Jio's Ambitious push into AR

Some thoughts on Jio’s ambitious push into consumer electronics and specifically Jio Glass:

There are things that can be solved by throwing money at a problem. Jio has no shortage of that. Setting up a cellular telecommunications service is one of that. It’s not rocket science. The tech’s out there, it’s been worked upon for years and Reliance was able to quickly build a team that over the course of a few years built a strong system. The R&D is low in this field. It’s primarily a money problem. If you’re ready to invest in this business, you can set it up with the right people and the right monetisation strategy. 

The average streaming service is also a money problem. If you can cough up enough money to bid for the rights for a show, you can run a streaming service in the short term, even the strategy for long term success is a monetisation strategy. There’s little tech stack you need to develop.

But when it comes to consumer electronics, and more specifically emerging technologies that are still very nascent. The stakes are much higher. It’s not only a money problem. It’s a technology problem too. You don’t just need a team of management experts to decide on how to make the profits. You need a team of experienced inventors to be able to create the tech that successfully creates your vision of the future. (You also need a vision by the way). These teams aren’t built in a single day. It takes years for them to mature. Imran Chaudhry’s first patent wasn’t the slide to unlock screen. He wasn’t the only one who worked on the iPhone. The team involved people who worked to build the WebKit engine, people who had been in the industry, leading changes in user paradigms for much before the iPhone ever existed. Some even worked on the first personal computers. The manufacturing and industrial design teams were also working on the processes for more than a decade. These and many more combined together to form the tech stack that powered the iPhone. You can’t just throw money at a problem like that.

Can Jio build a tech stack of any reasonable quality to power their Jio Glass? Not today. Simply because they haven’t been in this field but also because there’s a dearth of R&D on future interactions and hardware that will empower the electronics of tomorrow. 

Do investments from Facebook and Google enable them to build this stack? That would be incredibly naive to think so. Both Facebook and Google are competing with Jio in augmented reality. This isn’t charity. Microsoft didn’t help Apple build OSX or Safari when they invested in them to keep them alive. They invested in them because they could ride on the money if Apple indeed pulled back, but would never have been a threat to their PC business. Over the years, Microsoft exited that investment. Moreover, if you think an capitalist American corporation would help you, simply because it has an Indian origin CEO, you’re living in a fool’s paradise. They’re in it to ride on the wave of revenue that Jio’s services will generate; they will exit the day they don’t have monetary skin in the game. 

I’d love to see Jio or any Indian company for that matter to build innovative and high quality consumer electronics. Unfortunately, that day hasn’t arrived yet, and Jio Glass seems more like a move to appease investors. Their demo looked unfinished at best but likely dubious vapourware.

The Puck is not going towards a Technology

Vidit Bhargava
There's a popular Wayne Gretzky quote : “A Great Hockey Player plays where the puck is going to be”. In recent times, we've heard the quote being referred to predict the future of consumer electronics. You'd often hear people say, “What's next after the GUI? Where is the puck going to be?”

And if you've followed technology news for the last couple of months, you've probably heard people say, “AI is the future.” ; “The next big thing is Virtual Reality” or more recently “Augmented Reality has finally made it to the masses.” All of them stating that the metaphorical puck is going towards AI, AR or VR.

Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are all extremely interesting fields of technological research. In fact, Artificial Intelligence has for long captured the imagination of people. There have been books, movies and TV Shows about what happens when a Machine or a Robot or an AI Powered cyborg takes over the city, In fact, Elon Musk clearly feels that we're living in a simulation! So, it must be where the puck is going, right?

But here's the catch. The puck doesn't go towards a technology. It doesn't even go towards a particular design paradigm. The puck goes towards a Human Problem. Technology is just a means of finding a solution to that problem. The solution may include the use of sophisticated AI but it's equally likely that the in final product that the user uses, AI is just a footnote.

The same can be said for Augmented or Virtual Reality, it's evident that they'll exist in some form in the future (To Be Honest, They've always existed in some or the other state), but there's a strong likelihood that they won't drive the products they're a part Of. Take the example of Pokemon Go. What makes that game so successful? Is it the AR Mode? No! It's the idea, that you can be a real Poke Master, that you too can move around the city and collect Pokemon like Ash Ketchum did, that makes it so exciting to a group of people. AR Mode? It's just an icing on the cake (it's not the cake).

