Forward to the past with Windows update: review

 

NEW YORK: Even as Microsoft prepares for a future dominated by touch-screen devices, it is steering its Windows system to embrace more of the past.

The divide between old and new is less pronounced in the latest, free update. That's a welcome change, as that's one of the things that annoy me most about Windows 8.

As sales of smartphones and tablets grow rapidly, Microsoft reshaped Windows so that PCs came to look, work and feel more like mobile devices.

Windows 8 has a full-page, tablet-like start screen filled with large icons, or tiles. Traditional mouse and keyboard controls still work, but it's more efficient if you use touch-screen controls. Windows 8 has a desktop mode that resembles older versions of Windows, but it steers users toward the touch-centric tile mode.

Many people hated Windows 8 when it came out in October 2012.

Microsoft responded a year later with Windows 8.1. With the free update, people can change settings to boot computers directly into the desktop. Windows 8.1 restores a Start button on the lower left corner of the desktop, though without all the functionality found in older versions. Windows 8.1 also lets people add their favorite desktop apps to a horizontal taskbar at the bottom of the screen.

In short, Windows 8.1 doesn't try to force people into the tile screen as often.

Still, Windows 8.1 feels like two separate systems. Your favorite desktop apps are on the desktop's horizontal taskbar, while your favorite tile-mode apps are on the tile-based start screen. How you perform tasks such as closing an app depends on which mode you're in.

Last week's update, simply called Windows 8.1 Update, brings more consistency:

- The tile screen now has prominent buttons for key controls - namely search and shutting down. No longer do you have to figure out how to pull those options out like a sock drawer from the right side of the screen. Microsoft could have gone further by also including a button for settings, but I'm getting greedy.

- Closing apps in the tile mode used to require moving your cursor to the top, clicking the mouse or pressing the screen until the app shrinks and dragging all that to the bottom. Gone was the "x'' at the top right of all apps to close them.

That "x'' is back, along with a button to minimize, or hide, the app while leaving it running. Unlike past versions of Windows, these buttons at the top disappear until you move the cursor to the top. The good news is this works whether you're in desktop or tile mode, contributing to consistency.

- That desktop taskbar at the bottom now accepts your favorite tile-based apps as well. You're no longer left with some of your favorites in one place, and the rest in another. And the taskbar now appears when you're in tile mode, too, though it's hidden until you move the cursor to the bottom.

- By default, laptops and desktops boot to the desktop mode, without a setting change required on your part. Tablets still go to the tile-based start screen more fitting for tablets.

- Opening a photo, music or video file in the desktop no longer takes you to a tile-based app. You stay in the desktop and use desktop versions of the apps instead. And closing a tile-based app now brings you to the previously used app, not automatically to the tile-based start screen.

These tweaks, though small, are significant when considered on the whole. It's as though Microsoft is acknowledging that tablet-style controls aren't always best for PCs, especially those without touch screens.

In unveiling the update, Microsoft also hinted at a future that embraces even more of the past:

- Even with the update, you're restricted to two to four tile apps on the same screen. You can decide how much horizontal space each app takes, but you can't adjust the vertical space or have an app overlap over part of another.

Microsoft promises that in a future update, you'll be able to run tile apps as regular windows in the desktop mode. As long as you stay in the desktop, there would no longer be a distinction between the two types of apps.

- Clicking on that restored Start button in the desktop now takes you to the tile-based start screen. You can't open apps or access settings from that button, the way you could with previous versions of Windows. In a future update, you'll be able to do that.

Microsoft hasn't said when the next version will come out, but that preview and last week's update together show that Microsoft is listening to customers.

Many people have resisted buying a Windows computer because of the abrupt changes Windows 8 forces on users. The latest changes will give potential buyers fewer reasons to resist.

 

Rabbani says PM has assured review of PPO

ISLAMABAD: PPP Senator Raza Rabbai said Wednesday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has assured a review of the Pakistan Protection Ordinance (PPO) and directed Zahid Hamid to consult the opposition.


Rabbani spoke to reporters following a meeting between the PPP delegation led by Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. “Reservations of the PPP and other opposition parties were conveyed to Prime Minister Nazwaz Sharif,” Rabbani said.

The PPP senator said all democratic forces will have to move forward together. He added that if a bad time arose they would support democratic forces.

When asked by a reporter if the meeting discussed a ‘billa,’ Rabbani replied that all matters including Musharraf were discussed and the prime minister said tension with the Pakistan army was not that serious of an issue.

Rabbani further told reporters that talks with the Taliban, problems of Sindh, provincial sovereignty, NFC award and the Karachi operation were also discussed.

 

Wickedleak Wammy Passion X quick-read review: Just waterproofing won’t do

 

Wammy Passion X with Octa core costs Rs 17,990+

The new Samsung Galaxy S5 is waterproof, but you don’t have to spend over Rs 50,000 if you want that feature. Indian mobile maker Wickedleak has a new smartphone that survives water damage and costs just Rs 18,000. But that price comes at the cost of many sacrifices…

Quick Tech Specs: 5-inch IPS touchscreen with DragonTrail scratch-resistant glass (1920×1080 px) | 1.7GHz octa-core Mediatek MT6592 processor | 2GB RAM | 16GB internal memory, microSD up to 64GB | 13MP rear camera, 1080p FullHD video recording | 5MP front camera, 720p HD video recording | Dual-SIM (GSM + GSM) | 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4 | GPS with A-GPS | 2500mAH battery | Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

Price: Rs 17,990 excluding taxes

Design & Build: The Wammy Passion X looks exactly like its predecessor, the Wammy Passion Z or Z+. I’m a fan of the design, which is rectangular with slight curves at the top and bottom—reminiscent of how the Sony Xperia Ray. Plus, the Passion X is extremely light for the hardware it packs, including that big battery.

However, for all its looks, it feels cheap. And a closer inspection of the design betrays why it is priced low. The back panel, for instance, does not seal tightly and you can see gaps. The plastic material is of a low quality and recesses when you press on any of the sides. It uses capacitive touch buttons, making full use of its bezel, which is always good—but in this case, there is no backlight for those buttons. So if you are using the phone after switching off the lights, you can’t see the buttons and will often press the wrong one. It’s a frustrating experience.

Finally, the AquaProtect waterproof nanocoating does not do it any favours as it looks like some sticky goo fell on the back of your phone. With usage, the protection starts peeling so the edges don’t feel refined either.

  

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Of course, this water protection is what the Passion X is all about. And Wickedleak has treated every aspect, including the motherboard, so that it doesn’t need to seal the ports shut, like Samsung and Sony phones. This is more like the Moto G, which features a similar nanocoating. We mimicked real-world scenarios to test the waterproofing, like using it in a shower to simulate rain, spilling cold water and hot coffee on it, and even dunking it in a shallow pool of water for some time. The Wammy Passion X will hold up under the usual water-based mishaps that are bound to hit your phone. However, don’t expect it to be a functional device for snorkelling—the idea here is to protect from water damage, it’s not a rugged phone for adventure sports and the like.

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Screen: The Wammy Passion X has a stunning screen that is bound to draw favour from anyone who looks at it. It has wide viewing angles, accurate colour reproduction, and it displays sharp images. The addition of scratch-resistant Dragontrail glass is welcome because you don’t have to put on a screen guard, although that’s packaged in the box.

