Saturday 26 July 2014

Best Laptops Under Rs. 30,000: July 2014

7/26/2014 05:37:00 pm TECHNOLOGY 1 comment

Best Laptops Under Rs. 30,000: July 2014

There are quite a few laptop models available for less than Rs. 30,000 today and while performance will understandably be limited, many of them are still excellent value for money. There might not be much variance when it comes to internal components, but you can get these entry-level laptops in many shapes and sizes, with or without additional features that make them attractive for certain use case scenarios.
Choosing the right model is often about striking the right balance of compromises. For example, while you can get devices with screens ranging from 10 inches to 15.6 inches, you won't find any resolution higher than 1366x768. The more powerful models have up to Intel Core i3 processors, but tend cut corners in other ways, such as not including a licensed copy of Windows. There are also plenty of older models floating around at discounted rates, most of which you can safely avoid.
We'll help you navigate through the minefield of choices so you can buy the best budget laptop for your needs. Please note that prices fluctuate every day.

Best choice for students: Lenovo G50-70, Rs. 28,500 (approximate street price)
Students require flexibility and reliability, so our choice is the Lenovo G50-70 which sells for approximately Rs. 28,500 online (with a free bag, at some retailers). This model isn't the sleekest or lightest option by a mile, but it does come with an up-to-date fourth generation Intel Core i3 processor. There's 2GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive, which should be enough for assignments, research, presentations, social media and a bit of casual entertainment too. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB 3.0 are standard. The G50-70 comes with FreeDOS, which is an advantage if you're planning to use Linux.

Best choice for work: HP 450, Rs. 29,990 (approximate street price)
This surprisingly affordable laptop is based on a mainstream Core i3-3110M CPU. This means it doesn't sacrifice performance for low power consumption and heat dissipation, but even so, it manages to pull off five hours of battery life. You get 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive which will come in handy for presentations, spreadsheets, communications and even some light work with graphics and multimedia. You or your office will have to pay extra for a Windows license though.

Best choice for home and entertainment: Dell Inspiron 15 3542, Rs. 28,890 (official online retail price)
The Dell Inspiron 15 is large enough for the family to gather around and comfortable enough for all ages and all uses. It has a relatively low-powered Intel Pentium processor, but everything else is absolutely standard for this price category, including the 4GB of RAM and 500GB hard drive. You'll be able to play basic online games, surf the Web, type out documents and chat with friends. The HDMI port makes it easy to hook this laptop up to a living-room TV so you can watch movies together and show off photos too. Windows 8.1 comes preloaded, meaning home and casual users will have no hassles setting up.

Best choice for portability: Dell Inspiron 11 3137, Rs. 26,990 (official online price)
This little laptop could easily be mistaken for a netbook, though it's a little more powerful than that. The Celeron 2995U CPU should be enough for most basic tasks but we wouldn't try anything more intensive than browsing the Web and editing simple documents on this laptop. Its main attraction is its weight - at only 1.45kg, you can easily toss the Inspiron 11 into a bag and take it everywhere you go. There's 2GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive but also, unexpectedly, a touchscreen. Windows 8.1 comes preloaded, so you can enjoy the touch-centric Modern UI apps too.

Best choice on a shoestring budget: Asus X550CA, Rs 25,750 (approximate street price)
If our Rs. 30,000 price ceiling is too high for you, there are a few ultra-budget options to consider as well. Both HP and Acer sell Chromebooks for around Rs. 22,000, but we think a full-fledged laptop is a better investment even if it comes with very weak components. Our choices is the Asus X550CA, which comes with a low-power but still modern Core i3-3217U processor, 2GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. Of course there's a compromise - you'll have to use a free Linux distribution or buy your own copy of Windows. Still, this model offers solid value for money.

