smartbuy issue dated april 27, 2011
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Smartbuy issue dated April 27, 2011TRANSCRIPT
SmartbuyWednesday, April 27, 2011
G A D G E T S | A U T O | L U X U R Y www.blsmartbuy.com
Business Line
Awesome Threesome
Exploring Leela Palace, New Delhi
Carbon-fibre endurance testSony Xperia Play-ed
3 April 27, 2011Smartbuy
WHAT’S HOT this week
Apart from regular broadcasts, thistelly from LG offers video ondemand, web browsing and webapplications. Besides popularwebsites like Facebook, Twitter,and YouTube, LG has also tied upwith a number of Indian companieslike NDTV and Zapak to providemovies, music, games, etc. A MagicMotion Remote doubles up as acursor to browse content, and theHome Dashboard serves as acentral menu screen. The SmartShare function allows you tostream content from your PCdirectly to your telly. Available insizes ranging from 32-55 inches.Rs 43,000 – Rs 1.7 lakh
Intelligent tellyLG Smart TV
This super stylish mouse from Microsoft,measuring just 15mm at its thickest point, issure to give your desktop a makeover. Itfeatures a touch scroll strip down the centre,and can be curved to fit your hand or flattenedto pack away. BlueTrack technology allowsuse on a variety of surfaces and the snap-intransreceiver allows seamless wirelessconnectivity. The Arc Touch offers up to sixmonths of battery life.Rs 3,600
The perfect fitMicrosoft Arc Touch
This ultra-premium series of netbooks from Samsungweigh just 1.31-kgs and measure 16.33mm in depth.Crafted from duralumin, a material used in advancedaircraft design, the aerodynamic design of the notebookis aimed at replicating a sports car. The 13-inchSuperBright Plus display is two times brighter thanconventional screen, and the notebook is powered by aSecond Generation Intel Core i5 processor.Rs 1,00,990
Turbo chargedSamsung Series 9
Team SmartbuyEditorial
Anushya [email protected]
Ketaki [email protected]
Mahananda [email protected]
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IT’S PLAY TIME, FOLKS!SMARTPHONE review
Photo: R. Ravindran
Ketaki Bhojnagarwala
Rumours about a PlayStation phone surfaced months ago, and asalways, those rumours lead to speculation. As more informationabout this extraordinary, one-of-a-kind gaming phone leaked, techmagazines and websites were flooded with digital prototypes.
The elusive PlayStation phone, launched as the Xperia Play by Sony Er-icsson, made its debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona lastmonth. Disappointingly, it received a lukewarm reception, and the creepySuper Bowl commercial didn’t do much to add to its appeal.Nevertheless, being the first PlayStation-certified smartie, it gave us morethan enough reason to jump up and down like school kids in front of anice-cream cart when we first greedily set our hands on the phone.
ControlsAny tech journalist who’s got a hold of the phone will tell you that instinctguides you towards the slide-out gamepad, the famed centrepiece of thephone. At first glance, we’re pretty impressed by what we see. The gamepadslides out smoothly, with a satisfying click, to reveal all the gaming controlsyou need from a console. On either side of the gamepad are a quartet ofbuttons – the left holds the directional ones (up, down, left and right), andthe right has the four iconic PlayStation buttons (square, triangle, circle andcross). Nestled snugly between the controls are two circular, touch-sensi-tive analog pads, which function like joysticks. At the centre of each pad is adepressed metal dot, to give your thumbs a sense of direction. It takes some
getting used to, but we found the touch pads quite handy for racing gameslike Asphalt 6, especially when it came to taking sharp turns on the
track. At the bottom are three buttons, one is the Android Menubutton, and the two others are Select and Start. A delightful
discovery is that the top corners of the gamepad have twoshoulder buttons, which are substitutes for the L1 and
R1 controls on a regular console gamepad. Thedownside is that we didn’t use these buttons
much on most games we played. Also, Sony Ericsson seems to have com-
promised on the quality of the buttons,which feel plasticky and flimsy.
The 4-inch display with a resolution of480x854 pixels is decent, but we would
have really liked to see an AMOLED screen.Even the Xperia Arc looks brighter in compari-
son. At highest levels of brightness, it’s still quitedull, and when we tried gaming outdoors, it was
virtually impossible to make out anything inthe sunlight. However,
the screen didn’t let usdown when it came to gam-
ing, given that it’s of con-siderably higher resolution
than the one on the PSP 3004.
Game onConsidering that this is a gam- ingphone, we would expect a dedi-cated app which would be able toshowcase all the games in one place, but disap-pointingly, this isn’t the case. Sliding out the gamepad directly brings up theXperia Play app. This has two sections: Xperia Play Games (this gives you alist of all the games already installed on your phone) and More Games (this isa list of available titles for download). Sony Ericsson declared that therewere over 70 titles for the Play at the time of launch. Clicking on any one ofthese games will take you to the Android Market, where you can pay onlineand download it directly to the phone.