The tiny keyboards and displays of the early mobile phones, were extremely limiting to what one could do with them. Modern day Touch Screen technology helped solve the problem, it provided a bigger canvas for mobile phones to do anything they liked. The keyboard wasn't limiting anymore. It could pop up whenever you wanted it to, stay down when you didn't. But it wasn't the touch screen technology alone that enabled smartphones to be the computers of the post PC era. It was the mixture of, a carefully crafted operating system which was meant to be used by your fingers instead of some kind of a navigational tool; the extremely complex hardware that made it possible for a powerful computer to fit into a hand-held device, the materials that gave it a light weight casing, making the experience of holding it in your hands for a long duration more comfortable. All of these technologies came together to form the basis of a modern day smartphone, There was a lot that the computers of the time couldn't do, or were less efficient in doing because of their size and lack of portability. There were a lot of things that a smartphone was capable of but couldn't because of it's limitations, the puck was definitely going towards more portable computers that enabled people to do their work more efficiently. Problems and challenges unlocked diverse possibilities in ways that helped people, all the cool technology involved, was just a tool used to achieve that. Had the puck been going towards touch screen technology, we'd still be using Palm Pilots or even Newton Message Pads.

Microsoft Surface First Impressions

Vidit Bhargava

Filled with gloss, covers, lights and music, Microsoft Surface made an appearance in a pressure sensitive magnetic cover’s ad today. Or was it the other way round? Well at least that’s what I felt when i first saw the Microsoft Surface Teaser Video. It’s evident that they are stressing on a part of the tablet which is neither unique nor uniquely designed. And since one generally tries to highlight the best of a device in his video, we may safely presume that this is the best they can offer us.

So, lets start with this new pressure sensitive keyboard attached to a smart cover like polyurethane (or a similar substance) ‘cover’. At first glance this pressure sensitive keyboard cum smart cover looks amazing. Some way even think that it’ll be their best typing experience on any device. But the final product may just act opposite to what you think its going to be. Microsoft’s protective cover is a razor thin keyboard. It’s razor thin and its flat. Which means, that it is more than likely that you’ll get a sprain in your hands than type comfortably for hours. This thing is quite ergonomically unfit. Moreover, you are going to need to touch the screen for any assistance while typing. And using multitouch on any screen which is perpendicular to your hands is a cumbersome experience. That’s the  ergonomic issue number 2. The third and the final issue which comes when you try to use this cover is the option to use it as a laptop and start using a track pad. Windows 8 is a dual minded software. It wants to be in your tablet as well as at your desk. History tells us, that its a bad idea. Microsoft itself has created and failed at this task. They’re trying again. My experiences with Windows 8 so far, tell me that its going to be a uphill task to actually stay at one UI and work efficiently. You can’t use the old UI efficiently with a Tablet and there aren’t many apps for Metro UI on the Windows Marketplace / Store.



In terms of hardware, Surface provides just about what all other tablets do. Its got a Tegra 3 Processor and 32GB and 64GB of Storage options + an SD Card Slot. There is also a USB Port which is a slight stroke of brilliance, since it may allow you to use your controllers and keyboard and mouse and everything and convert it into a notebook, if you get too annoyed with the touch experience or want a slightly better gaming experience. But then its just one USB Port and games that run on traditional PCs might not run on Windows 8 RT tablets. Also unlike as advertised, charging your phone on a tablet might not be the best idea if its own battery life is short (Microsoft is still to give a word on battery life). While the Magnesium casing is new and on first impressions looks sturdy, The back of the tablet is particularly uninteresting and slightly clumsy on design. There is a “Stand” that you can kick to put it at a good angle for watching movies, which is a good tool (only if its strong enough to not keep flapping every-time we hold our tablet), but it seriously harms the over all feel of the device since now you are left with a very bad looking back, with screws and stands all over. The tablet is just as thin as the new iPad (9.3 mm) and it weighs about 603 grams. A lot depends on how this hardware will eventually perform.