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Financial services sector back on hiring mode: PwC report

7/26/2014 05:34:00 pm JOBS, TECHNOLOGY No comments

Financial services sector back on hiring mode: PwC report

More than half of financial services CEOs globally are planning to raise the headcount by at least 5 per cent in the coming year as recovery in the developed markets gathers pace and confidence in the sector improves, says a PwC report.
Financial services industry leaders plan to bring in people from diverse backgrounds, including people from Internet and social media companies, the report said, adding that gamers, government relations and social media specialists on the most sought after list.
Financial services CEOs have hiring back on their minds with 56 per cent planning to take on extra staff in the coming year, it said.
According to the PwC report — Remoulding your workforce for a new marketplace — the insurance industry is especially bullish with 40 per cent planning to expand their workforce by more than 5 per cent, compared to around 30 per cent among banks and asset managers.
Game designers are of interest to financial service employers, as companies are planning to improve their digital appeal and interactivity, the survey that included 338 interviews with financial services CEOs in 53 countries said.
“Financial Services organisations are re-thinking their core values and objectives, taking into consideration their customers and the larger commerce community when expanding their business model going forward,” PwC Global Financial Services HR Consulting Leader Jon Terry said.
In order to counter cyber-attacks, which is perceived as a threat to business growth, companies are planning to bring on board even ex-hackers to get ahead of these threats.
Moreover financial services companies are planning to rope in more people from public service and NGO community as government relations is increasingly becoming as important as investor relations.
According to the report, re-engaging with society and reputation building among financial services organisations continues to be key focus areas as 70 per cent of industry leaders recognise the need to satisfy societal needs while balancing the interests of all stakeholders.
Nearly 60 per cent of financial services CEOs see the limited availability of skills as impeding growth, yet barely a quarter of respondents have initiated changes to their talent strategy and only 35 per cent believe HR is prepared to make necessary changes.

CIOs, CTOs not ‘technical plumbers’ anymore

7/26/2014 05:33:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

CIOs, CTOs not ‘technical plumbers’ anymore

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In today’s fast evolving corporate world, technology and business are two sides of the same coin. Technology is critical to enable businesses’ to enhance efficiency and cut costs. For this to happen, CIOs/CTOs/Technology heads have to transform from being ‘technical plumbers’ to ‘business enablers’.
To address this change, TechGig.com, an online technology community, started a series of boardroom discussions on ‘The Evolution of Role of CIO/CTO: Information and Technology to Innovation’.
The first edition of the series was recently held in Mumbai. Amit Das, MD & CEO 3i Infotech BPO and global head-BI & Analytics, 3i Infotech Ltd; Nataraj N, CIO, Hexaware Technologies; Prameet Savla, CTO, AccelyaKale; Sanjiv Patki, COO, Allied Digital; and Rasesh Shah, SVP-key accounts and operations, Fractal Analytics, attended the session.
Is talent discovery and management a challenge?
Initiating the discussion, Nataraj N of Hexaware Technologies said, “We have to re-skill and re-engineer for innovation. Organisations should focus on tapping relevant skills in new talent and coaching existing talent for innovation.”
Sharing a product development company’s perspective, Prameet Savla of AccelyaKale said that to stay on the top of their game, product development companies need to have talent that can think out-of-the-box, which leads to disruptive products in the market.
Rasesh Shah of Fractal Analytics pointed out that being in the business of solving problems, they look for talent that understands business, technology and statistics and is able to do client servicing, all together. “Our biggest challenge is to find all these skills in one person and train them in a particular technology, which is changing by the minute.
According to Amit Das, MD & CEO 3i Infotech BPO and global head-BI & Analytics, 3i Infotech Ltd, technology has become like an assembly line. “Most companies are hiring the business person; the technology person; the statistics person, separately. To manage these people, they hire a client-servicing person. The biggest challenge is that our system is not designed to nurture or mentor talent as they grow.”
“Universally, the kind of skills required by tech companies cannot be imparted at the college level. Cross skilling in terms of business, technology, statistics and client-servicing is most important for them as they grow in the organisation. However, this is not easy to achieve as this will lead to efficiency loss,” added Sanjiv Patki of Allied Digital.
Driving Innovation
Rasesh Shah: “It is the power of social recognition that motivates employees to innovate.”
Prameet Savla: “People who can and want to innovate seek social acceptance from their peers and leaders.”
Amit Shah: “To foster innovation, we host ‘Idea Bulls’ camp where we ask employees what the next big idea/solution is where the company should invest. We then recognise the best ideators in the group.”
Nataraj N: “We provide funding for great ideas and innovators in our company and involve them in productisation of their idea.”
Sanjiv Patki: “We encourage team innovation over individual innovation. There are people who are shy and are not good communicators, but have great ideas. To tap their talent, we have introduced the practice of brain mapping/writing.”
Experts agreed that the business environment is changing rapidly, acting as a catalyst for many start-ups. Indian companies, large, medium and start-ups, are getting to a point where they will be leaders in the marketplace and organisational innovation.
Key Takeaways
• Job Rotation, re-skilling and rewards & recognition motivate tech talent to innovate
• Creating the next level of tech talent is the biggest challenge
• Institutes should move beyond curriculum and focus on innovation
• School and college curriculums should allow cross-linkages; so an arts student can become an analyst or an engineer
• CIOs should focus on building a culture of knowledge sharing to drive innovation

