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Lenovo K-900 in-depth review

With this blog post, I bring to you a detailed review of the Lenovo K-900 mobile phone which was launched sometime ago by Lenovo India. This is not exactly a new mobile phone that is setting the sales charts on fire of late as much as the new Moto-G, but however the review is primarily meant to focus on Lenovos intentions and capabilities in making a mobile phone.

So shall we begin?

The Design Excellence

When everyone were only bothered about design in terms of lesser weight or bezel or etching, etc, or even gold or silver brushed titanium finishes Lenovo has done the unthinkable. The K900 is an amazing piece of hardware. If you want me to keep it to the point of discussion I have never seen something as slim as this in my life yet. Perhaps the Gionees newest slimphone release comes close but the Lenovo K900s design speaks a great deal about their industrial design strengths. If you see my previous post about the Lenovo X1 Carbon, you know what I am talking about.

Verdict: Absolutely awesome and slim.

The front panel

Though the front panel is really a part of overall design the question most mobile phone manufacturers grapple with is how they can maximize the use of the panel and minimize the bezel (gaps beyond the screen where that space is not utilized anymore). With respect to the K900, unfortunately there is way too much of bezel and this makes it look really ridiculous considering its already advertized screen size of about 5.5 inches. So much so in fact that the phone pops out of the pocket and looks quite ugly on the front side.

Verdict: Could have done better with the bezel area.

 

Tap to ON feature

On the lenovo K900 this is a feature that seems like being given for the heck of it. There has been NO careful consideration or testing of how often it actually works accurately. If you compare the same feature with the LG G2, the latter is miles ahead in terms of accuracy. If I tapped 10 times in a row, chances were that only 3/10 times that the phone actually turned on. This clearly shows the weaknesses of a company like Lenovo in the mobile phone hardware space.

Verdict: No accuracy and annoying when phone does not turn on as expected.

Sound and microphone

While investigating some issue with respect to the audio and microphone, I understood that Lenovo has decided to partner with a company called Wolfson Audio for the audio related aspects of the K900. I must say that the songs on my bluetooth audio have never sounded so good as much as in the K900. It clearly shows how the quality of spatial arrangement and rendering of the audio is on this phone. The same cannot be said about the microphone though unfortunately. The primary reason you may NOT want to buy this phone is because others cannot hear you quite often. Think of it like a conversation which is loud and clear and suddenly you find that the caller hears you lesser and lesser with some dropouts, perhaps some static even and then it picks up as though it recovered back to where it was. There are some microphone settings for different environments – default, soft, etc – but even after I tried all of these possible combinations, unfortunately the result was the same: Caller could not hear me properly many a time.

Verdict: The fact that the microphone does not work as expected clearly shows how poor lenovo is while planning for the audio hardware and drivers. They must also remember that the entire phone ownership experience is a waste if the basic things do not work as intended in the first place. Like mobile calls! Sorry lenovo, this is where you let me down horribly and I had no option but to ditch you altogether!

Navigation using maps

You never really realize there is an issue unless you come across the issue. One of such issues is the navigation using Google Maps. Everyone understands that Google Maps is by now an established application which has gained lots of acceptance and has become indispensable to people wanting to travel from one place to another. I have used it in the most demanding of circumstances and found that the need to stop my vehicle a billion times to ask people directions has become a thing of the past. When I took my phone along with me to Mysore to attend a wedding and enabled the GPS and Maps to take me there without mistakes, what I came to see was something that I had never observed in any android phone or even my apple device earlier. When I was navigating on a main road which was clearly marked in dark blue by Google (the actual navigation path) the pointer was chugging along on a street that was parallel to the one I was actually on. This made me take a wrong turn and I lost my way. Even when I lost my way the phone took way too long to recompute and tell me what to do next. You dont expect such silly mistakes given to know how stable the application itself is, but again Lenovo seems to have screwed up something here – like the GPS hardware calibration or something that I am unable to point out for now. If this were to be a nexus or a HTC, I would not have written this para at all.

 

Verdict: GPS navigation is a dicey affair with K900 and I would prefer not to rely on it if I am going out some place with this phone where I need directions. For approximations yes, but for accuracy – NO!

Heating issues

There are lots of forums on the net which talk about the heating issues with the lenovo K900 but I did not find this to be so much of a bother. The Camera and GPS heat up the phone, so does Bluetooth music and casual gaming even. All said and done, the heat dissipates as much quickly as it was generated thanks to the metal body construction and the phone cools down really quick and pretends nothing ever happened 🙂

The camera, skype video calls, google hangout calls, soft games, GPS navigation, facebook chat – all of these are gonna heat up this mobile.

Verdict: Heating issues are present in the phone and sometimes it can be annoying.