Surface runs on Windows 8. Windows 8 RT to be precise. While its a nice experience with the metro UI placed on the screen, its not going to be as good when you try to run some of the old UI software. Its going to be a little annoying. Having said that, there are a lot of pre-installed apps on the Metro UI too, and they look beautiful. Since I haven’t used the tablet my self I might not be able to tell you exactly how good or bad it is. (My experience with Windows 8 on a laptop was quite miserable)

The Microsoft Store however, is  yet to take any flight and with Microsoft’s ultra-strict app approval policies, tedious development standards and slightly inferior SDK and APIs its going to be tough to lure new developers to create apps solely for Windows 8. As of now iOS remains their preferred choice.

Well that’s pretty much it about the Microsoft Surface. We don’t have any pricing details or launch dates or even battery life quotes. All we have is a promo promoting the Touch Type Cover.

Microsoft Surface will have quite a task at eliminating internal competition with other tablet developers who are creating Windows 8 Tablets. Of what we have seen today at the unveiling the Microsoft Surface is not even close to be in competition with the iPad. The iPad sits firmly at the top with a well grounded operating system which is in its sixth edition and a huge developer database, Something which all other tablet Operating Systems lack.  Also Its got a massive head-start and Apple has so-far only improved the Tablet experience per upgrade. Which has left no-room for the aping competitors to step in. Surface is hardly a killer to the iPad.



Having said all that, we are still to get our hands on a Microsoft Surface Device, and it isn’t coming before Fall (That’s when Windows 8 is likely to be unveiled for Consumers), till then its hard to say if its going to be a success or not. I have given my impressions on the Tablet, the numbers will do the talking now.

And Did I forget to mention that there is going to be a second variant of this tablet, too. Its going to be called Surface Pro. They are adding an Ivy Bridge Quad Core i5 Processor into it, A USB 3.0 Port and a Mini-Display Port into it. There is also going to be a stylus for that tablet. And its going to be heavier and thicker. And it’ll have Windows 8 Pro (These names still remind of the prank Jobs played at them, at the launch of OS X Leopard)



P.S. I may have been  a little harsh at Microsoft Sometimes but seriously the first impressions were taken without being affected by previous experience with the Software Firm.

Being First. Does it Matter?

Vidit Bhargava
What was the world's first smartphone? The world's first camera on phone? Who was the first to come up with touch-screen technology? Who invented the light-bulb? The answers to these questions might be too trivial for you to remember. But are they important? Do you really need to care about the first in businesS? Or is it the best you want?

People and companies sometimes screw themselves by selecting a really new technology for their new gadget. Evidently they want the newest and best for their gadget. The tech-world is as it is highly competitive. Also the silicon valley giants are always under threat of some passionate Stanford or Harvard Grad who'd ace them with his new upbeat ideas. Its a cut throat battle out there and coming first, getting a patent and pushing some crazy new technology into your next gadget is sure to get a lot of attention.

But what most people overlook is the fact that being first doesn't mean that it is the best. Technology, like a life form, evolves. If you try to use it before it's mature enough to be used, you will end up with a buggy gadget that never works and no one likes. But if you wait for it to evolve, you perfect it, and then harness its technology into creating something powerful and economical, you might come up with something better that'll change the world around you.

The history of the light-bulb (much in question these days, due to Oatmeal's apotheosis of Tesla) has a lot for us to learn. It is clear that Thomas Elva Edison never came up with the first light-bulb. The first we saw something of the sort of an incadenscent bulb was when Humphery Davy created first incandescent light by passing the current through a thin strip of platinum in 1802. But then that's not how we use the light bulb in our homes, do we? Edison was the first to create a bulb which was feasable for public use. It was something that wasn't expensive nor harmful. It was the best of the many light-bulbs invented before and after his version. He became successful and trumped over the 22 inventors of light-bulb before him. Today he's widely known as the inventor of the light bulb (even though there were people before him). That's the classic example of how the best technology is the one which is evolved enough to be in a product and is feasible for the consumers. Had we all been delivered Humphery Davy's Incadencent light, well.. the future would have been darker than one could imagine.

Inventing new technology is just half the work done. Successfully implementing it into a fine product is what matters.