BFSI sector to create jobs in Tier II & III cities

7/26/2014 05:31:00 pm JOBS, TECHNOLOGY No comments

BFSI sector to create jobs in Tier II & III cities

Government initiatives and new banking licenses are expected to create significant opportunities in the BFSI sector
With the government’s focus on financial inclusion and RBI initiatives to expand financial services to rural areas, creation of jobs in the next 5-10 years is anticipated in the banking, financial companies and the payments sector, reported the latest RecruiteX (Jul-Dec 2014) by TimesJobs.com.
Need for fresh talent
“The trends in hiring for banking, insurance and payment driven companies, building rural financial infrastructure, are expected to witness a boost. Owing to the requirements of creating this penetration, a large infusion of fresh talent is forecast,” said Meher Sarid, president corporate affairs, Oxigen Services (India) Pvt Ltd.
According to RecruiteX, many BFSI organisations are rationalising the number of sales branches and attempting to bring in more efficiency and productivity at the junior levels in metros, as growth moderates. These productivity gains in the metros are being utilised to invest ‘ahead of the curve’ in smaller cities, where opportunities for professionals with 0-5 years experience will go up. Employment for freshers will receive a boost from the public sector banks as well, as many retire in the next 5-10 years.
Skills in Demand
• Sales roles will continue to be in demand with a focus on need-based selling, putting the interests of customers at the forefront
• Selling skills related to mobile and app, e-marketing, hybrid channel distribution and partnership development will be in demand
• Underwriting, pricing and claims will rely more on data management and analytics, dynamic pricing and tailoring for specific risks
Rural to drive demand
Despite the relative proliferation of banks in India, the truth is that 70 per cent of India’s rural populace remains under-banked. This points to the fact that demand is expected in the tier II and III cities. Banks and insurance companies are also expanding their sales and distribution networks to these cities, in search of mobile customers who tend to be more loyal and profitable. This is driving up recruitment in these categories, revealed RecruiteX.
Sarid believes that the payments infrastructure in India can only be strengthened by gaining the trust of people and by educating them about the financial benefits that advancement of technology brings. This will ensure job creation in support areas for the BFSI sector.
• Emerging job hubs in BFSI are Baroda, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai and Patna
• Among states, Kerala and Orissa showed a rise in demand
The BFSI sector will be among the top job creators in 2014, pointed out experts in TimesJobs.com RecruiteX. While demand will be strong for core roles, support functions will also be in demand.

'Love' hormone to heat up your sex life!

7/26/2014 05:30:00 pm HEALTH TIPS No comments

'Love' hormone to heat up your sex life!

'Love' hormone to heat up your sex life! (Thinkstock Photos/Getty Images)

Forget Viagra. High levels of 'Love' hormone oxytocin can ramp up your sex life like never before - by making orgasm more intense!

