Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 Review

/ Guttu / 2 Comments
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2

A couple of weeks back, The battery of my tab, Spice Mi 720, died. I am so used to the tablet that I had to substitute it with a new one. I was confused because of the options available unlike last time. Then I dedudced to the two best tablets avaible, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and iPad Mini. The only thing that stopped me from buying iPad Mini was the lack of calling facility. The choice left was Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. It’s been a year since it’s launch and it is still one of the most popular tablets available. Reviewing it now may be pretty useless as you’ll find hundreds of reviews of this tab. This one is written after 3 weeks of usage.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2

Package content
The package contains Tablet, Charging cable with USB connector at one end. It comes with 2-pin Indian type plug with USB socket where you’ll have to attach the previously mentioned cable for charging. Standard white colored earphones with mic and buttons for receiving calls and volume. There is no cover or case provided with the package. You’ll have to buy one yourself. I bought one fron nCase which I feel is a great value for money.

Hardware
Tablet has a 7″ screen which is smooth and very responsive. It weighs around 345g without case and 400g with case. It is powered by 1 Ghz dual core processor with 1GB of RAM. 230MB of that RAM is dedicated to graphics. The one I bought has 16GB internal memory with approx 12GB usable. There is microSD slot to expand memory upto 32GB. The SIM slot is normal and you don’t have to trouble yourself to get the micro SIM. There are two mics, one each on short side. Two speakers placed at bottom, volume control and power button on one side and all of these are poorly placed. Let me tell you why.
If you are watching a video in landscape mode, Your hand will cover the speakers thus resulting in low volume. They are placed ideally for portrait video playback and gaming. Not suitable while using landscape mode. Secondly, The power and volume controls are placed such that you’ll accidentally press them while using apps in portrait mode. The only work around this problem is to hold the tab in the bottom area instead of central.
The display is crisp 1024×600 capacitive screen. It is very responsive and games and videos look great on it. There is a sensor to auto adjust brightness of the screen. It works most of the times but I highly suggest you to find your comfortable brightness and manually set it. My main problem is the touch buttons for Home, Back, Window manager and app menu. These buttons reduce the screen area by 6-7 percent and interfere while you are typing. They should have placed the buttons outside the screen. I guess it’s Jellybean to blame for this.
There are two cameras, with front camera having VGA resolution and back camera with 3.2 megapixel. Photos have decent quality. You can add some effects using the Photo editor provided or maybe use it in some video via the Video editor app.
When it comes to connectivity, this tablet has it all. GSM, 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-fi, Tethering. The big advantage is you can use the SIM calling feature. The GPS is quick in getting the location and quite accurate even without the internet and in airplane mode. What it lacks is using it as mass storage. There is media and photo transfer mode but it doesn’t let you anything to copy on device. It’s certainly convenient but I can manage without the feature.

Performance
When it comes to performance, All I want in a tablet, is a good battery life. Because most of the apps would run smoothly on any current generation tab. During the past 3 weeks, The average battery life in one charge was 22-24hrs approx. You can watch 6hrs of DVD quality video, 10hrs of 3G, 30hrs of music, 5 days of standby. 3.5hrs are required to completely charge the battery. Though it has USB cable, Tablet doesn’t charge on connecting to PC/Laptop USB socket. The purpose of USB cable for charger is a mystery.

Apps
While my previous tablet was bundled with crapware, This tablet isn’t loaded with much apps which is way better than loading with crapware. But I at least expected them to bundle Facebook and Twitter. Instead there’s an app for a zombie filled social network, Google+. It is bundled with Reader’s Hub app which allows you to read paid Newspapers, Magazines and Ebooks. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support epub or mobi files stored on tab. Polaris Office is the app I liked the most. It beats QuickOffice anytime and it’s fully paid version. Also I liked the video player which supports subtitles and Music player which supports lyrics. I had to install the rest of the apps like Adobe Reader, Cool Reader, Catch Notes etc. to make it productive for my use.

To buy or not to buy?
This seems to be the best tablet and worth every penny. But a little more would have justified the price tag. Case or cover, Better rear camera (5MP or maybe 8MP) or maybe a LED flash instead and a couple of paid apps should do. Still I doubt any other tablet is available out there with the same features at lesser price.

Kahaani – Movie Review

/ Guttu / 4 Comments

Kahaani

Do you remember the times when your grandma used to tell you stories? Your eyes and ears focus to grandma and nothing else. You’ll watch this movie in the same manner. This movie isn’t a narration but it’s still a Kahaani.

Vidya Bagchi is working for a software security company in London. Her husband Arnab Bagchi, working for NDC in Kolkatta, Suddenly stopped calling her. She comes to India to find out the reason for his disappearance. As the cops turn out to be unhelpful, she investigates on her own with a helping hand in form of a newly joined police officer, Rana. Things get complicated and the mystery around the disappearance of her husband darkens. She becomes target of unknown elements and her life comes into danger. Will Vidya survive through the unfolding mystery? Will she find her husband? Watch the movie to find out.

