t3 magazine - september 2015 in.pdf

PREMIUMHEADPHONESBEST CANS MONEY CAN BUY

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ISSUE 02 VOLUME 01 SEPTEMBER 2015 WWW.T3MAG.IN

MEDIAMAN INFOTECH PVT. LTD.14 th oor , Goldlled T ower B , Sion Bandra Link Road ,Sant Rohidas Marg, Sion , Mumbai 400017.Tel.: +91-22-24061200 E-mail: [email protected]= +0$'$%$'=$1*$/24(=$42'$=+7%$1(59$4=+23$/=+(11$,=+$1',*$4+=2&+,1=2,0%$624(= (+4$'71=(/+,=79$+$6,=74*$21=24$.+374=2$=7%/,=1'24(=$,374=$007=$05+('374= $//$1'+$4=2/.$66$=$1374=7&.129=70%$,=$*374=$5,.=$61$=$49$122=21',&+(44:=71(= $,374= $-.26= $1&+,=!(&71'4$%$'=!74$6="4,8$1'470=#,5+$.+$3$61$0=#,-$:$9$'$website: www.mediaman.co.in Facebook:+663)$&(%22.&200(',$0$1&2,1

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W W W.T3MAG.IN SEPTEMBER 2015 T3 Tomorrows Technology Today 5

New tech with the power to dent the universe

P R E S E N T S

GameChanger

LENOVO M AGIC V IEWSmartwatches are great, but those tiny screens are an issue. And if you give

a watch a bigger face, itll look pretty silly unless you have an arm like Hulk Hogan. Lenovos solution to this is the Magic View concept: a smartwatch with a second screen that sits beneath the face and enables you to see things in greater detail. We think this could be a game changer it might look tiny, and a tad silly, but if you bring the screen close to your eyes, it transforms it into a mini VR-style headset, making small

look huge; an increase in image size of around 20 times, according to Lenovo. Just swipe down on the main screen to activate it. Magic View would enable you to watch lms as if you were in the cinema, or navigate within

a life-sized Google Streetview.Price TBA Available TBA URL lenovo.com

Be it trivial or life changing, every step of our lives is intertwined with technology. Which is why this month, we are showcasing some of the best tech for your home, right from your living room and bedroom to your kitchen (pg 42).

Weve also taken OnePlus second iteration for a spin (pg 74) along with offerings from Samsung (Galaxy A8) and HTC (One ME).

Like cars? Flick to pg 90 for our view on the Hyundai Creta.

If youre wondering how a fleet of computers can anaylse ones strengths and weaknesses, our UK counterpart visited a human performance lab to know how some of the worlds best athletes and sportsmen monitor their fitness levels.

Hope youll enjoy the issue and if you have anything to say, ask or recommend, dont forget to get in touch!

Editors letterWelcome to the second gadget-lled edition of T3 India

6 T3 Tomorrows Technology Today SEPTEMBER 2015 W W W.T3MAG.IN

ISSUE 02 / SEPTEMBER 2015

Kunal Gangar, Executive [email protected]

T3 is Consulting Editor H. S. Billimoria Executive Editor Kunal Gangar Copy Editor Gauri Kelkar Contributors Aninda Sardar, Rohinton Mehta, Jayant Kulkarni, Amit Bhawani, R Srinivasan, Jim Gorde, Sujith Gopinath Editor (UK) Rob Carney Contributors (UK) Nick Odantzis, Paul Dimery, Claire Davies, Matthew Kendall, Luke Oneill, Dan Read, Duncan Bell, Andrew Williams, Rob Temple, Joe Svetlik, Damian Hall, Joe Minihane Publisher Girish Mallya Head Design & Production Ravi Parmar Design Prakash Gavnang, Nandkishor Sawant Image Retoucher Deepak Narkar

Production Supervisor Dinesh Bhajnik

Product Manager Perseus Master

BRANCH OFFICESMumbai2nd Floor, C Wing, Trade World,Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat MargLower Parel (W), Mumbai 400013Tel: +91 22 43525252 Fax: +91 22 24955394 AhmedabadDevendra Mehta - Mob No.- 09714913234 Bengaluru Girish ShetUnit No. 509, 5th Floor B Wing, Mittal Towers, MG Road, Bangalore -560001, IndiaTel: +91 80 66110116/17 Fax: + 91 80 41472574 Chennai Salma JabbarCenetoph Elite,No.5,1st street,Teynampet,chennai-6000018Tel: + 91 44 39149889 Fax: + 91 44 39149892 New Delhi Avishek Dutta26-B, Ground Floor, Okhla Industrial Estate, Phase-III, New Delhi - 110020.Tel: +91 11 4234 6600 / 6678 Fax: + 91 11 4234 6679 Pune401B, Gandhi Empire, 2, Sareen Estate, Kondhwa Road, Pune 411040. Tel: + 91 20 32930292 Fax: + 91 20 26830465 HyderabadSrinivas Gangula -Territory Sales Incharge (Circulation)Mobile no. 09000555756 KolkataVidyasagar Gupta -Territory Sales Incharge (Circulation). Mobile no. 09804085683

Subscription Enquiries Tel: +91-22-43525220 Fax: +91-22-24955394Apple Newsstand & Magzter Queries: [email protected] All rights reserved. Published with the permission of Future plc. Reproduction in any manner in any language in whole or in part without prior written permission from Future plc & Next Gen Publishing Ltd. with regard to their respective content is prohibited. Printed by Girish Mallya. Next Gen Publishing Ltd., 2nd Floor, C Wing, Trade World, Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (W), Mumbai 400013. Published by Girish Mallya on behalf of Next Gen Publishing Ltd., 2nd Floor, C Wing, Trade World, Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg Lower Parel (W), Mumbai 400013. Printed at Kalajyothi Process Pvt. Ltd, 1-1-60/5 RTCX Roads, Hyderabad - 20. Published at Next Gen Publishing Ltd., 2nd Floor, C Wing, Trade World, Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (W), Mumbai 400013.

Editor: Kunal Gangar

Amit Bhawani Editor-in-chief

of PhoneRadar,

he reviews

smartphones & loves trying

out new technologies like

Internet of Things.

R Srinivasan Apart from being

Managing Editor

of Power Watch, he

loves to write on

the entire gamut from energy,

cars, travel, technology, book

reviews, classic movies...

Sujith Gopinath Media professional

with a penchant

for photography

and a decade of experience in

reviewing latest gadgets and

cameras.

Key contributors

Views and opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of Next Gen Publishing Ltd. Next Gen Publishing does not take the responsibility for returning unsolicited material sent without adequate postal stamps for return postage. No part of the magazine may be reproduced in part or full without the prior express written permission of the publisher. All readers are recommended to make their own independent enquiries before sending money, incurring expenses or entering into commitments in relation to any advertisement appearing in the publication. T3 India does not vouch for any claims made by advertisers for their products and services. The editor, publisher, printer and employees of the publication shall not be held liable for any consequence in the events of such claims not being honoured by the advertisers. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Mumbai only.



042BUILD THE ULTIMATE TECH HOME

Give every aspect of your abode a lick of gadget magic, and live like a king!

Contents036 GADGET GURUOur resident help expert

wholl answer any queries you have. Right from tness trackers to 4K TVs

050 MAN VS TECHDamian Hall is no couch potato, but how did he fare when we sent him to a human performance lab? Clue: he could hardly walk the next day

055 AGENDAGet a taste for new tech and give your life an adrenaline shot with seven amazing adventures you can take part in this month

062 FUTURE CITIESWhats next for our cities? We take a look how our cities will transform in the future

Features

036 050

062

066COMPLETE GUIDE TO HEADPHONES

Out t your ears with the best cans money can buy - get the lowdown here

Exclusive T3 India subscription offer p106



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010PREVIEW

Check out the hot new tech. Right from Samsung to GoPro

to Asus and more!

023PEOPLE

American pop diva Taylor Swift has the world at her feet, but we bet she doesnt have the gadgets and app weve hand-

picked for her...

026WE CAN

BUILD YOU Preparing to run the rst

marathon and need tech to boost your training? Our expert, a multi-marathon runner, delivers the goods

028STYLE

No matter what your taste or method of money-carrying is, nd out which of our ve

swanky wallets deserves a seat in your pocket

029 TALKING TECH Machines are better at

learning, gures Duncan Bell

074ONEPLUS 2

An affordable phone with beefy specs is the right

086SONY RX100 IV

Sony has great little camera. But can you afford it?

