Lakshmi Rajan – Tech Raman

With Echo Flex, Amazon flexes its muscle in the Smart Speaker Category

Lakshmi Rajan — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 06:28:08 +0000

Amazon launches Echo Flex in India

I have played with almost all Echo devices out there and they all come with a long power chord tail that needs to be plugged-in to the power socket. But this is not the case with the newly launched Amazon Echo Flex. You still need to plug-in but with Flex, you can simply plug into a standard electrical outlet, no tails hanging.

Priced at Rs 2,999 it also comes at the lower price spectrum of the Echo range of devices. Additionally, the Echo Flex also has a built-in USB-A port to help you charge your phone (7.5W) or other devices.

Amazon Echo Flex

Echo Flex comes ideal at places where you don’t want the power chord to be hanging around like on staircases or a bathroom. If you have Alexa-compatible devices like smart lights and plugs, you can use the Flex to voice command it to operate them.

Echo Flex Design Features

Echo Flex can also communicate with other Echo devices on the same network. It works the same as any other Echo devices so you could add items to the shopping list or play your favourite songs, check the latest news or keep a tab on the happenings in your favourite sports event. Like other Echo devices, Flex can also be connected to other Bluetooth powered speakers or via a 3.5mm audio cable.

For those concerned of privacy, there is a microphone off button that electronically disconnects the microphone in the device. The Alexa privacy settings allow the user to view, hear, and delete your voice recordings. You can also command “Alexa, delete what I just said” or “Alexa, delete everything I said today” to clear your traces.

Availability and offer

Echo Flex is available for pre-order starting today and will ship next month. To learn more, visit: www.amazon.in/echoflex/. The new Echo Flex joins Echo Dot, Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Show, Echo Show 5, Echo Studio, and companion Echo devices (Echo Sub, Echo Link and Echo Link Amp) to create the Echo family of devices. As a limited period offer, customers can avail a Wipro 9W Smart LED bulb worth ₹2,099 for no additional cost on the purchase of every Echo Flex on Amazon.in.

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Gamer's Alert: Lenovo and Intel’s Legion of Champions Returns

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 18:23:05 +0000

Lenovo, the world’s leading PC and smart device manufacturer, has announced the opening of registrations for the Legion of Champions Series IV (LoC IV). The e-sports competition in partnership with Intel is now in its fourth series. The Asia Pacific esports competition, will see gamers from 12 markets in the region, for the first time including Australia and New Zealand who will battle it out at this year’s LoC. The competition will see teams compete in the popular Battle Royale title PUBG. As with previous editions, regional finalist teams for LoC IV will face-off in an intense international Grand Finals showdown, which will be held in Bangkok, from 12 – 14 December 2019.

The Legion of Championship now in India

For the first time ever, LoC is coming to India in grand fashion with an all India qualifier leading to a LAN finale in Bangalore, the winner of which will win the right to represent India at the LoC finals in Bangkok. The total prize pool for Indian competitors is INR 10 Lakhs (USD14,100). Both LoC and LoV qualifiers will take place on the Rise of Legion platform – Lenovo’s flagship online esports league – offering teams a chance to compete with other enthusiasts around the world till 1^st November 2019. Shortlisted teams will advance to the local group stages across all markets.

The Legion of Championship IV Prize money

Local champions and grand finalists will be competing for a total combined prize pool of USD$89,100 (Appox INR 63 Lakhs) across two games – the largest of any LoC tournament yet. The India Qualifiers for LOC IV PUBG has a prize pool of INR 10 Lakhs, divided between all 10 Finalists attending the LAN finals to be held at Comic Con Bangalore on 16^th and 17^th November. At the end of LOC IV in Bangkok, the winning team for PUBG will walk away with USD$4,000 and USD$10,000 worth of Legion devices, while the winners for CS:GO will walk away with USD$5,000 and USD$12,500 worth of Legion devices At LoC III, held earlier this year, more than 8,000 gamers participated in front of 16,000 on-site attendees. The events are designed to foster Asia’s growing gaming community, and to further strengthen relationships between like-minded gaming enthusiasts. The Legion gaming PC range by Lenovo has been developed through active collaboration with the gaming community itself, with its latest innovations offering purposeful design with modern avid gamers’ needs in mind– stylish and sophisticated on the outside, yet savage on the inside, delivering supreme performance for work and play. In addition, this year’s LoC is also calling for the best female gamers in the region to compete in the Legion of Valkyries (LoV), LoC’s first ever all-female tournament, where female gamers will be battling it out in the gaming arena playing CS:GO. The top LoV finalists in the region will then join the LoC IV Grand Finals in Bangkok as a full-fledged female team. The LoV has been developed to create additional opportunities for female gaming enthusiasts, both experienced and amateur, to showcase their talent Spectators can expect to experience the grit and tenacity of the gamers as they band together to seize the championship title. Those who wish to participate and compete in this epic gaming tournament may also take part in the Rise of Legion walk-in tournaments, LAN party, and cosplay contests. Follow the epic journey at https://www.legionloc.com/.]]>

