Startups: Ather Energy

Electric Vehicles, Redefined, For The Second Time.

This is a new section of the blog where we talk of the most promising startups around the world, what better way to start off by than by talking about Ather Energy.




Ather Energy is a startup based out of Bangalore, India. It was co-founded by two IIT Madras graduates, Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain.

(Co-founders of Ather Energy From Left To Right Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain)

The startup is developing electric scooters for the future.
Just one look at the website, shows just how passionate and ambitious they are. They have been in the news several times after receiving several rounds of financing.

The co-founders of Flipkart.com, Sachin and Binny Bansal, had invested $1 million in the startup and most recently Tiger Global invested $12 million just a few days back.

The scooters really do look from the future. As you scroll through the webpage you get hints of the fact that these guys are really out there to revolutionize not only the the way people look at electric vehicles but also the importance of design when it comes to vehicles.

They are incorporating a lot of revolutionary features into their scooters, such as greater mileage, incorporating lightweight materials, new Android UI on the dash etc.

You can check out more about them, at their website here.
Image courtesy Ather Energy.

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Sarthak J Shetty
Editor In Chief

Samsung Galaxy S5: Carrying On The Proud Galaxy Tradition

The past few weeks have been absolutely amazing for all of us in the tech community. HTC released the One M8, Microsoft BUILD and also Samsung's very own Galaxy S5 and also the Gear Fit.

So here is our review on the Samsung Galaxy S5.

What's New:

The looks of the S5 is exceedingly like the hybrid of the S4 and the Note 3. The specs definitely place it in the high end phone department.
At a quick glance the phone has a bigger screen (which we will talk about) and also what seems to be much more distinct bezels.
The button orientation is also changed.

The S5 compares like a toy in comparision to the amazingly built HTC One M8.
Its is also made water ressistant (not water proof) and dust proof.
The back feels like the leather backing of the Samsung Galaxy S5, which kind of a dimple finish which I'm not that big of a fan, it also lacks the leatcher stiching of the Note 3.
The S5 also features a finger print scanner just like the iPhone 5S.

The Display:

The super AMOLED 5.1 inch screen has a resolution of 1920x1080, and looks absolutely gorgeous with perfect image and color replication. It has a pixel density of 432 ppi.

The Internals:

The Phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset, with a Quad Core Krait 400 CPU which is clocked in at 2.5 GHz.
The Adreno 330 GPU handles all the graphics and games thrown at it with ease.

A suprising move by Samsung is that they have decieded to include a heart rate monitor. Yes a heart rate monitor, so now you can place your finger on the back of the phone and you can get your heart rate via the Samsung Health app.
The 2 GB RAM handles all the multi tasking as expeccted by any Samsung flagship.

The Camera:

The camera is a slightly bumped up 16 mega-pixel camera, which takes amazing pictures standing on par with the Note 3.
The flash on the back shares its place with the already mentioned heart rate monitor.
Samsung claims that the phone has the fastest autofocus time at 0.6 seconds. The burst mode is also amazingly impressive with the capacity to take around 30-50 shots in 3 seconds.

The camera software is also loaded with a whole lot of perks and softwares updates previously seen on other Samsung phones, along with the ability to shoot 4K video and dual photo mode.

The Operating System And Interface:

Android 4.4.2 running on the S5 is skinned with TouchWIZ.
The TouchWIZ skin makes it laggy at times that it makes you doubt wheter a 5.1 inch super powered chipset is running it or not.

The Samsung Magazine UI is powered by Flipboard is poor in comparision to the BlinkFeed running on the HTC One M8.
Sansung Health app is  a full fledged apo that tells you everything from the number of steps you covered to what you must be eating to watch your calorie intake. It also works in close association with the heart rate monitor.

Battery, Pricing, Colors:

The 2800 mAh, removable-replaceable battery gets the phone through a complete day or maybe 2 with normal usage. And just in case you forget to charge your phone, there is crazy Ultra Battery saver mode that converts your phone to a pretty basic but survivable mode.

The S5 is available for $199 on contract on just about every network provider out there and around $650-$700 off contract for the unlocked version.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is available in Black, White and an ugly Blue backed, black bezeled variant.