All About the New iPad

Vidit Bhargava

Apple finally unveiled the third generation iPad on March 7th 2012. Just about an year after it had announced the iPad 2. I’d like to start with the iPad 2 today. To make it clear iPad 2 was a major design upgrade. The new Aluminum back was just about how much Apple could change the iPad’s look in one update. And hence, contrary to what others might say, iPad 2 was the design overhaul update and not a stability update. So let’s paste Apple’s upgrade trends for iOS devices now. The first update usually brings a design overhaul while the second update becomes a stability update for the first one without any significant change in design. Therefore, The Third Generation iPad had to be a similar looking, more stable version of the iPad 2. It’s just that. And goes a little further.

Let me walk through the ‘new’ iPad’s key-features one by one now:

Retina Display: The iPhone 4 was the first device to get a retina display and so everyone had hoped that it will come to the iPad 2 also. Turns out a Retina Display on the iPad 2 was not only expensive it also had technical difficulties to overcome, and so it came an year later to the iPad screen.

You’ve got to experience a retina display in person to know how it feels, it’s not the same thing as using one on an iPhone, it’s even better and brighter. Infact the 2048×1536 pixels resolution is even better than what an HD resolution would like on a tablet. The iPad with its Retina Display and IPS LCD has the best screen any mobile device (phone or Tablet) has ever had. And takes the 3rd Generation iPad miles ahead of competition in terms of graphics and display quality. Instantly all other tablets in the world, now look dull and of ancient ages. To top it all the new iPad maintains the same battery life of 10 hours which makes it all though more difficult for competitors to catch up with the father of all tablets.

5MP Camera: The back-camera which is now called an iSight Camera has got a major tech-bump in terms of image quality, the new iSight Camera, believe it or not, takes better pictures than the iPhone 4 camera. Even though both of them are 5MP. Yes, the key to great photography is not in the megapixels but the technology involved in the camera, and Apple’s idea of adding another lens and widening the camera aperture is a good one. And adds real color to the images.

There are obviously high-expectations from the camera, given that the same technology did wonders for the iPhone 4S. The initial shots look great, but I won’t comment on the quality before I actually lay hands on one.

A5X: it’s not A6 or last year’s A5. It’s the A5X processor. The A5X processor has a dual-core and quad-core graphics. Quad-Core Graphics engine now help the iPad to get better games with console-like graphics, Apple had demoed A NAMCO developed Action Game and the Infinity Blade Dungeons by Epic Games. Both of them had looked spectacular and the iPad like an equal amongst its console rivals.

So, while A5X might not bring a steep performance update in CPU, but graphics have definitely become top-notch. Hence the name A5X and not A6.

But a word about the technical specifications over here, Apple controls it’s own hardware and software and hence your new iPad is not likely to be a slow experience in any way. You are definitely going to get a blazing fast experience and by upgrading the hardware apple allows the developers to build better apps which provide a great experience to the customer.

While we can compare Android Tablets by the processor speed, RAM or any other technical specification, we cannot do the same when comparing an Android Tablet to the iPad. So, when we compare an Android Tablet to the iPad we will also have to compare the user experience of using the same apps on both the devices, moreover an overall experience is to be compared rather than a fragment of it.

4G LTE: While Indian users might not get the 4G speeds on the third Generation iPad when it launches, users in the US have a lot to be happy about, The new iPad is a 4G LTE device which comes with AT&T, Bell, Rogers and Verizon as supported 4G suppliers. Moreover 4G LTE means that the new iPad will allow for faster web-browsing and web-experience. So this is 4G, of know use in the Indian Market but of immense power in areas it is present.

Voice Dictation: Unlike the iPhone the iPad doesn’t come with Siri built in. The new iPad however has Voice Dictation. Voice dictation is a part of Siri, which takes voice input and converts it to text. We can expect Siri once it’s out of the beta stage, though.

Pricing and Availability:

16th March 2012	23rd March 2012*
United States	Belgium
Canada	Greece
United Kingdom	Ireland
France	Italy
Germany	Macau
Switzerland	Mexico
Japan	New Zealand
Hong Kong	Portugal
Singapore	Spain
Australia	Sweden

* The 3rd Generation iPad will release In 26 European countries on 23rd March 2012. Only Some of them have been listed above.