For games developed by Sony itself, you need to access the PlayStationPocket app. Our unit came pre-installed with Crash Bandicoot, and if youtouch the tiny search button on the screen, it’ll bring up a list of otheravailable PlayStation games. At present, the list has only five titles, includingthe ever-popular MediEvil.
To double up as a gaming device, Sony Ericsson has decided to go the
whole hog and cram in a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon chipand an Adreno 205 GPU, along with 512 MB of RAM. Apart from slightdelays while loading the game, we didn’t face any trouble when it came tolags during gameplay. We also had a few problems when we downloadedgames from the Android Market, which took ages to load, even on ahigh-speed Wi-Fi connection.
Sony’s meagre offering of PlayStation titles should ideally be sub-stantiated by allowing the Play to access the list of wonderful PSP games.Playing the PSP version of Final Fantasy VII on a phone is a good enoughreason to persuade us to buy it, we think.
Some of the games like Bruce Lee and the Sims 3 barely required use ofthe gamepad controls, and more often than not it was easier to use thetouch controls. Sony Ericsson should have more stringent guidelines onwhat constitutes an Xperia Play-optimised game.
Phony businessWhile we’ve been babbling about the gaming capabilities of the XperiaPlay, we declined to look at the other function it’s good for – being afull-fledged smartphone. Sony Ericsson makes no compromises on thisaspect, and the phone is loaded with all the features you would expectfrom the HTC’s and Samsung’s that would fall into the same price bracket.
Our white unit was reminiscent of the much loved Xperia X10. Itoperates on a full touch interface, with physical Android buttons arrangedneatly at the bottom. What doesn’t help is that they’re all in the wrongorder, and not backlit, which makes them a pain to use in the dark. A3.5mm headphone jack, mini USB slot, volume rocker switch and powerbutton are the only other buttons on the exterior. You’ll find a 5-meggersnapper with flash on the back cover.
We couldn’t resist mentioning that this is one of the few phones whichallow you to change your SIM and micro SD card without taking out thebattery – a small but significant advantage.
The Gingerbread Android interface has been masked by a customisedskin. Billowy wallpapers, angular icons and geometric accents give thePlay a snazzy look, which complement its gaming capabilities. The capac-itive touch screen was smooth and responsive.
Videos streamed beautifully on Play, and we watched more than a fewepisodes of Family Guy on YouTube. The phone also supports MP4 andWMV video playback. The dedicated music app is pretty standard for adroid, and we liked the addition of equaliser settings. The presence ofstereo speakers makes it a pleasure for music, videos and gaming, unlikethe tinny mono speaker most often seen on smartphones.
The camera isn’t anything to rave about, with no available scene modesand few manual settings. The lack of zooming
capabilities and the missing phys-ical power button are irritants.
There is a front camera for videochats. Timescape integrates all your social
networking contacts, but we’re not a big fan of the app,which is often moody about syncing regularly. Battery life, in terms of smartphone usage, gave us less
than a day of juice on a full charge, which is worse than the norm. It drainsfurther when Wi-Fi is turned on. Strangely, when used primarily forgaming purposes, the phone gives you a couple of hours of dedicated gametime, which isn’t too bad.
To Play or not to Play?Getting down to a verdict about the Xperia Play is tricky business. ThePlay delights with its pull out gamepad, but disappoints in the lack ofdedicated gaming titles. Battery drains during talktime, but impressesduring gameplay. The screen is dim, but clear enough for gaming. The factthat Sony’s slashed prices of the PSP 3004 only adds to the Play’s woes.There are a lot of pros and cons to consider, but the bottomline is thatthere’s no other phone as unique in its concept, and that too, associatedwith a leading gaming brand. Once there are more original PlayStationtitles on offer and Sony Ericsson works out an extended battery life, theXperia Play will keep your thumbs busy and your mind off work. Love: Full-fledged gamepad with the entire range of controlsHate: Lack of original PlayStation gamesRs 35,000
6 April 27, 2011Smartbuy
LAPTOP review
Mahananda Bohidar
In the world of personal computing, today’s technology be-comes obsolete tomorrow. And convincing first-timers tobecome life-timers is a ‘hard-drive’ for companies.
Expectations rise even higher when it is a company whichhas given you a bevy of machines that have managed to, in a way, beidentified with a kind of performance and user experience that isunique to the brand. Apple’s MacBook has had that effect on itsbuyers.
Keeping the faith, the new MacBook Pro lineup offers the quin-tessential Mac experience with the added advantage of a longerbattery life, a faster processor, better graphics and the very promis-ing Thunderbolt technology. Let’s see how many of these we cantick off the list.Comforts of the oldWhile benchmarking the new MacBook Pro, there were timeswhen, for a second or two, we had trouble differentiating themachines based on just their looks.
