Canvas 4 Review: Super Phone For A Super Price

Micromax today has 18% market share (IDC) in the Indian phone market, only second after Samsung. One of the primary reasons of it scaling fast has been its Canvas series of smart phones. The gadget has everything that best smartphones have in the country, good hardware, great screen size and resolution and the pricing is just suitable to a country like India.

Now they have brought another one out from their cupboard as an extension of the series. Canvas 4 aka A210 looks a superphone at first glance. Let’s look at some of its primary features and gauge the capability better.

Screen: The use of Gorilla glass puts the phone a notch above others in the mainstream. Despite its large 5-inch screen, the phone settles smoothly in your hands and gives an uber cool feel. For an 18k phone, the screen is awesome. The resolution could had been improved (still 1280*720) but the quality of picture is better. The phone’s ability to show saturated colors is better than Canvas HD. Good resolution means better clarity in text. Touch is also better and phone’s refresh rate is refreshing for the user.

Built: A notch above Canvas 4, the glossy plastic with a bit of Aluminium is definitely adding to the look value of the phone. The back cover which is removable looks good too and overall the phone looks premium and polished which was needed as this is the highest priced phone from Micromax till date. The aluminium strip adds to the sturdiness of the phone. The power button is also done with aluminium which is a good change from most of the other phones, even expensive ones.

To sum up the built and looks, at the price tag of 18k no mainstream phone has better stuff than this one. No doubt there is scope for improvement but as mentioned this is the best at the point of entry i.e. the price.

Camera: 13MP camera in an 18k phone? Yeah you heard it right. Before you get excited hear this though. The quality of pixels ain’t great so although the news of 13MP makes good hearing, the feature ain’t upto the mark by the standards. The pictures captured lack depth and detail. Bad light is further bad news and close-ups are not good either. There are focus issues too especially during close-ups. Videos are marginally better although recording in MP4 format would had been better than the 3GP it uses.

Android 4.2.1 or Jelly Bean: Smooth functioning like all Canvas series phones highlight the Android in this one. The default user interface works well as compared to customized interfaces that other makers have put on their devices. The phone’s speed is good too and while switching between tasks also the lag is not much. Games perform well and browsing is smooth.

The speaker is good and sound is good as well. Voice quality is good and signal strength at first usage also looked decent.

Differentiation Indexes: To differentiate and to showcase innovation the phone makers have come out with a few features like blow to unlock and video pause. The features are not very user-friendly though and it would had been better had testing would had been good before throwing these into the open. Thankfully the makers have given ways to turn off these features.

Battery life of the phone is decent. With 3G, the battery lasts around 12 hours.

Verdict: A good phone overall sans the camera features. Good speed, brilliant screen and fantastic performance make it a good buy at 18k. If you are looking for a great smartphone sans brand image of big phone makers like Samsung and Apple, this is the phone to go for. 

Related articles

• Why I’ll not buy Micromax Canvas 4? (tabletphonex.com)
• Micromax Canvas 4 revealed [Exclusive] (androidos.in)
• Micromax Canvas 4 loses the specs battle to iBerry Auxus Nuclea N1 (ibnlive.in.com)

Galaxy Star Review: A Phone Worth Its Price

Considering the price point this could be a game-changer phone in the Indian smartphone segment. An MRP of Rs. 5000 makes this phone the cheapest Android phone from Samsung and unlike others, which run older versions of the OS, this one, runs the latest Jelly Bean Android 4.1. 

Looks like an option doesn’t it? Lets look deep and figure out pros and cons although frankly after taking time out with it we feel that at this price point this is the best you can get.

The Pros: 

Looks: Not bad for the price although nothing extraordinary considering these are the times of big screens. The cute small size though will suit a few who have been complaining of a lack of smartphone, which is small and does not look a giant. Compare it with other local brands and the finish is first class. Samsung has done a good job for the price.

Apps: Android Jelly Bean means good apps and also good games. This is where the phone steals the show. The phone gives decent experience to a user with popular services like Gmail, Google Talk, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. All this at 5k, wow.