Battery Life

The one single question many people have different answers for always is the battery life. Some say the phone will last a day long, will manage a day easily, or even some statements based on performance benchmarks will appear on different forums. Let me try and clarify this to you in a much simpler way. The battery itself is 2500 mAh which is sufficient for a 5.5 phone so to say for normal tasks. But the reality is evident only based on the application you use and the duration you use it for. In my case, I have atleast 3 different mail accounts configured, with one of them being my official email receiving upto 300 mails a day. I also have twitter, Facebook, etc which I access hourly once. Other than this occasional camera use, occasional bluetooth audio when I drive from and to the office. Bluetooth phone calls strictly only while driving – the good boy that I am on the road – and very occasional soft gaming (subway surfer or angry birds etc for say half hour). With this kind of usage and also some heavy internet browsing (40-50 tabs open) the results were mixed

On a day when I did this all on WIFI only and strictly no data connection enabled I got about 12 hours of battery. When I repeated the same schedule on data only and no wifi I managed about a little over 7-8 hours. When I used mixed mode, the phone gave me a little over 9 hours. There was an instance that the phone was sleeping most times few days and I did get about 14-16 hours of battery on those days. Well that is not impressive since the phone was not getting used itself. There is also a batter saver logic which fundamentally disables all your connections (radios) one by one and tries to conserve battery. The estimate of how long your battery is going to last is also provided by lenovo but I found that only marginally reliable. I cannot be always sure of what it says. If each and every function in the lenovo was on – sync, data, wifi, gps, 100% brightness, always screen on, auto rotation, vibration – basically everything – dont expect the batter to last beyond 6-7 hours. In fact the batter went down by 1% for every 2 miles I travelled with GPS on.

Verdict: The battery is not impressive and one can only understand why – a puny 2500 maH battery is not sufficient for hardcore tasks on the phone. If you are buying this phone for battery – stay away.

Camera

The camera fires up fast, the shots are taken fast as well. The very fact that Lenovo has given a 18MP at the back and 5MP at the front are commendable actions. I particularly liked the tilt shift effect which is a default on this camera! The camera heats up the phone but its otherwise amazing. With Sonys camera hardware Lenovo cannot be wrong!

Verdict: Shutter lag needs to be even faster, would have been much appreciated

Packaging

The packaging of the Lenovo is simply top class much as the likes of Blackberry. There is no room for complaint here and its simply perfect. The k900 is actually carved out of the cardboard and shows up in RED! Brilliant.

Verdict: Top class feel and finish.

Icon carousel

The icon carousel on the K900 has some nice rotary effects animated interface effects, but I kind of grew bored of those after a while and swithced to Nova Launcher to keep it simple. Some people might like what Lenovo has done, some may not.

Verdict: Could have done it in a more functional aspect like the LG G2 interface where the focus is on functionality value add rather than just effects.

Final words

The lenovo K900 is an astounding piece of hardware with few optimizations possible in future versions. The software is just marginally good and functionally nothing impressive. The battery leaves a lot to be asked for. While the audio is great using bluetooth the speaker output and microphone quality cast a serious doubt on how such a phone can be sold in the market with these flaws. The bezel around the screen is annoying and something that can be worked upon. Finally the camera is simply awesome for both the hardware and software used. A word on the processor – Intel Atom : The phone is a testimony to prove that this processor works best for netbooks or laptops and will not achieve wonders on a phone. The processor is not optimized for gaming and it shows when games stutter every now and then. Lenovos recent release of the Vibe-X addresses the processor concerns for good hopefully. The overheating on the phone is significant but not annoying.

So will I buy this phone? For the respect for the design, yes surely. For its flaws – no, sorry. Would I recommend this phone for others? – NO, unless the show concrete improvements on the flaws mentioned above. For a cost of 24,000 after some discounts, this is still helfy compared to phones such as Moto-G that rules the marketplace in India now. I have always been a fan of Lenovo laptops and sincerely hope they do well in the mobile hardware business now that they may be buying Motorola as well in the USA from Google. Their future products are something that would be worth owning some day.

Nafees Roasted Bread (Rusk biscuit) review

I had a chance to buy the Nafees Roasted Bread (or Rusk as we call it). Since decades Ive eaten a lot of rusk biscuits. Initially though they were to really enjoy eating them it slowly turned out to be a quest for the perfect roasted bread. Something that was not hard. Something that would not just melt in the mouth, but something that would crack and crumble with unmistakable crispness which was with just about the right best quality known to me.  

The Nafees rusk biscuits is just that. At about a little over Rs.30 for about 24 pieces or 200 grams, and a great packaging to go with it, this makes for a good tea time snack. Get yourself one today !!

Anderson Metals brass garden hose swivel fitting review

I embarked upon a project to connect my garden hose to a proper tap and to a set of click connectors to enable my KARCHER high pressure car cleaner. In that quest of the perfect set of connections, the first of these series is to explain to you about the brass garden hose connectors which is sold by Anderson, via Amazon Inc (www.amazon.com) Here is a brief video showing you the product

The next part would focus on the Gilmour quick set connectors for garden hoses. Stay glued and wait for the second set of reviews! Please do let me know your comments under the comments section.   Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

KHB Suryanagar Phase – 1 sites for auction on 28 January 2014

Attached is the ad in TOI dated 10 Jan 2014, for auction of corner sites in KHB suryanagar phase-1. These range from very big sites to smaller ones whose measurements in square feet are there as part of last column in the ad. the suggested price by KHB is 2,500 per square feet from where it would be bidding higher up.