094SIX OF THE BEST

Dont even think about hitting the gym without reading our round-up of sports earphones

096GAMES

Well tell you exactly what you should be playing right now

102APPS

Choice selections from the worlds of Android and iOS for

smartphones and tablets

105ENTERTAINMENT

Whats worth watching

108RETRO

Love classic numbers? Weve vetted from the best

005 GAMECHANGER

106 SUBSCRIPTIONS

122 MONEY NO OBJECT

113 INTRODUCING THE BEST BUYERS GUIDE KNOWN TO MAN

From phones to tablets, and camera to cars, our selection of the very best tells you what to buy

Essentials

Contents

W W W.T3MAG.IN SEPTEMBER 2015 T3 Tomorrows Technology Today 99y SEPTEMBER 2015 W W W.T3MAG.IN

SUPER SIX

Select SPORTS EARPHONES

port and earphones have rarely been on the same team. Many a run has been ruined by self-ejecting earbuds, bramble-loving

wires or the fact that Survivors Eye Of The Tiger just doesnt sound as dog-damn inspiring as it ought to. But, thankfully, all that is changing.

A new generation of sport-speci c earphones promise to turn us all into temporary Rocky Balboas as we pound the hills and pavements, or work up a sweat in the gym. Combining great sound with (in some cases) smartphone and Bluetooth compatibility, theyre truly performance-enhancing. Most importantly, theyll stay stubbornly but comfortably in your waxy cavities, so you can concentrate on your running rhythm without having to keep reaching up to insert them back into your ears.

Altogether now: Rising up, back on the street...

Getting an earful

Words: Damian Hall

COMMON SPORTS-EARPHONE FRUSTRATIONS ARE A THING OF THE PAST, THANKS TO CLEVER NEW LUG-DWELLERS THAT WILL BRING OUT YOUR INNER CHAMP

S

SENNHEISER OCX 686G SPORTSFrom ` 7,999, en-in.sennheiser.com

SOL REPUBLIC RELAYS SPORT`5,999, solrepublic.com

BEATS POWERBEATS2 WIRELESS`16,995, beatsbydre.com Like most of the earphones here, these are

sweatproof, boast a decent battery life (around six hours), and come with a remote control that enables track skipping and call taking. Whats diff erent is that the earbuds are designed to ll your lugs and, thanks to TwistLock and FlexSoft Comfort Fit technology, are guaranteed never to hurt or fall out. They grip ears like superglue, but in complete comfort. Sound quality is superior, especially at ambient levels, while audible alerts for low battery is a nice touch,

mid-song

A clever at (in a good way) battery and folded circuit board mean these are, well, super-slim. Sitting almost ush to the ear, they can be worn comfortably under helmets, goggles and such like. They stay in place, too, thanks to a patented earhook and angled ear-tip combo. As well as being water-resistant and sweatproof, theyre antimicrobial and washable. Bluetooth range is an impressive 15m, and battery life is over ve hours. The sound is a little on the trebly side, but theyre a perfectly enjoyable experience overall.

If you dont want your Top Gun soundtrack to cease mid-run as the battery dies, there are still good wired earphones around, such as Sennheisers OCX 686G Sports. Like their wireless rivals, these are sweatproof, come with a carry pouch, and off er diff erent ear- t options and a remote control that enables phone calls. Earhooks keep them in place, while an adjustable clip on the wire, for attaching to your T-shirt, is a nice touch. The bass-orientated sonics are clear, and background noise is obscured well.

These minimalist wired earphones are an enticing old-school option. Each bud is barely the size of a small coin, slotting quickly and imperceptibly into your ears. Theyre remarkably secure, too, thanks to their unique angled design and a pliable rubber ring around each bud that wedges inside your lughole. Sweatproof, dustproof and waterproof, they also boast of a useful clip on the wire, and come with free eartips for life. Sound quality is good, if a little on the bassy side, and they come in shades of white, black, blue and yellow.

The box is swish, the carry case is swish and the earphones themselves arent half bad, either. Adjustable earhooks mean theres no forcing buds into lugholes, and they stay in place eff ortlessly.Theyre so light (24g), youll hardly notice them (theyre the least obtrusive pair in this comparison), and theyre also sweatproof. A remote control enables you to skip tracks and take phone calls, while the battery lasts six hours and can be fully charged in 90 minutes. The sound quality is decent but by no means the best on test.

04 ONE FOR OLD-SCHOOL JOGGERS

YURBUDS LIBERTY WIRELESS`5,300, yurbuds.com

01 ONE FOR MUSOS ON THE MOVE 05 ONE FOR MINIMALISTS

MONSTER ISPORT LUETOOTH WIRELESS SUPER-SLIM`9,950, monsterproducts.com

02 ONE FOR MOUNTAIN BIKERS 06 ONE FOR THE STYLE-CONSCIOUS

These comfy earphones are much more than mere music transmitters theyre your new coach. A tap of an earbud reveals your time, distance and heart rate (theres a monitor built in), with a voice telling you if youre working too hard or being lazy; and you can dissect your stats in greater detail via an app. The immersive Dolby sound curls around your earlobe like a pleasing sort of ear worm, and sound isolation is eff ective, too, meaning you can drown out passing lorries. Battery life is a modest ve hours, but these are simply the best around.

JABRA SPORT PULSE WIRELESS`12,250, jabra.in

03 ONE FOR SERIOUS ATHLETES

03 ONE FOR SERIOUS ATHLETES

06 ONE FOR THE STYLE-CONSCIOUS

02 ONE FOR MOUNTA

IN BIKERS

01 ONE FOR MUSOS ON THE MOVE

04 ONE FOR OLD-SCHOOL JOGGERS

05 ONE FOR MINIMALISTS

094


ISSUE 02/ SEPTEMBER 2015

IF YOURE LOOKING FOR THE VERY BEST TECH AVAILABLE TODAY, YOUVE DEFINITELY COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE. T3 Elite is the best gadget-buying guide youll ever encounter. To create it, weve ruthlessly ltered all the categories that count, to bring you rock-solid recommendations.

Weve selected a Super Six of elite gear for each of the categories listed below.

Inside114 Bikes (600-1000cc)

114 Cars (Hatchback)

115 Cars (Sedans)

115 Cameras (Mirrorless)

116 Cameras (DSLR)

117 Smartphones

117 Tablets

118 Televisions

118 Laptops

119 Fitness trackers

119 Smartwatches

120 Home Audio

120 Headphones

Stay up to date with the latest gadget news and reviews online at www.t3mag.in

ONLY THE BEST OF THE BEST LOVINGLY CURATED BY OUR TEAM OF TECH EXPERTS

p117

p116

p118

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 & S6 edge+Samsung expands the Galaxy...They have, indeed with two new agship devices Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 edge+

What exactly is different between both the devices?Under the hood, both devices are more or less the same, save for few differences. For starters, the Galaxy S6 edge+ comes with dual edge display whereas the Galaxy Note 5 boasts its unique S Pen functionality. The design also varies in case of Galaxy Note 5. Despite it being inspired by the Galaxy S6 design, Samsung has made the phones bezel around the display narrower and a curvier back, which makes it easier to use the phone with one hand.

Tell me about the S PenIn its fth generation, Samsung has improved the S Pen that now feels more solid and balanced in ones hand. It has an unique clicking

YOUR GUIDE TO THE HOTTEST TECH, PEOPLE AND STYLES RIGHT NOW

12 Sony A7R II 14 GoPro Hero4 Session 16 Lexus Hoverboard 17 Nanowin Scooter 18 Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe 20 Gionee Marathon M421 Asus Zenpad 8.0 22 LG 4K OLED TV 23 Taylor Swift 24 BMW i826 We Can Build 28 Wallets 29 Opinion

THIS MONTHISSUE 02 / SEPTEMBER 2015

`57,900, samsung.com/in


mechanism that pops out the S Pen with one click. Users can now quickly jot down notes without having to unlock the phone. Additionally, Air Command feature gives access to S Pen tools from any screen and even allows to annotate PDF les.

How about the Galaxy S6 edge+?The Galaxy S6 edge+ distinguishes itself from the Galaxy S6 edge with a superior hardware and two improved edges for the edge display. The new Apps edge gives quick access to favourite apps whereas the enhanced People edge enables faster access calls and messages to preferred contacts.

What is the hardware on both the phones?Both phones are powered by Samsungs latest 14nm 64-bit Exynos octa-core processor and 4GB RAM, making them the rst devices from Samsung to feature 4GB of RAM. Moreover, theres 32GB or 64GB of

HypeSAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 5 & S6 EDGE+

The curved back makes it easier for one-handed operation

The Keyboard case adds physical QWERTY keys

Home button also doubles up as a ngerprint sensor

A click is all you need to pop out the S Pen

g per O lay

Good phones get better with two new agships

Home button also doubles up as a ngerprint sensor

per lay

Good better with twonew agships

Vital stats3000mAhCapacity of battery on both the devices

UFS 2.0The type of memory used in the phones. UFS 2.0 is the fastest type of memory available on smartphones

5.7Screen size of both

the phones with Quad HD resolution support

MSTShort for Magnetic Secure Transmission will enable users to

carry out Samsung Pay transactions at

regular PoS terminals


memory but no option to expand it with a microSD card.

Do these phones have fast charging?Yes! In fact, the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 edge+ now support fast charging on wired as well as wireless charging that charges from 0 to 100 per cent in just 90 minutes and 120 minutes respectively.

