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Karbonn launches three new phones

Launched last week, the company’s three brand new phones will be available for sale in India come late April 2014.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

Karbonn has come out all guns blazing in partnership with MediaTek, showcasing as many as three Android 4.4 (KitKat) dual-SIM handsets. The three phones launched are the Karbonn Titanium Octane Plus, Karbonn Titanium Octane and Karbonn Titanium Hexa.

First, the Karbonn Titanium Hexa (in pic above) is the biggest announcement from the company. This is a 1.5 GHz hexa-core phone – MediaTek’s 6591 chipset, along with 2 GB of RAM. Sporting a 5.5-inch full HD display, the phone has a fairly new display quality used called LTPS. It boasts a 13 MP rear camera; and a 5 MP front-facing one. The Titanium Hexa packs in 2,050 mAh battery, and has 16 GB of internal storage, which is expandable via microSD card.

Coming to the other two phones – the Karbonn Titanium Octane Plus and Karbonn Titanium Octane – both are pretty similar in hardware specifications, except the Plus model is a bit on the beefier side. Karbonn’s Titanium Octane Plus features a 5-inch full HD screen. RAM. Under the hood, there’s a MediaTek 6592 chipset (1.7 GHz octa-core processor), and 2 GB of RAM.

The Karbonn Titanium Octane has the same 5-inch screen as the Plus. It has a 13 MP snapper on the back; and a 5 Mp front-facing camera. Packing in 2,000 mAh battery and 16 GB of internal storage, expandable up to 32 GB via microSD card.

Shashin Devsare, Executive Director, Karbonn says, “With this partnership we seek to raise the bar of smartphone experience in the country. Our new portfolio of smartphones is designed in collaboration with MediaTek to provide a powerful mobile experience.” How good the experience will be, is going to an interesting thing to watch from here.

While the Titanium Hexa has WiFi a/b/g/n, the other two support WiFi b/g/n. All three have got Bluetooth 4.0, 3G connectivity, microUSB 2.0 port, and 3.5mm headset jack. All these phones are going hit the market in late April. As far as pricing is concerned, Karbonn Titanium Hexa, available in white and black colour options, will be on sale for around Rs 16,990; Karbonn Titanium Octane Plus for Rs 17,990 and the Karbonn Titanium Octane around Rs 14,490. 

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In pictures: St Peter’s Church

This stunning church based in Bandra houses the most astonishing stained glass windows made in China. Here’s a closer look.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

It is a prominent church in Mumbai, and like most churches, it is serene and quiet, inviting one to sit and pray a while before moving on to other mundane chores. But what takes the breath away at St Peter’s Church is its array of exquisite stained glass windows – which were crafted by a Spanish Jesuit priest Bro Antonio Navascues in China and brought by ship to Bombay in the 1930s, when the Church was rebuilt.

The earlier St Peter’s Church was built in 1851 as a simple place of prayer, but the structure began to show signs of wear and tear in the next century. The building was then demolished and a newer, bigger structure was built in its place, the foundation stone for which was laid in 1938.

We are grateful to parish priest Fr Errol Fernandes for allowing us an unrestricted access to the Church’s upper floor to photograph the stained glass windows.

See our pictures of St Peter’s Church below:

 

(Pictures courtesy Vrushali Lad) 

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Review: Advantage Love

Madhuri Banerjee’s newest book has an interesting plotline and two likeable characters, but is marred by some cliched, preachy storytelling.
by Sharad Panjwani

I’m not a huge fan of romance novels, but I don’t turn up my nose on them either. If written cleverly and with the right mix of empathy and humour, there really isn’t a genre that is more entertaining. You’ll notice this about romantic comedies, as well.

Madhuri Banerjee’s Advantage Love is her newest book after Losing My Virginity And Other Dumb Ideas and Mistakes Like Love And Sex. Personally, I found Advantage Love flagging in spots and a bit too preachy for my liking – despite an interesting premise.

Trisha Mathur, the novel’s heroine, is an independent-minded woman who believes in making her place in the world on her own talent and merit. The story begins with a debate that Trisha is participating at her college, JNU, against Vedant Kirloskar, the dashing, handsome son of a prominent politician. A meeting later, sparks fly between the two and they start a steady relationship. Though in love with Trisha and extremely dependent on her to make his fledgling political career take wings, Vedant is resistant to the idea of making a deeper commitment and refuses to discuss marriage and a future. The relationship ends on a sour note, with Vedant moving to Mumbai to focus on his political career.

Heartbroken, Trisha immerses herself in her job at the UNICEF and a few months later, happens to meet tennis star Abhimanyu Laxman, who is immediately attracted to her. She doesn’t immediately look to enter into a relationship with him, not wishing to get hurt again. But she rediscovers love with Abhimanyu, and just when her heart is healing, Vedant meets her again.

