Itele-Photo Lens (Rs. 1,500)
The iPhone 5 is out now, but if you’d rather stick to your iPhone 4, this accessory is worth investing in. The iPhone camera with its dinky lens is not the best but is decent enough among camera phones. The ITele-photo lens gives the iPhone camera a super upgrade with an 8x telephoto facility, handy not just for close-up shots, but also for taking better composed images. The great thing about the lens is that it can be manually focused which means it takes good pictures all the time, even in low light. Included in the box is a sleek, matte black iPhone case that you twist the lens onto, and a collapsible table tripod.
Windows 8 (Rs. 699 for the Downloadable Upgrade)
All PC loyalists for whom Windows 7 has already lost its charm, good news! Windows 8 is releasing on October 26 and it is going to be nothing like its predecessor. For one, its design is inspired by the typical smartphone and touchscreen tablet interface, and two, it can integrate directly with your social media accounts. The familiar Windows desktop that greets you on booting (which, by the way, promises to be much quicker) is replaced with the Metro screen – the home screen that is a tiled tapestry of apps. This means there is no more Start button to help you get, well, started, as soon as you switch on your computer. You choose an app instead. As for the apps, say, you want to look through your pictures in your Facebook, Flickr or even Sky Drive account, you pull up the Photos app and link it to all these web services which will then let you browse your photos from all your accounts. This integration is new to Windows. What might irk users is the need to relearn how to use their PC as Metro hides many functions, making it difficult to know how to do even ordinary tasks.
Iphone 5 (Expected Price Rs. 47,000 – Rs. 50,000)
The ‘WOW’ is to be launched soon. Apple says iPhone5 is the thinnest smartphone. The “iSight” camera stays at 8 megapixels but the dynamic light mode is new, and photography apps can be launched up to 2.1 times faster. Another addition is an image signal processor in the A6 chip that aids to capturing photos faster. Face detection is now available in clips for up to 10 people. The image stabilization has enhanced. The secondary front camera now can shoot 720p HD video. Video resolution remains at 1080p HD. The iPhone 5 gets an additional microphone to make a total of three. You’ll find one on the bottom, one on the handset’s front face, and one on its rear side. The screen size doesn’t account for a ‘wow’ expression though it is larger than the iPhone 4S screen. On the bottom of iPhone 5, there is the long-awaited smaller dock connector called Lightning. The novel feature imbibed is Passbook, an app that puts in one place all your digital coupons, tickets and loyalty. Earpods have arrived to deliver the bass punches sans damaging the ear lobes. It delivers an improved sound and has a small carrying case too. However, until now the design doesn’t fit all and some sound leakage is possible. So mind what you listen!
Led Shoe Laces (Rs. 320)
With Diwali festivities approaching the next month, here’s your chance to get the perfect light – sans electricity bills. Watch your shoes glow in the dark or the light as you flaunt LED shoe laces. These are available in five vibrant flashing colours- red, yellow, orange, blue and green. You can coordinate them with your outfit for the day. These can be used for all types of shoes. Each shoelace is Teflon-coated, water-proof and 26 inches long; operated by CR2032 lithium batteries. Like the modes in Diwali lights, these too have 3 flashing modes – always on, flashing lights and super-fast flashing lights. Get lightning. Get flashy.
APP of the Month
Bigflix (Free)
The mobile app from BIGFLIX.com is an on the go version of the parent website, currently India’s largest online movie-on-demand service. The app functions exactly as the website does, offering an eclectic collection of Indian language movies (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, among others), in multiple genres (action, comedy, drama and romance) all in HD quality. The movies themselves span several eras, from classics to the latest releases; in fact, some movies are made available here within 15 days of their release. Though the app is free, you will need to subscribe to the service for a nominal fee. Our verdict: the perfect app for long journeys and rainy days.
Volume 2 Issue 4