Those who took oxytocin before sex - especially men - reported slightly more intense orgasms as well as greater levels of contentment after sex, a fascinating research reveals.

"Our study demonstrates that oxytocin may alter specific aspects of sexual experience and partner interactions in healthy couples," said researchers from Hannover Medical School in Germany.

Previous studies have shown that oxytocin plays a role in relationship bonding.

But few studies have examined whether higher levels of the hormone affect sexual behaviour.

In the research, 29 healthy couples either took oxytocin nasal spray or a placebo spray before having sex in their home.

After sex, they jot down their experiences about their sexual experience as well as their feelings toward their partner in a survey form.

While oxytocin had no effect on sex drive or arousal for either men or women, it resulted in a more intense orgasm, especially men.

Men who took oxytocin said they felt more sexually satisfied after sex, the study noted.

Some women also reported that they were better able to share their sexual desires with their partners during sex.

According to the study, more research is required to see whether the hormone may help those with low sexual desire or erectile dysfunction.

The study was published in the journal Hormones and Behaviour.

Google executive reveals why the company came up with its beautiful new Android design

7/26/2014 05:27:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Google executive reveals why the company came up with its beautiful new Android design

Google executive revealed what led the team at Google to build Material Design.

Jon Wiley, one of Google's principal designers behind its Search and Maps apps, recently opened up about the company's design principles and mobile search strategies in an open ask-me-anything interview on Reddit.

Within that thread, Wiley revealed what led the team at Google to build Material Design — which has been billed as one of the biggest new features in Android L.

Material Design is basically an aesthetic overhaul that's meant to make content look similar across screens of all sizes, whether it be watches, smartphones, or laptops. Apps are also intended to look simpler, cleaner, and more colorful with fewer distractions.

Although Material Design was just unveiled at this year's Google I/O, Wiley said Google has been talking about the idea for years.

Here's what he had to say about Material Design in the AMA:

I'm one of the instigators of material design. It actually came about a couple of years ago when we were working on a design problem involving Google Search. I was looking at mobile results on cards and I asked "what is this made of?" People gave me funny looks, like "what do you mean? It's just pixels." But I didn't think that was a good answer.

When you physically interact with software — actually touching the cards and links and buttons, etc —you bring a lot of expectations around how physical objects behave. If the interface isn't thoughtful about those expectations — if it's just a bunch of pixels — it leaves you with a rather unsatisfying and inauthentic experience.

Material design came about when thinking how to make Google Search better on mobile devices. So we plan to bring material design to all of its products, including Search.

When asked about the future of search in general, Wiley didn't cite any specific plans for Google but did elaborate on his overall outlook for where it's headed. For a mobile search experience to be truly intuitive, it needs to be so natural you wouldn't even have to think about it, he said in his AMA answer:

But broadly: I expect obstacles to drop away. Devices will get cheaper, smaller, lighter, longer-lasting, etc. You'll be able to connect anywhere, fast. And then what you get will be much higher-quality info: not just plain facts, but specific help for what you're doing at the moment. Also, in many ways I think the technology will become more invisible — it'll fade into the background. Think of plumbing — you just turn on the tap, and voila, water! I think information technology will start feeling that way too: on-demand but unobtrusive otherwise.

Material Design will roll out with Android L, which is expected to debut in the fall. In addition to a new user interface, Android L will include Google's latest effort to improve battery life called Project Volta and a revamped Chrome browser among other features.

We were sleepy; now aggressive: TK Kurien

7/26/2014 05:26:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

We were sleepy; now aggressive: TK Kurien

Wipro CEO T K Kurien

BANGALORE: The stock market slammed Wipro on Friday for what it viewed as subpar revenue growth in the June quarter, and guidance for the September quarter. The share price of India's third largest IT company fell by over 8% on opening trade and ended the day with a drop of 4.6%. But Wipro CEO TK Kurien says he's focused on the long term.

The stock market isn't happy with your performance?