It’s not a bad plot by any means, but I had a problem with how predictably things happen in the book. You just know Vedant is going to break Trisha’s heart and there are umpteen hints of his imminent return, and the character Vedant is curiously one-dimensional. Besides, he has an annoying tendency to spout poetry when wooing Trisha – if that is what girls really like, then well… *starts learning poetry to use, just in case*. I liked Abhimanyu Laxman loads better, though – he is decent, more open to commitment and wears his stardom with ease and just the right amount of arrogance.

Madhuri displays a tendency to ‘tell, not show’ in her writing; instead of letting the reader understand plot development through dialogue and situation, she writes entire paragraphs blandly describing what the characters are feeling and why they do what they do. What’s more, there is too much sermonising about love and relationships, most of it through Trisha’s friend and mother advising her, and the conversations seem stilted. Personally, I wouldn’t want even my best friend talking to me thus: ‘I don’t want to procreate. And I don’t want to have any regrets. I don’t know if we’ll grow in the same direction over the course of years. No one does. Hell, even railway tracks that are laid parallel straight have to change course or be replaced. We are all continuously changing. But as long as we know that this is the path we want to be on and this is the person we want to share today and the now with, tomorrow and the future will sort itself out. When you say “I love you”, it’s meant as forever. There is no time limit that comes with love.’

And so on.

Maybe fans of romance novels will love this book, and I’m not suggesting they shouldn’t. Maybe others will enjoy this love triangle more than I did. For me, though, a little less predictability and a lot more twists and turns would have done the trick. I would have liked the girl to love and lose…but then I like an unresolved love story.

I’m going with 2.5/5 for Advantage Love.

‘Advantage Love’ is available for sale on Flipkart.

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Tech

Motorola’s Moto X launches in India

The device has a starting price of Rs 23,999, has new features like Active Display, and comes in five colours.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

Motorola launched its Moto X smartphone in India today. The launch has been done through the same way it was with the Moto X – available from Flipkart. The Moto X was among the first crop of phones released by Motorola after being acquired by Google.

The phone has a dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC (1.7 GHz dual-core processor and quad-core Adreno 320 GPU) coupled with Motorola’s own two separate processing for always-on processing, along with 2 GB of RAM. This flagship device boasts a 4.7-inch 720p AMOLED, which means a slightly larger screen that its budget avatar – Moto G. On the back, there is a 10 MP camera (with flash); while the front has got a 2 MP one.

Moto X_woodenApart from the always-on voice feature, the Moto X also comes with something called Active Display, which is similar to Nokia’s Glance Screen, showing you notifications even when the display has been turned off. Other features include the usual ones for an Android 4.4.2 smartphone – WiFia/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 2.0, and NFC. Users will also get, just like with the Moto G, 50 GB of free storage on Google Drive for two years.

Flipkart has said that it will only be selling the 16 GB model at launch, and there are five colours available. The eCommerce portal is providing EMI payment schemes for buyers as well as official Moto X cases on discounted prices. While there’s no Moto Maker available for the Indian buyers, Flipkart confirmed that it is selling both the plastic as well as wood (teak and walnut finish) variants of the device. The 16 GB model (plastic) has been priced at Rs 23,999, and the wood finish variant has been launched at Rs 25,999.

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Nokia launches Nokia X in India at Rs 8,599

This smartphone is Nokia’s first to run Android, and was recently launched at this year’s MWC held in Barcelona, Spain.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

Nokia yesterday launched its Android-based smartphone, Nokia X, in India. The device was first seen at this year’s MWC, and is the company’s first ever smartphone that runs Android (AOSP 4.1.2, to be specific).

Nokia’s X sports a 4-inch 800 x 480 screen, and is powered by a Snapdragon S4 chipset (1 GHz dual-core processor) along with 512 MB of RAM. On the back, there is a 3 MP fixed focus camera. The phone packs in 1,500 mAh battery and 4 GB of internal storage and has microSD card slot too.

Nokia has loaded the phone with its own Fastlane UI, previously seen on its Asha devices, and launcher on top of Android and has made a lot of its own apps as well as third-party apps pre-installed on the device. This dual-SIM phone has also got the Nokia Store for downloading and installing Android apps, and if there’s some specific Android app not available on the Nokia Store, the Store shows you a link to a third-part apps store to download that app from.

As far as your existing in-app purchases (Play Store) are concerned, you would have to repurchase them when after downloading them from the Nokia Store. Google’s API and services are not being used here, and Nokia is providing its own APIs and Microsoft’s cloud services for developers publishing their Android apps on the Nokia Store. The Nokia X Software has its SDK available for developers, but it isn’t open source.

Connectivity-wise, there is Bluetooth, microUSB 2.0, and 3G. The Nokia X is available in Green, Yellow, Red, Blue, Black and White colour options. It goes on sale today and has been priced at Rs. 8,599.

Buy the device at a discount on Flipkart.