Any improvements on the camera front?The camera now supports Auto HDR mode along with new lters and Smart Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS). On the video side, the phones off er

Steady Video, Video Collage Mode and Live Broadcast through

YouTube Live.

What are the accessory options?

Samsung will sell a wide variety of accessories for

both the devices, which includes cases and

covers, battery packs, wireless charger but the one peculiar accessory that takes the cake is the

QWERTY keyboard case. The case adds physical

QWERTY keys for consumers longing for physical keys.

Is it available now?The Galaxy S6 edge+ is available now but Samsung has not announced the exact availability for the Galaxy Note 5.

SONY A7R II

Sony A7R II`2,39,990, sony.co.in

A new camera from Sony?Not just any camera. Its the rst camera from Sony to have a back-illuminated 35mm full-frame sensor.

What advantages does the back-illuminate sensor offer?For starters, the sensor enhances light collection, which means it will off er better low-light performance. Furthermore, with the help of an expanded circuit scale and copper wiring design, it enables up to 3.5x faster data transmission speed compared to the original A7R, resulting in fast autofocus.

Sounds good, what else does it have?The A7R II can shoot pictures in up to 42.4 megapixels resolution, and has sensitivity that can be expanded from ISO 50-102400. The sensor also supports 399 focal-plane phase-detection AF points, giving the A7R II camera the worlds widest AF coverage on a full-frame sensor. It is also 40 per cent faster than the last-generation A7R.

The A7R II also comes with support for 4K video recording in either 35mm crop-mode or full-frame mode and features Wi-Fi and NFC for easier sharing of images through a supported Android smartphone.

What about the lenses?The camera supports a myriad of mount lenses, totalling to 63 diff erent models, including 12 FE full-frame lenses.

When does the camera go on sale?You can buy it right now.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Wide range of lens options


Vital statsXAVC SSupports 4K recording in the new format at 100Mbps bitrate

50 per centReduced vibration and shutter-from-shutter movements compared to its predecessor

399Number of focal-plane

phase-detection AF points

5-axis Image stabilisation

to support high-resolution shooting

capacity

PREVIEW

GoPro Hero4 Session`35,560, gopro.com

Whats this cube thing, then?Its GoPros brand-new mid-range action camDoesnt look like a GoPro, does it?

No, it doesnt. Why changeIts GoPros smallest, lightest camera ye completely waterproof without any houdoes that suit you?

Can I still use all my mou ?For sure! You simply clip the GoPro HeroSession into its frame and you can use a fyour currently accessories such as the3-Way or Flex Clamp.

Does it record in 4K?Nope. Youll need the Hero4 Black for that. But this can record at ultra-wide-angle 1,920 x 1,440 at 30fps.

Any other cool features?Yeah, loads. It can capture stills in burst mode up to ten photos in one second. And the time-lapse feature ena you to take a picture in intervals betwee and 60 seconds. Oh, and its one-button operation makes things super-simple. Th are also dual mics, which automatically h to eliminate wind noise (when mountain b kfor instance). The auto low-light feature pretty neat.

What about battery life?With Wi-Fi off , you should be able torecord for around one hour and 55 minu

When can I get it and how is it?Its out right now but well be honest, iat `35,560. Still, its a very cool piece of now but youll have to get behind us in h .

Vital stats8MPThe Session can capture stills at up to 3,264 x 2,448

1:55The continuous recording time, in hours

1,920 x 1,440The wide-angle video

resolution of the GoPro Hero4 Session

10 in 2This cube can take ten photos in just

two seconds

WATERPROOF BODYThe Hero4 Session is completely waterproof, without any special housing. Just bung it in a GoPro mount and get in the sea!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

GOPRO MOUNTSClip the GoPro Hero4 Session into its frame and you can use any of your existing mounts. You get two

frames in the box: one for front-on mounting, the other for side-on


LEXUS HOVERBOARD

Lexus Hoverboard`NA, www.lexus-int.com

A hoverboard? A hoverboard is just like a skateboard but the major diff erence is that it does not have any wheels. And it levitates!

Whoa! Levitates?Yes, this hoverboard developed by Lexus takes advantage of magnetic levitation to keep the board above the ground without touching it.

Wait, so Lexus is into hoverboards now? Not exactly. This is just a proof of concept by the car maker to showcase all that is possible with the technology.

How exactly does this work? Can levitation work on any surface? No, for levitation to work, the surface has to be mixed with magnets while the hoverboard is tted with cryostats where it houses the liquid nitrogen, which is then nused to cool the superconductors. Once the desired temperature has been achieved, the board is then aligned to the surface at a certain height, which is maintained for the duration that its levitating.

Sounds cool, when can I buy it?As we said, its just a proof of concept and wont be on sale in the near future. That said, you might catch glimpses of the hoverboard as Lexus plans it to use it for marketing of its cars.


Vital stats18Number of months to create a working prototype

50ozAmount of liquid nitrogen to successfully levitate above the surface

-197CThe temperature

to cool the superconductors

11.5kg Weight of the

hoverboard with liquid nitrogen and

magnets

Look ma! No wheels

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


NANOWIN ELECTRIC SCOOTER

Nanowin Electric Scooterapprox. ` 52,000, nanowin. m

What is this now?Its an electric scooter from Nanowi

Weve got electric scooin the past; whats so special about this one?The scooter is foldable, which makeideal to carry in the boot of your caeven on public transport.

What else does it have? The scooter is also tted with a solar panel that allows a user to charge it even if theres no access to electricity. The battery charge varies from two to four hours. Moreover, the motor is waterproof, making it usable even in Mumbai monsoons!

Whats the range like?The range again depends on the battery capacity used - 9, 12, 18 or 24 AH/60VDC and gives about 55, 75, 110, or 150km.

Tell me about the speed?The scooter features three speed modes and reaches a top speed of 35 kmph. It also off ers climbing capability of up to 45 degrees.

Is it available in India?Not yet but keep your eyes peeled as Nanowin is looking to enter the Indian market soon.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Vital stats45Climbing capability

150kmTravel range with a 24AH battery

20kgMaximum weight of

the scooter

IP68 Rating of the

waterproof motor

ASUS ZENFONE 2 DELUXE

Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe (ZE551ML) `22,999, asus.com/in

What phone is this?Its the latest Zenfone 2 Deluxe from Asus.

What differentiates this Zenfone to the other countless variants?To stand out, The Zenfone 2 Deluxe incorporates multifaceted polygonal nish at the back that complements the phones ergonomic arc design.

The phone is evidently different in looks but what about the hardware?The Zenfone 2 Deluxe is more or less similar to the other variants that are available in the market. This means the Deluxe sports a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display, 2.3GHz 64-bit Intel Atom processor with 4GB RAM and 4G connectivity.

What about the camera?The rear-facing camera supports 13 megapixel resolution while the front-facing has a 5 megapixel support. Both cameras support PixelMaster technology that ensures better pictures in low light conditions.

Does the phone have fast-charging functionality?The Zenfone 2 Deluxe supports Asus BoostMaster technology that charges the phone to up to 60 per cent in just 39 minutes.

Where can I purchase one?The phone is now available on Flipkart.com.


Vital stats85Wide angle front-facing camera

3000mAhBattery capacity of the phone

72%Screen-to-body ratio

4GB Dual-channel

DDR3 RAM

The polygonal finish gives the phone a unique look.

Comes in some unique colours

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

GIONEE MARATHON M4

Gionee Marathon M4 `15,499, gionee.co.in

A new phone from Gionee?The Chinese smartphone maker has come out with a mid-range phone called the Marathon M4.

Marathon, hmm! Does it go on and on?As a matter of fact, it does. The phone features a whopping 5000mAh battery, making it one of the rst Android phones to have such a large-capacity battery.

Does the phone trade off battery life with performance?Not really. The phone is powered by a decent 1.3GHz quad-core 64-bit processor and 2GB RAM, ensuring most of the tasks to run smoothly.

What about the camera and other features?The Marathon M4 has an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera and a 5 megapixel front-facing camera for high-resolution sel es. Additionally, it has a 5-inch HD AMOLED display and runs Amigo 3.0 OS based on Android 5.0.

What are the available colour options?The Marathon M4 comes in white and black colour options.

Can I purchase the phone now?Yes, it is on sale.

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Vital statsDual 4GMarathon M4 supports 4G connectivity on both the SIMs

OTGOn-the-go support to connect pen drives

720pThe display

resolution of the screen

50 hours The talk time on a

single charge

Despite the battery capacity, Marathon M4 is just 10.2mm thick

Asus ZenPad 8.0 (Z380) `14,999, asus.com/in

This new tablet looks good.It does. Its Asus new ZenPad tablet for the Indian market.

Whats so zen about the design?The ZenPad 8.0 features the Zen design philosophy with clean lines and embossed leather patterning. It also has an interchangeable cover design, thus allowing users to change the look as well as add some features. For instance, Zen Clutch transforms it to resemble a clutch, whereas a Power Case extends battery life and an Audio Cover adds 5.1 channel surround sound.

