INTERACTIVE MAGAZINE

DCP No. F.2(I/I) Press/2009

Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Machine learning...and much moreJanuary 2016 / `50/ www.gadgetsngizmos.in

Tech Trends

2016

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GADGETS AND GIZMOSGG

Volume 8, Number 9; January - February 2016

Editor-in-Chief: Aroon Purie

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Technology Trends 2016 will contribute towards bigger

technologies such as AI, driverless cars, machine learning and much more.

CONTENTS

8

Cover Story

Reviews Yu Yutopia

Toshiba Z20t

Samsung Tab S2

Asus ZenPad 8

16

Rent and Drive Hiring a car on rent for a trip, and driving it yourself, offers a string of benefits.

14

Cover Design: AMIT SHARMA

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Wearing Off I am a technology enthusiast and a fan of wearable technology. While we have many wearable bands and smart watches in the market, companies have just restricted these products to tracking physical activity by adding a pedometer. Honestly, there is not much novelty in that. I am eagerly waiting to see some path-breaking technology in the wearable space, that too at competitive price points.

NUPUR GOEL, on e-mail

The traditional Virtual Reality (VR) headsets developed by Oculus Rift, Samsung, Sony and HTC are priced on the higher side (due to the technology used). You can, however, consider buying the one built on the Google Cardboard. These can be obtained for as low as `350. This is a Do It Yourself cardboard; you can follow the instruction manual to build it. You will need a Google Cardboard app and other VR apps to experience this technology.

GG

I WANT TO BUY A VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET JUST TO EXPERIENCE THE TECHNOLOGY. IS THERE ANY WAY TO BUY ONE HEADSET WITHOUT SPENDING MUCH?

RISHABH KHOSLA, on e-mail

You can choose between the OnePlus 2 and Asus ZenFone 2, as both these smartphones offer superb cameras. The OnePlus 2 is runs on the company’s own Oxygen OS and not the Cyanogen OS. On the other hand, Asus ZenFone 2 has 4 GB of RAM and is powered by Android OS with Zen UI. Both are easy to handle and offer decent battery back-up.

GG

WHICH IS THE BEST SMARTPHONE THAT I CAN BUY FOR `25,000? MY FOCUS IS CAMERA AND BATTERY.

SHIKHA JOSHI, on e-mail

The recently launched Asus ZenPad 8 is a good device and to turn it into a multimedia tablet, you can consider buying the audio cover with it (reviewed inside). The Xiaomi Mi Pad is also a great tablet under `15,000, but was launched internationally almost a year ago. The company will be launching a new tablet soon, but it will be priced much higher.

GG

I WANT TO BUY A TABLET BUT MY BUDGET IS RE-STRICTED TO `15,000. CAN I GET A GOOD ONE IN THIS PRICE CATEGORY? MY PRIMARY REASON FOR BUYING A TABLET IS TO WATCH MOVIES AND VIDEOS, AND TO PLAY GAMES.

USMAN KHAN, on e-mail

INTERACTIVE MAGAZINE

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CAMERA FOR ACTION!ACTION CAMERAS ARE GAINING POPULARITY.

THE BEST ACTION CAMERAS IN THE MARKET.

December 2015 / `50/ www.gadgetsngizmos.in

3

REDMI NOTE PRIME Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has announced the launch of yet another ‘Made in India’ smartphone – the Redmi Note Prime. Priced at `8,499, the Redmi Note Prime will be available exclusively on Amazon India.

The smartphone features a 5.5-inch HD IPS display and is an enhanced version of Redmi Note 4G with dual SIM slots. It runs on Snapdragon 410 Quad-core 64 bit processor and is paired with 2 GB of RAM. It comes with 16 GB of inbuilt storage with up to 32 GB expandable memory and a 3,100 mAh battery. The phone is

equipped with a 13 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front-facing camera. `8,499

FIRST TAKE

4

LeTv LAUNCHES 3D HELMET IN INDIAChinese smartphone maker LeTv has launched an innovative 3D helmet along with LeMe Bluetooth headphones and a super cycle. This virtual reality headset comes with an embedded 5.5-inch 2k display from Sharp, with a 2,560x1,440 resolution. It comes with 70-degree field of vision and features a myopia dioptre adjustment range of 0-800 degrees. While it can support full HD content @60 fps, in 3D as well as 2D formats, it can provide a virtual experience of a 1000-inch screen. It has a USB Type C port to connect with the phone’s MHL signal input and has a 3.5 mm jack for connecting headphones. The company has not disclosed the 3D helmet’s price in India. In China, it is retailing for 1999 CNY (approximately `20,500).