Other details:

  • auction is on 28th Jan 2014 at 11:00AM at phase-1 KHB office in suryanagar.

  • 3 HIG sites, 8 MIG, and 4 LIG sites.

  • 50000 for registration at the location itself

  • first come first serve, based on token numbers

  • DD in the name of Griha Ayuktaru, Karnataka Griha Mandali

  • Tokens will be given at 10am

  • 25% of amount to be paid within next day if you win, in the bank

  • 2 passport color photos, and address proof to be provided

  • whoever has token issued in their name only they can participate and only they have to pay from their account if they win

  • KHB reserves right to change properties for auction or even cancel the auction without assiging any resons whatsover.

  • you can contact 27804400 or 9740335386/9980869439

Rambo Circus Review

[googlemaps https://app.box.com/embed_widget/s/g3x9b2lmkxva4q2098z7?theme=blue” width=”500″>

(source: Rambo circus facebook page)

 

I had a rather low week at office and with time to spare was wondering what could be done over the weekend. During the week and before that my wife was toying around with the idea that we must go to a circus instead of the usual other places people visit. She was looking at the Rambo Circus, which had pitched its tent at Gollarahatti, Magadi Road. After missing the deadline two times in two weeks, I felt this is a sure shot venture for this weekend. 

Before you proceed further reading on, please note that a circus event is best seen live, and not on youtube or TV. The experience is something to be felt.

Both me and my wife had never been to a circus in our lives so far, and our two kids I was sure would also enjoy this. So we booked the tickets for Rambo Circus on BookMyShow.com. The pricing was between choices of Rs.200 and Rs.300 per ticket with kids less than 3 yrs going free. Once the online booking was done, the next thing was the journey itself. Since I had to do a great deal of distance from HSR Layout, the one single reason I was still confident about this ordeal was due to the route – Nice Road. While it took me about 25 minutes to reach Nice road, it took me about 20 minutes after that to reach Magadi Road itself. Thankfully unlike other major roads, Magadi road is smaller by width and the exit from Nice Road takes you right into the parking lot of the Circus on the other side of the road. The placement of the Circus event cannot get better than this for people who have access to the Nice Road.

 

Once in, parking was a breeze barring a few beggars who were hell bent on taking money from you. The parking fee is collected upfront at Rs.30 and after that online booked tickets need to be collected at a separate counter. That wasn’t much of a problem since we had booked the 4PM show and there was not much crowd on a Saturday. After that things were pretty normal inside irrespective of the amount you paid. The higher the ticket amount the closer you are to the stage. Otherwise its the same set of plastic chairs tied together to form rows. The people who let you in at the entrance looked like goons but I guess its the way they had dressed that made me feel that way. Also there is a metal detector check as well. The Circus itself boasts of a fire proof and an airconditioned tent though the latter was very questionable on the hot afternoon that we landed up there.

At 4PM it was straight to business for the next two hours. I must say here that I had a very concocted notion of what a circus could be after what I had been exposed to on TV. But the reality was starkly different. Of course the polished environment of a 4D cinema theater was missing no doubt. But when the events started the whole thing here acquired a different dimension. The whole place turned lively and each of the artist enthralled the crowds with their acts some beng outright dangerous. An element of awe was visible on everyones faces as the programme progressed. The whole event was organized and conceptualized nicely to bring in a good enjoyable ambience.

The one thing that I was not too happy about from a circus-goers persepective was that of constant marketing of food items that was overshadowing that of the main event itself. Tens of people carrying lots of food packets, juices, ice creams, samosas, sugar candies and what not scurrying in front of you and inbetween you and the stage was quite annoying to say the least. This was in stark contrast to the way in which a posh theatre would market its food. Agreed that food always forms part of the experience but then making a sale by diverting the attention that parents and kids had on the circus itself is a bit on the pesky side. The food is thrust in front of your kid’s face and there is a situation created where the food is in the kid’s hand and the parent has no choice but to purchase it since its by that time already half eaten.

Personally I hate this kind of marketing as not only is the kid exposed to all wrong types of food by the time parents react, its also financially draining within minutes if not hours. But then in the circus company’s perspective they have no better way to show their marketing skills than this. This is a sure shot success route and it always works by the time the show comes to an end.

Coming to animal usage in circus, Rambo has a few dogs, one elephant and few horses. Of course no tigers or cheetahs or camels or giraffes like the past anymore. No bears or monkeys either. Perhaps due to the erstwhile debate on harassing animals this way, it has now been banned or something like that. But this has given Rambo an opportunity to focus more on human talent than animal exploitation. And they have used this opportunity to showcase what they do best. Last but not the least the trapeze act was outright dangerous but executed extremely well and is the focal point of the whole show no doubt.

