali: Stop preparing for imaginary guests

We have so many items stashed away for ‘when guests will come’ that we have forgotten to enjoy our own possessions.
Pooja Birwatkarby Dr Pooja Birwatkar

The pre Diwali mood has already set in all over the city. Everyone is busy sprucing up their homes, cleaning out their wardrobes, throwing out broken items and washing their curtains.

Cleaning is therapeutic for many of us. It is an amusing activity that makes us see how much stuff we have hoarded all year, how many items we had misplaced and overlooked. Diwali cleaning is especially disturbing to those who are compulsive hoarders. Most of us cannot resist sales and bargains, where we buy things in bulk and never even use them.

We also have a strange habit of buying things and then packing them away for ‘future use’. Be it beautiful crockery, bed sheets, towels, carpets, glassware, perfumes, silverware…we don’t use them, but preserve them. Rooted deep in our psyche is the philosophy that all expensive items must be used only for special occasions, when guests arrive. This means that we wait our entire lives for ‘important guests’ to arrive and give us the chance to use our cherished possessions. In the meantime, we sleep on ragged linen, eat in old plates, drink juice in steel containers and use threadbare towels…despite all the excellent stuff we have hidden away, unused.

Then Diwali comes and we realise that our expensive leather bags have wrinkled away, we are too large to fit into that costly dress, mould has gotten into the bedsheets we bought. Life has passed us by while we waited for people to show up.

Our desire to show off to our guests stops us from living for ourselves. We spend all our lives working hard – what stops us from enjoying the fruit of our labour? We base our entire lives on how people will perceive us, and so our material possessions define our reality. If you think about it, our houses in Mumbai are not even large enough to accommodate guests. The guests themselves are too busy to notice that they are wiping their faces on expensive towels or sleeping on silk sheets.

This Diwali, let’s pledge to use all the things we have stacked away. Give away the things that you have not used for over six months. The next time your child wants juice, unpack that beautiful glass tumbler. If you want, unwrap those new sheets when you make your bed today.

Let’s celebrate Diwali for ourselves first.

(Picture courtesy blog.at-home.co.in. Image is used for representational purpose only)

Categories
Hum log

Meet Mumbai’s water warrior

Aabid Surti cannot pass by a leaking tap without fixing it. Till date, he’s saved 3 million litres of water.
by Ravi Shet

With the rise in global population, there has not been a corresponding increase in precious resources such as water. It is rightly said that the next wars in the world will be fought over water, but how seriously does the average person take the threat of water scarcity?

Aabid Surti with his creation ‘Bahadur’

Countries around the world are implementing various methods to save water, but the actual vision for this initiative to succeed must come from the common man. That’s where Mumbai’s amazing Water Warrior comes in. Meet Aabid Surti (80) – writer, painter, cartoonist and creator of the cult comic figure, ‘Bahadur’ – who has been running a one-man NGO ‘Drop Dead Foundation’ for the past eight years. He has been instrumental in saving tonnes of water by fixing leaking taps free of cost in Mira Road.

Aabid’s childhood was spent on a pavement in Dongri and he was exposed to the daily struggle for water with his mother joining the ranks of women lining up at the common tap each morning for their bucket of water. “But my movement to save water started I went to a friend’s house and saw one of the taps leaking. This hurt me a lot. When I asked him why he did not get the tap fixed, he said that getting a plumber for such a minuscule task was difficult. So the next weekend, I took a plumber to his house and not only fixed the leaking tap there but also several more in the locality,” he smiles.

Aabid’s war against leaking taps got a boost when he received an unexpected cash prize of Rs 1 lakh from the Hindi Sahitya Sansthan, Uttar Pradesh, towards his contribution to Hindi literature. He says, “Each time I ran out of funds and thought of stopping, I got donations through my close friends and people who understood my work. They would help in the form of money or awards. God has been my fundraiser from the inception of Drop Dead Foundation and somehow He manages the funds for my mission, which is a miracle in itself.”

Every Monday, Aabid identifies buildings or slums and even chawls. Next, a volunteer from his Foundation visits the secretary of the concerned housing society and if the secretary agrees, then they put up posters on the notice board announcing their arrival. On the following Saturday, they distribute pamphlets describing the Foundation’s work and why they are coming on Sunday to their area. On Sunday, Aabid, a volunteer and a plumber go to the concerned home and locality to fix the leaky taps.

“We put up a sticker that reads ‘Save Every Drop or Drop Dead’ next to the tap repaired by us. From the inception of the Foundation till 2014, we have saved 3 million liters of water,” he claims. “My basic idea is to motivate individuals, especially senior citizens, and they should believe that if I can, they can. I invest a couple of hours a week to do this and it does not require a large office or staff, it just needs a plumber to fix the leaky taps.”

Apart from his mission, Aabid is busy with his writing and painting and travels around the country addressing students, NGOs and other institutions advocating the need to conserve water. He wants to help individuals who want to start this mission anywhere in the world by providing online help for designs of pamphlets, posters, stickers and other relevant documents. Aabid says, “I tell individuals to replace my address and contact details (on these design materials) with theirs before printing it out. I hope people start this project in their own locality so that we can stop massive wastage of water.”

To volunteer at Drop Dead Foundation or to start this mission in your locality, contact Aabid Surti at C -16/003, Anuroop, Shantinagar, Sector 11, Mira Road (East), Mumbai. Call him on +91-9820184964.

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