To me the short term is immaterial. The long-term growth is what we worry about. Last year same time, the stock was running at Rs 380 (now it is Rs 550); the shareholders have made decent returns. Our year-on-year growth in revenue in the last quarter was at 9.6%, which is more than twice the 4.5% year-on-year growth in the same quarter of last year. The journey has begun, it hasn't ended yet. We have done a lot of work to change the culture of the company. We were a sleepy company, now we have become aggressive. The number of deal wins is a reflection of that.

You aspire to grow 4% sequentially, but TCS has pulled way ahead. What is it that they have done right?

TCS grows very well in the first two quarters of the year and the next two quarters, they slow down. The momentum in the first two quarters propels their full year growth. That's the trick we haven't yet got up to. Our first quarter is lousy and this is the one jinx we have to break. And the only way to break the jinx is through deal flow. We should have closed the Atco ($1.12-billion) deal in the first quarter, but it slipped.

Wipro has won significant deals like Atco and Takeda recently. But the revenue growth forecast remains below expectations?

It takes 2-4 quarters for the full value of the deal to start fructifying. When we went from $50 million contract sizes to $100 million ones, it was a big thing. Then we did $400 million in the last quarter, suddenly life changed and that was our new benchmark. But now, this quarter, it's become $1 billion (Atco deal). That's the progress we have made and that changes the mindset.

Talent management firm DDI evaluated 150 senior leaders in Wipro last year. What exactly is the end objective?

It's very easy to fool our bosses, but what's innate to you, you can't manipulate. A guy may come out looking fabulous in the interview, but if you send him to DDI, he may look like a complete washout. You get a sense of the candidate's reservoir of skills. DDI does a whole day simulation, they will put you into an environment, and they will see if you get angry, see how you react. We are using DDI also for all external hires because it's important for them to fit into the culture of the company.

Apple admits iPhones let others access your personal data

7/26/2014 05:24:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Apple admits iPhones let others access your personal data

Personal data including text messages, contact lists and photos can be extracted from iPhones through previously unpublicized techniques by Apple employees.

SAN FRANCISCO: Personal data including text messages, contact lists and photos can be extracted from iPhones through previously unpublicized techniques by Apple employees, the company acknowledged this week.

The same techniques to circumvent backup encryption could be used by law enforcement or others with access to the "trusted" computers to which the devices have been connected, according to the security expert who prompted Apple's admission.

In a conference presentation this week, researcher Jonathan Zdziarski showed how the services take a surprising amount of data for what Apple now says are diagnostic services meant to help engineers.

Users are not notified that the services are running and cannot disable them, Zdziarski said. There is no way for iPhone users to know what computers have previously been granted trusted status via the backup process or block future connections.

"There's no way to 'unpair' except to wipe your phone," he said in a video demonstration he posted recently showing what he could extract from an unlocked phone through a trusted computer.

As word spread about Zdziarski's initial presentation at the Hackers on Planet Earth conference, some cited it as evidence of Apple collaboration with the National Security Agency.

Apple denied creating any "back doors" for intelligence agencies.

"We have designed iOS so that its diagnostic functions do not compromise user privacy and security, but still provides needed information to enterprise IT departments, developers and Apple for troubleshooting technical issues," Apple said. "A user must have unlocked their device and agreed to trust another computer before that computer is able to access this limited diagnostic data."

But Apple also posted its first descriptions of the tools on its own website, and Zdziarski and others who spoke with the company said they expected it to make at least some changes to the programs in the future.

Zdziarski said he did not believe that the services were aimed at spies. But he said that they extracted much more information than was needed, with too little disclosure.

Security industry analyst Rich Mogull said Zdziarski's work was overhyped but technically accurate.

"They are collecting more than they should be, and the only way to get it is to compromise security," said Mogull, chief executive officer of Securosis.

Mogull also agreed with Zdziarski that since the tools exist, law enforcement will use them in cases where the desktop computers of targeted individuals can be confiscated, hacked or reached via their employers.

"They'll take advantage of every legal tool that they have and maybe more," Mogull said of government investigators.