Tell me about the hardware.The tablet has a 76.5 per cent screen-to-body ratio, thanks to the thin bezel. Under the hood, its powered by Qualcomms Snapdragon octa-core processor, 2GB RAM and LTE support.

What about the display?The 8-inch display supports a 1280x800 resolution. Additionally, the tablet comes with VisualMaster that processes images for an overall improved picture quality.

Vital stats350gThe tablet is lightweight for commuting

100GB Free Google Drive storage for two years of the phone

DTS-HDPremium

virtual stereo sound

8.5mm The thickness of the tablet

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PREVIEW

LG 4K OLED TV`2,39,990, lg.com/in

A new TV from LG?Its the worlds rst 4K OLED TV that has been announced for India.

Interesting. Can you tell me about its picture quality?The TV is equipped with WRGB that adds a white sub-pixel to the conventional red, green and blue pixels. The result is lifelike colours. The self-lighting pixel technology, the TV sports white as well as the darkest black with ease. Additionally, with 4K resolution (3840x2160) the TV off ers a great visual experience. What about the sound quality? LG has made sure theres no compromise on the sound front as well. The TV incorporates Harman Kardon sound with 40W speakers on the 65-inch variant or 20W on the 55-inch one.

Is the TV Smart enough?In fact, the LG 4K OLED TV runs Web OS that gives the TV access to apps, news, games, social media in an easy-to-use and an intuitive interface. The TVs simplicity is also enhanced with the bundled Magic Motion remote control that gives enables a point-and-click feature, a scroll wheel as well as voice recognition. Any other features I should know of?The TV comes with integrated Wi-Fi, Intel WiDi, Miracast, MHL support and 3G/4G dongle compatible.

This TV has brains. What about the beauty?The curved form factor of the TV adds a cinematic experience with Art Slim 5.9mm design

How much does it go for?The 65-inch 4K OLED TV sells for Rs. 5,79,900 whereas the 55-inch TV is priced at Rs. 3,84,900.

Vital stats5.9mmThe Art Slim design makes the TV really thin

4Number of HDMI inputs in the 65-inch version in hours

4KTV supports a resolution of

3840x2160 pixels

WRGBTechnology used by LG to produce lifelike colours

two seconds


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Curved TV adds to the cinematic experience

LG uses WRGB technology for improved picture quality


Words: Rob Temple

TAYLOR SWIFTWith seven Grammy Awardschart hits and pots of cAmerican pop princess seit all. But we bet she d hthese Taylor-made gadget pp

01 SMART VOICE RECORDERApple got a taste of Taylors wrath when the 25-year-old penned an open letter berating the company for its payment policy. And, amazingly, Apple changed it. Now, thats power. With the Smart Voice Recorder, imagine the letters Swift could dictate to other people and organisations: Oi, North Korea, stop it! Hey, Qatar, give that World Cup back. World peace could be achieved before the years out.Free, Google Play, App Store

02 NERF N STRIKE ELITE MEGA CENTURIONFor Taylor, collecting awards is fraught with danger you just never know when Kanye West might rush the stage (as happened when she was accepting the gong for Best Female Music Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards). She could equip herself with this toy gun and re six soft darts at his head, causing him to scarper like a frightened cat.`4,000, funskoolindia.com

03 POWER PLATE MY7Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, so while Taylors shake, shake, shaking it off, she might as well keep her gure toned at the same time. With more than 250 programmes and 1,000 individual exercises, the Power Plate my7 vibrates you into shape, and comes with a touchscreen and guidance videos. It also gives you the feeling of being on a podium, so she could practise acceptance speeches while shes at it.`4,99,500, powerplate.com

04 BABYLISS i-STUBBLE + Swifty has a history of dating bad boys, with Harry Styles as an ex and Calvin Harris as her latest beau. But we reckon she should hook up with that nice lad Ed Sheeran. OK, hes compared himself to a hobbit with hairy feet, but Taylor could take a BaByliss i-Stubble + to his hairiest bits and shear Sheerans uf ness down to 0.4mm in length. Easy. `9,000, babyliss.co.uk

05 A ROCK THAT KEEPS TIGERS AWAYIt was hard thinking of gadgets for Taylor, seeing as everything seems perfect in Swift World. With that in mind, we want her to have something that wont risk her losing her upward trajectory. Thats why weve picked a rock that keeps tigers away, inspired by The Simpsons. Its just a rock, though, shed say. Yeah, but do you see any tigers around? No? Well, then its working perfectly. Youre welcome.

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PREVIEW

BMW i8Part eco-warrior, part bat-out-of-hell, whats it like in the hands of mortals?

HANDS-ON WITH

he BMW i8 has an impressive 375BHP under its bonnet (well, its boot actually), yet boasts a tree-friendly 57.1kmpl and almost zero emissions.

Whats more, it rockets from zero to 96.5kmph in 4.4 seconds and can outmanoeuvre supercars, yet it can still be mates with a Toyota Prius in its downtime.

If youre not familiar with the workings of the BMW i8, its Jeykll and Hyde character is down to the combination of an electric motor and a small (but effi cient) petrol engine. Neither are particularly sensational in isolation, but together the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, giving you the power to rival cars with big, thirsty engines.

Electric mode gives the BMW clean, quiet power, which is ideal when youre just pootling around. But if you want to get somewhere fast, slip the gearbox into Sport mode and the 1.5-litre, three-cylinder, twin-turbo engine comes to life, instantly turning the i8 from shopping trolley to supercar.

At just over 100,000 (in UK) or a whopping `2,29,00,000 (in India), the BMW i8 is a swanky spend. What we want to know is, are we looking at the future of fast cars here, or will the average petrolhead turn their noses up at it? To nd out, we took six car-loving, tech-adoring enthusiasts, put them on a test track and let the keys do the talking.

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PARTICIPANT ONE

Kate YoungAGE 28OCCUPATION Accountant

WAS THE CAR AS FAST AS YOU IMAGINED IT TO BE?

To be honest, when it was in normal driving mode, the i8 wasnt really that impressive there was a slight delay when I hit the accelerator, making quick exits out of corners a little on the sluggish side. But then I discovered Sport mode! When you ick this on, the big display turns from blue to red, and the car turns into something else altogether it really did take things up a gear. The acceleration improves signi cantly and becomes on a par with how I imagine a supercar to be.

Tom MoorcroftAGE 34OCCUPATION Marketing manager

IF YOU HAD 100K BURNING A HOLE IN YOUR POCKET, WOULD YOU BUY THIS CAR?

As a sheer feat of automotive engineering and an example of what can be achieved with hybrid technology, the BMW i8 is undoubtedly an amazing set of wheels. This car can really shift when you put your foot down, and it certainly looks the part! However, if Im honest, if I had that sort of money Id probably buy a diff erent car. At that price point, you have a lot of choice. For me, the i8s performance is decent but it cant quite compete with some of its rivals.

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ESSIONS

A hundred grand (in pounds, that too) might seem a lot of money for something that isnt quite as fast as a Lambo, but theres more than meets the eye here

PARTICIPANT TWO

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PARTICIPANT THREE

PARTICIPANT FOUR

PARTICIPANT FIVE

PARTICIPANT SIX

Oooh look, a shiny round object with a rubbery thing attached to it!

Once you engage Sport mode, the i8 turns from zimmer to super-gran

An average of 14.8kmpl in a supercar is something of a miracle, let alone 57.3! Dont think itll be getting anywhere near that today, though

The i8s dihedral doors swing upwards when you open them if you can work out how. Cue lots of chin-scratching and blank stares upon first try

As a feat of hybrid engineering, the i8 is amazing. It can shift and it certainly looks the partTOM MOORCROFT

Emily ThomasAGE 34OCCUPATION Management consultant

WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE FEATURE OF THE i8? Hands down, it has to be the hybrid engine (it combines a small petrol engine with an electric motor). I feel that BMW should be commended for its fusion of economical motoring and strong performance no car company has really achieved this before now. The BMW i8 also feels very comfortable to drive at low speeds, with a surprisingly smooth, quiet and rened feel to it. But as soon as you put your foot down, the wow factor really kicks in you have huge speed at your disposal.

Nicholas SargeantAGE 45OCCUPATION Video technician

DID THE DESIGN OF THE i8 IMPRESS YOU? Most cars these days tend to follow (pretty much) the same design principles, which means that everyone on the road looks more or less the same as everyone else. But BMW has gone totally lefteld with the unusual styling of the i8, embracing a look that wed normally only see in science-ction lms. But unusual certainly doesnt mean unattractive, and the car is beautifully sleek. What really impressed me was how the car manages to be super-stylish and functional at the same time.