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Tech

Motorola: Back with a bang

We review the Moto G, Motorola’s comeback phone in India, and find that it’s a great phone for the price.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

Motorola is back in India. And how. Motorola has been in the news lately and for some good reasons. The company has been recently bought by Lenovo, but it has continued to make decent strides in the mobile space to capture market share other than the high-end smartphone market. Moto G announced the company’s comeback to India, so let’s take a look at what this Moto is all about.

Hardware and design

The Moto G (XT1033) has a subtle design. It’s, what I would call, simple yet elegant. As soon as you hold the device, you realise it’s a bit on the heavier size, which doesn’t appear to be the case from its height and width. Unfortunately, the back gets a lot of smudges and fingerprints very quickly. The front is dominated by the 4.5-inch screen – onscreen keys, mind you. The usual front-facing camera, speaker grill and sensors on its top, and primary mic and the microUSB port on the bottom.

The right side panel hosts the Power/Lock button and Volume rockers – both protrude considerably but don’t feel fragile; while the other side is plain with no buttons or ports. The 3.5 mm headset jack, along with the secondary mic, sit on the phone’s top. Coming to the rear, you get the 5 MP camera with an LED flash, loudspeaker grill, and the Motorola logo dimpled on the rear cover. The device is a bit thick in the middle and does fit very nicely into your hand, thanks to its glass-plastic layer. The rear cover can be pulled off, revealing the battery cell, two SIM slots and the usual circuitry.

Screen

Coming to the phone’s screen, the 4.5-inch 720p IPS panel is definitely one of the best things about this Moto. You get a clear and bright screen with good viewing angles and it is probably the nicest screen out there for a phone that is priced this much.

Camera

This one isn’t so good. The 5 MP (AF) snapper on the Moto G is probably the camera you were expecting from a phone priced under Rs 15,000. It exists just to take a decent shot with great conditions, but performs badly, as expected, when thrown in day-to-day usage under various light conditions. You can click a photo by tapping anywhere on the screen, and can view existing photos or change settings by swiping from sides – similar to Nokia’s Lumia handsets. The camera is one area where Motorola seems to have cut corners keeping the cost factor in mind. Here are a few sample shots – http://imgur.com/a/3c4za

Call quality

The call quality on the Moto G is top notch. You aren’t going to face any unusual network reception issues here. Having said that, a few days after updating to Android 4.4.2, the unit started disconnecting to WiFi access points when no very near to the points. It’s a major and known bug, and a firmware update to fix this is coming pretty soon.

Sound

In-ear sound quality on the phone is more or less good. I wasn’t at all disappointed with the audio performance I got from this budget device, and found the default headphones to be good. The loudspeakers were also loud and clear, with a bit of distortion mostly on the two highest volume levels, and it’s hard to tell it apart from a high-end phone speaker.

With its 2,070 mAh battery, the Moto G, quite surprisingly, lasted me for a full day more often than not. Used for a lot of music, Email, Twitter, a few images and calls, the Moto G’s battery backup is as good as you would expect from such a device.

Software and performance

The Moto G, running on Android 4.4.2 (previously 4.3), is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400 SoC (1.2 GHz quad-core processor, Adreno 305 GPU), along with 1 GB of RAM. This is another great thing about the device – its performance. The Moto G has probably the smoothest experience for a budget Android device. So much so, usually I would recommend a Windows Phone device when somebody has their budget under 15k, because you don’t associate a budget Android phone with snappy performance, but the Moto G does exactly the opposite. The phone runs smoothly, apps run and switch quite quickly, and the only time I saw some considerable performance issues was when I played a game like GT Racing 2. You could say that the performance department scores in favour of this device.

Motorola has made a few agile yet noticeable additions to the stock Android OS. The company hasn’t tried to change most things. There’s Assist to help you get around the phone for the first time, Motorola Migrate to help you transfer data to and from other Android and iOS devices, and a few other tiny touches like the Motorola camera app. Thanks to no heavy customising, we already have the Android 4.4.2 KitKat upgrade for the phone, and there’s nothing much wrong with the whole OS. If you are familiar with Android 4.4.2, you would feel at home using this device. There’s not too many changes, so it’s not very worthwhile to go deep into the design and UI part. 

The device comes in two storage variants – the 8 GB and 16 GB, and there’s no microSD card option, but you do get free 50 GB storage space on Google Drive for two years. Also, you don’t get any separate USB cable in the box, but that’s not really a problem since it uses the standard microUSB to USB cable (and also supports USB on the go).

Concluding this review, the Moto G gives what not any other device has done so far – a fun, non-frustrating experience to an Android user that doesn’t want to shell more than Rs 15,000. Things should only get better from here in terms of choice of phones in this price range. Snappy performance, good battery backup, average camera, decent build quality and best screen for a phone under 15k, Motorola has done a job well done, and it is not very surprising that the company decided to mark their Indian comeback with this handset, which has already become its best-selling device till now. If you’re looking for a smartphone in this price range, the Moto G (along with the usual Lumia 620 and Xperia L), is certainly the one to consider while deciding what phone to pick. 

Buy this phone on Flipkart for a discount.

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