7 Reasons OnePlus TV could brings Diwali Sparks in your living room

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 17:47:05 +0000

7 Reasons to buy OnePlus TV Q1

1. Its way smarter than a projector – The OnePlus TV provides a premium experience that is seamless and clutter-free. The OnePlus TV interface based on the Android TV provides the most holistic smart TV experience. This also enables quick connectivity with your android device and offers a ton of great features like the Google Assistant, Built-in Chromecast, Play Store and YouTube for your smart home. Whereas on a projector, you’d need three other devices to just get the video going. 2. Acoustic Audio System – The OnePlus Q1 Pro comes with a sliding soundbar which compliments the picture quality with immersive acoustic experience. The 8-speaker stereo system on the OnePlus TV finds the perfect balance between excellent speakers and stunning exterior design. The woofer speakers deliver a wide range of deep bass and powerful beats, while the tweeters and full-range speakers provide the best ‘surround’ effect to make sound rich and consistent. Essentially, making an entire audio setup which you would require with the projector, completely redundant. 3. The QLED display is no match for the projector – With the OnePlus TV, one can be definite of the dynamic viewing experience each time. The Synchronously optimized algorithm and hardware, the Gamma Colour Magic on the OnePlus TV bring you the highest level of performance and phenomenal image quality, making family movie time a much better experience. 4. No more spending hours tuning the projector to get the video quality right – Ever felt like the lighting and the contrast always ruins the entire viewing experience on the projector. Well, with the OnePlus TV, you can be sure of the vivid details in the pictures, bright colours and optimal contrasts that make the dark even darker and the bright even brighter. The Dolby VisionTM on the OnePlus TV provides clarity in both the dark and the bright areas in every frame with clearer and more vibrant colours. 5. Sound that drown the neighbors and their crackers – The Dolby Atmos on the OnePlus TV creates the sound to excite your senses and inspire your emotions, which will eventually deliver a holistic entertainment experience. 6. No more asking the family IT person to operate the laptop or video player – To avoid the hassle of looking for the remote or having a dedicated resource to just lower volume or adjust brightness, we bring to you the OnePlus connect. It helps you connect your OnePlus device to the TV and double it as the remote. This enables the user to a gamut of features that make the user experience seamless. The OnePlus TypeSync makes sure your smartphone is your smart remote and you have higher efficiency with mobile keyboard and voice input. The Quick App Switch offers you the experience of smooth navigation. You can also capture screenshots of your TV, using the OnePlus connect app. 7. OxygenPlay – The OnePlus TV ensures that you have a variety of content to browse through and that you are also updated with the latest stuff. The OnePlus TV comes with deep integration with international and local content providers including YouTube, Prime Video, Eros Now, Hungama, Jio Cinema, Zee 5. The Oxygen Video application covers local features and international content, exclusive content on shelves, high-quality recommendation, convenient content search (voice search + search aggregation), to provide users with a wonderful, burden less viewing experience. ]]>

SoundCore Model Zero Review – Punching about its weight!

Lakshmi Rajan — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 04:12:30 +0000

If you had asked me a few months back about SoundCore audio products, I would have shot back – What? SoundCore? Fortunately, I got to test a couple of their products which managed to change my perceptions to the extent that now I strongly believe SoundCore, a sub-brand of Anker is one of the most underrated audio company. They make some good stuff that can give the top guns in the industry run for their money. Here I have the SoundCore Model Zero that stands shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Bose SoundLink Revolve, UltimateEars Boom 3. It has a striking cheeky look, featuring a handle built into the grille itself, is it worth the salt? Here are my thoughts in the SoundCore Model Zero review.

Design of Model Zero

The speaker is a looker. It can be a décor piece in your living room. It has a quirky design like a handbag. It weighs a little less than 2Kg at 1955 grams and has dimensions of 256 x 128 x 240mm. It is also rated IPX5 which means it can withstand water exposure to an extend but definitely not advisable under water. The Model Zero is wrapped almost completely by a black grille except for a thin aluminum band that encases around the side. The handle is part of the black mesh grille and is very ergonomic design to pick it up and go. The bottom is flat with a rubber footer that keeps the speaker firm on the table. The ports and buttons are cleverly tucked into the design that they are invisible when you look straight at the speaker. The controls are on a black band on top of the speaker directly below the handle. There is the array of Bluetooth button, volume controls, multi-function and a “BassUp” button to boost the bass. The Bluetooth button lights up blue when the speaker is connected to your device. The power button is on the right side of the metal band. The power DC-in port and AUX port are tucked behind a waterproof flap at the back. Overall, the speaker would blend well into your home decor. It is eye-catchy. But does the design complement the performance? let’s find out.