Performance: For most purposes, the Wammy Passion X runs as good as any other Android we have seen. Even high-end games played well for the most part, but switching them to high quality did cause frames to drop when we were multi-tasking. Still, at this price, the Wammy Passion X is as good as or better than any of its competitors.

Memory: The 16GB of built-in memory is a nice touch, since Android forces you to download apps and games to your internal storage now. Plus, you can always expand it via microSD.

Connectivity: While you will get network in most places, the Passion X has weak audio. In a crowded or noisy environment, it’s difficult to hear the person on the other line unless they start yelling—and even that’s not enough sometimes.

Software: This, for me, is the biggest problem with the Passion X. The colloquialism of “Chinese maal” was never more true. Out of the box, the phone looks like stock Android and has no issues. But reset it once and it defaults to a new interface with the Chinese language enabled. Even if you change the language, other parts like the icons and the theme no longer look like Android. This isn’t friendly for those who like to tinker around with their phone, which is something I liked about the Passion Z+. If you think you’ll ever need to reset your phone—and chances are, you might have to—you will need to get help from Wickedleak service, it’s not as simple as any other Android phone.

Camera: The camera of the Wammy Passion X is not worth the price it demands. Competitors like Micromax and Xolo offer much better snappers at this price. The Passion X is fine when you are clicking photos outdoors in the day, but as light gets dimmer, the noise levels go up disproportionately. Taking photographs at night, even with the LED flash on, is not a good experience. And during both day and night, the images appear dull and the colours look faded. Finally, video clips are not the Passion X’s stronghold, and there is more camera shake than we have experienced with other smartphones. It’s a disappointing rear camera. And while the 5MP sensor on the front cam is welcome, the photos you click are still grainy and dark.

 

Battery: The Wammy Passion X lasts for around 15 hours of average usage and 6 hours of video playback—that’s good enough for most people.

Special Mentions: The Passion X is the phone to avoid if you like your music. First, there are no headphones in the box. And we tried three different headphones, as well as a Bluetooth one. The

Passion X has poor audio quality, with the bass sounding flat and there not even being adequate volume to pump it up. If you care about your music, don’t even consider this phone. The Atom Supremus is still the phone to beat in that aspect.

  

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Verdict: I have been trying to figure out why I dislike the Passion X and it comes down to this: it feels like an incomplete phone. While you get waterproofing, the build quality isn’t great. Over usage, the edges become rougher and Aquaprotect isn’t pretty to look at on the back panel. The fact that it resets to a different UI is annoying. The lack of backlight on the capacitive touch buttons is frustrating. And there are no earphones packed in the box.

The phone has some good points, like that fantastic screen, the good performance and the water protection. But it doesn’t come together to feel like a great device. Maybe if it was priced closer to Rs. 12,000, this would be a decent purchase, but as it currently stands, the Passion X is not worth your money. Even if waterproofing is something you really want, the Moto G is a better bet at a lower price, and it even survived a 30-minute underwater test.

‘Main Tera Hero’ review: Varun tries everything in his repertoire to be this hero

 

Main Tera Hero movie review: Varun tries everything in his repertoire to be this hero.

Movie Review: Main Tera Hero

Star Cast: Varun Dhawan, Arunoday Singh, Ileana D’Cruz, Nargis Fakhri, Rajpal Yadav, Anupam Kher, Saurabh Shukla, Evelyn Sharma, Manoj Pahwa, Shakti Kapoor

Director : David Dhawan

 

A beefy cop besotted by a college girl goes about spouting knock knock jokes. Taking a cue from him, I’ll start with one of mine. Knock knock. Who’s there? Err, me. Me who? Me trying to hoot, that’s who.

I did manage to find a few laughs in ‘Main Tera Hero’, David Dhawan’s showcase created solely for his son Varun, but it was hard work. Because this is David precariously close to making my eyes glaze over, with long stretches of flatness, and forced laughter.

The film may be a Telugu remake, but the template is very Dhawan, with the usual mix of buffoons and goons and mistaken identities playing ‘I spy’ in a Bangkok hotel masquerading as a home.

Layabout Seenu (Varun Dhawan) reaches Bengaluru with the single aim of earning a college degree. Instead, he starts chasing the pretty Sunaina (Ileana D’ Cruz), who is being menaced by a tall, burly policeman (Arunoday Singh). A rival for Seenu’s affections pops up, in the shape of the curvy, lippy Ayesha (Nargis Fakhri), and things get complicated.

That heroes will float around Bollywood colleges without hefting a single book is a very old story: nary a one is to be seen here, nor a classroom. That they will leap from one idiocy to another is equally old. There was a time when Dhawan’s brand of idiocy was sublime. The good Govinda fronted for him, David used his superlative editing skills to keep up a rat-a-tat-pace, and we all happily rolled down the aisles. But it’s been a while since Dhawan hit his stride.

‘Main Tera Hero’ is not as ghastly as a few recent Dhawans have been, but only because it takes itself not at all seriously, and becomes as silly as it should be for some of the second half . The rest of it has its share of the usual unsightly and tasteless gags about women and protruding body parts and the mandatory fat guy in a wheelchair.

“Purani haveli ke paas chikni chameli” is equal to “oh, this old guy with that babe”.  Clap, clap. Here’s another: “ek popat ki do maina” (one parrot, two `mainas’). And a whole series of lines about ‘bajaana’ : either you can tamp down all standards and go hyuk-hyuk at this sort of thing, or you can just sit there and wonder if anything can get worse.

Varun tries everything in his repertoire to be this hero: he fights, dances, and tries to be funny, topping it all up with a man-boob-mobile-nipple moment. But he is no light-on-his feet, beautifully-timed Govinda.  The effort shows. The flimsily-clad Ileana D’Cruz

2 States music review: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy deliver a refreshing album!

Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy

Lyricist: Amitabh Bhattacharya

Singers: Aditi Singh Sharma, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Benny Dayal, Arijit Singh, Chinmayi Sripada, K. Mohan, Yashita Sharma, Shankar Mahadevan, Siddharth Mahadevan and Rasika Shekhar

Ever since the film on Chetan Bhagat’s 2 States was announced we were waiting for the film with bated breath. Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt have managed to grab eyeballs after the first trailer of the film was released a few days ago. Producer Karan Johar has roped in this favourite trio to compose the music of this north meets south love story. So do Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa manage to live up to the expectations? Read on to find out…

The album opens with Offo sung by Aditi Singh Sharma and Amitabh Bhattacharya. Offo is a youthful and peppy number with quirky lyrics which makes it worth listening to! As usual Aditi does a fantastic job but it’s Bhattacharya who surprises us as we are more used to hearing him in romantic ballads. Though this isn’t one of the best numbers, but it is one of those numbers which will lift your spirits instantly. Listen to it and you’ll agree with us.

Next up is Locha-e-ulfat which has been sung by one of our favourites – Benny Dayal. The video picturised on Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt have different instances where the lover boy is seen staring at his ladylove. Though it’s a situational number, we won’t be surprised if guys use this number to woo the girls in college campuses. After crooning for several dance numbers like Badtameez dil, Shake it like Shammi and Disco deewane, Benny impresses us yet again with this soulful yet energetic offering.