Conclusion:

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is definitely a top of the line high end phone. But its not what I; or many of us expected from Samsung.

Sure there is microscopically bigger screen, a 16 mega-pixel screen, but there is nothing that makes us jump on it and buy it regardless the $700 price range. It lacks the WOW factor that the Note 3 or the HTC One M8 had.

So thats our review on the Samsung Galaxy S5.

Stay tuned for the reviews on the Samsung Galaxy Fit, Microsoft Phone 8.1 and much more.

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Sarthak J Shetty

Editor In Chief

HTC One M8: The Term Beast Redefined

HTC has been dormant for quite a while. After the success of the One M7 it has been quitely rolling out small products that have not caught the limelight as much as the M7.
Thats gone now for sure with the release of the M8.

HTC One M8: What's New:

First of all the appearence is excedingly like the M7 while you have a quick glance. But on a closer inspection you can see that the new brushed aluminium body is curved at the lateral corners, make it feel more present in your hand, but at the same time makes you feel that the phone will slip at any moment.

The Display:

The display is a Full HD 5.0 inch panel with a resolution of 1920x1080 with a pixel density of 441 ppi.

It may not be the best screen on paper, but its a sure treat for the eyes, with the right amount of image saturation and the best viewing angles that you can find right now in the market.

The Internals:

The CPU running this beast of a phone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801. Its a Quad-Core Krait 400 Chipset clocked in at around 2.3GHz.

The Adreno 330 GPU is top of the line and ahandles all the graphics beautifully rendering colors with the right saturation.
The 2 GB RAM doesn't rival the Note 3 on paper but handles multi-tasking just as good.

The Camera:

The camera is the biggest upgrade the M8 has over the M7 .
There are two camera apertures placed one atop the other.
The main camera has a 4 Ultra-Pixel sensor, simillar to that on the M7. Its good but  HTC could've (Should've) improved on this bit as it would have made a huge update over the M7.

The 2nd camera acts as a depth determiner in order to provide better pictures depth wise and also provides an added functionallity simillar to that of a Lytro, which means that you can focus images after they have been captured.
The front camera features a 5 Mega-Pixel sensor, (which functions sometimes BETTER than the back facing shooter).

Storage:

The M8 has an internal storage capacity of 10 GB which can be expanded to upto 128 GB via micro-SD, which again was one of the much required update over last years M7.

Operating System And Software:

The One runs on Google's latest Android KitKat 4.4.2.. Skinning it is Android Sense 6, it appears somewhat bulky but less that last years versions of Sense 5.
HTC Zoe, Blinkfeed feature on it just the same.

The new M8 has been infused with several Motion detecting controls, all of which have been given the name HTC Motion Launch.
Now you can mute your phone,ringer with just a flip.
You can pick up a call just by lifting the phone. Also now the phone judges whether or not it is outside or in your pocket or bag and automatically adjusts the ringer volume.

Colors, Battery, Accessories And Pricing:

The phone is available in three colors, Gun Metal Grey, Glacial Silver and Stealth Black.
The M8 has also been announced with an awesome touch-sensitive Dot Case, stay tuned for its review too.

The 2600 mAh battery provides 20 hours of battery life on paper and 420 hours or so on standby.
The HTC One M8 is avaiable for around $700 dollars in the US.

So thats our review on the HTC One M8.

Stay tuned for the review on Windows Phone 8.1, Samsung Gear Fit and also on the Samsung Galaxy S5.

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Sarthak J Shetty
Editor In Chief

 

Samsung Galaxy Round-The Beast With Curves

The  Samsung Galaxy Round-Those Curves:

Curved Display's are the new thing in the tech community. Samsung like always is leading the race with the introduction of the Galaxy Round. The Round was introduced in South Korea, and is basically a Note 3 with a curved display. So lets review the Samsung Galaxy Round.

Display:

Of course, the most resounding feature of this device is that screen. You can easily distinguish this device from others by just glancing at it. The screen is curved Super Flexible AMOLED 5.7 inch screen with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels, with 386 pixels per inch. The curved screen has its perks, since Samsung has infused some certain features which are exclusive to the Round.