Features and performance of Model Zero

Specs:

2 x 63mm woofer, 2 x 19 mm Tweeter, 2 Passive Radiators
Output: 60 W, Total Harmonic Distortion <= 1%
Hi-Res Audio Certified
Bluetooth Version 5.0
Supports HFP, A2DP, AVRCP
Aux In
Range: 20m / 66ft

When it comes to audio, the Model Zero definitely punches above its weight producing a warm sound that fills my living room. It offers a neat 360 degree of output thanks to its rounded shape and all-over grille. The speaker is hi-res audio certified, which means the sound is of a higher quality compared to what you would get from a CD, thanks to a sampling rate double the resolution of CD-quality audio – provided the file you’re playing back supports it. The sound does not feel deliberately boosted and stays faithfully close to the actual reproduction of the music. The trebles are crisp, mids are nicer and not overwhelmed by bass. I really liked the individual details of the complex notes you get treated to. Even the “BassUp” boost feature does not annoyingly pump up the bass which if you are a bass head would be a slight disappointment. Nevertheless, I liked the measured bass and overall treatment of the sound.

Then, there is the SoundCore app where you can fiddle around the equalizer settings, giving you more control over how you want the music to sound. There are different presets too.

Apart from the Bluetooth connectivity, there is the Aux input in case you want to hook it by wire but the connectivity options are limited to both these. There is no FM, no card reader. You can connect the speaker to two Bluetooth devices simultaneously.

Battery Life of Model Zero:

SoundCore claims a battery life of 10 hours and it takes almost three hours to fully charge the speaker. In my usage, I could get around 8-9 hours of music. Lack of USB charging might is a bit disappointing and the box carries its own power brick.

Verdict:

At the price of Rs 17,990, the SoundCore Model Zero is a premium mid-range wireless speaker. It impresses with its design and audio output as I said earlier, it does punch above its own weight. If you are someone who loves faithful reproduction of audio, with good clarity and overall roundness of collective notes, you would like the Model Zero, and hey it’s also a stunner to look at! ]]>

Digitization and Automation- ‘Making Business Simple’

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 05 Sep 2019 03:29:54 +0000

In 2015, the government of India launched the Digital India initiative with a vision of transforming India into a digitally empowered society. With this, the aim was to empower every citizen and enable businesses to transact easily and efficiently in today’s digital-driven economic landscape. Corporate India was quick to respond to the call of digitization by adopting various digital transformation initiatives to streamline the business processes. Today, organizations have witnessed efficiency and increased productivity with the automation of time-consuming manual processes. Though, organizations have traveled the road of digitization and automated business processes that previously were manual, they still push the paper document around in an obsolete and inefficient manner. Paper documents not only are difficult to store and carry the risk of perishability but are also time-consuming when handled for data stored in them. With huge amount of data being handled in the form of paper documents, it has become imperative for organizations to improve and optimize their document handling processes through automation.

Business Can Be Simple

Canon, a global brand, which has been ranked as the leading brand for copiers in Asia for 2018 as well as has No 1 Market Share in India for H1 2019 as per IDC data, follows the motto of ‘Business can be simple’. The philosophy behind the motto aims at reducing complexity by simplifying workflows within an organization through digitization of paper-based processes. By leveraging Canon’s diverse range of hardware and software solutions that includes a wide portfolio of digital copiers, scanners, projectors and print and document solutions, businesses can save time and resources that otherwise would have been spent towards filing, indexing and storing the documents. Aside from scanning documents, a document management solution also incorporates a suite of applications that facilitates creation, indexing and storing of digitized documents. Such a comprehensive office automation solution helps speed up the workflow, improve efficiency, eliminate human-error and enhance corporate data security.

The importance of data security

Data security is a prime concern for organizations, and with data being manually handled through piles of paper documents, there is always a looming threat of data and privacy theft/leakage. Canon with its imageRunner series of multi-functional devices provide additional features of preventive measures that empower businesses to address security vulnerabilities. Besides scanning, copying and printing, the imageRunner series of products offer additional security features and low cost of ownership, which helps organizations reduce operational costs and bring in process efficiencies.

Integrated product portfolio for business needs

Apart from hardware solutions, Canon also offers software solutions that include IrisPowerscan, a powerful document management solution. The solution can scan, structure, sort, index, OCR, convert and export all digitized paper documents into fully searchable text files. With IrisPowerscan, an organization can save time, improve efficiency and optimize business processes. With Canon’s Therefore Document Management solution, organizations can efficiently and economically handle paper documents. By leveraging a combination of Canon imageRunner products, IrisPowerScan and Therefore Document Management solutions, data-driven companies can quickly import and integrate, share and compare, store and retrieve, or distribute and print documents of any scale and volumes with minimal human intervention. Thus, helping employees save time from tedious manual processes and focus towards business-oriented goals. Digital India is propelling the new-age India and businesses, entrepreneurial aspirations are on rise and start-ups are data driven and innovative. Canon with its motto of ‘Business can be simple’, is helping organizations to optimize resources, manage business efficiently and become agile to meet the dynamic customer needs.]]>

Lenovo Yoga S940 First Impression – Top Features

Lakshmi Rajan — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 09:39:57 +0000

Lenovo has added a new member to their Yoga series in India with the launch of the premium, ultra-slim Yoga S940. The laptop has many industry-leading features that make it an uber-cool machine to own – here are the top features of the ultra-portable.