5

LG REFRIGERATOR WITH SMART INVERTER COMPRESSORLG has launched a single-door refrigerator with the Smart Inverter Compressor technology. This new 5-star rated refrigerator provides a saving of `4,400 over a conventional refrigerator. It has an energy efficient R600a compressor, eco-friendly refrigerant and claims to make ice within 108 minutes, with no additional load on the compressor. It is a stabiliser-free, 100V-290V reliable operation. Available in 270 litre capacity, the new range is priced at `26,000-27000.

LENOVO K4 NOTELenovo India has announced the launch of its phablet, the K4 Note in India. It features a 5.5-inch full HD display with 441 ppi. It offers 178-degree wide-angle viewing. The K4 Note is powered by MediaTek MT6753-64 bit octa-core processor and paired with 3 GB of RAM. It comes with 16 GB internal storage and can be further expanded using a memory card. It has a metallic body with a fingerprint scanner which awards it a premium look over other smartphones in this price category. Lenovo has also added a 13 MP, f/2.2 rear camera with dual LED flash and a 5 MP front-facing camera. It also has a 3,300 mAh battery on board and dual front-facing speakers with Dolby Atmos support. Lenovo has also added a ‘Theatre Max’ feature to this phone that can convert multimedia content into virtual reality experiences. `11,999

FIRST TAKE

6

MICROSOFT LAUNCHES SURFACE PRO 4Microsoft India has launched its Surface hardware in the Indian market. The technology giant launched the Surface Pro, which, it claims, is a tablet that can replace the laptop. The Surface Pro 4 comes with a 12.3-inch display, but in the size of the 12-inch Surface Pro 3, owing to the reduced bezel. It has a 2,736 x 1,824 pixel resolution with 267 ppi and Gorilla Glass 4 protection. It measures 8.4 mm in thickness and packs in full-size USB ports. Surface Pro 4 is powered by Intel’s sixth generation processor and runs on the Windows 10 operating system. It will have 4 GB to 8 GB of RAM. Depending on the variant, the internal storage, too, will vary from 128 GB onwards. The company claims it to be 40 per cent faster than the Surface Pro 3. Late last year, Microsoft had launched Cortana for India with support for Indian English. The Surface Pro 4 has an 8 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front-facing camera.

Microsoft has designed a stylus Pen for the Surface Pro 4, which supports 1,024 pressure points, a tail eraser and an all-year battery life. The Pen will come bundled with the Surface Pro 4. The keyboard that turns this tablet into a powerful laptop is back-lit, well-spaced, with a five-point, multi-touch track pad. However, it is not part of the box and will have to be purchased separately for `13,000. The Surface Pro 4 will be available at a starting price of `89,990 for the machine powered by Intel i5 processor, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB storage. The one powered by the i5 processor, 256 GB storage and 8 GB RAM is priced at `1,20,990. The top version, powered by the i7 processor with 256 GB storage and 8 GB RAM, will be available for `1,44,990.

Microsoft has also launched the Surface Pro 3 for consumers, not for businesses, at a starting price of `73,990 powered by Intel i3 Processor, 4 GB RAM and 128 GB storage. The Pen will have to be purchased separately for `5,990. However, the Surface Pro 3 does not support the keyboard.

Microsoft plans to bring the Surface for commercial consumers, too. The company has tied up with HCL as an exclusive distributor for Surface in India.