Following this is Mast magan – a duet rendered by Arijit Singh and Chinmayi Sripada. The composers have infused a beautiful sufi feel to this romantic number and the singers do complete justice to this track. The shehnai makes difference to this otherwise mushy duet. While the song did sound quite similar to Sajda from My Name Is Khan, we aren’t complaining coz Arijit’s passion makes all the difference in this one.

Iski uski is the next one in the album crooned by Shahid Mallya and Akriti Kakkar. Though this techno bhangra number isn’t one of best dance numbers; the singers do an okay job due to the peppy music and fun Hinglish lyrics. Though it is a loud number, it has very little impact once the track is over.

Chandaniya by K Mohan and Yashita Sharma is a beautiful guitar infused track perfect for long drives. While the beginning of the song did remind us a lil of the famous Dooba dooba number, the duo offers freshness to this romantic number which has been missing when it comes to lovey-dovey songs. The country feel of this track will makes you leave everything to get lost in this soothing composition. This number will surely remain in your playlists for a while.

The last track of the album is the shaadiwala number in the form of Hulla re sung by Shankar Mahadevan, Siddharth Mahadevan and Rasika Shekhar. This one is a full on Punjabi number complete with dhol and Punjabi lyrics. While we like the energy levels by all the singers, we were a lil disappointed that the song is more Punjabi and less of south.

Verdict: The music of Alia and Arjun’s much awaited love story is quite refreshing. Though this album isn’t one of the best ones by Shankar Ehsaan Loy, it is a relief to see the trio back in action.

PS: Locha-e-ulfat, Mast magan and Chandaniya are worth listening to!

Movie Review: Bewakoofiyaan: Fun But Inspiring

Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurrana, Sonam Kapoor

Director: Nupur Asthana

Rating: Three and a Half Stars

Sometimes, love just ain't enough. So there we have two people in love. The pampered but not spoilt bureaucrat's daughter Mayera and her lover beau Mohit whose upward mobility is frozen by an employment meltdown in his airline organization (spicy allusion to the Kingfisher crisis, yes?)

It's Delhi's noveau riche Gurgaon world bathed in cosmetic conceit. Sonam Kapoor and Ayushmann Khurrana blend into this gleaming kingdom's excesses effortlessly. The two of them are so good as a couple, imagining them apart for even a portion of the bitterness that bites into the narrative during the second-half becomes unbearable.

Debutant director Nupur Asthana's film is a bright scrambled world of wealth, luxury and the yuppy club's unstated desperation to move up the corporate ladder. It is also, by its very definition, a ridiculously self-important delusional world.

Miraculously this film with its gleaming polished surfaces neither gasps nor laughs at the ignobility of upward mobility. There is an interestingly crafted fight scene between the film's lead pair where Mayera reminds Mohit that she has not bought a new pair of shoes during the last two months because of his job loss. That she doesn’t realize how ridiculous she sounds to Mohit is a measure of the underlining irony that the narrative scrapes out of these characters while portraying the exacerbated materialism of the go-getting generation.

Habib Faisal's writing is smart and amiable, crowded with quaint colloquialisms culled from the capital youngster's language. The writing also surprises itself by becoming inwardly-drawn and introspective at the most unexpected moments. That the screenplay has got Ayushmann to play the cool guy whose perfectly laid-out plans fall apart, is a stroke of luck for this likeable film.

Ayushmann looks like the guy next-door who wouldn’t mind pulling a few strings to float higher than the level allotted to him by fate. He brings a suave arrogance to his role and creates a cohesive graph for his character. He is an actor to watch.

Of course it helps Ayushmann that he has Rishi Kapoor to play his girlfriend's hawk-like father. Rishi’s character of the IAS officer on the verge of retirement (with a companion from his work place who typically, offers his "humble" advice on every matter) is brilliantly written.

Rishi's Sehgal is a pompous name-thrower with an inflated sense of self-worth, over-possessive about his only daughter's life and preferences. V.K. Sehgal is a striking image of a man on the verge of erupting into a self-deprecatory laughter, if he only he knew how funny his quirks look from the outside.

Rishi brings to the characters a cornocupia of "cool". Seldom in his any other recent film except Do Dooni Chaar has this brilliant actor expressed such pleasure in putting forward his character’s point of view. It’s no coincidence that film too was written by Faisal.

So many of Rishi Kapoor’s scenes with Ayushmann stand tall because of the way the two characters meet as adversaries who fortunately love the same girl in different ways. Sonam as the girl torn between an autocratic dad and unreasonable lover is so in-character you wonder whether the role and its fetish for designer labels were written specially for her.

Bewakoofiyan has nothing new to say. And that is its greatest virtue. It is Meet The Parents where the father and the prospective son-in-law's roles are better played than the original. Yes, Rishi and Ayushmann are better than Robert de Niro and Ben Stiller were in the Hollywood film about the father of the bride.

The narrative sparkles with a mischievous elegance. The winking homage to the go-getting glam-set of Delhi works mainly because the three protagonists are so immersed in the goings-on they make us forget that we've seen most of these conflicts over and over again in the past. In terms of the fluency with which the cliche about the love birds and the girl's disapproving dad is tackled, Bewakoofiyaan is a marked improvement on Yashraj Productions' last two pretentious hammy films Shuddh Desi Romance and Gunday.

Ayushmann's performance is oh not so hammy. A pure delight to behold after Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor's over-energized bravado in Gunday.

The tongue-in-cheek ‘Bewakoofiyaan’ review

Bewakoofiyaan review

Bewakoofiyaan offers its viewers to become a part of the movie experience: if you watch the film expecting a Queen or a Hasee Toh Phasee, you are pretty much doing what the title says. Though the lead pair does a decent job, they are burdened with a tired script and a cliched concept.
As usual, our reporter interviewed celeb watchers of the film to figure out what they thought of Bewakoofiyan. In keeping with the mood of the season, his first three interviewees were the three top political figures in India today.

Music Review: O Teri is a decent album

There are many memorable songs in O Teri, feels Joginder Tuteja.

One expects the music of O Teri to be fun since the film looks quite youthful.

First-time composer G J Singh gets good support from lyricist Kumaar.

New entrant Roshni Baptist is seductive in the club track Butt Patlo. The song has the kind of sound that one associates with Pritam and Vishal-Shekhar.

In that aspect, G J Singh doesn't disappoint with Jaspreet Jasz behind the mike. The singer does a good job in projecting the kind of exuberance that's expected with such a film.

However, one does wonder about this new-found fascination of butt in Bollywood. From Tooh (Gori Tere Pyaar Mein) to 'Butt' which is exclaimed with the sound of 'round round.'

G J Singh brings a contemporary sound with Teri Akhan Vich. He is also the singer here with Jaspreet Jasz, and together they bring a high energy to this song.

Neeti Mohan does well in her brief appearance in the song. Though not really a chartbuster, this number is engrossing enough.

Iulia Vantur, who was once said to be Salman Khan's girlfriend, makes her debut as a singer and performer in Ummbakkum. She does a good job.

Mika Singh and Jaspreet Jasz try to pep up this number but it’s just passable. One usually expects a Mika number to be the highlight of the album but Umbakkam sounds like an extension of Butt Patolo, and the remix version isn’t much better.

The last track, Phollo Karta, appears to be a misfit. Guest composer Hard Kaur comes in for this Manish J Tipu written and sung number which is desi in presentation.

