The First Ubuntu Phones are Here: Available on Snapdeal

Canonical and BQ have had introduced the BQ Aquaris E4.5 and Aquaris E5 in February and June, respectively, but it was available only in the Europe. Now, they have launched it in India partnering with the online retailer Snapdeal. The low-end device comes at a price of Rs 11,999, and the big brother comes at a price of Rs 13,999 (but it is listed as Rs 13,499).

The Aquaris E4.5 sports a 4.5 inch IPS display with a resolution of 540x960, a rear camera with 8 MP and an LED flash and a selfie shooter of 5MP. The thing is powered with a 1.3 GHz Mediatek Quadcore Cortex-A7 processor and 1GB RAM. The internal memory is 8 GB and can be expandable up to 32 GB.

The Aquaris E5 comes with a 5 inch IPS HD display and 1 GB RAM. The processor and front facing camera are similar to that of its sibling. It sports an auto focus rear camera of 8MP with LED flash. It has 16 GB ROM and both the mobiles are powered by 2500 mAh Li-Po battery and have two slim slots. And they support 2G and 3G but not 4G.

Many would have doubts in buying these mobiles as the specifications are pretty mediocre and the price is nearly double what other big players like Motorola, Xiaomi and Micromax, to name a few, offers in the Indian market right now. Here is the deal. Ubuntu touch is an OS that has a different approach towards mobile technology. It offers you Scopes. To know more about what Scopes are click here. With scopes you don't have to leave your homepage to get ahold of news or your favourite content. And Ubuntu is offering Indian-specific contents, as of now Bollywood news, NDTV, etc., but this list will evolve over time. Last but not the least, the most important reason for me, and many more, is that we have got bored and frustrated with Android and other mobiles, and we always like a change. The other reasons are listed here. Go get yours now.

The Day I Tried On a 19K Rupees Watch: Blur, EA, and Elliot's Beach

It was a bright Sunday morning when I woke up at 7:00. Dad has already left for some place and Mom was cooking, as usual. It happened to be the Avani Avittam weekend, so I had to do the 1008 Gayathri Japam and I was aware of it. Still it's a Sunday and like every other office goers I was also lazy to do it. But then it was the day I promised to meet one of my best friends from college and so I hurried to the bathroom. It was 8:15 when I started the Sandhyavandanam. I had chosen a place that at first appeared to be shaded but even before I reached the 300th time I was directly under the sun's eyes. Somehow I finished it around 9:30, I know that wasn't the normal duration to complete 1008. The Sunday was exciting already. I was ready by 9:40 wearing my Avengers T-shirt. Since I had already informed Mom about going out she had prepared me my breakfast. I had it and it was already nearing 10:00.

Blur

My friend and I had planned to meet near Spencer Plaza at 11:00. He messaged me at around 10:05 that he had started already. So I put on my helmet and was ready to roll. I was at the Spencer's at 10:40. He had already been there and was waiting for me but on the opposite side. Since we did not identify ourselves from that far, he called me and within 10 seconds I spotted him on by his body language just like that. Then we rode to Satyam Cinemas, not for a movie this time. We went for gaming in Blur. It's the first time for me too and we were so excited. We were so early that the guy at the front desk asked us to wait until 11. Our enthusiasm was increasing and finally, we were able to get our backsides on the couch, one of which was not actually a couch. We chose to play in Xbox 360, and the first game was Split Second. It was just a mediocre racing game and we played only 3 races in the half an hour. We were allowed to change the game only then. Next was Gears of War 2 and that game was awesome. We enjoyed it a lot. I was not used to the console type gaming, but he was. We played it against the A.I., and it was total fun. Tag team, gun shots firing and, the fun part, both ending up dead. We bettered with each game and it was the thing we were expecting for. After an hour of Xbox, it was time for the bite, which we are famous for while being together.