7

NETFLIX LAUNCHES IN INDIAAfter a long wait, Netflix is in India and is offering a one-month free trial, while subscription starts at `500 per month. Netflix is offering three different plans to Indian users. For `500 per month, one can access SD content on a single screen. By paying `650 per month, one can watch HD content on two screens at a time. There is also an option to watch 4k content on up to four screens simultaneously for `800 per month. This video-on-demand service works on the Internet and can be viewed on any Internet-connected device that offers the Netflix app, such as a computer, gaming console, DVD or Blu-ray player, HDTV, set-top box, home theatre system, phone or tablet. According to Netflix, the minimum required connection speed is 0.5 Mbps, but a faster connection is required for improved video quality. A download speed of at least 5 Mbps per stream is recommended to receive HD content and a download speed of at least 25 Mbps per stream is recommended for Ultra HD content. As the service works on Internet connection, streaming one hour of SD content on Netflix will consume 0.7-1 GB of data, whereas the HD content can consume 3 GB data in an hour and 7 GB per hour for streaming 4k content. Netflix has over 70 million members in over 190 countries. It has more than 125 million hours of TV shows and movies per day, including original series, documentaries and feature films.

8

Cover Story

If 2015 was the year of innovations in the hardware

space, with fancy gadgets hitting the stores every

other day, this New Year will be more about the

awakening of the virtual mind. By Nidhi Singal

10

OVER THE PAST DECADE, the technol-ogy world has grown at an exponential rate. From HD to full HD to 4k resolution in televisions and smartphones, to wear-able gadgets and the advent of hybrids, a lot has happened in the personal technol-ogy space. The future, on the other hand, holds great promise for technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. A lot has already been achieved in the technology space, such as Internet of Things, artificial intelligence (AI), ma-chine learning and robotics, but 2016 promises to showcase what these innova-tions are capable of – it would be a year of evolution and not revolution.

DRIVERLESS CARS: During the last couple of years, a lot of develop-ment has happened in the driverless car space. The year will be no dif-ferent as this segment will continue to witness a lot many innovations. But will it turn into a reality and hit the Indian roads? No, at least not in 2016.

While most of these technologies will witness development and growth, they are still futuristic, so are likely to settle down in another four to five years from now. Michael Björn, Head of Research, Ericsson ConsumerLab, believes, "Some of these trends may seem futuristic. But consumer interest in new interaction paradigms such as AI and virtual reality (VR), as well as in embedding the Internet in the walls of homes, or even in our bodies, is quite strong. This means we could soon see new consumer product categories – and whole industries transforming – to accommodate this development."

INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT): It has almost become a household name

Cover Story

11

following all the talk around connecting electronics, software and sensors through a network. This was in 2015. But have we achieved anything substantial yet? Not really. While things have gradually started moving towards IoT, 2016 will witness some real work. Says Narendra Nayak, Managing Director, BlackBerry India: “In this increasingly connected world, technologies that connect to machines and devices for seamless interaction will gain greater prom-inence than those that connect people to people. Mobility, IoT, cloud and analytics are changing the way we interact. In 2016, we expect a wider adoption of IoT technologies and smarter devices in industry scenarios. In the connected IoT ecosystem, data will be-come the most critical aspect, and we will see businesses adopting a unified communi-

cation approach where text, chat, video, file sharing and screen sharing across devices will become more cohesive. Given the huge opportunity, IoT may begin to shape how we conduct business and live our lives in many more ways.”

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Thanks to artificial intelligence, machines today have become smarter and gained the abil-ity to react like humans. They have come a long way from just analysing and read-ing from a database to learning in real time. While artificial intelligence is being actively used in many industries, such as automated processes in manufacturing

DRIVERLESS CARS: While most technologies in the space will witness development and growth,

they are still futuristic

COGNI TOY: CogniToys are internet-connected

smart toys whose experi-ence keeps improving.