The new MacBook Pro offers almost no additions in terms of anew design or the look and feel of the notebook, making it similar totwo of its previous iterations!
The island-style keyboard remains a delight, with soft keys to typeon. The keyboard is also backlit and paired with an ambient lightsensor. The familiar flat glass touchpad integrating the touch sur-face and click button still remains as responsive and lets you playwith multi-touch gestures with a certain characteristic smooth-ness.
Watching the movie ‘2012’ on the 13-inch screen was a treatmarred by occasions when you could see your own reflection on theblack portions of the glossy display. The viewing angles weren’t toogreat when we buffered a couple of 1080p Pixar animations onYouTube, with a bunch of friends sitting down to watch, and hadthe lights on.
However, the 13-inch display, despite being glossy, reproducesbrilliant colours and crisp images, one of those things that you justcome to expect from every video-enabled Apple product.What’s new?With Apple at the head, everyone is going gaga over the revolu-tionary new Thunderbolt technology that finds its initial imple-mentation in the new line of MacBook Pros.
The mini DisplayPort that the previous gen Pro had now gives upits position on the side of the aluminium unibody to the Thunder-bolt I/O port.
The mini DisplayPort was capable of delivering a ‘pure digitalsignal that can drive up to a 30-inch widescreen display’, but theThunderbolt port holds much more potential since it can serve as amulti-purpose port.
‘Pro’nounced similarity,‘Pro’verbial performance
Photo: R. Ravindran
7 April 27, 2011Smartbuy
A huge jump from its earlier connecting ports, Apple claims, the Thunderbolt I/Ocan move data to and from peripherals up to 20 times faster than a USB 2.0connection and sustain a two-way high-speed PC connection at roughly 10Gbps.
While Intel says that Thunderbolt technology was designed with professionalaudio and video applications in mind, Apple definitely seems to betargeting people outside this niche too.
Although peripherals supporting Thunderbolt tech are yet to be re-leased – external hard drives, media players, displays - will all have thesame connector that will allow users to daisy chain up to six devices at atime. Apart from this superhero of a connector, you have the usual portson the MacBook Pro - Gigabit Ethernet, six-pin FireWire, two USB ports,SDXC card reader, audio in/out and the MagSafe power port.
The new built-in FaceTime HD camera, according to Apple, has threetimes the resolution of the camera on the previous MacBook Pro, andenables widescreen video calls (more people in the frame… if it is a groupchat). PhotoBooth remains the same and continues giving you crispsnaps with little change in the options it offers.
With its aluminium unibody design, we kept an eye out for heatingissues. The rear left of the notebook was the area that was likely to getheated up most but thankfully it’s didn’t get hot enough to start bother-ing us.I’ve got the power!
Powering the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is Intel’s new Core technology,which has integrated the processor, graphics engine and memory con-troller into a single chip.
The unit that we reviewed was endowed with the Intel Core i7-2620M2.7 GHz processor complemented by Turbo Boost that lets you over-clock up to 3.4GHz.
With this combination under the hood, the new 13-inch MacBook Prois supposed to run applications up to two times faster than its prede-cessor. We got to check this claim with help of a benchmarking software.
On the rating scales, the overall performance of the new MacBook Pro13-inch hit an amazing 6,910 while its predecessor scored a 3,889 on thetest.
The graphic bit
Giving the boot to NVIDIA GeForce 320M, Apple has chosen the IntelHD Graphics 3000 to deliver graphics on the new 13-inch MacBook Pro.Apart from providing ample speed for the latest 3D games, the new HDGraphics 3000 comes with a built-in hardware decoder that boostsbattery life when you’re watching video.
After charging the unit to 100 per cent, with AirPort turned on,watched ‘Family Guy’, buffered a couple of high-def videos on YouTube,surfed the web and at the end of the day, although the indicator showedred, the brand new MacBook Pro still hadn’t died on us.
Going back to the graphics, we ran a couple of more benchmarkingtests, where to our surprise, the previous gen Pro fared better with a 50on graphics test (one that tests GPU with a heavily shader-dependent 3Dscene) and 115 3D frames per second where as the new one only scored a27 displaying only about 66 3D frames per second.
We sayThe new MacBook Pro is different, yet remarkably similar. The factremains that the MacBook Pro’s design hasn’t aged and manages not onlyto stand out among a cluster of notebooks but remains one of thesturdiest, sexiest machines you can own. The new MacBook Pro with astronger heart is clearly more feature-rich and comes future-proofedwith the new Thunderbolt tech. Definitely a good pick for Mac fanboysand those who are just about to become so.Love: Amazing battery life, Thunderbolt technologyHate: Same ol’ design, glossy displayRs 69,900 onwards
8 April 27, 2011Smartbuy
AUTO focus
S. Muralidhar
Just before the Paris Motor Show in late Septem-ber last year, Lamborghini – the Italian supersportscar maker – issued a manifesto for all itsfuture cars.