It’s about the pros and cons of social networking. An average number, its music video may help it cover some distance, as was the case in Pulkit Samrat's last film Fukrey where innovative videos of similar songs helped the music to reach the masses.

O Teri is a decent album but it doesn't have many memorable songs. It makes for short and snappy listening

Micromax Canvas Knight A350 review: This phone does not look Indian

Micromax Canvas Knight will be priced at Rs 19,999

First things first. This is a phone from Micromax, but it does not look like a phone from Micromax. In fact, it looks like a phone from a well-heeled international brand, the sort that Micromax wants to become in the near future. This is the Micromax Canvas Knight, the phone that will take over the flagship mantle for the company from today.
Quick Tech Specs: 5-inch IPS display (1920×1080 pixels, 443 ppi) | 2GHz Tru Octa core MediaTek MT MT 6592 processor | 2GB RAM | 32 GB storage + no microSD slot | 16MP rear camera, 8MP front camera, 1080p Full HD video | 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 | 2350mAh battery | Android 4.2 JellyBean
Price: Rs 19,999
 
Power and volume keys on the side
Design: As I said this phone does not look like a Indian phone. In fact, it has the cuts and sides of the Apple iPhone 5s and even reminded me a bit of the Lava Iris Pro 30, which also had a similar design language. The unibody design is reinforced by what seems, and feels, like a graphite frame. There are mico-SIM slots on both sides that can be accessed by a pin. And, no there is no space for a SD card. Another thing that sets this phone apart is the power key, that is now placed along with the volume keys on the right. This take a bit of getting used to.

The camera, the 16 MP sensor that it houses, results in a significant bump on the rear and there is an extra rear cover to sort of protect it. This feature is a bit like the one on the Nokia Lumia 502 and it becoming common in slim phones with large cameras. The phone is very light and easy to handle despite the large screen.

Screen & Audio: The Full HD IPS panel is one of the best features of this phone. To start with, there is hardly any light bleed on the sides. The phone can be bright enough to be legible in bright sunlight. The audio quality is good, but not great. The overall experience, however, is quite good.
Performance: This is a Tru Octa core phone. So performance should not be, and is not, and issue at all. In fact, the Antutu benchmark scored it in the top draw and exclaimed ‘amazing’. Yes, that doesn’t mean much for an average used. What matter for him is the fact that there is no lag anywhere and that multi-tasking is a breeze. We tried multi-tabbed browsing on Chrome and the experience was superb. However, with some games we noticed that the device did heat up quite a bit near the camera. Remember, the heat is coming through an extra layer of protection due to the rear cover.
 
Memory: The phone has 32GB internal memory, out of which you get to use about 24GB. That is decent as you can download large apps and run them comfortable. The 2GB RAM should also stand you in good stead.
Software: The phone runs Android Jelly Bean with a tweaked UI that I did not like all that much. I suggest you switch to a new launcher that gives the slick look a phone with these specs needs. There is quite a bit of bloatware that you can easily delete.
Camera: The two cameras certainly show a lot numbers. The rear camera for a change gives decent pictures even in low light and indoors. It is not great, but much better that most other Android cameras in this price range. There is a bit of noise in the images, but then there is also good detail when needed. The 8MP front camera is better than most phones, but is sluggish and is best used only for video calls and the occasional selfie. The camera comes with features like 3D panaroma, which is too much of work if you ask me.
 

This is shot early in the morning with hardly any sunlight.


   

See the detail here. There is a bit of noise too if you blow up.
Battery: The 2350 mAh battery lasted a full day with average use and on low brightness. With full brightness and regular use with video and gaming, you will be lucky to get 10 hours out of this battery. This means the phone will be good for a regular day in office or college and last till the time you come back home. But if you are planning to hang out with friends on a gaming face-off, or want to go on a binge  video watching spree on a long train journey, you will need to invest on a power bank.
Special Mention: For some time now, Micromax has been packaging its phones in boxes that mean business. It does this again with the Canvas Knight, the packaging gives a reassurance to the customer that they have bought something good. Even the printed material in the box and the accessories make you feel good.
Verdict: If you are looking for a high-end phone, but don’t want to spend a month’s salary on the same, the Micromax Canvas Knight can be a good pick. It packs almost everything you expect from an Android phone. The Micromax canvas Knight shows how Indian companies can also produce world class hardware that is stylish, functional and durable (or feels like it). The Knight is right there in the league of top-end Android phones, even though we know that it won’t cost that much. This one costs just Rs 19,999.

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact quick-read review: Best camera among Androids

The Sony Xperia Z1 compact costs Rs 34,990

Android smartphone screens are getting bigger and bigger, and it has reached a point where you can’t get a top-of-the-line Android with a screen smaller than 5 inches. What do you do if that’s too big for your hands? If you don’t want an iPhone, then the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact wants to offer good things in a tiny package. It’s got all the goodness of Sony’s flagship Xperia Z1 compressed into a smaller form factor.
Quick Tech Specs: 4.3-inch Triluminos display (1280×720 pixels, 342 ppi) | 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Krait processor | 2GB RAM |16GB storage + microSD up to 64GB | 20MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, 1080p HD video | 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 | GPS with A-GPS | 2300mAh battery | IP58 water-resistant and dustproof | Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, Upgradable to 4.4 KitKat
Price: Rs 34,990
Design: The Z1 Compact looks exactly like the Z1 and the Z1 Ultra, only miniaturized: it’s sleek, it feels premium and while it’s not heavy, it’s got a reassuring heft. And without a doubt, anyone will be able to operate this with a single hand. You’ll be proud to show this off. The unibody design and flaps for ports seal off the important bits and make it waterproof; but the flaps are quite annoying when you are fumbling in the dark to charge your phone. While this isn’t something we could test, it’s worth noting that we know Z1 and Z1 Ultra users who got scratches on the glass back of the phone with regular usage. Also, this phone has enormous bezels—space which could have been used better, either with capacitive touch buttons or by making the screen larger.
MUST READ: Em-Bezel-ed: Phones with same screen size can have different dimensions. Here is why
Screen: The 4.3-inch screen of the Z1 Compact is a treat for the eyes. The colours are true, the viewing angles are wide and the details are sharp. You couldn’t ask for anything else.
Performance: The Xperia Z1 Compact has the same processor and RAM powering current flagships, so there’s no question of lacking the horsepower you need for any task.
Memory: A lot of phones these days tend to put in high internal memory with no option for a microSD slot (I’m looking at you, Lenovo Vibe Z). Thankfully, the Z1 Compact has no such qualms and along with its 16GB of built-in memory, you can throw in a microSD card of up to 64GB.
Connectivity: The call quality and network reception is good as any phone out there, so no complaints there.
Software: Currently, the Xperia Z1 Compact ships with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out of the box, with a few customisations by Sony. Sony’s changes don’t add anything that you won’t get by installing the right apps, but it’s not cumbersome or ugly either.

Camera: The highlight of the Z1 Compact is the 20-megapixel camera on the back, which is among the best Android shooters out there. If you use the built-in camera app on Superior Auto Mode, you’ll face issues: in particular, it aggressively smoothens images (causing you to lose details) and artificially punches up colours in low-light environments. The photos end up looking fake or Photoshopped. But switch to manual mode or use a third-party app like Camera Zoom FX and you’ll get fantastic shots. Photography is helped by the fact that the Z1 Compact has a dedicated camera button on the side, complete with the half-press-to-focus feature. On an Android, I have yet to see a better camera.
Battery: On average usage, the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact goes for about 13 hours before needing to be recharged, which isn’t bad. However, the battery drains very quickly when playing high-end games like Asphalt 8 or FIFA 14—it lasts for less than 2 hours.