12

Cover Story

13

units and robotics to health care, finance and self-driving cars, it’s still to realise its full potential. “Over the last few years, digitisation has disrupted IT innovation, redefined business models, empowered consumers and redrawn the lines of competition across multiple industries. Whether in an education setting that helps students learn in a style that’s best suited for them, or in the form of early childhood toys, such as Cogni Toys, think-ing systems will permeate businesses and the products and services they produce,” says Amit Sharma, Vice President and General Manager, Operations, IBM, adding: “We will see more such implementations around education, health care, retail and banking, among others. And all of this will completely redefine how they build strategies to stay ahead in the game and engage and interact with their customers and employees.” It’s not just the big names, such as IBM, Wipro and Infosys, which are saying this. A recent report by Microsoft Research quotes its Managing Director Chris Bishop as saying that “the emergence of new silicon architectures are tuned to the intensive workloads of machine learning.”

MACHINE LEARNING: Although a sub-category of artificial intelligence, there will be significant advancements in machine learning as well. It has already made steady progress in the personal technology space with Apple’s Siri, Google’s Google Now and Microsoft’s Cortana, making them a part of our daily lives. While it continues to grow, a significant amount of work will be done in the enterprise space, too. Says Akhilesh Tuteja, Partner and Head, IT Advisory Services, KPMG India: “In my view, it will be a defining year where people will move from experimental technology to proof-of-concept. It will happen first in personal technology and then in enterprise, because in enterprise technology you cannot be 90 per cent right.” The key drivers for machine learning are computers that have the ability to process a lot of information and data on the cloud in real time. “The reason why machine learning wasn’t a big thing in 2014/15 when developments were happening was because artificial intelligence re-quires a huge amount of processing capability that cannot be bundled on the phone. What you need is process-ing on the cloud in real time. So, if you asked a question and the reply came after a few minutes, it wouldn’t help. The gap shrunk in 2015 and, this year, we will have smarter devices to shrink it further,” adds Tuteja. Natural language processing or understand-ing of natural language will also become big in the coming year.

VIRTUAL REALITY (VR): There has been a lot of buzz around virtual reality since the time Oculus Rift made its debut, followed by Google’s Cardboard. Though the biggest names in the technology space – Google, Facebook, Sony, Samsung, HTC, etc. – are focusing on making it big, VR has only been linked with gaming and entertainment. But this technology

can be put to some practical use, includ-ing education, health care, sports, retail and tourism. This is what 2016 promises to deliver. VR headsets, such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Sony Morpheus, Samsung Gear VR and Microsoft Hololens, along with the host of other brands, also domi-nated the floor at the world’s biggest technology show – the Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas.

SMART HOMES: Various technologies put together are pushing the world towards smart homes. The IoT, evolution of high-speed networks and machine learning are contributing towards development of smart homes, which include smart prod-ucts, smart systems and apps. While Huawei has announced its HiLink open source platform for smart homes, Bosch has created a subsidiary that will offer products and services for connected homes covering security and heating. Google-acquired Nest, too, is working ac-tively in this space. The Rasberry Pi model B+, for instance, runs seven embedded LEDs, a couple of sensors to measure hu-midity, barometric pressure and tempera-ture, and a stepper motor that remotely opens and closes doors. With connectivity going mainstream and compact chipsets getting affordable, a plenty of smart home solutions will come up in 2016.

BOTS: After revolutionising the manufac-turing sector, robots are actively becoming a part of the services industry, too. Last year we saw Toshiba’s Aiko Chichira ven-turing into departmental stores to interact with customers, Japan’s Hen-na Hotel completely operated by robots, and the Pepper humanoid interacting with cus-tomers in stores. This New Year will see far-advanced bots, which will have ma-chine learning capabilities that allow smart learning over the codified jobs they do currently. Recently, Australia got its first fire-fighting robot. There are talks about robots patrolling the streets. ~

@nidhisingal

APPLE’S SIRI: Natural language processing will become big in the

coming year

14

Hiring a car on rent for a trip, and driving it yourself, offers a string of benefits. By Nidhi Singal

DELHI’S RAKESH JOSHI often hires a Fortuner for his weekend trips to the hills, even though he owns a Ford Ecosport. Joshi is not alone – many young professionals and entrepreneurs are opening up to the idea of hiring a self-drive car (not to be confused with cars that drive themselves, which are also called autonomous cars). The reasons are not hard to find. Several high-end cars and SUVs are launching in India, but not everyone can buy them. You might own

a small car, but may want to drive a bigger, fancier one on a holiday trip. Self-driven cars allow this luxury. Some companies even offer 24x7 road-side assistance, mak-ing the experience less stressful.

