Month: September 2014

Categories
Tech

Sony launches Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact in India

The phones are priced at Rs 51,990 and Rs 44,990 respectively. We take a quick look at the specs on offer.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K

Continuing with its six-month launch cycle, Sony yesterday released its new flagship and its compact version – the Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact in India.

These new Sony devices are IP55/ IP68 certified, meaning they’re water-proof and dust-resistant. Both are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 801 chipset (2.5 GHz quad-core Krait 400 processor, Adreno 330 GPU), along with 3 GB of RAM in the Z3 and 2 GB in the Z3 Compact.

Measuring 127 x 64.9 x 8.6 mm, the Z3 compact features a 4.6-inch 1280 x 720 LCD touchscreen and weighs about 130 grams. On the hand, the Z3 measures 146 x 72 x 7.3 mm, featuring a 5.2-inch 1920.1080 full HD screen and weighing around 150 grams.

Z3_1On the back, they sport a 20.7 MP (EXMOR RS) camera with an ISO count of up to 12,800; while the front has a 2.2 MP camera. Sony has also updated its camera app, bringing a few more shot sets like 3D effects and sharing your other Xperia devices via WiFi to shoot videos. On the audio side of things, the phones support FLAC files natively and are loaded with 24KHz/192 sound capabilities.

Running on Android 4.4.4, the phone has Sony’s Xperia UI on top. Buyers get three months of free streaming and download options from Sony’s JIVE app.

Connectivity-wise, there is Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi, NFC, GPS, 4G LTE, and FM Radio.

While the Z3 is equipped with a 3,100 mAh battery unit, the Z3 Compact has a 2,600 mAh battery unit.

The Z3 is comes in copper, white and black colour options, and the Z3 Compact in green, orange, white and black. Both these phones are available now, with the Z3’s MRP being Rs 51,990, and the Z3 Compact’s Rs 44,990.

Categories
Eat

Go back to the kitchen

In a city teeming with processed foods, lifestyle diseases and rising inflation, cooking should be made compulsory for every individual. Here’s why.
by Ritika Bhandari Parekh

It’s time to learn how to cook. Besides getting compliments over time, cooking what you eat will help you respect your body and palate like never before.

Look around the city and you’ll find an advertisement or two on weight loss at every corner. Obesity is one of the major lifestyle diseases on the rise in our country. Blame it on the easy availability of junk food, canned ingredients, the lack of time in our busy schedules, or simply the fear of the kitchen, which has made us prone to this disorder.

Vani HariVani Hari, a US food activist (in pic on left), famously known as ‘The Food Babe’ has a simple solution for maintaining equilibrium in a world of supermarket dinners. She suggests cooking at least 15 meals per week at home. She blogs about how to make better choices at the food section of the market and steer clear of GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) ingredients in your plate.

Everyone – man or woman – should cook

The shocking revelations on her blog related to major food companies like Subway and Starbucks makes one realise how tricky it is to make a healthy eating choice. Luckily, most Indian cities have the advantage of a vegetable market just around the corner and so we should equip ourselves with a few cooking skills. Parents should teach not only their daughter but also their sons how to cook some basic dishes from scratch. The skills will help them survive in the maze of canned foods and their longevity will be attributed to their cooking.

Today, not even milk is free from the grip of the sugar industry, reveals British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. He started the food revolution in the US and Britain to change the way people eat and improve the nation’s health.

Why cook at home?

In his 2010 TED talk Oliver says, “The power of food has a prime place in the house.” He reveals that most Americans have not seen their parents cook and are therefore, clueless as to how to cook besides reheating and thawing frozen food. For him, the culture of eating is passed on at the home.

As a culture, Indian cuisine varies from State to State and even in States, from region to region. So Maharastrian cuisine differs from Konkani with the slight hint of flavours. A Google search willHealthy Indian food reveal how Indians living abroad are trying to make the most of the desi ingredients available to them and recreate the magic of ‘ghar ka khaana’.

With cooking being relegated to the status of an art and Masterchef Australia introducing us to the world of gourmet home cooking, suffice it to say that cooking at home has achieved cult status like never before. People are realizing that home-cooked food is the key to a happy and healthy body. So the next time you are at the supermarket make a better choice and try to pick more real food – one which is not processed or loaded with chemicals.

Lastly, here’s a thought by author Michael Pollanto to sum up, “The most important thing you can do with your health is cook. Cooking is more powerful than any medication.”

(Pictures courtesy www.vedicodyssey.com, wellandgood.com, www.wiseshe.com)

Categories
Event

High Street Phoenix opens its doors for art

The South Mumbai mall is currently offering visitors the chance to look at various art installations crafted by six Indian artists.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Till the end of this month, you can walk into High Street Phoenix and get a first look at various art installations by various eminent and upcoming city artists. On from September 4, 2014, the installations will be available for viewing till the end of this month.