Screen And Colors: Its OK. Again at a price point that the phone is positioned at, little can be complained about. It has good touch interface and shows bright colors but the process is fine.

Battery and others: So the battery is decent, around 14 hours on 2g connection. The camera is 2 megapixel and pictures taken are good to be uploaded on your social presence. Bad light images though is not that great and video shoot also could have been better.

The Cons:

No 3g: What? Yes, there is no option for 3g. The phone only operates on 2g and WiFi. This is certainly a let down in this quick communication world where almost everyone is moving from 2g to 3g.

A tad slow: The phone works well for search, Facebook etc. but the moment you demand a little more, the price point and the cheapness there shows up. The phone turns slow and older apps are also flushed out of memory.

Verdict: Good phone on the price point. If you are looking for an affordable android phone with basic usage like mail and social media and have a budget around 5k, this is the device. A little more though from the wallet could get you better phones.

Related articles

• Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition review (video) (androidauthority.com)
• Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5 and iOS 7 Beta 3 vs. Android 4.3 (product-reviews.net)
• The Nexus 4, Moto X and how Google is changing Android perception from “high spec” to “high experience” (cellularchief.wordpress.com)

Do You Have a Mobile Strategy to Hire Candidates?

Rahul Krishna, Manager Talent Acquisition Group at Espire Infolabs talks about a mobile strategy to hire candidates to empower employees by a cloud referral system! Also talks about opening a new source to get candidates other than the job boards.

A Mobile phone can be a potential source to recruit top talent in your organizations. We have all the major job boards & application on our phones and this improves the candidate’s user experience to apply as you see.

There can be application acting as a referral system which empower the recruiters and open a new gate to get those referred resumes which are not present on a job board. It’s quite important to realize that the referred candidate has higher chances to qualify and join the organization as we have an employee who has referred that candidate. We are connecting to the web and corporate recruiters must understand and learn the uptrends of the market. We need to integrate a mobile application with the career website which will open a window to refer candidates

As you read further in the article we will explore the techniques for hiring talent globally & also participating in the Mobile uprising for convenience, with a click of a button which is handy enough for you.

Make this application available on the cloud, get this application to your employees; this will enable them to refer when they are not at work. Your employees will make a difference and the employees who do not refer they will also start using it as this is available on the smartphone. They have an independence to make a request and share the contact number, name and email address, a resume can be given at a later point of time. In this manner your employees have all the job opportunities of in their handheld, so it is easy for them to check with their old colleagues/friends and enable them and giving a chance to work with them. Also in this referral system we can prioritize the urgency of the position to get filled as we are hiring all billable resources and it involves a lot of money.

We may not be in front of our computer however we are always available on phone. Let’s try to be on the mobile to hire best talent globally through a referral system, giving confidence and opening a gate to your employees to participate in their company growth.

Related articles

• Do You Make It Too Hard to Get a Job At Your Company? (inc.com)
• How Cloud Computing and Mobility Are Changing The Hiring Process (business2community.com)

4 Reasons Your Brand Should Be On Google+

 

In 2011 when Google first launched Google+, a lot of brands offloaded their content and themselves on it. Only to find that the level of interaction was nowhere close to other social networks especially Facebook. Some went immediately off it, saying, that there is enough traction for them on FB so they would not WASTE bandwidth here. A few brands though made very innovative and useful usage of google+ and that made others stand up and notice as to what all can happen on this another innovative platform from the stable of Google. Here are four reasons your brand will only lose if it’s not on G+

1. The omnipresence of google is well known. From search to mail to maps to earth to docs to chat, you name it and they have it in their stable. So basically, google+ is nothing but a tremendous social extension of all those listed above. To add to this m sure, all of us have sometime or other used some of the product of google, thereby making us more closer to G+. Plus if you thought google+ is ghost town like many like to believe, here is some data for thought. There are 500 million people currently on G+ and approximately 343 million are pretty active. The social network has already been named the second largest active network in the world, bigger than twitter and youtube. Decide for yourself the value after seeing the numbers.