First of all, Hats off to Vidya Balan for playing the role of pregnant woman. She is flawless and effortless in this role. She is the life of the movie and carries the whole movie easily on her shoulders. She reminds me of Late Smita Patil. At the moment there is no actress who even comes close to her when it comes to acting. Since the whole movie is focused on Vidya Balan, the rest of the cast gets very little. Special mention for Paramrata Chatterjee for portraying Rana. He has a freshness on his face and throughout the movie you feel that this role is written for him. The rest of the cast, as I said earlier, has little scope but they support Vidya Balan throughout.

The story of this movie is very clever and different from the regular masala flicks. Starts with a moderate pace and slows down a little after interval. But the climax is just mind blowing. There is a scene where Milan Damji, Arnab’s look alike, kicks Vidya in her stomach. I was quite shocked by this move. But what happened next was jaw dropping.

The screenplay totally justifies the story. Humor has been sprinkled but not very often. There is a contract killer in this movie. You actually laugh when he murders someone. Dialogs are a mix of Bengali and Hindi. That doesn’t make this film Bengali. There are no catchy lines or something that will glue to your memory. Cameraman has done brilliant job. The crowded city of Kolkatta, the darkness of the city, Joy of Durga Pooja are treat to watch.

Brilliant and engaging story, Powerful performance of Vidya Balan, Over the top climax, Top notch direction. Kahaani shouldn’t be missed. My rating 9/10.

Smile Can Make Big Difference

/ Guttu / 2 Comments

Today, I was listening to some old songs. One of my favorite tracks “Purani Jeans” started playing. My college days started rolling in front of my eyes. I thought of recalling those days through pictures. Very few photos those days as there were hardly any cameras. Mobile revolution had just started. I couldn’t find those photos from my college days anywhere in my backup. I logged into my email and did a query. I found some photos and while going through the search result, I found this beautiful story which I thought is worth sharing.

A little boy wanted to meet God. He packed his suitcase with two sets of his dress and some packets of cakes and he started his journey. He walked a long and felt tired. So he sat in a park on the way and opened a packet to eat a piece of cake. Then he noticed an old woman sitting sad with hunger nearby, so he offered her a piece of cake. She gratefully accepted it with a wide look and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy longed to see it again. After some time he offered her another piece of cake. Again, she accepted it and smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word. While it grew dark, the boy was frightened and he got up to leave but before he had gone more than a few steps, He ran back and gave her a hug and she kissed him with her prettiest smile.

The boy returned home. After a while, When the boy opened the door, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face.
She asked him, “What did you do today that made you look so happy?”
He replied, “I had lunch with God.”
Before his mother could respond, he added,”You know what? She’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen in my life!”

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and asked,”Mom, what did you do today that made you so happy?”
She replied, “I ate cakes in the park with God.”
Before her son responded, she added,”You know, he’s much younger than I expected.”

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, All of which have the potential to turn a life around. Remember, nobody know how God will look like. People come into our lives for a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime. Accept all of them equally.

Please share this story with everyone you love. If not this post, then copy-paste this. Or tell this during a conversation. Don’t forget to smile and…
Think Nonsense…

1461 Days Back..

/ Guttu / 1 Comment

It was one of those days when I was just staring at the computer screen. I had nothing to do. Totally jobless. Broadband had arrived just three months back. Most of my browsing was done during night hours due to the bandwidth cap. I clicked a random link out of the boredom. It was a warez blog with a great design. The bottom of the blog read ‘Powered by WordPress’. Clicking on the link introduced me to the world of blogging.

Now I wanted a blog. I wanted to blog. Why not? Everyone had a blog. There were blogs written by dogs and cats, supposedly. I already had the nonsense idea in my mind. The question was where to host? One of the perks of being a moderator or web hosting forum, you get free web-space. Thanks to the admin who set it up for me. I got everything I wanted to start a blog.

Four years ago, The very day I published my first post on the blog. I didn’t care about the language. Not about the content and not about who will read it. I just wanted to write. After a while, It got popular. I was overwhelmed by the appreciation. I even earned from blogging.

Over the years, The frequency of posts dried up. I didn’t even try to allocate time to blogging. And when I tried to write something, I was blank. That screen was punching me and I was taking blows standing.. Sorry. Sitting, Like a boxer out of practice. But today I decided to face it. This post is a result of that.

When I started this blog, I wanted one and I wanted to blog. Now I want to blog more. I want to write more. Lets see how much punching I can handle.

Till my next blog post.. duck a punch and
Think Nonsense..