One thing I must say after attending this event is that my respect for circus artists has gone up many fold. Their whole life is perhaps just this – multiple shows per day of doing the same act again and again – risking their lives to provide entertainment. Each person has such a fit and fine body which flexes like elastic – making us gasp in envy. Their true skill, their glittering costumes, the excellent lighting arrangement taking into account the modern technology available – everything ensures that there is a full paisa vasool for show goers. This is definitive entertainment for the whole family and is a sure must watch as long as the circus is in town.

In the case of Bangalore, they are here only for a week more until the 26th of January or so, and I highly recommend that you make it a point to either visit today or in any of the next one week. I will more than assure you that you will not regret taking up this opportunity presented to you. Circus art is something that I believe will never die and has a bright future. It just needs the right amount of support and encouragement from people like us who prefer cinemas compared to such events, and within no time it will catapult into something that always enjoys a much higher fan base as it demonstrates a highly skilled experience.

If you would like to know more about Rambo Circus, and its owners and their achievements, click here to read more.

So what are you waiting for, go ahead and book your tickets today!

Food Panda review, ordering food online

Have you ever got so confused with the amount of restaurants in your locality and do not know where to head or what people are serving for today? Ever wanted something very easy and something that helps you get your food at the privacy of your home? I had a chance to look at FoodPanda and would like to share with you a few interesting aspects of this website with you today. FoodPanda is a german based company which has branches at many other places of the world. The Indian Arm is called foodpanda.in. The first thing you notice is the speed of the website load when you hit the URL and press enter. One of the main things about online ordering according to my opinion is how fast I can see the home page of the website. Most people who order online would already be hungry and a slow loading website is the last thing they want during this time to add to their frustration.

Foodpanda loads blazingly fast and helps you reach their home page easily. They have exactly four simple steps to get your food home, your location, your restaurant of choice, payment online or offline (Cash on delivery) and the actual delivery itself. All you need to do is simply type your city and location and that too is aided by the website itself, they give you enough hints to make it fast. Click “find my food” button and bingo – a list of all restuarants in that locality is already shown to you. If that was fast, then you can further directly “go to the menu” of any restaurant to see what’s on offer. You can filter by varities, or deals or types of food which makes you reach what you are looking for so much faster. Upon going to the menu, you are shown what really exists and is being served as of today and  this hour. The page also has tabs for reviews and information about the store such as timings. What I also liked about the restaurant list page is the summary it shows about what type of restaurant and food is being served, delivery fee, and the minimum order value for delivery – the three most important things anyone would be really wishing to care about. The fourth and most crucial point is also the timelines for delivery – that is – how much time would the food take roughly to reach your home. This is something that I personally also look for while ordering online.

Coming to the menu itself, the items are neatly listed and a “+” button is placed next to each item to add that to your cart. Each time you add something to your order, the sidebar on the right automatically refreshes to show you what you are placing in the list. Without disturbing you from the page. Pretty neat !! I did see whether I could place differnt order items from different stores into one order list, but that was not possible. So I guess each order is store specific. Since many stores charge very nominal fees or even offer free delivery, this is hardly a matter to feel concerned about. I also found one more interesting thing, it saves your order list store wise, so if you did change your mind on the second store and went back to the first, your earlier choices are still present – saving you loads of time! Click the checkout option and either you can login to get your previously delivered address details or you can register as a new customer. Both were a snap to be done with. You can opt to punch in a voucher code if you have one for more discounts, or even opt for delivery or store pickup the latter saving you some time. If your minimum order value is not met, there is a gentle popup reminder for you to order more.

The payment itself is via credit or debit cards online or cash on delivery. FoodPanda uses PayU India as a transaction partner. I did find many banks listed under netbanking based payment option, but still there were few important banks missing – Citibank / HSBC / Standard Chartered. This is not the first website that I am noticing this lack of tie ups, this is just one of the many. I am really not sure why these banks are not listed here considering the flexibility and deal participation they offer which are on equal terms with other banks. Maybe its something specific to the payment partner, or something specific to the banks within that banking network where these banks are not part of. Whatever the reasons be, it is pretty annoying that the major banks are sometimes not listed.

What I assume would happen post my order is that after the stated 30 or 40 minutes, you must receive the order at your home as promised. At the time of this writing I have not had much to say on the actual packaging and delivery itself. I would be updating that information once I have some concrete information. Going by what other online shoppers offer, I would not be wrong if I assume standard food packaging and as expected delivery from FoodPanda. Foodpanda also offers a chat option where you can chat about your order with a live real time support executive. This is more of a commodity nowadays but a site cannot ignore or discount to include this option as some people prefer this route.

 

The ease of using FoodPanda is something that I am truly impressed with and they have really nailed the online ordering experience as compared to other providers. In future I would be reviewing other websites such as justeat.in and the likes to know the subtle differences, but I would for now safely say FoodPanda is a two-click easy-to-find-and-order-food portal which puts you at ease in knowing what type of food you would get in how many minutes and what is the minimum order you must make and what the delivery charges would be for that order. By putting info that you are looking for right before your eyes, what you would see is exactly what you would be getting with FoodPanda. And oh yes, if you are the mobile savvy types who want to order food from your pocket FoodPanda supports Apple and Android phones with relevant apps as well.