2. Better Discoverability: That little +1 button that you see on google+ will soon be as omnipresent as google is. You will find it in display campaigns, ads, on your site and on search results too. Google tracks these +1’s and measures who all are recommending and interacting with your brand. Before you even realize, all the +1’s around your brand will be connected directly to your G+ page. What these numbers and +1’s will indicate is what will help google put your company in places that actually matter. Thus brand engagement extension. Don’t miss out.

3. More Extensive Engagement: Communities are the next big thing in online and social and Google+ definitely is playing big on it. It is places like these where real people come out and have conversations around what they want, what they desire, what they liked from what they bought and what is their next most important need. They discuss interests which directly impacts their buying behavior, thereby exciting brands. Brands thus could create communities, be part of some, and discuss, listen and monitor conversations for their benefits.

4. Let’s Hangout: What better than brands having customer conversations from their social profiles. Google+ makes this possible and there are examples which show how brands have actually made live launches, done live samplings, live testings of products very successfully. There is nothing like making the consumer a part of the brand building process and hangouts are perfectly designed to suit that purpose. Brands have also done giveaways which has excited consumers and have made them come back again to the social to see action and hope future giveaways.

These are just four of Google+ great functions that could help your brand engage more with your consumers. Go in and check out other such exciting features as the product continues to evolve like all other Google products. 

 

 

Related articles

• Google Plus Best Practices for Brands (business2community.com)
• The Benefits of Google Plus Series: Hangouts (business2community.com)
• 7 ways Google Hangouts can connect you to your customers (miamiherald.com)

Blackberry Q10: A Phone For The Old-Schoolers

The keyboard Blackberry is back and Q10, RIM’s latest entrant with its new OS looks like a good phone. The Q10 meshes up Blackberry’s brand new OS alongside features of Z10 and is the perfect solution for die-hard fans of Blackberry. Whether there is a need for a phone like this is something only time can tell. 

Looks: The front is modern and classy but the back hampers the feel. The company says that the back is made out of weaved glass, giving it a carbon fiber look and comparable durability. Not bad a material to use but what it does to the experience is what makes it unworthy.

Hardware: Though different in looks, Q10 copies its predecessor Z10 as far as processor, storage and camera is concerned. The 1.5GHz dualcore Snapdragon S4 processor paired with 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage is ditto that of Z10. The phone also is aided by Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi and NFC. It also studs a microHDMI port. Screen Size though is where it differentiates from Z10. While Z10 sports a 4.2-inch 1280*768 display, this one has a smaller 3.1-inch display with a 720 x 720 resolution.

Camera: The BlackBerry Q10 flashes similar camera as that of Z10. The rear facing is 8MP with single LED flash and front facing lens is 2MP. An awesome feature which the camera of Q10 boasts is the HDR mode. HDR can enhance photos – especially the ones taken in variable lighting or large areas of shadow.

Battery Life: The Q10 stocks a 2,100 mAH pack which looks like enough especially because of the small screen size. The company quotes 13.5 hours of 3g talk time or up to 14.8 hours of 3G standby and upto 60hrs of music playback. Overall the battery life looks like quite impressive.

Querty Keyboard: Finally Blackberry gets back to what it does best and delivers an awesome type pad again. It’s a winner on the phone. One hand is more than enough and the fear of typing gibberish on touch phones is non-existent. Use two-hands and the experience turns even better, making you remember the Bold days, and taking the accuracy to an even higher level.

Verdict: The phone is good but the bigger question is whether there is a need for a phone like this in the very infatuated touch phone market. What works in its favor though is that there is very little choice when it comes to having a phone with a touch and a physical keyboard. Overall looks like this one is for the old schoolers and the modern ones would still prefer their android or iOS devices and if one is a blackberry fanatic, would go for the Z10. 