Pricing:

	16GB	32GB	64GB
iPad WiFi	$499	$599	$699
iPad WiFi + 4G	$629	$729	$829
iPad 2 WiFi	$399	-	-
iPad2 WiFi+ 3G	$529	-	-

Summing Up:

In a time where the only significant tablet in the market is the iPad, And others are only catching up, even a minor update to the tablet would mean even more to catch up for the competition. The new iPad builds on the image of the  previous two versions. And with more and more tablet buyers emerging everyday, the new iPad will gain on that front too.

A major selling point of the iPad will be the Retina Display, with the Retina Display the new iPad opens up an array of improvements that graphic based content could get. And along with the new quad-core graphics, everything on the new iPad will look brighter and wonderful, specially movies and nextgen games.

Should you Upgrade? Those who had bought the first generation iPad can upgrade now. The iPad has come a long way after its 2010 release, and with the new iPad being more of a stability upgrade, upgrading from the first generation iPad will definitely turn out to be a great idea.

For Those who had bought the iPad 2, an upgrade is not recommended. The iPad 2 is nearly as good as the new iPad but sans Retina Display.

For those wanting to buy a new iPad, it is a golden period to buy one.

UltraBooks or UltraClones?

Vidit Bhargava

Sometime back, Intel introduced this term called 'Ultrabook'. It defines it as 'a higher-end type of subnotebook'. The definition itself is so complex, that you can imagine what kind of weirdly boiled mockery the Ultrabooks will turn out to be.

The CES this year was paraded by Ultrabooks from Asus, Acer, HP, Dell, Lenovo. Almost every computer manufacture wants to wet its hands in the supposed Ultrabook Revolution.

Two give you a clearer picture of what an ultrabook looks like Here are a few details about this 'Revolutionary' product that comes once in a while: The Ultrabooks are thin, lightweight, come in Unibody Enclosures and with limited ports. They also have a long-battery life. And almost all of them use 'Flash Based SSDs'. The display size is 11.6" to 13.3" or 14" at most. None of them features a CD-DRIVE.

And Now you may have a clear picture of what the Ultrabook will look like:

Looks familiar? Isn't it? Its the MacBook Air that was launched in 2010. The Ultrabook thing came in mid-2011. The Ultrabooks not only shamelessly rip off the design of a macbook air. They also boast of similar specifications.

Many people right now will be planning to press that 'x' button on their devices, since they fear this is going to go the fan boy way. As a matter of fact it is not. It is for the truth that I write this post.

Write from the design ergonomics to the keyboard color. Everything is being cloned in the name of Ultrabook. The only thin wall between an ultrabook and a macbook air is the CULV processor by Intel. The MacBook Air has the same processor as that in their MacBook Pro.

CULV (Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage) is a low power Intel Processor with Integrated Graphics. It is designed specifically for the Ultrabooks platform.

Intel plans to release these low-voltage processors in three phases. (For their three micro-architectures). Hence, dividing the Ultrabook launch in three phases also. The first phase is going to be ruled by the Sandy Bridge. Second will have Ivy Bridge and the third will have Haswell. When you 'know' that Intel has Ivy Bridge and Haswell in works, which are better processors based on relatively newer technology (one of them is that of 3D Tri Gate Transistors), then why will you settle for a Sandy Bridge Processor which looks like Yesterday's discarded waste when compared to the glorious tomorrow Intel Promises.

Having said all that about the Ultraclones, I will like to add that not all is so-clone like about the Ultrabook genre. While 'most' of the ultrabooks may look like Chinese fakes of the macbook air. There are a few that are promising and aren't that abominable. Lets get back to CES to see whether the Ultrabooks have something 'different' to offer than the image of an Ultraclone.

At CES 2012: There wasn't any interesting news this time. Motorola and Intel got into a deal, Android revealed 'design standards for Ice Cream Sandwich', Qualcomm rolled out a new Snapdragon processor and Corning came out with Gorilla Glass 2. And Then there were Ultrabooks, more Ultrabooks, and an almost uncontrollable flood of them. Most of them were clones, and are not even worthy of being covered in this post, but some of them were notable and deserve a little mention.