Special Mention: The coolest part about the smartphone is that it is waterproof and dust-resistant, while still looking sleek and compact. I used the phone in the shower, I kept it under running water in the sink and I spilt a cup of tea on it—one wipe and the Z1 Compact was ready to go. I can’t quite explain how much this adds to the experience of using a smartphone, especially an expensive one, as you are no longer worried about the silly small damages of everyday life. Imagine walking into the rain without any concern about the phone in your pocket—it’s a smartphone that offers a little peace of mind.
Verdict: If you want an Android smartphone without a gargantuan screen, the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is the best choice. The question then comes around to whether you should buy this or the iPhone 5c, which is available for around Rs. 40,000. In terms of pure hardware, the Z1 Compact edges ahead with its camera, expandable memory and waterproofing—considering it’s a good Rs 6,000 lesser, I’d put my money on the Z1 Compact. But you need to be okay with Android over iOS for that.

The tongue-in-cheek Queen review

Express LOL: Queen

Movies like Queen are proof that you can make people laugh without having characters slipping on banana peels, being slapped by monkeys or knocking ten people out with a single punch. Perhaps a tad bit optimistic, Queen is otherwise the perfect feel-good film, with hilarious dialogues, a relatable plot, and brilliant acting.
After the interview, our reporter found several celebrities raving in the foyer of the theatre. He went up to them to ask for their reactions (mostly because his boss would kill him if he didn’t)

‘Queen’ review: Kangana Ranaut is the ‘Queen’ of hearts

Movie Review Queen: Kangana Ranaut revels in her solidly-written role, and delivers a first rate, heart-felt performance.

Movie Review: Queen
Star Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Rajkummar Rao; Lisa Haydon
Director: Vikas Bahl
Stop press: I have just seen an honest-to-goodness, full-fledged, full-bodied film. A FILM, hear me? Not an American sit com masquerading as one, or yet another meaningless 70s masala remake. ‘Queen’ is a significant Bollywood marker, a film that is intensely local and gloriously global, with a terrific lead performance by Kangana Ranaut, in a story that bubbles over with real feeling and meaning.
Rani (Kangana Ranaut) is dumped just a day before her wedding by her fiance Vijay (Rajkumar Rao). Devastated, she decides to flee, because staying home to lick her wounds is not an option. So, she finds herself in Paris, and the journey she embarks on makes ‘Queen’ the kind of coming- of-age, discovery-of-self tale that Bollywood usually doesn’t touch with a bargepole. Because women-centric films don’t do well, do they? This is where Phantom Productions, which has made this ( their first was ‘Lootera’), has stepped in. (See Pics: Kangana’s last minute promotions)
It starts with a loud Punjabi wedding, and you enter the film, mildly diverted by Rani’s loud Punjabi family, doing ‘giddha-shiddha’, ‘mehendi-shendi’, but not before you’ve had time to register that the Rajouri Garden ‘mithai’-shop-owning middle-class-ness of the Mehras is just right. And that Mummyji, Daddyji, the plump ‘chota bhai’, and Dadiji are all pitch perfect.
Big Punjabi weddings and Bollywood have had a long relationship, but where ‘Queen‘, both the girl and the film, start coming into their own, is when Rani is left to fend for herself, first in Paris, and then Amsterdam. A lone Indian girl, a ‘behenji’ with a ‘desi ghee tadka’, would usually fumble her way across crowded streets and annoyed pedestrians and find herself in a handsome stranger’s arms, sing a few songs, do a few ‘nakhras’ and gratefully accept ‘mandap’ and ‘mangalsutra’.
But not Rani aka Queen. She does make silly touristy mistakes, nearly gets mugged but doesn’t let it get to her, and discovers she has a spine after all. Lucking into a long-legged hotel maid Vijay Lakshmi (Lisa Haydon) is the first departure from standard Bollywood practice: this other Vijay takes Rani under her wing, drags her into a store with lovely Parisian clothes (these Paris maids are not just drop dead sexy, and enjoy their libido, they can afford all those designer threads?), and generally hand-holds Rani for an enjoyable spell.
Bahl’s second directorial venture is a delight: his first, ‘Chillar Party’, had some spark, but nothing prepared me for this. The story, which could easily have slipped into mush, stays free of drippy sentimentality, barring one or two raised-violin scenes. Rani is given interesting companions: in Amsterdam, she is handed a multi-cultural trio, a vertically challenged Japanese, a black Frenchman, and a good looking Spaniard, as well as a dishy Italian. Again, this could have turned into a clichéd international-accented soup, but despite a couple of exaggerated mis-steps, it stays grounded. And Rani is well on her way to learning the meaning of friendship and freedom in a land far away from home, where girls have to live with the word ‘allowed’ .
Kangana Ranaut revels in her solidly-written role, and delivers a first rate, heart-felt performance. There are only a couple of slips (in one, she pronounces the word ‘fiance’ perfectly, all rounded vowels: given her Rajouriness, this should have been a straight opening of mouth). I was also quite taken aback by the speed with which she junks her ‘chatak’ Lajpat Nagar ‘kurti’ look and adopts pastel, understated dresses. But no matter, I found myself watching Kangana Ranaut much more than her clothes. Her mobile face has sensibly been kept free from pancake, and more than anything else, Ranaut comes off believable: she does hurt like no other Bollywood heroine currently can.
Lisa Haydon nearly walks off with the film in her small role. She doesn’t place a single foot wrong as she strides long and smooth next to the diminutive Kangana. She left me asking for more. And the bunch of ‘foreigners’ that Rani raps with in Amsterdam are all well drawn, and what is even better, nicely rounded. The one part I didn’t feel as convinced about was Rao’s: he is made to whine and mumble altogether too much, as he makes his way through the film in uneasy fits and starts.
But that’s all right because this film isn’t about him. It’s about, hallelujah, her. It’s probably quite deliberate that Lisa Haydon’s name is also Vijay. And Ranaut is Rani, Queen of Hearts.
You go, girl.

Shaadi Ke Side Effects movie review

Cast:Vidya Balan, Farhan Akhtar, Ram Kapoor and Vir Das
Director: Saket Chaudhary

SPOILERS AHEAD

A man hits on a lonesome woman at a nightclub. The conversation reveals that both are married.

My workaholic husband has no time for me, the lady laments. My wife is busy watching television serials, retorts the guy.

The two head to a hotel room for a one-night stand. They are caught on the security cameras in the corridor.

The errant man is summarily summoned to the manager’s office and sternly ticked off. This is not “that kind of hotel”, he is told.

Turns out that the man and the woman are married to each other and this is their way of spicing up their relationship.

The sheepish hotel manager, left with egg on his face, finds himself at the receiving end of free tips on how best to keep his wife in good humour.

One crucial piece of advice that he receives goes thus: Marriage is… always having to say sorry. When you make a mistake, you apologise. When the wife makes a mistake, you still apologise. And life goes on…

If you think that opening sequence, with its sly but predictable flurry of witticisms, is comical enough, you might also like the rest of Shaadi Ke Side Effects. The film unfolds in pretty much the same vein.