Yoga S940 Configurations:

The base configuration of the Lenovo Yoga S940 packs a full-HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) with 400 nits brightness while the top-end variant gets a 4K display with anti-glare panel and 500 nits brightness. The starter variant is powered by 8th-gen Intel Core i5-8265U processor (base clock speed of 1.60GHz and turbo boost frequency of up to 3.90GHz) paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage. The top variant, on the other hand, is treated with an Intel Core i7-8565U processor (base clock speed of 1.80GHz and a turbo frequency of up to 4.60GHz) paired with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of NVMe SSD. Lenovo has opted for integrated Intel HD 620 with no option available for upgrading to discrete GPU. A 4-cell 52Whr battery is included which the company claims to offer around 15 hours and also supports RapidCharge to quickly top off the battery.

World’s First Contour Glass Screen

Lenovo claims the Yoga S940 is the world’s first laptop with Contour Glass that wraps around its bezels. It gave me a feeling of the premium Smartphone displays and looks really a refreshing display design for a laptop. It also helps to reduce the bezels with a nearly bezel-less design with an impressive 90% screen to body ratio. The 14″ display is definitely a treat and thanks to the cutting edge display, the laptop has a very compact format with a 319.3 x 197.4 x 12.2 mm dimension and weighing 1.2Kg.

Smart Face Login & Privacy

The S940 comes with a dedicated IR sensor for face recognition for face unlock. Also with the AI Smart chops on board, it also offers Smart privacy feature with its AI-powered Glance software and sensors, the minute users turn their head away from the laptop screen, it auto-locks the display to protect the data from being seen my others. To keep the prying eyes away, it also detects and alerts the user when any one tries to snoop you from behind your shoulder.

Smart External Monitor Interface

One of the interesting features I found out in the laptop is its nifty feature that can shift the content from the laptop to connected external monitor just by a glance based on your attention, intent and focus. This again is done with the aid of the Smart AI capabilities and the eye-tracking Glance software of the machine.

Blurred Background Video Calls

Taking privacy further, there is an option to blur out the background when you are doing video calls.

Front-firing Dual Speakers

Flanking both the sides of the keyboard panel rests two speakers on the front. The audio experience is enhanced with Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos® Speaker System. Lenovo has included the S940 to its Build Your Own Laptop personalization where the price starts at Rs ₹125,133 in India or you can buy the top end machine for ₹144,990.

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Tata Sky Binge Review : Who Should Be Buying This?

Lakshmi Rajan — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 11:46:34 +0000

Tata Sky Binge is a co-branded Amazon FireTV stick that brings the goodness of Tata Sky DTH to your streaming device along with bundle of video streaming platforms. The FireTV stick ofcourse comes free for the subscribers but there is a catch. Should you be picking this one? Our complete guide on the Tata Sky Binge would help you decide. India suddenly shifted gears and went on a fast lane when it comes to broadband penetration and speed. Hi,-speed data plans have become cheaper and more people are into streaming now. Amazon FireTV stick has been a popular name and it helps in converting your standard TV or even not-so-smart TV into a smarter box. What TATA Sky has done here comes with a co-branded Amazon FireTV stick that brings their DTH service enabled on to the platform. It offers live TV streaming and OTT platforms in one package.

How to get Tata Sky Binge?

First thing first, you need to be a Tata Sky subscriber. If you choose to install the dish or not is another matter, you are free to be part of the chord cutter generation but you need to have an active Tata Sky subscription. Assuming you are a Tata sky subscriber, you can give a missed call on “8460984609” or call up the customer care on “1800-208-6633” to get one for free. Yes, the stick itself comes free. No charges are extra for it. It usually costs Rs 3,999 on Amazon India (though the price drops during the special Amazon sales).