Rob GordonAGE 42OCCUPATION IT consultant

IS THIS THE FUTURE OF THE SPORTS CAR? I suspect it is. The technology is undoubtedly there with the i8, and Ive no doubt that future iterations of this car will bring even better dynamics, as well as both improved range and economy. However, I think Ill wait to see what generations 2.0 and 3.0 bring before I start digging deep into my wallet to buy one of these things. For the time being, I reckon Im much better off keeping an older sports car on the road but Im sure the lure of shiny new technology will get me eventually!

David JohnsonAGE 35OCCUPATION Advertising manager

HOW SPACE-AGE IS THE INTERIOR? Nestling into the driving seat for my rst ride and suddenly being assaulted by a plethora of buttons, sounds and colours made me feel as though I was on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. I have to admit, it was a little intimidating at rst but, thankfully, BMW has made all the settings simple to get the hang of. In fact, its so easy, it almost felt like I was driving a family hatchback rather than some kind of eco supercar. I got the hang of it in a matter of minutes, and was quickly sold!


WE CAN BUILD YOU

MARATHON MANOur expert advises on the best kit for embarking on those long-distance runs

01X-BIONIC THE TRICK RUNNING SHIRTBelieve it or not, breaking into a sweat sooner rather than later can help you preserve energy. The quicker your bodys natural cooling system kicks in, the less energy you expend. X-Bionics new Trick technology takes advantage of this by insulating your spine and tricking your brain into initiating your natural cooling system before youve hit calorie-sapping overheat.From `7,500, www.x-bionic.com

02 MONSTER ISPORT VICTORY Science bofns have proved that using music during training can actually improve your performance. So you need a set of running earphones that will stay put and deliver great sound. Monsters Victory buds t snugly in-ear, thanks to improved Omni Tips, and kick out tunes with an adrenaline-boosting depth and range. Theyre also sweat-proof and come with anti-microbial powers to kill nasty germs on contact.`12,995, shopmonsterproducts.co.uk

03 SALOMON S-LAB SENSE HYDRO SET Super light, ultra-portable and easy to clean, the S-Lab Sense Hydro Set solves the problem of where to put your water on long-distance training runs. The hand-carried soft ask is free from BPA plastic and can hold up to 250ml. And, as relaxed hands are essential for a good running style, the vented glove features Sensit hand-hugging fabric that helps to avoid the kind of tense grip you get carrying a normal bottle. `3,500, www.salomon.com

04GARMIN FORERUNNER 225The Forerunner 225 running watch is the ideal tool for the kind of zone training you need to prep for a marathon. The built-in optical heart-rate sensor tracks your BPM in real time, giving you colour-coded feedback and sorting your recovery runs from your tempo training by ensuring youre always working at the right intensity. With seven to ten hours of GPS and HR tracking, itll outlast your longest runs; plus all of your data can be synced to Garmin Connect, where you can monitor your training and share your progress with fellow runners. `24,990, www.garmin.co.in

05 ADIDAS ULTRA BOOSTWith the kind of mileage youll be clocking during training, youll need shoes that can provide comfort and stability. The rst shoes to team up Adidass groundbreaking Boost foam with exible Primeknit woven uppers, the Ultra Boosts deliver both. The bouncy soles recycle the energy from each foot strike, putting more oomph into every step, while the sock-like t gives a well-supported ride on longer runs. `15,999, www.adidas.co.in

06 INOV-8 RACE ELITE 70 WINDSHELL The perfect extra layer for training during the winter, the Race Elite 70 Windshell is made from breathable Pertex Quantum and weighs just 70g. It comes with its own stuff sack that crams down smaller than your st, and can be clipped to a belt, ready to draw upon when it gets nippy.

`6,500, www.inov-8.com

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02MONSTER iSPORT VICTORY Music controls enable you to skip tracks and manage volume, while a built-in mic means you can take calls on the move

X-BIONIC THE TRICK RUNNING SHIRTFor an added endurance boost on those longer runs, the Trick has built-in compression that limits muscle damage, plus a clever wicking system that recycles your own sweat to help you stay cool


HypeWE CAN BUILD YOU

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GARMIN FORERUNNER 225Training indoors? The Forerunner 225s built-in accelerometer enables you to keep tabs on your treadmill runs without needing a foot pod. It also improves the accuracy of your outdoor GPS runs

ADIDAS ULTRA BOOSTThe Boost foam in these trainers is made from thousands of little bubbles known as thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). As well as having more bounce than the EPA found in most shoes, TPU degrades slower, so you can put in more kilometres

INOV-8 RACE ELITE 70 WINDSHELLThe Race Elite 70 Windshell features a handy chest pocket for stashing essentials like your bank card, keys, cash and even smaller MP3 players

SALOMON S-LAB SENSE HYDRO SETAn anti-leak Blaster bite valve makes it easier to suck down water and avoid waste

With heart-rate tracking, the Forerunner 225 is the ideal tool for smarter training

28 T3 Tomorrows Technology To y 5 W W W.T3MAG.IN

STYLE

ON THEMONEYKeep your readies safe and let people know you mean business when you reach for your pocket...

TECH ME UP

POSH STUFF

PROPORTA SAFEKEEP It might not be oozing with

high fashion but, hold up, this is still one smart-looking leather wallet, and its got more tech nestled inside it than you can throw a stful of coins at. Theres a credit- card-sized smartphone charger and an RFID-blocking pocket to keep your contactless pay cards from clashing.`3,170, www.proporta.com

MULBERRY CROSS-GRAIN LEATHER CARDHOLDER

Its not just women that get to covet the Mulberry motif. Men can have a taste of the England-basedestablishment, too: this sleek cardholder is made from pil f natural leather, has four carand comes in a variety of ta`9,000, www.mulberry.com

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FO YO MONEY

MONTBLANC STAINLESS-STEEL MONEY CLIP

Sometimes, you dont need the frills, but you dont want to look like a two-bit

gangster with a paperclip, either. Step forward Montblanc and this super-chic clip to grasp your crisp notes. Made in

Germany from stainless steel, its built to last an eternity.

`15,500, www.montblanc.com

05

VELOCULTURE THE FLATTY

An Etsy-only, handmade number, The

Flatty is a perfect money store for the eco-minded cyclist. Made of upcycled

bicycle inner tubes, and with a sweet-themed

interior, its both tough as nails and seriously hip.`2,400, www.etsy.com

03URBAN CASH

BELLROY ELEMENTS TRAVEL

Designed for the more adventurous swag

holder, the Elements Travel has a tough,

waterproof exterior for keeping nasty weather at bay. Its a heck of a case,

too, with room for all your monetary

essentials, and you can even stash your

smartphone in it.`9,250, www.bellroy.com

04THE BIG ONE


TALKING TECH

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Duncan Bell is learningbut not as fast as the machines. Are we about to see an era of truly intelligent tech?

OPINION

ometimes, big advances in technology come at us in unexpected ways. Th e rst iPhone revolutionised

the mobile-phone industry, but it didnt become a huge smash because it invented new things; rather because it repackaged innovations from existing smartphones of its era, then added the ability to zoom into photos by stretching the screen, causing people to go, Ooh!

Th at brought the whole concept of mobiles as a platform for all sorts of things above and beyond calls and texts to the attention of a much wider audience than those using, say, Windows Mobile or the Nokia N95.

Th is month, I had a similarly eye-opening experience via an IP cam. Th ere are approximately ve billion Web-connected cameras coming out every week at the moment. Th ey allow you to creepily snoop on people in your household, or be alerted to the fact that your house is being burgled while youre in Florida (although, no, the police are very sorry but, for manpower reasons, theyre not going to go and investigate that. But you can have a crime reference number if you pop into a police station on your return).

Because there are so many of these cams, their makers need something extra to stand out. For French rm Netatmo, that something was to add facial recognition.

We set up T3s Netatmo Welcome (La camra qui reconnat les visages!) with a certain degree of cynicism. My previous experience of such tech was via Apples iPhoto, an app that has about the same success rate with face recognition as Stevie Wonder.

Sure enough, having logged images of various team members, it failed to recognise any of us as we came into the o ce. However, each time it saw what it thought was a new face, it asked

who it was and we told it, in so many words, Th ats Dave, you idiot, we already told you that.

Giant stepsAfter a week, though, it did

start to recognise us, including whether we were clean-shaven or had grown a bit of a beard. It couldnt tell it was us if we donned balaclavas but, due to the unusually hot weather, we hardly ever did that.

Now, the clever aspect of this is not so much that the facial recognition actually worked (and via video rather than stills, which must be more di cult), but that the Welcome had learned something. Netatmo reckons the next step is to get it to recognise pets. Not to differentiate between animal and human faces, or even to tell cats from dogs, but to differentiate between speci c pets - to know its Lassie from its Tyson. Now, thats cool.

Th is brought to my attention something fairly profound: machine

It started to recognise us, including whether we were clean-shaven or had grown a beard

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learning is no longer a contradiction in terms. Th ese things are getting smart.