On a basic plot level, director Saket Chaudhary’s second film seems to have drawn inspiration from the 1988 John Hughes comedy, She is Having a Baby.

The Hollywood film ended with a pregnancy; Shaadi Ke Side Effects employs the birth of the baby as the starting point of the story.

The wafer-thin tale is livened up by some snappy writing and competent acting all around.

The principal characters, struggling musician Siddharth and successful adwoman Trisha, are generally likeable and believable.

So are the piquant situations that they must grapple with in their bid to balance their individual compulsions with the demands of bearing and bringing up a child.
A bawling baby, a snoring dad and an overprotective mom are the perfect recipe for severe spousal stress.

Trisha takes to the job of playing mommy with instinctive ease. It is Sid who makes a complete mess of the attempt to be “the best dad in the world”.

The screenplay (Zeenat Lakhani and Saket Chaudhary) ensures that the plot remains firmly rooted in the realms of reality.

However, the efforts to blend humour, emotion and philosophy do not always come off.
One good aspect of Shaadi Ke Side Effects is that it plunges into the business end without much fuss.

So there is no whirlwind romance or fairy-tale wedding or heady honeymoon before the complications brought on by dull domesticity intervene.

The first half of Shaadi Ke Side Effects is somewhat listless. But the film perks up considerably post-intermission.

Staid Sid, egged on by his sis-in-law’s hubby Ranvir (Ram Kapoor), decides to turn overly adventurous in order to put some spart back into his marriage. That triggers a series of missteps that put his relationship with his wife in serious jeopardy.

Shaadi Ke Side Effects, via the words of Ranvir, hands out some dodgy pop psychology to justify a somewhat far-fetched ‘formula’ for a happy marriage.

White lies, some harmless subterfuge and an occasional return to the joys of a “carefree single life” are offered as a way out of marital drudgery.

Sure enough, the side effects of that formula are far too many for comfort and they boomerang many times over on Sid.

Shaadi Ke Side Effects isn’t exceptionally engaging fare. It is essentially a single idea stretched to the very end of its tether.

Yet, the sheer ordinariness of the circumstances that the story hinges on helps the film retain its amusing core.

Trisha, rational working woman turned emotional nut case, puts her career on hold and relegates her hubby to the fringes of her life.

She frets and fumes obsessively and excessively about her daughter’s needs and over putting on weight.

Sid, too, is a guy next door seeking avenues to move beyond singing jingles.

You don’t have the looks of a musician, he is told by a newfound pal – “an accountant, a salesman, a Maoist, but not a musician.” That indeed makes him all the more real.

Sadly, a large part of Shaadi Ke Side Effects, despite charming pivotal performances by Farhan Akhtar and Vidya Balan, has nothing new to offer beyond convenient homilies on gender politics within the confines of a marriage.

The supporting cast members – notably Ram Kapoor, Ila Arun, Purab Kohli and Vir Das (in what is billed as “a not so special appearance”) – are first-rate. However, Rati Agnihotri, in the role of the female protagonist’s widowed mother, is wasted.

Shaadi Ke Side Effects is recommended because, despite its flaws, it is passable fun while it lasts.

Movie Review: Gulabi Gang

'Gulabi Gang', Nishtha Jain's award-winning documentary gives us an up-close view of Sampat Pal and her gang, which fights for injustice where it is most needed.

 

The 1.5 hour film is an important document. Because women, usually classified with the 'other' backward classes, and 'dabey-kuchley varg', are for burning, and raping, and humiliating.

The district is Banda, and the region, Bundelkhand, in UP. And an organization that has steadily been a media magnet for what it has managed to do: in the rural backwaters of North India, where years of heavy-handed, violent patriarchy has stunted the growth of women and killed the girl child, a woman has taken on all comers. ‘Gulabi Gang’, Nishtha Jain’s award-winning documentary gives us an up-close view of Sampat Pal and her gang, which dons pink ‘saris’, and hefts ‘lathis’, and fights against injustice where it is most needed.
The 1.5 hour film is an important document. Because women, usually classified with the ‘other’ backward classes, and ‘dabey-kuchley varg’, are for burning, and raping, and humiliating. Because anyone who takes up cudgels on their behalf is to be acknowledged and praised. And there’s the middle-aged, vocal Pal, one among them, and a natural leader, having it out with surly men-folk of a neighbouring village where a young wife has been charred. The husband claims he wasn’t there. His family says it was an accident which happened while cooking. Her father doesn’t want to take the case further. It is only when we meet the dead woman’s mother, blind and helpless, that we hear the truth.
You watch, in admiration, as Pal and her acolytes (gang-members who, upon signing up, are given ‘gulabi’ saris, and a ‘lathi’-wielding training) shout down a local ‘thanedar’. He starts off belligerent, but when Pal takes the case to his seniors, he becomes a man who may have to listen to a mere woman. And you see the uphill fight Pal has on her hands when one of her ‘gang’ members leaves : the woman, who spent a good many years with the gang, endorses the age-old view of how, if a brother doesn’t like what a sister does (in this instance, fall in love), he is within his rights to put an end to her life. Nothing Pal nor anyone else says can shift her position.
Jain spent five months on and off with Pal, and tracked her as she goes from one village to another. And we see the solid work that has gone into the making of the film. But it did leave me asking a few questions. Why was it called the ‘Gulabi’ gang? In a ‘q and a’ after the film, Jain said that Sampat had talked about other colours being taken already: I would have liked to see that in the film, because it tells me something crucial.
Also, I wanted to know how a village woman, however feisty she may have been, became so comfortable with the knowledge she displays in the film: when did she, for example, first hear of the funds the government has earmarked for the development of districts such as hers? She is also clearly very much at ease with the camera. Was she always so? How did she turn so media savvy? Does the person wielding the camera put words into the mouth of their interviewee when they ask: “aapko gussa nahin aata”? (do you not feel angry). Very rarely will you get a `no’ for an answer, especially when this is asked in a charged situation. Why would you need to have such a leading question in circumstances where you can see the simmering anger? Jain does show Sampat’s other side, though, even if briefly. She appears to be quite belligerent, heckling the men in the village. And also quite an autocrat: we leave her with her hands being pressed by another pink sari-clad woman sitting next to her, which Sampat seems to enjoy and accept as her right.
Clearly, Sampat is a remarkable woman, and a remarkable story.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 review: Pros and gones

Introduction

Samsung is trying hard to diversify its tablet lineup and bring a little something for everyone to the market. The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 is the middle child of the premium segment, or as a more succinct description would put it a Galaxy Note tablet without the S Pen.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 is available in black and white
And it's a fairly accurate one - the most obvious difference between the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 and the Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014) is the lack of the trademark stylus. Something you might miss at first glance (but not when you lift the tablet) is that the Tab Pro 10.1 is a good 70g lighter, perfectly capable of matching the delicate elegance of an iPad Air.
There are a few other differences too, like 2GB RAM instead of 3GB and no 64GB storage option (but with the microSD card slot at hand, that barely matters).