Tata Sky Binge Subscription – Let’s Do the Math

You get a complimentary 3 months Amazon Prime Video subscription for 3 months as a welcome kit, to get you started instantly. Post that, to continue you can pay Rs 999 a year or Rs 129 a month directly to Amazon India. If you are not aware, the Amazon Prime membership offers access to Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime reading and free Prime delivery when you order products in Amazon India platform. If you have an existing account, you can simply connect it with the Binge. Also, you get 30 days free trial for Tata Sky Binge. Amazon FireTV stick has many OTT platforms like Hotstar, Eros Now, Sun NXT, Hungama Play and many more. Tata Sky has tied up with the three OTT platforms I mentioned here. When you pay Rs 249 every month for Binge service, you get access to Hotstar, Eros Now, Sun NXT and Hungama Play which translates to a total of Rs 249 x 12 = Rs 2,988. This is in addition to your usual Tata Sky DTH subscription that you make depending on the channels you have opted for. FireTV Stick also lists Netflix, Alt Balaji and other platforms but you need a separate subscription for each.

How much do you really save?

Let’s do the math. Hotstar Premium subscription is available for Rs 299 a month, or Rs 999 a year. The Hungama Play subscription is usually available for Rs 149 a month, and Rs 1,399 a year. Similarly, Eros Now subscription is available for Rs 99 a month or Rs 950 per year. Rs 3,348 is what you would pay for yearly subscriptions for these three platforms. But with the Binge service, you end up paying a total of Rs 249 x 12 = Rs 2,988. You get a marginal Rs 360 savings a year with Tata Sky Binge. Not really a great sweetener you think? But this would work for two sets of people especially.

Tata Sky Binge – For whom is it, actually?

If you have more than one TV, you would be aware of the fact each TV would be billed separately for the DTH plans as per the new TRAI policy and of course you need to pay for two set-top boxes. It makes it more complicated and also increases your monthly DTH charges. If you have a Tata Sky binge, you can simply use the FireTV stick on the second TV and enjoy the Live TV there instead of separate billing. So whatever you enjoy in your existing DTH plans can be enjoyed in the second TV via streaming with the stick. Also, you can catch up the last 7 day’s missed contents via the Binge app. You can also watch different content on the two different TV simultaneously. So essentially for your DTH subscription plan + Rs 249, you can access the contents in two televisions. Then, if you are living in an area where the monsoon plays havoc and you constantly get transmission lost signal due to weather conditions that happen with the traditional dish services. The Binge offers uninterrupted streaming of your favourite channels, provided you have a good internet plan with at least 4MBps connection for good streaming.

Tata Sky Binge App Overview

It essentially is a FireTV ecosystem with an added Binge App which you don’t get on other Amazon FireTV stick. Through the Binge app in the Firetv stick you can access the live channels, a familiar format if you have used Tata Sky app on your mobile. What I really find useful is the catch-up TV service where you can watch your favourite shows that you missed from the last 7 days. It also allows to pause the episodes and continue later at your convenience. Plus you get all the goodness of the FireTV stick with many platforms/apps hosted on it. The UI is user-friendly and clean without being uncluttered. Though there could be few improvements with the Binge live TV app to make it easier each time if it remembers our language preferences.

Verdict:

I already own two FireTV sticks in my home. The first generation one and the FireTV stick 4K. The new FireTV stick comes with a power button and volume button but the Tata Sky Binge fire tv stick doesn’t have them, so it’s the previous generation stick. I just put it here so you are aware of this small fact. But the FireTV experience nevertheless is the same. And both support Firetv voice commands. Should you buy Tata Sky Binge? If you don’t have a FireTV stick and you are an existing subscriber you get a FireTV stick for free. While doing the math, the Rs 249 extra every month you pay for binge service does not save you much but if you have two TV’s in your home and have a good high-speed internet plan, you save a lot on your second TV channel subscription and avoid separate billing. Also, storm or rain, you can enjoy uninterrupted watching plus the convenience of catching up the past episodes from the last 7 days. So, do your math and decide. ]]>

Fossil Sports Watch Review | Tech Raman

Lakshmi Rajan — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 23:58:57 +0000

The last Fossil watch I reviewed the Explorist HR was a mixed bag for me, while it looked great it was put down by an aged processor and poor battery life, have things changed with the Fossil Sports Watch now? After all, things look little brighter with the latest Wear OS and the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset on this watch. So let’s dive deep into this Fossil Sports watch review and unravel the facts.

Design: Balancing the Sporty and Stylish Look

It’s a sports Smartwatch but yet it has to be stylish in parts at least to command the price. It has to be lightweight, comfortable, durable as well as stylish. It’s a tricky job. Fossil has opted for a mix of metal and silicone for the balancing act. The main watch body is made of aluminium and the strap of the watch is silicone which makes it lighter as well as good for workouts since it doesn’t absorb sweat. The Fossil Sport comes in both 41mm and 43mm to suit wrists of different sizes. The 41mm variant weighs only 38 grams. The strap can be replaced with any 18/ 22mm straps depending on the size you opted for, so that provides the variety in case you want. On the side of the Fossil Sport, there is a rotating dial in the centre flanked by two buttons above and below. The bottom button is tied to Google Fit and the top can be customizable to run one of Fossil’s own app say like you can use it launch stopwatch. Pressing once the rotating crown takes you to the app menu list. You can rotate the crown to scroll through the list and access the apps. Turning back, you will find the optical heart rate monitor.