  So what are you waiting for? Aren’t you hungry, Order something in a jiffy !   Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Lenovo X1 Carbon laptop review

 

After the introduction of the macbook air, many laptop makers tried hard at emulating apple’s flagship portable laptop. While some succeeded to some extent, some just could not meet the thickness levels (or shall we say thinness levels) of the Air. Hard at work were lenovo and with the subsidizing of solid state drives (SSD) it was only a matter of time before they also tried the same experiment. The result of Lenovo’s efforts culminated in what we now know in the market as the X1-Carbon. With up to an 8GB of RAM, and a 256 GB of SSD its only about 0.7 inches thin. That is about 0.02 inches more than the macook Air and with the X1 carbon, Lenovo finally has managed to be part of th elite crowd of thin laptop makers. Made with a carbon body which they claim is virtually indestructible, a matt finish display and business security included this laptop also comes in two screen versions a 10 point multitouch screen for windows 8 and a normal screen for window 7 business users. The laptop charges in less than 1 hour to 80% and roughly gives anywhere between 3.5 to 5 hours on a single charge. Though lenovo claims the laptop stays cool at all times, it was noticed that there is a mild warming up on the left side which is expected for heat dissipation. There was a time when the laptop did not go to sleep properly when the lid was closed and it had reached an alarming level of heating by the time I could reach office from home. Usually such occurrences are mostly due to devices not allowing the system to shut down properly and is more to do with windows OS rather than the hardware itself. This is perhaps where Apple scores better owing to both hardware and software design in house. One of the things I liked most is the back lighting which is split into two levels of brightness which makes it very useful to work in a really dark room with typical household adults doing the work at home when kids sleep in the same room. The small orange dotted LED displays for audio mic and speakers mute with a neat volume increase/decrease button at the center makes it looks extremely business like. The wireless and bluetooth are always on by default. The green lit circular power button is also cool to look at in terms of design. A comparison with the Lenovo T410 business laptop from the year 2010 clearly shows Lenovo’s progress in laptop design.

  The keyboard is the Lenovo’s famous chiclet keyboard design which is ergonomic to use, though I personally am a fan of the Mac keyboard which is highly accurate. The X1 carbon also boasts of a very accurate track pad unlike its poorer cousin the G680 series which was known for its horrible track pad. This clearly shows you get more for the money paid. The laptop also features a fingerprint scanner which is more of a commodity nowadays. The power cable is unique to this model and those with older power cables cannot use those here. Also the laptop has done away with full sized ethernet and display ports. To add to the features missing there are only two usb ports which one needs to make do with for using external mouse and ethernet connections. The expectation is that one uses Wifi more than ethernet on this model as this is more suited for lightweight users and travelers. There is a SD slot for card reading and an audio output socket which also adapts to mic/headphone combined models of hardware. The laptop also features a micro sim slot which is useful to make calls from the machine itself and makes its true business purpose more prominent. Instead of a full fledged display port we have to make do with the mini display port / hdmi port instead. Frankly for casual users this is not the most needed anyways.

  The processors being offered go all the way up to the fourth generation core-i7 which makes this hardware a compelling proposition to go for. The boot up times and shutdown times are very quick making it for a pack and go travel companion. At about 1300 dollars in the usa, this works out to close to 1,00,000 indian rupees including taxes and shipping. This is slightly on the higher side but the money paid is well worth it in terms of usage satisfaction. The laptop also comes with optional dock which provides more usb ports for connecting other devices. I did not find an option where the laptop could be powered through the dock itself.

  Overall if Lenovo can make these models more mainstream and introduce the cheaper processors in the same form factor, they have a winner in their hands and their sales could see the much needed upswing. Just like how the MacBook Air defines Apple’s design prowess for portable laptops, the X1 brings in its bouquets for Lenovo.   Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Google Nexus 5 buying experience via Google Play Store – must read