Mother & Child_Siddhesh ChavanFeatured artists are Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, Gajanan Choukhande, Reha Shishodia, Nayanjeet T Nikam, Abhijit Salunkhe and Siddhesh Chavan. The centre piece of this art showcase is Choukhande’s ‘Creator’, located at Palladium Level 1, symbolising how the hand is the creator and facilitator of things. Shishodia and Nikam bring together the ‘Tree Of Life’, while upcoming artist Chavan captures the friendship between a mother and her child in the namesake artwork ‘Mother & Child’ (in pic on left). Apart from this, he is also showcasing two creations from his going back to childhood collection ‘Playground’ and ‘Joyride’. Salunkhe’s works, ‘Growth’ and ‘Fish Eye’ are cast in metal and reveal meticulous crafting.

The piece de resistance in this selection is internationally renowned Sanjay Kumar Srivastava’s ‘The Ultimate Rotation’ (in pic on right) which The Ultimate Rotation_Sanjay Kumar Srivastavapoignantly captures how the hand of time is intrinsic to our existence.

Speaking about the installation, Rajendra Kalkar, Senior Centre Director, High Street Phoenix  said, “High Street Phoenix and Palladium are the centrepieces of South Mumbai’s retail space and as such deserve to reflect their ethos of being a place where form meets function in spectacular fashion. By strategically placing art sculptures and installations in various spaces throughout the mall, we are looking at creating a pleasing aesthetic which will merge seamlessly with the rest of the ambience of high-end retail spaces by creating an extremely pleasing experience for shoppers.”

Head to High Street Phoenix till September 30 from 11 am to 10 pm daily. 

Categories
Tech

Jolla launches in India

Finnish company’s smartphone priced at Rs 16,499 has a great OS, but will need more features to make a difference.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

Finnish handset maker, Jolla, has officially stepped into the Indian market. The company unveiled its Jolla smartphone, which is available exclusively on Snapdeal. The phone, which has been out and released in several countries months back, is the first smartphone that runs on Sailfish OS. The OS is based on MeeGo (as well as Mer Project and Nemo Mobile), which was Nokia’s own project a few years back and is now taken ahead by some of Nokia’s ex-employees.

Jolla_Jolla (pronounced ‘Yolla’) sports a 4.5-inch (960 x 540) screen, with the option to change the rear cover as per your choice from a range of colours made available by the company. Under the hood, there is a Snapdragon 400 SoC (1.4 GHz dual-core processor, Adreno 305 GPU), along with 1 GB of RAM.

The phone is powered by a 2,100 mAh battery unit and comes with 16 GB of internal storage, which is expandable. On the back, there is an 8 MP (AF) camera (with an LED flash); while the front has a 2 MP camera.

Connectivity-wise, there is Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 2.0, 4G LTE (limited support), WiFi b/g/n, and GPS.

The phone has been priced at Rs 16,499, and is available from Snapdeal. The first 90 buyers will also get a special VIP box with the phone.

With so many affordable, value-for-money handsets available in the market today, it’s going to be a tough road ahead for Jolla. The OS appears refreshingly different from what we have on pretty much every smartphone out there – Android, iOS and Windows Phone – but would require a lot more to get some going into the Indian market.

Categories
Trends

17,665 dispute-free villages in Maharashtra?

Over 17,000 villages in Maharashtra are reportedly free of petty and major disputes, due to a Government scheme launched in 2007.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Is it possible, in today’s hectic times, for any place to be totally dispute-free? If findings from the State Government are to be believed, as many as 17, 665 villages in Maharashtra are completely dispute-free?

A press release from the Chief Minister’s office last week gave the findings of the Government’s Mahatma Gandhi Tantamukh Gaon Mohim (Mahatma Gandhi Dispute Free Village Scheme) launched in year 2007. CM Prithviraj Chavan said, “Maharashtra is one of the largest states in the country with a huge cosmopolitan population spread across both rural and urban centers. With such dynamics, being able to make almost 17,665 villages completely dispute-free is a proud achievement for the State. Our innovative approach has been recognised on the international platform too as a model project by the United Nations. We believe the Scheme will continue to act as a catalyst for the welfare of villagers by engaging citizens to bring prosperity through peace.”

As per the Scheme, 1,741 villages became dispute-free in 2012-2013. Now, 47 villages are set to receive the Special Peace Award. 10 out of the 47 villages are from Buldhana district, followed by Sholapur (8), Kolhapur (7), Chandrapur (7), Yavatmanl (1), Nagpur Rural (1), Parbhani (1), Ahmednagar (3), Satara (2), Jalna (1), and Osmanabad (2).

The Scheme was launched with the aim of resolving minor conflicts, land related problems, cattle grazing, cremation grounds, etc. that normally snowballed into bigger communal and anti-social issues in the State’s villages. Under this scheme, villagers come together, collect data and amicably settle the thousands of pending cases in their village. The idea of this novel experiment was to decrease the number of pending cases in the judiciaries and so it is conducted without any help of lawyers and judges but by the police officials, police jawans and the active participation of residents.