For example, if you have the Round placed on a flat surface, you can tilt the phone towards you to wake-up the screen which display's the notifications that you have missed. There are several such small tweaks throughout the ecosystem.

Internal Specs:

The internal specs of the Round can be easily identified to the specs of the Note 3.

The chipset is Qualcomm's popular Snapdragon 800 featuring the Quad-Core 2.3 GHz Krait 400.

The GPU responsible for rendering graphics is the Adreno 330.

The 3 GB onboard handles the multi-tasking and background tasks with a breeze.

Design:

The design is a hybrid between the design of the Galaxy S4, Note 3 and also a bit of neither.

The design of this phone is mostly defined by the curved display. It has its perks like we said, but it also has a lot of downs.

Mainly you can't text the normal way on this display. You can't read something on it while its placed on a flat surface, despite it having this amazing screen. The characteristic metal band of the Galaxy Range is prominent.

The back has this sort of matte finish and the positioning of the flash and the camera is just like the arrangement seen on the S4.

Operating System:

The TouchWIZ interface is built atop Android 4.3 "JellyBean".

Camera:

The camera is also very similar to the camera of the Note 3 since both of them have a 13 mega-pixel sensor without Optical Image Stabilization. HDR, Panorama and face detection and the regular features are prominent.

It is capable of shooting 1080p video @ 60 frames-per-second.

The 2 mega-pixel shooter on the front can also shoot 1080p @ 30 frames-per-second.

Memory And Connectivity:

The Galaxy Round is only available in a 32 GB variant. However the memory can be expanded with the use of the microSD which is provided.

The regular connectivity options are available including 3G, 4G LTE and Wi-Fi.

Battery, Color And Price:

The battery and the price are the key points ehere the buyer has to comprise.

The Li-Ion phone only has a 2800 mAh capacity. Talking about the low capacity battery comes another comprise, the price.

The Samsung Galaxy Round is retailing for about $1000 dollars, which is crazy considering that your high speced phone only has a 2800 mAh battery which is capable of providing only 16 hours of talk time and 74 hours of music playback.

The reason why the battery has a low capacity is because even though the display is curved the rest of the components are solid, they cannot be made curved, hence it would not be possible to facilitate a large battery in a device that is curved because there would be no place to accommodate it.

It is currently available in only one color that is, Brown.

Conclusion:

We personally think that this is a sort of "experiment" by Samsung, very similar to what they tried with the Galaxy Mega lineup. They want to see how well people receive this product and to determine if people like it.

But for the time being, we think that this is a leap in display technology and we hope to see more kinds of these devices, but which less compromise of other components.

Stay tuned for the review on its competitor The LG G Flex.

So that's our review on the Samsung Galaxy Round.

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Sarthak J Shetty

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1-The Super Speced Tablet

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition-The Beast Of A Tablet:

The Note series from Samsung has been highly successful since its introduction with the Note 1 all the way through to the Note 3.

Samsung has also started the Note 10.1 series which include high performing tablets, mainly to rival Apple's iPad. The Note 10.1 2014 is no exception to this clause.
So here is the review of the New Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1.

Display:

As the name suggests the Note 10.1 features a 10.1 inch scree.
The display is Full HD with a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels with an average pixel density of 299 ppi.

The screen's have been greatly emphasized upon by Samsung and it always strives to make them such that hey always stand out. The Note 10.1's screen is no exception. It provides brilliant eye popping colors which seem to be hard to find in most tablets on the market.

Internal Specs:

The chipset running the 10.1 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, featuring a Quad-Core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 CPU in the LTE model and a Quad Core 1.9 GHz Cortex A15 and a Quad-Core  GHz Cortex A7 CPU for the 3G model.

The Adreno 330 GPU handles the graphics.
The 3 GB RAM onboard is more than sufficient for handling any kind of processes or multi-tasking.
The Note 10.1 also features an IR blaster, which gives you the ability to control your TV.

