Samsung S8 Plus (128GB) Update in India

As of this moment my Samsung S8 plus is downloading a whooping 600MB update. I checked yesterday and didnot see this update on the phone (OTA). Could this be Android 7.1.1? Keeping fingers crossed for a Indian Independence Day surprise by Samsung India!!!

Samsung S5 Exynos Version Lollipop update now rolling out in India

I am writing to confirm the roll out of Lollipop update for Samsung S5 model in India which has Exynos processor. I got the update on 20th March 2015 at 9:00pm IST.

The update size is 874.21 MB and as expected is an OTA update. The entire process was very quick and the update after downloading took 20-25 minutes to get the phone running on Lollipop.

Thank you Samsung for such a delayed roll out! (Saturday is sarcasm day).

The phone feels faster even with the same amount of RAM utlization.

Google Chromecast India Launch on 10th Dec 2014?

Image courtesy http://www.google.co.in/chrome/devices/chromecast/

As per some tech sites that are popular in India, Google Chromecast will be launched in India on 10th December 2014. This is also going to be the launch of GOSF 2014 in India.

Google Chromecast which was launched in US in 2013 is basically a digital media player developed by Google. Chromecast was announced on July 24, 2013, and made available for purchase on the same day in the United States.

Some popular Indian tech sites such as iGyaan, Androids, Intellect Digest are all saying they have exclusive information that the chromecast will be launched for Indian audience and officially by google and will be available for sale through Snapdeal. Intellect Digest goes on to say that the device sold by snapdeal will be the official device and will carry warranty in India. This is good news to lot of Indians who have been shipping products from US to India with no local support.

Let us see if the claims are indeed correct.

Review - God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian

Author: Ravi Subramanian

Language: English

Length: 324 pages

Publisher: Penguin Books India 

Price: INR 299

Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Literature & Fiction
Teaser on Youtube:



Ravi Subramanian is considered to be one of new, young India's finest thriller writers. He has written six bestselling books till date and this book (God is a Gamer) is his seventh book. What a conincidence since Chetan Bhagat's latest book takes him to seven books in total and likewise for Ravi.

Anyways  to give a brief, he is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore) and is currently the head of a leading financial institution.  A career banker and financial services professional, Ravi has worked with several multinational banks. As a result of his extensive background in banks, writing about banking comes quite naturally to Ravi. Each one of his books thus far have been set in the backdrop of a foreign bank and this book is again all about banking and money.


I say what better way to make money than to write fiction about others making money. :-)

Review Half GirlFriend - Chetan Bhagat

Author: Chetan Bhagat V
Language: English
Length: 268 pages
Publisher: Rupa Publication India
Link From Authors website: http://www.chetanbhagat.com/books/half-girlfriend/
Price: INR 176
Teaser Campaign on Youtube:


As far as my knowledge goes, this is the seventh book by Chetan Bhagat. A brief background about him as written on his website.

"Chetan Bhagat is the author of six blockbuster books. These include five novels—Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005), The 3 Mistakes of My Life (2008), 2 States (2009), Revolution 2020 (2011)—and the non-fiction title What Young India Wants (2012).
Half-Girlfriend, his seventh book and sixth novel, releases in October 2014.

Private India - A Review

Author: James Patterson & Ashwin Sanghi

Language: English

Length: 480 pages

Publisher: Random House

This book is a continuation of the popular ‘Private’ novel series by James Patterson. He has chosen to make India his next destination of choice to appear in the ‘Private India’ (possibly the first of the series with many more to come). The one thing that surprised me and got me down to reading this book was James teaming up with Ashwin Sanghi. Most of the people who have read Ashwin, know him as someone who creates great scripts with good narration but gets inspired by mythology. However, this book is not mythology but, is all current times. So, it indeed is a bit surprising. But, what matters is the final product, if it is digestible, believable, comprehensible, follow able, cry able, laugh able all at some point then it will be a good product. I read through the book at rapid pace to put this book to the above test and see what comes out. Read on to know how the book fares.

India in Shambles - Only The Judiciary Can Save Us - Book Review

Book:  India in Shambles - Only The Judiciary Can Save Us
Publishing Year - 2013
Author: K.C. Agrawal
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: BecomeShakespeare.com
Price: INR 370

I recently laid my hands on the the book "India in Shambles - Only The Judiciary Can Save Us" by KC Agarwal. When i laid my hands on the book, i had my doubts, but believe me they were all dispelled by the depth of the research and the simple yet novellness of the ideas presented in this neat book.

The Book is written in two parts. Part one talk about diagnosing the maladies ailing our nation and to determine their tangible cures. Part two of the book talks about Building the nation. Here ther author provides the roadmaps and guidelines to place the nation amongst the most prosperous and powerful nations in the world by making optimum use of our resources.

My Lumia 920 is downloading updates...looks like it is Lumia black for 920 in India

Even though the status on Nokia's website (http://www.nokia.com/global/support/software-update/wp8-software-update/wp8-availability-in-asia-pacific/) says that Lumia Black is 'Coming Soon'. I am downloading a huge update on my Nokia Lumia 920. I will confirm once i have the installation completes.

Sennheiser CX 180 In-ear-canalphone

I have these headphones for a year almost. So here is a review of someone who has these for some time now. They are not the best headphones, but for the price they retail for they are by far the best headphones in the market. The on thing that stands out for these IEMs is that although they are loud, they are still able to maintain an amazing level of clarity in the sound.

Pros:
1) Very loud - they will make your lower the volume
2) Neat, clear sound and voice - no muddle here
3) Bass is good - not punchy - so bass lover might want to look elsewhere
4) mids are clear and crisp
5) Excellent after sales service by Sennheiser
6) Lovely 2 year warranty - psst they generally replace should you have a problem

Nokia Lumia 1320 and 1520 spotted online on a popular e-commerce portal-may be coming soon to India

I happened to spot both Nokia Lumia 1320 and Nokia Lumia 1520 online at a popular online e-commerce portal. This might be the signal that Nokia India may be looking at launching the same in India before new year.

I spotted it today morning at a popular e-commerce portal saholic.com.

Nokia Lumia 1320 can be seen in all its glory here:

September 18th 2013 - Phenomenal day for Technology announcements/launches in India

Wow! I can't believe the amount of new tech announcements that have happened or the launches that have happened in India on the 18th of Sept 2013. This is a phenomenal day, unlike any that i have ever seen or witnessed.

To summarize some of the launches/announcements that came on this day were:

Is Nokia 1020 India launch this week?

I wonder why has Nokia or Microsoft or who ever else is out there has not launched the Nokia 1020 in India yet. India is one of the very few markets where Nokia still enjoys a lot of brand value.

What leads me to speculate of the imminent launch is the tweeting of the link of the Katy Perry video on Nokia India's timeline (@NokiaIndia) only a few minutes back.

Pre-order of Nokia Lumia 625 sold out on Snapdeal.com

This must be a first for Nokia and should give it a needed boost. The new big screen Nokia Lumia 625 was seen on snapdeal.com a few days back as available for "Pre-Order". Today the same website snapdeal.com shows the Pre-order as sold out. Here is the link http://www.snapdeal.com/product/nokia-lumia-625/1255140035 and below the screenshot:



If this is any indicator of things then, i do see Nokia's hard work showing results. However, it is still a long way away from being back in the game. But, along with it it points to two things, one: that Indians will buy big screen phones (we like to flaunt eh!!) and two: as long as it is priced sensibly (the dual core, screen, ram, graphics card,price combo) it will see a success in the Indian market. Hope that Nokia India has its fingers crossed. My sources tell me that Nokia India is betting big on this phone. Let see!