Display of Fossil Sports Smartwatch:

You get a 1.19-inch or 1.29-inch OLED screen depending on which size of Fossil Sport you choose. Both have 390 x 390 resolution, so needless to say the larger screen has a marginally lower pixel density which frankly makes not much difference even if you look at both. The display is bright, something I really liked about in this watch. The colours are vivid. It also has an ambient light sensor so the watch can automatically adjust the brightness depending on the environment. I found the display to be good even outdoors offering good readability. The touch response is fairly well for a watch. You can also choose a watch face of your liking or one for your mood of the day.

Performance & Wear OS

The Fossil Watch boasts of the latest Qualcomm Wear 3100 chip and runs on the latest Wear OS. Its paired with 12MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. On paper, they sound great. The new chip is also supposed to be energy efficient. Before we dive into the last part, let’s see what the watch offers in terms of features and performance. Foremost it’s a sports watch, so let’s begin with the fitness features. It comes with built-in GPS, an altimeter and a Heart rate monitor. Google Fit offers you many workout training from basics like walking, running, cycling, strength training and challenges to push your fitness to almost close to 80 other activities as varied as aerobics, badminton to Zumba. So you get a large pool of activities to choose from. On the casual apps side, you have apps from Play Store tailored for Wear OS. While all this sounds great, the watch still feels a bit sluggish at times when opening or using certain apps. I had a situation when my watch simply froze on a notification panel. Even the keys won’t work and I have to simply wait till the watch battery is worn out and upon charging and booting again, it went back to normal. That was quite irritating. It was just once though in my fortnight of use. It won’t be fair to blame Fossil for the sluggishness, the entire Wear OS and the chip has more to contribute for the ecosystem for faster, cleaner approach. Step tracking is accurate maybe a 5% off in stats, which can be forgiven. Even the heart rate monitor seems to be doing well in terms of accuracy. You can even check emails and choose to reply right from the watch if you choose to. While it might not be the best typing experience you can manage at certain situations. You can add even some emojis.

The battery life of Fossil Sport Smartwatch

This is the part that got me interested when I started using the watch after all the Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor is supposed to be energy efficient and deliver better battery life. If there is one reason I don’t use many of the good looking Smartwatches in the market, it’s due to the poor battery life. I am not a person who is ready to charge a watch every single day. If you share the same concern, the Fossil Sport would disappoint you the same way it did me. It would not last a full day. After 15-16 hours the battery goes down to 22-25%. If you opt-out of the phone notifications it would fare a little better. The battery saving mode gets activated once the 15 per cent mark reaches and you could only check the time from then. If you turn on the always-on display and continuous heart rate monitor, expect still less battery life. So I didn’t see any improvement with the latest 3100 chip at least on this phone with Wear OS.

Verdict:

Fossil Sport is lightweight, comfortable. The Wear OS has marked improvement but there is a bit of sluggishness that creeps in now and then. Battery life is again a downer. If you could live with overnight charging and want a watch with a great display and good build, you could try the Fossil Sport Smartwatch but I must say you should check the other options too in the market before picking one.]]>

Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502 review | GU502GU model – i7-9750H, GTX 1660Ti

Lakshmi Rajan — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 13:55:06 +0000

Asus has a tradition to refresh their laptop portfolio and showcase them in the Computex Expo held annually. This year too they unleashed an updated range of ZenBook and VivoBook models and the talk of the town a new dual-screened laptop called the ZenBook Pro Duo. The ROG Gaming laptops also gets a refresh and one among the new list is the gaming ultraportable, the Zephyrus M GU502 which I got here. Within the Zephyrus series, there are a couple of sub-series and the M series sits between the top tier S series and the more affordable G series. Phew, that’s quiet a wide portfolio Asus has in their laptop section. If you are looking at a compact and light gaming machine with the latest hardware inputs and features, the M GU502 should get your attention on it but is it worth the buy? Go ahead read my review that would help you make the decision. The test unit I have has the following specifications:

	Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502GU
Screen	15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080 px resolution, IPS, 144 HZ, matte, AU Optronics AUO82ED panel
Processor	Intel Coffee Lake-R Core i7-9750H, six-core
Video	Intel UHD 630 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660Ti 6GB 80W (GeForce 430.86)
Memory	16 GB DDR4 2666 MHz
Storage	512 GB SSD (M.2 80 mm PCIe x2 – Intel 660p SSDPEKNW512G8) + 1 extra M.2 80 mm slot
Connectivity	Intel 9560 AC 2×2 WiFi with Bluetooth 5.0, Realtek RTL8168/8111 Gigabit LAN
Ports	3x USB-A 3.1, 1x USB-C gen 2 with DP and charging, HDMI 2.0b, LAN, headphone/mic, Kensington Lock
Battery	76 Wh, 230 W power adapter, 65W USB-C adapter included in some regions
Size	360 mm or 14.17” (w) x 252 mm or 9.92” (d) x 18.9 mm or .74” (h)
Weight	1.91 kg, .80 kg power brick and cables