The manifesto said, “We are redefining the future ofour super sportscars around the two main reasons to buy:design and performance. Design has been and always willbe reason number one, and we will make sure a Lam-borghini will always be recognisable through its signif-icant stylistic features. Regarding performance, until afew years ago the priorities were, in this order: top speed,acceleration and handling. In recent years this has beenchanging.
Together with design, handling and acceleration arebecoming more important. Speed is not as important any-more, because all super sportscars are exceeding the300kmph mark and this is a speed that you cannot reacheven on a racetrack, let alone normal roads.” Lamborghinisaid that it thinks the time has come to make a shift andtalk more about handling and acceleration.
The key factor that really determines the super sports-cars’ better handling and acceleration characteristics is
the power-to-weight ratio. This is not so much about topspeed and future sportscars will not be so focused onincreasing the power, also because CO2 emissions willalso have to be considered and will play a role for theirperformance. So the key lay in reducing the weight.
But, how do you reduce the weight? During the lastthree decades, the average weight of the current dayautomobile has gone up by 500 kgs because of active and
passive safety, increased comfort and emissions reductionissues. Since there is little scope to reduce the safety orcomfort in cars, the only option is to reduce the weight byusing new materials.
The magic material is carbon-fibre. Lamborghini hashad a long history and association with carbon-fibre. Therecent culmination of that cumulative experience withthis unique material is the Lamborghini AventadorLP700-4 – one of the first super sports cars to feature anentire monocoque in carbon-fibre. Even as we go intoprint, production of this fantastic replacement for theMurciélago will have commenced, and deliveries of theAventador LP700-4 limited to about 4,000 units will startlater this year.
At about the same time that this iconic Italian companywas working on its brand new sportscar, an Indian brand,TI, was taking its first measured step at launching asimilar carbon-fibre structured, sporty vehicle – albeit ontwo wheels. TI Cycles’ Montra is the first indigenouslyproduced bike featuring an entire frame made out of themagic material. Here is an exclusive preview of the techthat powers the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 and anexclusive test ride of the Montra.
Rediscovering the sixth element
9 April 27, 2011
Aventador LP700-4Lamborghini started working with carbon-fibre and com-posite elements in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy over 30years ago. In 1983, when many of us were still in ourdiapers, the first carbon-fibre based chassis prototype wasbuilt for the Countach. Series production parts first ap-peared in 1985. The outgoing Lamborghini Murciélagowas built largely out of carbon fibre, with 93 kgs of struc-tural carbon-fibre materials in its bodyshell.
Lambo believes that carbon composite materials arecrucial to tomorrow’s automotive engineering, especiallyfor high-performance sports cars. These materials aremade from carbon-fibre reinforced polymers and combinethe lowest possible weight with excellent mechanicalproperties. Cars become lighter, thus improving fuel con-sumption and CO2 emissions. A super sportscar builtusing composite materials in carbon fibre has improvedacceleration and braking as well as superior handling.
The current Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Super-leggera is another example. Compared to the already leanGallardo LP 560-4, the weight of the LP 570-4 has beenreduced by a further 70 kgs. One major contributing factoris the use of exterior and interior components made fromcarbon-fibre.
Lambo took its obsession with carbon-fibre to a wholenew level when it unveiled the Sesto Elemento in Paris lastyear. This unique technology demonstrator boasted anextremely lightweight construction thanks to advancedCarbon-fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) technology. TheLamborghini Sesto Elemento had an overall curb weightof just 999 kilograms (2,202 lb) – including the V10 powerunit and its permanent all-wheel drive.
With its engine output of 570 hp, spectacular power-to-weight ratio of only 1.75 kilograms per hp and 0 to 100kmph (0-62 mph) acceleration of only 2.5 seconds, theSesto Elemento was one exciting showcase.
The basis was an extremely solid, stiff, safe and light-weight carbon-fibre monocoque cell of the Sesto Ele-mento. Even the propeller shaft is made of CFRP!
Lambo has applied the learnings from the Sesto Ele-mento into the Murcielago’s successor. The cell of the newLamborghini flagship – the Aventador – is made entirelyfrom carbon-fibre and has been designed as a monocoquestructure. The significant load-bearing structure of thevehicle is engineered as a ‘single shell’ that functionsphysically as a single unit, taking full advantage of theextreme rigidity of CFRP and it only weighs 147.5 kgs.Formula 1 race cars are built using CFRP monocoques –and have proven their crash worthiness time and again.The same applies to road-going sports cars featuringmonocoque technology – the carbon-fibre occupant cellfunctions like an extremely safe roll cage.
The entire body-in-white of the Aventador weighs only229.5 kilograms (505 lbs) and boasts phenomenal torsionalrigidity of 35,000 Newton metres per degree of twist. Thisguarantees a superb feeling of solidity, but, more impor-tantly, extremely exact wheel control with superb steeringprecision and sensitive feedback. This new Lambo is pow-ered by a 6.5-litre V12 engine that puts out a whopping 700bhp of peak power and 690 Nm of maximum torque at5,500 rpm. The engine is mated to an ISR (independentshifting rods) transmission, said to feature the fastestshifting robotised gearbox.