 

Related articles

• BlackBerry Q10 review: revenge of the keyboard (pawprintcooper.com)
• Blackberry Q10, the BB10 smartphone, up for pre-order in India (igeekzz.wordpress.com)

6 Reasons why Google Glasses are Awesome

I know this one is a little late on Google Glasses and you have already read, heard and seen a lot of commentary of that. I was also waiting because I wanted to know the reasons people are bloating against it. Are the reasons good enough is the big question? To be they look like rants from the ones who have always feared change. They are the same who said “who uses the phone for the internet” when the first smartphone came and were the ones who said who is going to be on G+ when there is Facebook around. 

Leaving them aside for a while, here are six reasons why Google Glasses are an awesome invention.

1. Have you ever imagined search on the go. Yep, this is one awesome thing that you get with Google Glasses, now isn’t that awesome in itself. You are travelling, you ask something and you get it. Tremendous, do I need to say more. If you have still not got it, check out some James Bond flicks and figure out what am saying when I say search on the move.

2. For the Facebookers and Twitteratis who cannot do away with their instant see and upload life, Google Glass is the machine. You say a word and the Glasses will take a picture, record a video and believe me there is nothing like doing all this without touching the hardware. The media gets stored in the 4GB flash memory and can be instantly shared on your social networks and via email.

3. So you are driving and get an important mail from Boss saying “urgent, reply now”. You being a smart savvy employee do not want to be late and want to reply now. But you know how difficult it could be while driving on Delhi roads. Now imagine a machine which allows you do this via voice commands. Got my point, isn’t the Glass awesome.

4. So basically you live away from your parents and both parties miss out on crucial experiences that you should have been part of. With Google Glass you can share the feed of any experience that you are having with your loved ones in real-time. So the next time you are watching your kid do a skit and his granny also wants to watch it sitting a 1000kms away, you know what device to switch on.

5. With Google things only turn simpler. The company has added Google Now to the device which means your daily habits can be tracked and kept a tab on. It will keep a tab on what routes you take daily and will keep you informed if those routes are under traffic issues or are clear.

6. You travel abroad a lot and to different countries and also feel alienated because of your inability to understand foreign languages. With Google Glasses those problems are those of the past. If there is a sentence or a phrase you do not understand, ask the Glass and it translate it to the language you are comfortable with.

Overall, a great machine, so don’t let the critics dominate your way of thinking. Use it yourself and then decide. Always remember, Change is for Good. 

Related articles

• How to use Google Glass (aftertheclock.com.au)
• SNL takes on Google Glass (phonearena.com)
• Google Glass & awkward tech bloggers mocked on SNL (video) (venturebeat.com)

Social Etiquette – The Forgotten Good-natured Behaviour Code

Commercialization has taken precedence over most of our good values! Is advancement in Science inversely proportional to advancement of ‘human-ness’? Ganesh Subramanian discusses our behavioural code which has changed with our so-called ‘advancement’ in this post.

The biggest fear of advancement of mankind is that in the mad pursuit of developments and an equally insane dash for material possessions, somewhere there is a risk of losing our social values and a possible deviation from accepted behavioural norms. With crass commercialization of almost everything in humanity, good old values like respect for others, maintaining public decency, respect for elders etc., are well on their way towards a fast-tracked capital punishment.

The simplest example for illustrating this argument can be seen in the ubiquitous use of mobile phones. The problem is not in using mobiles per se, but in the way in which it’s being used in simple conversations. Often, while travelling in buses or trains, we see some strange specimens (let us say, Mr. X) shouting at the top of their voices into their mobile phones. Somewhere I feel that it won’t be a bad idea for Mr. X just to scream what he wants to say without actually making a call. The loud enough voice of M. X can be easily transmitted and heard via air without the need for 2 mobile phones and the network. This kind of behaviour demonstrated with scant regard for others in the surroundings is completely deplorable and irks others present in the vicinity. By the time the bus/train journey is over, all the passengers are sure to have a good knowledge of the entire background of Mr. X, courtesy the mindless telephonic screaming.