Asked if Apple had used the tools to fulfill law enforcement requests, Apple did not immediately respond.

For all the attention to the previously unknown tools and other occasional bugs, Apple's phones are widely considered more secure than those using Google's rival Android operating system, in part because Google does not have the power to send software fixes directly to those devices.

Apple acquires book analytics company BookLamp

7/26/2014 05:21:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Apple acquires book analytics company BookLamp

BookLamp is a startup that develops book analytics and recommendations services.

NEW DELHI: It appears that Apple has quietly acquired Idaho(US)-based company BookLamp, a startup that develops book analytics and recommendations services.

The acquisition, which was first reported by TechCrunch, has been confirmed by Apple with its usual boilerplate statement.

"Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans," the Cupertino giant said.

BookLamps did not confirm the acquisition. However, it had posted a statement on its website in April saying that the service will not be available any longer as the "company evolves its mission." It's possible that the acquisition deal was inked earlier in the year.

TechCrunch cites a separate source to report that Apple bought BookLamp's employees and technology for a price that falls between $10million and $15 million.

BookLamp had earlier developed the Book Genome Project, a platform that allowed users to find book suggestions on the basis of natural language analysis of other book titles.

Apple is known to acquire smaller companies and integrate their technology and people with its existing products. It's likely that Apple will leverage BookLamp's recommendations and analytics engine with its iBooks e-book service.

Last year, Amazon had also acquired book lovers social network Goodreads and had integrated it with its Kindle e-books service.

Moto X+1 pictures appear online in new leak

7/26/2014 05:19:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Moto X+1 pictures appear online in new leak

The phone featured in the pictures looks similar to the Moto X in shape and also sports a wood finish back panel.

NEW DELHI: A near final prototype of what could be Motorola's Moto X+1 has appeared online in pictures.

Android focused website Android Police has published pictures of a pre-production Motorola smartphone that it claims to have received from a tipster. The tipster that the device in pictures is the successor to Motorola's Moto X smartphone.

The phone featured in the pictures looks similar to the Moto X in shape and also sports a wood finish back panel. The back features a circular Motorola logo and a camera lens that has a circular ring enclosing it. The ring has two LEDs on opposite sides, which will reportedly act as the dual-LED flash.

Interestingly, it also has a metal frame along the edges, which as per the source of the leak, is made of aluminium. The front panel of the phone is very similar to the Moto E with two chrome grills above and below the display for the earpiece and loudspeaker. The top-edge features the 3.5mm headphone jack and a sim-card tray, while the bottom edge has a micro-USB port. The power and volume rocker keys are placed at the right edge.

The alleged phone is said to sport a 5.1-inch display and similar to the Moto X will not offer a slot for a memory card.

In line with previous reports, the tipster also suggests that Motorola will also offer custom leather options in blue and purple for the phone's back panel.

Earlier, Twitter user EVLeaks had said that Motorola will offer 25 colour options in Cool, Neutral, Warm, Wood and Leather finishes for Moto X+1. Presently, Motorola offers 31 colour options but does not offer leather finish for the Moto X backplate.

Evleaks had earlier posted the alleged logo of the phone which revealed the Moto X+1 name.

According to rumours, the phone is said to sport a 2.26GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, Adreno 330 graphics and 2GB RAM. It will allegedly feature 32GB internal storage, 12MP rear camera and 2MP front camera.

Asus ZenFone 5 review: Best smartphone under Rs 10,000

7/26/2014 05:16:00 pm TECHNOLOGY No comments

Asus ZenFone 5 review: Best smartphone under Rs 10,000

Expert's Rating(4)

NEW DELHI: Asus has entered the smartphone fray in India and launched five smartphones in one go. The Asus ZenFone 5 is the best positioned of the lot, offering a 5-inch HD screen, Android 4.3 and 2GB RAM and still keeping the price under Rs 10,000 for the base variant. However, unlike most Android phones today, the handset is powered by an Intel processor, not Qualcomm or Mediatek.