EA

We walked to the Express Avenue and swiftly reached the third floor. Pizza Hut was our destination and we ordered a combo that had pizzas, garlic bread, and potato poppers. The last was my favorite. There was no hurry and we took our time to taste each and every bite of it. All we wanted was extra Pepsi. Then, the real fun started. We were just window shopping like most of the others and went to a watch showroom, Swatch. My friend was looking something special for someone special and needed my suggestion too. We looked a range of watches that was pretty cool. Girls need to try the Swatch at least once. After selecting the watch we just came out, typical isn't it. Across the Swatch showroom was the Fossil showroom. We weren't ready to leave that alone. Since I already had a Fossil watch, which I didn't wear that day (my bad), we needed to see if it's here and how much is it worth, my cousin got it from Australia. Here comes the defining moment of the day. I was just looking at all the watches and one caught my eye. It was so elegant, rich and immaculate. It was a see-through watch and it looked gorgeous. I enquired the price to a lady in the shop to come to know that it was “just” 19,000 rupees. She requested me if I would like to see or “try it on”. I was being modest and said wanted to see. She took it out and I was holding it in my hands. Meanwhile, my friend was looking for a purse for the same special one. She again asked me if I would try, seeing my eyes glittering. This time I wasn't missing the “chance” and I put it on my left wrist. The lady from the shop asked me to see myself in the mirror and it was a goose bumps moment for me. I showed it to my friend who was also awed by it. I was wearing it for just 2 minutes and I wanted to freeze that moment. I gave it back to her and thanked the lady for being so kind to me. Then, we were roaming for another half hour setting off to our next destination.

Besant Nagar

My friend was determined to go to a beach. Period. We decided the Elliot's Beach instead of the Marina because we would enjoy a small ride in Madras. He wanted to show me a place that one of his friends showed him last time. I was not aware of it till then. It's a lovely place. It was outside a house, which had bamboo gates, a big garden. It was a small estate in Chennai. It was too cool outside with the evening breeze feeling like a bliss. We sat for half an hour and decided to take the day. He set off on a direct bus to ICF and me on my bike to my house. The sun fell with that the day, which was so much fun and exciting. After all, that's what friends do when one is in other's hometown.

Modular Phone, No not modular kitchen :P

I feel this is going to change the world and wanted to share with you all. Every week when I see any technology news there is at least 10 new smart phones with a better specs at a budget price and then I see my mobile which I got last June and envy the new smart phone buyers. It’s not only me, every day when we look our friend’s new mobile a slight part of our sixth sense make us feel envy on the closest friend. But, this is going to be long gone in the near future. Imagine you could replace your camera which does not have full HD video recording with the one that has 4K video recording, or with a night vision camera or a speaker because you don’t need the camera for a party but a loud speaker. What am I talking, here?

I am talking about Project ARA from Google. It is one of those most innovative projects that actually could change the whole smart phone technology and Google claims this type of smart phone is for the 6 Billion people on the planet including the 1 Billion people who already own a smart phone. Everything is confusing right? ARA? Replacing a part of a phone?

The Motorola Project ARA phone

WHAT IS PROJECT ARA?

The project’s concept was originally created by Dave Hakkens who built something called Phonebloks, back in 2013. He made a video on it and asked the viewers to support the concept. Imagine what happened, the video went viral and he got overwhelming support from the people and then collaborated with Google and Motorola (then a Google company) and Project ARA was born. It is a modular smart phone concept where user can design what parts he needs to have for what location or what occasion. These ARA phones contains what they call as the Endoskeleton that has partitions for the blocks or shells (as they call it) that could fit in. Google will make only those endoskeleton and other shells would be made by the smart phone manufacturer. The shells would be held by a magnet to keep them in place. Spiral 1 was the first working prototype that Google showcased on the Google I/O last year. They were successful in assembling all those shells and booting to home screen on a phone which ran Android KitKat. It was followed by the Motorola Project ARA phone or Spiral 2.

PRESENT AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

Recently in Jan 2015 Google held a conference for developers which was said to be attended by around 3300 developers to develop and understand this project. And in March, during the Mobile World Congress, 2015, Yezz, a small phone manufacturing company show cased the shells that are built for its ARA phone. The phone appeared to be running on Android Lollipop. They say their first phone would be released within 6 months. They are working on different concepts that allows you to use your phone as any device. Recently, a radiation sensor shell was constructed for the modular phone. The possibilities are endless once this project is commercialized.

 

 This modular phone concept can not only revolutionize the whole smart phone industry but also other electronics like the Laptops and TVs. If this project is to be a failure, I would say because we are not ready for it, yet. But, if it becomes a success then it is going to be a great threat for other smart phone manufacturers like Apple and Samsung.

Watch the project ARA promo video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=intua_p4kE0.

Motorola Moto E Review

 

 Since this is my first review I am writing about my own phone. The Motorola Moto E. I know it is too late but to gain your confidence on me I would like to review on the smartphone which I know like the back of my hand. First things first, the Motorola Moto E is the best budget phone @Rs.6999/- with the confirmed update to Android™ 5.0 Lollipop. It comes in both black and white.