The weight of the Aventador being only 1,575 kilograms,the weight-to-power ratio stands at only 2.25 kilogramsper hp. The 0-100 kmph acceleration figure clocks in atjust 2.9 seconds and the top speed is 350 kmph. And yet,fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are down by around
Smartbuy
10 April 27, 2011Smartbuy
Photo: S. Muralidhar
20 per cent compared with its predecessor, despite theconsiderable increase in power (up 8 per cent).
The Aventador’s first year production is said to beensold out. If you are lucky and get to book one, expect aprice tag of about a million dollars.
Montra TechnoFor more than six decades TI cycles has been in thebusiness of making bikes for commuters. A few years ago,the company also took the leap into making bicycles forenthusiasts. Foreseeing the evolution of biking in thecountry and the fact that the bicycle is fast becoming alifestyle accessory too, TI has launched many new initia-tives. One of them is its Track & Trail stores which todaystock high-end bikes of imported brands like Bianchi,Schwinn, Cannondale etc.
Importing them is one thing, but to be able to manu-facture an entirely indigenous high-end sports bike andprice it in the Rs 70,000 range needs some spunk. TI tookthat plunge with the new Montra range of sporty high-endbikes. We got to ride the Techno and it’s connect with theLambo Aventador is the fact that this Montra model fea-tures a diamond frame that is entirely made out of carbon-fibre. Even the handle bar and twin fork is made withCFRP. The significant point to note here is of course, thatall of this is made by TI engineers here and this model isunique because even some of the imported brands do notfeature a full frame (including dropouts) in carbon-fibre.
The moment you swing your leg over the Montra Tech-no, there is an immediate sense of lightness. At just 8.5 kgsweight, this bike can be lifted up with one hand easily. It is
at least 12 kgs lighter than the average steel frame bike andabout 35 per cent lighter than aluminium framed bikes ofsimilar size.
As with the Aventador, weight reduction is a significantadvantage that carbon-fibre offers to the Montra Technotoo. That is not the only benefit though. Unlike steel,carbon-fibre has a lot of self-absorption properties, so itdoesn’t transmit shocks that would otherwise reach therider’s back from the undulations on the road. Of course,carbon-fibre’s torsional rigidity is another well-knownbenefit that will impart sturdiness and longevity to thebike.
Though it would have contributed to a further reduc-tion in weight, to ‘Indianise’ the bike TI chose not to gowith more carbon-fibre components in the Techno!
Wheels and a few other parts also made with the magicmaterial would have needed much better road surfacesthan what we get here if the ride was to continue to becomfortable. The bike we tested wore performance roadtyres from Kenda.
The Techno is also the first bike with ten-speed shiftersthat have been specially sourced from SRAM. Shift speedsare quite quick and the quality is amongst the best in theclass. To validate the quality of the newly manufacturedcarbon-fibre frame, TI engineers sought to put it throughthe famous JIS – Japanese test for structural rigidity andboth the frame and fork cleared it.
The Montra range also includes other models like theJazz and Country that offer aluminium frames or partcarbon-fibre frames. The bikes are offered with straighthandle bars with bar-ends in the interest of making themeasy to ride in all conditions. They can also be orderedwith dropdown bars for people who want a sportier rideposition. Two more models are coming soon as part of theMontra range.
Lamborghini names its models after prize-winningbulls and the Montra range on the other hand seems tohave gotten its inspiration from various genres of music.The Aventador and the Montra Techno are vastly differ-ent products though seemingly joined at the hip.
One is an Italian super model, the other is an Indianupstart, both are attempting to be fast, yet green, and bothare equally unique and fantastic showcases for the magicmaterial – carbon-fibre.
Photo: R. Ravindran
S.Muralidhar
Afew weeks ago we gave you one of thefirst exclusive experience reports ofthe new Hyundai Verna, after drivingthe seventh generation model in Du-
bai. With just about a month or so left for itslaunch in India, we drove the India-spec Vernafrom Coimbatore to Kodaikanal.
After driving the fully-loaded left-hand driveoverseas version of the new Verna, the firstpoint that struck me as I step into the domesticproduction variant is the interiors. The samequality of the interiors is a big plus with thenew Verna. Actually, that is not true…the Indi-an version gets more goodies like wood trim, arear view camera view embedded in the rearview mirror and a cluster ionizer to ensureclean air inside the cabin.
The spinI drove the new Verna along the 180 kms routeto Kodaikanal and back, and I must admit boththe 1.6-litre petrol and diesel variants areequally impressive in their own ways. Thedrive was thorough a mix of city, highway andhilly sections and unlike some of the othersedans in the segment where I would have hada clear engine preference, with the new Verna,the only clear choice I could make was with thetransmission.