Does it fare well against the Moto G's base variant? Should you buy this smartphone or spend another Rs 4,000 and go for Xiaomi Mi 3? We answer these questions and more in our Asus ZenFone 5 review...

Design and display
Asus ZenFone 5 has an understated look, with the company opting largely for plastic construction with only a hint of metal. The plastic used here is not cheap and has matte finish that feels good to the touch. However, the look is rather plain and does not set the smartphone apart from the competition either.

In the front, just below the screen you will see a metallic strip featuring concentric semi-circles, taking up less than a centimeter of space on the front panel. Though this strip is not too bold, it certainly adds a little flair to the design character, which the device doesn't seem to have otherwise. Asus uses the same metal trim in its laptops.

ZenFone 5's removable back panel is curved, which make it easy to hold with one as well as two hands. However, the smartphone itself is a little big and, thus, a little difficult to operate with one hand. At 145gram, it is a little heavy, but feels solid.

One thing we don't like about Asus ZenFone 5 is the wide bezels, which make ZenPhone 5 unnecessarily large. The smartphone could have been much more compact, somewhere to the tune of Samsung Galaxy S4, but the wide bezels on all sides make it too large for comfort. The Home, Back and Task Switcher buttons have not been given on the screen as well, thus adding to its size.

Asus ZenFone 5 sports a 5-inch display with 720p resolution. The screen's colour reproduction is balanced, delivering accurate and balanced colours in most cases. Being an IPS panel, it offers good viewing angles, ensuring that colours do not wash out when viewed from the sides. Pixilation is not noticeable either.

Xiaomi Mi 3 vs ZenFone 5, Moto G and others

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The Indian smartphone market has just got a new kid on the block: Xiaomi Mi 3. From the house of China's third-biggest smartphone maker, this new model features top-end specifications at an attractive price of Rs 14,999.

Want to know how Xiaomi Mi 3 fares vis-à-vis other top smartphones in its price range? Here's comparing Mi 3 against phones from the likes of Motorola, Sony, BlackBerry, Gionee and Asus...

Hardware
Asus ZenFone 5 comes across pretty well-equipped when it comes to the hardware. The smartphone has the Intel Atom Z2560 dual-core processor running at 1.6GHz; it features Hyperthreading technology, meaning that it can act as a quad-core CPU when too many processes are running.

The India variant of ZenPhone 5 comes with 2GB RAM, 8GB and 16GB internal storage options and microSD card support up to 64GB. Connectivity options are standard: 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB 2.0. The smartphone also sports an 8MP camera flanked by LED flash on the back, and a 2MP camera in front. It has a non-removable 2,110mAh battery.

The 8GB variant has been priced at Rs 9,999, whereas the 16GB model can be purchased for Rs 12,999.

Software
Software is yet another highlight of Asus ZenFone 5. Android smartphone makers try to set themselves apart via customized software, but most do not turn out well and make the phone appear cluttered.

However, Asus, despite its rather limited experience with smartphones, has done a very good job, giving us an Android launcher that improves the basic functionality of Android, is pleasing to the eyes and does not make you cringe when you look at the icons.

ZenFone 5 comes preloaded with Android 4.3, but the Android 4.4 update is around the corner. There is no word on Android L release for this smartphone.

Much like HTC's Sense UI, the Asus custom skin brings shortcuts to the lock screen so that you can open the apps that you use the most without unlocking the device. It also displays time, weather and upcoming events on the lock screen.

While you swipe downwards to open the Notifications Bar, a swipe from the left side of the screen opens your notifications whereas the swipe from the right opens all the toggles, just like it happens in Android tablets nowadays. Brightness, Flashlight, Memory Booster, Calculator and Quick Memo are permanent in the toggles menu, but you can choose the remaining toggles that show up in Notifications from Settings.

Another feature worth mentioning here is Easy Mode, which lets you choose and control those apps you may use most frequently. Much like the similar feature by Samsung, Sony and HTC, Asus ZenPhone 5 shows common apps like Dialler, Contacts, Camera etc by default, but also lets you set which other apps can be opened in this mode.