According to Joanna Stern of The Verge, The HP Envy Spectre, XPS 13 and Lenovo Yoga were the best Ultrabooks at this year's CES.

Lets start with HP's Spectre. Its a comparatively thicker solution to the Ultrabook. and that's probably because of the Gorilla Glass it sports. So while the Gorilla Glass is a neat-trick, those obsessed with extremely slim solutions for a laptop won't be very happy about it. It does have a good display and does sport the high-end ultrabook specs, which include a 128GB mSATA SSD, and 4GB of RAM with a Core i5 CULV processor and NFC capabilities. The only thing that HP seems to have copied from Apple's Macbook is the the color scheme. The black-keyboard on on a grey body. HP's Spectre is better than the rest of Ultrabooks and is priced at $13,999.

XPS13 by Dell is Dell's first dive into the Ultrabook market. When closed, the XPS13 can easily be mistaken to be a chinese clone of the Macbook Air. However it has a completely different feel to it when opened. The Interiors are all black. The Specifications of the laptop are also good. They are nearly the same as that of Spectre except the XPS has a Core i3 CULV processor and a lesser screen-resolution of 1366X768. XPS13 also has the gorilla glass. No NFC over here though. The laptop is priced at $999. XPS13 is good but I won't seriously consider buying it, when i can get better at $999.


The last one on this list is Lenovo Yoga. It was the most uniquely designed ultrabook at CES and it has nothing similar to the MacBook Air in terms of design. The laptop turn into a touch screen tablet, and runs Windows 8. I am not sure if this qualifies an ultrabook (We still don't know if it has that CULV processor or whether a laptop needs CULV to be officially called an ultrabook*) but it has most of the qualities of an ultrabook. It has a Flash SSD, a large 'quoted' battery life, it is thin and its ultraportable. The hinge-design of which i am not a fan of, is a neatly done, but 'Yoga' might just prove to be very bulky to play the role of a Tablet. Also, the hinge may not be very comfortable for both Laptop and Tablet users. The Lenovo Yoga (An Ideapad) will hit the stores only after Windows 8 makes a debut.


Final Words:
While the Ultrabook platform is flooded with clones, there are a few which do stand-out and perform better than others. However, Even they sport similar designs and uninspired technology. So Ultrabook is largely an exaggerated and mass cloned platform. The herd might just survive, or may turn out to be Netbooks 2.0. doomed to die.

* Ultrabook is a trademark owned by Intel and this post has no-intention of demeaning the sales of the Ultrabooks.

Meet Siri iPhone 4S

Vidit Bhargava
Going by the trend Apple follows with it’s new devices, Apple generally introduces a new design one year, and then stabilizes it the next year (iPhone 3G – iPhone 3GS), so it wasn’t really a surprise when Apple introduced the iPhone 4S with the same design and a few necessary tweaks.

The iPhone has gone through a few very necessary updates, which were sort of expected after the launch of iPad 2. The first one is the A5 Chip. Single Cores are stale talk now, even though the iPhone 4 was blazingly fast, Apple had to throw in their A5 Chip, just to keep pace with others. The 1Ghz Dual Core Chip, with a dedicated Graphics Engine has already proved its strength in the iPad 2, and it’ll be real fun to see how it does in the iPhone 4S. Early reports however suggest that the iPhone chip has been under-clocked to 800Mhz, which doesn’t look like doing bad either.

The camera in the iPhone 4S has gone for a major upgrade, along with a new 8 Megapixel camera, Apple has also played with optics, the new camera now features a CMOS Sensor and 5 lenses instead of four and 1080p recording is now supported. Also the Aperture has widened. Long Story Short: Your new iPhone is capable of clicking photos much like they’ll be shot by a good digital camera.

But it’s a Phone update isn’t it? Just upgrading the camera and the Processor won’t do the trick, it doesn’t impress me! Not to worry, the iPhone 4S comes with a completely new antenna system, which not only corrects its older problems but also makes it a GSM + CDMA Phone, and promises a faster reception and great speeds. Apple also claims it’s the worlds first World Phone. Now that is what I call a Phonely update! There is finally something to upgrade.

