Raj Agrawal – Page 20

The New Galaxy – A Major Collapse At First Sight

May 7, 2012 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

Though it started off as a small venture by an ex-employee of Apple Inc. and later on acquired by Google, Android has now become a tool that device manufacturers heavily rely on and software developers capitalize on. Android has succeeded the existence of several entities in the mobile phone ecosystem. Starting off from its incubation and following the alphabetical desserts/sweet treats – Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo (frozen yogurt), Gingerbread, Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich, there has been a steady growth in its market presence. The current success can obviously be attributed to Google’s smart move of creating the OHA(Open Handset Alliance) and the Open Source Approach(AOSP).

Samsung Galaxy S3 Camera Shot. Courtesy: Engadget

Apart from what’s mentioned above, there have been certain eccentric major ground breaking innovations that has helped Android stand out from other participants (or be the only participant) in the smartphone’s reality show. Samsung, a vital member of the OHA, despite of creating mass market offerings varying on price points, handsets, OS’s have been successful in creating a few top notch premium category devices that has captivated the audiences worldwide (S1,S2). Though a major part of the credit goes to the Google’s mobile OS market leader Android, a major part also goes to Samsung for its technological finesse.

Even though there were several device manufacturers offering several options to choose from, there existed a revolutionary device that changed today’s smartphone scenario, one that took the smartphone standards to the next level and outmatched customers expectation. When we thought of a device that’s fast, powerful & vivid, most of us would agree that it was none other than the Samsung Galaxy S2. Unarguably (the most successful Android phone since the existence of Android and risen from a successful predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S), it stimulated not only Androids but also Samsung’s market presence. Packed under the hood a super fast dual core processor, massive 1GB RAM, huge and lavish Super AMOLED Plus display, astonishing 8 megapixel camera coupled with an amazing 2 megapixel front camera, huge phone memory (16GB built-in plus 32GB ext) and a amazingly slim and light design.

The S2, not only made us think over replacing our current device but had us keenly awaited for the immediate successor to this game changing player. A year passed while the New Galaxy was in the works. On the 3rd of May 2012, the day several Samsung users worldwide eagerly awaited while competitors feared. Press conferences were held, curtains dropped, users hooked onto their PCs, eager to get a peek into what will next occupy their pocket space.

On the first look there were shouts of disappointment (seeing quite an ordinary design for a phone of that caliber), but the whole inspired by nature act which seemed laughable at the first look, was believable post the presentation videos of the amazing fast and fluid display, interface and functions preloaded into the device, some tweaked and some never seen before.

As we know, like every successful device, the Galaxy S3 has its pros and cons.

Where it meets our expectations

4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED with Gorilla Glass 2
1.4 GHz Exynos 4 Quad Processor (Quad-core)
Rear 8-megapixel Camera(AF+HDR) + Front 1.9 Megapixel Camera
133-gram in weight with 8.6mm thickness
2,100mAh battery
1080p playback
NFC technology with Wi-Fi Direct
Android Beam – It allows an NFC enabled device to push an NDEF message by tapping the two devices together. Basically, it enables the convenience of tossing multimedia between phone just by just tapping each other.
Smart Stay – Should we claim this one genius add-on? When the phone screen turns off with the pre-set timer, this phone will actually read your eye movements (with the front camera) and turn the screen on to avoid annoyances. Now that’s a step up!
S Voice – A Siri like feature from Samsung
Android 4.0 ICS
The owners of Samsung Galaxy S3 get 50GB of free Dropbox storage

Where it falters

The design could have been more contemporary.
Too much power which is yet not harnessed completely by most apps out there, while the need has not been yet established. Or has it?

Whether it will live up to match the achievements of its predecessor is yet to be seen. What is your opinion?

Games That You’ll Probably Miss, But You Shouldn’t: The Walking Dead Episode One

May 2, 2012 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

“The year 2012 is going to be a great year for video-games”. I don’t know how many times i’ve said this. But it’s turning out to be a fact; one which makes me happy and excited. And as such, there is the possibility of that odd game totally passing under your radar. The game might not be popular on the hype meter, or it just might not look good in the previews. One such game which totally surprised me is The Walking Dead episode One.

First of all this is not your typical Zombie slaying game. So if you’re expecting something akin to Left 4 Dead, don’t give this game a try. It’s based on the critically acclaimed television series, and hence its focus is more on the story and the characters than on the zombies. It’s a character driver game where you interact with the world around you and unravel the story. And Telltale game studios have done an excellent job of recreating the world as shown to us by its television counterpart.

The major highlights of the game are the solid story and the immersive graphics. The graphics are especially impressive, and coupled with the brilliant set-pieces, really bring the game to life. Again, I did not really expect the game to be this good, and so I had to play the game twice just to ensure that I wasn’t getting carried away! That does not mean that it does not have its flaws. The game lacks good puzzles; a game such as this needs some puzzles to keep the entertainment factor going throughout. The other thing that I didn’t like is the low level of difficulty. Difficulty makes the game even more entertaining. Well, I guess Dark Souls has spoiled me.

Overall, I feel The Walking Dead is an amazing achievement. It does not have the hype or the funding, but Telltale games have created a shocker of a good game which will be an underground sensation and will be talked about for years to come. And this is just the first episode. More are coming, which just adds to the excitement. This year just keeps getting better!

Gameplay

Microsoft’s Upcoming Operating System. It’s Not A Windows.

May 2, 2012 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

No matter to what level consumer technologies and appliances be new to a market, they have always been accepted for good reasons. By definition and intention, consumer technologies are constantly augmented to simplify our routine habits and requirements. Pointing specifically at the household appliances, you may introduce new devices and setups to your current home eco-system to make it smarter than ever. But there has always been a much wider room to enhance your abode. Much of the menial tasks at home can be automated.

Microsoft’s Home Operating System research is about pushing the home eco-system management to a broader level. Of course, refrigerators, television sets, washing machines, air conditioners, etceteras, are the most common home applications that automate a good deal of manual work. But consider a time when you are not home and you have a set of activities to perform, which can only be achieved in your presence. Or may be a point where you need to perform a step-by-step list of activities that require physical presence just to tip-tap buttons and get the machines working (television, set-top boxes, lamps and so on). This is where HomeOS steps in to organize the menial tasks into one place and conveniently control, like as easily from a smart phone.

A student demonstrating how to turn on and off lights via gestures with a Kinect (an excerpt from the white paper)

With HomeOS, you can add remote surveillance for security and monitor the energy consumption at your home. All and more of these capabilities will be available and setup through the HomeStore gateway installed on the user’s computer. The user can accordingly add more functionalities to the home system from the HomeStore. According a video shared by one of the contributors of this research, the add-on like functionalities in HomeOS are coded in C# language.

In the following video, Ratul Mahajan (one of the contributors to this project) demonstrates how the HomeOS system would work on a very basic scale.

Microsoft Research: [White Paper, HomePage]