Consider, if you use Gmail, when the last time you received spam in your main mailbox was. Not recently, Ill wager, because its Google brain has successfully identi ed what spam looks like. Presumably, the algorithm is something like this: (inappropriate greeting) + (mention of African country or a bank, but not

your bank and anyway, its spelt wrong or the wrong logo is attached) + (number of uses of $1,000,000, satisfy or best meds) x (weird formatting errors) = spam likelihood.

Th en theres Orpiva, which claims to be able to recognise out ts from photos, then hook into a huge database of clothes retailers to enable you to recreate the latest look worn by David Beckham or Huw Edwards - either with the exact same clothes or the closest match from Peacocks or something.

Or how about Skypes new translation service? It absolutely melts my brain that you can now talk into Skype in English, and over in China someone hears what youre saying in Chinese. A few years back, Skype users were lucky if they could communicate in English and have it understood by an English person.

Funnily enough, Skype Translate has problems with accents at the moment - to get it to work optimally, you have to put on an American twang. But guess what? Honeywell had the same problem with its voice-controlled thermostats but now reckons they can learn new accents and ways of talking.

None of this is quite like human intelligence, of course, but its certainly the beginnings of it. Whats amazing is that its turning up not just in military hardware and university laboratories, but in gadgets and apps that anyone can use. Th is is where tech starts getting really interesting


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YOUR PHONE IN 2020FROM BATTERIES THAT CHARGE IN MINUTES TO SCREENS THAT LET YOU FEEL WHAT THEYRE DISPLAYING WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF HANDSETS Words Andrew Williams


Think the phone industry has become boring? A few millimetres added here and there? Slightly sharper displays? Marginally faster processing? Well, all thats about to change. There are advances in phone technology on our doorstep that will make todays phones look about as powerful as a Tonka truck. From batteries that charge in minutes and last a fortnight, to mobile internet that lets you download a movie in three seconds, to screens that dont just curve but fold into sections, phones arent going to look and feel like they do for long.

NANOBATTERIESBattery life is the biggest bugbear among phone users. With our phones becoming more powerful and boasting better displays, its understandable that the batteries struggle to last a full day.

The good news is that the nanobattery is coming. Made of tiny tower structures that are hundreds of times smaller than the bits in current power packs, theyre so ne they can be 3D printed. So whats the bene t? There are a few: the power you get for their size is incredible, they can be squeezed into more phone components, and they can fully charge in minutes. Soon, we wont talk about topping up overnight, but while the kettle boils.

Want something even more out- there? How about a phone battery thats powered by water? Hydrogen fuel cells, rst proposed by Samsung back in 2008, use the reaction between water and a metal element in the phone to produce hydrogen gas, which then powers the cell. Were still waiting for a Samsung-Evian tie-in, though.

FOLDING PHONESLG has already released two exible phones in the G Flex series, while Samsung is being tipped to release a folding mobile by the end of this year, with patents hinting at a three-way folding device that can ip its insides out to make a tablet. The next step after that is screens that can be folded and even rolled up. LGs display team showed off a folding device last year, and claim well have roll-up devices by 2017. Like current curvy phones, they will use OLED screens, which will also get you near-perfect contrast.

MAGIC TOUCHTyping on a touchscreen just isnt the same as clicking away on a keyboard, but cool new technology is merging those two worlds. Whats more, the technology that could add keys to touchscreens when we need them could also add Braille, change the surface texture to let us feel whats on screen, or just poke us in the leg all day long when some fool makes an app for your friends to annoy you with.

One company working on this innovation is Tactus, and it already off ers a way to invisibly add contours to a phone screen. Called Tactus Phorm, it makes bumps appear over your phones keyboard, enabling you to touch-type in a way that most people just cant with a normal phone. It works by pushing liquid up through a lm into invisible bubbles in a layer above the display. Its currently a bit limited, though, as its operated manually, feels a bit mechanical and can only pop up in a pre-de ned spot.

But this is a space thats got a lot of clever heads nodding in labs the world over, as companies seek to do something

HTC has been one of our favourite brands for the past couple of years, fusing metal and power to off er beautiful smartphones.

This years One M9 bene ts from a power boost but theres something eerily familiar about the phone it looks very similar to last years One M8 (although its still stunning).

Claude Zellweger, HTCs associate vice president of design, insists that, despite the obvious comparisons to last years model, there are important diff erences. The precision and the craftsmanship [in the M9] are superior to the One M8, he begins. From a distance, its easy to say the One M9 is similar to the One M8, but once you pick it up and once you start living with it the build is better and the nish more luxurious. These things mean that when you go back to

using the One M8, it feels like the old one.

The key message here appears to be evolution without being too radical. The One M9 built on the undeniable good looks and power of the M8, adding a re ned subtlety and craft to the design. Zellweger explains: We wanted to continue building on these things, as opposed to launching a diff erent direction every year.

Weve made some changes in terms of the battery and the user experience. I really like evolutionary design when I think of the cars I like, its the same approach.

The M9 is not the last of the line, as Zellweger concludes: Youll see how we evolve this and it will all make a lot of sense.

IN DEPTH THE DESIGN PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE HTC ONE M9


lifespan terms, but may already be old news.

SUPER SPEEDSMost of us are just getting to grips with 4G, but 5G is already revving its engine. You probably wont get to taste its goodies until around 2020, but theyre set to revolutionise the way we use phones, off ering speeds up to 70 times faster than whats currently available. Want a movie in three seconds? Done. Fancy that Spotify album but not sure if youve got time to download it? Its already happened in the time it took to read that sentence. Not only is that mind-bendingly fast, its about ten times quicker than your old computer hard drive could even save stuff . Good job tomorrows phones will use Flash memory that can write in hyperspeed.

Streaming console-grade games to your phone will no longer have that annoying lag, so PS4 Remote Play on the bus will nally be a reality. And as long as the servers and websites on the other end are quick enough, browsing the Web and watching streamed videos will be just as quick as looking at content stored on your phone.

FRANKENPHONES Heres one you may have heard of: Project Ara, the modular phone. Itll let you play Dr Frankenstein and construct your own modular monster out of the bits you always wanted in a mobile. It may sound like the LEGO of the phone world, and it sort of is, but its anything but an elaborate joke. Google is behind the Project Ara platform, and is working with a bunch of other companies to make the bits to help you craft your perfect phone from a base level of `3,500. How

about a phone with a radiation sensor? Or a breathalyser attached? Or a module with a set of stereo speakers so you can bang out tunes with, shock horror, some actual bass? These are all in the prototyping phase and, as the idea of modular phones takes off , we can see Kickstarter being littered with amazing suggestions.

3D SCREENS ARE BACK3D is in a sad state right now. No one cares about it in TVs any more, and while the new 3DS has a decent stab, its graphics could have been piped from anywhere in the last 15 years. So who would have guessed phones would be the thing that sees it return lurching from the dead?

Clever new screen tech could see 3D nally coming back to phones, after HTC and LG made glasses-free 3D phones back in 2011 that were so bad we havent seen any since.

The dream for future 3D is to get to the point where the screen doesnt become an insta-headache mess when you move your head more than about a centimetre to the side. And it looks like MSL technology might just do that. It will use a plane of thousands of teeny-tiny micro lenses that sit on top of a display, boosting the possible viewing angles of a glasses-free 3D display from about 20 degrees to a full 90. All the 3D, none of the compromise.

With 4K phone screens in the works, and head-tracking already as advanced as it needs to be, your phone display may one day look like a portal into another world. Granted, it may just be your nans face on the other side, but its still the future and thats good enough for us.

with phones that will help them grab an edge. Take Fujitsus pioneering work with haptic feedback: using ultrasonic waves to create tiny vibrations in the screen, it can make parts of the display seem rough, bumpy or extra-smooth. It can even mimic textures, giving you a feel completely diff erent from standard glass, which could make Candy Crush Saga even more addictive than before.

Were not sure why youd want it, but Senseg has been working on a way to make your screen feel like sandpaper, using electrostatic vibrations. We can just see the tagline now: Samsung Galaxy S7: your DIY buddy.

THE PS4-KILLERBack in the day, we dreamed about home consoles beating arcade-machine graphics. Then it was all about seeing how long it would take PCs to atten console graphics. Now were in the big race to see how long itll take phones to outdo the consoles.

Given its prowess in the graphics- card space, its no surprise that Nvidia is pushing forward to make the mobile phone a real rival for your console, with the brand con rming to us that the tech is advancing at a rate of knots. Its already using PC-style processors in its Tegra phone chips, and next year well see graphics brains that are ten times faster than the current crop. Considering weve already got chips that can handle 4K output and 256 cores, thats a huge amount of power from a teeny space. It thrashes the Xbox 360 and the PS3 by some metrics already. So by the time next years models roll around, the PS4 and Xbox One will barely be out of primary school in console-

SCI-FI PHONESAccording to Joshua Bell of London's Natural History Museum, the future of phones could be decidedly sci-fi. Instead of being an extension of ourselves, they could become part of us think of your palm being implanted with keyboard circuitry, or your brain jacked up to apps that control rather than suggest your workout options for the evening. If that's too Total Recall for you, you'll fare better with Apple CEO Tim Cook's suggestion that phones will simply become more powerful, more interactive and with longer battery life.