Their not done yet, there is also a nice little voice assistant built in the phone. They call it Siri. It’s always that one more feature which makes or breaks the product. Siri is the replacement to Apple’s old aging and pathetic voice assistant which is not even capable of playing a song for me. So it really needs to do well to make this meek update roar in the market.

Originally Siri was an iOS app (which I did not know about until very recently), based on intelligent voice recognition. It was created by Dan Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer, Tom Gruber And Norman Winarsky. Apple bought Siri in April 2010.

When Scott Forstall came on stage to do a live demo of the voice assistant, it was quite a daredevil task, looking back at the history of voice assistant. Things worked out incredibly smooth however. And Siri was the party popper.

Siri, (the iPhone assistant) is a completely different tool from what you may have seen in some iOS apps. Here you can talk to the phone casually, while it tries to produce an appropriate solution, just like an efficient secretary. So if you tell the Phone that you are hungry, it will bring up a list of restaurants near you. Tell her that your car is broken down, and it well get give you a list of nearest car repairs.

Siri at a mere glance looks magical, nearly intelligent and straight from Science Fiction. However Siri comes with it’s own restrictions. One such example is limited language compatibility. Theoretically English is a very widely used language and many people on Earth can speak it. But on the practical side of it, when you are in trouble or desperately need help, you are bound to speak in native language which Siri in all probability, doesn’t understand. Also, Initial Reports suggest that outside US, Siri cannot even look up places or understand your location.

Siri is also efficient at producing Witty remarks, “Siri, can you murder someone for me?” it replies “I found 3 mental health agencies fairly close to you!” . You can find many such remarks at : http://goo.gl/r002M & http://goo.gl/mWWGS .

Summing it up: iPhone 4S is the most stable iPhone to date, and it’s bound to stay for a long time (Just like the 3GS), it’s selling point however lies in Siri, which will have to do incredibly well to save it from a sans-Steve failure. But that looks like a far fetched idea, because initially sales have already shattered servers and records.

What Has Changed...

Vidit Bhargava

What has actually changed in my Personal Computer in the past 4 years, of its Existence. Detailed Table View:

Item	January 23rd 2007	April 20th 2011
Display	HP 15" TFT Display (Grey Color)
Sound	Creative 2:1 Sub-Woofer System
Cabinet	iBall Black Colored Cabinet (Long)
Mouse and Keyboard	Microsoft Wired Mouse-Keyboard Combo	Microsoft Wireless Mouse-Keyboard Combo
Printer	Canon All-in-One Photo-Printer	HP Officejet J4580 All-In-One
Inside The CPU
Motherboard	Intel D946GZ
Processor	Intel Core2Duo 1.83Ghz
RAM	1GB Transcend 553Mhz DDR2	4GB Kingston 800Mhz DDR3
Disk-Space	160GB	160GB + 40GB + External HDD
Graphics	Intel GMA 3000	NVIDIA 9500GT - Galaxy -1GB DDR3

MacBook Pro 13" - Review

Vidit Bhargava

Product : MacBook Pro 13"

Manufacturer : Apple Inc.

I am quite aware of the fact that as soon as I bought the macbook pro 13", it got updated. Quite Sad! However, I still write this review. Why? Eh Bien, Apple has merely updated the RAM, Hard - disk space and Graphics of the new MacBook Pro. There is no change in exterior, looks and processor. Everything else remains the same. And my review guides you about the new MacBook Pros also. Don't Worry!

To Begin with lets start with the most important of the lot: Hardware Specifications

The MacBook Pro I am using	The MacBook Pro, Updated
Size 13"
Intel Core Duo 2.4 Ghz
2GB Memory	4GB Memory
160GB Space	250GB Space
NVIDIA 9400 M	NVIDIA 320 M
Battery Life : 7 hours	Battery Life : 10 Hours

You can see the specifications given in these products are far lower than the standard specification that comes with any Dell or HP laptop. Well, those run Windows and this is a MAC. The Specifications of the Old MacBook Pro which I am using for three months is less, however when I use it, it doesn't make me feel so. I mean, even on Running heavy softwares on the MAC OS X, it didn't hang. In fact, even with this specification I have never faced a hang issue. And that is quite an achievement.

