Friday, 3 April 2015

KTM 200 Duke 'Street Tracker' review

KTM’s 200 Duke has set the bar high for motorcycling in India, providing enthusiasts that punchy performing engine at an affordable price. Yet, some would argue that there still exists a niche of enthusiasts who want to ride into the wild and make their Dukes do just a bit more than point, shoot and corner. That is, they want to experience the incomparable pleasure of rolling off the road to make your own path through unpaved dirt. Now, that dream is a big step closer.


Keyne Wilson is the proprietor of Café Nomads, a small but passionate firm that undertakes modification jobs on motorcycles and cars in Mumbai. As seen in the images, the KTM 200 Duke is Keyne’s first ever attempt at modifying a KTM 200 Duke. He first set about on this task when Ashish Panchal approached him with the unique request to 'transform' his Duke to a scrambler. The creation has been christened the Street Tracker.

iPhone 6C With 4-Inch Display Unlikely to Launch in 2015

Apple may not debut its much-anticipated 4-inch iPhone model this year, while more details about the implementation of the expected Force Touch feature on the iPhone range have been tipped.


KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo contradicts recent rumours that suggested three new iPhone models were likely to launch this year - the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, and iPhone 6C.

Kuo further added that the next-generation iPhone models featuring 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays will sport Force Touch technology that will work differently when compared to the Apple Watch, new MacBook and 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro.

9to5mac citing Kuo claims that the Force Touch technology on the iPhone 6S will sense "how much of a user's finger contacts the display." It will only detect a touch when the user "adequately" touches the screen, thus differentiating it from light tap. The report claims that the upcoming iPhones will feature dedicated sensor, which will be placed under the backlight, to accurately measure touch pressure. Kuo says Samsung uses a similar methodology for touch sensor placement on Galaxy Note phablet screens, though he adds that Apple's implementation will be more advanced.

Kuo speculates that addition of Force Touch will be a major upgrade from the last year's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus leading him to believe that Apple might call it 'iPhone 7'.

In the meanwhile, the Force Touch sensors are being tipped to only be made available on the iPhone 6S Plus, with a report out of China adding the sensors will costs two and half times as much as that on the Apple Watch due to its larger size.

An earlier report hinting Apple will launch three iPhones suggested that the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will be incremental updates from last year's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The iPhone 6C on the other hand would be the cheaper variant of the handset that the Cupertino-based giant will launch to tap emerging markets, which also includes India. All three were said to launch in the second half of 2015.

Samsung Galaxy S6 review

Choose one word to describe the Samsung Galaxy S6. Gorgeous. Powerful. 

Anyway, the Galaxy S6 was redone from scratch and bids farewell to plastic. Glass and metal is a critically acclaimed combination. Another way of saying it is - depending on how upset you are with the missing card slot and sealed battery - they're copying Apple and Sony. Alright, memory, battery and waterproofing are easy things to get upset about, so let's see what the Samsung Galaxy S6 offers in exchange.
The new look is impressive and exciting and Samsung's trademark AMOLED is the perfect match. It's an immersive 5.1 incher of QHD resolution, for the amazing 577ppi - though "amazing" doesn't work for Samsung. They'll call it "the best ever" - and will be right. And that's just the beginning.

Wednesday, 28 January 2015

YotaPhone 2 review

It may look like the YotaPhone 2 has lost the element of surprise but the sequel is actually trying to please the users the original wowed - and get a bigger crowd interested. The first generation was unexpected and fascinating but high price and low awareness didn't help it get its message across.

Number 2 isn't going to be a bestseller either, not in its wildest dreams, but it does well to fix a lot of things that didn't quite work the first time around. Yota Devices announced the YotaPhone 2 almost a full year ago for it to only recently become available. And, of course, we couldn't miss the opportunity to review one of the most intriguing gadgets in the market.

On a first glance, the YotaPhone 2 looks just like a regular Android flagship - even a bit old-fashioned, as in curvy and not too slim. The specs mean business though: a gorgeous FullHD AMOLED display, 32GB of storage, LTE, a solidly-built body and buttery-smooth experience courtesy of a Snapdragon 800 chip.
However, your perception of it will change completely once you turn it around. The unique feature is the always-on e-Ink display mounted on the back, safe under a layer of curved Gorilla Glass 3.


Think of all the possibilities that the battery-efficient screen opens - a power-frugal, pocket-sized e-reader for those sunny days on the beach or those long commutes; instant access to your smartphone's most important features - notifications, the time, calls, messages and email, the web and your favorite contacts, and even games. An ever changing battery cover style for your phone too, if you will.

There is a lot to discover about the new YotaPhone 2 but before we proceed to the key features, we must say we really like the YotaPhone 2 concept. It managed to get us excited as few devices have - let's hope it's not just in it for the points for trying.

Key features

  • 5.0" 16M-color 1080p AMOLED touchscreen, 442ppi
  • Always-on 4.7" 16-level grayscale e-Ink display (540 x 960 px, 235ppi)
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on both screens
  • Android OS v4.4.3 KitKat with Yota Apps
  • Quad-core Krait 400 CPU at 2.3GHz, 2GB of RAM, Adreno 330 GPU; Snapdragon 801 chipset
  • 8MP autofocus camera, LED flash; HDR, panorama; 1080p@30fps video capturing
  • 32GB of built-in storage (25GB user-accessible)
  • Cat. 4 LTE (150/50Mbps); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.0; NFC; GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou; FM radio; microUSB (SlimPort)
  • 2,500mAh battery
  • Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic

Main disadvantages

  • No high-end video recording (either 4K @ 30fps or FullHD @ 60fps)
  • No microSD card slot or higher storage capacity option available
  • Always resting on a screen regardless how you put it down and double the chance of breaking a screen if you drop it

The YotaPhone 2 wasn't meant to compete with the current crop of flagships in terms of productivity and value-added features. On a second thought though, the extra screen has more added value than most.

Anyway, it was obviously built with smooth performance in mind. The lack of 4K video recording or a microSD card slot are not that much of a problem and surely won't be tough to swallow having in mind the YotaPhone 2's unique skill and character.

Thursday, 8 January 2015

Selfie-centered Samsung Grand Max unveiled in Korea

Samsung's event at CES 2015 was lacking in smartphone flair, instead focusing on domestic appliances and what they called SUHD television. In South Korea though, they are launching the Galaxy Grand Max which is to hit local shelves on January 9 at KWR 319,000 ($290).

From the front the device is an unmistakable member of the family, so much so that it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell which exactly Galaxy this is. The back is what distinguishes it with yet another iteration of the faux leather concept around the otherwise familiar flash-camera-speaker layout.


The phone features a 5.25" display of 720p resolution in a slender 7.9mm body weighing in at 161g. Running the show is the decent Snapdragon 410 with its CPU clocked at 1.2GHz and a modem supporting LTE Cat 4. It is joined by 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage, as usual with a microSD slot for expansion. Power will be provided by a 2500mAh battery, which should be about adequate.

The main camera is a 13MP unit, but Samsung is marketing the Grand Max as a selfie device stressing the 120 degree wide angle lens of the 5MP front snapper. It also allows voice operation to let you focus on making funny faces instead of shutter release.