SAMSUNG GALAXY S7

APPLE iPHONE 7

HTC ONE MX

SONY XPERIA Z6

Excitingly, rumours abound that the South Korean giants new exible technology will be adapted into 2016s follow-up to the Galaxy S6 to make it look properly space age.

While its likely to use the Exynos processor again, power is almost certainly going to increase, and Samsung may also ramp up the RAM to make the phone a real laptop rival though were praying for better battery life this time around. Either Samsung takes a hit on the design front to increase the phones capacity (we only want another couple of millimetres), or it develops new battery tech. Either way, battery life must be improved.

The One M9 wasnt enough of an update design-wise, so the One M10 (or MX, for the cool kids) needs to go all out to impress.

HTC might well improve the clarity of the display, but we dont really need more resolution unless its going to get bigger. What we do need is more battery power whatever HTC is doing to make its handsets gobble juice, it needs to stop. The brand must understand that this is a big issue and work out how to make the new phone a market leader.

If HTC is hell-bent on mimicking a luxury watch, it needs to go bigger. Make the chassis better than a Rolex, and stuff in more power than a laptop, and well be cock-a-hoop.

Were really hoping the iPhone 7 appears this year, with Apple skipping past the 6S and bringing us more screen sizes. We love larger displays but often hanker for the smaller models, where we could noodle around without fear of dropping.

Wed also love to see Apple ditch the wires when it comes to charging. Wireless charging is fantastic technology thats coming to most high-end phones this year, and if Apple gets on board it really could be a game changer. If the Cupertino brand wont drop the wires, it must at least toughen up its Lightning cables and throw in better battery life.

We already know that Sonys next agship will have oodles of octa-core power, but wed love to see an improved design, too. The bezels need to go, it needs rounded edges to make it more pleasant to hold, and wed love an edge-to-edge display.

Other than that, we want Sony to return to what it does best. Take the Walkmans smarts and add an amazing music player with Spotify built in, like on the PS4, to create the ultimate phone for tunes.

Sony has a dedicated camera division, so the cameras in its phones should be great but theyre not. A big push there is a must to give the brand a hope of toppling Samsung.

THE FUTURE IS CALLINGWHAT WE'RE EXPECTING AND HOPING FOR FROM THE NEXT GEN OF SMARTPHONES

ILLUSTRATIONS LU

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There was a time when GaGu was a paragon of tness. However, in recent years, a crippling addiction to gooey

chocolate ice-creams has led to him losing a bit of de nition and turning to tness trackers. Hes tried just about every one there is. So, do they work?

OK, statistics seem to prove that tness-band users take more steps when they rst start using their tracker of choice, but beyond that things get a bit sketchy. Thats cos all they really want to do is track steps, and thats not the be all and end all of tness.

With brands like Withings and

Fitbit, you can tie in their body-monitor scales so that youre also tracking your weight through their respective apps. And with many trackers, you can also put in what youre eating, so that you can count your calories as you go.

Thing is, GaGu is aware that writing down the number of ice-creams he was eating didnt change his behaviour

o km ll b bl S k l Not so much.

So, which trackers would GaGu recommend? The Mi Band (`999) is reliable, has a good app, and is so slim you can wear it and a watch on the same wrist. Fitbits Charge HR (`12,000) is eccentric and inaccurate in some ways, but smart and motivating. And Withings Activit Pop (`16,200) is nice-looking and has a step counter.

However, the way to make these work is to take on friends, sharing your tness exploits over social media. The problem with that is that, apart from the Nike+ FuelBand, none of these things has ever tried to enable you to compare all of your tness activities. So if you cycle or row or workout, although many of these bands will grudgingly note this activity, most of them only let you compare the steps you took in- between. And wheres the fairness in that?

Be honest, GaGu, can tness trackers really get you tter?A

THE WAY TO MAKE FITNESS TRACKERS WORK IS TO TAKE ON FRIENDS, SHARING YOUR EXPLOITS OVER SOCIAL MEDIA

ABOVE One more Mars bar and I should have enough energy to get to the pub


YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Are you kidding? Children these days have toys so awesome, they make GaGus

childhood seem Dickensian. Actually, it was quite a hard time: Gurus dad once gave him two knackered Matchbox cars nailed to a piece of bark, and claimed it was a racetrack set.

By far the most awesomest thing GaGu has seen this month is Anki Overdrive. This isnt out till later this month. The starter kit is approx. `10,000, but by the time youve bought all the add-on cars and track sections and you WILL have to buy all the add-on cars and track sections youll have spent Juniors college fund. Oh well.

Overdrive is essentially racetrack set with arti cial intelligence, guns, control via a mobile device, and cars designed by the man who made the vehicles in Tron: Legacy and Minority Report.

You lay the magnetic track sections in any order you like, including having them weave over and under each other.

The cars then go round your track once, mapping it before enabling you to race against your kids and also AI opponents of crippling toughness.

Via your mobile, you accelerate, brake and steer the cars, re weapons and activate tractor beams its completely bonkers. The brains behind it include people whove worked on everything from robotics to autonomous (full-size) cars, and to see that tech expertise applied to a toy is quite something.

Also out this month are Parrots latest wave of Minidrones, with Evolution devices to rule the skies, the ground and even the water. The new Hydrofoil drone has been burning up GaGus local duck pond at 10kph, with, it must be said, a certain amount of duck collateral damage.

The problem with these things wont be so much wanting to play with them with your kids, as nding the muni cence to allow your kids to have a go on them.

VENURAJ D K

A

I want to get my child a toy Ill enjoy playing with, too. Have you got any suggestions?

MAHESH SINGH

Vaping is a crazy, crazy world, where people willingly walk around sucking on what looks like an instrument from the Mos

Eisley cantina band, and get ever so cross if their pastime is criticised or described as in any way unhealthy online.

On the other hand, it does appear to be better than smoking actual cigarettes. GaGu wouldnt recommend anyone take it up, but if youre looking to quit real smokes, Blu e-cigarettes seem like a good way to go. They look like real fags, as opposed to space utes, they charge via USB, and users assure me they have good avour.

Do you vape, Gadget Guru? Im trying to quit smoking.

NEED TO KNOW:

SLEEP TRA ING

GAGU, YOUVE GOT TO HELP ME. I CANT SLEEP!Guru feels your pain. Its the guilt, right? Whatever the cause, tech can help you to an extent.

YES, IVE HEARD TALK OF SLEEP TRACKING. CAN IT REALLY AID MY RESTFULNESS?Heres Gurus view on sleep tracking: until recently, it was a near total waste of time, dogged by inaccuracy, unlikely claims and uselessness. Now, its, erm slightly less so.

HOW DOES IT WORK?Built into a good tness tracker (GaGu recommends the Charge HR or Jawbone UP3) with heart-rate monitoring, and interpreted by a decent algorithm, sleep tracking can give you some useful info. It uses the motion sensors and HR tracker of your band to discern whether youre in deep (near-zero movement, lowered heart rate), light or REM sleep (more movement). Or, indeed, if youre awake. The aim is to get eight hours, with a solid slice of deep sleep. Theres some evidence that REM sleep aids creative thinking, so thats desirable too.

HOW MUCH OF EACH IS IDEAL?This is where it gets less scienti c: diff erent people require diff erent amounts. As with tracking tness, perhaps the most useful thing is to look at whether the amount of deep sleep is going up over time.

WHAT CAN I DO IF MY TRACKER SHOWS IM GETTING ONLY LIGHT, INTERRUPTED SLEEP?Bad news: there are all sorts of reasons for poor sleep, and youll just have to try addressing each in turn. In order of potential expense, this could include: going to bed earlier, giving up booze and caff eine, using a lighter or heavier duvet, getting blackout blinds, changing your mattress, installing soundproo ng, moving to a quieter area or getting your partner to whack you with a hammer, nightly.

ZZZZZZZZZZZI dont know why I bother.

JAYESH PATIL

GaGu has stood by four sunnies brands for as long as he can remember (three minutes on a good day). For luxury, Maui Jims

construction and UV/glare-beating lens tech are easily up there with Ray-Ban, but without the ubiquitousness of that admittedly ne brand. For style and innovation, ic! berlin is the don. Its screwless hinge is as iconic as hinges get, while its looks range from classic with a twist to youll need a lot of balls to wear that. Finally, for the occasions that GaGu wants to dress like a top footballer, theres Police fans should check out its Neymar range.

Lenses? Brown or very black, or clear-to-dark-in-a-trice Transitions lenses for that 1970s sex pest vibe.

Sunglasses: which do you rate, Guru?