So on paper the MacBook Pro may be weak on Specifications but when you use it, its more powerful than any Dell or HP laptop in this range. It is simply the difference of the OS.

NEW : The new MacBook Pro 13" has a 4GB RAM, 250 GB Solid State Drive, 10 Hours Battery life and better graphics. The RAM adds to the speed, however the 2GB RAM wasn't slow at all. 250 GB was a necessity, at this stage when MAC's use is in Professional industry, 160 GB is too less. About the Battery life and Graphics I'll talk later.

Exteriors:

Starting with the outside shell. It's Uni-Body Aluminium and its great. It demonstrates the sheer class of design Apple has. There is nothing over the top but its simple. Simple enough to look stunning. The shell is very thin and the weight of is quite appropriate for ultimate Portability.

Now lets come to the technical aspects : First the ports

The Ports given are decent. There are 2 USB ports with a FireWire 800 and Ethernet Port. The SD Card Slot is also there. And at the end sitting nicely is the MagSafe Adaptor which is revolution itself. There is also a mini - Display Port.

MacBook sacrifices The HDMI port for Slim Looks. You gotta buy the mini-display to HDMI dongle for that. That is quite bad.

Second: Keyboard and Track Pad

Here too you can see class. The Black Backlit Keyboard is a delight to write on. I've written many of my long blog posts on the same, with no pain. The Back Light is helpful but its only a neat addition. I personally don't use it much. The feel is 10 on 10, though.

Talking of the Track Pad, its really helpful for those brilliant multi-touch gestures which you need 'time' to learn if you haven't used the iPhone. The lack of Buttons for left and right click is another genius work. Which more and more laptops are adapting now.

Third : The Screen

The iPhone has the retina Display, the iPad has the IPS panel, all very bright. All Bezel Bound. MacBook Pro is no exception. Except the Fact that the bezel looks stunning here (unlike the iPad). The screen bright enough, Has a maximum resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. It is again awesome!

Above the screen sits, neatly fixed in the center: The iSight Camera. Which can record in-depth 480p videos (though it is at an awkward position to record them) and VGA photos. One of the best web Cams I've Seen.

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Summing it up, Everything is nice and classy in Terms of design and yet there are no fancy colorful backs. However, a problem that you can face with the sharp design is that the design is quite literally sharp, The sharp edge at MacBook's latch can cause a little problem. It is actually very sharp.

Battery Life:

The battery life is stunning. The MacBook Pro promised 7 Hours and I get it every time. The new promises 10 Hours and reports suggest its accurately given.

The MagSafe adaptor is one of the best parts, even if I trip on the charger, (which i usually do) the MacBook is left untouched. Its brilliant.

Software:

The MacBook has the MAC OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard pre-installed. Which is arguably the best most secure operating system to date. Also as I mentioned above, it actually uses a lot less memory and hangs very little. And I can go on and on praising the legendary OS range...

Also you get iLife 2009 - which is again filled with a basic set of software. For amateur development.

Sound Quality:

The Sound Quality on the speakers is average. It is not very promising. Apple hardly concentrated on that!

However, Apple covers it with the Headphones. On that even half the volume is enough for good listening.

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WiFi and Bluetooth both are nice. So far I have had no problems with any of them.

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Gaming :

The graphics of the new version of MacBook are good. I mean core gamers can now play their COD 6 and others on the laptop, and its really fast too. But hey, most of it is not on the MAC OS!

So, Lets Sum up:

As you might know, the review was nothing but praise of Apple's Class product. The MacBook Pro 13" is classy, sleek and offers the right perks. Overall, i believe it is worth to spend $1199 but Rs. 70k in India is high! on this product. Gamers beware, its strictly for business.

Good	Bad
Strong and sterdy feel. Brilliant battery life and MagSafe Amazing trackpad and keyboard Bright display and Good Graphics Nice selection of ports on the Side. Mac os x!	Slightly sharp edge on the latch Speaker sound could have been better Higher hdd space is necessary. HDMI Port Lacking Cudve concentrated on Indian pricing.

9.2/10

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P.S. Credit to Engadget for the Idea of Review Cards, Images by Apple Inc.