Operating System And Connectivity:

The Note 10.1 features Samsung's TouchWiz skin which is built on top of Android 4.3 "JellyBean".
Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP on the Note 10.1 allows you to connect with Samsung's Galaxy Gear.
Wi-Fi and 3G bands are also present.
4G LTE is available in select markets depending on the country in which you live.

Built Quality:

The Note 10.1 appears to have a premium built, but its still Samsung and as a result most of the device is made of plastic but it is still feels like a premium tablet when you hold it in your hands.

There is a metal band that runs throughout the body on the sides.
The back has a similar finish as the Note 3 which looks like stitched leather but it too is plastic.

Camera:

The primary camera on the back has an 8 mega-pixel sensor which auto-focusing.
Its a camera on a tablet, but it is a bit disappointing that it lacks Optical Image Stabilization in such a heavy speced device.

he secondary camera on the front has a 2 mega-pixel sensor which can facilitate video calling.
Both the camera can shoot 1080p video @ 30 frames-per-second but the primary camera on the LTE model can shoot 1080p camera at 60 frames-per-second.

Memory:

The device is available in 16, 32 and 64 GB on basis of memory. The memory can be expanded upto 64 GB with the help of a microSD card.

Battery, Color and Price:

The Non-Removable Li-Polymer battery has a capacity of 8220 mAh.
It provides 2230 hours of standby time, which is pretty decent. But we have to test and review the device to give the actual hours that it will provide on standby.

Its available on White and Black. Pink is not an option in the 10.1 which was available in the Note 3.
The Note 10.1 is retailing for about $547.99 for the 16 GB white model from Amazon, and you can purchase it from here.

Conclusion:

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is an amazing device which performs like a beast. The specs are amazing on paper and in usage.
Its main competitor in the tech community is obviously Nokia's Lumia 2520 and the Apple iPad Air, both of which are equally speced and powerful.
However we think that Samsung should have paid more attention to the built quality of the 10.1, especially when the price goes upto $600.

You can check out the review on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 here.
You can check out the review on the Nokia Lumia 2520 here.
You can check out the review on the Apple iPad Air here.

So that's our review on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition.
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Sarthak J Shetty
Editor In Chief

Whatapp-Flight Control

Every kid dreams of flying planes at some point in their life. That may or may not be possible for some of you out there. Hence, the app Flight Control.

Flight Control is a flight simulator where you basically navigate different types of aerial vehicles to their respective landing zones, which can be either 2 types of runway or a helipad.

It features several different locations but the most popular ones are the aircraft carrier and the beach.

The level of difficulty increases with the number of successful landings.

Different air vehicles include jets, biplanes, helicopters, jumbo jet etc.

Overall, this is a very fun, simple game which provides an excellent means for relaxation and unwinding.

And don't worry if your plane collides or crashes, you have the ability to replay the game prior to the collision provided you have enough Rewinds.

The app is available for both Android and iOS.

You can download the app for Android by clicking here.

You can download the app for iOS by clicking here.

So that's our review on the app Flight Control, hope you have fun piloting planes.

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Oppo N1-Innovation Redefined

Oppo-At The Forefront Of Innovation Yet Again:

You may remember our review on the Oppo Find 5 earlier this year. It was an excellent product with well defined specs, amazing built quality and all that goodness.
Oppo has taken quite a lot from their experience with the Find 5 and decided to try something with the same motive; so Oppo went ahead and began churning the rumor mill with pictures and features of there new phone the N1 which was very well received among the audience, and when it was released it awed the world. So here is our review on the Oppo N1.

Display:

The Find 5 was the first phone in the market with a full HD display and yes it was just as good as it sounded.

So, Oppo took a hint from the well received screen and slapped on a 5.9 inch (beautiful) Full HD display on the N1 which looks even better than the display on the N1 especially considering the fact that itures a bigger screen. It features 1080x1920 pixels with an average pixel density of 373 ppi which makes the colors just pop on the screen.

Camera:

The camera is the highlight on the N1 for sure. It is a modular camera, which is capable of 206 degree rotation. The camera can be used both as a front facing one and a back facing camera too.