Another behaviour that can’t be called courteous is the failure to apologise when someone accidentally elbows others or stamps on the others’ feet accidentally in a crowd. Behaviour in restaurants, behaviour in traffic signals, behaviour while we wait in serpentine queues for some service – the list is never ending when it comes to exhibiting unacceptable behaviour. A funny incident that my friend narrated springs to my mind here. My friend and his college classmates went to a coffee shop for hanging out. One of his friends, after ordering for milkshake wanted to tell the waiter not to add ice to his beverage. As the waiter had moved away, this guy shouted at the top of his voice in his native language with a localised slang. This act attracted the eyeballs of all those who were present in the shop much to the embarrassment of the guy’s classmates. Some may feel what’s unacceptable in this. But the point, I am trying to make is that even small instances like this could have been handled subtly with a good understanding and awareness of the presence of public.

All these instances point to the fact that good social behaviour has taken a backseat in this age of commercialization. It is upto each one of us to understand that what irks us also irks others and we must ensure that even if we can’t become role models of social behaviour, atleast we do not end up being a bad example of socially acceptable behaviour.

Related articles

• What professional can identify what’s wrong/weird about my behaviour? (ask.metafilter.com)
• Educational psychologists say new guidance on misbehaviour ‘will stigmatise children’ (schoolsimprovement.net)

4 Reasons Why Blackberry Beats iPhone Hands Down

 

Now before you bring out the knives to kill me, at least listen to my reasons for beating down your iPhone. If the two C’s Convenience and Comfort were all that you needed from a smart phone, don’t even look beyond the Blackberry

All of my friends want me to buy an iPhone. They think it will change my life. Really, a phone can change your life? I thought the only game changers were what you successfully do in office at home. Anyways, that is the last thing this topic demands so let’s get back to it. Not only friends, even people I meet for like 3 minutes, tell why should I change my Blackberry to Steve Job’s latest gadget and then I get a good dosage on latest additions to the gadget.

But I have always had my reasons for not changing my blackberry for any other smartphone. Here are four of them.

1. A real keyboard: Even Eric Schmidt uses a Blackberry for this. Yeah, you heard it right. Eric Schmidt does not use an Android smartphone, even though he sits on the board for Android. And if you still don’t believe the efficiency of this, try getting in a race with me over typing with your iPhone. I bet that not only I will be twice as quicker but also twice as correct (because of the gibberish you will end up writing on that phone of yours).
2. BBM: This was one of the reasons I picked this phone. I was always attracted by this feature since I first saw a Blackberry. It is this app which tells me when my messages are delivered and then read and is also free regardless of how much I send. Yes, I know you would debate of the watsapp available on the iPhone but the last I heard was that it was going to become a paid app soon.
3. The Indicator Light: So you want to tell me that I take a phone which does not show me if I have an unread message. Not I then, find another customer. I am someone who does not keep peeping inside my phone every 5 minutes so unless an indicator shows me I have unread messages I will preferably not touch my phone for a while. My Blackberry has a red light which keeps blinking till I actually end up reading the message or the mail. For example I leave my phone for a while, my red light will then tell whether there’s something new without having to look for myself.
4. Lack of Bluetooth: No really, I want a Bluetooth to share music, videos and a lot of other things with friends who have any other phone. Now who has it, my Blackberry does, where as an iPhone does not. Why, they think it will increase piracy of iTunes, nonsense; there are enough download sites available for free in the market, to just go and download.

The reasons above might sound simple yet make a phone efficient enough for me to hold on to it, at least till Research In Motion is still in existence (a friend recently predicted it’s end soon). 

Related articles

• Julian Assange: iPhone, Blackberry and Gmail Users are all Screwed (globalelite.tv)
• BlackBerry’s time may be ripe in iPhone battle – Boston Herald (bostonherald.com)
• Try Out BlackBerry 10 On Your iPhone (macgasm.net)
• Blackberry’s CEO Says the iPhone Is Outdated (gizmodo.com)