After all the hype behind the Nexus-4 and its technological prowess, a year later after frustrating users with a long wait and lots of similar hype, the Nexus 5 launched in India. I had a chance to take a look at it at the local LG store, which was about 10 minutes from my work location by drive. 
g n5
(source google.com)
At the store, I managed to play around with the device to my heart’s content for about half hour or so. After owning a Nexus 4, it was only logical that I personally check the credentials of the nexus 5 before opting for it as an upgrade. The store was selling the phone at about 1,000 rupees more than Google’s online price of Rs.28,999. Flipkart, the online megastore did not show signs of launching this phone yet, and as for other websites such as snapdeal my confidence on their shipping prowess was low. My patience was running out due to one main reason. I had just sold out my Nexus 4 and I was in a situation where I could not receive my office email on the phone. This was because I was using my Nokia Asha 501 as a temporary solution until I could decide on the Nexus 5.
Being a bit price conscious after having wasted lots and lots of money on phones, my logical thinking was to order this device directly from Google for two reasons – one getting it directly from the maker of the device and two, peace of mind. Or so I thought. Being the friendly guy that I am, I decided to also help my friend purchase one more device of the same type. So an order for two Google nexus 5 devices were placed with Google on November 20. The total bill amount was a whopping 60,000 rupees which by no means is something small to contend with. I had placed my order on a credit card and promptly waited for the devices to come to me in two business days. At the worst four. 
I also received a mail from google about my order saying it was shipped through blue dart courier (or carrier as per the language used by google) and it also had a tracking number. Upon going to blue dart’s website, there was no tracking number like that entered into the system. Giving the benefit of doubt that it would take upto 24 hours to update this entry, I checked the next day and still found no information. I promptly called google and a friendly support executive welcomed me with customary “hi, how are you doing?” question. Frankly I wasn’t doing alright. When it comes to ordering gadgets, I would like my shipping dates commitment to be met at all times. After having shopped online for more than 7 years in the making now, this order already had all the qualities of becoming a disaster.
Google confirmed my worst fears saying there is no such order via Blue Dart. I checked with the local blue dart office in Bangalore and they said there is no package even listed against my name. This was after three days. After a few back and forth calls with google, they routed my query to a shipping specialist who promptly greeted me with the same “Hi, how are you doing?” query. If he could only see my face, he would have got my answer. Well basically it was the 27th of November – a full one week later and Google – yes Google – the technological giant whose tentacles have engulfed the whole world via their search algorithm could not bloody locate where a teeny-weeny-tiny courier package was in the world !
After an angry exchange of mails literally, a guy named Abhishek answered my query not just with the right answer, but after fully understanding my frustration very quickly. He told me what I needed to know – the shipment was transferred out only around the 27th Nov, via Aramex couriers and not through Blue Dart. The pity was and is that Google has never bothered to make a note of the new shipping information against my order even till date. If you dont know what that means, just hang on a little while. Thanks to Abhishek, I could now contact Aramex and they indeed told me that my devices were on the way and could reach anytime in two days. Fair enough I thought. Around the same time, a third friend of mine who we where chiding telling him that he was incapable of buying a phone on time like us, actually was flaunting a nexus 5 in the office that day.
After a day’s worth of use, he was extremely satisfied except for battery issues. It was also the time when my cousins received a pair of nexus 5 devices (yes, basically everyone other than us two) and they also confirmed battery issues. People were getting 3-4 hours on rough use, and about 6+ hours on moderate use of data and calls. Compared to my nexus 4, that was three hours negative. Coming back to my third friend, he started facing wierd issues on day two. His SIM would not recognize no matter what and his battery life remained pathetic. Even if the SIM did recognize, he could not hear others, others could not hear him. To prove a point about the phone, my SIM did not recognize on his phone as well. So it boiled down to the device. This got me thinking. Was Rs.28,999 worthwhile for this device (after having owned a nexus 4 before) given the real time live problems that I am seeing with others owning this device? My mind did not feel comfortable with this purchase and I decided to opt for a refund.
I spoke with Google again and they offered me two modes of refund. Either get an RMA form and ship the device back to them, or just refuse the courier and the device would get back to them automatically. This suggestion was offered after a billion precious minutes of updating to them my new shipping information and the customary greetings and enquiries about my moods and feelings about this purchase. I decided to opt for route two, and spoke with Aramex to deny the courier. By this time the courier had been initiated from Bhiwandi, Maharashtra and had been received at Indiranagar, Bangalore. In spite of my informing the people not to get it to my home and return it then and there, they brought it home only to take it back since my stand did not change.
I decided to opt for a return of merchandise at source without receiving the courier (reject delivery) and it was on its way back to shipper. After a couple of days the Aramex website indicated that it had been shipped back to shipper (which I again did some R&D to find out that it was Gadgetguru.com). I contacted Google again and they had no idea that Blue Dart had not shipped this orginally to me. After telecasting the Ramayan again to them, they said they had not received the device back and that it may take upto 2-3 days for that to happen. A couple of days later, the status still remained the same. Meanwhile my credit card was swiped on 20th of Nov and the statement was due on 25th of December. It was already 3rd December. I decided to use my trump card again and contacted the friendly neighborhood spiderman Abhishek again. He let me know that the device had indeed been received by Google on 1st of December itself.
Additionally he also let me know that there is a 14 business day period for refunds after which the authorization to refund would be automatically lifted (ie., approved) and that date would be the 19th of December. I let my mind rest in peace even buying another phone during that timeframe assured that the refund process was well underway. Come December 19th and I called Google again and bloopers of bloopers :
  • They had no idea what my order was
  • They had no idea who had shipped it
  • Even though they had all the details of my previous interactions, they acted as if they had no information in front of them
  • They had no idea that the devices were returned via RMA or rejecting the delivery
  • They had no idea of the refund or when it would be done
  • The support executives had no idea what the shipping “specialists” were upto
  • The Google support had no way of calling me back again and they said they cannot put me to any specialist as they cannot attend phone calls (the specialists) – they are special people you see with only special abilities such as responding to only emails
I waited for a day more and blew up on Google for my next call. I told them their 14 day refund period was over and they had to keep their promise of refunding the money immediately. It was 22nd of December and 2 more days for my statement to come through for my credit card. Heard of nail biting finishes? Well sometimes you need to work hard for your money, if you don’t no one else will either.
I gave them an ultimatum that the refund had to be sorted out on the same phone call. I gave them details as usual:
  • no dudes, blue dart didnt ship it !
  • no lady its not armx.com its aramex.com
  • no google you cant say you didnt receive the device back, its listed as returned with the carrier/courier and the friendly neighborhood spiderman also confirms you got it back on 1st December.
  • For the last freaking time its not an RMA return, its a rejection during delivery !
So now the Google support exec decides he would rope in the shipping specialist on the same call and suddenly the two of them realize how much torture and trauma I’ve been through. So the shipping specialist who is more educated technically to “handle” the matter decides to issue me a refund then and there. And he does it, says sorry, thank you and whatever more and hangs up. 
I’m delighted for the next few minutes that I won a war not a fight only to realize that the shipping spealist has “handle” the matter so well that I’ve received the amount only for one device instead of for the two I ordered. I just almost faint imagining the process I’d have to go through again to get the other one refunded.
No – blue dart didnt ship, its two devices not one, its not RMA its reject of courier, its Aramex, its returned – aaaaaaargh …. please …. please … please …. return my money…. my money…. please!
Finally Google execs realized their blooper and issued a return of the amount for the other device as well. The entire amount was reversed on 23rd December midnight. Just hours before my credit card statement was generated. Just in time. Saving grace finally.
This post is not to educate about the Nexus 5 device, but is to let you all know how bad Google’s supply chain management really is for India. Everyone knows they make reasonably good operating systems and/or devices, but what about the other part ? The shipping, the customer experience? The above story must be an eye opener for anyone wanting to order anything online directly from Google. I will let you all know about other better online shopping experiences a while later. But it’s to you own understanding of why you must NOT order anything more from Google. I seriously don’t want you all to go through what I went through. The trauma is enough to feel like just visiting a local store and picking up a phone.
The absolute horror of malformed shipping information, the absurdity of having to repeat the same information to multiple disconnected support executives, the handover of calls from support guys to shipping guys, the local tie ups for actual shipment of hardware, the refund procedure going awry and finally a partial refund – are these sufficient reasons for you to shun Google? Tell me about your experience.
And Thank you Tiffany, DeeJay, Ebony, Ashleigh, Kassydi, Christopher, Kadijah, Jason, Demi, Brandon, Christina, Woodell, Elizabeth, Dustin, Philip – it was great knowing you – if you manage to visit India, please contact me and I’ll show you how supply chain works here just so that you may learn something more.
As for you Abhishek – you’re my man – the real savior of the day for Google’s goofups. For my case they must rename themselves Goofle. I am proud that a sensible man works atleast to make some part of this supply chain more orderly.