My choice was the six-speed manual gear-box over the automatic, whether it was thepetrol or the diesel. Both the engines areamongst the most powerful in this segmentand are quite quick on the uptake, but theautomatic gearbox doesn’t get to be quickenough to allow you to get the best out of themill.
Under the hoodVery much like the Kappa 2, the 1,591cc petrolengine with VTVT (variable valve timing) feelslike it is one of the quietest and most refined inthe class. Offering a peak power of 123.05 PS at6,300 rpm and maximum torque of 15.8 KgM at4,200 rpm, the 1-6 petrol is easy to get allexcited about, especially if you are driving on aghat section with some tight, blind turns andswoopy hairpin bends.
The new Verna’s engine prowess is alsohamstrung a bit by its tendency to understeerwhen pushed hard. With the steering also notoffering the kind of feedback that you will feelconfident being with during high speeds, therewere occasions when I had to tone down myexpectations in the hills. But, there is no senseof unease or lack of confidence when you aredriving at legal speeds or on the highway.
Straight line stability is excellent and withthe slick shifting gearbox near at hand, thereneed be no wrestling with the stick to stay inthe right power band for any road condition. Ofcourse, the one point that needs to be high-lighted is that the six gear slot is unlikelyto be used very much, though itmight offer the new Verna buyersome bragging rights.
The 1,582cc diesel engine can bemuch more fun to drive, thanks toits 26.5KgM of peak torque available from as low as1,900 to 2,750 rpm. The engine features somehigh-end tech like hydraulic lash adjusters andsuctions control valves in addition to the varia-ble geometry turbocharger that together en-able it to offer a fairly dynamic performance.Peak power is a better than the petrol 128.08PS at 4,000 rpm.
With loads of torque available the enginestays within the favourite easy revving bandeven when left in the third gear slot for averagecity driving conditions. The India-spec newVerna will also be offered with a 1,396cc four-cylinder petrol engine that has a peak power of107 PS and torque of 13.8 KgM, and a similarsized 1.4-litre (1,396cc), four-cylinder dieselengine that generates 90 PS of power and ayummy 22.43 KgM of torque.
With such a range of engines, Hyundaishould be able to cover a big price band with itsnew Verna. There is a considerable equipmentto woo the buyer too, with the only thing mis-sing to pit it against more expensive sedansbeing the sunroof.
The previous Verna already had the numberson its side, the new Verna has the performancepotential, and finally also the looks, to rear-endthe competition.
Verna-ration guaranteed
Photo: S. Muralidhar
12 April 27, 2011Smartbuy
LUXURY HOTEL review
Anushya Mamtora
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens’ motto was said to beMetiendo Vivendum – ‘By measure we live’.Small wonder then that his architectural work,still fondly called Lutyens’ Delhi, is at its impres-
sive best almost a century later, inspiring us with itsperfection and appropriateness. When The Leela – Pal-aces, Hotels, Resorts decided to serenade the domes andcolumns in Lutyens’ Delhi with a property of its own, theinspiration was obvious - the same sense of measuredflamboyance and the same marriage of European charmwith Mughal magnificence. And just like the measuredexactness that Sir Lutyens sought in locating his bestarchitectural work on Raisina Hill, the new Leela too islocated ideally in the heart of Delhi’s business and culturalhub, and is yet just a 30-minute ride away from the airport.
The Leela’s luxury abode in New Delhi takes off fromthis brilliant architect’s vision of a vibrant, stately, majes-tic city. And it reverberates from the dome of the newLeela Palace’s splendid facade to the elegant round arches,its opulent interiors, green niches and even the minutecarvings, paintings and panels that adorn the walls. Itblends in beautifully with the grand residences and histor-ical monuments at the exclusive Diplomatic Enclave (nearChanakyapuri) – The Presidential Palace or RashtrapatiBhavan, the Prime Minister’s office, Government minis-tries and embassies. Yet, in its own way, this new edificestands tall and distinct as the brand new The Leela PalaceKempinski, New Delhi.
Royal feel, contemporary renditionThe first thing that strikes when you drive up the road to
the entrance, is its unmistakable presence - a loomingstone façade with arches and inset pillars and two massiveelephant sculptures. Stepping inside, the Colonial-era-style exteriors give way to a royal Mughal setting. Careful-ly chosen fabrics adorning plush sofas, gold gilded furni-ture, mother-of-pearl inlay work, large Venetian glassmirrors – the interiors are much like those you will comeacross at the Leela’s other Palace properties.