NEED TO KNOW:

APPLE HOMEKIT

WHAT EXACTLY IS APPLE HOMEKIT, AND HOW DOES IT DIFFER FROM APPLE HOME?HomeKit is a range of third-party, connected-home bits that work with Apples OS. Home is the app, coming on iOS 9, that will control them all. Theyve both been pending for what feels like an eternity, but there was an offi cial announcement of HomeKits arrival at Apples big WWDC shindig in June. Though if you blinked, you mightve missed it.AND WHY SHOULD I CARE?The connected-home market is in a mess at the moment, so having a standard from a popular brand such as Apple should be a good thing. In terms of the technical spec, the standout feature is that HomeKit products connect via Bluetooth 4.0 rather than Wi-Fi, which should be more reliable, and involve fewer dongles and router reboots.WHAT IF I WANT TO ACCESS AN IP CAM, MY LIGHTS OR A THERMOSTAT FROM OUTSIDE OF THE BLUETOOTH RANGE?Youll need to access them via iCloud. Word is that thisll require an Apple TV acting as a hub.WHAT HOMEKIT, ER, KIT IS AVAILABLE SO FAR?Perhaps explaining why the HomeKit introduction at WWDC was so brief, the answer is as Paul Daniels used to say not a lot. Elgato has some attractive sensors, which have been in the pipeline for ages (we rst covered them over a year ago), iHome has a plug, and then theres stuff for lighting and whatnot from brands even Gadget Guru has never heard of. However, products are promised shortly from bigger hitters such as Philips, Withings, Honeywell and Osram.HANG ON, I HATE APPLE. WHAT AM I TO DO?Fret not. Google has its own Internet of Things unifying system coming. It currently goes under the sexy name of Project Brillo. Its gonna be Android vs iOS all over again. Therelll be blood up the alls!

AFTER A SPELL OF CHARGING A PREMIUM, TV MANUFACTURERS ARE NOW PRETTY MUCH GIVING AWAY THOSE EXTRA PIXELS

ABOVE Like your meat so raw, it hasnt even been born yet? Theres loads of kitchen tech out there for you

NITESH DSOUZA

Gadget Guru is a bit like a cross between Sanjeev Kapoor and Gordon Ramsay, in that

hes foul-mouthed, and has massive furrows on his head, a very fat tongue and a tendency to say, Wicked and all that, bosh! And yes, probably driven by the rise of such masculine cooking role models, hes noted that, in recent times, kitchen gadge has got bigger, higher-specced and more like a Panzer tank.

This recently came to a head when he took receipt of KitchenAids Blender, a device so wonderfully over-engineered, it wouldnt look out of place under the bonnet of an Aston Martin. It does pestos and the like in about a nanosecond and, given a minute or so, will reduce even the rmest vegetables to a quivering pulp. Only real men (and women) of the kitchen need apply.

Is it me or is kitchen tech getting a bit more manly?

GURUPRASAD SAPRE

SHYAMAL K BANU

GaGu is always at the front of telly tech, having been the rst in his street to embrace colour,

both Betamax and VHS. The diff erence between those upgrades of yore and moving to 4K today is that after a brief spell of charging a mint, set manufacturers are now pretty much giving away those extra pixels. The thing about buying a TV is that its probably going to last a decade or more, even if the latter years of its life are spent in the guest bedroom or the loft. So although there isnt a lot of 4K content worth watching right now, its still well worth diving in.

The reader-sourced apps are hard to beat. Users know their stuff , and their reviews are whittled down to easy-to-browse highlights. That means you dont have to suff er the Trip Advisor eff ect, where you have to wade through reams of reviews from muppets who complete their 1,000-word whinge with, Worst of all, my gazpacho was cold and when I complained, the waiter was very rude!

Also handy if you live in Mumbai: Zomato or Burrp off ers location-based guides to restaurants, bars and more. Its rolling out to more cities as we speak.

I need a new TV. Do you think I should get a 4K one?

Whats the best app to nd good places to eat?

AA



Before resorting to a bulky battery adapter case that will dent both your wallet and your street cred, there are a number of tweaks you can perform to eke out more battery life.

One of the iPhone 6s biggest juice drainers is the screen: its brighter and bigger than ever before, so youll want to make sure it turns itself off pronto head to Settings > General > Auto-Lock and reduce the time before it shuts off . Reducing the screen brightness to a comfortable level will also do wonders for your battery life.

Many apps regularly update

themselves behind the scenes, and this can quickly deplete your battery. Open up Settings > General > Background App Refresh, and turn off any apps that youre happy updating manually.

You can also make battery gains by turning off unnecessary features. If you dont have any Bluetooth gadgets, turn it off . Same with Wi-Fi. And if you dont care for Apple knowing where you are all the time, switch off Location Services as well. Not a fan of Siri? Sacri ce her in the name of battery life youll be grateful for the extra time.

GANESH RAJPUT

SUBHAM WAGH

NAGRAJ CN

Good news: whether you have an Apple or an Android phone, there are a number

of options that will improve your typing experience. SwiftKey is excellent: free of charge, it off ers a number of layouts, a range of languages and a top-notch prediction engine.

Alternatively, give Swype a go. While this one costs a small fee, its both slick and once you get the hang of it great fun, enabling you to glide between characters to quickly form words in one continuous ow.

If customisation oats your boat, Fleksy is the one for you. Another free app, it off ers tons of weird and wacky colours and themes for sprucing up your keyboard and its super-fast, too.

A

Im pretty much in love with my iPhone 6, but one thing really bothers me: the battery life. How can I go about improving it?

My phones keyboard is rubbish. Is there anything I can do?

If youve got an iPhone, select Find My iPhone (in your iCloud settings) and the next time it vanishes, head to either www.icloud.com/# nd or the Find My iPhone app from another Apple device. From there, youll be able to see if the little bugger is online if it is, you can ring it, send a message begging for it to

Ive lost my phone three times now, which has caused me all kinds of stress. How can I nd it if it goes AWOL again?

be returned, or remotely wipe the data from it.

Google has made it even easier: type Wheres my phone? into a browser (signed in with the same Google details as on the phone) and youll be shown it on Google Maps. You can then ring it, lock it or erase it from your computer.

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OF YOUR LIFE WORDS JOE SVETLIK ILLUSTRATION MAGICTORCH


CONNECTED-HOME SPECIAL THE ULTIMATE HOME TECH

If your home isnt connected, youre stuck in the last century. Weve got all the gadgets and apps to transform your space into something truly T3-worthy

A few years ago, the conn beyond the reach of us no l f lk d specialising in digitally u d h had the market sewn up, and if you wanted to add a touch of tech to your space, youd have to shell out a small fortune. Now,

however, the tech has become more affordable, more capable and easier to use. And Apples HomeKit platform will undoubtedly bring connected gadgets into the mainstream by integrating support for several devices in its mobile products.

In other words, the connected home is now a reality. But what to buy? Itll have to look good, as itll be on display in your space; and itll have to make your life easier, whether thats by doing your hard work for you, or enabling you to communicate with it from afar using an app. If it can talk to your other gadgets as part of the Internet of Th ings (IoT), even better.

Weve put together the ultimate T3 pad, with smart TVs, Wi-Fi coffee makers, electric vehicles, robot mowers and even gadgets to help you fall asleep


Th e TV is the most important device in your lounge, so get a good one. Th e LG 65EC970T is recommended the TV has a speedy performance, and theres also the fact that when you switch it on, apps restart exactly where you left off, just like on a phone. Pair that with a Roku 2 and youre laughing. Th e streaming box was upgraded recently, and now enables you to bookmark a lm when its in the cinema and receive a noti cation when it becomes available for streaming.

But its not all about visuals. What about music? Th e PS4 now has Spotify, so you can stream all your playlists through PlayStation Music. With over 30 million songs and more than 1.5 billion playlists to choose from, it

should keep you entertained for years.

When it comes to sharing the love, Sonos CONNECT is the best streaming system around. It offers more than 60 music services, including recent additions 22tracks, Mixcloud and Saavn.

Finally, for those of us who cant afford an actual butler, theres a digital equivalent in the form of Amazon Echo. It features Alexa Amazons equivalent of Apples Siri and Microsofts Cortana who will answer any query you give it. A recent update means its now compatible with Philips Hue lights and switches, and Belkins WeMo gadgets. If only it could take your suit to the dry cleaner, too.

THE LOUNGE


01 GOOGLE CHROMECAST

Plug the Chromecast dongle into your TVs HDMI port and you can stream lms and TV shows to it. The accompanying app helps you set up your device, connect it to your Wi-Fi, personalise your TV screen and manage your settings. Free; App Store, Google Play

02 ULRECO This iOS app

enables you to control your TV, lights, sound system and more, without having to open separate apps for each. Its free but includes in-app purchases for some devices, so could prove costly in the long run. But for the essentials, its unbeatable.Free; App Store

03 SAMSUNG SMARTTHINGS

If you own some Samsung smart devices, this is the app for you. It controls your fridge, washing machine, air con, vacuum cleaner, oven and lighting. Pair with a Samsung smartwatch and you can do it all from your wrist.Free; App Store, Google Play

04 iH

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