DESIGN AND DISPLAY:

Moto E is a bar phone with a 4.3 inch screen and a 5MP primary camera, weighing 142 g. The phone has dual-speakers in the front which does its job quite well. The curved edges and the matte finish back cover makes the phone feel comfortable on your hands. The top and bottom has the 3.5 mm universal audio jack and the charging port (also USB port) respectively. The power button and the volume rocker are situated on the right side leaving the left side empty. The back cover is removable and the non-removable battery, which is a 1980mAh one. It is a dual-sim device and has the extendable micro SD slot. On the front, two sensors, the accelerometer and proximity sensor are present to the left of the top speaker.

The front showing the 4.3 inch display and the dual speakers

Regarding the display, the 4.3 inch screen has a resolution of 540X960 pixel that can be converted to an approximated 256 pixel density. The screen is great for a qHD and the details are pretty. Almost all colors are looking good and the screen comes with a corning gorilla glass 3. Trust me guys the protector is too good for I had used this device without a screen guard for almost 3 months and no scratch on it. So no need for you to waste on costly screen guards but I recommend at least a clear to be safe.  

PLATFORM AND MEMORY:

The Moto E comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 dual core processor @ 1.2 GHz speed which makes the phone work smooth even in high multi-tasking conditions. Regarding the gaming experience it sports a Adreno 302 GPU, which is a great spec for the bidget phone and it does its part for the phone’s success very well. Light and medium graphics can be played with ease but with the higher graphics games comes a lag.

It comes pre-loaded with Android™ 4.4.4 KitKat and it’s a vanilla android. It runs smoothly on the device and also you don’t have to worry about the updates.

The front showing the 4.3 inch display and the dual speaker

With regard to the memory it comes with 1GB RAM, again an extraordinary feature for a budget phone and 4 GB internal memory, with a memory slot expandable to 32 GB. The RAM makes the phone run smoothly along with the OS but the main drawback is its internal memory because only around 2.2 GB will be available for the user. When you install apps you have to go to settings and move it to memory card personally otherwise the phone lags a bit.

BATTERY, NETWORKING AND CAMERA:

As said before the battery is 1980 mAh, which looks pretty big and it surely can go for 24 hours with a moderate use and on 2G network. With the 3G network the battery obviously performs a bit low clocking for 12-13 hours but that’s okay than lot other devices at this price range.

Both the sims support both 2G and 3G but you can use 3G in only one sim at a time. No worries for you can change the settings any time you want. Wi-Fi connection is also available which performs up to the mark. It comes with Bluetooth v4.0 and GPS support with A-GPS and GLONASS. It has a built-in radio which works with the headphones as antenna. The network connectivity is very good even during travelling but that also depends on the carrier you are using.

The 5MP camera is the pearl of this device that shoots pretty good images under sunlight. It comes with the built-in Motorola Camera app that lets you shoot pictures in HDR mode. No auto-focus is present and no flash too. The lacking of the secondary camera might be worrisome for the selfie generations but you can always use the primary cam also to take selfies. With the help of the volume keys acting as the capture button you can take selfies easily. If your hands are shaky take multiple shots by holding down the volume button or while using it normally keep touching the screen. It records video @30fps with the pause/resume features and the details are very fine. Some images are shown below:

PERFORMANCE AND OTHER FEATURES:

Life has never been easier for me since the last six months, yeah that is when I got this mobile, six months back. Since I was a first time android user it took some time for me know the mobile and now it is one of my best friends. I am not exaggerating anything here, the phone actually look after you if you say it to do so. Yes I am talking about the Google Now feature and it works well on this mobile. For a budget phone you can expect a lot from this mobile than any other mobile. I have loaded many apps and games and launchers, this phone never got tired of it and gave everything as I needed it to be. The 4.3 inch screen actually give rise to a pretty good sized on-screen keyboard that allows you to type and swipe comfortably. The touch responsive is super good, the dual speaker works damn good compared to others. The music clarity is pretty much good on the stereo headphones provided by Motorola. The IMs work pretty well and good and the call quality on both the sim is good. Sometimes the connectivity goes wrong and you could hear somebody else’s voice on your girlfriend’s number, but that’s just a connectivity issue I had faced and you can disconnect and make the call again which will connect perfectly now. The built-in messaging app is enough for your messaging addiction and the info on the delivery status on your screen is pretty cool J . All social networking apps run well on mobile and with the geo-tagging feature of the camera you can share what’s happening your life with live pictures on your social pages. It supports all the default audio and video formats.

CONCLUSION:

Everything has some drawback and Moto E comes with some too like, no secondary camera, no flash light, lesser internal storage and small battery. Nevertheless, I am happy with what the phone has offered me for the past six months and I would recommend it for anyone who like to have fresh start on smartphone/android experience because this is the best phone on the budget range and the best phone to replace your feature phone as it was advertised. The Motorola Moto E is available exclusively on Flipkart.