Build and Design:

The M GU502 GU is a work and play device and is obvious at the first look. You can camouflage it as your regular work machine in any serious work meetings without giving away the gamer in you. It’s sturdily helped by magnesium alloys construction of the main chassis and the underside. The lid has a brushed matte finish, very typical of many Asus laptops. There is the ROG logo on the lid, that glow RED while in use. It doesn’t get too bright and flashy and while I personally like it but if you want to turn it off there is no manual setting for it. The power button also has a small but prominently bright red LED indicator. There is a honeycomb metal construction beneath the trackpad and armrest to prevent any additional flex and gives a rock-solid feel to the machine yet make it relatively lightweight. Talking about the trackpad, its right on the middle and is large. The armrest gives a very relaxed feel while using, more on that when I talk about the keyboard. The choice of a mix of magnesium, aluminium and plastic at the right places helps to maintain the light weight yet provides the sturdiness and there is no flex whatsoever even when pressed harder. It weighs 1.91 kg, the power brick is a bit too hefty. There are also RGB LEDs hidden inside the AAS system, and they’re tied to the keyboard’s illumination, which means there’s no direct control over them and no way to turn them off independently, at least as far as I can tell. The GU502 does away with the AAS ((Active Aerodynamic System) an implementation we have seen in GX502, where a mechanical hinge lifts the back of the laptop to provide for extra roominess for fresh air to be sucked in and thus improving cooling. Still, the rubber footings at the back of the GU502 is slightly raised to give a bit of slant and airflow. Coming to the ports, there is a wide range of ports for connectivity and few omissions. On the left, there is the power port for charging placed in the middle, a placement I disagree with. Also, there is a LAN port, a full-size HDMI port, a USB-A 3.1 Gen 2 port and two separate 3.5mm audio jacks for headphone and a microphone. On the right side, there are two USB-A 3.1 ports and a USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 port, with DisplayPort 1.4 and features PD charging support. Yes, you can charge the laptop with a suitable power bank when in an emergency. There is also a Kensington security lock slot. Unfortunately, there is no fingerprint scanner for sign-ins and no face unlock since there is no camera on the laptop. You have to be satisfied with an external webcam. There is no Thunderbolt 3 support or card-reader.

Keyboard and TrackPad

I was quite at ease with the keyboard on the GU502 but that might be also due to the fact I been reviewing many of the Asus ROG lineups of late. Even for those who are new to the machine, they should find the layout convenient. It offers good feedback, has a neat layout and spaced out well. The layout has a nicely spaced keys of 15x15mm size, the function keys are slightly smaller at the top, the arrow keys are smaller in size compared to the main keys. The right also has a column of keys for Home, Page up and down, End and Function. The multimedia keys sit at the top for quick access to adjust the volume, control the microphone and launch the armoury crate. There is an LED light beneath individual keys. The markings also glow except for the function key markings. The LED illumination can be adjusted from the Asus’s Aura subsection of Armoury Crate where you can find close to 8 different lighting effects. You can also sync the lighting with external compatible peripherals and in-game scenarios. The trackpad is fairly large and is Elan touchpads. It’s a plastic surface and I have no nitpicks on the quality and working on the pad. It’s good, there is no sluggishness or any issues with it. [gallery link="file" ids="14796,14797,14798"]

Display of Zephyrus M GU502

The Zephyrus M GU502 has a 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS panel with 144Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. A 6.2mm thin bezels surrounding the screen which translates to 81% screen to body ratio. There is a matte coating on the display, something I prefer personally. The bottom bezel flaunts the ROG Zephyrus etched on it. I had put the machine more for video editing than gaming and I really liked the display for it, thanks to the Pantone colour validation. It produces the entirety of the sRGB colour spectrum. It gives a true to life visuals which are very important for creators who work on illustrators or video editors. Even for gaming, the display comes good. There is no GSync. If you want a workaround, it would be possible with external monitors via USB-C >> DP adaptors if you are hell bend on it. Also, a point to note, when the system is unplugged, the screen’s refresh rate lowers to 60Hz and resets to 144 Hz when plugged back. This is programmed to save battery. There is a setting to turn the auto switch off each time.