Govt does a U-turn but private colleges not ready to budge

A day after the CET rules were changed, the government did a u turn to leave the CET pattern unchanged. However the private colleges who were on the verge of tasting blood have not yet given up. They are adamant about the fee hike and are arm twisting the government into accepting the same.
Only time will tell what the final decision will be but if this is approved then one can see a three fold increase in the current costs of education.
God help this state and country going further.

The CET condurum

There has been a recent decision by the government of Karnataka to abolish the Common entrance exam for private colleges and also remove any cap on the maximum fees that can be charged by these private colleges. However to mitigate the possible consequences the government also states that there would be a governing committee or ombudsman to decide what fee the colleges can charge based upon their location, infrastructure, coaching and course (You can read the full news report here

Everyone who has studied in Karnataka for their entire life or atleast from high school would perhaps know how much of a game changer the CET exam was. Even during the early 90’s this exam was the most coveted exam which brought in a sense of academic discipline among both students from Karnataka and other states. Though one had the potential to clear the IInd PUC exam, that was no reason to say the same person could match up against the CET exam with similar potential.

Take my case in point. I am from the ICSE stream for high school. With an 86% and above in my Xth board exams, there was still a feeling in me that my state syllabus bretheren were much ahead of me in terms of sheer marks scored. After switching to the state syllabus for my pre-university college, the sheer amount of coaching I received from one of the most experienced teachers from Bright Academy and my equal willingess to put in the same hard work from my end saw me top my college and score close to the 20th rank in the entire state. While this was just half the story, the coaching for the CET exam was a challenge in itself owing to the fact that the exam was 2 months away and we had to learn up what mattered by putting in a year’s worth of hard work in two months.

It was not the question of whether someone cleared the CET or not. It was the question of whether someone had the right focus, the right aim and understood the challenge of time in front of us. More than the students, it was so challenging for the teacher to optimize the opportunity to bring out the best in students in the right amount of time – what we call smart studying/working rather than hard work today.