Since its inception, says the Government:

• Record 17,665 villages dispute free in Maharashtra

• Complaints Resolved – 11,00,000

• Gram Panchayats felicitated (cash prize) – 16,004

• Gram Panchayats awarded (special prize) – 1,223

(Pictures courtesy www.panchayat.gov.in)

Categories
Tech

Review: Motorola Moto G (2nd Generation)

What’s new and what isn’t with the second generation Moto G? We do a spot check and come away impressed.
by Manik Kakra | @Manik_K on Twitter

Ever since Motorola has come back into the Indian market, the company’s motto has been to provide a richer Android experience to devices that are priced well below the flagships, something that not many have been able to achieve. The original Moto G was quite great device for its price and it did (still doing) really well in the market. With the new Moto G, Motrola has tried to keep things rather simpler – a refreshed model without too many changes. Does it live up to its predecessor’s level? Let’s try and find out.

The looks. Motorola’s new Moto G (XT1068) follows a different design than the original one, and something that, at least from the front, looks closer to the Moto E. On the white model, the (two silver strips) front-facing speakers (stereo) stand out surrounding the 5-inch 1280 x 720 LCD IPS touchscreen. While the front panel has Gorilla Glass on top, the rear is made up of soft matte plastic material with a slight curve across it.

The phone, at about 150 grams, feels hefty and fits pretty well in your hand. One half of the sides is matte (from the back) and the other is gloss (front part), giving you a solid grip. Other components on the front include the 2 MP front-facing camera, LED notification light, and sensors. The back has the ‘M’ logo placed in sort of a dimple shell, new 8 MP camera with an LED flash.

The top houses the 3.5mm headset jack and secondary mic; while the bottom gets the microUSB port. The left side panel is absolutely plain; and the right one houses the volume rockers and Power/Lock key. These physical keys are required to be pressed hard and could have been given a better finish. Just to add, the screen is, as usual, prone to smudges and fingerprints, while the matte back isn’t.

The phone is equipped with a larger 5-inch HD screen, and the panel seems to be a different one from the original Moto G. It is bright, slightly better to operate under direct sunlight, has decent viewing angles and colours also appear sharp. If you’re used to a full HD panel, you might notice pixels on the screen, but other than that, there’s not much to complaint about it.

This dual-SIM handset comes loaded with Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi b/g/n, 3G connectivity, and GPS. As far as connectivity is concerned, the phone performs well. There are no shortcomings regarding network reception, GPS locking-on or Bluetooth use.

The phone’s call quality is on par with flagships and the volume level is slightly higher than the original Moto G, if I remember correctly. Coming to the in-ear sound, the default headsets are pretty decent, but they are not comfortable to wear (depending on your size). They keep coming off when used during commuting and make for a rather sub-par experience. On the other hand, the loud speakers on the Moto G are much improved. The front-facing stereo speakers are loud and clear, though not as punchy as you would like them for your videos and games, but they are noticeably better than many handsets in the mid-range.

Camera. The camera seems much improved from the one on the original Moto G. It can not only take more detailed shots but also less grainy. You can view a few images here: http://imgur.com/a/ymXMP

As you can see, images are more detailed, less noisy and colours appear brighter. The phone’s native camera app, though, is still not very impressive. Though low-light performance also seems to score better, there is still a lot of scope of improvement in this aspect. The focus mechanism needs work. There are just a few basic settings to choose from and you might want to try third-party camera apps.

Battery. The new Moto G is equipped with a 2,070 mAh battery unit. The phone’s battery life is quite good. More often than not, it lasted me a day with around 10 per cent still in the tank. The usage mainly included almost all WiFi for Emails, Twitter, a few videos on the YouTube app, 5 to 10 minutes of calling and half an hour of in-ear music. If you are okay with the Power-saving mode, you can stretch the battery life further.

Performance and software. The Moto G (2nd Generation) is powered by Qualcomm’s snapdragon 400 MSM8266 SoC (1.2 GHz quad-core processor, Adreno 305 GPU), along with 1 GB of RAM. The phone runs on near-stock Android 4.4.4 with a few little additions done by Motorola. Motorola has included its usual set of apps and services like Assist, Help, Migrate and Alert. The phone feels smooth to operate and doesn’t stutter while browsing the Web, playing games or just navigating through the OS.

One thing worth mentioning is that going to and from one app to another, you will see that apps take a bit more time to load than on high-end phones. This is mainly due to Motorola not upgrading the RAM size. Otherwise, this is a capable smartphone that doesn’t often lag or show signs of freezing in the OS. If you have used a Nexus device in the last two years, or one of Motorola’s recent devices, you will feel at home with the new Moto G. The whole look and feel is that of stock Android 4.4.4, and the next major upgrade is in the pipeline within the first three months of Google releasing it. For storage purposes, you get over 12 GB of space and also the option to use a microSD card of up to 32 GB size.

Wrapping up, the new Moto G can be called as a slight refresh to the original one. With Motorola keeping screen resolution, RAM, SoC and battery unit the same, there mainly only a couple of big changes made. But it is not to say they’re completely wrong in doing so. With better camera, good battery life and screen, and decent design, the new Moto G is one of the best performers in this segment. If you already own a Moto G, then you’d do better not to buy this, but if you’re looking for an Android smartphone within Rs 15,000, you can surely check out Motorola’s newest mid-range offering.

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