The camera features a 13 mega-pixel sensor. And since the camera piece can rotate, technically even the secondary front-facing camera has a 13 mega-pixel sensor and also features a dual LED system.
The shots that the camera takes are really good and colors appear lively.

Built:

One of the best and the most distinguishable feature of the N1 lies on the back. If you observe the phone carefully on the back you can see that there is a soft touch square region which acts as a touchpad.
Since the N1 is a really big device, one handed usage can be hard, hence Oppo has provided this touch pad for comfortable one handed navigation using your index finger.

It takes a few days to get used to, but after that you begin to feel why other phone manufacturers never adopted this technology.
The N1 weighs in at about 213 g or 7.51 ounces. which is a bit heavy, but come on this is a 5.9 inch phone or phablet; depending on how big your hands are.

Internal Specs:

The chipset running the N1 is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600, which features a Quad-Core 1.7 GHz Krait 300 CPU.

The graphics is handled by an Adreno 320 chip. The RAM amounts to 2 GB, which is capable of handling all the multi-tasking.

Additional Features:

Oppo has infused certain extra features into the N1 which provide more functionality to this device. An example for this is the O-Click feature.

In this function you can operate your N1; mostly your camera, wirelessly with a help of a bundled Bluetooth Remote. It helps you to capture group pictures in case you want to feature in the picture.

Operating System:

The N1 runs on Oppo's custom skin, the Color OS which is based on Android 4.2 "JellyBean".

This skin better by leaps and bounds than the skin which was featured in the Find 5 by miles. It looks less chunky and heavy, even though it is in the ballpark of well, heavy and chunky.

Partnership With CyanogenMOD:

Yes, Oppo has partnered with CyanogenMOD, to maybe develop the software on board this phone even though we are not yet clear on this.

Oppo has from the beginning, has supported rooting and installation of custom ROMs. This is made evident from the fact that Oppo doesn't void your warranty in the case that you root your phone.

Memory:

The Oppo N1 is available in 2 variants based on memory that is, 16 and 32 GB which no option for expandable storage.

Price, Battery And Colors:

We are unclear on the price of the N1.

The battery onboard is a decent 3610 mAh.

It is available on in white as of now.

Conclusion:

We think that the Oppo N1 has paved the way for smartphone innovation, but this innovation remains larger constricted to markets such as Asia were Oppo doesn't receive enough credibility for its work. It should work to promote its marketing in Western countries so that this type of open mindedness to rooting and innovation is picked up by other manufacturers.

You can check out more information about the Oppo N1 at the N1's official page here.

So that's our review on the Oppo N1.
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Sarthak J Shetty
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WhatApp-BlackBerry Messenger

BBM-Starting Point In BlackBerry's Path To Glory?

Blackberry has been in hot waters recently. The once leader in the smartphone industry, has had a spiraling journey downward, ever since the release of the iPhone. Since then, BlackBerry has made several attempts to enter back into the game which has been evident with the launch of the BlackBerry Z10, Q10 and the phablet Z30 (review coming soon).

 However, BlackBerry has realized that (a little late) that the software in a device is given much more value than the internals which run the device. As a result BlackBerry has recently released one of its priced apps, the BlackBerry Messenger in both iTunes Store and Google's Play Store. And the app has also reportedly been downloaded 10 million times in both stores in 24 hours.

The app is pretty neatly designed. The blue, black and blue color scheme reminds us of BlackBerry's OS 10.
It carries more than just colors from BlackBerry OS since it includes much of its swipe based functions.
For example, if you to the right you can access your contacts, chats, updates etc.
You can swipe from within the chat to return to your previous screen.
Adding people using unique QR codes is not only intuitive way to add people on BBM but is also hassle-free.
As always the Emoji collection on BBM has always been vast and remains unchanged even in iOS and Android.
Some users have complained about waiting for long duration's for their BBM pin.

All in all we think that this is an excellent path chosen by BlackBerry to get back in the game and it also seems that it is working for them.

You can download BBM for your iOS device by clicking here.
You can download BBM for your Android device by clicking here.

So that's our review on the BlackBerry Messenger.
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Sarthak J Shetty
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