Key features

• 10.1" 16M-color Super Clear PLS capacitive touchscreen of 2560 x 1600 resolution
• Wi-Fi only model: Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7, Mali-T628MP6 GPU; Exynos 5420 chipset
• LTE model: quad-core 2.3GHz Krait 400, Adreno 330 GPU; Snapdragon 800 chipset
• 2GB of RAM
• Android OS v4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz UI
• One of a kind split-screen multitasking and pop-up mini apps
• Quad-band GPRS/EDGE/HSPA and hexa-band LTE connectivity cat.4 (S800 model only)
• Voice calls (on LTE model only)
• 16/32 GB of built-in memory
• 8 MP autofocus camera, 3264x2448 pixels, geotagging
• 1080p video recording @ 60fps (LTE model) / 1080p video recording @30fps (Wi-Fi model)
• 2MP front-facing camera; 1080p videos
• Side-mounted stereo speakers
• Wi-Fi 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Direct, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot
• Stereo Bluetooth v4.0
• microUSB 2.0; HDMI TV-out (adapter required), USB host (adapter required)
• microSD card slot
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Infrared port
• GPS with A-GPS support; GLONASS, digital compass
• 1080p XviD/MKV video support with subtitles
• Accelerometer, three-axis Gyroscope sensor
• Polaris Office 5 document editor preinstalled
• 8,220mAh Li-Po battery

Main disadvantages

• Expensive
• No NFC
• No DivX and AC3 codec support out of box

Another point of reference would be the Tab Pro 10.1's predecessor, the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1. That would be a brutally unfair comparison though, as the Tab 3 sports a 1,280 x 800 screen, dual-core Intel Atom chipset, 3MP/720p camera and is overall a midrange offering.
This makes the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 Samsung's flagship 10" tablet for the everyman who won't find much use of the S Pen or the slightly richer app package.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 live photos
That said, the new multitasking features on the tablet are unique (shared only between the Tab Pro trio) and the custom homescreen promises a Windows 8-like experience with highly customizable tiles. The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 even shares in some of the premium goodies that the Note Pro 12.2 received, including the complete Office suite.
Samsung has always had a distinct voice when it comes to its Android devices and it has worked well for the company - it's the biggest player in town. It has been stumbling a bit with its tablet offerings recently, with the Note 10.1 (2014) lost between Galaxy Tabs that were virtually identical to the previous generation.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 signals that the lull is over and we have a proper flagship in our hands. Let's delve into it and see if Samsung finally has a tablet to challenge the iPad outside its Galaxy Note line.

Design and build quality

The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 is very much a Note 10.1 (2014) lookalike, but a few small differences have a major effect.

The Tab Pro 10.1 looks almost identical to the Note 10.1 (2014)
The biggest change is weight - the Wi-Fi only version of the Tab Pro 10.1s weighs 469g, while the LTE model is 477g. Both are 70g lighter than their Note 10.1 (2014) counterparts and the same weight as the iPad Air versions almost to the gram.
This vastly improves the handling. Keep in mind that the Android tablet is wider (16:10) than the iPad, which is squarer (4:3). And the Tab Pro 10.1 is meant to be held in landscape orientation, putting even more weight on your wrist if you hold the tablet by the edge.

The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 is lighter than most 10" tablets
The screen bezel is unchanged since the Note 10.1 (2014) but the change in weight makes extended use of the tablet a lot more pleasant. The bezel is just wide enough to accommodate your thumb, but we often preferred resting the Tab Pro 10.1 on our palm.
The faux leather back offers enough grip not to worry the tablet will slip. Note that the plastic used for the back feels different from others we've seen, but it still offers a semi-convincing leather feel.
We mentioned orientation and for the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 landscape is the way to go. The hardware keys on the front are positioned for it and the stereo speakers on the short sides reinforce that. We would have preferred front-facing speakers as they direct the sound at the viewer and you're less likely to block them with your palm while holding the tablet. Still, the side speakers sound a lot better than a single speaker at the bottom, so that's still a win for the Tab Pro.
The tablet can be used in portrait too - it makes reading long text easier - but reaching the hardware keys becomes a bit of a stretch. Samsung still refuses to use on-screen buttons (which solve this problem), but at least the company moved to the newer arrangement of keys featuring the app switcher.

Display

We knew the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 had an RGBW PenTile display before we even got the review unit. The same tech was used on the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and the Note 10.1 (2014) before it.

All three tablets have the same screen resolution - 2,560 x 1,600 - but since the 10.1" ones are smaller than the Note Pro 12.2, their pixel density is at almost 300ppi and the characteristic crosshatch effect is less noticeable than on the 247ppi 12.2" screen. You can still see it if you know what to look for and take a close peek, but it's not annoying really.

The 10.1" Super clear LCD of the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1
The display itself renders beautiful colors and you can tweak those with the Display mode option in the settings. There's Adapt display that automatically adjusts settings based on the image on the screen (this only works in some apps), Movie mode (which offers warm white balance and balanced saturation), Dynamic (which boosts the saturation) and Standard (this one aims for pure white and accurate colors).
The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 screen is fairly bright but we still had the brightness slider set at 50% or higher. The auto-brightness option works well too and you get a slider to tweak it.
Viewing angles and contrast of the screen are excellent.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4	0.34	281	830	0.60	498	822
Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1	0.41	312	775	0.72	588	812
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014	0.27	221	831	0.53	440	821
Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2	0.33	301	901	0.54	493	911
Google Nexus 10	0.26	223	859	0.50	443	878
Sony Xperia Tablet Z	-	-	-	0.53	531	996
Sony Xperia Tablet S	0.35	334	947	0.67	526	783
Samsung Galaxy Note 3	0	149	∞	0	379	∞
Apple iPad mini	0.25	208	838	0.51	458	812
Apple iPad 3	0.21	167	809	0.6	477	779
Apple iPad 4	0.21	163	797	0.63	476	762
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7	0	200	∞	0	328	∞
Asus Google Nexus 7	0.25	244	954	0.36	327	908
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1	0.27	223	832	0.49	406	821
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1	0.31	257	826	0.55	502	915
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus	0.17	196	1141	0.34	424	1236

Controls

The Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 uses Samsung's new style of hardware controls. They are still arranged capacitive/hardware/capacitive but the left button now handles the app switcher rather than menu.

Samsung still uses hardware buttons, but these follow the Android standard
The majority of apps out there (soon to be all, Gingerbread slipped to 20%) have an options menu as part of their on-screen interface, making a hardware menu key redundant. Anyway, a long press on the Home key now launches Google Now, while a double tap triggers Samsung's S Voice.
The remaining set of hardware controls on the Tab Pro 10.1 is found at the top - the power key and the volume rocker. The IR blaster is also here, which is becoming standard equipment on Samsung's higher-end tablets.

Power key and volume rocker on top • the IR blaster
The right side of the tablet is where you'll find the card slots - one in the Wi-Fi only version of the tablet (the microSD card slot) and two in the LTE model (an additional microSIM card slot).

An easy way to tell the Wi-Fi and LTE versions apart - count the card slots
The loudspeaker grilles are one on each (short) side and are positioned near the top, so that your hand won't block them. Holding the tablet high enough to block them is possible, but uncomfortable. The 3.5mm audio jack is next to the left speaker grille.