Via Settings, you can enable ZenFone 5 to open the camera by clicking the Volume Down key twice when the screen is turned off. You can also take screenshots by just tapping the Task Switcher haptic key twice.

Also worth mentioning is the design of the icons you see in several Asus apps. The icons are flat and minimalist, making the screen uncluttered even if it has several apps and widgets.

Of course, all this doesn't mean that Asus, like other manufacturers, hasn't preloaded its own set of apps in ZenFone 5. Along with Google apps, the Taiwanese manufacturer has put several apps on the device, and not all are useful.

Those worth mentioning are AudioWizard and Splendid. The former, as the name suggest, lets you control the phone's audio profile depending upon the functions you are performing. There are six modes in this app, namely Speech, Music, Recording, Movie, Gaming and Power Saving.

Splendid enables you to control the colour reproduction on the display, allowing you to make it richer or colder.

Asus has said that it will update ZenFone 5 to Android 4.4 (KitKat) in coming weeks, but there is no word on an upgrade to Android L release.

Performance
We have been fairly impressed by the software, hardware, design and display quality of Asus ZenFone 5. But what about the performance in everyday usage? ZenFone 5 did not fail us even once, delivering consistent performance without a single glitch.

What's more surprising is that the Intel-powered smartphone delivered a user experience that was as good, if not better, than that of its Qualcomm-powered counterparts. Apps opened quickly and switching between them was smooth. With 2GB RAM at its disposal, the smartphone did not give any 'out of memory' error as well.

The smartphone performs well as a gaming machine too, but resource-hungry games feel a little slow to start. The Power VR GX544MP2 GPU renders rich graphics without a hitch. The games we tried, Real Racing 3 and Dead Trigger 2, played smoothly and there were no frame drops.

In benchmark tests, Asus ZenFone 5 gave pretty good results. In fact, its scores were right up there with those of Google Nexus 4 in most tests we used, and decidedly better than that of Moto G.

Call quality on both sim cards, in our experience, has been fine, but nothing to write home about. Wi-Fi and 3G networks too worked smoothly in all environments.

As a multimedia device, however, Asus ZenFone 5 is not good. Though the display is great and all video formats play easily, the sound is just not enough. It is not loud enough, and thus makes playing songs or videos a poor experience. Due to the low sound output, using this smartphone in loudspeaker mode is also useless.

One problem we faced while handling the device is that the haptic keys are not backlit. Therefore, using it in the dark is a little difficult.

Battery life is also a concern. During regular usage, where we keep the brightness at 50% and always keep either 3G or Wi-Fi turned on, the battery drained in approximately 6-7 hours. Turning off internet connectivity helps the ZenFone 5 get through a day. The smartphone has battery saver modes, but they don't do help much unless the internet is turned off. It is, therefore, advisable to keep the charger with you for emergency situations.

Camera
The camera of ZenFone 5 is decent for an 8MP camera, and especially good for the sub-Rs 10,000 range. Asus has used also added several software feature to give users an array of image capturing options, such as Depth of Field, Miniature, Smart Remove.

In Auto mode, the lighter parts in photos are overexposed, while dark areas are underexposed. Colours in daylight photos are accurate and the white balance also okay. Lowlight photos come out pretty great and show a little less noise compared to rival smartphones.

You can make GIFs using the smartphone, much like Nokia Lumia phones' CinemaGraph. The Miniature feature lets you bring a single object in focus, while keeping the rest faded. The Depth of Field feature works well, but is a little slow and it took us several tries before we got a satisfactory photo.

Verdict
If you are looking for a smartphone under Rs 10,000, then Asus ZenFone 5 should easily be your first choice. Battery life is a concern, but a wall charger or power bank in your bag is a simple fix. The screen, software, camera and overall performance compensate more than enough for the small battery.

However, if you can stretch your budget to Rs 14,000, then you should go for Xiaomi Mi 3, which is a fantastic smartphone that does much more than what ZenFone 5 can.

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Saturday 26 July 2014