This hotel chain invests heavily in the interiors of itsproperties giving them an aura of luxury like no other. Atthis new Leela Palace, the finery further gives way to a lushgreen lawn, an ideal open air set up to soak in some breeze,feel the sun, indulge in al fresco dining, yet revel in all the
extravagance. Also to feast your eyes are traditional Indian symbolic
forms like the brass and gold plated 1,000 lotus mural bySatish Gupta, the Devi sculpture in the lawns by the sameartist, exquisitely crafted Indian art, limited edition litho-graphs, intricate marble carvings and paintings by emi-nent artists like Satish Gujral, Laxma Goud and PareshMaity, amongst others.
Located around these artistic expressions are 260 wellappointed rooms, which range from Grande DeluxeRooms with a tariff of about Rs 25,000 to the MaharajaSuite available for Rs 4.5 lakh per night.
Many of The Leela’s properties are also a delightfulamalgam of opposites like the number of high-tech fea-tures you’ll find cozying up with recreated royalty. And theNew Delhi property is no exception – there are a lot of newtechnological inclusions that have been the focus of thisproperty. General Manager, Charles Morris, highlightingthe important aspects of the hotel, points out their effortsto bring in tech to the guest rooms, like the JBL dockingstation to control audio-visual devices to the Ad NotamMirror television next to the bathtub.
Delectable cuisinesNew Delhi being a foodie’s paradise, the Leela already hadmany benchmarks to beat its restaurants and cuisines. Atthe time of the review, their all-day dining glass restaurantThe Qube, as well the royal Indian kitchen Jamavar, werebustling with guests and waft of international and authen-tic ‘desi’ cuisine had my stomach growling much beforethe food arrived. I tried the tomato crepes in pesto sauceand smoked vegetable lasagne from The Qube’s lunch
Palatial pampering in Delhi’s belly
buffet spread and it was just perfect. Jamawar, on theother hand, fills up your artistic senses before your foodreaches the table. Borrowing its name from an intricateweave or silk embroidery, it uses its namesake throughoutits interiors in tasteful portions. They have a small butcarefully selected à la carte menu with an interesting mixfrom India’s royal cuisines.
The tandoori style cauliflower and broccoli , crisp baby-corn with Mangalorean masala, Gucci pulao (flavouredrice with Kashmiri morels) and the signature khajoor-ki-phirni were commendable. For meat lovers, the biryanisand kebabs are a must try.
The Library Bar with plush mohair, velvet sofas andteardrop chandeliers is a neat hide-out for a cosy con-versation or a book and champagne combo.
In the pipeline are Le Cirque, an Italian fine-dining
restaurant at the 10th level and Megu, a Japanese specialityrestaurant.
Leisure touchesAt The Leela Palace New Delhi, tired heads of state andstressed out businessmen can also avail the luxurious,pampering services of the ESPA spa. Aesthetically de-signed by interior designer Jeffrey Wilkes, the spa has awhole range of exclusive treatments. To experience thereal Leela sumptuousness, one must opt for their signaturerituals – Tan Lepa full body treatment, KizhiswedanaSynchronised massage and the Royal Leela Facial.
I tried the signature facial, where therapist Surjeetcleansed and exfoliated my face prior to a regeneratingmarma point massage using warm poultices infused withherbs to restore and replenish. The treatment reeked
of…err…smelt of sheer luxury from the beginning to endand it even managed to miraculously subdue my stubbornpimple. Other interesting leisure features include TheRoyal Club, considered to be a ‘hotel-within-a-hotel’ forthose who reside in the Club rooms. With an exclusiveRoyal Club lounge, evening cocktail hours, complimentaryairport transfers by limousine and more, guests are in forsome royal indulgence. A dip in the pool at the terracewhile you soak in the spectacular view of the city shouldalso be on your cards if you are staying at The Leela Palace.
However, what is simply breathtaking is the 4,500 sqftMaharaja suite that is opulent, with state-of-the-art facil-ities and a complimentary chauffeur driven Rolls RoycePhantom at your service! Whoever said luxury is an addic-tion, was so damn right!
Pradipta K Mohapatra
As Smartbuy goes past its thirdbirthday, it sets many records.Smartbuy has been the first andonly non-watch industry maga-
zine to have run a regular column on Ho-rology and has also been witness to sometumultuous transformation in the watchindustry in India during the last threeyears. It is a revelation of sorts that at retailprices, the watch industry grew some thir-ty per cent a year; almost touching a billiondollars during the last financial year.
The industry also witnessed tremen-dous modernisation in retail infrastruc-ture. Upmarket malls such as EmporioMall - New Delhi, Palladium - Mumbai,Bengaluru’s UB City and Chennai’s Ex-press Avenue have given away a dispropor-tionate share of floor space to watches.Also, the look and feel of the stores and thefitout standards are no different comparedto retail decor that we have witnessed inthe developed world. Most important of allhas been the proliferation of the number ofglobal brands now available in India. Indi-ans can now buy a designer’s brand such asEspirit or Guess in the neighbourhoodstore. They don’t have to go to Mustafa inSingapore to buy a Tissot. Titan has nowpopulated the country with some threehundred ‘World of Titan’ stores. Not to beleft behind, the second independent brandfrom the Titan stable ‘Fastrack’ is now as-piring to have its first fifty stores built and
stocked for young people. And the story of‘Helios’ has just begun!