Performance

Powering the machine is the powerful 9th generation Intel Core i7-9750H processor with 6GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti graphics and 16GB RAM to kick off. My unit had 512GB SSD storage, if you want to increase further there is a second M.2 slot that can handle up to 1TB. As I mentioned earlier, I had put the machine intensely on many of my video editing projects on Premiere Pro during my travel and I never once missed my desktop back home. It was able to handle the heavy editing at ease. Even playing e-Sports titles like Apex legends or PUBG handled very well and you should be able to play Battlefield V and others too. Clearly, this laptop is a perfect blend for work and play. But when we pack such a hard ware in an 18mm thin body, there would be some compromises. I was using the laptop on a balanced mode, and the fan noise was quietly audible. The chassis also tends to heat when you burn it too heavy games. So intense gameplay on a long stretch might take a hit on the performance. To its credit, the heat dissipation doesn’t pass through the keys and you don’t fee any discomfort while using them in prolonged use. There is a silent mode though if you want a quieter use. But overall, the NVIDIA GTX 1660Ti should satisfy the gaming enthusiasts. The speakers are placed at the bottom. Thanks to the raised footings on a flat surface, they are quite loud. Everyday performance is butter smooth.

Asus Zephyrus M GU502 Internals

With 15 Frearson screws, it’s a laborious process to unscrew the back panel. Most of the space inside is occupied by a red Asus motherboard and the laptop’s 76Wh battery beneath it takes the big slice of the pie too. There are two speakers nested on rubber housing. The 16GB RAM is soldered to the motherboard. There is one extra RAM slot to pitch in another 16GB since the machine handles 32GB in max total. There is a space for an extra PCIe NvMe solid-state drive chip in case you want to add up more than the 512GB you get out of the box. There is also a network of the coiled thermal module. Since you are reading this, let me tell you not to open the back panel it would void the warranty. You can take it to the Asus service centre if you want to upgrade.

The battery life of Zephyrus GU 502

As noted in the previous section, the laptop comes with a 76Wh rechargeable Li-ion battery which Asus claims can last for up to 6 hours on web browsing. In my real use case, It was under 4 hours while just browsing and working on articles. But then in my experience, the gaming laptops never deliver incredible battery life at least not the machines I have come across till date. Still within the segment and considering the work and play positioning of the laptop, it’s a bit of a downer. Charging the laptop from near zero back to full took close to two full hours.

Verdict:

On a final note, the Zephyrus M GU502 is a great multi-purpose machine. For people like me who would want a power-packed machine that can disguise as a work laptop and also satisfy the gamer in me discreetly this is the kind of notebook to look at. Its a practical laptop with sturdy and solid built offers good portability for creators and avid gamers in them. ]]>

IBM Call For Code 2019 – A Global Challenge for the Developer Community

Lakshmi Rajan — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 12:10:58 +0000

Listen, if you are a developer this might trigger your interest. IBM 2019 Call for Code battle bugle has been sounded. Call for Code is an IBM challenge that seeks global developer community to come up with technology solutions for the world’s problems. This year the challenge focusses on natural disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. The global challenge platform is backed by the IBM Code and Response™ initiative, a multi-year program dedicated to creating and deploying open source technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. The competition ends on July 29, 2019.

What is in stake for the winners?

The winning team receives $200,000 USD as prize money but not just they also get support from The Linux Foundation, help in implementing their solutions through Code and Response. More importantly, the cream of the teams gets to interact with mentors and potential investors.

Equipping the developers

To give a headstart to the participants including those who are new to coding, IBM offers a new Call for Code Starter kit for a level playing field. Developers of every skill level, including those who are just jumping into the coding world, could make use of the starter kit that caters to every skill set. The company’s new Starter Kits have all the resources you need to get started right away in several technology domains.

How the Call of Code works?

The starter kits are designed in a way to help you understand what technology can do to give shape to your ideas in a structured way. Once you register for the Call of Code challenge, you get an IBM Cloud account and also a brief on the scope of competition and rules of the challenge. With your resource material, you can come up with a solution for this year’s theme – natural disaster preparedness, and recovery. This is where the IBM Call of Coder starter kits come handy for many participants by using Code Patterns and kits for your submissions. Next, you get a chance to introduce yourselves to peers and experts, brainstorm ideas, collaborate with a team. The final stage would be to submit your solutions.

Last year winner – Project OWL

Project Owl teammates—developers Charlie Evans, Taraqur Rahman, Nick Feuer, Bryan Knouse, and Magus Pereira – won IBM’s first-ever Call for Code contest. Last year more than 100,000 developers from 156 countries participated in the contest. The panel of judges included former President Bill Clinton who selected Project OWL in the grand finale. The five top teams had brought to table solutions ranging from AI to post-earthquake rebuilding process to aiding firefighters by providing live data during wildfires via sensors. Project OWL created an offline communication infrastructure for natural disasters, giving those in need a simple and reliable interface to request assistance from authorities. IBM’s Call for Code challenge helps many individual developers to come up with practical workable solutions for their ideas, find a like-minded team and make changes to the society with meaningful technology solutions. If you are a developer, do visit the IBM Call of Code challenge for further details]]>