Popular in countries such as the US and Europe, the self-drive car industry isn’t really new in India. However, it is only in the past couple of years that the segment has seen a lot of action, with existing players ramping up services and new ones rolling in. “The self-drive concept is gaining popularity amongst holiday travellers,” says Anupam Agarwal, Co-founder & CEO of Revv, a start-up in this space. “They opt for a self-drive car because when they hire a taxi, they end up blocking a seat as well as paying additional money for the driver.”

The spurt in demand for such vehi-cles is coming from 20-to-40-year-old travellers. People also hire such cars for commuting within the city, as an impromptu second car for housewives, for example. College students who can’t buy a car often opt for this service as they get to drive their dream car at an affordable cost. It also gives one the option to really test a car before taking a buying decision.

Companies are going all out to ser-vice the rising needs of the consumer. Revv, for instance, offers self-drive cars on hourly rent in Delhi-NCR. The com-pany has a wide selection of cars rang-ing from Hyundai Grand i10 to

15

Mahindra XUV to Audi Q3. The rentals differ from car to car and are higher for weekends and peak season, which includes festivals and New Year. It delivers your desired car at your doorstep – yes, home delivery! – and also doesn’t keep any distance (km) cap. Instead, it has a simple policy of maintaining a full fuel tank – that is, the tank is full when the car is delivered to you, and you need to fill it back up before returning the vehicle.

Zoomcar, founded in 2013, has over 1,800 cars across Bangalore, Pune, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad. It claims to offer a wide selection of vehi-cles under Zoom Lite, Zoom Regular and Zoom Xtra categories, where the pricing is based on the duration of travel. “Our service is popular amongst students, young professionals, housewives and holiday travellers,” says Greg Moran, CEO and Co-founder of Zoomcar. “Customers can book our cars from the app on hourly, daily, weekly and monthly basis.”

Myles, the self-driving service from Carzonrent, attempts to fulfil the need for a second car. It provides cars for executives going to office or going to a meeting, or for housewives who step out in the afternoon to go grocery shopping and pick kids up from school, or for people whose cars are at the service centre for repairs.

Starting with 14 cars about two years ago, Myles, today, has 1,400 cars in its fleet across multiple cities. It has set up location points in every area allow-ing a user to walk to the car, unlock the car with the app and find the keys in-side. “You can pick the car from one location and drop it at another,” says Sakshi Vij, Founder & CEO, Myles. “For instance, you can pick the car near your house and drop it at the airport.”

There are some like Eco Rent a Car that focus only on luxury cars. It has in its ranks Mercedes E-Class, S-Class, BMW 3 Series, 7 Series and Chrysler Limousine. A Mercedes E-Class can be hired on rent of `12,000 for a day or for `4,000 for four hours or 40 km.

These cars are registered as self-drive vehicles, so you don’t require a special driving licence. While travelling outstation, one has to stop at the first RTO check post to get the visitor permit for the state. Technology in these cars allows the companies to track them 24x7. They can immobilise the car if it is entering into a restricted area. For instance, the taxi unions in Ladakh and Gulmarg, in Kashmir, do not permit non-local vehicles from plying to cer-tain destinations. The vendor gets a notification if the car enters such areas. The speed of the cars is also tracked. In case of an accident, using the data accumulated at the back-end, vendors can figure out the cause of the accident – whether the driver was rash driving or over speeding.

At the front-end, you can book a car either through the company’s website or its app. You can upload the scanned copy of your identity proof and driving licence, which is then verified, and pay the refundable security deposit – `5,000 in most cases; can go up to `50,000 in case of luxury cars – through net banking, credit card or debit card. The security amount is re-funded within seven working days in your account, once the car is returned.

So, the next time you want to go driving in a fancy car on a holiday, just hire it.

GET, SET, GO...