Swiss InvasionThe 2011 edition of Baselworld, a massivewatch industry fair held during the secondhalf of March every year, was celebratingthe V-shape recovery of the Swiss watchindustry last year. After taking a nose diveof 22 per cent during 2009, the industryalmost fully recovered its volume sales aswell as revenue. There were of course sev-eral bits of good news for the Swiss watchindustry. Export to China for the first timecrossed one billion dollars. Exports toHong Kong – the world’s largest tradingcentre for watches and watch components- crossed three billion dollars. It can safelybe assumed that China may have receivedanother billion dollars worth of watchesthrough Hong Kong, making China the sin-gle largest user of Swiss watches – surpass-ing countries like the US, and Germany andthe rest of the world.
So where does India stand in all this?Well, way behind China, but India grew atan unbelievable 35 per cent compared tothe previous year; even beating the Chi-nese growth rate. This is a small market,and yet is the fastest growing market in theWorld for Swiss watches! So how large wasthe Indian market during 2010?
At CIF prices, Swiss exports of watchesto India during 2010 was at $130 million. Atretail prices, this would translate to a
whopping $300 million! Then there havebeen the Big Three brands outside Swit-zerland which also have been very active inIndia – namely Citizen, Timex and Seiko(probably in that order). We estimate thatthese three brands would have recordedrevenues from sales of about $50 million atstreet prices.
In addition, there has been the invasionof the middle to low-end fashion brands –Hugo Boss, Tommy, Espirit, Guess, Arma-ni and countless others. These brands mayhave added another $50 million in reve-nues. It is therefore a fair estimate thatIndians bought an unbelievable $400 mil-lion or Rs 2,000 crore worth of importedwatches! Consider this figure in the light ofthe total being less than Rs 500 crore justthree years ago.
Tissot, which is now available in overone hundred stores in India, has emergedas the largest selling Swiss brand. It isestimated that Tissot’s volume sales during2010 in India crossed 50,000 watches withaverage retail price recovery of Rs 15,000per watch. In volume terms, Tag Heuerand Raymond Weil also became very pop-ular.
Not to be left behind, were watches inhigher price bands namely Longines andthe ever popular Omega. India also wit-nessed the launch of virtually all top-endbrands retailed through select outlets. Wesaw brands like Breguet, Blancpain, Rolex,Jaeger Le-Coultre, IWC, Ulysse Nardinand Zenith. Retail prices were competi-tive; albeit some interesting discounts toMRP to match Dubai or Singapore prices.It is possible that the rapid upward swingin Swiss watch sales in India may havebeen contributed to by Indians learning tobuy their watches in India! So what madethis transition possible?
Retail InfrastructureEthos Boutique set up by watch veteranYasho Saboo with some 25 multi-brandstores became the largest retail chain forSwiss watches in India. Many erstwhilesingle-outlet multi-brand stores such as
Helvetica, Zimsons, Kapoors and P. Orrand Sons have all become multi-storechains. Many of them have opted to openfranchise stores on behalf of individualbrands. For the first time during the lastthree years fashion brands retailing for lessthan Rs 10,000 entered the realms of de-partment stores with Shoppers Stop andCentral leading the way.
Multi-brand retail watch stores appear-ing in domestic airports and doing briskbusiness is also quite a change for India. Inall, some 150 stores are now retailing multibrand watches above Rs 10,000 and maybesome 50 stores that are retailing brandsabove Rs 50,000.
While it may appear that India’s watchretail market is fast maturing; the best isjust about arriving. Indira Nagar’s 100 feetroad in Bangalore just added a brand new3,000 sqft Helios watch store with a 100 ftfrontage. The store carries 28 globalbrands and intends to add more. This wasonly the fifth ‘Helios’ multi brand store inIndia.
The decor is world class, the ambianceplush but non-intrusive, and the sales staffcourteous and well-trained. Five storesmay not speak a great lot about industrygiant Titan’s true intent about multi-brandretailing.
On the other hand though, at threehundred by last count, ‘World of Titan’stores is set to make Titan one of theworld’s largest watch retailers. Helios isslated to become a 40-store chain by end ofthe financial year and probably add anoth-er 60 over the next 12 to 24 months. In thewords of Ajoy Chawla, Vice President,Global Marketing, Titan, "We will stopnothing short of becoming leaders in mul-ti-brand watch retailing in India."
At 25 per cent growth per annum, Indiais all set to become a $2 billion market overthe next three years. It will be wonderful tosee India’s watch retail industry maturingto world-class standards and offering realjoy to Indian consumers!
(The author is a horologist and brand historian)
Billion dollarbaby!
Helvetica
Titan Helios store
BEYOND the hour
15 April 27, 2011Smartbuy
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