Loudspeaker grills on the side • 3.5mm audio jack on the left
The microUSB port is at the bottom - a traditional USB 2.0 port. Considering we rarely plug in our devices to a computer (with the proliferation of cloud sync solutions), having USB 2.0 instead of 3.0 is not a major concern.

microUSB 2.0 port and the mic pinhole
The mic pinhole is near the USB port. Keep in mind that the LTE version of the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 supports voice calls. Leaving the tablet lying on its back keeps both the loudspeakers and the mic clear, but we'd still consider using a headset for talking (Bluetooth or even wired).
Video calls are also enabled - both standard 3G video calls and over the various Internet-based chat apps (including Google's Hangouts and Samsung's ChatON).

2MP front-facing camera and ambient light sensor
Around back is the 8MP camera with its LED flash. The camera can shoot 1080p video and, if you get the LTE version, it will do it at 60fps (the Exynos-powered Wi-Fi only model tops out at 1080p @ 30fps). The camera lens is centered horizontally so you're unlikely to ever block it with your fingers (we've had that happen with other tablets, including the iPad).

The faux leather back houses the 8MP/1080p camera

Battery

Despite getting lighter, the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 has the same 8,220mAh Li-Po battery as the Note 10.1 (2014). With the same screen and chipsets, we expected the tablets to have similar battery life (possibly affected by the newer Android OS version), but we ran the tests anyway. And since our review unit is the LTE model (with voice call functionality), we ran a call test too.
The call test result is spectacular (no surprise here), while the web playback and web browser times are quite competitive too.

Magazine UI is your new homescreen

The Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 runs Android 4.4 KitKat with the latest TouchWiz customizations that run deeper than ever before. The key changes are the new Magazine UI and the new multitasking options. Note that we're using a review unit from Samsung that has had the latest updates installed. There are slight differences between that and the Tab Pro 8.4 we reviewed earlier, so the retail version might differ slightly.
The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 brings four major changes to Android: the brand new Magazine UI for the homescreen, a completely redesigned notification area, an impressive new version of Samsung's proprietary multitasking feature called Multi Window, and updated system apps.

The new Modern and TouchWiz UIs on top of Android KitKat
The slate has a very familiar lockscreen that accommodates multiple widgets. There is also the familiar app drawer that can stack your apps in folders or even hide apps that you don't use. So far so good. Now comes the interesting part.


The lockscreen and the app drawer
The homescreen interface has been overhauled since our last tour of the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. Now, there are two type of homescreens: Magazine and TouchWiz. Having at least one Magazine pane is obligatory, while the TouchWiz panes are optional. Samsung is really dead set on making this work.
The Magazine UI is an evolved version of what we saw on the Galaxy Note 3 as My Magazine. Back then, it was little more than a clone of the once Samsung-exclusive Flipboard app for Android. Now it's a fully functional replacement for you homescreen that does way more than just feed you news and social updates.

A Magazine page
A Magazine pane would hold up to six widgets, but those widgets always occupy the entire screen - there is no background or docked shortcuts, even the status bar is hidden. You have to tap the top of the screen to bring it back, which means basics like the time and signal strength are not always visible.

Magazine UI • Adding Magazine widgets
The Magazine's widgets are completely different from what you have seen so far on Android. They use flat looks a la Windows Phone, they can be easily resized and rearranged. A Change Layout button automatically cycles through preset layouts so you don't even have to tap and drag (but you can if you want to).
The available set of widgets is what really makes the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 and its Magazine UI so feature-rich. Note that only Samsung-made widgets go here, the widgets used on the TouchWiz homescreen panes are not available.
Anyway, the Magazine widgets are a mixture of various content aggregators (news, social services, multimedia), powerful mini versions of system apps and just nicely designed shortcuts.
The content aggregators support news from a lot of categories (business, design, movies, food, music, sports, politics, travel, tech, etc.) and social services (500px, Facebook, Twitter). You can choose the specific topics for each Magazine widget. Some widgets are scrollable so they hold more content even if it's not immediately obvious. You have to swipe at them to see if they'll scroll.

Choosing topics for a content aggregator
The aggregators aside, the rest of the widgets give you quick access to the most used apps: gallery, office, hubs, calendar, weather and multimedia players. Finally, you have two different widgets that hold your Favorite and Frequently used apps.
You can have up to three Magazine homescreen panes. We guess this is partly due to hardware limitations, because those Magazine widgets probably consume a lot of resources. Also, since only special widgets are allowed, you can't fill much more anyway.
You can have standard homescreens as well. You can add app shortcuts there plus the standard Android widgets.

Standard TouchWiz homescreens
Scrolling between the content-laden homescreens is still quick - first, you go through the Magazine panes and then through the TouchWiz ones. It's a looped scrolling process, so once you reach the last homescreen you'll go back to the first.
You can choose whichever homescreen you prefer to be the tablet's default one (this could be a Magazine or a TouchWiz homescreen).
The last two new elements of the user interface are the notification area and the task switcher.
The notification area has gained an additional Volume scrubber and Volume shortcut next to the brightness slider. All icons have been refreshed, too.
Those aside, the area hasn't changed all that much - you get a tiny S Search shortcut next to the clock and date, a row with scrollable toggles, a Settings shortcut and the actual expandable notifications.

The new look of the notification area
The task switching interface is intact, it just better utilizes the new resolution and doesn't occupy the entire screen. The powerful task manager is also onboard and allows you to kill apps, clean RAM, or uninstall downloaded apps.

The task switcher and task manager
The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 tablet features a couple of virtual assistants, Google Now and Samsung's S Voice.
Google Now is more passive - it integrates with your Google account and can access your daily routine, internet searches, email, etc. It displays relevant information (e.g. the estimated time to drive to work), without waiting to be asked specifically.

Google Now
S Voice is more Siri-like. It can be used to dictate text, play music, open an app, change a setting, make a memo (including voice memo), add a reminder, schedule an event, set an alarm or timer, check the weather, do a search on the internet, look for local listings (e.g. nearby restaurants) and even answer questions.

Multi Window multi-tasking

Samsung has improved tremendously its Multi Window multitasking feature. To access this feature you must enable it in the settings. Then you can open its menu from anywhere in the UI by a left swipe from the right edge of the screen. There you would find a list of currently running apps and also all the apps that support Multi Window.

Multi Window menu and settings
Multi Window, just like before, allows two apps to share one screen. You launch apps by tapping them or dragging them out. Then you can resize them by dragging the dedicated virtual separator. You can tap a currently running app from the list to replace the active half of the screen, but you can't drag those out.

Multi Window in action
Unlike on the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, there are no floating apps here, at least not on the software we're running.
You can configure various content from My Files, Videos, or even email attachments to open straight in new windows under the multi-window feature.
Finally, Multi Window supports combinations - you can assign a shortcut that opens any two apps of your choice side-by-side with just one tap. Nice!

Synthetic benchmarks

As we've already established, the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 is powered by either a Snapdragon 800 chipset or an Exynos 5420. The two have very different processor and GPU combos, but both have 2GB of RAM.
The Snapdragon 800 chipset has four Krait 400 cores at 2.3GHz and Adreno 330 GPU, while the Exynos chipset has four each of Cortex-A15 at 1.9GHz and Cortex-A7 at 1.3GHz, plus Mali-T628 MP6 GPU.
We're reviewing the LTE-enabled, Snapdragon 800-powered version of the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1. The performance of the chipset is quite familiar by now and there were almost no surprises.