You can choose rentals on hourly, daily, weekly and monthly basis

SUVs are popular amongst holiday travellers; hatchbacks amongst local commuters

All cars are fully insured

No cash payment; all payments are made through debit card, credit card or net banking

Penalty is levied if the car is not returned on time

On Turbo Mode

ince Motorola’s comeback in the Indian market, the com-pany has been offering great devices at competitive price.

The most popular mode from the company’s portfolio has been the Moto G. Last year, in August itself, the com-pany has announced the Moto G 3rd generation, which is now followed by a slightly higher priced Moto G Turbo. So what’s the difference between the two and is the Moto G Turbo worth the extra cost?In the looks department, both the Moto G 3rd gen and the Moto G Turbo look alike. It features a 5inch HD display at the front and a matt finish at the rear. My review unit had a textured rear which awarded it a good grip to hold. While the Moto G was IP x7 certified, the Tubro comes with IP67 certification that makes it a bit more rugged and is both water and dust re-sistant. It can resist a drop in a glass of water but not for longer durations. While the Moto G 3rd generation was available in two variants – 8GB storage

BAG IT OR JUNK IT:

At Rs 12,499, the Moto G Turbo is a

good offering owing to its water and dust

resistant body.

16

with 1GB RAM or 16GB storage with 2GB RAM. The Moto G Turbo is available in only one configura-tion. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor with two quad cores (1.5GHz quad core and 1Ghz quad core) processor and is paired with 2GB RAM. It ensures smooth performance even while switching between multiple apps. The second quad core processor comes into action only when it is required.This smartphone is powered by a 13MP rear camera with auto focus and f2.0 aperture. The camera interface is simple and offers basic modes such as HDR, slow motion, panorama and widescreen mode. The images captured are decent but not the best. It has also got a 5MP front facing camera that cap-tures good selfies. The low light imaging was just about average. The biggest highlight of the Moto G Turbo is the quick charging support, which the company calls as TurboPower. According to the company claims, 15 minute charge can juice up the phone by up the phone for close to 6 hours. The charger included in the box is ca-pable of delivering 12V output. It manages to charge the fully in just an hour time.

GG MOTOROLA MOTO G TURBO `12,499

Plus: Water and Dust resistant body, battery

Minus: Camera improvement

17

TEST BENCH

basic Google services, including Chrome browser and Google Play Store for downloading apps. But Yu has added yet another browser – Yu Universe – powered by Opera Turbo. Overall, the Yutopia appeared to be a snappy device. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset and is paired with 4 GB of RAM. It comes with 32 GB internal stor-age with support for expandable memory of up to 128 GB. The device does heat up after long usage sessions.

CAMERA: A 21 MP rear camera with auto focus, f/2.2 and dual LED (dual tone) flash sounds good on the paper. And, the Yuto-phia managed to produce some good results in good lighting conditions, but it stumbled in low light. It took some time to get the auto focus feature working after turning it on. The 8 MP front fac-ing camera is a pleasant surprise for selfie lovers. There is an opti-cal image stabalisation that helps in capturing stable videos.

BATTERY: The 3,000 mAh battery lasted me only a day on heavy usage. Thankfully, it sup-ports fast charging, which helped in charging the smartphone just enough to survive a few hours when on the move.

GG YU YUTOPIA `24,999

Plus: Cyanogen OS, Built

Minus: Camera, Heats up

one on Nexus 6P), which doesn’t work very well.

PERFORMANCE: Yu smart-phones have Cyanogen OS onboard and Yutophia isn’t any different. It runs on Cyanogen OS 12.1, which is built on the Andorid Lollipop operating sys-tem. Cyanogen is known for the customisation it offers to the end user and, just like the OnePlus One on Cyanogen, one can even customise the theme app. Yu is focusing on the service front and has integrated Truecaller within the OS. Around YU is another feature on the smartphone that can be accessed by swiping right on the homescreen. It allows you to search and hail a cab, book a flight, hotel, bus and train ticket, or even order food. It is very simple to use. Yutopia comes with

Yutopian Worldn its first launch anni-versary, Yu has taken a bold step by introducing its first flagship smart-

phone for `24,999. Until now, Yu had a connect with the youth with its sub-`10,000 feature-rich smartphones running Cyanogen OS and UI. But with the flag-ship Yutopia, will Yu be able to compete against the existing selling smartphones such as the OnePlus 2, Motorola Moto Play and Asus Zenfone 2?