The CET itself was a mixed bag of luck for each student as it was an outright pressure which made everyone tense on the day of the exam. It was not about the technical complexity. It was about negative marking, it was about wasting time on the one hard question than on the 5 easy questions. It was about focus and hitting the target that mattered. As a person who was confident of getting a rank between 1 & 100, the day of the exam changed all that confidence in me to revise my guidance (!). Owing to the fact of twists appearing in the form of more questions from Ist PUC syllabus a span of 10 extra questions that were unexpected, changed the fate for me to now provide a new expectation of being numerically below the 500 rank mark.

A rank of 483 showed how much one could be precise about his performance. CET was about bringing the best to the forefront. It was a show of might. A show of dedication. A result of suspense. An atmosphere of tension. A feeling of euphoria. A nail biting finish of the counselling. A sinking feeling of the fact that an engieering or medical seat had been secured. A family union after the whole episode. A feeling of 12 years worth of hard work, and more specifically 5 real years of hard work showing results. A sense of pride of having achieved something for what the parents stood for. For having educated you with their sweat of hard work.

Cut to the present day situation. More and more private colleges mushrooming day after day. From 10 to 26 to perhaps a 100 or even more. The chaos was already in the making. And it only got cemented so well that the private colleges association now had more teeth to demand anything and everything from the government. The last nail in the coffin being fee structure control.

Coming to the government’s latest stand on grading colleges based on :

Location: So what the government seems to be saying is that colleges which are easily accessible score more? Now in today’s situation does it mean a college in Jalahalli which is accessible in 30 mins from byappanahalli scores more than a reputed college in Basavanagudi which takes 2 hours by bus to reach?

Infrastructure: Alright, makes sense. But how do you quantify what infrastructure means? Labs? Cabs? Cafeteria? Library? What exactly?

Courses: Again we seem to be treading the wrong path here. Is it the number of courses or the kind of courses? Are these going to be measured on how industry specific they are? How industry relevant they are in today’s situation? How much in tune they are with the way education is organized abroad?

Coaching: I’m not sure how to write about this or what to write about this. Roughly about 30% of the lecturers have no freaking idea what they are teaching. While the remaining 70% are really good, its impossible to grade a college on just the kind of teaching done given the attrition rate of the lecturers every single year.

Veerappa Moily’s soft protest against changing the CET regime is very legitimate. Not because he started it. Because of the kind of control it weilded and shaped today’s industry that you see in Bangalore today. The kind of organized education that it brought about for what Karnataka is famous for.

To me its not about the poor who will be marginalized. Its about the rich who would be made poorer. Arbitrary fee structure increase is the last kind of favour any college needs from the government to start growing into automous currency monsters. An engineering degree that costed 20000 bucks way back in 1995 is now costing about 6 lakh+ in 2013. while this rate increase justifies against inflation, imagine the next three years fee structure. Are you able to guess where this is leading to?

I am predicting a four fold increase in this cost. Upto 25 lakh for a payment seat. Notwithstanding the fact that management seats are being auctioned anywhere between half a crore to more than 1 crore in both the engineering and medical segments. Assuming one spends half a crore on an engineering seat it takes anywhere between 15-25 years of meticulous hard work and growth in the software industry to even get anywhere close to earning back that amount. Given the kind of industry irrelevant subjects on offer this money spent is not even going to be of any worth.

Of course the colleges want to invest more money by charging students higher fee to maintain some standards within themselves. But if you are with me in understanding how building bye-laws worked and the Akrama-Sakrama scheme, you would know that this situation under discussion is no different from growing into an academic racket with similar dimensions and irreversibility few years down the line.

By the way is anyone looking at the way the schools are mushrooming with their own fee structures without a proper ombudsman? Your guess is as good as mine.

While every country is striving to make education free until high school and bringing the focus back into developing individuals to a higher level of performance, our education system is weaning towards a dangerous path laden with high unaffordable fee structures which only promotes growth of those people with money. This will eventually widen not only the urban-rural gap, but now widen an already mushrooming urban-urban gap in the education system.

If a doctor pays up 1 crore to get a seat and doesnt study well, you can imagine the guarantee for the set of patients that go under his knife! Similarly if an engineer pays up half a crore and doesnt study well, you can imagine how relevant what he studied would be for the industry. Thankfully the industry lobby is different from the college lobby. They select candidates based on how relevant the candidate is. Not how much a college in which he studied has been graded by the government.

If not anything else this will only start making the industry more aware that they need to start looking at the merit in candidates rather than the grade of the college in which he studied (as given by the government) in future. Its about time the companies start looking at visiting all educational campuses irrespective of their industry or academic standing. In three years time, a meritorious candidate could be well studying in a college which hardly people know of, which is hardly accessible, but might have the right amount of coaching and a more relevant course offering.

Bye Bye UVCE, RV, BMS, PESIT & MS Ramaiah.