DESIGN: Justifying the price tag of a flagship smartphone, Yu has added a metal unibody casing to the Yutopia, which the company claims is made of aircraft-grade aluminium. It boasts a 5.2-inch IPS display with 1,440x2,560 pix-el resolution and 565 ppi density, which looks stunning. It has rich colours and crisp text. The navi-gation keys are part of the screen. Yutopia has curved corners and the power key, sitting on the right edge between the volume keys, is very handy. There is a dual SIM tray on the left, with support for a nano SIM and a micro SIM. The Nano SIM slot doubles up as a memory card slot. It is slim and the circular camera module at the rear has been raised. Next to the camera module is a circular fingerprint scanner (similar to the

18

BAG IT OR JUNK IT:

A great attempt but faces competition

from Asus Zenfone 2 with 4GB RAM.

19

TEST BENCH

Japanese Warrior

20

ybrids seem to be the future of computing devices and Toshiba’s Z20t comes with a

detachable 12.5-inch screen, which allows it to work in a true-tablet mode. Priced at `1.3 lakh, it targets the serious enterprise audience.

The Toshiba Z20t has a neat, straight-line design. Encased in a slim chassis in black, the 12.5-inch tablet is docked on a keyboard that converts it into a

full-fledged laptop. The dual lock mechanism – one on the top of the keyboard and one on the left side – prevents accidently undock-ing the tablet. In

tablet mode, it is 8.8 mm thin and weights 730 gm. Dock it on the keyboard and it weighs 1.51 kg. The 12.5-inch full HD screen is bright and crisp. While the default Windows wallpaper looked slightly washed out, once I replaced it with a full-HD wallpaper, the screen looked super bright. The touch response on the tablet was good. It looks good and is available in only black. The monochrome colour takes away the appeal and ren-ders it the look of a blue-collared work horse.

The review unit ran on the Widows 7 Pro operating system. I felt it was an outdated OS in the age of Windows 10 OS, but

the option to upgrade to Win-dows 8.1 (accompanied with the hybrid) and later to Windows 10 over the air, gives users the free-dom and versatility to choose the operating system they are com-fortable with. It is powered by the Intel Core M processor and has Intel HD graphics onboard. It comes with 256 GB SSD storage and 8 GB DDR 3 RAM. The machine performed most tasks without any lag and scored decently in benchmark tests, too. The keys on the backlit keyboard dock are well placed and typing is a delight on this machine. The trackpad is responsive and I often ended up selecting the options using the touch interface. The accupoint clickpad gives better accuracy, something that is present in ThinkPad laptops from Lenovo. There are a host of connectivity options on board – a micro HDMI port, micro USB port, and a micro SD card slot in tablet mode, and a full-size RGB port, HDMI port, Gigabit LAN and two USB 3.0 ports in the tablet dock.

One of the pros of using a hybrid is its battery backup. With Toshiba Z20t, the tablet and the keyboard dock come with individual batteries. The tablet offered me close to 7.5 hours of backup, while I still had 100 per cent charge in the dock, which gave the machine another eight hours of charge.

Usually charging adapters of laptops and hybrids are a bit too heavy, but Toshiba has done a great job by adding a small but punchy power adapter that easily fits in a laptop bag without show-ing any visible buldges.

GG TOSHIBA Z20T `1,29,990

Plus: Full HD display, Battery

Minus: Simple design

BAG IT OR JUNK IT:

A solid business machine that is priced in the territory of the

MacBook Pro.

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TEST BENCH

Work-Horse sus has strengthened its position by offering a few quality products in the last few years.

Be it the Eee netbook launched a few years ago, or the ZenBook notebooks or ZenFone, the de-signs and functionality are good. Adding another feather to Asus's hat is the ZenPad 8 tablet.

DESIGN: As the name suggests, the ZenPad 8 has got an 8-inch display with 1,200x800 pixel

resolution. Despite being made of plastic, it does not feel or look cheap. Instead, the removable rear panel has a textured soft finish that makes it look premium. The review unit in white had a silver pink texture. The 3.5mm jack and the charging jack sits on the top while the power key and volume controls are placed on the left panel. This is a calling tablet and the SIM slot along with a memory card slot is hidden below the removable back panel. It is

8.5 mm thick and weighs 350 gm.

PERFORMANCE: Priced at `14,999, this tablet is a smooth performer. It packs in a Qual-comm Snapdragon 615 octa-core chipset clocked at 1.8 GHz and is paired with 2 GB of RAM. There wasn’t any lag while browsing the web, streaming videos, playing games and even while switching between multiple apps. It can smoothly play 1,080p videos. It has an 8 MP rear camera that

22

had sent across the audio case for the tablet, which brings the cost of the tablet along with the cover to `17,999. But what this cover does is convert it into a multimedia device.

This is a 5.1 channel audio case that enhances the audio of the tablet (which isn’t very impressive) and bundles as a stand while watching movies and videos. This is optional but is good for those who are buying it for the purpose of entertainment.

captures decent images to share on social media networks. The front camera is just about aver-age. The tab comes with 16 GB of internal storage out of which 11 GB is user accessible. It also sup-

BAG IT OR JUNK IT:

Asus ZenPad 8 justifies the price tag and is worth

considering.

ports up to 128 GB of expandable memory. Asus offers 5 GB web-storage and you get 100 GB of Google Drive space for two years. It runs on the Android Lollipop operating system with ZenUI.

BATTERY: Asus has added a 4,000 mAh battery to this tablet which is good to last over two days on continuous heavy usage. ENTERTAINMENT TABLET? Along with the review unit, Asus

GG ASUS ZENPAD 8 `14,999

Plus: Price, Performance

Minus: Average Camera

23

TEST BENCH

BAG IT OR JUNK IT:

A good tablet from Samsung’s stable.

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have never been a big fan of Samsung tablets till the time I used the Samsung Tab S2. It changed my perception.

The Tab S2 is a superb device, both in terms of design and pro-ductivity.

The Samsung Tab S2 is a light-weight tablet with a superb display. The Korean giant has added a 9.7-inch display to a sleek 5.6 mm thin device. Weighing 392 gm, it feels extremely light. The

9.7-inch Super AMOLED display with 2,048x1,536 pixel resolution appears super bright and offers rich colours. There is a home key below the display, accompanied by a back and multitasking key. The home button has a finger print scanner that works flaw-lessly. There is a metal frame on the sides and speaker grills at the bottom. The rear has a metal finish, which awards it a premium feel. Overall, this is one of the few Samsung devices that has got

GG SAMSUNG TAB S2 `37,990

Plus: Design, Performance

Minus: Camera

Wind of Changegreat looks and feel.

Thanks to the light weight, slim built and superb display, the Galaxy Tab S2 comes across as a great entertainment device. Watching videos and movies is a delight. It smoothly streams videos too. It has got an internal storage of 32 GB with support for expandable memory, offering enough space of storing content. The text appears crisp and there isn’t any trouble reading in bright sunlight either. It comes preload-ed with Microsoft Suite, which takes care of the productivity. The tablet handled heavy graphic games with ease and there wasn’t any lag while switching between the running apps. The tablet is powered by 1.9 GHz Samsung Exynos Octa-core processor 5433 and is paired with 3 GB of RAM. The Samsung Tab S2 runs on Android Lollipop.

The tablet is equipped with an 8 MP rear camera and a 2 MP front camera. The one on the rear supports auto focus but is not accompanied with a flash. The images clicked by the rear camera were decent. But the 2 MP front facing camera was a bit damper, considering even smartphones costing `10,000 are equipped with 5 MP cameras. The 5,870 mAh battery lasted me over two days on heavy usage. If used carefully, it would last much longer.

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